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Fortra's Digital Guardian vs Symantec Data Loss Prevention comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 3, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.2
Fortra's Digital Guardian enhances data protection and operational efficiency, offering up to 90% returns by preventing security disruptions.
Sentiment score
6.2
Symantec Data Loss Prevention improves efficiency, reduces costs by up to 25%, and enhances data security management, offering clear ROI.
It is reliable, it has a broad scope, and the vendor is easy to reach out to and makes it easy to request assistance.
Security Managed Services Associate at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It doesn't block my workflows, saving me from wasting hours of troubleshooting security blocks that could happen with other tools.
Automation Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
If my data gets encrypted, I will pay far more than the license costs for this software.
Co-Founder and Business Development at TeCrypt
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.9
Fortra's Digital Guardian support is praised for responsiveness and expertise, though technical assistance consistency and policy configuration are noted issues.
Sentiment score
6.3
User experiences with Symantec Data Loss Prevention support vary widely, with mixed reviews on responsiveness, effectiveness, and cost concerns.
For others looking into using Fortra's Digital Guardian, I would suggest learning the steps for monitoring and maintaining the server, especially policy configuration, since it is quite tricky and includes a lot of processes.
Security Managed Services Associate at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Technical support from Fortra can vary; sometimes I encounter great engineers with high experience who can resolve issues quickly, but other times I face less experienced engineers which can cause delays in issue resolution.
System Engineer/Consultant at Notable Frontier Sdn Bhd
I have never had to contact Fortra's Digital Guardian's customer support because the software has never crashed or caused any issues on my machine.
Automation Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The support provided from both Symantec Turkey and distributor companies enables us to support customers and partners effectively.
Technical Team Leader at Redington (India) Ltd
The support team changed from MTechPro to a different partner, affecting our experience.
Information Security Engineer 4 at Amadeus
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.0
Fortra's Digital Guardian is praised for scalable, stable performance across thousands of endpoints, with minimal performance impact.
Sentiment score
7.6
Symantec Data Loss Prevention is scalable and adaptable for enterprises, but integration and virtualization challenges are sometimes reported.
Even when my laptop is under heavy load, running multiple instances of automated browsers via Selenium, PyCharm, and handling background API requests, the agent remains stable and completely unnoticeable.
Automation Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
It is very scalable; if a customer buys 10 licenses and tomorrow needs 100, it can be done easily with no additional requirements.
Co-Founder and Business Development at TeCrypt
While there are limits, we attempt to work around them, sometimes needing to collaborate with Fortra's Digital Guardian engineers to find solutions.
System Engineer/Consultant at Notable Frontier Sdn Bhd
When using native proxy solutions, scalability issues are minimized, and the solution remains stable.
Information Security Engineer 4 at Amadeus
Symantec Data Loss Prevention adapts to evolving security landscapes by handling MIP labels and sensitivity categorization.
Technical Specialist at Softcell Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Users highly rate Fortra's Digital Guardian stability and reliability, confirming minimal downtime and no performance issues.
Sentiment score
7.7
Symantec Data Loss Prevention is stable and reliable, excelling on Linux but occasionally facing latency and database connection issues.
Fortra's Digital Guardian is stable; it doesn't have a negative effect on my system performance.
Automation Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
For stability, I would rate Fortra's Digital Guardian a nine because it proves to be very reliable.
Co-Founder and Business Development at TeCrypt
The stability and scalability are its most important features.
Technical Specialist at Softcell Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortra's Digital Guardian needs better user-friendliness, scalability, support, CPU usage, visibility, and faster reporting with reduced license costs.
Symantec Data Loss Prevention is complex, costly, and lacks support, requiring better integration, cloud features, and enhanced management.
System reporting and default system reporting are not totally usable and require customization to be practical.
System Engineer/Consultant at Notable Frontier Sdn Bhd
Fortra's Digital Guardian does have some mishaps and imperfections, but it has been really helpful for us as a DLP tool.
Security Managed Services Associate at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I give Fortra's Digital Guardian a seven because it doesn't compromise my system performance, but I don't get any visibility about what's happening and I don't know which criteria are used for preventing data leaks or classifying my files as sensitive or not sensitive.
Automation Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Symantec responded by creating an OCR module, enabling the capability to search within images.
Technical Team Leader at Redington (India) Ltd
They can improve their product and the features mainly to focus on how we can prevent that data within the organization, over the cloud, whatever it is, as that is important.
System Manager at Randstad
It is very critical to understand whether an incident is a false positive or a true positive, particularly because some false positive incidents are quarantined.
Technical Specialist at Softcell Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
 

Setup Cost

Fortra's Digital Guardian is valued for scalability and security but is expensive, targeting enterprise clients over smaller businesses.
Symantec Data Loss Prevention is costly but valued for comprehensive protection, with potential for competitive pricing via negotiation.
It is not affordable for us in terms of the license because it is not something related to the license as much as from a company perspective.
Co-Founder and Business Development at TeCrypt
I know that it is expensive.
Security Senior Consultant at a financial services firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Symantec Data Loss Prevention is more expensive compared to competing solutions.
Technical Team Leader at Redington (India) Ltd
If it is a large target, then of course your cost will be high.
System Manager at Randstad
 

