Veeam and Zerto are two popular disaster recovery and data backup providers helping businesses ensure they don’t lose access to their data due to natural disasters, cyberattacks, and other reasons.
With features like continuous data protection, cloud backup, and cloud acceleration, your business will be able to operate smoothly at all times.
However, which product is better for your business? While Veeam and Zerto offer similar solutions with many overlapping features, there are some crucial differences between these two major competitors.
Today, I will be exploring those differences and helping you understand which product is a better investment. Let’s get into it.
Veeam vs Zerto: The Basics
What Is Veeam?
Veeam is a data protection service offering solutions for various environments. Founded back in 2006 and based in Columbus, Ohio, it has established itself well in the industry, attracting over 400,000 customers and employing over 35,000 people.
While Veeam originally focused on backups for virtual machines, it has since morphed into a full-fledged data restoration solution.
Explore the best alternatives to Veeam here.
What Is Zerto?
Zerto was founded in 2009, and it has headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, and Israel. It provides data protection and cloud management solutions.
At some point, Zerto was bought off by Hewlett-Packard, and it now operates as a subsidiary of HP.
Zerto vs Veeam: Data Backup & Recovery
Veeam
Veeam Backup and Replication™ is an all-in-one data backup and recovery solution for all of your environments and workloads: virtual, cloud, physical, applications, and SaaS. With modules for AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Salesforce, Kubernetes, Microsoft 365, and many more, it works for all businesses.
Instant recovery and continuous data protection (CDP) allows you to recover workloads quicker, with minimal downtime.
There are a variety of recovery options available – check out the infographic on this page for various scenarios.
If you get the Veeam Availability Suite, data backup will be combined with Veeam One to provide you with advanced monitoring and reporting. For businesses on a stricter budget, you can get just the backup features with Veeam Backup Essentials
Zerto
Like Veeam, Zerto allows you to modernize your data recovery and backup processes. With low RPOs (Recovery Point Objectives) and fast RTOs (Recovery Time Objectives), you can recover data from as soon as seconds ago, so you stand to risk very little data when using Zerto for data recovery.
Zerto Backup is available for Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and more. It’s also available for Kubernetes.
Zerto has a nifty calculator that helps you figure out how much you can save on your total cost of ownership when switching from your legacy data backup process to Zerto. I suggest you check it out.
Using Microsoft Azure and AWS, you can move your backup to the cloud and store your data there.
One thing worth noting is that while continuous data protection at Veeam has only been added recently, Zerto has been providing CDP as a foundational part of its offering for over 10 years.
Zerto’s CDP uses advanced journaling technology to log all changes for up to 30 days, longer than Veeam, which only offers journaling for one day. Zerto’s CDP has been proven to help lower RPOs to as fast as seconds, as I mentioned – snapshots are no longer required to be scheduled, but rather taken automatically every time a data change is made.
Some ways in which Zerto offers better continuous data protection than Veeam include the ability for non-disruptive testing and simultaneous replication.
For faster RPOs and better CDP overall, Zerto is the superior choice. So, in regard to data backup and recovery, the win goes to Zerto.
Veeam vs Zerto: Disaster Recovery
Veeam
Veeam has a robust disaster recovery solution allowing for simple disaster recovery planning and automated plan testing, with the ability to run tests on demand or schedule them in advance. You can use customizable templates to update disaster recovery plans and workflows.
Single-click disaster recovery allows you to recover data for an app or site instantly.
Zerto
Again, Zerto claims to offer the lowest RPOs in the industry, and it uses continuous data protection as opposed to snapshot technology. With “always-on replication” and journaling technology that has a “granularity of seconds,” you’ll get access to thousands of recovery points, ensuring minimal loss.
One thing that sets Zerto apart is that it uses application-centric recovery technology. For multi-VM stacks, you can ensure consistency across all virtual machines by recovering them from the same point in time.
The same applies to a Kubernetes application spread across different clusters.
