Backup and Storage Pricing Benchmarks: Veeam, Commvault, Pure

Key points#

• Backup and storage software sits at a critical inflection point in enterprise IT. The average enterprise now protects between 50TB to 2000TB of production data, a 5x increase since 2020, yet pricing for data protection solutions has become dramatically more complex, not simpler.
• Veeam dominates backup software with 28% enterprise market share, Commvault owns converged data management with per-TB pricing models, and the primary storage market is fragmented across NetApp, Pure Storage, and Dell EMC with wildly different per-TB benchmarks.
• Enterprise customers with 100+ sockets typical achieve $9,000 to $11,000/socket in competitive tenders.
• Veeam support renewals increase 8 to 15% annually, making year 2 to 3 total cost of ownership significantly higher than initial license cost.
• Enterprise primary storage (All-Flash Arrays, or AFAs) pricing ranges from $150/TB to $800/TB depending on configuration, redundancy, and controller overhead.
• The 45 to 55% discounts we saw in 2023 to 2024 are now 35 to 45% for new deals in 2026. Bundle strategies (compute + storage) and multi-year commitments are becoming the lever for better pricing.".
• Enterprises now run 30 to 50% of backup to cloud, up from 10% in 2021. However, cloud egress charges and API costs can rapidly increase total cost.
• Most enterprises overspend on cloud backup by 20 to 30% due to egress charges and API costs.
• 25 to 40% off list price for multi-year enterprise agreements is standard in 2026. Socket-based unlimited bundles often add another 10 to 15% discount compared to per-VM pricing at scale.
• Competitive displacement deals (switching from Veritas or Commvault) can reach 40 to 50% discounts when paired with 3+ year commitments.

Introduction: Why Backup and Storage Pricing Remains Opaque#

Backup and storage software sits at a critical inflection point in enterprise IT. The average enterprise now protects between 50TB to 2000TB of production data, a 5x increase since 2020, yet pricing for data protection solutions has become dramatically more complex, not simpler.

Veeam dominates backup software with 28% enterprise market share, Commvault owns converged data management with per-TB pricing models, and the primary storage market is fragmented across NetApp, Pure Storage, and Dell EMC with wildly different per-TB benchmarks. Cloud backup adds another layer of opacity: AWS Backup, Azure Backup, and Google Cloud Backup each use different cost structures, API pricing models, and egress charges.

This comprehensive benchmark covers real enterprise deal data on backup software licensing, primary and secondary storage costs, cloud backup pricing, and integrated data protection platforms. Our data comes from 200+ enterprise procurement teams that use ISVCOSELL to negotiate from strength.

28-45%

Typical backup software license discount

$150-$800

Primary storage per-TB range

$0.021-$0.023

Cloud object storage per GB/month (S3)

8-22%

Annual renewal increases (baseline)

Backup Software Pricing Benchmarks: Veeam, Commvault, Veritas & More#

Backup software licensing has fundamentally shifted from simple per-socket models to hybrid per-VM, per-TB, and platform-based pricing. Each vendor uses a different commercial model, making like-for-like comparisons challenging, but critical for procurement.

Veeam Universal License (VUL) Benchmarks#

Veeam's market dominance comes from aggressive per-VM pricing and freemium adoption. However, the Universal License represents the real money:

• Per-Socket VUL: $8,000 to $15,000/socket/year depending on workload mix and multi-year commitment
• Enterprise Discount Range: 25 to 40% off list price for 3-year deals
• Unlimited VM Bundle: Socket-based unlimited deployments often add 10 to 15% vs per-VM pricing at scale
• Cloud Edition (AWS/Azure): $1,200 to $2,500/month per cloud data center with capacity-based add-ons

Enterprise customers with 100+ sockets typical achieve $9,000 to $11,000/socket in competitive tenders. Veeam support renewals increase 8 to 15% annually, making year 2 to 3 total cost of ownership significantly higher than initial license cost.

Commvault Capacity-Based Licensing#

Commvault shifted to per-TB capacity licensing in 2023, fundamentally changing how large enterprises budget. This move hurt Commvault's competitive position vs. Veeam but creates significant negotiation leverage points:

• Per-TB Capacity Tier: $45 to $85/TB/year for primary backup capacity
• Enterprise Discount Range: 30 to 48% off list for multi-year platform commitments
• Metallic SaaS: $60 to $120/TB/month for cloud-delivered Commvault (significantly higher than on-prem)
• Workload Add-ons: Database, Exchange, SAP add 15 to 25% to base capacity licensing

Commvault's capacity model makes them price-competitive at 100TB+, but disadvantaged at smaller scales. A 50TB environment sees Veeam significantly cheaper; a 500TB environment heavily favors Commvault.

