VMware SRM vs Veeam Backup & Replication comparison

Cancel
You must select at least 2 products to compare!
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
"This is very user-friendly.""For virtualization it's perfect.""The data backup replication has been the most useful feature. Previously, we copied the data hub to an external hard drive but now we are able to store the backup on one of the depository service.""Veeam Backup Replication is easy to use and has high performance. The backups are very fast. It's a complete solution that fulfills our current needs.""The features that I have found most valuable are its back up and recovery. It is a simplified backup because you can do both databases - VM and HyperV. It's a faster backup than the conventional methods because it takes up the bare metal.""In terms of most valuable features, we are mostly using the Cloud Connect feature. It is flexible because you can use it on-prem and on cloud.""They provide good technical support and we are satisfied with the support we have received.""Sandbox feature is like a power tool for troubleshooting."

More Veeam Backup & Replication Pros →

"The most valuable feature is the integration with our Nutanix environment.""The solution is scalable.""VMware SRM is a very nice tool for disaster recovery for virtual environments.""VMware SRM's most valuable features are its convenience and its use of stretched clusters.""The replication is a key feature.""The thing I like the most about SMR is the reduced cost of management.""The solution is consistent.""The most valuable feature of the solution is that you can independently run the disaster recovery without disturbing the production instances."

More VMware SRM Pros →

Cons
"I think that Veeam could improve some performance issues when the backup itself is restored. I'm also using HPE StoreOnce, which has deduplication, and when I'm trying to test or run backups, it takes a lot of time. I think they could improve the testing for backup copies.""There's a lot of room for improvement surrounding the backup process.""I like the Acronis backup solutions on the block-based part of backups or snapshots. That's a nice functionality that Veeam doesn't have.""Although the solution offers documentation, it has it only in English, which doesn't help us much in Belarus.""The initial setup of Veeam Backup Replication is straightforward. The process took approximately two days. The setup could be streamlined to take less time.""The recovery and integration features of Veeam Backup Replication could improve. For example, all VM integration could improve, such as with Hyper-V and VMware.""Cross-hypervisor replication can be improved.""The whole graphical user interface is very easy, but the details are hidden deeply and aren't easily visible. You cannot easily see the details and explore or choose the settings. We should be able to easily explore various settings and options. If you can see more details while choosing the settings or setting it up, it helps in getting the software running easily. For example, in Microsoft Office, you can see much more in the interface than in Veeam Backup & Replication. It is a complex software. It is not easy to use, and you must know what to do and where to do. The user manual has more than a thousand pages. They should give some direct information through the software and improve the software. On their website, they can have some videos and step-by-step information to make us come straight to our goals."

More Veeam Backup & Replication Cons →

"You need a lot of knowledge to work with the interface because it is not really easy to use, and it would be great if the dashboard were simplified.""The price, in general, could be lower.""Lacks stability and as a result requires continuous monitoring.""The technical support is not quick enough to respond when a user tries to contact them.""There are many functionality problems with the product currently. It is also slow and unstable.""The biggest issue for us is that this product does not have any demo for customers.""An improvement for SRM would be better interface compatibility with other products.""We have had an issue when some customers have traditional designs and sites. For example, on one another site, they are using hyper-converged, using VMware, or Nutanix. We have a problem with the synchronization between the storage for site to site. This is the main issue. We are adding some other tools to support the synchronization to allow the movement of the workload from site to site easily."

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 →

    report
    Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Disaster Recovery (DR) Software solutions are best for your needs.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
    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
    Views
    23,301
    Comparisons
    19,735
    Reviews
    19
    Average Words per Review
    446
    Rating
    8.7
    Views
    8,603
    Comparisons
    6,684
    Reviews
    25
    Average Words per Review
    402
    Rating
    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.