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

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

"The most valuable feature is the incremental backup."
"If you are looking for a reliable and scalable enterprise-class solution, you should consider this solution."
"The solution is highly stable."
"The most valuable features are the self-service features and the ability to search the data."
"The command-line interface is good."
"In terms of stability, I've found it to be very stable."
"I will highly recommend this product for excellent and quick backup solution in small and large IBM I Series environment."
"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."
"You pay a premium for Rubrik, but you're getting a premium service that comes with immutable backups, instant recovery, and world-class support."
"We do like the instant recovery... Now, we say, "Okay, give me 15 seconds and I can get this back up for you." And within that 15 seconds it's on and the only thing that we have to do afterwards is vMotion it off of the Rubrik storage back to where it should rest."
"What I like about Rubrik is its strong focus on security, particularly in combating ransomware threats."
"​Rubrik is very simple to implement and setup. ​"
"Cut backup remediation to nearly nothing."
"I highly recommend the solution as it's very user-friendly and easy to work with out-of-the-box; there's nothing complex about it."
"The live mount capability is the most valuable feature in the product because it reduces the complexity and gives us good RTO."
"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."
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"These days, we are thinking about pushing another solution because of the poor support from IBM."
"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."
"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."
"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."
"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."
"Based on my experience with Rubrik, I think they could improve by providing more customer-friendly technical support, even though they currently offer the best support."
"I hope to see enhancements in areas like data governance and the incorporation of new features in future updates."
"The reporting can be vague, especially when something is failing."
"With multiple Rubrik clusters setup in an environment, it becomes painfully obvious that this product needs a central management console."
"There is room for improvement through a further extension of their Office 365 backup platform. In addition, it's still a bit cost-prohibitive to backup NAS. Those would be the two primary areas for improvement."
"The reporting in the dashboard and reporting for extractions both need improvement. I would suggest making them easier to understand and use, not just out-of-the-box. We should also be able to customize them."
"We would like to see more support for Hyper-V."
"The interface is still slightly clunky and has room for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."
"This solution is very expensive."
"The product is not cheap, but for good reason. It simply works and is very fast."
"We pay annually for the license for Rubrik. There are no additional costs. Initially, we needed to set it up, negotiate and finalize the offer."
"I rate the pricing an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low, and ten is high."
"When we compared the overall costs, Rubrik was cheaper because the engineering and operational side required FAR LESS dedication. So, all in all, they actually were cheaper than the competition."
"Due to this effective, faster backup and recovery solution, we are now able to focus on other creative tasks to meet our entire pipeline. So, we have seen ROI in terms of the improvement of productivity in our team. We save around one million dollars a year."
"Rubrik is not cheap. Hopefully, you can archive your data on cheap storage to keep the investment minimal."
"As a technical person, I don't have the details, but from what I have heard, it can be expensive."
"We pay yearly and it's based on the number of bricks."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Backup and Recovery solutions are best for your needs.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

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.