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IBM ProtectTIER vs N-able Cove Data Protection comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM ProtectTIER
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
65th
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (13th)
N-able Cove Data Protection
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
30th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Backup (19th), SaaS Backup (8th), MSP Backup (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM ProtectTIER is 0.7%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of N-able Cove Data Protection is 1.4%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
N-able Cove Data Protection1.4%
IBM ProtectTIER0.7%
Other97.9%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

AG
Technical Lead at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Provides a short-term backup, archive, and cataloging for 20,000 people in our organization
The backup for a large amount of data is slow. When there's a large amount of data, sometimes the backup isn't completed in time. I have a 24 hour cycle, so it doesn't get completed in 24 hours with the large amount of data. With Veritas NetBackup, I can take 20 terabytes of backup in a day.
Per MøllerJacobsen - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior consultant at Azend A/S
Delivers cost-effective data backup with room for search improvements
The challenges I face especially are those I've mentioned, that finding some specific data in N-able Cove Data Protection is not as easy as it is in some other systems. You cannot just search for something—you need to know where it was and when it was there to restore it, plus it would be nice to take out data from Microsoft 365 in some portable format, which is currently not an option. I would like to extract the data from Microsoft 365 in a portable format, something like a database or maybe just to take out a PST file or SharePoint and Teams files to the file system. Especially in these times, where we discuss potential risks with the Microsoft cloud for European companies, companies would want to know how to access their data from the backup if they suddenly don't have a tenant. I believe there should be the ability to take out data from Microsoft 365 in a portable format. I know that Cohesity is working on making such a thing. It's not there yet; I asked last week for something for forensics, and the support team said it's not possible yet, but I know from our technical account manager they are working on some solutions.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The cataloging is the best feature, as it takes millions of frames for the backup and, because it's incremental, it takes less time to complete."
"I will highly recommend this product for excellent and quick backup solution in small and large IBM I Series environment."
"The most valuable feature is the incremental backup."
"The command-line interface is good."
"The solution is highly stable."
"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."
"In terms of stability, I've found it to be very stable."
"The most valuable features are the Self-Service, and the ability to search the data."
"The product is simple to use and manage. The customers have access to verify the backups."
"Compared to previous solutions, Cove is equally as efficient, if not more, when it comes to restoring points."
"With the monitoring it enables us to keep track, and it's more efficient, so it enables us to spend less time fixing backup issues for our customers."
"We use a neat feature called VDR status, Virtual Disaster Recovery status. It only works on servers... It's automated. Once or twice a month it will virtually mount the backup and provide a screenshot and advise whether or not there have been any errors."
"SolarWinds has just completely flipped that around, and that's true for other people inside our org as well."
"The reliability and the confidence that we have in this product is extremely high."
"What I like the most about it's the ease of use and the reliability that it has when copying information to the cloud."
"Of all the IT companies that we deal with as suppliers, I'm pretty sure they are the best that we have ever dealt with."
 

Cons

"I would like the possibility to back up the infrastructure and then replicate it upon on restart, without having to orchestrate the starting of the VM."
"The backup for a large amount of data is slow. When there's a large amount of data, sometimes the backup isn't completed in time."
"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."
"The backup for a large amount of data is slow."
"My advice to anybody who is considering this solution is to conduct a proof of concept first because everybody's needs are different, and this product is not suitable for every kind of backup."
"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."
"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate."
"It is unmanageable. Support would be good."
"The one thing that could use some improvement is their Linux backup; their Linux backup is a files/folders backup and you are not able to do a system restore."
"I have some issues with the agent failing on workstations. I've had to completely uninstall several of them, delete everything, and start over to get them to work."
"A feature I'd like to see would be a more customizable admin console."
"An area for improvement that would really work out well would be if there were a little bit more of an elegant handshake relationship between SolarWinds RMM and the PCs that are being backed up, to advise regarding "up" status... Since RMM is an agent that feeds back that a machine is alive and on, I don't see any reason why they can't either tap into that one feature or build the same exact polling within the backup agent, to update right away and say the system is online or offline."
"Integration with a hybrid cloud is something that I found complicated."
"A disaster recovery console would be an improvement for the product."
"The challenges I face especially are those I've mentioned, that finding some specific data in N-able Cove Data Protection is not as easy as it is in some other systems."
"A better default view on my dashboard would be great."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."
"This solution is very expensive."
"The customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."
"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."
"Cove only takes the data you have on the physical server. I can back that up for long periods of time, and I don't accrue high charges to have the data in the cloud. It stays at one rate. This allows me to forecast payment for the next one or two years and show clients their estimated growth."
"The pricing is very competitive and it's well worth the price."
"There is no per node cost, at least not the way I am doing it. I am on bulk. New customers can be set up on a trial, where they can get things all squared away, then they can switch over to being a billed customer."
"The only option I would like to see is an adjustable scale. Right now we have 250 seats and we're not using all of them. It would be nice to be able to save that little bit of money by being able to buy just what we need."
"I believe that the price is very reasonable in comparison to other options. It is cheaper than both Redstor and Acronis and, since we are now using our own on-premise cloud, there is absolutely no comparison since we have unlimited storage rather than paying per gigabyte used for their onsite storage. We are currently able to backup fifty computers for the same price that we use to backup five computers."
"The cost is around ten dollars per workstation a month and that includes a certain amount of data."
"The pricing, for now, is good. The package that they gave us recently is pretty good. It depends on how many clients you have, and you pay for certain terabytes per license. These terabytes, if not used, are pooled together."
"N-able Cove Data Protection is an averagely-priced product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
16%
Construction Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
Real Estate/Law Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise1
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for N-able Backup?
In terms of pricing, N-able Cove Data Protection is neither cheap nor expensive compared to other competitors.
What needs improvement with N-able Backup?
The challenges I face especially are those I've mentioned, that finding some specific data in N-able Cove Data Protection is not as easy as it is in some other systems. You cannot just search for s...
What is your primary use case for N-able Backup?
Our main use cases for enabling N-able Cove Data Protection include backing up our customers' data on servers hosted in data centers and servers hosted in our own data center, as well as a few onsi...
 

Also Known As

No data available
N-able Backup, SolarWinds Backup, SolarWinds MSP Backup & Recovery, SolarWinds MSP Backup
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Durham Police Department, Re-Store LLC, CenterGrid, pixx.io GmbH, Australian Government Department of Defence, QD, Refresco Gerber
Computer Depot, Leading Edge Computers, IT Logic Australia
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM ProtectTIER vs. N-able Cove Data Protection and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.