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IBM ProtectTIER vs Rubrik 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
Average Rating
7.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Deduplication Software (13th)
Rubrik
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
3rd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
96
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Backup (6th), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 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 Rubrik is 3.2%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Rubrik3.2%
IBM ProtectTIER0.7%
Other96.1%
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.
reviewer2588997 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Support Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Reliable automated backups have protected critical databases and simplified recoveries for our operations
Portal identity management should improve. We end up losing people's identity, which was not sufficient enough to read the events. That was the only place I could see for improvement. They keep changing the layouts and descriptions, giving the user confusion if they have not used it for maybe three months. When they come back, the interface is changed. They lost the legacy support, and it is not consistent. Some of the options for the restore give a very hard time for the engineer if they come back after three months to use it because the phrases have changed completely. That is why they were not able to select whether they should select this option or should select another option. Where it comes from, the documentation we gave them does not match anymore. That was a challenge.My consultation part was about how to integrate the technology with each other for the platform or storage or database. I did not deal with any price metrics or scaling the storage. I have no idea about the pricing part. I never joined any meetings or any documents to disclose the pricing. It was quite good in general. Recently, in March 2025, they did a new update which enabled them to update their agents remotely and built in, in-place mode. That is bringing the cybersecurity perspective. That was a big challenge. I said it is a challenge, but I do not know because I left the company, so I am not sure if cybersecurity addressed the solution. Rubrik support is usually very accommodating and very flexible. I am not sure, but the last challenge I saw was that.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"The command-line interface is good."
"The solution is highly stable."
"The most valuable features are the self-service features and the ability to search the data."
"If you are looking for a reliable and scalable enterprise-class solution, you should consider this solution."
"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."
"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."
"ubrik's One-Touch Recovery helps address this. Using backup as a migration tool can also help overcome challenges when moving to a hybrid cloud."
"The product's protection against ransomware is a significant benefit."
"Rubrik's immutability feature ensures the security of our backups by preventing unauthorized alterations. The most effective feature for simplifying our data backup processes is the ability to perform on-demand or scheduled backups and restores, which greatly enhances manageability. The security and compliance features have had a positive impact on our data management practices. We utilize Rubrik not only for virtual machine backups but also for backing up approximately twenty terabytes of unstructured data, including file shares and documents. This allows users to easily restore deleted documents using the Soft Delete feature, depending on the backup frequency."
"The instant recovery aspect of the solution is the most valuable aspect for me."
"The product is easy to install, easy to balance, and easy to work with."
"One platform for instant recovery."
"With an easy backup process, simple and fast recovery process, ability to scale out and still keep a single deduplication domain and a fast storage appliance, all I can think of to say is to shut up and take my money."
"The user interface (UI) is great. It is very lightweight and intuitive."
 

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."
"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."
"These days, we are thinking about pushing another solution because of the poor support from IBM."
"It is unmanageable. Support would be good."
"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."
"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."
"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."
"I would like to have a built-in index searching ability of files/system files within the Rubrik interface to determine if a file or item exists, rather than just recovering it, and then doing a search for the file afterwards."
"The interface is still slightly clunky and has room for improvement."
"Its cost is high."
"The user interface could be improved, it's pretty rough."
"Better integration for complex NAS structures having to mount at root adds time and workload to the process of NDMP."
"With multiple Rubrik clusters setup in an environment, it becomes painfully obvious that this product needs a central management console."
"There are some corner cases where the Rubrik Connector (Agent) still doesn't work for our clients, but Rubrik Engineering listens to our feedback and has been delivering the features that we have been asking for over the last year, so we are confident that they will knock those out soon, as well."
"Rubrik is an expensive product, more expensive than most."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."
"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."
"This solution is very expensive."
"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."
"The setup cost is a bit high, but the solution is an all-in-one solution."
"Rubrik is not the cheapest solution, but we've been happy with the time savings that we have seen. At least from what we have spent so far, we have been happy with the return on investment."
"The pricing has been quite good from our perspective, in terms of being able to negotiate with the Rubrik team to get the product that we want and be able to sell that out to our end customers."
"There are additional costs like maintenance, and there are some features on their central management piece that don't come with our licensing."
"I rate the tool's pricing a six out of ten."
"I don't remember the cost, but I know that for Veeam, we were spending almost $250,000 a year for 205 licenses. It was an enterprise version. When we purchased Rubrik, it was just a little bit more. It was not a terribly huge amount, and if I recall, that was for three years of support as well. So, Veeam priced itself out of the market at a certain point in time."
"Rubrik is quite expensive for small businesses."
"The pricing and licensing of Rubrik is better than products that we've had in the past. It was quite a bit cheaper than Commvault and NetBackup."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Healthcare Company
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 Business23
Midsize Enterprise21
Large Enterprise56
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
Which would you choose - Rubrik or Veeam Backup & Replication?
Veeam Backup & Replication provides an easy-to-set-up solution to the issue of data storage and recovery. Setting it up is a relatively simple affair. For the most part it prompts you from scre...
What do you like most about Rubrik?
It's easy to manage and has an innovated solution.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rubrik?
Regarding pricing, Rubrik is a costly solution, and I would rate it an eight.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Durham Police Department, Re-Store LLC, CenterGrid, pixx.io GmbH, Australian Government Department of Defence, QD, Refresco Gerber
Driscoll's, Red Hawk Casino, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Wabash National, Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Galliker Transport & Logistics
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM ProtectTIER vs. Rubrik and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.