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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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Avanan
Ranking in Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
21st
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (16th)
Fortra's Digital Guardian
Ranking in Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
19th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Data Loss Prevention (DLP) category, the mindshare of Avanan is 1.2%, down from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortra's Digital Guardian is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
 

Featured Reviews

Robert Melendez - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Christian Dagal - PeerSpot reviewer
Ease of sensitive information detection and provides flexibility to customize and redefine policies and user analytics that detect data channels
In my opinion, there's a need for an extensive skill set or knowledge of creating policies. There's room for improvement to make it more user-friendly in creating custom rules and policies. In future releases, I would like to see a quick glance at detected data without downloading the actual file for both Windows and MacOS.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Email encryption enhances end to end security of any data before it passes through the networking system."
"It is simple to deploy this platform and interact with the set features."
"The most valuable feature of Avanan is its Anti-Malware solution for Office 365, and box.com."
"Email inspection has saved many employees from spam attacks and viruses from unauthorized sources."
"The most valuable feature of Avanan is its effectiveness. When scanning incoming emails for threats it can in an automated fashion, quarantine suspicious attachments."
"If we look at four to five years ago, we had close to six or eight people click a link in an email per month. Now, we are probably down to about five or six clicks a year, if not less."
"Easy to use for non-technical users."
"The customizable rules allow you to change aspects."
"We have accurate detection on data protection and more visibility on different data channels compared to other DLP solutions. So, basically, more on the principle, there is ROI."
"As long as you know the flow and how the setup phase works, the process can be totally straightforward."
 

Cons

"They should come up with a mobile application so that it can be more flexible."
"Being cloud first and because we are in the movie business, we use a lot of Macintoshes. So, there is absolutely no reason for us to have Active Directory whatsoever. However, if you are using Office 365, you must have Active Directory in order to reset passwords. Even though we have a single sign-on provider, we must have Azure Active Directory for Office 365, which is really stupid. As a cloud application, you would think that I don't need Active Directory, which I don't need for anything else except Office 365. We have one server inside that space to help us manage Active Directory just for Office 365. This is a very sore point, but it is what it is."
"The user experience must be improved."
"The cost can be reviewed to enable SMEs to acquire it and enjoy great security features."
"When sending bulky emails, the system slows down and takes a long time before it responds effectively to our requests."
"In Avanan, the email channel is one of the channels where data leakage happens, and they need to consider it from a DLP perspective."
"The customer service team could come up with clear tutorials on how to use this platform to help new teams."
"Integration with various SaaS offerings, who are leading in the SaaS market."
"In my opinion, there's a need for an extensive skill set or knowledge of creating policies. There's room for improvement to make it more user-friendly in creating custom rules and policies."
"The trouble with the tool is its ability to integrate with a third-party application."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is not the cheapest in the market."
"Having the flexibility and modeling to do the pricing that best fits the needs of the organization is incredibly ideal. That is what Avanan does. They know exactly how many users are using it, etc. We can tune the invoicing associated with how we are using the product so we can charge it back to the shows appropriately."
"The pricing of Avanan is reasonable."
"Avanan’s price is comparable to Barracuda."
"Good pricing arrangement as an SaaS offering."
"As long as your needs are fulfilled, even if the price is high, you will buy the tool."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Educational Organization
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Avanan?
Spam protection is the most valuable feature.
What needs improvement with Avanan?
Avanan doesn't cover certain tool segments. Barracuda provides backup and retention of emails and Microsoft 365’s backup and retention services. I've brought this up with the vendor. They told me t...
What do you like most about Fortra's Digital Guardian?
We have accurate detection on data protection and more visibility on different data channels compared to other DLP solutions. So, basically, more on the principle, there is ROI.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Fortra's Digital Guardian?
As per my experience with both of my clients, I would say that the price is a bit high, but it didn't matter once they noticed the thing they wanted for their application. As long as your needs are...
What needs improvement with Fortra's Digital Guardian?
The trouble with the tool is its ability to integrate with a third-party application. For example, integrating an SIEM with the firewalls that the client currently uses can be difficult. The main t...
 

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: June 2025.
860,168 professionals have used our research since 2012.