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Veeam competitors in 2024. Veeam alternative solutions.

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Updated 16th February 2024, Rob Morrison

Veeam is a well-known backup software provider in the industry; it is often considered one of the most popular options for data protection and disaster recovery tasks. There are plenty of capabilities that Veeam can offer to its clients, ranging from backup and recovery tasks to integration with SaaS apps, data management, and so on.

Veeam has several different products for specific use cases. Its flagship solution is called Veeam Data Platform, providing a feature-rich backup and recovery software that works with many different environment types be it regular storage, cloud storage, virtual machines, or SaaS apps.

Veeam Backup & Replication, on the other hand, is a much more case-specific backup solution that mainly operates within traditional backup capabilities for virtual or physical storage. Veeam also supports several specific use cases with separate solutions, such as Kubernetes, Salesforce, M365, etc.

Veeam’s backups are fast, reliable, and versatile, offering multiple recovery options to choose from. It has plenty of integration capabilities with cloud storage, no matter what type it is (private, public, or hybrid), and its security options are just as vast – with backup immutability, multi-factor authentication (MFA) support, and data encryption at rest and mid-transit.

Veeam can work with various storage types while also bringing in plenty of additional features, be it capacity planning, data monitoring, or status reporting. Multiple different licensing options and product versions exist to provide substantial flexibility to the end user. There is even a free basic version of Veeam Backup & Replication that can work for micro-businesses or as a showcase of the solution’s capabilities and interface.

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veeam competitors 2018

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Veeam Benefits

Since we already have an overview of Veeam’s capabilities, we can now go over some of the solution’s advantages clearly and concisely:

  • Administration of physical, virtual, and cloud-based machines from a simple administration console.
  • Easy granular recovery to specific levels of items or unitary elements of Microsoft Exchange, Sharepoint, and Active Directory.
  • Restores for Oracle and SQL Server database on transaction level.
  • The usage of snapshots for the execution of the policies of backups, reducing the backup time.
  • Disaster recovery in the cloud: fully integrated, safe, and easy with Veeam cloud connectors.
  • Integrated acceleration of backups to the WAN allows faster transfer of data volumes and replicas to external sites.
  • Backup repositories in different destinations that are easily scalable with built-in deduplication and compression.
  • Implementation of the policies and actions of disaster recovery with a single click and with minimal disruption of the operation.

Why look for a different solution if you already have Veeam?

Veeam is a solution with a lot of positive reputation, and a lot of it is well-deserved. At the same time, there are still some issues that plenty of users may find unacceptable:

  • The overall cost of the solution. Veeam is not the cheapest offering on the market, and it is challenging for most small and middle-sized businesses to start using Veeam’s solution. There are also plenty of issues with the newer licensing model, and the “Per VM” model has received a massive price increase in recent months.
  • Some limitations when it comes to physical server coverage. Veeam has always prioritized virtual storage locations over physical ones, and the same logic applies to this day – there are simply not as many features and tools available for physical backup storage targets as for virtual ones.
  • A steep learning curve. Veeam is a solution with plenty of features, and its interface could be more user-friendly on the market. As such, starting using Veeam to its full potential from the get-go is not easy. The total feature variety can be overwhelming to newcomers, and the lack of detailed documentation makes learning even more difficult.
  • Sophisticated first-time setup process. Veeam is a solution of a substantial size that consists of multiple services, making it difficult to even download the solution in the first place, let alone set it up. The same logic applies to regular software updates that Veeam provides regularly.

Not all of Veeam’s shortcomings are timeless, either. Plenty of users may also be concerned about Veeam’s recent issues with unpatched vulnerabilities, resulting in multiple hacker groups using these vulnerabilities to hack into user files.

This article goes over an industry-wide warning for the healthcare field from the federal authorities about Veeam’s critical vulnerability published in March 2023. The vulnerability in question is CVE-2023-27532; it bypasses the encryption of user credentials that Veeam stores. There has been at least one cybercrime group (FIN7) that has performed an attack against public servers using this vulnerability.

The vulnerability in question was successfully patched using a security update from Veeam, as noted in this article. The article in question also links to Veeam’s website, detailing the scope and the potential threat of the now-closed vulnerability.

