Oracle Data Guard vs Zerto comparison

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Oracle Data Guard

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 11, 2024

Zerto and Oracle Data Guard compete in the field of data protection and disaster recovery. Zerto's pricing and ease of use seem to give it an edge, while Oracle Data Guard stands out for its robust features.

Features: Zerto users value its simplicity in disaster recovery operations, quick data replication to virtual environments, and overall efficiency. Oracle Data Guard is praised for comprehensive data protection features, robust failover capabilities, and seamless integration with Oracle databases.

Room for Improvement: Zerto users often mention the need for enhanced reporting features, better support for non-virtual environments, and improved versatility. Oracle Data Guard users would like to see improvements in ease of management, a more intuitive setup process, and enhanced user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zerto is commended for its straightforward deployment process and responsive customer service. Oracle Data Guard, while often seen as complex to deploy, benefits from reliable customer support but could improve in reducing deployment complexity.

Pricing and ROI: Zerto is noted for its competitive pricing and quick ROI due to its ease of use and reduced operational overhead. Oracle Data Guard, despite its higher cost, is seen as delivering strong ROI through its extensive feature set and reliability in critical environments.

To learn more, read our detailed Oracle Data Guard vs. Zerto Report (Updated: March 2025).

Oracle Data Guard vs. Zerto

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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

Oracle Data Guard

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

16th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zerto

Ranking in Backup and Recovery

2nd

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

299

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Migration (3rd), Cloud Backup (2nd), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of Oracle Data Guard is 0.8%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zerto is 3.0%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Backup and Recovery

Featured Reviews

IfeoluwaOshinowo

Senior Oracle Database Administrator at Computer Information Systems (CIS)

Makes data protection and network management much easier

The initial setup is straightforward, provided you know the source, target, data version and format. You need to consider all those things. First and foremost, when deploying Oracle Data Guard, the number one priority is to ensure all parameters are correctly set. Two primary methods exist: using backups or recovering from services if the network is reliable. If the network is robust, backups from the source to the target may not be necessary. You must ensure that NIS names are correctly configured on both sides and that the failover and switchover processes are tested successfully from both production and standby environments. Once these steps are completed, the deployment process becomes straightforward. There's no need to copy the entire parameter file; only specific configurations, such as the SID or file structure, must be adjusted if necessary. Ensuring proper DNS name resolution, SID configurations, parameter settings, and understanding whether to convert the Data Guard are essential. Once these aspects are identified, the deployment process becomes more straightforward. I have implemented numerous Data Guard setups. Setting up Oracle Data Guard is performed within the Oracle CRS. Challenges may arise in establishing connectivity between the standby and production databases, necessitating troubleshooting. Apart from that, once configured within CRS, the setup is complete. The challenge with Oracle Data Guard is that it often takes some time for us to identify whether the issues stem from the disk or the network. If we report issues to the network or storage teams from the database end, we may not perceive any apparent problems, which can lead to confusion. We can convince the storage teams to investigate further until we delve into the disk I/O Guard and determine if specific disks operate at total capacity. When disks are operating at total capacity, it can significantly impact application processes. These difficulties in pinpointing the source of issues contribute to the challenges of maintaining and managing Oracle Data Guard.

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Sachin Vinay

Assistant Manager-Networks at Amrita

Leverage disaster recovery with reliable support and cost-effective future-proof features

