stockrowWhat it does
Commvault helps organizations protect and recover data, applications and identity systems after disruptions such as ransomware attacks, data corruption or infrastructure failures. It serves enterprises, smaller businesses and government agencies. The company was founded in 1996, is headquartered in Tinton Falls and is led by President and Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Mirchandani.
Its main platform, Commvault Cloud, brings together backup, data security and recovery tools. Customers can use it across their own facilities, public clouds and software-as-a-service applications. They can run customer-managed software, use Commvault-hosted services or combine the two.
The platform has three main packages. Operational Recovery provides backup and restoration across workloads such as servers, databases and applications. Autonomous Recovery adds automation and testing to help restore systems after a disaster. Cyber Recovery adds tools to detect threats in protected data and identify clean copies for recovery after an attack.
Other offerings include an isolated cloud environment for testing recovery plans, protected cloud storage for backups, and tools to rebuild cloud applications and infrastructure. Commvault also provides support, consulting, training and managed services. Its products are designed to help customers keep operating and restore systems when normal infrastructure is unavailable.
How it makes money
Commvault earns revenue primarily from subscriptions, including software licenses for a fixed term and cloud-hosted SaaS. It also sells perpetual licenses, customer support and professional services. Customers can buy through the direct sales force or through distributors, resellers, integrators, equipment makers and cloud marketplaces.
Subscription pricing can be based on capacity, instances or consumption. These pricing models are available for both term licenses and SaaS. Commvault expects renewals of existing term licenses and SaaS agreements to continue generating revenue. Customers may also purchase additional products or extend protection to more workloads.
The accounting differs by delivery model. Term-license software revenue is generally recognized when the software is delivered or made available to download. SaaS revenue is generally recognized over the contract period or, for consumption arrangements, as customers use the service. Support revenue is recognized over the support agreement; professional-services revenue is typically recognized as the work is performed.
Commvault tracks annualized recurring revenue, or ARR, as the annualized value of active contracts at a point in time. Subscription ARR includes term licenses, associated support, SaaS and consumption arrangements. It is not a forecast of renewals: customers can change or end their contracts when terms expire.
In Q2 FY2027, total revenue was $312 million, including $269 million of subscription revenue. Commvault expects total revenue of $1.30 billion to $1.31 billion for fiscal 2027.
Customers and how it sells
Commvault serves a global customer base that includes large enterprises, small and midsize businesses, and government agencies. Customers operate in industries including financial services, healthcare, technology, manufacturing, energy and utilities. Its products are designed for organizations with data and applications spread across their own facilities, cloud providers and SaaS platforms.
The company sells directly and through partners. Indirect channels generated approximately 90% of total revenue in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026. A deal initiated by the direct sales force can nevertheless be transacted through an indirect channel when a customer requires it.
Two distribution partners account for substantial portions of revenue. In FY2026, Partner A represented 32.0% and Partner B represented 11.0%. Commvault also sells through cloud marketplaces and works with managed service providers that deliver Commvault-based offerings to customers.
As of March 31, 2026, the company had approximately 3,300 employees worldwide, with approximately 36% based in the United States and 64% based internationally. It also has significant operations in India.
Suppliers and costs
Commvault’s subscription costs include fees paid to third parties to host SaaS offerings, royalties on certain products, and distribution and translation costs. Perpetual-license costs include third-party royalties. Support and professional-service costs consist primarily of employee compensation.
Operating expenses include sales and marketing staff, commissions, promotion and events; research and development personnel, contract labor, certification and testing; and administrative staff, outside advisers, compliance and insurance. The company also records depreciation and amortization.
Commvault works with cloud providers, equipment makers and service providers to deliver its products. Its offerings can be supplied as customer-managed software, hosted services or integrated appliances. The company also pays cloud marketplace providers; those payments are capitalized as contract costs and amortized over the related arrangement. Commvault has said hardware supply constraints have become part of its sales process and that it can help some customers move workloads directly to the cloud.
