Fortra's Digital Guardian vs Varonis Platform comparison

Fortra and Varonis are both solutions in the Data Loss Prevention (DLP) category. Fortra is ranked #20 with an average rating of 10.0, while Varonis is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.3. Additionally, 100% of Fortra users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Varonis users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 14, 2025

Fortra's Digital Guardian and Varonis Platform are two leading products in data protection and threat detection. Fortra's Digital Guardian comes out strong in terms of pricing and support, while Varonis Platform is notable for its comprehensive features, highlighting its stronger perceived value.

Features: Fortra's Digital Guardian includes advanced data classification, endpoint detection, and effective threat response. Varonis Platform offers robust data visibility, security analytics, and extensive data management capabilities, enabling effective enterprise security solutions.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortra's Digital Guardian ensures an easy deployment process with effective support to integrate smoothly into infrastructures. Varonis Platform, while initially complex due to its configurations, compensates with excellent customer service to support the transition.

Pricing and ROI: Fortra's Digital Guardian is known for competitive pricing that delivers a fast ROI. Varonis Platform, although having a higher initial cost, provides significant long-term returns through superior security enhancements, making it a strategic long-term investment.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortra's Digital Guardian vs. Varonis Platform Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fortra's Digital Guardian vs. Varonis Platform

December 2025

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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

Cloudflare

Featured Reviews

Herb Angle

Owner at Hga consulting

Has helped manage client domains with streamlined access control and threat visibility

I don't know what areas could be improved with Cloudflare WAF; Cloudflare is constantly improving and adding features to their feature set. They're doing a good job, and as far as DNS and support for any domains that I create or my clients create, it's mandatory for me to make sure that they have Cloudflare as their DNS provider. The Cloudflare load balancing capability hasn't really helped in enhancing my website's uptime and resiliency because we don't really get that much traffic; it's mostly remote users, and web hosting is done by a web hosting service. It doesn't pay to try to host your own website.

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Christian Dagal

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.

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SureshKumar

Technical Consultant at Satcom Infotech Pvt Ltd

Has improved data visibility and protection while enabling automated compliance monitoring

Varonis Platform offers multiple features for data protection, such as data discovery and classification. We can identify, discover, and classify sensitive data effectively, which is crucial given the DPDP law in India and GDPR. The platform also excels in access and exposure tracking, enabling us to monitor users, permissions, and reduce access to sensitive files. Additionally, it includes UEBA for behavior analytics and threat detection, making it valuable for compliance and audit readiness. Varonis Platform has helped our organization primarily for DPDP compliance, although I currently don't have a specific example related to GDPR or HIPAA. A unique feature of Varonis Platform that stands out to me is that, in the current market, it is one of the best data classification solutions available. Compared to others such as Forcepoint, Varonis Platform is agent-based and AI-driven for detection and response, identifying data based on its content and context, and it includes automated remediation and lifecycle automation, making it a leading product in the market.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Cloudflare is a security SaaS provider that provides security and protects us from any application layer attack."

"When using services like Heroku, Cloudflare is very useful for CNAME flattening. I also use it for their end-to-end SSL with TLS authentication on nginx for securing servers."

"What I like best about Cloudflare is that my company can use it to trace and manage applications and monitor traffic. The solution tells you if there's a spike in traffic. Cloudflare also sends you a link to check your equipment and deployment and track it through peering, so it's a valuable tool."

"From what I've seen so far, there are no negatives to report as of yet"

"It's a great product because it's scalable, has great coverage, and is mature with good defenses against DDoS attacks."

"The solution is very good at mitigating threats."

"I get a lot of value from Cloudflare's API because it enables you to build a separate environment inside the solution. You can create a domain for performing test requests before you move to the production environment and connect various domains."

"The simplicity of the overall dashboard makes it a great product for a user like me who has less understanding of the internet than a developer or other more technical people. It gives me peace of mind. I also love the easy customization of the Page Rules."

More Cloudflare pros

"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."

"The most important feature is remediation. In remediation support, there is no group permission. We'll go ahead and remediate the access from the Dell folder to the parent folder."

"The analytics would have to be our most valuable feature."

"I also appreciate the reporting feature, which allows for the extraction of various reports based on specific needs. These reports can be used for audit purposes, such as tracking changes in file locations or deletions."

"It can easily identify unusual behavior or access patterns that may pose a potential threat, while operating as a unified reporting system."

