SEP sesam

What Is SEP sesam?

SEP sesam is a hybrid backup and disaster recovery platform from SEP GmbH, based in Holzkirchen, south of Munich. The company says it has developed backup software since 1992, which makes it older than VMware itself. That history shows in the product. While newer vendors began with virtual machines, SEP sesam grew up protecting physical Unix and Windows servers, databases and tape libraries, then added hypervisors as they appeared.

Ten of them are now supported: VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix Hypervisor, Red Hat Virtualization, Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager, KVM/QEMU, OpenNebula, Proxmox, XCP-ng and, as the tenth, Nutanix AHV. For teams who want to leave VMware without leaving their backup tool, that list covers most of the realistic destinations. SEP claims customers in more than 50 countries.

The corporate story needs careful wording. Legally, the entity is SEP GmbH, registered at Amtsgericht München under HRB 298001. It converted from an AG to a GmbH in December 2024, so older material that says "SEP AG" is out of date. On 30 September 2024, Luxembourg private equity firm BIP Capital Partners acquired a majority stake from the founding family in a succession deal. CEO and co-founder Susanne Moosreiner, her co-founders and some employees remain minority shareholders. BIP is European, so we list SEP as independent, but the website's "regional family business" wording predates that deal. SEP also has a US subsidiary, SEP Software Corp. in Denver, which serves the Americas.

BIP's own announcement put headcount at about 40, which is the figure behind our 11-50 band. A company that small selling into enterprise backup is a point we return to under the cons.

Key Features

Why does tape still matter?

SEP sesam supports tape and disk-to-disk-to-tape workflows, which many newer VM-first tools skip. For regulated European organisations, offline media remains the simplest answer to a ransomware question: what can an attacker not reach? Tape sits alongside immutable disk targets and ransomware protection for Linux and Windows. A company with a ten-year retention rule and a tape library will find this a decisive point in SEP's favour.

Multi-hypervisor VM backup

On the virtualisation side, SEP uses native snapshot technologies for consistent VM-level backups and offers single-file restore. Its documentation describes Proxmox support as live full-VM and container backup via snapshots. Nutanix AHV, XCP-ng and KVM/QEMU follow the same snapshot-driven pattern.

Instant VM recovery is the headline recovery feature. A virtual machine can boot directly from backup storage without waiting for a restore, and on VMware the VM can then be migrated back to production storage while running. For a team moving from VMware to Proxmox, the practical value is that one backup catalogue and one restore procedure survive the move.

Application and database depth

Here SEP is notably deeper than most VM-centred rivals. Supported databases include SAP HANA, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, IBM DB2, MariaDB, MySQL, SAP MaxDB, SAP ASE, Informix and EDB. Operating system coverage spans Windows, Linux and UNIX. A German Mittelstand firm running SAP HANA on Linux next to a few Proxmox hosts is exactly the scenario this product was designed for.

Si3 deduplication

Si3 is SEP's inline deduplication, available source-side and at the target. Source-side deduplication reduces the data sent over the network, which helps for remote offices on thin links. The Community Edition includes 1 TB of Si3 deduplication, which gives a fair taste of it.

Delivery through partners

SEP sells mainly through resellers and managed service providers. Backup-as-a-Service is delivered by certified partner MSPs in Germany rather than by SEP itself, and licensing models can be customised for MSPs. Microsoft 365 backup on SEP's website is a resold Keepit service under a partnership dating from 2019. That is an honest division of labour: SEP covers infrastructure, Keepit covers SaaS.

Pricing

A price list exists, but only partners see it. SEP's general terms refer to an applicable price list, partners work from a licence configurator, and a buyer must request a quote. Acronis at least names its product tiers in public, so SEP sits at the more opaque end of the market.

A free Community Edition exists, but its terms are restrictive. It is licensed for non-commercial, home or test use only, with a 3 TB storage pool, 1 TB of Si3 deduplication, 5 backup clients, 3 streams and one hypervisor hosting 5 VMs. The software is provided without services of any kind, and support comes through the community forum and documentation. It works for a homelab or a technical evaluation. A business cannot run production on it, though SEP also offers a 30-day full version with demo support for commercial trials.

