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Fortra's Digital Guardian vs Symantec 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
6.2
Symantec Data Loss Prevention improves efficiency, reduces costs by up to 25%, and enhances data security management, offering clear ROI.
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
User experiences with Symantec Data Loss Prevention support vary widely, with mixed reviews on responsiveness, effectiveness, and cost concerns.
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
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
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
The support provided from both Symantec Turkey and distributor companies enables us to support customers and partners effectively.
Technical Team Leader at Redington (India) Ltd
The support team changed from MTechPro to a different partner, affecting our experience.
Information Security Engineer 4 at Amadeus
 

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
7.6
Symantec Data Loss Prevention is scalable and adaptable for enterprises, but integration and virtualization challenges are sometimes reported.
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
When using native proxy solutions, scalability issues are minimized, and the solution remains stable.
Information Security Engineer 4 at Amadeus
Symantec Data Loss Prevention adapts to evolving security landscapes by handling MIP labels and sensitivity categorization.
Technical Specialist at Softcell Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
 

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
7.7
Symantec Data Loss Prevention is stable and reliable, excelling on Linux but occasionally facing latency and database connection issues.
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
The stability and scalability are its most important features.
Technical Specialist at Softcell Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
 

Room For Improvement

Fortra's Digital Guardian struggles with user-friendliness, scalability, CPU efficiency, visibility, compatibility, and cost compared to alternatives.
Symantec Data Loss Prevention is complex, costly, and lacks support, requiring better integration, cloud features, and enhanced management.
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
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
Symantec responded by creating an OCR module, enabling the capability to search within images.
Technical Team Leader at Redington (India) Ltd
They can improve their product and the features mainly to focus on how we can prevent that data within the organization, over the cloud, whatever it is, as that is important.
System Manager at Randstad
It is very critical to understand whether an incident is a false positive or a true positive, particularly because some false positive incidents are quarantined.
Technical Specialist at Softcell Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
 

Setup Cost

Symantec Data Loss Prevention is costly but valued for comprehensive protection, with potential for competitive pricing via negotiation.
Symantec Data Loss Prevention is more expensive compared to competing solutions.
Technical Team Leader at Redington (India) Ltd
If it is a large target, then of course your cost will be high.
System Manager at Randstad
 

Valuable Features

Fortra's Digital Guardian offers customizable policies, cross-platform protection, and real-time detection, enhancing data control and productivity.
Symantec DLP provides robust monitoring, policy management, and data protection with advanced classification, ML, and user-friendly management.
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
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
Symantec's OCR module enhances image analysis, crucial for detecting data loss via screenshots, improving the overall security posture against data breaches.
Technical Team Leader at Redington (India) Ltd
Symantec Data Loss Prevention helps in identifying and securing sensitive data in my organization by being used for the internal, outgoing, and inbound traffic, specifically for any personal identification data leak prevention and any PII data.
Technical Specialist at Softcell Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Symantec Data Loss Prevention has proprietary metadata and is well-suited for endpoint-level security.
Information Security Engineer 4 at Amadeus
 

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
Symantec Data Loss Prevention
Ranking in Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
62
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 Symantec Data Loss Prevention is 3.9%, down from 5.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Symantec Data Loss Prevention3.9%
Fortra's Digital Guardian1.3%
Other94.8%
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.
Abhishek Sawant - PeerSpot reviewer
System Manager at Randstad
Has strengthened data protection across departments and supported continuous monitoring
In future updates of Symantec Data Loss Prevention, I would like to see improvements based on the many attacks happening around the world. They can improve their product and the features mainly to focus on how we can prevent that data within the organization, over the cloud, whatever it is, as that is important.
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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%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise30
 

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 Symantec Data Loss Prevention?
I am not aware of the licensing cost for Symantec Data Loss Prevention because the licensing cost is up to senior management's decision. I really don't know what the cost of that is. It is based on...
What needs improvement with Symantec Data Loss Prevention?
There is room for improvement in incident management within Symantec Data Loss Prevention because most of the incidents are false positives. It is very critical to understand whether an incident is...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Data Loss Prevention?
The primary use case for Symantec Data Loss Prevention is for data leak prevention and as a security tool.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Symantec DLP
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Hadassah University Hospital, Her Majestys Government (HMG), United Kingdom, Hitachi Consulting Software Services India Pvt Ltd., Hua Nan Bank, Hyundai Department Store Group,JW Marriott Hotel Seoul, Lake Health, McCann Erickson Israel, Molina Healthcare Inc., PGi, Quilvest Switzerland Limited, State of Nevada Public Employees Benefits Program, Symantec Corporation (Enterprise Security), The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust (DLP), The Saudi Industrial Property Authority, TSO cloud, Visa, Yunnan Power Grid Company
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra's Digital Guardian vs. Symantec Data Loss Prevention and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.