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IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs jSonar comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

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 July 2025, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is 31.6%, up from 31.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of jSonar is 1.5%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Security
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmer Faisel Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers mature agents, compliance reporting and reliable database security
The solution should allow the data to shift to a centralized repository with elastic servers and big data infrastructure. If a customer searches for old logs for retention purposes, there are limitations on appliances once they are set with specific hardware, so they can only be changed by uninstalling or reinstalling the hardware. The solution's aggregator feature allows data aggregation, but for instance, if a customer wants a project ready in two years, having an Elasticsearch in DB or the capacity to store huge amounts of data would be beneficial in data investigation or evaluation at an affordable cost. Some AI features should be added to IBM Security Guardium Data Protection. For example, the AI features implemented in the solution can be anomaly detection or suspicious activity identification.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Easy to set up data activity monitoring solution that provides competent technical support. Scalable, stable, and has good performance."
"It can help with PCI compliance. It includes features like data masking, especially during queries, which supports compliance efforts."
"The most valuable feature I have found is the performance of client monitoring. The other competitors are unable to do this."
"The most valuable feature for me, in my role as systems DBA, is the expediting of internal and external audits."
"We now have the ability to begin to understand how people, applications, and service accounts are interacting with data to better protect it."
"There are different modules but the most valuable ones are firewalling and masking. Additionally, the auditing of the entire database is helpful, which includes all the activity of the database users and administrators. We can monitor everything and log as well."
"The solution has definitely saved us time, because if you want to monitor this kind of vast environment of different products, it's going to take a lot of time. Let's say one database server has 100 database instances running on it; I don't need to install 100 data instances, I just need to install on the one database server and that will cover all of my instances on that particular database."
"Our internal audit is keeping an eye out, and making sure that we're in compliance. Having the Guardium solution and its reporting helps us get through that process a lot more quickly and efficiently."
"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."
"It allows us to run models against it and do reports against it without understanding the different database technologies."
 

Cons

"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."
"We've had some issues recently that we're working through, on the agent software that runs on the databases."
"Needs nore cloud support."
"I would like to see a lot of additional reporting and analytics features. They have basic outlier detection, but I would love to see that go further, and model it after analytics tools like Splunk."
"Guardium Data Protection is far better in terms of external integration. But in terms of firewall features, like when you're blocking activities, it's as if Oracle AVDF simply has superior features. This is just from third-party observations, but the users of Oracle AVDF are saying that when it comes to the firewall and protection functionality, they're much more inclined to AVDF."
"The price of this solution is quite high for smaller organizations, so they should release a version that is affordable for small and medium-sized businesses."
"Right now, we're in the development phase for IBM Guardium Data Protection, so I don't have any recommendations about additional features and room for improvement in the solution. We're very excited to work on IBM Guardium Data Protection because we are new to the solution, and we're still exploring product features. We're very excited about integrations and use case creation, and it's only after six to eight months that I'll be able to share my recommendations in terms of additional features the solution should have. We did find some difficulty in deploying IBM Guardium Data Protection here in Pakistan because of the lack of resources."
"Sometimes the performance is not good, and also sometimes we have sudden bugs causing difficulties."
"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

"The tool is not cheap, but it is not expensive."
"Guardium won mostly because of our scope and scale. It was able to perform at the scale that we wanted to use it. ​"
"The price of the solution could be better."
"Guardium is most suitable for large scale enterprises because the pricing model is better if you are implementing a large number of databases."
"The product's pricing is reasonable and affordable. It is in the moderate range."
"It is not an expensive product. We purchase its yearly license."
"Reasonable cost but could be lower."
"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."
"I know it's not cheap."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Computer Software Company
9%
Insurance Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
38%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

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...
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.
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.
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Also Known As

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Voya Financial
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. jSonar and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.