2025-26 DCIG TOP 5 Enterprise VMware Backup Report

DCIG LLC announces the availability of the 2025-26 DCIG TOP 5 Enterprise VMware Backup Report.

This DCIG TOP 5 report provides enterprises with guidance on the best VMware backup solutions for deployment in virtualized server environments.

Today’s VMware Backup Dilemma
The individuals responsible for the ongoing protection and recovery of their enterprise VMware infrastructure currently face a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand, little has changed regarding the technicalities of backing up vSphere ESX/ESXi VMs.

The mature vSphere Storage APIs-Data Protection (VADP) work well with all enterprise data protection solutions supporting them. Further, many enterprises have established processes for managing their VMware backups with multiple, robust recovery options available to them. These factors contribute to enterprises wanting to minimize any changes to their current VMware backup environment.

Broadcom’s VMware Software Licensing Changes
On the other hand, from a business and threat perspective, everything has changed. Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware in late 2023 and subsequent licensing changes sent a shockwave through many enterprises.

Broadcom’s VMware software licensing changes highlights how much enterprises took VMWare’s prior software licensing model for granted. VMware’s predictable percentage Y/Y increase doubled, tripled, or jumped by 10x for some.

Aggravating the situation, many enterprises neither explored nor identified viable VMware alternatives. This has forced many, for now, to remain with VMware while seeking a potential viable VMware alternative. Part of selecting an alternative VMware hypervisor often includes identifying one that a third-party backup software supports for backup.

Ransomware
Enterprises remain on high alert concerning ransomware-and for good reason. While enterprises worry about its impact on their IT environment and reputation, they remain equally concerned about its unpredictable costs.

Hackers often research an enterprise before initiating a ransomware attack vs. it. If the attack “successfully” compromises it, hackers may seek a ransom of up to 5% of the enterprise’s annual revenue. This has resulted in ransomware victims paying out $1 billion in 2023, with projections indicating that 2024 may match or exceed this amount.

Adding further insults to injury, an enterprise receives no guarantees that it will get the desired result(s) after paying the ransom. The hackers’ provided decryption key may not work successfully, or the hacker may still release or sell its data. In either case, the ransomware event incurs substantial, unexpected out-of-pocket costs without guaranteeing a successful resolution.

These 2 new factors, among others, highlight that robust VADP support alone no longer sets one VMware backup solution apart from another. VADP has become a table stake feature. Instead, enterprises may choose a VMware backup solution based on factors such as whether it protects other hypervisors or detects ransomware.

The State of Enterprise VMware Backup Solutions
To meet these and other challenges, most providers have introduced multiple new features into their VMware backup solutions.

These new features show up in the following 5 ways.

1. AI is now readily available: The use of AI in most enterprise software is almost a given. VMware backup software has similarly embraced AI. However, it often appears in solutions intended for use by enterprises.
2. Anomaly detection is displacing ransomware detection: The unreliability of using in-house or third-party ransomware detection has led backup providers to introduce anomaly detection into their backup offerings. Rather than looking for ransomware signatures in backups, backup software looks for anomalies in the backups or backup jobs instead.
3. Increased focus on cross hypervisor platform backup and restore: In the past, the need for this functionality fell more into the categorization of a “nice-to-have” than a “must-have.” However, the importance of this feature has already begun to increase. Enterprises evaluating the adoption of alternative VMware hypervisors must consider how they will migrate existing VMware VMs to VMware alternatives. This has put a new focus on cross hypervisor platform backup and restore capabilities.
4. Cloud-based management consoles are becoming prevalent: Since providers already have connectivity into enterprise’s IT environments with their use of AI, introducing a cloud-based console to manage their solution becomes more practical. Further, a cloud-based management console may give enterprises more visibility into all their various backup deployments. However, cloud-based management consoles may not permit all the management functions that enterprises can perform locally.
5. Expanded cybersecurity functionality: Enterprise VMware backup solutions have expanded their cybersecurity capabilities to help combat ransomware attacks. In addition to using AI to detect anomalies, VMware backup solutions may include data immutability, encryption, and multi-factor authentication capabilities.

2025-26 DCIG Top 5 Enterprise VMware Backup Solutions
In preparing this report, DCIG formally evaluated over 30 different VMware backup solutions of which 18 met DCIG’s criteria for an enterprise VMware backup solution.

The general categories under which the features of these VMware backup solutions fell included:

• Backup administration.
• Configuration, licensing, and pricing.
• General data protection capabilities.
• Recovery and restore.
• Service and support.
• vSphere ESX/ESXi VM backup.

Based on these criteria, DCIG awarded the following enterprise VMware backup solutions a DCIG TOP 5 ranking (in alphabetical order):

• Cobalt Iron Compass
• Cohesity DataProtect
• Commvault Cloud
• HYCU R-Cloud Hybrid Cloud Edition
• OpenText Data Protector

Report Availability
The full 2025-26 DCIG TOP 5 Enterprise VMware Backup Solutions Report is available for download on DCIG’s site with registration.

Full report contains additional details such as:

• A list of the 18 enterprise VMware backup solutions evaluated.
• A deeper examination of the state of VMware backup solutions.
• Common features across all enterprise VMWare backup solutions.
• Distinguishing features of the DCIG TOP 5 Enterprise VMware Backup Solutions.
• Differences between the DCIG TOP 5 Enterprise VMware Backup Solutions.
• A profile of each DCIG TOP 5 Enterprise VMware Backup Solutions that lists at least three (3) ways each one distinguishes itself from the other solutions.

Confidentiality and Copyright
Other than excerpts from this report published in this announcement, the content of the 2025-26 DCIG TOP 5 Enterprise VMware Backup Solutions Report is copyrighted and may not be republished without the express written permission of DCIG.