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IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs jSonar comparison

IBM and Imperva are both solutions in the Database Security category. IBM is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7, while Imperva is ranked #11. IBM holds a 31.8% mindshare in DS, compared to Imperva’s 1.4% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Imperva users who would recommend it.
IBM Security Guardium Data ...
Read 78 IBM Security Guardium Data Protection reviews
  • 5,040 Views
  • 4,133 Comparison Views
85% willing to recommend
jSonar
Read 2 jSonar reviews
  • 334 Views
  • 334 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection and jSonar are competitors in the data security market. jSonar seems to have the upper hand due to its robust feature set, adaptability, and comprehensive functionality.

Features: IBM Security Guardium Data Protection provides extensive compliance, data discovery capabilities, and protects sensitive information across various environments. jSonar focuses on advanced analytics, scalability, integration, and in-depth data monitoring.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM Security Guardium Data Protection offers a structured deployment model with comprehensive documentation and responsive customer service. jSonar provides a streamlined deployment process with customer collaboration and an agile service approach.

Pricing and ROI: IBM Security Guardium Data Protection involves higher initial setup costs, justified by extensive security compliance results. jSonar offers competitive setup costs and a quicker realization of ROI with flexible architecture and lower resource demands.

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To learn more, read our detailed IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. jSonar Report (Updated: July 2025).
Buyer's Guide
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. jSonar
July 2025
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Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

IBM Security Guardium Data ...
Ranking in Database Security
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
jSonar
Ranking in Database Security
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is 31.8%, up from 31.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of jSonar is 1.4%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Security
 

Featured Reviews

Jared Ochieng - PeerSpot reviewer
Used for monitoring database activity and tracking databases
The response time could be improved. Navigating support for the solution can be challenging, especially when finding the right contact for specialized issues. Improvements could make raising tickets and identifying the correct support channels easier. While general support information is provided, specialized support may require contacting different teams. We guide our clients through this process to ensure they know where to turn for various needs. Typically, we are the first point of contact for any issues, big or small, and then direct them to the appropriate resources. The quality of technical support largely depends on the expertise of the partner who implemented the solution. If you have a partner who is well-versed in IBM, the technical support is usually excellent. If not, support might be less reliable.
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reviewer1633014 - PeerSpot reviewer
Serves as a data lake for database activity and helps to centralize and normalize data
I rate the solution an eight out of ten. It can be simplified as it is a little complicated. However, it has a lot of flexibility and capability. My advice to users considering the solution is to look at their requirements and see if they align with their needs. Ensure that some use cases are tested on the solution before purchasing because it is important to ensure the monitoring works.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Our ability to see when users are accessing sensitive data."
"Ease of deployment is a valuable feature."
"The most valuable feature is using the capture operation mode “S-TAP/K-TAP agent”, because all activities in the database are captured, including direct access to the database server by privileged users. This is useful because, even if the database server logs were deleted, the Guardium Collector has already stored such data to enable traceability of access."
"One of the most valuable features is the accelerator. It has a predefined report for PCI SOX compliance and other compliances."
"It has been very difficult to analyze all the network traffic with something else. Guardium provides that feature, it's heuristic. So we have rule-based algorithms in place to take care of that."
"We appreciate its ease of implementation and the local support available for the product."
"IBM Guardium Data Protection is very good at keeping your database secure."
"Encryption is not straightforward, but Guardium made the setup easy for us."
More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection pros
"It allows us to run models against it and do reports against it without understanding the different database technologies."
"The centralization of the data is probably the most useful feature because we span multiple database technologies. We also find the GBDI portion of it very helpful."
 

Cons

"The solution lacks control over database security."
"More predictive, using Watson AI would be good."
"​Overall testing and quality need improvement. It is fairly buggy at times, so it feels like it could use additional staff on the product, testing and trying it out."
"The biggest complaint that I hear from customers and users is that using this solution requires database skills, yet it is a security and monitoring tool."
"I would like to see AI and machine learning added in the future."
"I am struggling getting through to social."
"The analysis part of this product could be improved. It's a very comprehensive product, so the features it has complement customer requirements. But I would like to see more emphasis on analytics, and it would be great if they added machine learning. They already have analysis insights, but a comprehensive analytical feature that's already incorporated into the solution would be very helpful."
"An improvement would be to make the pricing relative in terms of regions."
More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection cons
"It can be simplified as it is a little complicated."
"It would be better if it were more user-friendly. Right now, it's a little bit of a complicated product to use. Another problem that we have is with encrypted traffic on Oracle. This is because it requires a database outage. That's a pain in the butt because you're monitoring critical systems, and they don't like outages."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"We haven't talked much about pricing and licencing. But it is not cheap for sure"
"I would suggest to review the type of data, need for security, and if the organizational structure needs the options IBM Guardium provides."
"IBM Guardium Data Protection charges you based on the number of users, e.g. based on the number of licenses, and it's either on a per-license or a per-data basis."
"​If you are researching this type of solution, work with IBM."
"The cost depends on the number of databases. You can purchase advanced licenses, but the standard license is calculated based on the number of databases you have to onboard."
"For IBM Guardium, licensing is very simple and straightforward. There are no issues I can speak of."
"Guardium is most suitable for large scale enterprises because the pricing model is better if you are implementing a large number of databases."
More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection pricing and cost advice
"I know it's not cheap."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
28%
Computer Software Company
9%
Insurance Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
36%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Retailer
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

How does IBM Guardium Data Protection compare with Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a solution for database security from IBM that gives complete visibility, control, and analysis to secure sensitive data and comply with regulations. IBM S...
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Guardium Data Protection?
I don't remember the exact prices, but Guardium is an expensive tool because it is targeted towards corporate enterprises.
See all answers
What do you like most about IBM Security Guardium Data Protection?
The features I like are the robust policies, which allow us to create customized monitoring based on specific activities.
See all answers
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Comparisons

Imperva SecureSphere Database Security vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection Logo
Imperva SecureSphere Database Security vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection
Compared 50% of the time
Oracle Audit Vault vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection Logo
Oracle Audit Vault vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection
Compared 19% of the time
DataSunrise Database Security vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection Logo
DataSunrise Database Security vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection
Compared 5% of the time
Trustwave DbProtect vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection Logo
Trustwave DbProtect vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection
Compared 4% of the time
IBM InfoSphere Optim Data Privacy vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection Logo
IBM InfoSphere Optim Data Privacy vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection
Compared 3% of the time
More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection Competitors
Imperva SecureSphere Database Security vs jSonar Logo
Imperva SecureSphere Database Security vs jSonar
Compared 65% of the time
More jSonar Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection
August 2025
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection reportDownload IBM Security Guardium Data Protection product report
Buyer's Guide
Database Security
July 2025
jSonar reportDownload jSonar product report
 

Also Known As

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
No data available
 

Overview

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection automatically discovers and classifies sensitive data from across the enterprise, providing real-time data activity monitoring and advanced user behavior analytics to help discover unusual activity around sensitive data.

Deploy the solution to help discover regulated data in your data stores and use pre-built templates for regulations such as PCI, SOX, HIPAA, CCPA and many more, to streamline and automate compliance workflows.

IBM

At JSonar we're passionate about solving today's complex and costly approach to database security. We empower enterprise organizations to meet the needs of their transforming business by delivering a 360-degree view of their database security and compliance program across any on-premise and cloud environments. We rapidly deploy a comprehensive database security platform at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions, delivering greater database coverage and richer, actionable security intelligence, all out of the box!

Imperva
 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Voya Financial
Buyer's Guide
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. jSonar
July 2025
Free Report: IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. jSonar
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