"Varonis Platform has positively impacted my organization by providing clarity regarding data and permissions, improving visibility, security, and compliance."

"Technical support from Varonis is rated as nine out of ten."

"Varonis Platform support has been amazing throughout every step that we have taken with them."

"The solution ensures that users have not accidentally shared sensitive information with the wrong people or too many people."

More Varonis Platform pros

Cons

"We're facing challenges due to an upgrade in the machine learning model. The problem arises from some users abusing the APIs, resulting in an influx of suspicious traffic. Cloudflare's learning model mistakenly identifies this traffic as human. Consequently, it assigns it a higher trust score, akin to legitimate human traffic, causing complications in our architecture. Previously, such traffic would have been categorized as suspicious, enabling us to apply appropriate blocking rules. However, we encounter difficulties distinguishing between genuine and suspicious traffic with the new categorization. Despite these challenges, overall, Cloudflare remains the preferred solution compared to Azure, AWS CloudFront, and Google Cloud Armor."

"The solution could work at being less expensive. It costs a lot to use it."

"It would be helpful if the solution could continue evolving to compete with the other solutions on the market."

"The Cloudflare load balancing capability hasn't really helped in enhancing my website's uptime and resiliency because we don't really get that much traffic; it's mostly remote users, and web hosting is done by a web hosting service."

"The pricing could be improved."

"If they improve on the placement of their data centers, it would be better. I'm living in a remote area. I would like to connect to them without any kind of lag."

"Areas like how assessment, discovery, and payload are dealt with and how it all comes into your organization can be considered when trying to make suggestions to Cloudflare for improvements."

"The integration of LLMs on the dashboard is something that is needed in the tool."

More Cloudflare cons

"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."

"The solution's areas of improvement are the interface and the dependency on on-premises deployment for some components."

"There is one thing that if I add something manually, I get so many alerts. That's the biggest bad thing."

"One area for improvement is the calculation engine. When applying rules in Varonis, especially for large datasets (terabytes of data), the calculations can be slow and require time to process. Speeding up this process would be beneficial."

"The remediation process can be improved. There will be no existing permission group for the McAfee channel domains. We can create a new permissions group for the required folder."

"The GUI should be more functional. There should be a process for connecting through Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc."

"The product is very complicated."

"Be prepared that when you implement the product, you will have to tune it as you go."

"Varonis requires more access permissions for its core functions compared to competitors, which can be a concern for companies about data safety."

More Varonis Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution has many features but there are ones that you need to pay for. Sometimes you have to find out which is available for free and which you have to pay for."

"The pricing for the service is reasonable, neither excessively cheap nor prohibitively expensive. It aligns well with the value of their solution."

"The pricing depends on the usage, but the cheapest would be around 5,000 USD a month."

"We don't have any issues with the price."

"The product's pricing is cheap."

"When you compare Cloudflare DNS to other solutions, such as Akamai, the price is reasonable."

"A free version of the solution is available."

"That is one of the great features. I was able to access the majority of the features and services for free."

More Cloudflare pricing and cost advice

"As long as your needs are fulfilled, even if the price is high, you will buy the tool."

"You could do a subscription, where you pay yearly, or you could purchase it outright. The licensing cost is based on the number of users on the system that you are monitoring."

"It's expensive, kind of, really expensive."

"The platform is expensive. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."

"Licensing is on an annual basis. Maintenance and renewal fees are separate. Varonis Datalert is quite expensive."

"Varonis Platform wasn't certainly the cheapest solution."

"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."

"The pricing is good. It neither expensive nor cheap. It is average."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Manufacturing Company

No data available

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	46
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	25

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	12

Questions from the Community

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

Cloudflare. We are moving from Akamai prolexic to Cloudflare. Cloudflare anycast network outperforms Akamai static GR...

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Which would you choose - Cloudflare DNS or Quad9?

Cloudflare DNS is a very fast, very reliable public DNS resolver. It is an enterprise-grade authoritative DNS service...

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What do you like most about Cloudflare?

Cloudflare offers CDN and DDoS protection. We have the front end, API, and database in how you structure applications.

See all answers

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 the...

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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 SIE...

See all answers

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...

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What do you like most about Varonis Platform?

The solution has significantly improved data security and compliance posture by allowing us to track and monitor acti...

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What needs improvement with Varonis Platform?

