NetApp SnapCenter vs Synology DSM comparison

NetApp and Synology are both solutions in the Backup and Recovery category. NetApp is ranked #53 with an average rating of 7.0, while Synology is ranked #22 with an average rating of 9.3. NetApp holds a 0.7% mindshare in BRS, compared to Synology’s 1.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of NetApp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Synology users who would recommend it.

NetApp SnapCenter

Read 27 NetApp SnapCenter reviews

1,268 Views
1,192 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Synology DSM

Read 10 Synology DSM reviews

2,418 Views
2,394 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

NetApp SnapCenter

Synology DSM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

NetApp SnapCenter and Synology DSM compete in the data management category. Despite NetApp SnapCenter’s strength in support and initial setup, Synology DSM has the upper hand due to its comprehensive features and overall user satisfaction.

Features: NetApp SnapCenter offers centralized management, robust backup capabilities, and high support ratings. Synology DSM provides an extensive app ecosystem, user-friendly design, and a broader feature set.

Room for Improvement: NetApp SnapCenter needs greater scalability, reduced setup complexity, and better integration with third-party services. Synology DSM requires improved third-party service integration, enhanced mobile access, and more advanced scalability.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NetApp SnapCenter has detailed and complex setup processes but is backed by highly rated customer support. Synology DSM is known for its straightforward installation process and responsive customer service.

Pricing and ROI: NetApp SnapCenter is considered a valuable investment with substantial ROI, although it can be pricey. Synology DSM offers competitive pricing with quicker ROI due to lower upfront costs.

To learn more, read our detailed NetApp SnapCenter vs. Synology DSM Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapCenter vs. Synology DSM

September 2025

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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

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

Synology DSM

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

22nd

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.0

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 NetApp SnapCenter is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Synology DSM is 1.7%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Synology DSM	1.7%
NetApp SnapCenter	0.7%
Other	97.6%

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

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

Michael Adejoh

Solutions Manager at Excel Connect Ventures

Reliable and cost-effective

One area where Synology DSM could improve is in enhancing its ability to detect and respond to security threats during backups and replication. Currently, it lacks the capability to automatically stop backups if it detects a virus or suspicious network activity, as some third-party solutions can. Having AI-driven analytics to identify anomalies and halt backups during potential attacks, along with notifications to administrators, would be valuable. Additionally, providing a dashboard for monitoring the backup environment's security would be a beneficial feature. These improvements would help address security concerns and make Synology more competitive in this aspect.

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 product’s most valuable feature is cloning."

"The Exchange plugin is the most valuable because we have a lot of customers that use SnapManager Exchange and have to migrate to SnapCenter."

"The backup features are the most valuable because they allow the DBAs to replace SnapManager for Oracle (SMO), which is going away, and to do cloning as well. We can also clone to different servers and have the actual backup clone mounted on different servers. And we can split easily too."

"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."

"The way that it interconnects with VMware is really handy, because you can go right into your vSphere client, where you spend a lot of the day anyway, right-click on one of the VMs where you have backups running for however long, and you can restore either some files or restore the entire thing."

"The most valuable feature is that it's centralized. In the old SnapManager days, we had software for each server. Now, with a centralized system, we're able to manage all systems remotely, and all agents remotely, and update them remotely. That's a huge benefit for us."

"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."

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

More NetApp SnapCenter pros

"Synology DSM is very easy to work and operate."

"The most valuable features of Synology DSM are its security and connectivity."

"It offers a variety of software options through its package center, allowing users to customize their NAS device to serve multiple purposes."

"The most valuable aspect is its ability to handle multiple disks."

"The most valuable features are the basic storage, file management, Btrfs file system, and built-in backups that come with the solution."

"The solution's most valuable feature stems from its ease of use, making it the tool's most interesting part."

"The product performs well. It is easy to use and implement."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it serves as a backup for our company's virtual machine."

More Synology DSM pros

Cons

"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."

"I'm waiting for SnapCenter for hybrid solutions. Right now, we only have SnapManager for hybrid. I need agents for that. People are looking to install SnapCenter in a SQL environment, but where they're running SQL on Hyper-V and using virtual files. Currently, we don't have support for hybrid."

