No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

IBM ProtectTIER vs NetApp AltaVault comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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
Ranking in Deduplication Software
12th
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NetApp AltaVault
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
43rd
Ranking in Deduplication Software
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Disk Based Backup Systems (6th), Cloud Backup (37th), Cloud Storage Gateways (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 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 NetApp AltaVault is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
NetApp AltaVault0.7%
IBM ProtectTIER0.7%
Other98.6%
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.
ST
Consultant at Tata Consultancy
Positive impacts seen with improved data security and reliable support
I have six months of experience with the product, and as a consultant, the use cases for NetApp AltaVault mainly stand out for me. Regarding the deduplication feature in the product, I am interested in whether clients are using it. There are different integrations available with NetApp AltaVault, such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and I want to understand how they impact data security policies in my case.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I will highly recommend this product for excellent and quick backup solution in small and large IBM I Series environment."
"The most valuable features are the self-service features and the ability to search the data."
"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."
"In terms of stability, I've found it to be very stable. I've walked into the server room when it was at 60 degrees Celcius, and it was still running fine."
"If you are looking for a reliable and scalable enterprise-class solution, you should consider this solution."
"In terms of stability, I've found it to be very stable."
"The solution is highly stable."
"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."
"It took an entire silo of complexity and simplified it to a device in the cloud."
"The dashboard is useful for managing data backups."
"The jobs we have baseline into the AltaVault, it seems to be able to recover faster than the previous solution."
"Able to reduce administrative burden on tape management."
"The most valuable feature is the portability of large archived data, as you're able to put things on large on-prem, low-cost storage and then augment that with even lower cost storage in the cloud."
"AltaVault is very economical; you don't need big expertise to manage this product."
"Our restore window has been cut by 10 times, from having to pull back from tape - I'd definitely recommend it."
"Most importantly is having that island into that datacenter, and being able to address things in the same console. Thus, it is irrelevant where it's stored."
 

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."
"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."
"It is unmanageable. Support would be good."
"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."
"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."
"These days, we are thinking about pushing another solution because of the poor support from IBM."
"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."
"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."
"More capacity with the basic model of the AltaVault would probably help out."
"To clarify, the catalog feature is lacking, and you need to depend on somebody else."
"It's a good product, but it's becoming outdated and moving to their other primary architecture."
"Also, we were actually able to discover a bug in the product that they're still working on. It's a bug with the Server Message Block (SMB) Protocol with older Windows operating systems."
"It wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be. It was actually a complete rebuild, and then migrate the database."
"We have had issues getting to the right person, but once you get to the right person, they are knowledgeable."
"I really want to partner it with the SnapCenter. We haven't implemented that yet. We're upgrading all of our stuff to the ONTAP 9, which you had to have."
"I would like to see more web support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."
"The customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."
"This solution is very expensive."
"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."
"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs attached to the solution, which comes to around 3,000 USD."
"You could compare it to a Dell EMC or ECS, and I think it's probably a little less costly than that. Within the marketplace, it's a medium cost."
"It's quite cost-effective."
"In one use case, and we have several, to run for a particular customer, the price is about $375,000 a year."
"The price is a bit high."
"The pricing is not too bad, but could be a little better."
"It is a rather expensive program."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Backup and Recovery solutions are best for your needs.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Construction Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

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 Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise10
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
Is NetApp AltaVault compatible with AWS?
Hello. Yes, it is compatible with AWS but the great thing about it is that it's actually working with so many cloud providers, it may be just for everyone. Besides the Amazon cloud services, NetApp...
Can AltaVault be used for data reduction?
Hello, you can definitely use NetApp AltaVault for reducing your data and giving yourself some more storage. This product offers you deduplication and compression, helping you achieve that. I'm su...
What kind of security does NetApp AltaVault give you?
My organization is very happy with the security that NetApp AltaVault gives us for our data on the cloud. First, it gives us the option for data recovery, which is very good, especially if someone...
 

Also Known As

No data available
AltaVault
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Durham Police Department, Re-Store LLC, CenterGrid, pixx.io GmbH, Australian Government Department of Defence, QD, Refresco Gerber
Blach Construction, NASA, Riggs, Counselman, Michaels & Downes, Seminole County Public Schools and Spot Trading
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM ProtectTIER vs. NetApp AltaVault and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.