Zerto is straightforward to implement because it only requires the installation of an agent on the VMs designated for migration. A service, typically a VM, must also be deployed at the disaster recovery location. This entire process is simple and can be completed within three days. Zerto's near-synchronous replication occurs every minute, allowing for highly granular recovery points. This means that even if interruptions or malware disruptions occur within that minute, Zerto can restore to the last known good state, effectively recovering the entire setup to the latest backup. This capability ensures high data security and minimizes potential data loss. One of the main benefits of implementing Zerto is its data compression, which significantly reduces the load on our IPsec VPN. Zerto compresses data by 80 percent before transmitting it across the VPN, minimizing the data transferred between geographically dispersed locations. This compression and subsequent decompression at the destination alleviate the strain on the VPN, preventing overload and ensuring efficient data synchronization. Zerto simplifies malware protection by integrating it into its disaster recovery and synchronization features. This comprehensive approach eliminates the need for separate antivirus setups in virtual machines and applications. It streamlines our security measures and removes the need for additional software or solutions, resulting in an excellent return on investment. Zerto's single-click recovery solution offers exceptional recovery speed. Through the user interface, a single click allows for a complete restoration from the most recent backup within two to three minutes, enabling rapid recovery and minimal downtime. Zerto's Recovery Time Objective is excellent. In the past, if a virtual machine crashed, we would recover it from a snapshot, which could take one to two hours. With Zerto, the recovery process takes only five minutes, and users are typically unaware of any disruption. This allows us to restore everything quickly and efficiently. Zerto has significantly reduced our downtime. When malware affects our data, Zerto immediately notifies us and helps us protect other applications, even those not yet implemented with Zerto. By monitoring these applications, we can quickly identify and address any potential malware spread, minimizing downtime across our systems. Zerto significantly reduces downtime and associated costs during disruptions. Our services are unified, so in the event of a disruption without Zerto, even a half-day disruption would necessitate offline procedures. This would lead to increased manpower, service delays, and substantial financial losses due to interrupted admissions and other critical processes. By unifying service processes, Zerto minimizes the impact of outages. Zerto streamlines our disaster recovery testing across multiple locations by enabling efficient failover testing without disrupting live services. Traditionally, DR testing required downtime of critical systems, but Zerto's replication and failover capabilities allow us to test in parallel with live operations. This non-disruptive approach ensures continuous service availability while validating our DR plan, even in scenarios like malware attacks, by creating a separate testing environment that mirrors the live setup. This comprehensive testing provides confidence in our ability to handle real-world incidents effectively. This saves us over 60 percent of the time. Zerto streamlines system administration tasks by automating many processes, thereby reducing the workload for multiple administrators. This allows them to focus on other university services that require attention and effectively reallocate support resources from automated tasks to those requiring more dedicated management. Zerto is used exclusively for our critical services, providing up to a 70 percent improvement in our IT resilience.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Snapshot and Data Guard Manager are awesome features."

"The solution is quite stable. We haven't experienced any bugs, glitches, or crashes. We find it to be quite reliable."

"The solution is really very stable. One good thing about it, compared to other products, is that you can just run it and forget about it. Unless you come across some interruptions in the network, it works like a charm."

"Oracle Data Guard is scalable. I rate it a ten out of ten."

"We chose this solution for the availability of the databases. We can't afford Oracle Grid, this is the best solution if you want something similar that's less expensive."

"Oracle Data Guard has a nice feature called the DataGuard snapshot to open the solution in the read-write mode and make some changes to the database."

"We have found the replication feature the most useful. We use this feature the most. The ability to recover a database with less effort and the use of Oracle Data Guard Broker to administer the complete environment are also very useful features."

"With Data Guard, Oracle guarantees zero data loss, providing peace of mind for organizations relying on their data for critical operations."

More Oracle Data Guard pros

"Failover using Zerto is simply a one-button click, and it does everything else in restoring the VMs at a different datacenter (recovery site)."

"The whole package is valuable. The most useful feature for the company is the rapid RTO, which offers a faster return to operations and brings us back online quicker. The last time we had an issue, we recovered within about 36 minutes, which was probably the most valuable thing for us because, previously, it took four to seven days."

"The most valuable feature is the disaster recovery capabilities. The fact that we can have a clinic across the country backup in as little as 45 minutes is incredible."

"I really like how you can test the failover as often as you need."

"The ability to have a RPO of seconds has enabled us to restore data to just before an incident has occurred, which certainly saves a lot of time and money."

"VMware VM replication over narrow WAN bandwidth."

"RPO time for the copied-off VMs appears to be quite short."

"We can use Zerto to help protect our VMs."

More Zerto pros

Cons

"The only difficult part is the cost factor, licensing. Another area of improvement is support."

"The initial setup is complex."

"Sometimes, the technical support team takes time to respond."

"For every standby server you have, you must pay a licensing fee, which is the main disadvantage."

"We would like to be able to see the date time stamp when you execute DGMGRL commands."

"When the data replicates into the standby database there is a possibility of having a microsecond amount of data loss. The data loss occurs when there is a network disconnection between the primary and secondary standby database located in the data centers or if there is a crash in the primary database."

"The IP implementation and maintenance are a little bit hard to manage across Oracle solutions, including Oracle Data Guard."

"The deployment cost is expensive."

More Oracle Data Guard cons

"As a user who used Zerto for eight years, there are specific issues that it cannot address. For instance, recovering physical servers is directly connected to the virtualized solution in use, meaning your infrastructure needs a VMware or Hyper-V solution."

"I would like to see better notifications when the sync is off for an extended length of time."

"Not all of the knowledge required for implementing Zerto is available in their online documentation for non-partners."

"The VPG model causes us a bit of concern. We are considering using Zerto to replace Site Recovery Manager. Site Recovery Manager is very easy when we have entire data scores being replicated. We don't have to make any decisions when it comes to groupings. It is all covered. If we move to Zerto, which we are considering, we will have to work much closer with the applications teams to develop the VPG configuration and determine how the VMs will be grouped. It will be a lot more overhead for us to go that route."

