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DataSunrise Database Security vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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

DataSunrise Database Security
Ranking in Database Security
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
3.3
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Security Guardium Data ...
Ranking in Database Security
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of DataSunrise Database Security is 4.7%, down from 5.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is 27.1%, down from 32.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection27.1%
DataSunrise Database Security4.7%
Other68.2%
Database Security
 

Featured Reviews

KS
Data Security Delivery Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Unified masking and discovery have protected sensitive data across hybrid production copies
I appreciate many features, including real-time database activity monitoring and auditing. In my environment, I manage numerous production systems for different applications. When teams need to copy production databases containing sensitive information such as PII, PHI, or PCI to non-production environments, I apply masking to those sensitive fields and protect the data from unauthorized users. DataSunrise Database Security's data discovery capability is another valuable tool I use to identify sensitive data.
HA
Senior Business Development Executive at Digitaltrack
Centralized monitoring has improved audit readiness and streamlines investigations of data access
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a strong platform, but there are a few areas where I think it could be improved. One area is alert tuning and prioritization. Large environments can generate a significant number of alerts, and while the platform provides good visibility, reducing noise and automatically highlighting the highest-risk events would help security teams work more efficiently. Another area is ease of administration. As environments become more complex with cloud, hybrid, and on-premises databases, managing policies and configurations can require significant effort. Simplifying some of those workflows could reduce the operational overhead for administration. I would also like to see deeper automation and more advanced analytic capabilities. The security industry as a whole is moving toward faster threat detection and automated response, and having more built-in intelligence to identify unusual behavior with less manual tuning would be valuable. A couple of additional areas come to mind regarding needed improvements for IBM Security Guardium Data Protection. Integration is one of them. IBM Security Guardium Data Protection integrates with a variety of security tools, but as organizations adopt more cloud-native platforms and multicloud environments, smoother integration and simpler deployment processes would be beneficial. Many security teams are managing dozens of tools today, so reducing integration complexity can save a lot of operational effort. From a usability perspective, some administration and reporting tasks could be more intuitive, especially for new users. The platform is feature-rich, which is a strength, but it can also create a learning curve. Regarding support, my experience has generally been positive, but complex issues can sometimes require coordination across multiple teams before they are fully resolved. One feature I appreciate about IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is the detailed audit trail that IBM Security Guardium Data Protection maintains. When investigating an issue, having a historical record of database activity can save a lot of time and provide the context needed to understand what happened. That is especially useful for compliance and forensic investigations. As for a wish-list item, I would like to see even more intelligent alert correlation and risk prioritization. A challenge across the security industry is that teams often deal with a large number of alerts from different tools, and determining which ones require immediate attention can still be time-consuming. Although IBM Security Guardium Data Protection already provides strong monitoring capabilities, more automated context and prioritization could help security teams focus on the highest-risk events faster.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"My advice to others considering DataSunrise Database Security is that it is a good and unified tool."
"The most valuable feature of DataSunrise Database Security is Dynamic Masking. You don't need to build copies of the database and is highly customizable. It is a very good unique feature. It also has built-in algorithms, or machine learning, which is quite helpful, because it understands the user's behaviors and patterns to apply certain policies."
"We have a law in Turkey similar to the GDPR in the European Union. It's almost like a replica. Complying with this law is crucial, and the service plays a significant role. Many customer inquiries revolve around not retaining their data. The service addresses this by providing functionality for masking data within the databases. So, if a user requests data deletion, we can remove any information we have on them within the database, ensuring compliance with the law."
"I like IBM Guardium Data Protection because of its good performance, the resources aren't used up to the detriment of the application, it's robust, and we don't really have any serious downtime on it."
"It allows us to put in controls to make sure that only the right persons access the proper records in the database."
"It has been very difficult to analyze all the network traffic with something else. Guardium provides that feature, it's heuristic. So we have rule-based algorithms in place to take care of that."
"We succeeded at hardening our customer databases by defining policies for alerting and blocking access to prohibited and restricted data."
"The tool helps detect invalid login attempts within a specific time frame."
"Every time an inquiry comes in, instead of it taking tens of hours, now it's taking minutes."
"It provides a comprehensive security for databases, both on-prem and on the cloud. Among the advanced features we use automatic backups, DR."
"We used to use cobbled-together scripts, different products and different pieces on different platforms, and this solution automated all that and made it such that the security administrators can run it themselves and not involve us, saving time, money, and people effort."
 

Cons

"The solution has many features but I would like to see vulnerability assessments in the next release."
"I believe there's room for improvement in their distributor network, especially in Turkey. This is why I was exploring alternatives to DataSunrise Database Security. However, the product itself is quite good. One suggestion for enhancement could be adding an encryption module on top of the masking features, perhaps a more permanent form of preservative encryption."
"DataSunrise Database Security comes out with new builds every time we have a small issue. This has made the solution not always stable."
"While Guardium is great at structured monitoring (DAM), the product is lacking features on the file activity side (FAM)."
"The analysis part of this product could be improved."
"The improvement needed relates to encryption capabilities. Currently, it doesn't use encryption for IBM i, because it's impossible."
"I would like them to support cloud services."
"There could be a feature to integrate and protect multiple databases. The local support services need improvements as well."
"Lower pricing would always be good but apparently we're getting our money's worth or we wouldn't be using it."
"The price of this solution is quite high for smaller organizations, so they should release a version that is affordable for small and medium-sized businesses."
"The ability for Central Managers to talk to one another could be improved. I have 26 Central Managers and 26 silos which are independent."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."
"Guardium won mostly because of our scope and scale. It was able to perform at the scale that we wanted to use it. ​"
"I would suggest to review the type of data, need for security, and if the organizational structure needs the options IBM Guardium provides."
"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."
"​If you are researching this type of solution, work with IBM."
"For IBM Guardium, licensing is very simple and straightforward. There are no issues I can speak of."
"One of the deployments that I know of had three databases, and the yearly fees are approximately $50,000 USD."
"Its cost is good. With the new metric of licensing, such as PDO not being available now, customers are expecting a good price for the solution."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
11%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise44
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for DataSunrise Database Security?
I use DataSunrise Database Security for data masking purposes in my environment. I manage a lot of production systems for different applications, and whenever teams need to copy production database...
What advice do you have for others considering DataSunrise Database Security?
My advice to others considering DataSunrise Database Security is that it is a good and unified tool. Overall, it is a very good.
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 needs improvement with IBM Security Guardium Data Protection?
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a strong platform, but there are a few areas where I think it could be improved. One area is alert tuning and prioritization. Large environments can generat...
 

Also Known As

No data available
InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amplify, Ivanti, Kreditech, CloudAlly
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about DataSunrise Database Security vs. IBM Security Guardium Data Protection and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
903,067 professionals have used our research since 2012.