Veritas Backup Exec & NetBackup#

Veritas pricing is declining as customers migrate to Veeam and Commvault, but the company still serves traditional enterprise environments:

• Backup Exec: $4,000 to $8,000/year for SMB backup (declining market)
• NetBackup: $35 to $65/TB/year for large-scale backup (enterprise-only)
• Enterprise Discount: 35 to 55% achievable at competitive tender

Rubrik & Cohesity: Converged Backup Platforms#

These platforms bundle software, hardware, and support in a unified all-in pricing model:

• Rubrik All-in TCO: $85 to $180/protected TB/year including software, hardware/cloud, and support
• Cohesity All-in TCO: $80 to $160/protected TB/year with similar bundled model
• Enterprise Discount: 20 to 35% for multi-year agreements (less aggressive than standalone software)
• Cloud Licensing: Rubrik Cloud Vault adds $0.02 to $0.04/GB/month for cloud egress

Primary Storage Pricing Benchmarks: NetApp, Pure, Dell EMC#

Enterprise primary storage (All-Flash Arrays, or AFAs) pricing ranges from $150/TB to $800/TB depending on configuration, redundancy, and controller overhead. The benchmark variance reflects different architectures, cloud integration, and negotiation leverage.

NetApp All-Flash Array (AFA) Benchmarks#

NetApp dominates the enterprise AFA market with strong hybrid cloud integration:

• Raw Per-TB: $180 to $320/TB raw capacity
• Usable Per-TB: $240 to $400/TB usable (accounting for RAID, snapshots, system overhead)
• Enterprise Discount Range: 35 to 50% off list price
• Cloud Licensing (BlueXP, SnapLock): Add $5,000 to $15,000/year for cloud tiering and compliance

Pure Storage All-Flash Benchmarks#

Pure Storage emphasizes performance and simplicity, attracting performance-sensitive workloads:

• Raw Per-TB: $200 to $350/TB raw capacity
• Usable Per-TB: $280 to $450/TB usable (higher system overhead than NetApp)
• Enterprise Discount Range: 40 to 55% off list
• Cloud Block Store (cloud consumption model): $0.30 to $0.45/GB/month

Dell EMC PowerStore & PowerMax#

Dell EMC's diverse portfolio appeals to mixed workloads and legacy environments:

• PowerStore (midrange AFA): $150 to $280/TB usable with 45 to 60% enterprise discounts
• PowerMax (high-end AFA): $220 to $380/TB usable, premium pricing for performance
• Midrange Flash (budget-conscious): $120 to $200/TB usable with aggressive discounts

"Enterprise primary storage discounts are shrinking as vendors consolidate. The 45 to 55% discounts we saw in 2023 to 2024 are now 35 to 45% for new deals in 2026. Bundle strategies (compute + storage) and multi-year commitments are becoming the lever for better pricing."

Secondary & Backup Storage: Tape, Disk, Deduplication#

Secondary storage (backup targets) has shifted dramatically toward deduplication and disk-based protection over traditional tape. However, tape still plays a role in true long-term archival (7 to 10 year retention).

Backup-Optimized Disk Storage#

• Purpose-Built Backup Appliances (Quantum StorNext, Spectra Logic): $40 to $80/TB usable with high deduplication ratios (10:1 to 20:1)
• NAS for Backup (NetApp, Pure Backup): $80 to $150/TB usable with integrated backup management
• Deduplication Overhead Cost: Add 15 to 25% for software licensing on top of hardware

Tape for Long-Term Retention#

• LTO-9 Tape (2.5TB native per cartridge): $0.08 to $0.12/GB raw cost (cartridge cost ~$200 to $300)
• Tape Library Systems: $200,000 to $500,000 upfront for midrange environments
• Tape Remains Best TCO for 7 to 10 Year Retention: ~$0.002/GB/year when amortized over cartridge life

Cloud Backup Pricing Benchmarks: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud#

Cloud backup pricing is the fastest-growing data protection category. Enterprises now run 30 to 50% of backup to cloud, up from 10% in 2021. However, cloud egress charges and API costs can rapidly increase total cost.

