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Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management vs Varonis Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 14, 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

Microsoft Purview Data Life...
Ranking in Data Governance
26th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Email Archiving (9th), Document Management Software (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (29th)
Varonis Platform
Ranking in Data Governance
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (15th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (4th), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (3rd), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (1st), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (3rd), Compliance Management (7th), Ransomware Protection (7th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (6th), Insider Risk Management (1st), AI Security (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management is 1.0%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Varonis Platform is 7.9%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Governance Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Varonis Platform7.9%
Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management1.0%
Other91.1%
Data Governance
 

Featured Reviews

RK
Cloud Security & Governance at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
A comprehensive data management solution shows potential for improvement while providing strong integration with existing infrastructure
One of the requirements is to have data leak policies and data access policies. This is very critical to enforce data governance standards, which relate to data classification, access control, data protection, and retention. It covers the entire lifecycle, helping us to protect, detect, and classify the documents. Challenges are mostly related to the security products onboarded into the bank; they have challenges in terms of those products complying with the internal standards. Sometimes, we cannot just use the DLP across the state. For example, using Microsoft products has been easy to adopt, such as OneDrive and SharePoint on-premise, but it becomes a challenge when it comes to AWS, as data also exists in S3 buckets. Testing is still ongoing, but it will eventually be done. The time it takes to scan is one issue; when we raise high-volume issues and tickets related to scanning failures, it relates to permission errors, which are technical challenges. These take time because we have high volume tickets in terms of connectivity, scanning failures, and related matters. There are also frequent change requests, especially regarding scoping or rescoping due to complexities, creating several challenges. In both organizations I work with, there are gaps, and there is no enterprise-wide data classification available. However, there are pockets of implementations for various products. Some agencies are using it, but otherwise, there's no product existing across the enterprise. Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management is definitely a good solution, but there is significant room for improvement from a product perspective. Reporting is another area that needs improvement.
SureshKumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Consultant at Satcom Infotech Pvt Ltd
Has improved data visibility and protection while enabling automated compliance monitoring
Varonis Platform offers multiple features for data protection, such as data discovery and classification. We can identify, discover, and classify sensitive data effectively, which is crucial given the DPDP law in India and GDPR. The platform also excels in access and exposure tracking, enabling us to monitor users, permissions, and reduce access to sensitive files. Additionally, it includes UEBA for behavior analytics and threat detection, making it valuable for compliance and audit readiness. Varonis Platform has helped our organization primarily for DPDP compliance, although I currently don't have a specific example related to GDPR or HIPAA. A unique feature of Varonis Platform that stands out to me is that, in the current market, it is one of the best data classification solutions available. Compared to others such as Forcepoint, Varonis Platform is agent-based and AI-driven for detection and response, identifying data based on its content and context, and it includes automated remediation and lifecycle automation, making it a leading product in the market.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The automatic data labeling is compelling, and we are investigating its use."
"The system is stable; I haven't encountered any worldwide stability issues unlike other office products."
"Purview's built-in functionality provides immediate access to reports, streamlining the entire process."
"The impact of Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management on my unified data catalog has improved a lot; the improvements I see are in the lineage, the discovery, and the labeling."
"The UI is the most valuable feature."
"Varonis Platform has positively impacted my organization by providing clarity regarding data and permissions, improving visibility, security, and compliance."
"Technical support from Varonis is rated as nine out of ten."
"Varonis Platform is transparent and captures everything in the environment without impacting the performance. The tool helps us unify data feeds into a single reporting system."
"The solution has significantly improved data security and compliance posture by allowing us to track and monitor activities. We can see who accesses data and when files are created and understand what's happening in our environment."
"The solution's classification engine is highly configurable and efficient."
"It can easily identify unusual behavior or access patterns that may pose a potential threat, while operating as a unified reporting system."
"The analytics would have to be our most valuable feature."
"In my experience, the best features that Varonis Platform offers are data labeling, data classification, along with all the integrations and its easy-to-use platform."
 

Cons

"Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management can be challenging to implement due to its complexity and dense documentation, making it difficult to get started."
"Microsoft's Purview Data Lifecycle Management preview features can be unreliable, hindering their usefulness."
"The time it takes to scan is one issue; when we raise high-volume issues and tickets related to scanning failures, it relates to permission errors, which are technical challenges."
"I think labeling could use a lot more AI assistance. AI implementation into labeling would be beneficial."
"Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management can be challenging to implement due to its complexity and dense documentation, making it difficult to get started."
"Varonis requires more access permissions for its core functions compared to competitors, which can be a concern for companies about data safety."
"The GUI should be more functional. There should be a process for connecting through Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc."
"One area for improvement is the calculation engine. When applying rules in Varonis, especially for large datasets (terabytes of data), the calculations can be slow and require time to process. Speeding up this process would be beneficial."
"While Varonis Platform is powerful, the initial data scanning and indexing can take significant time in large environments."
"There is one thing that if I add something manually, I get so many alerts. That's the biggest bad thing."
"It is significantly complex."
"It would be beneficial if the reporting in Varonis Platform could use PDFs instead of Excel for better graphs, as the dashboards are really good, and it would be nice to have simplified dashboards in PDF for business reporting purposes."
"For unstructured data monitoring, it's one of the top ones, if not the top one, due to its usability."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The service operates on a pay-as-you-go basis, charging an extra one cent per field of metadata scanned in our data."
"The pricing is good. It neither expensive nor cheap. It is average."
"Licensing is on an annual basis. Maintenance and renewal fees are separate. Varonis Datalert is quite expensive."
"Varonis Platform wasn't certainly the cheapest solution."
"It's expensive, kind of, really expensive."
"You could do a subscription, where you pay yearly, or you could purchase it outright. The licensing cost is based on the number of users on the system that you are monitoring."
"The platform is expensive. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Insurance Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management?
We opted for Purview Data Lifecycle Management due to its significant cost advantage over competitors. At a 95 percent price reduction, it was a clear winner. The service operates on a pay-as-you-g...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management?
I think labeling could use a lot more AI assistance. AI implementation into labeling would be beneficial.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management?
My major use case for Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management is for the classification of data.
What do you like most about Varonis Platform?
The solution has significantly improved data security and compliance posture by allowing us to track and monitor activities. We can see who accesses data and when files are created and understand w...
What needs improvement with Varonis Platform?
While Varonis Platform is powerful, the initial data scanning and indexing can take significant time in large environments. However, this is not an issue in mid-level organizations. I suggest enhan...
What is your primary use case for Varonis Platform?
My main use case for Varonis Platform is for data classification on the user's machine, specifically for data visibility and protection. A quick, specific example of how I use Varonis Platform for ...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Information Governance, Microsoft Purview Records Management
SlashNext Complete
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Nottingham Building Society
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management vs. Varonis Platform and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.