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IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Protegrity’s Data Protection Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 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
7.0
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Protegrity’s Data Protectio...
Ranking in Database Security
10th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Data Governance (30th), Data Masking (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is 27.5%, down from 33.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Protegrity’s Data Protection Platform is 2.5%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection27.5%
Protegrity’s Data Protection Platform2.5%
Other70.0%
Database Security
 

Featured Reviews

DP
Chief Executive Officer at Kipustec
Ensures data security and compliance with reliable alerts and protections
The manuals should be clearer. There needs to be an online course or tutorial for faster management training. The maintenance was slightly complicated. I had to read the manuals carefully and even failed the Guardium certification exam due to insufficient information or time. Improving the tool learning process would be beneficial.
Vinoth Raj Prabhakaran - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Data Architect at Tata Consultancy Services
Beneficial data security, good support, and straightforward initial setup
The initial setup of Protegrity Data Security was straightforward. However, we had a few problems, it's not multi-tenanted. It does not have a hierarchy of roles and differential priorities. To have the initial sandbox version of Protegrity Data Security up and running, took approximately one week. However, it needed to be set up in a resilient way because if it fails, then it is going to be a challenge bringing back the lost information. We have to be particular in terms of architecting it correctly which is taking us a bit of time. We are anticipating anywhere between four to six weeks to be finished.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Ease of deployment is a valuable feature."
"Gathering ​the data works very well. ​"
"It tests security to support SOX compliance."
"The purpose of EBM Guardium is to monitor database activity and who is accessing it. This is the most valuable feature."
"Database logging and audit functions are the most valuable features."
"The most valuable features are the reporting and data-level access control."
"The valuable features enable us to track all activities on the database, it has helped improve the visibility for our data usage, and it is very useful."
"The most valuable feature of the solution for the customers is the monitoring and full log of the database activity of privileged users."
"The most valuable feature of Protegrity Data Security is the reduction of information being exposed."
"The solution’s pricing is moderate."
"Its technical support team is helpful."
"The product is stable."
 

Cons

"Right now we're having some issues where it's using a high CPU, we don't know why. So, better testing before the product is ready would help."
"Needs easier integration with custom applications."
"The documentation could be better."
"An improvement would be to make the pricing relative in terms of regions."
"​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."
"Initially it did not have support external applications like, say, Tableau, ServiceNow, Remedy, and the like. They have started growing into it, but I would like to have more and more integration with outside applications."
"IBM Guardium Data Protection is a mature product. There is a lot of encryption that is not owned by IBM and is done by a third party and is not an integral part of the solution."
"I'd like to see a smoother GUI interface for the CAS agent - CAS does configurations on the database - to interface better with the vulnerability assessments."
"Protegrity is using a different OS which has some bugs. Sometimes it's causing an initialization error."
"The solution's UI could be better."
"Protegrity Data Security could improve by having more integration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For IBM Guardium, licensing is very simple and straightforward. There are no issues I can speak of."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"My company purchased IBM Guardium Data Protection in a package, so I'm unable to give its exact licensing cost, but for the package of three IBM solutions, it wasn't very expensive. I'd rate the pricing for all three solutions three out of five. When my team deployed IBM Guardium Data Protection, all features were included."
"Guardium has not saved us time or money."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is very high price, I rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten."
"We haven't talked much about pricing and licencing. But it is not cheap for sure"
"Guardium's pricing is quite high, but it gives good value for money for all sizes of enterprises, especially for partners."
"One of the deployments that I know of had three databases, and the yearly fees are approximately $50,000 USD."
"We pay for a few additional services apart from its licenses."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
25%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Insurance Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
34%
Computer Software Company
10%
Insurance Company
10%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise44
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
Protegrity Data Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
A $4 billion retail conglomerate and holding company
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. Protegrity’s Data Protection Platform and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
881,733 professionals have used our research since 2012.