This vulnerability turned out to be far more destructive than initially assumed. The pen-testing company Horizon3 released an exploit for the vulnerability mentioned above on March 23, 2023, showcasing how API endpoint security issues can lead to the possibility of user credentials being extracted while also explaining that the same vulnerability allowed the attackers to execute remote commands with the highest privileges possible. More information on the topic can be found here.

This website can provide an extensive overview of existing Veeam vulnerabilities, their severity, and other information.

Veeam User Reviews

  • Rahul J. Capterra – “I am using Veeam since from February 2021. It’s actually a best software but faced many times backup issue when Server size were more than 1TB. Otherwise restoration process are good, Instance recovery process are also simple and useful for migration also.it’s seriously very good software for full server type backup(Host base backup).
  • Nizar LaljiTrustRadius – “In my organization, NSW Health, Veeam Data Platform is used for data backup, recovery, and protection. It helps prevent data loss, minimize downtime, and ensure data availability across various healthcare-related systems and environments, including virtualized, physical, and cloud-based workloads. This is crucial for maintaining critical healthcare services and safeguarding patient data. Veeam also supports disaster recovery and multi-cloud data management within the scope of NSW Health’s IT infrastructure.
  • Muhammad Ahsan S.G2 – “With nearly 4-5 years of hands-on experience, I have deployed Veeam Backup and Replication in various customer environments, showcasing its reliability and effectiveness. Veeam proves to be an excellent tool for backup and recovery, addressing the critical challenge of ensuring downtime-free recovery for applications and databases in the deployed environments. Veeam excels in fulfilling the backup needs of a customer’s infrastructure, offering a comprehensive solution that ensures data integrity and recoverability. While Veeam outshines Veritas in many aspects, it’s essential to acknowledge that Veritas has some competitive features. However, Veeam still stands out as the preferred choice due to its overall effectiveness and performance.
  • Turan A.Capterra – “Although the configurations took a long time in the first installation, everything was clear after the installation. In a very short time, we started the instant backup process by integrating our virtual machines. Great performance in replicating data to another medium and sending backups. Thanks to the management of data from a single point, we started to use our processes, lost time and resources more effectively. Moreover, the ability to instantly monitor the errors, reports and logs allows you to have control over all processes.

Veeam Competitors

It would be unfair to say that Veeam has no shortcomings or disadvantages. Its setup process is somewhat sophisticated, and the number of valuable features for physical backups is lower than for virtual ones (since Veeam promotes itself as a backup solution for virtual environments, first and foremost). There is also the overall complexity of the solution; it takes a significant amount of time to learn and get used to its capabilities.

In a market as competitive and prosperous as the backup software, even a single disadvantage or an unfavorable trait can be the deciding factor against purchasing a specific backup solution. Veeam has plenty of competition in the same field, with each competitor having its share of advantages and shortcomings.

Acronis Cyber Protect may sometimes be a possible alternative to Veeam, all things considered – it has a similar feature set in terms of data protection and backup capabilities. Acronis can also perform a few of the more unconventional operations, including working with virtualization or imaging your entire system (creating a single image that contains the entirety of your system, including both user data and system information). Cohesity, on the other hand, allows its users to optimize their entire system with an array of products for data protection, data management, and compliance. It may be an excellent choice for customers that often experience bottlenecks in terms of IT silos, which Cohesity can work with or eliminate completely.

Next, we will showcase several different Veeam competitors and briefly describe why each might be a good alternative in the first place. We will also use an assertive approach when comparing Veeam and its competitors, such as using data from famous software review websites. In this particular example, we are mostly going to use data from Gartner and Peerspot:

Acronis Cyber Protect

Acronis Cyber Protect is a great backup and recovery solution focusing on data security measures. Acronis can provide blockchain-based authentication, active ransomware scanning, extensive backup validation, fast RTOs, and more. The solution takes data protection seriously, ensuring that the customer’s information is always safe and secure.

4.4 out of 5 points based on 305 customer reviews

Advantages. Acronis is considered to be easier than Veeam in terms of first-time deployment and integration, as well as general customer support capabilities. Its administrative capabilities are top-notch, and the storage cloning feature is universally praised.

