VMware SRM vs Veeam Backup & Replication comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Apr 10, 2022

We performed a comparison between Veeam Backup & Replication and VMware SRM based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: Most reviewers of both solutions agree that the installation is a straightforward process.
  • Features: Users of both products are happy with their stability and scalability. Veeam Backup users say it is high performing, flexible and user-friendly. Several Veeam Backup users note that better integration options are necessary. VMware SRM users say it has good replication and recovery capabilities but can be difficult to synchronize with other environments.
  • Pricing: Veeam Backup reviewers feel that it is an expensive solution. Some VMware SRM reviewers say that the price of the product is fair, while others say it is expensive.
  • ROI: Veeam Backup reviewers report seeing an ROI. VMware SRM reviewers do not mention ROI.
  • Service and Support: Most users of both solutions report being satisfied with the level of support they receive.

Comparison Results: Veeam Backup & Replication comes out on top in this comparison due to its robust performance and user-friendly interface. Veeam Backup & Replication also has a significant ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed VMware SRM vs. Veeam Backup & Replication Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The ntegration of physical agents with our cloud connect service is positive.""They introduced a new feature called the Immutable Repository feature, which helps protect environments from malware attacks that target backup file extensions.""The encryption password is used to protect the backup files. Even if someone gains access to the backup job or files, they won't be able to utilize them without the password.""With regard to our operational requirements, Veeam is very good because it's so user-friendly.""Get only one interface to manage all backup sites, secure them with replication, and manage outside LTO media.""The replication is the most valuable feature for us.""Its backup capabilities in general are great.""The advantage of Veeam Backup and Replication is that it is very economical. The price is affordable and the cost benefit is good."

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"If you want to do failover, it works without any problem.""The thing I like the most about SMR is the reduced cost of management.""VMware's tech support gets a nine-out-of-ten. They are responsive and get you a useful reply.""The most valuable feature is the automation, where you press a button and everything fails over seamlessly.""In terms of resiliency, the most valuable aspect of SRM has been its effectiveness.""VMware SRM replicates the VM from one site to another, and it helps us orchestrate the powering of VMs and DR when the DC goes down.""The solution is very flexible.""In terms of recovery, if you have a test job script, you can put it on top of it. You can create custom steps so that it will be more granular. It will be an easy, one click solution when it comes to the recovery application."

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Cons
"Its licensing needs to be improved. Its licensing has become complex since last December. They have changed the way the product is licensed, and there is a lot of confusion. Sometimes, when a new version comes, it seems that it has not been tested enough because I usually find some bugs in it. It could also have more integration with other virtualization products, such as desktop virtualization products and open-source virtualization products.""In the past, Veeam had a host-based license, but now it will be part of Microsoft's core license. I don't like this licensing model. Host-based licensing is better for my system. Maybe so other organizations prefer the core-based.""think backing up from physical servers and ransomware security needs some improvements.""All our customers would like a cheaper license and more flexible deployment.""The web interface could be more visual.""I would want them to improve some technical features that are still missing because we are working with NetApp NVMe and they're not fully supporting it yet. But both NetApp and Veeam know about it and they're working on it.""There's a lot of room for improvement surrounding the backup process.""Veeam Backup Replication could improve by making the monitoring system free. If I would like to have any monitoring system by Veeam I have to purchase it. It should come free with the solution. They should provide a monitoring system to make the work easier and smooth."

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"VMware SRM lacks certain functions that other platforms have, such as better prioritization of allocation of resources and Boot profiles.""The configuration process could be improved.""Timing issues arise due to replication lags in multiple areas. When this happens, we encounter errors.""There is room for improvement in the automation and orchestration aspects of this solution.""In general, the drawbacks of VMware SRM, where improvements can be made, stem from the fact that it is an expensive and complex product.""We've had configuration issues on occasion. We start to fail over, and then we have to call it off because the configuration is not right, or the data stores aren't configured correctly in the secondary data center. Oftentimes, it is just the experience level of the team, and we have to bring in the vendor to help and validate our configuration.""In my view, if VMware comes up with an appliance-based solution like vCenter Server (which was also Windows-based), it will be much easier for deployment. I""Flexibility to choose different PITs would be nice."