While Varonis Platform is powerful, the initial data scanning and indexing can take significant time in large environ...

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What is your primary use case for Varonis Platform?

My main use case for Varonis Platform is for data classification on the user's machine, specifically for data visibil...

See all answers

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Compared 10% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

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Cloudflare

December 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

December 2025

Download Fortra's Digital Guardian product report

Buyer's Guide

Varonis Platform

December 2025

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Also Known As

Cloudflare DNS

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Overview

Cloudflare enhances web performance and security with features like CDN caching and DDoS mitigation while providing easy DNS management and intuitive setup through its user-friendly dashboard.

Cloudflare is recognized for its comprehensive web security and performance solutions. Speed improvements are achieved through caching mechanisms and DDoS protection, combining ease of DNS management with flexible page rules. The robust analytics and threat insight tools provide valuable data, assisted by a user-friendly dashboard allowing quick setup and configuration. An API offers dynamic DNS settings ensuring low latency and high performance across the globe.

What are Cloudflare's key features?

CDN Caching: Enhances website speed through content delivery network caching.
Web Application Firewall: Protects websites from online threats.
DDoS Mitigation: Shields against distributed denial-of-service attacks.
DNS Management: Offers easy-to-use and flexible domain management.
SSL Certificates: Ensures secure connections between users and servers.
Analytics: Provides insights with robust analytics tools.

What benefits and ROI should users evaluate?

Enhanced Security: Strengthening web security with DDoS and firewall protection.
Speed Improvement: Faster content delivery with CDN caching.
Operational Simplicity: Simplifies website optimization through a user-friendly interface.
Scalable Solutions: Scales with global reach, lowering latency for improved performance.
Cost Efficiency: Offers layers of valuable functionality with pricing options.

Cloudflare finds utility across industries for DNS management and defense mechanisms. Its content delivery network assures fast content distribution and fortified security. Businesses integrate features like web application firewalls, load balancing, end-to-end SSL, and zero trust to protect websites from cyber threats while ensuring resilience and reliable performance.

Cloudflare

Fortra's Digital Guardian is celebrated for its robust data protection, especially in data loss prevention across various endpoints. It enhances organizational efficiency, streamlines workflows, and provides deep insights via advanced analytics and real-time alerts, significantly improving data security and compliance management. Ideal for monitoring, customizing policies, and guarding against internal and external threats.

Fortra

Varonis Platform enhances data security and governance with advanced analytics, identifying unusual access patterns and sensitive areas. Its centralized interface manages permissions across systems, offering essential capabilities for alerting and reporting.

Varonis Platform provides continuous data protection and monitoring by identifying and alerting on unauthorized data access. It offers comprehensive insights into file access and user activities, supporting data classification and simplifying compliance with tracking and monitoring capabilities. Integration with storage systems enables users to manage permissions and access effectively. Room for improvement includes cloud integration and simplifying its interface and calculation engine for ease of use. Challenges include on-premises dependency, licensing costs, and a need for enhanced DLP capabilities.

What are the primary features of Varonis Platform?

24/7 Technical Support: Ensures continuous assistance and issue resolution.
Advanced Analytics: Identifies unusual data access patterns for increased security.
Centralized Permission Management: Manages access permissions across systems.
Data Classification: Categorizes data to enhance protection measures.
Integration with Storage Systems: Simplifies compliance through tracking and monitoring.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Increased Security: Protects against unauthorized data access.
Compliance Simplification: Offers comprehensive tracking and monitoring to meet compliance standards.
Efficient Permission Management: Simplifies access controls across platforms.
Enhanced Alerting: Provides timely notifications of potential security breaches.

In finance, Varonis aids in safeguarding sensitive financial data, while in healthcare, it secures patient records. Legal industries utilize it for protecting client information, and retail sectors manage sensitive customer data. These industries benefit from Varonis' ability to prevent unauthorized access and streamline compliance.

Varonis

Sample Customers

Trusted by over 9,000,000 Internet Applications and APIs, including Nasdaq, Zendesk, Crunchbase, Steve Madden, OkCupid, Cisco, Quizlet, Discord and more.

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Buyer's Guide

Fortra's Digital Guardian vs. Varonis Platform

December 2025

Free Report: Fortra's Digital Guardian vs. Varonis Platform

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra's Digital Guardian vs. Varonis Platform and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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