Shortcomings. It does have some issues with SQL database backups. The overall list of supported databases and hypervisors could be more extensive compared with what competitors can offer. The scalability of Acronis is limited, and its general user interface is often seen as needlessly complicated.

Cohesity DataProtect

Cohesity DataProtect is very similar to Veeam in that it prioritizes cloud and virtual environments over physical ones. Cohesity’s scalability and its range of security measures are some of the more notable features of the solution. The software in question can be deployed on-premise or as a service, and it is widely considered one of the most efficient solutions on the market.

4.7 out of 5 points based on 717 customer reviews

Advantages. Cohesity’s overall cost is relatively reasonable, and its deployment process is somewhat more accessible than in Veeam. It can offer forever incremental backup, instant DR failover, and extensive ransomware detection. It also has impressive total performance ratings compared with many other solutions.

Shortcomings. Cohesity does have some issues when it comes to supporting legacy platforms. There is a demand for more detailed documentation about the different capabilities of the solution. Not all software updates are applied automatically, and the software’s reporting capabilities are considered bare-bones.

Veritas NetBackup

Recently acquired by Cohesity, Veritas NetBackup is a feature-rich and versatile enterprise-grade backup software. It has been on the market for several decades, providing its users with backup and recovery capabilities. It supports databases, virtual environments, tape storage, and regular servers/workstations, and its feature range includes data deduplication and support for the public cloud, among other capabilities.

4.8 out of 5 points with 662 customer reviews

Advantages. Veritas is a relatively old solution in this market, gathering many positive reviews and good press. Its feature range is also awe-inspiring, offering plenty of automation capabilities, support for hybrid environments, extensive data security, etc. Veritas also supports a variety of data storage types of variations.

Shortcomings. Veritas is considered somewhat more challenging to deploy compared with Veeam. Its reporting capabilities leave a lot to be desired, and the overall number of tools can be overwhelming regarding system administration tasks. The customer support’s response time leaves a lot to be desired, as well.

NAKIVO Backup & Replication

NAKIVO Backup & Replication offers a known and respected data security platform that combines backup and recovery capabilities with other data security features. It can work with multiple backup target locations, ranging from standard servers and workstations to databases, VMs, and applications. Its feature range includes application-aware incremental backups, instant recovery capabilities, etc.

4.8 out of 5 points with 402 customer reviews

Advantages. NAKIVO is extremely easy to deploy and work with and has generally better scalability and automation capabilities. It supports various storage types, and its first-time setup process is not particularly complicated by the market’s standards. It is also one of the fastest and most effective solutions on the market regarding backup or restoration process performance.

Shortcomings. NAKIVO lacks some of the more advanced reporting options, can be slow in specific circumstances, and its scheduling capabilities could be more user-friendly and detailed. It is also relatively expensive, with the primary target audience of NAKIVO being large-scale enterprises – making it very difficult for SMBs to afford this solution.

Rubrik

Rubrik is an impressive data management solution with centralization capabilities. It can work with many data types: hybrid, virtual, or physical. It can also be surprisingly effective at protecting the data from all kinds of cybersecurity issues, be it ransomware, internal threats, or operational failures. Rubrik can also offer respectable scalability, built-in cloud integration, etc.

4.8 out of 5 points with 664 customer reviews

Advantages. Rubrik provides more detailed reporting results across the board, and some users consider it to be well worth the high price, as opposed to Veeam, which has many more users who are not particularly satisfied with the current pricing. Its Live Mount feature is one of the most significant advantages of the solution, as well.

Shortcomings. Rubrik is not a solution with the most user-friendly interface, and it also seems to prioritize VMware over Hyper-V and other VMs regarding new features. Its price also needs to scale better with larger companies, making the solution far more expensive than its standard value as time goes on.

Azure Backup

As its name suggests, Azure Backup is a cloud-based backup solution provided by Microsoft Azure. It can take care of a company’s critical data by protecting it from ransomware attacks, accidental deletions, or simple data loss. The solution can also offer support and centralization capabilities for various workload types – SAP HANA databases, AKS clusters, Azure VMs, SQL Server databases, etc. Other features of Azure Backup include scheduling, long-term archival, impressive scalability, and ensured application consistency.

