IBM Storage Protect vs NetApp SnapCenter comparison

IBM and NetApp are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. IBM is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.3, while NetApp is ranked #53 with an average rating of 7.0. IBM holds a 2.1% mindshare in BRS, compared to NetApp’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of NetApp users who would recommend it.

IBM Storage Protect

Read 3 IBM Storage Protect reviews

4,461 Views
3,747 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

NetApp SnapCenter

Read 27 NetApp SnapCenter reviews

1,268 Views
1,192 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Storage Protect

NetApp SnapCenter

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 12, 2025

NetApp SnapCenter and IBM Storage Protect compete in the data management category. NetApp SnapCenter seems to have the upper hand in terms of pricing and customer support, making it more attractive for budget-conscious buyers.

Features: NetApp SnapCenter provides efficient application integration, rapid deployment, and management simplicity. IBM Storage Protect offers extensive scalability, robust data protection, and comprehensive reporting functions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetApp SnapCenter offers a straightforward deployment model with responsive support. IBM Storage Protect requires more intricate deployment due to its extensive features, supported by excellent customer service that guides through challenges.

Pricing and ROI: NetApp SnapCenter is praised for its cost-effectiveness and lower initial setup costs, leading to notable ROI. IBM Storage Protect demands a higher upfront investment yet offers long-term benefits that justify the expense for advanced data management solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Storage Protect vs. NetApp SnapCenter Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Storage Protect vs. NetApp SnapCenter

September 2025

Download the complete report

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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 Storage Protect

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

13th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetApp SnapCenter

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

53rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 2.1%, down from 2.2% 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 Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Storage Protect	2.1%
NetApp SnapCenter	0.7%
Other	97.2%

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

Syed Habib

Head of Infrastructure Security (S.A.V.P) at EXIM Bank Ltd

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.

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 platform’s most valuable feature is its ability to verify the recoverability of backups."

"Once setup, you do not need to touch it again. You just need to do a formal check on possibly batch updates."

"The ability to use S3 Data Store as a repository."

"We have better, faster backup times, and it has improved efficiency in the backups."

"Spectrum Protect's best feature is that I can use it practically anywhere, on any platform, and for any servers or clients."

"The most valuable features of Spectrum Protect would be the compression and the deduplication."

"The tool's backup engine is very powerful. Previously, our client finished backup with HPE product in 48 hours. IBM Storage Protect completes backup in 8 hours."

"The amount of data that it protects with very little storage by doing incremental forever is one of its most valuable features."

More IBM Storage Protect pros

"The initial setup was straightforward."

"The product’s most valuable feature is cloning."

"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."

"It's very helpful because SnapCenter is already integrated with VMware Snapshot, so it's very easy to use."

"It's integrated with VMware vCenter. You can also see the backups there and you can do a restore completely out of vCenter."

"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."

"The most valuable feature is the RBAC, the Role-Based Access Control. In our managed service, we can have different layers of security."

"The simplicity of backup and restore directly with VMware is an advantage and the time to backup and restore is reduced."

More NetApp SnapCenter pros

Cons

"Enhancements are required for backing up our virtual environment."

"If IBM could provide a partial module, that would be great."

"The deduplication must be perfect, and thus should be improved."

"For the database side, it does not have object level recovery."

"Ease of use. That has got to be the one thing that I routinely hear from clients and customers, that it's a little bit more difficult than it should be. What I'm finding is that IBM has heard that and they're responding with updated interfaces and things like that."

"Anytime you are not very current and call in with an issue, it is hard to get it resolved. It will depend on how far back you go though."

"The user interface (UI) for the admin is still not good. It is way too complicated to manage the product, as we still need to use command line. IBM launched the Operations Center (OC), but there are still functions lacking, especially since we cannot manage all our scheduled tasks by using the GUI."

"We would like to see bare-metal restorers."

More IBM Storage Protect cons

"The UI, the User Interface, needs to be improved. It's not as clean or modern as it could be."

"One thing that might be improved is the ease of management."

"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 have hundreds of servers and systems and hundreds of customers and they're separated in a multi-tenancy way in NetApp SVM. Right now, the problem is that it always scan all SVMs. If I backup Customer A, it scans all SVMs, or tries to scan all SVMs, if there is a backup relationship on the storage. But it doesn't have the permissions, so we run into timeouts or the backup just takes too long. They're fixing that in the upcoming release..."

"It needs to support vSphere 6.7."

"I would like to see replication support between systems. Right now, it's kind of limited. We manage them separately from the storage system interface, not from SnapCenter. It would be nice if it was integrated into SnapCenter."

