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IBM Data Governance vs Varonis Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 7, 2025

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

IBM Data Governance
Ranking in Data Governance
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Varonis Platform
Ranking in Data Governance
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (20th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (9th), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (6th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (18th), Threat Intelligence Platforms (12th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (5th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (3rd), Compliance Management (7th), Ransomware Protection (10th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of IBM Data Governance is 1.6%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Varonis Platform is 10.8%, up from 8.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Governance Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Varonis Platform10.8%
IBM Data Governance1.6%
Other87.6%
Data Governance
 

Featured Reviews

Murali B - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides a single interface to monitor and navigate data quality metrics
One area with room for improvement would be the ability to generate detailed quality reports. Some Python libraries provide quality scores and reports—having that capability within IBM Data Governance would be beneficial. We can see the pass/fail results, but getting additional percentage ratios would add significant value. My experience with IBM Data Governance has mostly been with the GUI. I've noticed some latency when accessing the portal. Also, automating reports can sometimes hang, though that might depend on the overall system. That's where I see the most room for improvement – quicker report generation. Fetching specific data from the IBM Data Governance repository tends to be slower compared to other vendors. For example, Collibra has a more responsive GUI. Retrieving large datasets from the IBM catalog is particularly slow.
Frederic  Delos - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers the ability to identify sensitive areas, allowing you to drill down into the sensitive data
The most effective feature for me is its ability to identify sensitive areas, allowing you to drill down into the sensitive data, provided you have access, to determine whether it's a false positive or a true positive. That's the best thing for me, out of all of it. It's got everything, like other ones, but I like to be able to look at something if I'm doing forensics on the alert and say, "Okay, do I really need to do something with this?" For example, we don't want sensitive data in our OneDrive. So it identifies the sensitive data that's possibly in the OneDrive. And what I can do is look at it and identify whether it's actually sensitive data in Datalert or whether it looks like sensitive data, but I know it's a false positive. If it is a false positive, I can basically say ignore this pattern based on X, Y, and Z, you know, whether it's Redjax or keyword proximity. So I like that. With other tools, I gotta go through a whole process because it's a little bit more complex. Here, I can tag it and bag it in one shot. And the next good time I scan, it slips over it. So it helps in that.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"IBM Data Governance improved data analytics operations. During a company merger, we used IBM Data Governance to understand and bridge sample data between systems."
"The solution has significantly improved data security and compliance posture by allowing us to track and monitor activities. We can see who accesses data and when files are created and understand what's happening in our environment."
"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."
"The analytics would have to be our most valuable feature."
"It can easily identify unusual behavior or access patterns that may pose a potential threat, while operating as a unified reporting system."
"Varonis offers robust data access governance, allowing us to understand which sensitive data exists and who has access to it."
"Technical support from Varonis is rated as nine out of ten."
"That alerting and reporting service is great."
"There's also a 90-day policy where if a user is not using the warehouse, it will automatically delete that username."
 

Cons

"One area with room for improvement would be the ability to generate detailed quality reports. Some Python libraries provide quality scores and reports—having that capability within IBM Data Governance would be beneficial."
"For unstructured data monitoring, it's one of the top ones, if not the top one, due to its usability."
"The GUI should be more functional. There should be a process for connecting through Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc."
"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."
"Varonis requires more access permissions for its core functions compared to competitors, which can be a concern for companies about data safety."
"The solution's areas of improvement are the interface and the dependency on on-premises deployment for some components."
"I'd like to see automatic updates for this solution. Currently, it's a manual process to update all the keywords"
"I would like it to have cloud integration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The platform is expensive. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."
"The pricing is good. It neither expensive nor cheap. It is average."
"Varonis Platform wasn't certainly the cheapest solution."
"It's expensive, kind of, really expensive."
"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."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."
"Licensing is on an annual basis. Maintenance and renewal fees are separate. Varonis Datalert is quite expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Insurance Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Insurance Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM Data Governance?
IBM Data Governance improved data analytics operations. During a company merger, we used IBM Data Governance to understand and bridge sample data between systems.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Data Governance?
I would rate pricing an eight out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive. It's pretty expensive.
What needs improvement with IBM Data Governance?
One area with room for improvement would be the ability to generate detailed quality reports. Some Python libraries provide quality scores and reports—having that capability within IBM Data Governa...
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 activities. We can see who accesses data and when files are created and understand w...
What needs improvement with Varonis Platform?
Varonis started as an on-premises solution and is transitioning to cloud. It hasn't fully moved yet, which is an area for improvement. Varonis requires more access permissions for its core function...
What is your primary use case for Varonis Platform?
The primary use case for Varonis Platform is data discovery, specifically for discovering sensitive data in our organization to protect it. We are looking for a solution that can scan our repositor...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SlashNext Complete
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

TIAA CREF, Control Risks Group
Nottingham Building Society
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft, Informatica, Collibra and others in Data Governance. Updated: August 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.