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Avanan vs Fortra's Digital Guardian comparison

 

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
8.4
Avanan improved email security, reduced phishing, increased user trust, enhanced mobile protection, and boosted ROI and revenue growth.
Sentiment score
7.4
Fortra's Digital Guardian delivers high ROI and efficiency, with dependable data loss prevention and minimal workflow interruptions.
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
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
I see some return on investment with Fortra's Digital Guardian since the license is based on the endpoints, which is where you can save.
System Engineer/Consultant at Notable Frontier Sdn Bhd
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
8.1
Avanan's customer service is highly responsive, professional, and proactive, with excellent communication and extensive support staff knowledge.
Sentiment score
8.0
Fortra's Digital Guardian support is generally positive, though experiences vary; some face delays, others find software reliable.
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
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
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
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Avanan integrates with Office 365 and Google, praised for scalability, admin capabilities, and efficient email protection across diverse organizations.
Sentiment score
7.7
Fortra's Digital Guardian is scalable and adaptable, efficiently handling performance, licensing, and stability for varied enterprise needs.
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
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
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Avanan is highly praised for its stability, efficiency, security, minimal maintenance, seamless Microsoft 365 integration, and reliable AI-based scanning.
Sentiment score
8.5
Fortra's Digital Guardian is highly stable, rated 9/10 by users, with minimal downtime and no significant issues reported.
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
 

Room For Improvement

Users feel Avanan needs improvements in Active Directory dependency, email quarantining, AI logic, training, UI, performance, pricing, mobile app, and integrations.
Fortra's Digital Guardian struggles with user-friendliness, scalability, CPU efficiency, visibility, compatibility, and cost compared to alternatives.
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
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
 

Setup Cost

Avanan provides flexible pricing for Office 365, with straightforward setup and costs between $4 to $8 per user.
 

Valuable Features

Avanan provides advanced malware and phishing detection, 24/7 cloud protection, easy integration with Microsoft 365, and ensures secure communications.
Fortra's Digital Guardian offers customizable policies, cross-platform protection, and real-time detection, enhancing data control and productivity.
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
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
 

Categories and Ranking

Avanan
Ranking in Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
40th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (22nd)
Fortra's Digital Guardian
Ranking in Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
22nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Data Loss Prevention (DLP) category, the mindshare of Avanan is 1.2%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortra's Digital Guardian is 1.3%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Fortra's Digital Guardian1.3%
Avanan1.2%
Other97.5%
Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
 

Featured Reviews

Robert Melendez - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President Information Technology at Makeready
Enhances email security and has a very simple and easy-to-use UI
Spam protection is the most valuable feature. We have implemented the tool to enhance our email security. It helps prevent phishing attacks. The anomaly detection capabilities are baked into the security platform. The product integrates wonderfully with Microsoft 365. It's built right on a cloud platform and works almost natively. The solution has a very simple and easy-to-use UI. The tool appears extremely powerful and has a good solid feature set. It catches things that are bad for my environment. The user interface is good the way it is. If the solution continues down that path, I see no problems with the way it is going. It feels like a mature product.
Lucianofernandez Fernandez Moroaga - PeerSpot reviewer
Automation Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Security has protected data quietly and now needs to give users more visibility and control
Regarding how Fortra's Digital Guardian can be improved, the fact that it runs as a background process isn't necessarily a bad thing, but you don't get any visibility into what it's doing unless a security policy is triggered. In the future, they could improve that to give users more visibility about what's happening. 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. I would give it a ten if it had more visibility about what's happening or more contact with the user. Regarding the accuracy and reliability of Fortra's Digital Guardian's output, since it's fully managed by my company's IT department, I don't get any visibility of what processes it runs internally, so I don't know how it classifies the files. Therefore, I cannot give you a certain answer about that.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise6
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra's Digital Guardian?
Regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing, I am not aware of the actual cost since only the leadership discusses that. Regarding licensing, I believe we are able to get as much licensing as need...
What needs improvement with Fortra's Digital Guardian?
Regarding how Fortra's Digital Guardian can be improved, the fact that it runs as a background process isn't necessarily a bad thing, but you don't get any visibility into what it's doing unless a ...
What is your primary use case for Fortra's Digital Guardian?
My main use case for Fortra's Digital Guardian is that I don't configure the software directly; instead, I experience it as an end-user on my corporate laptop where it runs silently in the backgrou...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bethel School District, ServiceSource, Capital Caring
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Avanan vs. Fortra's Digital Guardian and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.