Valuable Features

Fortra's Digital Guardian offers robust data protection through customizable policies, real-time visibility, and seamless integration with existing processes.
Symantec DLP provides robust monitoring, policy management, and data protection with advanced classification, ML, and user-friendly management.
Fortra's Digital Guardian can detect any user activity after installation and commissioning without the need for policy implementation; it just works by system default.
System Engineer/Consultant at Notable Frontier Sdn Bhd
With this file tagging, everything that needs to be controlled or monitored is blocked for any file transfer because once the file is tagged by Fortra's Digital Guardian, that tag remains wherever the file is placed.
Security Managed Services Associate at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Fortra's Digital Guardian's lightweight nature impacts my productivity and workflow positively because it delivers enterprise security without hurting developer productivity, and the system performance remains stable.
Automation Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Symantec's OCR module enhances image analysis, crucial for detecting data loss via screenshots, improving the overall security posture against data breaches.
Technical Team Leader at Redington (India) Ltd
Symantec Data Loss Prevention helps in identifying and securing sensitive data in my organization by being used for the internal, outgoing, and inbound traffic, specifically for any personal identification data leak prevention and any PII data.
Technical Specialist at Softcell Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Symantec Data Loss Prevention has proprietary metadata and is well-suited for endpoint-level security.
Information Security Engineer 4 at Amadeus
 

Categories and Ranking

Fortra's Digital Guardian
Ranking in Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
14th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Symantec Data Loss Prevention
Ranking in Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
62
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Data Loss Prevention (DLP) category, the mindshare of Fortra's Digital Guardian is 1.3%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Symantec Data Loss Prevention is 3.7%, down from 4.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Symantec Data Loss Prevention3.7%
Fortra's Digital Guardian1.3%
Other95.0%
Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
 

Featured Reviews

Mohamed Abdel-Hassanein - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder and Business Development at TeCrypt
Consolidated data protection has streamlined compliance and incident response from one dashboard
The biggest advantage in Fortra's Digital Guardian is that two products in a single product can be configured, monitored, and troubleshot through a single dashboard. Another advantage is that they split the tool for database and the network. If the customer needs to do data classification or DLP for the database, they can purchase the license for the database only. If the customer needs to do it for the network, they can purchase the network license only. If it is an enterprise customer and they need to buy both, they can. However, one disadvantage is that they do not focus on small to mid customers. They start talking about 400 users and more. Regarding real-time data visibility, it helps manage data security for the clients completely. I can do everything from a single dashboard, including gap analysis and instant response. I have over 15 years of experience as a technical person working hands-on with the product, so I have technical skills. The advantage of Fortra's Digital Guardian is that it includes a forensics tool and incident response, which allows me to determine incidents before and after they occur. In case of an incident, I can put a scenario and action plan, and if the customer gets hacked or attacked, I can identify where, who, how, and when this happened. That is a good advantage. Fortra's Digital Guardian is very effective in detecting insider threats in the company, especially for low awareness customers who can send unexpected messages. As we all know, most attacks come from the inside, and more than 79% of attacks result from human error, not malicious intent, but it can be accidental. So if I can classify the data and put some restrictions, it is not a constraint on the employees inside but instead protects them and the company. Speaking of cross-platform protection in Fortra's Digital Guardian, it streamlines data protection processes for the clients. The most important factor is to protect the customer's data, which is their real asset, regardless of where the data resides—on the cloud or on-premises, in static or in transit. What matters is how to protect that data, and I need visibility on it, which is very well managed within Fortra's Digital Guardian. Regarding the network, it can also be managed and controlled if it is split across on-prem or in the cloud, and I have complete and clear visibility on all assets. The flexibility of deployment within Fortra's Digital Guardian is good, but it is not more than 90% of Arab countries, mainly Egypt, that allow on-cloud implementation. As such, on-prem solutions are the most applicable implementations fully fulfilled by Fortra's Digital Guardian.
Abhishek Sawant - PeerSpot reviewer
System Manager at Randstad
Has strengthened data protection across departments and supported continuous monitoring
In future updates of Symantec Data Loss Prevention, I would like to see improvements based on the many attacks happening around the world. They can improve their product and the features mainly to focus on how we can prevent that data within the organization, over the cloud, whatever it is, as that is important.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise30
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra's Digital Guardian?
It is not affordable for us in terms of the license because it is not something related to the license as much as from a company perspective; Fortra needs to put themselves on a scale for enterpris...
What needs improvement with Fortra's Digital Guardian?
The main concerns I have are pricing and the fact that it is handled through a distributor or reseller. Fortra does not have a local team here in the country, and they depend completely on distribu...
What is your primary use case for Fortra's Digital Guardian?
The most important use case for my clients in Fortra's Digital Guardian is that it consolidates two products into a single product: the DLP and data classification instead of having to implement an...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Data Loss Prevention?
I am not aware of the licensing cost for Symantec Data Loss Prevention because the licensing cost is up to senior management's decision. I really don't know what the cost of that is. It is based on...
What needs improvement with Symantec Data Loss Prevention?
There is room for improvement in incident management within Symantec Data Loss Prevention because most of the incidents are false positives. It is very critical to understand whether an incident is...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Data Loss Prevention?
The primary use case for Symantec Data Loss Prevention is for data leak prevention and as a security tool.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Symantec DLP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Hadassah University Hospital, Her Majestys Government (HMG), United Kingdom, Hitachi Consulting Software Services India Pvt Ltd., Hua Nan Bank, Hyundai Department Store Group,JW Marriott Hotel Seoul, Lake Health, McCann Erickson Israel, Molina Healthcare Inc., PGi, Quilvest Switzerland Limited, State of Nevada Public Employees Benefits Program, Symantec Corporation (Enterprise Security), The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust (DLP), The Saudi Industrial Property Authority, TSO cloud, Visa, Yunnan Power Grid Company
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra's Digital Guardian vs. Symantec Data Loss Prevention and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.