4.4 out of 5 points with 115 customer reviews

Advantages. Azure Backup seems to be a bit more user-friendly than Veeam in terms of both initial installation and overall customer support. Its pay-as-you-go model can be highly convenient for some companies, and the capability to have centralized control over multiple workload types is exceptionally convenient.

Shortcomings. Azure Backup’s integration capabilities are minimal, and the software cannot create immutable backups whatsoever. It also has an unusual limitation regarding how many files can be restored daily. Its support for physical environments is also minimal, and its interface is not easy to work with at first.

VMware SRM

VMware SRM is not even a traditional backup solution in the first place, but its outstanding disaster recovery capabilities are enough to keep it on this list. It is a Site Recovery Manager that can manage and restore VM environments in no time. VMware SRM is responsible for the failback and failover of VMs between different physical sites; it focuses most of its efforts on data recovery while providing policy-based management for most of its tasks.

4 out of 5 points with 19 customer reviews 

Advantages. VMware SRM has a user-friendly interface and a good track record in disaster recovery. It is one of the few solutions that can offer automation for restoration processes. It can simplify DR planning while offering non-disruptive disaster recovery plan testing capabilities.

Shortcomings. VMware SRM’s technical support for customers could use more work. Its RPO results are not particularly impressive as a whole, and it tends to struggle quite a lot under heavy loads.

Commvault CDP

Commvault CDP is a backup solution that attempts to cover three different fields in the same solution – data management centralization, data security, and disaster recovery. A long and successful history of Commvault proves its success in reaching this goal, providing a comprehensive backup solution that supports many storage types and provides plenty of diverse and valuable features.

4.4 out of 5 points with 426 customer reviews

Advantages. Commvault is a versatile backup platform with a transparent pricing model that can also be flexible for different needs, and its integration/deployment capabilities receive praise from end users. It also has multiple years of positive reputation to back up its claims in the eyes of newcomers.

Shortcomings. Commvault can also be somewhat underperforming when the data is stored on a cluster or server that is far from the user’s location, and it can be rather challenging to make it compliant with different data security standards and procedures. Commvault can also be relatively expensive by this market’s means, making it far more suitable for large enterprises and not SMBs.

Arcserve UDP

Arcserve UDP tries its best to provide an enterprise-grade data protection solution that is also relatively easy for newcomers to get into. It is an impressive backup and recovery solution supporting various storage types. It offers a variety of features in fields such as cybersecurity, disaster recovery, and backup management in the same package.

4.6 out of 5 points with 145 customer reviews

Advantages. Arcserve is easy to deploy, has a simple integration process with various systems and solutions, and a customer support team is always there to help with any potential issue or confusion. It also has an impressive scalability for such sophisticated software.

Shortcomings. Arcserve is extremely limited in what kinds of cloud storage providers and VM types it can work with, and the solution’s reporting capabilities were also reported as lacking. Arcserve is also not the best option for working with physical storage environments specifically, and its overall cost is not particularly customer-friendly.

Dell Technologies

Dell is a technological giant with its own version of a backup solution for enterprise users. It is an enterprise-grade data protection solution that easily supports both physical and virtual environments. It is also split into several designated software offerings, as well – Avamar is responsible for performing extensive backup and recovery operations, Networker offers data management and centralized control over backups, and Advisor is a great place to acquire insights acquired from data analysis and monitoring of your storage.

4.7 out of 5 points and 902 customer reviews

Advantages. Dell’s backup solution is considered generally better than Veeam in terms of deployment and integration capabilities, and its customer support also has much praise for its performance. It can offer plenty of advanced features while also being surprisingly scalable.

Shortcomings. Dell’s support seems somewhat inconsistent with how helpful they can be, and the overall GUI of the solution could use more work in terms of user-friendliness and functionality. It is also challenging to set up at first, and the solution is not geared towards smaller organizations whatsoever.

However, one specific alternative to Veeam is worth its own segment in the article – especially for medium and large organizations, and that is Bacula Enterprise.

