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IBM Spectrum Protect vs NAKIVO Backup & Replication 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 Spectrum Protect
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
149
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NAKIVO Backup & Replication
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
6th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Spectrum Protect is 2.2%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NAKIVO Backup & Replication is 1.6%, down from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

Syed Habib - PeerSpot reviewer
Manageable and comprehensive and integrates robust backup features for core banking
It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dashboard from Browser Spectrum. This is why I am searching for another solution. The product also lacks any centralized graphical user interface (GUI), such as Jarek Pod, and I am limited to using a console-based text user interface, which my local partner handles completely.
Mattia Sangiorgio - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhances data protection strategies and ensures the reliability of backups with helpful support
The features we have found most valuable in NAKIVO Backup & Replication include its cost-effectiveness, seamless integrations, comprehensive functionalities, and ease of installation and management. The pricing model is very competitive, providing excellent value for the robust features offered. Its seamless integration with our VMware infrastructure ensures smooth operation without any compatibility issues. The wide range of functionalities, including incremental and full backups, storage optimization, and disaster recovery options, meets all our backup needs comprehensively. Moreover, the simplicity of installation and the intuitive user interface have made it easy for our team to quickly set up and manage the backups without requiring extensive training.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It allows us to have one interface."
"Regarding stability, it's been rock solid."
"The product is very stable."
"The most valuable features are the stability and also how it's seamlessly integrated with other IBM offerings."
"by backing up only the changed data, we average around 75TB per night. If we had to do full backups, even occasionally, we would not be able to complete the backup within 12 hours, or we would have to make a large investment to fit a full backup within the 12 hour window."
"It's very robust and has been on the market for a long time."
"Replication processes with container storage pools allow reduction of storage space and network bandwidth, using deduplication and compression."
"You can do restores very quickly. You can mount a drive and restore it right from the drive."
"It is easy-to-use."
"The updates are problem-free, so we can keep Nakivo up to date on the server and NAS too."
"The virtual appliance for VMware vSphere is easy to deploy, easy to manage, and we have no need for additional Windows licenses."
"It is affordable."
"Perfect for someone who doesn't want to waste time."
"The cost aspect and the ease of licensing, along with simplified licensing, are most valuable."
"The initial setup is very straightforward."
"Nakivo has been instrumental in strengthening our data security infrastructure."
 

Cons

"Enhancements are required for backing up our virtual environment."
"Its management part can be better and simplified. It is kind of a beast as compared to Commvault or Veeam, but they are more user-friendly. They are also easier to learn, whereas Spectrum Protect definitely takes time. They should simplify it. Our teams are pretty comfortable with it because we have been using it for a long time, but from the perspective of a new user who is evaluating or using this solution, it is definitely more complex in terms of manageability. Its monitoring could be improved so that it can even monitor the jobs that are scheduled by external schedulers. There are situations where a database team might decide to use their own schedulers, but currently, Spectrum Protect is not able to catch those jobs in the Operation Manager console."
"It needs some software upgrades to fix some of its current bugs."
"The solution should improve the ability to monitor backup failure."
"The software is very complicated. You have to do a lot of configurations to build a server, and you would need to backup and restore."
"IBM Spectrum Protect could be improved by making the installation easier. Once it's implemented, it's okay. IBM started lagging behind when things started moving to storage and cloud-based solutions. Even though they've recently released updates that give cloud-based protection, personally, I still believe they are not up to par with the likes of Rubrik. The entire product is a little bit clumsy because they have co-joined two different products, so it's complex. Even from a sales/explaining to people what it does point of view, it's complex. Whereas, if you take more current products, it's a single box solution. You reel it in, you fire it up, you do a couple of points and clicks, and off you go, whereas the IBM system is seriously complex. There's a lot of training involved and it's a massively difficult product to sell at this point in time."
"A lot of my customers always ask for legal holds, especially on email."
"It's difficult in terms of the configuration at set up. In our case, it required another admin, one person dedicated to the backup."
"In the press releases, it would be useful to make sure that the manual space reclaim procedure does not have to be performed but that it happens automatically, thus optimizing the use of space."
"An improvement would be to give us more control over the email alerts, with different emails going to different addresses based on a set of rules."
"Due to the fact that we are HP and Fugit partners as well, it would be nice if Nakivo would allow support for HP and Fugit storage."
"I need no more valuable features for backs-up. I have not yet tried the latest release, however, I have all the features that I need."
"Updating VM Tools on a replicated VM could be better."
"Space is always an issue."
"Automatic updates do not work, and every update has to be done manually."
"Compression and data deduplication are okay, but they could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is a little expensive for our current employer, so they want to move to a cheaper solution."
"Licensing can be either complicated or simple depending on what type of licensing you wish to use and what works best for your environment."
"The product is low cost. It is very cool when we design it to using licensing based on post capacity."
"It is expensive."
"At scale, the consumption license (per TB) is very expensive."
"The most important feature which I wish to be added involves the GUI, the user interface."
"IBM Spectrum Protect has a fixed price and includes no additional costs."
"Going to IBM Tech University Conference saved me from making a major purchase of the wrong thing, which was very helpful."
"The licensing currently allows for host-based licensing, which is advantageous if you have a lot of data on a few hosts."
"It has a very good price in the market."
"From the perspective of Indian users, the cost is a little bit high."
"We use a perpetual license that is priced well."
"Pricing is easy to understand and very affordable."
"Talk to the sales department about all of the possibilities, as they will help you to find the best solution for your setup."
"This product provides good value for the price."
"It has a much higher bang for the buck than other products we evaluated."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM Spectrum Protect?
It's adequate for my core banking, however, I am looking for another solution for all systems. It is not compatible with other operating systems like Windows or Linux, and lacks a consolidated dash...
How does Nakivo compare with Veeam Backup & Replication?
Nakivo is my favorite backup software. Below are the main benefits of Nakivo compared to Veeam 1. Low cost. 2. Backup storage with global deduplication (this is the main requirement of a backup sol...
What do you like most about Nakivo?
NAKIVO Backup & Replication is very easy to use.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nakivo?
The product is affordable even for smaller organizations.
 

Also Known As

IBM TSM, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CERN, Einstein Healthcare, Nyherji, Allianz Australia, TZM, ABT Online, NCT, Kindred Healthcare Inc., Cobalt Iron, TransGrid, Baptist Health of Northeast Florida, Cash America, Piedmont Healthcare, RWGV, Arkansas Tech University, British Columbia Institute of Technology
Coca Cola, Honda, 3M, University of Arizona, University of Maryland, University of Arkansas, Johns Hopkins University, Marriott, Radisson Hotels and Resorts, Fujifilm, Eiffage
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Spectrum Protect vs. NAKIVO Backup & Replication and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.