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IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Imperva Data Security Fabric comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 17, 2025

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
6.6
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is valued for saving time, money, and enhancing compliance, despite challenging ROI quantification.
Sentiment score
6.6
Imperva Data Security Fabric offers high ROI and efficiency, saving hours and boosting productivity for large organizations.
The investment return was good because IBM Security Guardium Data Protection provided significant security and compliance benefits.
My thoughts on the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of the Imperva SecureSphere Database Security are that it could be more competitive.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
IBM Security Guardium's support is responsive but inconsistent, with U.S. support praised and issues highlighted in India and South Asia.
Sentiment score
6.1
Imperva offers moderate to excellent customer support; response times vary, though users find their assistance knowledgeable and reliable.
I did not receive support from IBM.
Local vendors provide on-ground support, and if issues cannot be resolved, a support ticket is raised to the OEM via a portal.
Regarding customer support, I would like to see improvements in response time.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection excels in scalability, supporting diverse databases, despite some complexity and resource demands in large environments.
Sentiment score
6.8
Imperva Data Security Fabric is praised for scalability, efficiently handling demands and adapting across enterprise sizes despite some challenges.
The scalability of the Imperva SecureSphere Database Security in accommodating the organization's growth and database security needs is excellent.
The solution works well for large organizations and enterprise levels if appropriately sized during the setup.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
IBM Security Guardium is stable with occasional setup and performance issues, effectively managed by support and updates.
Sentiment score
7.0
Imperva Data Security Fabric is largely stable, though initial challenges and maintenance needs can affect performance under specific conditions.
It is important to manage it correctly by performing health checks with the vendor.
I rate the stability of Imperva SecureSphere Database Security as nine because there are ongoing integration processes between Imperva and Thales.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Security Guardium needs better file monitoring, interface, reporting, speed, integration, and performance with enhanced cloud support and analytics.
Imperva Data Security Fabric faces interface challenges, lacks comprehensive reporting, struggles with integration, needs better performance, support, and documentation.
Improving the tool learning process would be beneficial.
We cannot be competitive by price alone, though in terms of quality, Imperva SecureSphere Database Security is the best compared to Russian import products and building products such as Garda, which attempt to copy Imperva's data activity monitoring and database firewall functionality.
The archiving functionalities should be enhanced to allow easy conversion of archived logs into CSV or Excel formats for data analysis.
 

Setup Cost

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection offers comprehensive but expensive solutions, now priced by servers, benefiting large enterprises despite costs.
Imperva Data Security Fabric is costly but valued for robust features; consider trials to assess fit for your organization.
Guardium is an expensive tool because it is targeted towards corporate enterprises.
The price is high, but it is not as high as competitors like IBM, Guardian, and Oracle.
 

Valuable Features

IBM Guardium offers real-time monitoring, customizable reporting, and robust integration, enhancing data protection and compliance across platforms.
Imperva Data Security Fabric offers robust data protection, monitoring, compliance, and integration features, making it ideal for sensitive data security.
The most valuable features, in my opinion, included the alerts and protections for specific tables and fields.
Imperva SecureSphere Database Security provides one of the best solutions to analyze data, maintain GDPR compliance, and help investigate any incidents.
The real-time alerts and remediation actions available in Imperva SecureSphere Database Security have helped me promptly address security incidents.
If something malicious occurs, I can set a policy to block it, review the action, and decide whether to release it if it's found not to be malicious.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Security Guardium Data ...
Ranking in Database Security
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Imperva Data Security Fabric
Ranking in Database Security
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is 29.2%, down from 32.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Imperva Data Security Fabric is 26.3%, down from 32.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection29.2%
Imperva SecureSphere Database Security26.3%
Other44.5%
Database Security
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmer Faisel Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Samuel Adeyemi - PeerSpot reviewer
Real-time data monitoring and policy-based activity blocking enhance security and awareness
The development mode on the platform needs improvement. For example, the archiving functionalities should be enhanced to allow easy conversion of archived logs into CSV or Excel formats for data analysis. When I need to investigate with archived data, the inability to export to these formats can be limiting. Making this process easier would be beneficial for reviews.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
28%
Computer Software Company
9%
Insurance Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
24%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Insurance Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise45
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business26
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise32
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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.
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.
 

Also Known As

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
Imperva SecureSphere Database Security, jSonar, Imperva's Data Security Posture Management
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
BlueCross BlueShield, eHarmony, EMF Broadcasting, GE Healthcare, Metro Bank, The Motley Fool, Siemens
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. Imperva Data Security Fabric and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,497 professionals have used our research since 2012.