- Revenue$1.2B
- Cost of revenue−$223.1M
- Research and development−$162.2M
- Selling, general and administrative−$682.4M
- Other operating costs−$42.0M
- Operating income$74.0M
Competitive position
Commvault competes in data protection and cyber resilience with Rubrik, Cohesity and Veeam, each of which competes with aspects of its portfolio. In some cloud-native, SaaS and government-related uses, it also faces hyperscalers and other providers of data protection, cybersecurity and governance products.
Customers compare providers on functionality, performance, workload coverage, scalability, compatibility, pricing, deployment, support and distribution. Some competitors have greater financial resources, larger customer bases or broader offerings, and may be able to charge lower prices or bundle products with other infrastructure and software.
Commvault’s platform works across on-premise, hybrid and cloud environments, and the company invests in integrations with other technology providers. Our reading: that breadth and interoperability can support customer adoption, although competitors also offer overlapping capabilities and broader bundles.
Commvault also relies on patents, trade secrets, copyrights and contracts to protect its technology. Our reading: intellectual property provides some protection, but its strength is limited by uncertainty about whether those protections will prevent unauthorized use.
In Q2 FY2027, 53% of Commvault-managed SaaS customers used two or more products. Our reading: adoption of multiple products can deepen customer relationships, but customers can still reduce workloads or choose not to renew.
| Competitor | Where they compete | Threat (our reading) |
|---|---|---|
| Rubrik | Enterprise and mid-market data protection | Medium |
| Cohesity | Enterprise and mid-market data protection | Medium |
| Veeam | Enterprise and mid-market data protection | Medium |
Growth opportunities
Commvault’s growth strategy centers on acquiring subscription customers and selling additional products to existing ones. In Q2 FY2027, subscription ARR increased 20% to $1.104 billion and SaaS ARR grew 35% year-over-year to $454 million. The company added over 500 subscription customers in the quarter.
Cloud-based protection, identity resilience and data security are areas of investment. Commvault offers Clumio protection for AWS and Google Cloud, alongside protection for SaaS applications. It has also described customer expansion agreements covering multiple workloads and identity systems. The company says identity resilience and data security offerings represented approximately 30% of net new subscription ARR in Q2.
Commvault is investing in recovery capabilities for AI applications and expects enterprise AI deployments to create more data and workloads to protect. It also plans to continue investing in sales capacity and cloud-native products. The company says its cloud growth is driven through the three major hyperscalers and that it is investing in joint development, marketing and sales with them.
For fiscal 2027, Commvault expects subscription ARR of $1.205 billion to $1.215 billion and SaaS ARR to exceed $500 million by year-end. It expects total revenue of $1.30 billion to $1.31 billion, reflecting a decline in its legacy perpetual software and maintenance revenue streams.
- $769.6MFY2022
- $784.6MFY2023
- $839.2MFY2024
- $995.6MFY2025
- $1.2BFY2026
- $1.3BFY2027 guidance
Structural risks
- Competition is intense. Some rivals have greater resources, larger established customer bases or broader product offerings, and may be able to offer lower prices or bundle competing products with other services.
- Subscription customers can decide not to renew, shorten their contracts, reduce protected workloads or users, move to lower-cost configurations, or seek pricing concessions. Transaction and renewal timing can also cause quarterly results to vary.
- Commvault depends on indirect channels to sell its offerings. If a major distribution partner reduces sales, ends its agreement or experiences operational or financial difficulties, the company may be unable to replace the affected distribution activities effectively.
- The company may experience IT failures, network disruptions, cybersecurity incidents or data breaches. Privacy and security laws can impose response, notification and remediation costs, while changing data-residency and transfer rules can affect product design and deployment.
- International operations expose Commvault to differing legal and economic conditions, trade restrictions, currency controls and staffing challenges. Its significant operations in India also expose it to operational, economic and labor-related risks.
- Commvault may lack the cash or financing capacity to meet required payments on its convertible notes, including upon conversion, following a fundamental change or at maturity.
Bottom line
Our reading
Our reading: Commvault is a subscription-led software business built around protecting and restoring enterprise systems across mixed computing environments. Its opportunity to sell more products to existing customers sits alongside dependence on renewals, channel partners and competitive technology. Its range of integrations and recovery tools supports its offering, but does not eliminate the risk of customers reducing subscriptions or choosing competing platforms.