"The reporting could be improved in terms of the reports that you can show to auditors to prove that you have done the testing. I provide the reports that it generates now but, it would be great if, at the end of a DR test, it would generate a report of everything that Zerto did."

"If the log was more detailed and more user-friendly, we wouldn't have to make the calls to the support to try and figure out where the problem lies."

"The pricing could be a little bit lower."

"The only complaint is that if I remove a host from a cluster, it does not like that. If I move and put the host in maintenance mode to fix it, and vRA is down, Zerto does not like it. Zerto should figure out that this host has an issue and it went down. Zerto should then let me upload that vRA information to another vRA."

More Zerto cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is on the higher side."

"The licensing cost is significantly high."

"It is not a cheap product, but if you look at the price, features, availability, scalability, and maturity, it is a very good product."

"It's a cost-effective solution."

"Oracle Data Guard is a feature available only in Oracle Database Enterprise Edition, and is available for extra cost."

"If you want to have everything automated and done smoothly, you have to add additional licenses."

"This is the best solution if you want something similar that's less expensive than Oracle Grid."

"The cost is expensive."

More Oracle Data Guard pricing and cost advice

"The pricing doesn't seem too bad for what it does."

"It's very reasonably priced. It's a little more than $3,000 annually. That works out to about $20 per server per month."

"We have always been able to get the pricing worked out. At this new company I am right now, we are doing well. We sometimes go through a third party to help us with pricing, but Zerto is fairly decently priced, especially when you consider some of the other solutions that are out there which could be very expensive."

"I think the cost is reasonable for VM licensing. It's not outside the scope of an enterprise product."

"Nothing is cheap, but Zerto represents decent value."

"Zerto is fairly expensive, but worth it."

"The solution is expensive, but it's worth the price."

"It initially seemed a little pricey, but in the big picture, you're paying for peace of mind. It could always be cheaper and more competitive, which would make it an easier choice for people, but I can see both ways. They can say this cost is for the value they are providing. If anything happens, they can recover your data very quickly. You won't be losing it, so there is a win. It is a win-win."

More Zerto pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user159711

Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Nov 9, 2014

VMware SRM vs. Veeam vs. Zerto

Disaster recovery planning is something that seems challenging for all businesses. Virtualization in addition to its operational flexibility, and cost reduction benefits, has helped companies improve their DR posture. Virtualization has made it easier to move machines from production to…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

22%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What advice do you have for others considering Oracle Data Guard?

Ik fluister:VM Host Oracle en DataGuard hebben we per toeval vervangen door Zerto :-) tijdens de Zerto implementatie en VPG werden de Host Data in write-ack Block-Level gerepliceerd. Qua licentie 1...

What advice do you have for others considering Oracle Data Guard?

It is a very useful administrative IT tool. It saves on costs. I strongly recommend Data Guard. I've been using it for eight years and I would strongly recommend it. I'd rate Oracle Data Guard a se...

What advice do you have for others considering Oracle Data Guard?

We're Oracle partners. We've worked with databases 11G and 12C. If a company is planning to implement Oracle solutions, I would suggest they also implement Data Guard. I'd rate the solution nine ou...

What do you like most about Zerto?

Its ability to roll back if the VM or the server that you are recovering does not come up right is also valuable. You have the ability to roll back a few seconds or a few minutes. The rollback feat...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zerto?

Zerto is definitely more costly compared to its competitors, such as VMware Site Recovery Manager. It may not be suitable for small and medium-sized industries.

What needs improvement with Zerto?

Its pricing could be better. Also, Zerto needs to improve its reporting capabilities and provide better dashboards. A number of times, I had to contact Zerto for more reports. They are very custome...

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Product Reports

Oracle Data Guard

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Also Known As

Active Data Guard

Zerto Virtual Replication

Overview

Oracle Data Guard ensures high availability, data protection, and disaster recovery for enterprise data. Data Guard provides a comprehensive set of services that create, maintain, manage, and monitor one or more standby databases to enable production Oracle databases to survive disasters and data corruptions. Data Guard can be used with traditional backup, restoration, and cluster techniques to provide a high level of data protection and data availability.

Oracle

Zerto is used for disaster recovery, business continuity, data migration, and ransomware recovery, providing continuous data protection and near real-time replication. Valued for ease of use, efficient failover processes, and versatile integration, it enhances organizational efficiency, reduces errors, and boosts productivity.

Sample Customers

Athenahealth, Discover Financial Services

United Airlines, HCA, XPO Logistics, TaxSlayer, McKesson, Insight Global, American Airlines, Tencate, Aaron’s, Grey’s County, Kingston Technologies

Oracle Data Guard vs. Zerto