IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs NetApp SnapCenter comparison

IBM and NetApp are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #23 with an average rating of 7.8, while NetApp is ranked #50 with an average rating of 7.5. IBM holds a 1.0% mindshare in BRS, compared to NetApp’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Read 31 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus reviews

1,542 Views
1,013 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

NetApp SnapCenter

Read 27 NetApp SnapCenter reviews

1,135 Views
627 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

NetApp SnapCenter

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus and NetApp SnapCenter are both data protection and recovery solutions. NetApp SnapCenter appears to have the upper hand due to its comprehensive feature set.

Features: Users value IBM Spectrum Protect Plus for scalability, ease of integration, and reliable backup capabilities. NetApp SnapCenter stands out with powerful snapshot and replication features and efficient application-aware backups.

Room for Improvement: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus needs enhancements in reporting, analytics, and compatibility. NetApp SnapCenter requires better compatibility with certain environments and a more intuitive performance monitoring system.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is praised for straightforward deployment and excellent customer service. NetApp SnapCenter has a relatively easy deployment process but mixed reactions about support.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is more budget-friendly and offers good ROI due to lower initial setup costs. NetApp SnapCenter, though more expensive, is seen as worth the investment for its advanced features and robust capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. NetApp SnapCenter Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. NetApp SnapCenter

June 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 860,592 peers since 2012

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 Spectrum Protect Plus

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

23rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetApp SnapCenter

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

50th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is 1.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetApp SnapCenter is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Atif Najam

Chief Information Officer and Program Lead at Gatron Industries Ltd

Enables organizations to make large-scale recoveries easily, but the security must be improved

The security must be improved. We face a lot of cyber threats like ransomware. It impacts data availability and protection. The tool must provide a mechanism to make resilient backups. The tool must ensure that the recent backups have no ransomware. The backup must be immutable. They must be cyber-resilient backups. Finding a good resource person for IBM Spectrum in Pakistan is difficult. We have to rely on the support team. Resource availability is a challenge.

Read full review

MervynMorgan

IT Storage Engineer at Unixque Solutions Pty Ltd

Enables us to save data for data projection but could improve its integration with other backup solutions

NetApp SnapCenter is highly efficient because it allows you to automate the creation of snapshots. Instead of manually creating snapshots using IMS or HMS, you can schedule and automate them, specifying the timing and frequency. This eliminates the need for daily manual intervention and streamlines the process. SnapCenter also enables you to assign specific user roles to manage these tasks, enhancing efficiency. SnapCenter ensures that your LPOs and RTOs are extremely quick. Although it may seem expensive initially, after using it for a while, you'll appreciate the efficiencies and gains it provides. I recommend the solution. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Read full review

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 features of the solution stem from the fact that the product works and helps with restoration areas whenever there is a need to restore something."

"A full-featured data protection solution that is reliable and stable."

"The biggest benefit of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is that it's an agentless backup product which is very easy to configure and use."

"The feature I find most valuable is the offload to Spectrum Protect for long-term retention. I think the deduplication and replication are quite nice on Plus."

"This is a multi-platform backup solution where you can take a backup from AIX, Windows, or Linux servers and restore from CD, disk, or tape."

"Virtual snapshots that offer incremental backups."

"The most valuable feature of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is its ease of use. Additionally, it does backups of all of the things we need, such as OS, files, and databases."

"The most valuable features of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus are you have many possibilities on how to use it. We use it for backups and to create secondary and third copies. It is possible to pick up Kubernetes containers and use a different cloud provider if you need to start backups on the cloud."

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus pros

"The central pane view is the most valuable feature. You have one console where you can monitor all your jobs, as opposed to going to different vCenters."

"It's all together managing both storage and backup, which makes it easier for troubleshooting issues and the automation part of it"

"The initial setup was straightforward."

"Being able to add everything in as resource groups is a valuable feature... Having all the SQL servers put into specific buckets, based on their year of release - 2008, 2012, 2014 - allows us to get almost immediate backups that are easily seen and reported on."

"A feature that stands out is cloning databases. If you have a SQL database and it's huge, like one terabyte, the classical SQL way would be to do a backup-restore to create a clone of your database for test purposes. With SnapCenter now, we can clone a database but through the Snapshot technology, which means if you right-click and you click Clone, the one terabyte database is there instantly."

"I like the instant backups and recovery feature that SnapCenter provides within NetApp storage systems."

"It's a centralized, easy-to-use solution empowering RBAC management, monitoring, notifications, extensive logging, and backup schedules for standalone as well as groups of the same types of environments. The cloning capabilities accelerate development."

"We have been very satisfied with the technical support's help. Their knowledge level is great. For a noncritical question, they will get back to us within a day."

More NetApp SnapCenter pros

Cons

"Rooms for improvement in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus are installation and configuration because those were difficult. They should try their best to improve those areas. In the next release of the product, better implementation and administration are what we're expecting."