Zerto calls them “protection groups,” or PGs. You can recover a protection group, collectively, to a snapshot taken a few seconds ago or a few years ago.
Nevertheless, Zerto says that granular recovery is available as well. That means you can also recover a specific virtual machine or even a file from within a protection group.
According to Zerto, this consistent recovery process ensures no two virtual machines will be recovered to different points of time, which would lead to inconsistencies in the recovery process.
Furthermore, according to Zerto, per-application recovery for multi-VM stacks is what sets it apart from Veeam. Veeam, on the other hand, performs incremental backups and snapshots of VMs even within the same application at different points in time.
Furthermore, Zerto is fully scalable, with no limits on the number of virtual machines it can support. According to Zerto, you can protect more than 10,000 virtual machines per vCenter.
As Veeam only supports per-VM consistency compared to the per-application consistency that Zerto offers, Zerto comes out as the superior choice for disaster recovery as well. Those are two wins for Zerto.
Zerto vs Veeam: Ransomware Protection
Veeam
Cyberattacks are a common cause of data loss. Suffering a cyberattack can always be a big headache for your business, but there is one type of cyberattack that strikes fear in the hearts of business owners everywhere.
This type of malware is known as ransomware. In a ransomware attack, the hackers take control of your data and even your entire network and demand a ransom for them to release it back to you.
Often, they will require you to pay the ransom in Bitcoin. However, just because you pay the ransom doesn’t guarantee that you will get your data back, as the hackers are anonymous and don’t really care what happens to you once they get their payout.
Veeam offers ransomware protection and data backup solutions for businesses of all sizes. You can scan your recovered virtual machines for malware, for example, and restore data in isolated sandboxes to test for malware.
With secure storage options for your backups, you will be able to restore your data quickly and safely. There are over 80 qualified storage options available.
You won’t have to worry about suffering from ransomware attacks and losing access to your data.
Real-time monitoring allows you to set up hundreds of alarms and get in-depth reports to tackle issues as they arise.
Zerto
Zerto is also great for ransomware protection. It offers fully automated failover and fallback, which means that within minutes of getting infected by ransomware, your system can automatically recover encrypted files.
With CDP, you can have thousands of checkpoints in a single day, within seconds of each other, allowing you to recover from a checkpoint just a few seconds before the infection.
Compared to traditional backup options that take snapshots in time, in which you can have just 1-5 snapshots a day, Zerto is the superior choice.
Furthermore, you can test your ransomware protection and data recovery processes automatically without disrupting your systems.
Another thing worth noting is that you can make immutable data copies, which are backups that you can not alter in any way to prevent them from being attacked by the hackers as well. If the hackers are able to encrypt the backups that you make, you will have a much harder time restoring your network.
Veeam also allows you to make immutable data backups, though, which you can store not only onsite but offsite as well.
So, who wins here? Again, Zerto comes out the better choice, simply due to the faster RPOs and better overall data backup and recovery solutions it offers.
Veeam vs Zerto: Monitoring and Analytics
Veeam
Veeam offers an IT Monitoring & Analytics solution for businesses and organizations, allowing for full-time, non-stop visibility into all of your environments. It allows you to take note of possible threats and automatically respond to and resolve them.
Monitoring and resource tracking, intelligent automation, and capacity planning are some of the benefits of Veeam. You’ll be able to forecast your future needs, organize your workloads, automate the remediation of issues, set up alarms, and streamline your business operations.
The report builder and detailed heatmaps help you drill down into the data that matters most to your business.
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Zerto
Zerto offers excellent analytics as well, providing real-time visibility into your entire IT infrastructure, including for multi-site and multi-cloud environments.
You’ll be able to monitor your journal storage, free space, and more. The best part is that it is all included as part of Zerto, so there’s no need to pay extra for analytics and monitoring, like you would if you were to use Veeam.
