Fortra's Vera vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection comparison

Fortra and IBM are both solutions in the Database Security category. Fortra is ranked #8 with an average rating of 9.0, while IBM is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7. Fortra holds a 1.1% mindshare in DS, compared to IBM’s 29.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Fortra users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of IBM users who would recommend it.

Fortra's Vera

Read 1 Fortra's Vera review

191 Views
134 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Security Guardium Data ...

Read 79 IBM Security Guardium Data Protection reviews

4,782 Views
3,969 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Fortra's Vera

IBM Security Guardium Data ...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Fortra's Vera and IBM Security Guardium Data Protection based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Imperva, Oracle and others in Database Security.

To learn more, read our detailed Database Security Report (Updated: August 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Database Security

August 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

Fortra's Vera

Ranking in Database Security

8th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud and Data Center Security (16th)

IBM Security Guardium Data ...

Ranking in Database Security

1st

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of Fortra's Vera is 1.1%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is 29.3%, down from 33.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database Security Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection	29.3%
Fortra's Vera	1.1%
Other	69.6%

Database Security

Featured Reviews

Brando Diego

System Engineer/Consultant at Notable Frontier Sdn Bhd

Has good encryption features

Vera encryption is the most valuable feature. Additional improvement can be done as the issues are encountered. I have been using Fortra's Vera for two years. The stability is a nine out of ten. The scalability is a nine. The clients are small enterprises. The initial setup is an eight…

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Ahmer Faisel Khan

Director | CTO at COMMTEL

Offers mature agents, compliance reporting and reliable database security

The solution should allow the data to shift to a centralized repository with elastic servers and big data infrastructure. If a customer searches for old logs for retention purposes, there are limitations on appliances once they are set with specific hardware, so they can only be changed by uninstalling or reinstalling the hardware. The solution's aggregator feature allows data aggregation, but for instance, if a customer wants a project ready in two years, having an Elasticsearch in DB or the capacity to store huge amounts of data would be beneficial in data investigation or evaluation at an affordable cost. Some AI features should be added to IBM Security Guardium Data Protection. For example, the AI features implemented in the solution can be anomaly detection or suspicious activity identification.

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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

"Vera encryption is the most valuable feature."

"The front-end works very well."

"It allows us to put in controls to make sure that only the right persons access the proper records in the database."

"It provides us regulatory compliance proof and evidence for audit."

"Setting up Guardium was easy and straightforward."

"Satisfies audit requests, to give us an idea if anybody is accessing our privileged user IDs without our knowledge."

"We now have the ability to begin to understand how people, applications, and service accounts are interacting with data to better protect it."

"Gathering the data works very well. "

"It can help with PCI compliance. It includes features like data masking, especially during queries, which supports compliance efforts."

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection pros

Cons

"Additional improvement can be done as the issues are encountered."

"The additional improvement can be done as the issues are encountered."

"If IBM Guardium Data Protection could find a way to not have a lot of coding and development required to get the solution up and running it would be an advantage. The information of the agent could improve, which is necessary for us to monitor the databases would be a great benefit."

"Sometimes the performance is not good, and also sometimes we have sudden bugs causing difficulties."

"Guardium's storage capabilities could use some improvement. I'd also like to have some better integration using digital technology or a connector."

"An area for improvement would be the user interface - currently, it takes around two to three months to become comfortable using it."

"It was difficult implementing it, configuring it, getting it up and running and in production. However, since then, I believe it has stabilized."

"Guardium could be improved in the area of data encryption."

"Personally, I would not recommend this product."

"I would like to see AI and machine learning added in the future."

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"Guardium won mostly because of our scope and scale. It was able to perform at the scale that we wanted to use it. "

"The price is good for the quality of the solution."

"Guardium's pricing is quite high, but it gives good value for money for all sizes of enterprises, especially for partners."

"It is a very costly product."

"Guardium is most suitable for large scale enterprises because the pricing model is better if you are implementing a large number of databases."

"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."

"We haven't talked much about pricing and licencing. But it is not cheap for sure"

"The product's pricing is reasonable and affordable. It is in the moderate range."

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

No data available

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	28
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	45

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Fortra's Vera?

Vera encryption is the most valuable feature.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Fortra's Vera?

Additional improvement can be done as the issues are encountered.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Fortra's Vera?

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

See all answers

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, control, and analysis to secure sensitive data and comply with regulations. IBM S...

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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 enterprises.

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM Security Guardium Data Protection?

The features I like are the robust policies, which allow us to create customized monitoring based on specific activities.

See all answers

Comparisons

No data available

Imperva Data Security Fabric vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 52% of the time

Oracle Audit Vault vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 19% of the time

DataSunrise Database Security vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 5% of the time

IBM InfoSphere Optim Data Privacy vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 3% of the time

Trustwave DbProtect vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 3% of the time

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Database Security

August 2025

Download Fortra's Vera product report

Buyer's Guide

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

September 2025

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection report

Download IBM Security Guardium Data Protection product report

Also Known As

No data available

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium

Overview

The Vera platform enables businesses of all sizes to protect any kind of data, and then track, audit and manage the policies securing files in real-time, no matter how far they travel.

Fortra

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection automatically discovers and classifies sensitive data from across the enterprise, providing real-time data activity monitoring and advanced user behavior analytics to help discover unusual activity around sensitive data.

Deploy the solution to help discover regulated data in your data stores and use pre-built templates for regulations such as PCI, SOX, HIPAA, CCPA and many more, to streamline and automate compliance workflows.

IBM

Sample Customers

Box

Information Not Available

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