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HPE Zerto Software vs Synology DSM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 21, 2025

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

HPE Zerto Software
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
2nd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
345
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Migration (1st), Cloud Backup (2nd), Disaster Recovery (DR) Software (1st)
Synology DSM
Ranking in Backup and Recovery
53rd
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.0
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Backup and Recovery category, the mindshare of HPE Zerto Software is 2.0%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Synology DSM is 1.4%, down from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Backup and Recovery Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
HPE Zerto Software2.0%
Synology DSM1.4%
Other96.6%
Backup and Recovery
 

Featured Reviews

DR
Enterprise data management supervisor at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
An all-in-one and cost-efficient solution that does what it promises
Zerto is very easy to use. Installation is about half an hour, and then it starts protecting the data and VMs. It is not very cumbersome. The UI is built very well. It is fairly self-explanatory. To be able to stand up a product you have never seen in half an hour and get it functioning and protecting speaks to how good the UI and workflow are. Zerto has near-synchronous replication. As a change is made on site A, it gets copied across the network to site B. We are five or six seconds behind production. If I have a heavily used system and I use traditional backups, I could be anywhere from 5 minutes to 23 hours behind. With Zerto, I am single-digit seconds behind. That works well for us. Our disaster recovery test, which used to span an entire week, now takes two days. We used to recover our servers in the first two or three days with a backup product and then test for two days before tearing it all down. Now, we spend half a day on new servers and ensuring things work with networking, etc. We test the next day, and we are done in two days. Across the entire company, we are able to save significant man-hours by shortening the test from a week to two days. We are now doing smaller tests once a month and larger tests once a year. Zerto has reduced our DR testing time by 60% to 70%. We are also able to do more disaster recovery testing. Previously, we were doing it once a year, whereas now, we are doing smaller tests once a month and our large tests once a year. In recovery point objectives, we are single-digit seconds behind. In terms of RTOs, I can recover 350 VMs in 30 minutes. It takes less than several seconds to restore a single VM. From days to 30 minutes for 350 compared to 100 VMs is an incredible time-saving in terms of RTOs and RPOs for us.
Michael Adejoh - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"My impressions of HPE Zerto Software's near-synchronous replication are excellent, as we typically see targets under five seconds, which no one else is achieving."
"It's easy to use, setup, and configure. It's also very easy to do a recovery."
"I like the ease of recovery and backup the most."
"Zerto offered us massive time saving and consistency. We have a consistent outcome every time we complete conversions."
"There are a lot of valuable features. The basics of what it does to replicate and recover things within minutes is awesome. It's far above anything that any of the competition has. We offer other disaster recovery software but primarily use Zerto for recovery times and the number of recovery points because of how fast and easy it is. It's so much better."
"The most valuable features are the continuous streaming, that it takes very little CPU usage — it doesn't affect production — and the recovery time is very short."
"HPE Zerto Software's continuous data protection or CDP is critical for our organization because it allows us to recover within seconds to minutes, and the journal allows us to pick a point-in-time recovery."
"We selected Zerto because the RPO is extremely low, so you can get that server back up almost immediately. That was a huge thing. Also, the ability to do failover tests, where you can test your environment, but not have it impact your production environment, was huge."
"The most valuable aspect is its ability to handle multiple disks."
"The solution's most valuable feature stems from its ease of use, making it the tool's most interesting part."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it serves as a backup for our company's virtual machine."
"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 features of Synology DSM are its security and connectivity."
"The most valuable features are the basic storage, file management, Btrfs file system, and built-in backups that come with the solution."
"Because of its simplicity and the wide array of features it offers, I would recommend DSM for both tech-savvy individuals and those who prefer a straightforward file-serving solution."
"The product performs well. It is easy to use and implement."
 

Cons

"It would be difficult to do, but I would love it if Zerto handled some of the scripting and things necessary to do a recovery. For example, it would be helpful if the solution could update the DNS to point to a new location. It would be nice to automate some of those tasks that you have to do to recover a VM and they were kinda out-of-the-box point-and-click things rather than things that required you to write a script."
"This solution could be improved by including some sort of compression or de-duplication for the same type of files."
"Zerto's setup process could be simpler."
"Right now, our production environment runs on-premises, and we have a DR copy of everything that we run in production. However, our development runs on that hardware. In the case of a DR event, we would need to shut down development and bring up our secondary copy of production. We're hoping that Zerto is going to be the tool to help us do that."
"Some of the integrations with our internal tools, in particular, company-specific ones, do not work. In cases like this, we have to ask for additional support."
"Right now, if you have an error, it creates a link that takes you to a website to review information about the problem. It would be nice if Zerto could give you information within the app instead of referring you to a web application."
"Near-synchronous replication has some trade-offs."
"Zerto requires these thick provision walls for virtual machines that are always running."
"Even though Synology provides a backup solution, it does not recognize the VM movement across cluster hosts."
"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."
"Users may lose their data if they don't configure the solution properly."
"Synology DSM's user interface is not quite intuitive."
"The only bothersome aspect is that the device is aging."
"The product's only shortcoming is pricing, as it is an expensive solution."
"The platform could be much more cost-effective and flexible for integrating third-party products."
"One area where Synology DSM could improve is in enhancing its ability to detect and respond to security threats during backups and replication."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"License-wise, we budgeted $1,000 per VM. The minimum spend on it, in the beginning, can sometimes be a little bit of a headache for people, and they might have to budget creatively to get there, but once you're there, the renewals are worth it."
"Its price is fair. It is very cost-effective compared to the cost of the labor for your workers and associates."
"The only negative part that I have seen so far has been the cost. It is kind of pricey, but you get what you pay for. Zerto is a lot faster than other solutions and you get enhanced performance."
"The pricing is reasonable."
"There is a one-time cost for maintenance and support. We have a three-year contract that we will have to renew when those three years come up. There is also licensing on top of that for whatever product you are using it for."
"The pricing for this solution is reasonable."
"Get the Enterprise Cloud license because it's the most flexible, and the pricing should come in around $1,000 per VM."
"The pricing seems reasonable. It's still within what we consider to be value-add."
"The price of the solution is very good."
"Synology DSM is a free tool."
"Synology DSM is a cheap solution."
"It is quite an affordable solution."
"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."
"The pricing varies widely, catering to a broad range of needs."
"The solution’s pricing is neither cheap nor expensive."
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Comparison Review

it_user159711 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Computer Software Company
14%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business90
Midsize Enterprise87
Large Enterprise197
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise1
 

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 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?
From a pricing perspective, HPE Zerto Software is expensive in comparison to other products on the market, but I think it is an easier sell because it works so well and it is so easy to set up a de...
Ask a question
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Also Known As

Zerto Virtual Replication
Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM)
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

United Airlines, HCA, XPO Logistics, TaxSlayer, McKesson, Insight Global, American Airlines, Tencate, Aaron’s, Grey’s County, Kingston Technologies
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Find out what your peers are saying about HPE Zerto Software vs. Synology DSM and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.