The easy-to-use reports help you identify potential issues, like ransomware attacks, and stop them in their tracks. You’ll be able to optimize your resources and stay fully in compliance with SLAs.
Zerto vs Veeam: Staying Compliant
Veeam
Veeam helps you stay compliant by protecting your data, auditing your capabilities, planning disaster recovery plans, and more.
With all of Veeam’s tools, you’ll be able to implement transparent protection policies and use advanced monitoring to ensure protection against ransomware and other threats.
Zerto
Zerto also ensures you can remain compliant with all agreements and laws. For example, it ensures you stay compliant with GDPR laws and HIPAA regulations, and Zerto Analytics helps you see in-depth reports to ensure your environments’ health.
Veeam vs Zerto: Business & Industries
Veeam
Veeam isn’t only suitable for large businesses and organizations, as even small businesses can use it. Veeam Backup Essentials and other licenses are available to small businesses,
It’s also suitable for organizations and businesses in all industries, from healthcare to finance.
Even governments can make use of the solutions that Veeam offers. Check out Veeamgov.com for more information.
Not only can state and local governments use Veeam, but Veeam provides services to federal government agencies as well. The Department of Defense is a customer, as are over a thousand other federal customers.
In other words, Veeam is for everyone. No matter the industry or type of organization, and no matter the size of your business, you can use Veeam to protect your data, back up your data, and set up data recovery plans.
Zerto
Zerto, like Veeam, is geared towards businesses of all sizes. It is also geared for all industries, including healthcare, finance, and legal.
For example, hospitals and clinics can use Zerto to protect against ransomware attacks and ensure they always have up-to-date patient records available. As I mentioned, Zerto also ensures you can stay HIPAA-compliant.
Like Veeam, Zerto provides solutions for both the private and public sectors. According to Zerto, it serves federal agencies like the FDIC, the United States Department of Treasury, and the United States Army.
It even serves NASA, providing disaster recovery solutions. State and local governments can also use Zerto.
What about small businesses? Small businesses who don’t need fast RPOs may be better off with Veeam.
Scroll down to the pricing section to learn more about different price plans for different use cases.
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Zerto vs Veeam: Separate Products or One Solution?
Veeam
A big difference between Veeam and Zerto is that Veeam offers separate products and licenses, which can easily get confusing if you want an all-in-one solution. For example, as I explained, getting Veeam Backup Essentials doesn’t include analytics and monitoring.
While Veeam offers the Veeam Universal License, or VUL, it isn’t as universal as you may think. The following three licenses are not included in the Veeam Universal License, so you will need to buy separate licenses for them:
- Microsoft 365 Backup: This is licensed per user.
- Kubernetes-Native Backup: This is licensed per node.
- Veeam Disaster Recovery Orchestrator: This is licensed per workload.
Veeam products are also sold through licensed resellers. These “Value-Added” resellers will be able to help you find the right license for your workload.
You can find a reseller in your country and state here.
In any case, my point is that Veeam is not as streamlined as many would like. It has a confusing licensing system, with different products available.
It would be much easier to buy one license that gives you access to everything.
Zerto
Zerto wins when it comes to licensing. I’m not talking in terms of pricing here, but rather in terms of simplicity.
There are no separate products or licenses for things like data backup, data recovery, ransomware protection, and analytics. There are no separate downloads required; you can manage everything from a single user interface.
This means you can also expect the same quality across all features.
Zerto vs Veeam: Ease of Implementation and Scalability
Veeam
If Veeam is difficult to install, there are Veeam Authorized Service Providers, or VASPs, who can help you migrate from your legacy data protection system and install Veeam. These service providers have been fully vetted, so you can trust them.
They can also offer services like disaster recovery planning and orchestration, review your data protection strategy and advise how to improve it, and even train your IT staff on Veeam products.
There are over 200 Veeam Authorized Service Providers globally. You can find a directory here.
