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Fortra's Digital Guardian vs Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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
7.3
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange enhances ROI through cost savings, improved security, productivity, and reduced operational expenses and support issues.
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
When I see that I am trying to cut costs, for example, even when replacing Prisma, we have managed to save about over half a million dollars a year.
Cybersecurity Senior Program Manager at Dayforce
In terms of time savings, since users no longer manually connect to the VPN, access became seamless, improving user productivity, especially for remote users.
Technical Team Lead - Content Security at Valuepoint Systems
We don't have to purchase many components such as load balancers and proxy servers that were necessary in traditional setups.
Lead Engineer at FIS Global
 

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
4.9
Zscaler's support is praised for knowledge and responsiveness but varies in resolution time and regional quality.
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 engineers are technically knowledgeable, particularly for Zscaler Private Access related issues, providing clear guidance and documentation for troubleshooting.
Technical Team Lead - Content Security at Valuepoint Systems
Sometimes, support takes time since the solution has some bugs that need fixing.
architect at Tata Consultancy
They have provided the numbers and contact supports, and it is almost immediate.
Cybersecurity Senior Program Manager at Dayforce
 

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
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange is scalable and cloud-native, facilitating easy, hardware-free user expansion with high performance and adaptability.
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
The only limitation I was mentioning is that it was unable to identify the sources of vulnerability, which they are going to embed by the mid of this year.
Cybersecurity Senior Program Manager at Dayforce
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is highly scalable, primarily because it is built on a cloud-native, globally distributed architecture.
Technical Team Lead - Content Security at Valuepoint Systems
 

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
7.8
Zscaler’s platform is highly reliable and stable, with minor connectivity issues and occasional slight latency during data transfers.
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
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is very stable, especially in enterprise environments.
Technical Team Lead - Content Security at Valuepoint Systems
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is very stable.
Cybersecurity Senior Program Manager at Dayforce
 

Room For Improvement

Fortra's Digital Guardian struggles with user-friendliness, scalability, CPU efficiency, visibility, compatibility, and cost compared to alternatives.
Zscaler's platform needs latency and usability improvements, better multi-tenancy and support, clearer pricing, and enhanced SIEM integration.
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
It would be beneficial to have more granular centralized visibility, allowing for quick end-to-end tracing of a user request from authentication to application access without switching between multiple views.
Technical Team Lead - Content Security at Valuepoint Systems
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform probably needs to be more efficient because scanning takes a lot of time.
Cybersecurity Senior Program Manager at Dayforce
They might be able to identify if something is missing with Zscaler.
architect at Tata Consultancy
 

Setup Cost

Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform has high subscription costs but offers ROI by reducing infrastructure needs and enhancing security.
There is minimal setup cost since it is a cloud-delivered platform, eliminating the need to invest in additional hardware such as VPN gateways or maintain infrastructure.
Technical Team Lead - Content Security at Valuepoint Systems
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is much, much cheaper when comparing price.
Cybersecurity Senior Program Manager at Dayforce
 

Valuable Features

Fortra's Digital Guardian offers customizable policies, cross-platform protection, and real-time detection, enhancing data control and productivity.
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange offers scalable security with zero trust access, app segmentation, and flexible identity-based control for organizations.
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
The solution is cloud-based with the latest inspection engines, which I find to be amazing.
architect at Tata Consultancy
We have excellent account management, smooth marketplace engagement, and processing in how my team or organization uses Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform.
Manager, Software Development at a outsourcing company with 201-500 employees
Since we started using Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform, it has auto-configuration, and wherever we have deployed the auto-configuration, we have not encountered any problem.
Cybersecurity Senior Program Manager at Dayforce
 

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
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange...
Ranking in Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
67
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (8th), Application Control (5th), ZTNA as a Service (1st), Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) (2nd), Remote Browser Isolation (RBI) (1st)
 

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 Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform is 4.0%, 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 (%)
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform4.0%
Fortra's Digital Guardian1.3%
Other94.7%
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.
Vibin Thomas - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Team Lead - Content Security at Valuepoint Systems
Zero trust access has transformed remote connectivity and now simplifies secure app usage
Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform, especially Zscaler Private Access, is very strong, though there are a few areas where improvements can be made. One challenge observed is around initial troubleshooting and visibility. While Zscaler Private Access provides logs, it can sometimes take time to pinpoint the exact cause of access issues, especially in complex environments with multiple policies and identity integration. Another area is the dependency on identity and connector health. Since Zscaler Private Access is heavily reliant on app connectors and identity providers, any issues with these components can impact user access, making proper monitoring critical. During the initial setup, policy configuration and application onboarding require careful planning, especially for larger environments with many applications. These challenges are manageable with proper design and monitoring. Overall, the platform delivers strong security and user experience. I would recommend a few improvements, especially around user interface, reporting, and troubleshooting experience. From a user interface perspective, while the platform is powerful, the policy configuration and navigation can feel complex, especially for new users. A more simplified and intuitive layout for policy mapping and application access would help reduce the learning curve. In terms of reporting, Zscaler Private Access provides logs, but having more built-in customizable dashboards and analytics would be very helpful. Better visibility into user access patterns, application performance, and real-time troubleshooting insights would improve operational efficiency. From a support and troubleshooting standpoint, it would be beneficial to have more granular centralized visibility, allowing for quick end-to-end tracing of a user request from authentication to application access without switching between multiple views. These improvements would make the platform even more efficient, especially for large-scale enterprise environments.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise46
 

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 the better solution - Prisma Access or Zscaler Private Access?
We looked into Prisma Access before choosing Zscaler Private Access (ZPA). Palo Alto’s Prisma Access is a secure access service edge (SASE) designed to deliver network security in a cloud-deliver...
How to minimize false positives for PII and PCI around different data systems across the globe?
Personal information always should be under high protection from manipulations which is why it is the responsibility of those collecting the data to keep the integrity of these data and check and u...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zscaler Cloud Protection?
This is an area where I have candid feedback from our organization regarding pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform. Overall, I would assess the pricing as a si...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Zscaler SASE, Zscaler DLP, Zscaler CASB, Zscaler CSPM, Zscaler Browser Isolation, Zscaler Posture Control
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Siemens, AutoNation, GE, NOV
Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra's Digital Guardian vs. Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange Platform and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.