AWS Backup Pricing#

• S3 Storage for Backups: $0.023/GB/month (us-east-1, standard tier)
• S3 Intelligent-Tiering (auto-archive): $0.0125/GB/month (average, with tiering overhead)
• AWS Backup Service Fee: $0.005/GB for backup operations (on top of S3 storage)
• Data Transfer Out (Egress): $0.02/GB globally (major cost for restores)
• Annual All-In Cost (100TB backup): $28,000 to $32,000/year for standard restore patterns

Azure Backup Pricing#

• Managed Backup Service Fee: $25 to $60/server/month for IaaS VMs, $100 to $200/month for databases
• Blob Storage (recovery vaults): $0.018/GB/month (cheaper than AWS S3)
• Data Transfer Out (Egress): $0.087/GB first 100GB, then $0.02/GB (expensive egress)
• Annual All-In Cost (100TB backup): $24,000 to $28,000/year with managed service premium

Google Cloud Backup & DR#

• Cloud Storage (Standard): $0.020/GB/month (competitive with AWS)
• Backup & DR Service (per-VM): $3 to $8/VM/month (all-in pricing model)
• Data Transfer Out: $0.12/GB (highest egress cost of the three)
• Annual All-In Cost (100TB, 50 VMs): $26,000 to $30,000/year

Optimize Cloud Backup Egress Costs#

Most enterprises overspend on cloud backup by 20 to 30% due to egress charges and API costs. See benchmark scenarios for AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

Explore cloud pricing index

Object Storage Pricing Benchmarks: S3, Azure Blob, GCS, Wasabi#

Object storage is increasingly used for long-term backup archival and ransomware recovery. Pricing varies significantly based on access patterns and data durability requirements.

AWS S3 by Tier#

• S3 Standard: $0.023/GB/month (hot data, immediate access)
• S3 Intelligent-Tiering: $0.0125/GB/month avg (auto-tiering, recommended for backup)
• S3 Glacier Instant: $0.004/GB/month (millis access, minimum 90-day commitment)
• S3 Glacier Deep Archive: $0.00099/GB/month (hours access, minimum 180-day commitment, cheapest option)

Azure Blob Storage by Tier#

• Hot Tier: $0.0184/GB/month (immediate access)
• Cool Tier: $0.01/GB/month (min 30 days, higher access cost)
• Archive Tier: $0.0018/GB/month (min 180 days, significant rehydration cost)

Google Cloud Storage by Class#

• Standard: $0.020/GB/month (hot data)
• Nearline: $0.016/GB/month (min 30 days, good for backup targets)
• Coldline: $0.004/GB/month (min 90 days, archive play)
• Archive: $0.0016/GB/month (min 365 days, cheapest tier)

Alternative Providers: Cost Arbitrage#

• Wasabi (S3-compatible): $6/TB/month flat (unlimited API, no egress charges), major advantage for restore-heavy workloads
• Backblaze B2: $6/TB/month for storage, $0.01/GB egress (15x cheaper egress than AWS)
• Advantage: For 500TB backup with 10% annual restore rate, Wasabi saves $50,000+/year vs. AWS due to egress elimination

Enterprise Data Protection Suite Benchmarks: Rubrik, Cohesity, Zerto#

Modern enterprises increasingly move to converged data protection platforms that bundle backup, ransomware recovery, disaster recovery, and compliance. These all-in platforms change pricing dynamics significantly.

Rubrik Polaris All-in Benchmarks#

• On-Prem All-in (software + hardware + support): $85 to $150/protected TB/year for 100 to 500TB deployments
• Rubrik Cloud Vault (SaaS backup target): $0.02 to $0.04/GB/month (adds cloud egress)
• Ransomware Risk Module (add-on): $40 to $80/protected TB/year (immutable backup + recovery automation)
• Enterprise Discount: 20 to 30% for 3+ year commitments

Cohesity All-in Benchmarks#

• On-Prem All-in (software + hardware + support): $80 to $140/protected TB/year
• Cohesity Cloud (multi-cloud SaaS): Per-workload pricing ($50 to $120/database/month, $30 to $60/file share/month)
• Competitive Positioning: Generally 10 to 15% cheaper than Rubrik on all-in TCO
• Enterprise Discount: 20 to 35% achievable

Zerto for Continuous Replication & DR#

• Per-VM Licensing Model: $1,500 to $4,000/VM/year depending on replication distance and frequency
• Conversion to Cohesity/Commvault: Enterprise discounts shift from per-VM to per-TB; Zerto declining in market
• Typical Entry: $250,000 to $500,000/year for mid-size DR deployment

Key Insight

• Converged platforms (Rubrik, Cohesity) are more expensive per-TB than best-of-breed backup (Veeam) but save 15 to 30% in total cost by eliminating redundant tools (separate DR, ransomware recovery, database backup platforms)
• Platform consolidation is a major negotiation lever: showing a vendor you're consolidating multiple tools onto their platform unlocks 25 to 40% additional discounts
• 5-year TCO comparison: Veeam backup + Zerto DR costs 20 to 30% more than single Rubrik/Cohesity platform deployment at enterprise scale

Enterprise Negotiation Leverage Points#

Backup and storage deals in 2026 are being won and lost on these specific leverage points:

Multi-Year Commitments as Primary Lever#

Best Practice: Lock in 3-year agreements with vendors competing for displacement. Typical discounts:

• 1-year agreement: list price or 10 to 15% discount
• 2-year agreement: 15 to 25% discount
• 3-year agreement: 25 to 40% discount (backup software), 35 to 55% (primary storage)

The 2026 market is shifting toward compulsory 3-year minimums, so negotiate discount stacks early in the procurement cycle.