Budget planning therefore starts with a partner conversation. Ask what the metric is, whether tape and deduplication are bundled, and how the quote scales when you add a second hypervisor. Because the partner sets the final price, two quotes for the same environment can differ.

EU Compliance & Privacy

SEP GmbH is a German company contracting under German law with Munich as the venue for disputes, which gives European buyers a straightforward legal footing. The product is on-premises software, so backup data stays in infrastructure the customer controls. Partner-run Backup-as-a-Service is described as "Made in Germany," and SEP highlights BSI-oriented messaging and GDPR implementation support.

We did not find a published ISO 27001 certificate or a SOC 2 report for SEP itself on the pages we reviewed. In public-sector and critical-infrastructure tenders, the partner MSP may be the actual data processor, so its certifications matter as much as SEP's own.

The private equity ownership does not create a non-European dependency, because BIP is Luxembourg-based. It does raise a question every PE-backed vendor raises: what happens at exit? Buyers signing multi-year retention contracts should look for change-of-control clauses.

Who Is SEP sesam Best For?

If you run SAP HANA, Oracle or other enterprise databases alongside virtual machines, choose SEP sesam. Its application agents are more mature than those of newer VM-only tools.

Choose SEP sesam over cloud-first rivals if you need tape and offline copies for regulatory retention. MSPs wanting a German-hosted Backup-as-a-Service offering with flexible licensing will find SEP's partner model built for them.

Small teams wanting a polished self-service signup and public pricing should look at Veeam or Acronis instead. Anyone moving to Proxmox who wants the widest published hypervisor list from a European vendor should compare SEP against Storware and Xopero, and check each vendor's Proxmox support in writing. A large community is not SEP's strength, and its small forum and wiki will feel thin.

The Verdict

SEP sesam is one of Europe's longest-serving backup products, and its depth in databases, tape and ten hypervisors is real. For a German or wider European organisation moving off VMware with enterprise applications in tow, it is a serious option with a clean legal and sovereignty profile.

Five things hold it back. Pricing is quote-only and partner-dependent, the company is about 40 people, the documentation lives in a wiki, the free edition is non-commercial, and the 2024 buyout adds change-of-control questions. Veeam wins on ecosystem and transparency. SEP wins on sovereignty, tape and database depth. See the wider cybersecurity category for related European tools.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does SEP sesam support Proxmox and Nutanix?

Yes. SEP lists Proxmox with live full VM and container backup through snapshots, and Nutanix AHV as its tenth supported hypervisor with snapshot-based backup. XCP-ng, KVM/QEMU, OpenNebula, Hyper-V, VMware vSphere, Citrix Hypervisor and Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager are also on the list.

Is SEP sesam a good Veeam alternative?

It suits organisations that want tape, SAP HANA and Oracle protection alongside VM backup from a German vendor. Veeam has a far larger ecosystem and more public pricing. SEP sesam is quote-only, sold mainly through partners, and backed by a team of roughly 40 people.

Who owns SEP?

The Holzkirchen-based SEP GmbH is majority-owned by Luxembourg private equity firm BIP Capital Partners since 30 September 2024. CEO and co-founder Susanne Moosreiner and other co-founders remain minority shareholders. The company converted from an AG to a GmbH in December 2024 and is registered at Amtsgericht Munich under HRB 298001.

Is there a free version of SEP sesam?

A Community Edition exists for non-commercial, home or test use. It allows 5 clients, one hypervisor with 5 VMs, a 3 TB storage pool and 1 TB of Si3 deduplication, with no vendor support. Business use requires a commercial licence.

Where is SEP sesam backup data stored?

SEP sesam is on-premises software, so backups sit in storage the customer controls, including disk, deduplicated stores and tape. Cloud-style Backup-as-a-Service is delivered by certified partner MSPs rather than by SEP itself, and Microsoft 365 backup is a resold Keepit service.