More VMware SRM Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "If you have Exchange, Oracle, SQL, or a supported SAN, then I suggest getting at least an Enterprise edition. It’ll pay for itself in no time."
  • "The pricing and licensing is better than the competitors, but it could be better."
  • "Room for improvement is actually more in the way of licensing. The really good and useful features are in the Enterprise plus edition, and that one is really expensive."
  • "Since pricing is per socket, it is not expensive to add capacity as you go along."
  • "The licensing is based on the number of cores you have in your ESX or Hyper-V environment."
  • "The price is a bit high. Licensing type is VMware friendly, so it is easy."
  • "I think the price is good when you choose the Essentials Suite, but when you buy a full featured version (for instance the Enterprise Plus) the price is a little bit expensive."
  • "Setup cost and licensing of Veeam are nothing to complain about when compared to similar products for enterprise backup recovery solutions."
  • More Veeam Backup & Replication Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Compare to hardware-based replication, I think software based replication is best and cheap."
  • "Licensing costs explode after 75 VMs."
  • "The price of this solution is on the expensive side."
  • "The cost of SRM is a little bit high, especially for smaller companies."
  • "The cost of SRM is on par with market rates."
  • "The licensing costs are increasing."
  • "It is about $3,000 a year for the 25 pack. The package gives you the ability to protect up to 25 virtual machines."
  • "There is an annual license to use this solution."
  • More VMware SRM Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Comparison Review
    Anonymous User
    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Comparing the features of the four is not the right approach. You need to develop a list of requirements for backup and DR that are specific to your organization and then compare each of the four… more »
    Top Answer:Technically, Veeam is best for hyper-v & VMWare replications, snapshots, HA failover, also support for file system backups inside VMs., support for tape library & FC too But Veritas Netbackup is a… more »
    Top Answer:Nakivo is my favorite backup software. Below are the main benefits of Nakivo compared to Veeam 1. Low cost. 2. Backup storage with global deduplication (this is the main requirement of a backup… more »
    Top Answer:I rate the product price a five to six on a scale of one to ten, where one is a very high price, and ten is a very low price.
    Top Answer:The solution must provide better integration with third-party vendors.
    Ranking
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    Rating
    8.7
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    8.2
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Veeam Backup and Replication, Veeam Availability Suite
    VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager
    Learn More
    Overview

    Veeam Backup & Replication is a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery solution designed primarily for virtual environments. Veeam Backup & Replication offers a blend of simplicity and efficiency, making it a go-to solution for businesses seeking to protect their data. It supports a wide range of virtual platforms, including VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V. According to the reviews, what sets Veeam apart is its ability to provide high-speed recovery, data loss avoidance, verified recoverability, leveraged data, and complete visibility. 

    Veeam Backup & Replication delivers availability for cloud, virtual, Kubernetes and physical workloads. Through a simple-by-design management console, users are offered what is presented as fast, flexible, reliable backup, archival, recovery and replication functionality.

    Backup capabilities

    • Continuous Data Protection
    • Fast, reliable application-aware, image-based backups
    • Unlimited capacity and cost savings for long-term data retention on object storage with new Veeam Cloud Tier
    • Enterprise application support for Veeam Plug-ins for SAP HANA and Oracle RMAN

    Replication capabilities

    • Instant recovery for NAS, Microsoft SQL and Oracle
    • Recover individual files easily with Instant VM and File-level Recovery
    • Easy portability and recovery to AWS, Azure and Azure Stack with NEW Veeam Cloud Mobility

    Recovery capabilities

    • Recover individual files with Instant VM and File-level Recovery
    • Portability and recovery to AWS, Azure and Azure Stack with NEW Veeam Cloud Mobility
    • Fast, item-level and application recovery for Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Active Directory, and SQL Server and Oracle

    Reviews from Real Users

    Veeam Backup & Replication is a solution that stands out when compared to many of its competitors. Some of its major advantages are its ease of set up, the fact that it is agentless, and that it has an intuitive dashboard. 

    A Network Operations Manager at an educational organization says, "Integration with VMware is excellent with very granular recovery."

    An Inside Solutions Architect at a tech services company mentions, “I like that it's agent-less, easy to set up, and hardware-agnostic.”

    An Account Manager at a tech services company states, “The dashboard is very, very easy to understand. We do demonstrations all the time with customers just to show them. If they've lost particular files because of a server going down, we can retrieve those files for them and quickly bring those files back up.”

    Kerem C., Director of Professional Services/Senior Solution Architect/Trainer at a tech services company, explains, “It's good for backup performance management and backup window management.”

    VMware SRM (Site Recovery Manager) is a business continuity and disaster recovery solution that is part of the vSphere virtualization suite. It helps you plan, test, and run the recovery of virtual machines between a protected vCenter Server site and a recovery vCenter Server site. VMware SRM aims to minimize data loss and system downtime by letting you automate backups and orchestrate the recovery of entire VMware storage systems. VMware SRM is offered on-premises and on the AWS cloud.