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

"I want to see a few more features add that will help our team in managing solution better."

"Groups might be helpful for each site or data center so that we know a given data center has these resources while another data center has those resources. It's not always easy to group hosts by type."

"The tool could be faster."

"It needs to support vSphere 6.7."

"I have an issue with SnapCenter because sometimes a VM cannot be backed up... The way SnapCenter works is that it makes a backup of all the VMs and then it removes all the old backups. If one VM cannot be backed up for some reason, it has already created a new backup for all the VMs but it cannot remove the old backups. It ends up creating so many backups in VMware and it will cause a performance problem if the condition is not fixed."

More NetApp SnapCenter cons

"One area where Synology DSM could improve is in enhancing its ability to detect and respond to security threats during backups and replication."

"Users may lose their data if they don't configure the solution properly."

"Even though Synology provides a backup solution, it does not recognize the VM movement across cluster hosts."

"The only bothersome aspect is that the device is aging."

"The platform could be much more cost-effective and flexible for integrating third-party products."

"There's a surveillance application that allows you to connect IP cameras and stream footage to Synology and it is a great feature, but it's not always clear that adding more cameras may require purchasing additional licenses."

"Synology DSM is a good enough solution for small and medium companies, but I have not seen a big configuration of the solution for a big organization."

"Synology DSM's user interface is not quite intuitive."

More Synology DSM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is inexpensive."

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

"The pricing varies widely, catering to a broad range of needs."

"The solution’s pricing is neither cheap nor expensive."

"The licensing part of the solution is free. The hardware is more expensive than the other solutions in the market, but it's okay in the long run."

"It is quite an affordable solution."

"Synology DSM is a free tool."

"The price of the solution is very good."

"Synology DSM is a cheap solution."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

17%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	1

Questions from the Community

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.

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What needs improvement with NetApp SnapCenter?

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

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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...

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What do you like most about Synology DSM?

The most valuable features of Synology DSM are its security and connectivity.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Synology DSM?

The solution’s pricing is neither cheap nor expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Synology DSM?

Users may lose their data if they don't configure the solution properly.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 11% of the time

Rubrik vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 11% of the time

Cohesity DataProtect vs NetApp SnapCenter

Compared 9% of the time

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Veeam Data Platform vs Synology DSM

Compared 10% of the time

UrBackup vs Synology DSM

Compared 10% of the time

GoodSync For Business vs Synology DSM

Compared 8% of the time

Acronis Cyber Protect vs Synology DSM

Compared 5% of the time

ExaGrid Tiered Backup Storage vs Synology DSM

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapCenter

September 2025

Download NetApp SnapCenter product report

Buyer's Guide

Synology DSM

September 2025

Download Synology DSM product report

Also Known As

SnapCenter

Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM)

Overview

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

Synology DSM (DiskStation Manager) is a comprehensive software platform designed for Synology NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices. It serves as the operating system for these devices, providing a wide range of features and functionalities.

The primary use case of Synology DSM is to centralize and manage data storage for organizations. It allows businesses to store, access, and share files securely across multiple devices and platforms. With its intuitive user interface, DSM simplifies the management of data, making it easy to create shared folders, set access permissions, and monitor storage usage.

One of the most valuable functionalities of Synology DSM is its robust data protection capabilities. It offers various RAID configurations, including SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID), which ensures data redundancy and safeguards against drive failures. DSM also supports advanced backup and disaster recovery solutions, such as Snapshot Replication and Hyper Backup, enabling organizations to protect their critical data effectively.

Furthermore, Synology DSM provides a wide range of productivity and collaboration tools. It offers applications like Synology Drive, which allows seamless file synchronization across devices, and Synology Office, a web-based suite for document editing and collaboration. DSM also supports various third-party applications, including popular cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive, enabling organizations to integrate their existing workflows seamlessly.

Synology

Sample Customers

All for One Steeb AG, Accenture

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

NetApp SnapCenter vs. Synology DSM

September 2025

Free Report: NetApp SnapCenter vs. Synology DSM

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