Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

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)
28th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
18
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 January 2026, in the Data Loss Prevention (DLP) category, the mindshare of Avanan is 1.2%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortra's Digital Guardian is 1.1%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Fortra's Digital Guardian1.1%
Avanan1.2%
Other97.7%
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.
Christian Dagal - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Architect Manager at Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc.
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

"Avanan is a stable software. My company hasn't faced any issues, bugs, or problems with the performance of Avanan."
"Email encryption enhances end to end security of any data before it passes through the networking system."
"The program has reduced the dangers related to phishing, malware, ransomware, and other vulnerabilities."
"The ease of installation and the AI capacity of the product are valuable."
"Easy to use for non-technical users."
"The customizable rules allow you to change aspects."
"It can detect corrupted files and filters out documents with viruses."
"The most valuable feature of Avanan is its effectiveness. When scanning incoming emails for threats it can in an automated fashion, quarantine suspicious attachments."
"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

"In Avanan, the email channel is one of the channels where data leakage happens, and they need to consider it from a DLP perspective."
"Familiarization with performance for new teams may take a long time."
"When sending bulky emails, the system slows down and takes a long time before it responds effectively to our requests."
"Sometimes it seemed like the allow list wasn't working. I've created many allow list rules however, they still seem to be blocked; the same is true with the blocked list rules."
"Integration with various SaaS offerings, who are leading in the SaaS market."
"It should also offer a quick backup in case any email is wrongly quarantined or deleted to ensure no data loss."
"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 system response in a slow computing device affects performance when sending and receiving emails."
"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."
"Good pricing arrangement as an SaaS offering."
"Avanan’s price is comparable to Barracuda."
"The pricing of Avanan is reasonable."
"As long as your needs are fulfilled, even if the price is high, you will buy the tool."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions are best for your needs.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

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

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

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 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...
What is your primary use case for Fortra's Digital Guardian?
I have been handling the clients who use the product. My current company is the reseller connected with the tool from the time it was known as Digital Guardian, and then recently after it was chang...
 

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: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.