Zerto
Zerto claims that it can be implemented in as little as two hours. There are also Zerto professional service consultants who offer remote help to install Zerto Virtual Replication, with different levels of assistance available.
The fastest type of assistance is the express service, but it’s only for up to 10 virtual machines. It includes four hours of service, delivered over three separate sessions.
You can check out the other types of installation assistance services here.
Veeam vs Zerto: Pros & Cons
Veeam Pros
- Affordable for small businesses
- Authorized service providers available
- Good for businesses with lower RPO needs
- Free community versions available
Veeam Cons
- Complicated pricing
- Not as good CDP
- Harder to scale
Zerto Pros
- Great for large businesses and easy to scale
- Super fast RPOs
- Advanced monitoring included automatically
- Free 14 day trial
Zero Cons
- Lack of transparent pricing
- May not perform as well when scaled
- In operation for less time than Veeam
Pricing
Veeam
The cheapest Veeam license (Backup Essentials) is rather inexpensive. It starts at just $6/month per license, but that’s for the three-year subscription.
The one-year subscription will cost a bit more – $6.67/month per license.
One thing worth noting, though, is that licenses come in bundles of five. In other words, the minimum purchase is five licenses.
It’s a universal license, but it won’t work for Microsoft 365 backups, as I already mentioned. That and other extra features are available as add-ons.
It’s not that expensive, though. The Microsoft 365 add-on is available for $1.53-$1.70/month, depending on how long you subscribe for (the longest subscription lasts for five years).
However, that’s per user.
Analytics and monitoring are also not included in the Backup Essentials license. The maximum number of workloads for small business pricing is 50.
You can see updated pricing for Backup Essentials on this page.
What about the Veeam Availability Suite, which includes backup, recovery, and monitoring? Veeam isn’t clear about pricing on its site, but you can see if there are any updates and request pricing on the general pricing page.
Standalone cloud-native protection for Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud can be licensed separately. For either one of the three, pricing is generally free for up to 10 instances or virtual machines, with premium pricing starting at $40 a year per instance.
Again, check the general pricing page (link above) for more information.
Do you see what I mean by complicated pricing and separate products?
What about free trials? You can find free, 30-day trial versions of Veeam Platform products, as well as free community offerings, on the downloads page.
For example, the Veeam Backup & Replication Community Edition is free for up to 10 workloads. There is another version for Microsoft 365.
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Zerto
Unfortunately, Zerto isn’t as transparent when it comes to pricing. It says that because it makes all sales through channel partners, it doesn’t offer any pricing online.
You can fill out the form on this page to request additional information regarding pricing.
However, a 14-day free trial is available, and you can also take a platform tour to familiarize yourself with Zerto products and offerings.
Similarities & Differences
| Veeam | Zerto | |
| Data protection & Recovery | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ransomware Protection | ✓ | ✓ |
| Analytics Automatically Included | ✗ | ✓ |
| Per-Application Consistency | ✗ | ✓ |
| Immutable Backups | ✓ | ✓ |
| Journaling Length | 1 Day | 30 Days |
| Higher RPOs | ✗ | ✓ |
Wrapping It Up: Which Is Better, Veeam or Zerto?
When it comes to the “Zerto or Veeam” question, there’s no doubt that Zerto is a superior product. It’s better at continuous data protection, and it ensures you will never lose access to your data with snapshots taken just seconds apart and per-application consistency.
It is perfect for businesses and organizations across all industries, including healthcare and government.
On the other hand, it is not for everyone. Smaller businesses that don’t have fast RPO needs may be better off with Veeam, as it offers affordable pricing for small businesses with up to 50 workloads.
While the pricing and licensing structure at Veeam can sometimes be confusing, and you must buy several features as separate add-on products, small businesses can stick to Backup Essentials.
My conclusion is that larger organizations with bigger budgets and more at stake would be better off with the fast RPOs of Zerto. Smaller businesses, on the other hand, can consider Veeam as well.