    VMware SRM is most commonly used for:

    • Disaster recovery
    • Disaster avoidance
    • Data center migrations
    • Site-level load balancing
    • Maintenance testing for enterprise applications

    As a disaster recovery tool, VMware SRM:

    • Provides replication technology.
    • Supports policy-based management of backup programs.
    • Lets you run non-disruptive testing of disaster recovery plans.

    VMware SRM Key Features

    Some of VMware SRM’s key features include:
    Good scalability and stability, fast and reliable recovery, automated orchestration workflows, automated recovery of network and security settings, non-disruptive recovery testing, orchestrated cross-vCenter vMotion, stretched storage support, and self-service provisioning.

    VMware SRM Benefits

    The main benefits of using VMware SRM include:

    • Integration: VMware SRM integrates with other VMware technologies and architectures.

    • Non-disruptive testing: VMware SRM allows you to conduct tests during business hours without disruptions.

    • Reduced recovery time: By using automated orchestration workflows, VMware SRM helps to decrease recovery time to just minutes.

    • Automated failback: With automated failback, you can resume business operations as normal very quickly.

    • Extensibility for custom automation: With VMware SRM, you can use the Orchestrator plug-in to build custom automation workflows.

    • Automated network mappings: You can automatically map network settings across the two sites when creating a recovery plan.

    • Eliminate the need to re-configure IP addresses: With VMware SRM’s automated recovery of network and security settings, it is not necessary to e-configure IP addresses on recovered VMs via integration with NSX. Configurations are also reduced post-recovery by implementing security policies.

    • Centralized recovery plans: VMware SRM’s centralized recovery plans help you protect thousands of VM’s and also make it possible to eliminate manual runbooks.

    • Protect investments: With supported replication, VMware SRM helps protect investments and tailor RPOs.

    • Lower TCO: By using VMware SRM, you can lower your TCO and incur lower expenses for disaster recovery.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are reviews from PeerSpot users who are currently using the solution:

    PeerSpot user Eslam E., Senior Solution Architect at ICT Misr, explains his experience using the solution and says that "VMware SRM is very effective between two sites with identical twin storage, you can have synchronization between the two sites."

    A founder at a comms service provider commented on the solution's efficiency, noting, "If you want to do failover, it works without any problem."

    Reviewer Rakesh-P., who is a consultant at Ashtech Infotech (India) Pvt.Ltd., mentions why he finds VMware SRM to be a good product, commenting that “The most valuable feature is disaster recovery testing. The reports are very good.”

    Ahmed F., a consultant at Daniyals Inc, says that the solution doesn’t require a lot of resources and that "The UI is very user-friendly and testing is easy."

    Sample Customers
    Vodafone, American Standard Brands, Welch’s, University of Florida, Tata Global Beverages Limited, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Hirslanden Private Hospital Group, MacLean-Fogg Company
    Acorda Therapeutics, Columbia Sportswear, Mainfreight, Nippon Express, Sin Chew Media, Fisher & Paykel, Siam City Bank
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Government7%
    Comms Service Provider6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Government8%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Government14%
    Comms Service Provider14%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    Government9%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business45%
    Midsize Enterprise24%
    Large Enterprise31%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise18%
    Large Enterprise53%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business44%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise45%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise61%
    Buyer's Guide
    VMware SRM vs. Veeam Backup & Replication
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about VMware SRM vs. Veeam Backup & Replication and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Veeam Backup & Replication is ranked 1st in Disaster Recovery (DR) Software with 328 reviews while VMware SRM is ranked 6th in Disaster Recovery (DR) Software with 69 reviews. Veeam Backup & Replication is rated 8.6, while VMware SRM is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Veeam Backup & Replication writes "Beneficial pricing model, user friendly interface, and many free features". On the other hand, the top reviewer of VMware SRM writes "A scalable solution that integrates well with the VMware platform, but its platform agnostics do not support on-cloud usage". Veeam Backup & Replication is most compared with Acronis Cyber Protect, Azure Backup, Rubrik, Veritas NetBackup and Cohesity DataProtect, whereas VMware SRM is most compared with Zerto, Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines, Azure Site Recovery, VMware Cloud Disaster Recovery and Nutanix Disaster Recovery as a Service . See our VMware SRM vs. Veeam Backup & Replication report.

    See our list of best Disaster Recovery (DR) Software vendors.

    We monitor all Disaster Recovery (DR) Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.