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DataSunrise Database Security vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Imperva Data Security Fabric comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of DataSunrise Database Security is 4.8%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is 26.7%, down from 32.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Imperva Data Security Fabric is 24.8%, down from 30.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection26.7%
Imperva Data Security Fabric24.8%
DataSunrise Database Security4.8%
Other43.7%
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.
reviewer1876449 - PeerSpot reviewer
BDM at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Has provided wide data coverage and supports flexible implementation for growing database environments
Imperva SecureSphere Database Security offers the most comprehensive coverage range of database types, which is a significant advantage. It has very flexible implementation modes and an understandable console. Even someone who is not a database administrator could work with it, understand the security events, and comprehend the data activity monitoring events.Data is the most important asset in any organization and the primary target of hackers. Imperva SecureSphere Database Security provides one of the best solutions to analyze data, maintain GDPR compliance, and help investigate any incidents. It is user-friendly and can start with a small scope. Unlike competitors such as IBM Guardium and Oracle, customers can start with a small scope and scale every year. This advantage allows them to invest less money initially while learning the solution. Year after year, they can add value scope and cover more databases in their organization with high quality. We have been working with Imperva SecureSphere Database Security for about 10 years. I started working with this project about five years ago.

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 the reporting mechanism. It's very good."
"Its ability to find data; once I find data, I can leverage it to perform specific select statements against PII data and do smarter controls rather than monitoring the entire database."
"Satisfies audit requests, to give us an idea if anybody is accessing our privileged user IDs without our knowledge."
"Accelerators is one of the big functions they have out there. It gives you canned reports that you don't have to make yourself, they're out there by being part of the patch. You just have to fill your information in to some of the already built groups, for your environment, and it automates a lot of that. That has definitely helped improve things."
"For us, the most valuable features are the auditing capabilities and the Guardium inspection engine."
"The valuable features enable us to track all activities on the database, it has helped improve the visibility for our data usage, and it is very useful."
"Good data encryption and data masking features."
"We now have the ability to begin to understand how people, applications, and service accounts are interacting with data to better protect it."
"Ability to send event monitoring and administrative activities."
"I like almost everything about the solution, including sensitive data scanning, which is the most important, the data discovery is great as well, and I like the activity monitoring, which was the main reason we purchased the tool."
"The solution provides significant benefits such as compliance and security. Its data risk analytics tool helps reduce numerous events to more manageable incidents."
"The initial setup is very simple."
"The technical support for Imperva is super, super, super."
"It is a fantastic solution."
"The best features of Imperva Data Security are that it's a complete solution and it safeguards company reputation."
"The best feature of this solution is the integration between components, and it has a lot of different components that cover the needs of our customers."
 

Cons

"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."
"The solution has many features but I would like to see vulnerability assessments in the next release."
"DataSunrise Database Security comes out with new builds every time we have a small issue. This has made the solution not always stable."
"The integration part of the present solution is very complex and tedious. Plus it gives a lot of false positives which need to be eradicated over time."
"Guardium's storage capabilities could use some improvement. I'd also like to have some better integration using digital technology or a connector."
"Initially, from 32-bit to 64-bit was a nightmare, but the latest 64-bit versions are pretty straightforward."
"The FAM module needs to be improved."
"Real-time masking is a bit simple and doesn't allow you to create complex masking rules."
"The backup and recovery is very resource-hungry and requires a huge amount of storage capacity."
"Technical support is unsatisfactory."
"IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a strong platform, but there are a few areas where I think it could be improved."
"All areas of this product have room for improvement."
"There is room for improvement in the firewall capabilities when it comes to additional features such as Traffic Shaping, Connection Pooling and Load Balancing."
"It is quite expensive. I would prefer a lower price."
"Agent on z/OS does not have a limit for CPU usage like on other platforms. If you specify filter too wide, the agent would consume too much CPU so that could cause more cost for your mainframe."
"The solution is expensive."
"Capacity management is a major issue with the application."
"There is sometimes lost communication and it can take a lot of troubleshooting to solve."
"Integration with other databases or third-party products would be useful."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive."
"The biggest challenge is the cost associated with the product, and the cost of maintaining. Everything is not translated directly to the benefits we see. There are benefits, yes, but if I were writing the check, would I buy Guardium? No."
"IBM Guardium Data Protection charges you based on the number of users, e.g. based on the number of licenses, and it's either on a per-license or a per-data basis."
"Guardium has not saved us time or money."
"Guardium is most suitable for large scale enterprises because the pricing model is better if you are implementing a large number of databases."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"Guardium's pricing is quite high, but it gives good value for money for all sizes of enterprises, especially for partners."
"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."
"One of the deployments that I know of had three databases, and the yearly fees are approximately $50,000 USD."
"The price of the solution is reasonable. The cost of the solution depends on the customer, they have the flex protect licensing which can vary in price."
"I know it's not cheap."
"There is an annual licensing fee for upgrading the device."
"It is very expensive."
"The cost of support for this solution is very expensive."
"Imperva is too expensive for small and medium-sized enterprises. They're missing out on technology that helps them manage their data security better. Data security is essential because even the strongest network may be attacked from the inside without it."
"Its pricing could be cheaper for the African countries or developing economies. The British pound is valued way more than the currency of most African countries. A better or cheaper pricing model for Nigerian and African customers would be better. It has a per-year subscription model. You pay exactly for what you need. That's all. You don't have to buy what you don't need."
"Pricing is low and scalable to add features and volume."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
10%
University
6%
Financial Services Firm
23%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance 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
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise32
 

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...
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...
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, co...
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 enterpr...
What needs improvement with IBM Security Guardium Data Protection?
There are areas that need improvement, such as the documentation. There is a lot of documentation, but you cannot sea...
What needs improvement with Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?
There are several aspects of the Imperva SecureSphere Database Security that could be improved or enhanced.There are ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
Imperva SecureSphere Database Security, jSonar, Imperva's Data Security Posture Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amplify, Ivanti, Kreditech, CloudAlly
Information Not Available
BlueCross BlueShield, eHarmony, EMF Broadcasting, GE Healthcare, Metro Bank, The Motley Fool, Siemens
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Imperva, Oracle and others in Database Security. Updated: June 2026.
899,917 professionals have used our research since 2012.