Bacula Enterprise as a Veeam alternative

Bacula and Veeam make use not only of backup technologies but also implement new concepts and opportunities for their operation that increase performance and efficiency, such as advanced management tools for interaction with the cloud, for example.

Bacula is an especially secure, scalable, highly flexible and complete backup solution, and with the features mentioned above, it has become an attractive choice as a Veeam competitor.

Bacula has many clear advantages, but the most important one is its exceptionally high level of security compared to practically all other backup and recovery vendors. For this reason, the most prominent Western military and defense organizations, banks, and governmental offices rely on the solution. It has a unique architecture that protects against ransomware and other malware, making it a must for organizations that need the highest levels of protection.

Bacula brings a set of other unique advantages that make it one of the best backup and recovery options to implement in a large and diverse professional organization. Among them are:

  • The use of open source as a model for development and operation allows the user to take advantage of a technology that is in constant evolution, in addition to being easily adaptable to the changes arising, and its implementation does not significantly affect the operation and continuity of business.
  • Advanced encryption, compression, deduplication, data poisoning detection, security dashboards, immutability options, full integration with tape, disk, and cloud storage,
  • An extensive range of features for virtual, container, physical, and cloud environments.
  • The ability to back up and quickly recover data from one platform. Bacula covers practically all technologies, including many SaaS applications, in-cloud functionality, and nearly all container technologies.
  • Native integration with MySQL, MS SQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, MariaDB, and SAP HANA
  • Native integration with Hyper-V, VMware, Xen, Proxmox, Nutanix, Azure VM and KVM
  • Best value for money in several ways. Firstly, Bacula Systems does not charge by data volume. As a result, data centers and IT departments are free to grow in terms of data volume with no extra charges from Bacula for data volume, allowing them to keep costs to a minimum. Secondly, all data can be backed up and recovered from one platform. Thirdly, Bacula’s annual subscription licensing model is low-cost and just as scalable as its architecture, multiplying its efficiency more than other solutions. Finally, Bacula’s support services are fast, with immediate access to senior support engineers, effectively reducing customer organization costs.

Choosing the Best Alternative to Veeam For Yourself

With many alternatives and competitors to Veeam on the market, finding a software or solution for almost any potential backup-related use case should be more than possible. For example, solutions such as NAKIVO or Acronis may be easier to deploy. At the same time, Arcserve or Azure Backup would be great fits for companies looking for good customer support in their Veeam alternatives.

Bacula Enterprise is a clear Veeam competitor that enables organizations to have a backup solution that meets all their requirements at significantly improved levels of security. High-end users such as government, defense, Banks, large enterprises, and national organizations generally need significantly higher levels of security than most (or all) of the previously mentioned vendors tend to provide. This is where Bacula comes in.

Bacula’s security levels are relied on by the most prominent defense organizations in the West, the U.S. Military, and many global navies. It is readily adaptable to any potential new technologies that may appear in the future. Bacula is compatible with many hypervisors, databases, and storage destinations – far beyond most of its peers.

It is highly customizable and scales up to many thousands of servers. It is also controlled by management consoles or web-based GUI, where the user can access all backup and recovery-related elements. Users need at least one Linux server to use Bacula, which is another reason for this software’s high-security quality. Interestingly, Bacula offers an entirely free open-source version and non-capacity-based licensing for the Enterprise paid version. This keeps costs significantly down for organizations with growing data volumes.Additionally, Bacula is uniquely positioned when it comes to sustainability credentials.

Choosing a single backup solution for a company can be very daunting, whether you’re a newcomer in this field or a professional with years of reputation. Understanding your priorities regarding the overall software feature set is always recommended before choosing a specific backup solution. That way, picking one out of a hundred different backup software can be made slightly more straightforward and more manageable.

About the author
Rob Morrison
Rob Morrison is the marketing director at Bacula Systems. He started his IT marketing career with Silicon Graphics in Switzerland, performing strongly in various marketing management roles for almost 10 years. In the next 10 years Rob also held various marketing management positions in JBoss, Red Hat and Pentaho ensuring market share growth for these well-known companies. He is a graduate of Plymouth University and holds an Honours Digital Media and Communications degree, and completed an Overseas Studies Program.