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IBM Storage Protect vs NovaStor NovaBACKUP comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 22, 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 Storage Protect
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
21st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
NovaStor NovaBACKUP
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
66th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (34th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of IBM Storage Protect is 1.6%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NovaStor NovaBACKUP is 0.7%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Storage Protect1.6%
NovaStor NovaBACKUP0.7%
Other97.7%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2787573 - PeerSpot reviewer
Interim Head of Infrastructure at a real estate/law firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Backup coverage has supported immutable protection and now needs a more modern, intuitive interface
IBM Storage Protect is from a previous generation of backup software. In those days, backup software was complex in setting up and complex to manage. The new software, such as Rubrik, is very easy to use and more relatable to younger engineers because its interface design is more similar to Office 365 and the newer controls and labels that we are accustomed to. The difficulty that we now have with IBM Storage Protect is that for this day and age, compared to other products that are out there, it seems complex. If we look back 15 years ago, all enterprise class backup software was complex, so IBM was not any different. However, many of these older systems, such as Commvault, still have the same complaint that they are very complex because they have tried to keep that same interface and the same way it works. This suits them, but it probably needed a complete overhaul to bring it into the ease of use that we have with modern software. However, that upgrade has not been done. IBM Storage Protect has not been upgraded into a modern platform. It still looks a legacy platform.
Rainer Kummerfeldt - PeerSpot reviewer
IT-Teamleader at Bechtle
Easy to work and offers features for tape backups, disk backups, and whatever you want
NovaStor NovaBACKUP is still working on new features because they listen to the customers and integrate their needs into new versions. You can see they make progress with each new version. They are much faster than IBM, where you sometimes have to wait years for new features. It is very quick and fast. NovaStor have big competitors like Veeam, which is very fast and aggressive. It's good, but it depends on the price. I think NovaStor might be cheaper. They have a direct connection to their developers and sales teams, which makes getting answers very fast. Veeam has a lot of features, like a special reporting tool. However, I've heard from some customers that Veeam wasn't always the right decision because it couldn't work with their environment. But Veeam has aggressive marketing, which is why they are probably in first place at the moment, besides Commvault. IBM has lost its competitive edge and is trying to catch up, but it might be too late.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We can freeze and start databases for consistent backups."
"It's very robust and has been on the market for a long time."
"Incremental forever: This feature helps us reduce backup time and backup storage space."
"We do not lose data. That is why we are using this product and have a backup in place."
"IBM Spectrum Protect is very good for high volume enterprise costs."
"It is a really capable tool and one of the best solutions on the market regarding recovering and the way it functions."
"Overall, we've had a good experience with the solution and I would easily recommend this product to other organizations."
"The most valuable feature is the backup speed."
"It's the easiest way to configure it."
"It is a very good and easy-to-use tool for non-technical people."
"NovaBACKUP protects your entire system with a single solution."
 

Cons

"There is room for improvement in IBM Spectrum Protect, especially regarding its support for virtual environment backups."
"We are using the Technical Support, and sometimes it's a little bit annoying to come to the Level 3 support."
"Better integration with other tools and databases is needed."
"I would not recommend Spectrum Protect at this point."
"The most important feature which I wish to be added involves the GUI, the user interface."
"Stability is 50/50. They come out with fixes, but then they break some other stuff."
"When it comes to virtualization in IBM, it's not perfect."
"It does what we need it to do, but it could be better with VM backups. It could be better integrated with virtual machines or VM backups, but that's why they have their Plus out now. Plus version is more geared toward VM backups. The regular version is more for endpoint clients."
"The price of NovaStor NovaBACKUP is an area that can be considered as a weakness or drawback, where improvements are required."
"The room for improvement lies in the compatibility of NovaBACKUP with older operating systems."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Technical support is pretty good. It is doing fine, but you pay for it."
"Customers need to pay for licensing in order to use IBM Spectrum Protect. The customers that have been using it for a long time are okay and happy with it. From a cost point of view, it's better for them to renew their licenses than to go through the difficult process of changing a backup product in their environment, and migrate from one product to another."
"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."
"We worked our licensing into a capacity model, which is nice. Now, everything is much simpler to manage from a licensing perspective.​"
"The product is low cost. It is very cool when we design it to using licensing based on post capacity."
"It is really expensive. Its price is not good for Latin America. Its price is good for the United States or Europe."
"It can be perceived as expensive since it is designed for enterprise use."
"When compared to the cost of other enterprise products, it seems to be in the same range. However, compared to the cost of non-enterprise products, it is really high."
"My company has to make yearly payments towards the solution's maintenance and support."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Construction Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Construction Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
12%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business53
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise95
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Storage Protect?
I do not know the current licensing cost for IBM Storage Protect and how we get our support because our licensing model is not quite standard. We do not buy IBM Storage Protect direct from IBM. We ...
What needs improvement with IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is from a previous generation of backup software. In those days, backup software was complex in setting up and complex to manage. The new software, such as Rubrik, is very easy ...
What is your primary use case for IBM Storage Protect?
IBM Storage Protect is my primary tool for backup and recovery. We also use it for immutable backups to protect against ransomware. We use IBM Storage Protect for everything on-premises. The benefi...
What needs improvement with NovaStor NovaBACKUP?
The room for improvement lies in the compatibility of NovaBACKUP with older operating systems like Windows XP. Some customers still rely on outdated systems due to specific production requirements....
What is your primary use case for NovaStor NovaBACKUP?
It's developed in Hamburg. It's very easy to work with because it has a web interface, and the configuration is straightforward. It has features for tape backups, disk backups, and whatever you wan...
 

Also Known As

IBM Spectrum Discover
NovaBACKUP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CEMEX
Ex'pression College, Osborne Wood Products Inc., REIT Technologies
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Storage Protect vs. NovaStor NovaBACKUP and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
908,858 professionals have used our research since 2012.