"The Dashboard view needs to be more compressed with better ease of access and drill-down features. They should also reinstate Linux filesystem backups of storage volumes (which existed in the prior version)."

"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."

More NetApp SnapCenter cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is really expensive. Its price is not good for Latin America. Its price is good for the United States or Europe."

"It is very scalable, but the downside is that it costs money."

"One can go with either a PVU licensing model or a capacity based licensing model. Either solution does not block the usage, if over used."

"We are paying for support and maintenance on a monthly basis."

"The pricing model of this solution is another difficult area, it's very sophisticated in the way they charge. It's based on PBU, which is a type of processor, how, many processors, and you need to put everything into an equation. However, they have different ways of charging or licensing. One way is a back-end volume or front-end volume, which is quite complicated."

"We have been at our size for a few years. We are not really looking to battle the licensing costs, as this is our primary system."

"The product is not cheap."

"IBM Spectrum Protect, cost-wise, has way higher pricing than Veeam. By switching over to Veeam, my company saved over $600,000 in USD. The IBM Spectrum Protect pricing is a two on a scale of one to ten. My company paid additional fees for maintenance, apart from the standard licensing fees."

More IBM Storage Protect pricing and cost advice

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

"The product is inexpensive."

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

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

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

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

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

"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."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

17%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	53
Midsize Enterprise	25
Large Enterprise	94

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Storage Protect?

The best point about IBM Storage Protect is that it can use IBM tape environments, which we still use and will continue to use in the future.

See all answers

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

IBM Storage Protect is generally an expensive tool. However, with good contracts with IBM or its partners, the cost might not be so high. New customers can expect very high prices.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Storage Protect?

One point for improvement for IBM Spectrum Protect is security, as IBM has not been investing as much as in the past. There is a need for additional layers of security to fill the gaps, which is wh...

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

What is your primary use case for NetApp SnapCenter?

I help my customers to install and integrate NetApp SnapCenter ( /products/netapp-snapcenter-reviews ). The solution is used for central consolidation of NetApp ( /products/netapp-41749-reviews ) d...

See all answers

Comparisons

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 14% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 12% of the time

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 12% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 10% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs IBM Storage Protect

Compared 8% of the time

More IBM Storage Protect Competitors

Synology DSM vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 22% of the time

Veeam Data Platform vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 14% of the time

Commvault Cloud vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 13% of the time

Veritas NetBackup vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 11% of the time

Rubrik vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 11% of the time

More NetApp SnapCenter Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Storage Protect

September 2025

Download IBM Storage Protect product report

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapCenter

September 2025

Download NetApp SnapCenter product report

Also Known As

IBM Spectrum Discover

SnapCenter

Overview

IBM Storage Protect offers data protection and management to secure critical business information efficiently. It's designed to be a scalable and flexible solution for data backup, recovery, and archive needs in complex IT environments.

IBM Storage Protect delivers comprehensive data protection by integrating backup, recovery, and archiving functionalities. It supports a range of workloads and infrastructures, from on-premises to cloud environments, facilitating efficient data management. Its platform provides seamless scalability to meet evolving business needs, underpinned by reliable security measures. Organizations leverage its capabilities to ensure business continuity and minimize data loss risks, making it vital in a data-driven world.

What are the key features of IBM Storage Protect?

Advanced Data Protection: Offers robust encryption and data integrity for secure backup processes.
Scalability: Grows with your data demands, supporting large data volumes without compromising performance.
Cloud Integration: Seamlessly integrates with cloud platforms, enhancing backup strategies with hybrid options.
Automated Operations: Simplifies management tasks with automation, reducing manual intervention and errors.

What benefits should users expect when evaluating IBM Storage Protect?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces storage costs by optimizing backup processes and data retention strategies.
Data Safety: Ensures data accessibility and integrity during recovery efforts, building trust in data protection strategies.
Operational Efficiency: Boosts productivity through streamlined and automated backup management workflows.
Compliance Readiness: Helps maintain compliance with data protection regulations by providing thorough reporting and audit trails.

Industries like finance and healthcare implement IBM Storage Protect to safeguard sensitive information against threats. In financial services, it's crucial for maintaining client data confidentiality, while healthcare institutions use it to protect patient records, ensuring both accessibility and compliance with regulations.

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

CEMEX

All for One Steeb AG, Accenture

Buyer's Guide

IBM Storage Protect vs. NetApp SnapCenter

September 2025

Free Report: IBM Storage Protect vs. NetApp SnapCenter

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