Veeam vs Commvault
Veeam is the standard for backing up virtual infrastructure, known for instant virtual machine recovery and immutable backups. Commvault protects almost everything a large organisation runs, physical, virtual, cloud, databases and SaaS, under one policy engine. IT departments centred on virtualisation choose Veeam; enterprises with a sprawling, mixed estate and a project team choose Commvault.
Hannah ReiterSenior Analyst, Business Applications
Niels Abrahamsen
Sebastiaan SmitsVendors can pay for visibility on this site; it never changes what we say about a product. How that works.
Choose Veeam ifyour estate is mostly virtual machines, fast recovery of a failed VM is the scenario you fear most, and you want immutable backup targets as a ransomware defence.
Choose Commvault ifyou are a large enterprise with mainframes, databases, several public clouds and SaaS to protect under one retention policy, and you have trained administrators and an implementation partner.
Veeam and Commvault side by side
| Veeam | Commvault | |
|---|---|---|
| Our backup software rank | #12 of 14 | #14 of 14 |
| Established in | United States | United States |
| Pricing | Free tier for up to 10 workloads (Community Edition); paid per workload, quoted through resellers | Quoted per organisation; capacity or workload licensing; 30-day trial of Commvault Cloud |
| Free tier | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Built for | An IT department running virtual infrastructure | A large enterprise protecting a heterogeneous estate under one policy |
| Not for | A small business with a few laptops | A company with a dozen servers and a Microsoft 365 tenant |
Both are reviewed in full in our backup software ranking: Veeam and Commvault.
Where they differ
Veeam 1 · Commvault 1 · open 2- 01
Recovering a virtual machine
Instant recovery of a virtual machine is what Veeam is known for, and it lists instant, verified recovery and broad hypervisor support among its platform features. Commvault also offers instant VM recovery for VMware vSphere, starting a machine directly from backup storage, alongside full and file-level restores. Both can do it; Veeam remains the established choice where virtual infrastructure is the whole job.
Depends on the buyer
- 02
How much of the estate one product covers
Commvault can protect mainframe to laptop, Oracle to Microsoft 365, and on-premise to three public clouds with a single policy and retention model. Veeam offers broad platform support but is positioned around virtual infrastructure. An organisation with a heterogeneous estate that wants one policy engine over all of it gets that from Commvault.
Edge: Commvault
- 03
Licensing and price clarity
Neither shows a list price. Veeam meters its Data Platform per workload through the portable Veeam Universal Licence, in Foundation, Advanced and Premium editions, and sells through resellers or its sales team. Commvault is quoted per organisation on capacity or workload licensing that must be negotiated and is hard to compare. Veeam's model is simpler to reason about, but expect a quote either way.
Depends on the buyer
- 04
The effort of putting it into service
Commvault is normally implemented with a partner, its console rewards trained administrators, and rollout assumes a project team, though Commvault Cloud can be tried free for 30 days without a credit card. Veeam offers a 30-day trial of its Data Platform and a free Community Edition for up to ten workloads, so small teams can test alone. A mid-sized company choosing Commvault will pay for coverage it never uses.
Edge: Veeam
When neither fits
A smaller company with a dozen servers or a few laptops is overserved by both. NAKIVO covers most of what Veeam does at about a third of the price, published per workload, and runs on a NAS. For plain computer backup, Backblaze's unlimited per-computer plan is the best value.
Veeam or Commvault: questions
3 answersIs Veeam or Commvault better for VMware and other virtual machines?
Veeam is the usual choice. It is the enterprise standard for virtual infrastructure, and instant VM recovery is its signature feature.
Commvault also provides instant recovery for VMware virtual machines, but its case rests on protecting a whole mixed estate under one policy, not on VM recovery alone.
Which costs more, Veeam or Commvault?
Neither publishes a figure, so it takes quotes to know. Veeam licenses per workload in three editions and sells through resellers. Commvault licenses by capacity or workload per organisation and usually adds partner implementation. Compare full first-year quotes including services, not licence lines.
Is there a free version of Veeam or Commvault?
Veeam has a free Community Edition of Backup and Replication that protects up to ten workloads, including VMware, Hyper-V, Windows and Linux servers and NAS.
Commvault offers a 30-day free trial of Commvault Cloud with no credit card required. Beyond ten workloads, or beyond the trial, both are paid products.
Sources
Checked 30 September 2026- Veeam pricing page: per-workload licensing, three editions, reseller sales, 30-day trial, no list price.
- Veeam Community Edition page: free edition limited to 10 workloads.
- Commvault free trial page: 30-day free trial, no credit card.
- Commvault VMware page: instant VM recovery from backup storage.