"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could improve by adding SAP Rena."

"The Gui interface and usability are not so friendly and easy."

"IBM Spectrum Protect Plus could improve security."

"It requires much more automation features."

"The administration needs to be improved and made simpler to use."

"The backup support for IBM Power Virtualization needs to be added."

"The solution only supports HyperV and VMware but doesn't support Nutanix."

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus cons

"The GUI is still so-so. I' don't use the GUI that often anymore because it's really slow, refreshing disks, refreshing hosts, and you have to click a lot."

"We would like to see more granular repording and reporting in bigger sets available in SnapCenter."

"It needs to support vSphere 6.7."

"The interface usability needs improvement. It should be more user-friendly and easier for customers to use."

"What I did witness lately are issues with some Microsoft KBs, the updates. But it happened only once, and not on a major platform, it was on a small one."

"The Microsoft environment is its biggest disadvantage due to the central management of all the actions. Because the SnapCenter server is where we deploy everything, it also affects the Microsoft environment, which can cause many difficulties when resolving issues like Windows update problems."

"The documentation could be a little bit better so that we could handle more of the troubleshooting ourselves, rather than having to go through support."

"My major issue is when I upgrade. I have to touch every last client that I have in SnapCenter, and right now I have 60... They said that in another release that will get better, but right now it's not better and I've had to do this three times."

More NetApp SnapCenter cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have a perpetual license for the tool since it is deployed on-premise."

"I rate the price of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus a one on a scale of one to ten, where one is extremely expensive, and ten is very cheap."

"The price is lower than that of some competing products."

"Clients prefer to buy a perpetual license, but the majority opt for a yearly subscription."

"There is an annual license required to use IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. The cost of the license could improve, it is expensive."

"The solution is too expensive."

"The price is perpetual, but the maintenance cost is annual. That is, we pay once for the product and pay annually for the maintenance and support. The price was much cheaper than what we would have had to pay for EMC or Veritas. The pricing is competitive, and I would rate it at four out of five."

"Unlike some other solutions, such as Veritas NetBackup where you have to pay for different licenses to use different features, there is a single license that allows you to use all of the features."

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus pricing and cost advice

"We see a financial value with SnapCenter because we don't have to license Commvault, which is pretty expensive."

"The license for SnapCenter was included with the storage array."

"It comes free with the amount of equipment we purchase from NetApp. In terms of pricing, zero is my favorite number."

"Pricing is very good because if you already have NepApp controllers, then it's included."

"The product is inexpensive."

"The licensing is well-designed because it's already included in some packages with NetApp storage. Therefore, for most customers, it's okay as the SnapCenter license is already included in some NetApp bundles."

"We have a site license, so it comes with the product."

"It's free. The license is included with other NetApp products."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Backup and Recovery solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

18%

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?

The most valuable features of the solution stem from the fact that the product works and helps with restoration areas whenever there is a need to restore something.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?

It is probably based on the number of CPUs. They are fairly expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus?

I used IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, but IBM is now replacing it with IBM Data Protect, which is a giant product now in common development with a well-known company in backup solutions.

See all answers

What do you like most about NetApp SnapCenter?

Most banks and financial institutions use the solution.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NetApp SnapCenter?

The product should be free because it is just software to administrate systems purchased from NetApp, which are already expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NetApp SnapCenter?

The interface usability needs improvement. It should be more user-friendly and easier for customers to use.

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM Spectrum Protect vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Compared 52% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Compared 12% of the time

Rubrik vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Compared 11% of the time

IBM Storage Protect vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Compared 9% of the time

HPE Zerto Software vs IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Compared 7% of the time

More IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Competitors

Synology DSM vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 24% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 16% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 13% of the time

Veritas NetBackup vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 9% of the time

Rubrik vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 9% of the time

More NetApp SnapCenter Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

June 2025

Download IBM Spectrum Protect Plus product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapCenter

June 2025

Download NetApp SnapCenter product report

Also Known As

No data available

SnapCenter

Overview

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus is a data protection and availability solution for virtual environments that can be deployed in minutes and protect your environment within an hour. It simplifies data protection, whether data is hosted in physical, virtual, software-defined or cloud environments. It can be implemented as a stand-alone solution or integrate with your IBM Spectrum Protect environment to off-load copies for long term storage and data governance with scale and efficiency.

IBM

Unified, scalable platform for application-consistent data protection and clone management. This software simplifies backup, restore, and clone lifecycle management with application-integrated workflows.

NetApp

Sample Customers

PT Wings Surya, Tectrade, State of Ohio

All for One Steeb AG, Accenture

Buyer's Guide

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. NetApp SnapCenter

June 2025

Free Report: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. NetApp SnapCenter

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. NetApp SnapCenter and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs. NetApp SnapCenter report.

See our list of best Backup and Recovery vendors.

We monitor all Backup and Recovery reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.