Capacity Bundles & Tier-Based Pricing#

Many vendors tier discounts by total committed capacity:

• 0 to 100TB: baseline discount (25 to 35%)
• 101 to 500TB: 5 to 10% additional discount
• 500TB+: additional 8 to 15% (total 40 to 50% off list)

Negotiation Strategy: Aggregate backup targets + secondary storage commitments into single vendor proposal to hit higher tiers.

Competitive Displacement Leverage#

Switching from Commvault to Veeam, Veritas to Commvault, or on-prem to Rubrik creates significant discounting opportunities:

• Proven Migration Path: Show the vendor you have a documented migration plan (reduces implementation risk)
• Reference Accounts: Secure 2 to 3 reference customers at your org size willing to discuss deal economics
• Competitive RFP Process: Minimum 3 vendors in final round. Winner usually gets 35 to 50% discounts; runner-up bids often 40 to 55%

Total Cost of Ownership Framework: 5-Year Analysis#

Raw per-TB pricing tells only half the story. Enterprise TCO includes support, cloud egress, staffing, and training. Here's a realistic 5-year example:

100TB Enterprise Backup Environment (5-Year TCO)#

Scenario: Enterprise migrating from Veritas to Veeam, with 60TB on-prem backup + 40TB cloud archive.

Veeam Deployment:

• Software licensing (3 sockets, year 1): $30,000 (after 35% discount)
• Maintenance/support (5 years, 8% annual increase): $156,000
• Cloud backup (40TB, AWS S3 + AWS Backup): $165,000 (5 years)
• Hardware refresh (proxy servers, mid-term): $45,000
• Professional services / migration: $60,000
• 5-Year Total: $456,000 (~$4.56/GB)

Rubrik On-Prem All-in Deployment:

• All-in software + hardware (year 1): $120,000 (after 30% discount)
• Support (5 years, 6% annual increase): $108,000
• Cloud egress (Rubrik Cloud Vault, 40TB): $128,000 (5 years)
• Hardware refresh/modules: $35,000
• Professional services: $50,000
• 5-Year Total: $441,000 (~$4.41/GB)

Key Insight: All-in converged platforms (Rubrik) often win on 5-year TCO despite higher year-1 cost, due to bundled support and cloud cost optimization.

Frequently Asked Questions#

What is the benchmark discount range for Veeam enterprise licensing?

25 to 40% off list price for multi-year enterprise agreements is standard in 2026. Socket-based unlimited bundles often add another 10 to 15% discount compared to per-VM pricing at scale. Competitive displacement deals (switching from Veritas or Commvault) can reach 40 to 50% discounts when paired with 3+ year commitments. Top-tier deals (1000+ sockets) have achieved 45 to 55% discounts, but these are outliers.

How much does enterprise primary storage cost per TB in 2026?

Benchmark data shows $150 to $400/TB usable capacity for mainstream All-Flash Arrays from NetApp, Pure Storage, and Dell EMC. This range reflects 35 to 55% discounts off list price in competitive tenders. Midrange storage (Dell PowerStore, HPE Alletra) benchmarks at $80 to $200/TB usable after discounts. Premium high-end arrays (PowerMax) reach $150 to $350/TB usable. The variance depends on redundancy level, controller density, and multi-year commitment terms.

What does Rubrik or Cohesity cost per TB for cloud data management?

All-in TCO for Rubrik and Cohesity converged backup platforms benchmarks at $85 to $180 per protected TB annually, including software, hardware/cloud, and support. This compares to $35 to $70/TB/year for best-of-breed backup software (Veeam) alone, but includes features like ransomware recovery, disaster recovery, and compliance automation that would otherwise require separate tools. Enterprise discounts of 20 to 35% are achievable on multi-year agreements.

Access Real Benchmark Data#

In This Article Introduction Backup Software Benchmarks Primary Storage Pricing Secondary Storage Cloud Backup Pricing Object Storage Data Protection Suites Negotiation Leverage Total Cost of Ownership FAQ

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Related reading#

• See what changed
• View benchmark data
• Backup & Storage
• Cloud Backup
• Data Protection Platforms
• Veeam vs Commvault
• Explore cloud pricing index
• The State of Enterprise Software Pricing 2026
• View renewal strategies

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