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Fortra's Digital Guardian vs McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention 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
7.4
Fortra's Digital Guardian delivers high ROI and efficiency, with dependable data loss prevention and minimal workflow interruptions.
Sentiment score
4.1
Users reported positive financial outcomes from McAfee Total Protection, though some did not experience favorable financial results.
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
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
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
8.0
Fortra's Digital Guardian support is generally positive, though experiences vary; some face delays, others find software reliable.
Sentiment score
6.3
Users find McAfee's customer service prompt but note regional gaps, accessibility issues, and varied response times needing improvement.
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
Improvements could be made in response time or quality as all of them can be rated a seven.
Country Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Fortra's Digital Guardian is scalable and adaptable, efficiently handling performance, licensing, and stability for varied enterprise needs.
Sentiment score
6.7
McAfee Total Protection is scalable and efficient, though planning and resource management are needed to maintain performance during scans.
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
Fortra's Digital Guardian is highly stable, rated 9/10 by users, with minimal downtime and no significant issues reported.
Sentiment score
7.1
McAfee Total Protection is stable and reliable but faces challenges on legacy systems; proper configuration ensures optimal performance.
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
Sometimes there are some issues in the product itself; whenever they release a new version, vulnerabilities come into the picture, and we need to update the product to mitigate such issues.
Sr. System Engineer at Zensar Technologies
 

Room For Improvement

Fortra's Digital Guardian struggles with user-friendliness, scalability, CPU efficiency, visibility, compatibility, and cost compared to alternatives.
McAfee Total Protection needs UI and integration improvements, cost efficiency, AI refinement, advanced threat defense, and simpler setup.
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
Sometimes there are some issues in the product itself; whenever they release a new version, vulnerabilities come into the picture, and we need to update the product to mitigate such issues.
Sr. System Engineer at Zensar Technologies
I see enhancement in reporting for McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention as a potential area of improvement to think from a data asset perspective, not from a policy perspective, and do more analysis regarding the user's perspective rather than the policy's perspective.
Country Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users find McAfee Total Protection costly, but competitive when bundled, with varied satisfaction on pricing and complexity.
I rate the pricing for McAfee as competitive compared to other companies; they are in the same range, not a cheap product and not an expensive product.
Country Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

Fortra's Digital Guardian offers customizable policies, cross-platform protection, and real-time detection, enhancing data control and productivity.
McAfee Total Protection offers user-friendly data security, strong customization, reliable performance, affordability, and extensive endpoint coverage.
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
We are just restricting data to be uploaded, which is the best option that allows us to control organizational data, making it the biggest benefit for us in McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention.
Sr. System Engineer at Zensar Technologies
I find unique value in McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention specifically in controlling the application from a DLP perspective; when a computer downloads a package, you can understand where it downloaded this package from, and you can create a policy regarding the source of the download.
Country Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

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
McAfee Total Protection for...
Ranking in Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
24th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
31
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 Fortra's Digital Guardian is 1.3%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention is 1.2%, up from 0.9% 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%
McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention1.2%
Other97.5%
Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
 

Featured Reviews

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.
KM
Sr. System Engineer at Zensar Technologies
Data protection has improved as we restrict uploads to third-party sites and control devices
We are using customizable policies in the product. Everything is fine regarding alerting and reporting features; we got a notification as well as we received the required events, and it is working well. McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention is different; whatever the logs are there, they are available on the ePO, so we cannot directly integrate DLP to any third-party tool. We need to actually integrate the ePO itself to enable integration. We are just restricting data to be uploaded, which is the best option that allows us to control organizational data, making it the biggest benefit for us in McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention. We are protecting data to be uploaded on third party URLs, which helps us meet our needs.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions are best for your needs.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
8%
Construction Company
12%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention?
I rate the pricing for McAfee as competitive compared to other companies; they are in the same range, not a cheap product and not an expensive product.
What needs improvement with McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention?
Sometimes there are some issues in the product itself; whenever they release a new version, vulnerabilities come into the picture, and we need to update the product to mitigate such issues. Sometim...
What is your primary use case for McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention?
We are working with McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention and Trellix products in our environment, but not all the products; we are using only the DLP product. We are using DLP and devic...
 

Also Known As

No data available
McAfee Total Protection for Data, McAfee Total Protection for DLP, Total Protection for Data, Intel Security Total Protection for Data
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Kleberg Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra's Digital Guardian vs. McAfee Total Protection for Data Loss Prevention and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.