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IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security vs Oracle Audit Vault comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is 32.0%, up from 30.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Imperva SecureSphere Database Security is 30.7%, down from 32.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Audit Vault is 16.8%, up from 14.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.
Andrew_Kampolo - PeerSpot reviewer
The fine-grained auditing available on the platform makes life easier and helps explain anything happening in your database
Imperva's most valuable features are ease of use and log correlation. I also like the ability to trace activity from the host machine to the server access, the user details, and the exact query that they executed. If a database administrator or application process executes a query on the database, people know exactly what was executed, including all the variables. For example, it will tell you how many rows they were trying to select on which table, and you get the OS information, network details, IPs, and the user. That fine-grained auditing available on the platform makes life easier and helps explain anything happening in your database.
Yves Moro - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides good security, and is helpful for auditing the data and seeing what's happening
Currently, you need two servers: one for Audit Vault and one for the firewall. If they can combine them into one server, it will be great because it is costly to have two servers. It will also make its installation easier. I have heard that in the new version, there will be only one server for both. I use it only for security purposes, and they can continue to improve it with more security tools and features. It should be powerful like FortiGate. When it becomes powerful like FortiGate, people will only go for this solution for their infrastructure. Their support could be faster.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable features of this product are activity monitoring on the database servers, discovery capabilities, and vulnerability scanning."
"The tool helps detect invalid login attempts within a specific time frame."
"Guardium is easily integrated with other IBM solutions, a significant advantage and a key reason we chose Guardium. Both platforms share the IBM infrastructure, enhancing compatibility and integration. Additionally, Guardium offers a vulnerability analyzer, which is another compelling feature of the platform."
"It sends out an immediate alert when there's suspicious activity."
"The features I like are the robust policies, which allow us to create customized monitoring based on specific activities."
"Satisfies audit requests, to give us an idea if anybody is accessing our privileged user IDs without our knowledge."
"Guardium does a great job of capturing data and having the ability of trying to pull it out and make sense of it. Using it for business applications is its biggest capability."
"The most valuable feature is the visualization of data and the ability to monitor our databases."
"The solution is very stable."
"It has a lot of different components that cover the needs of our customers."
"The integration is great."
"The most valuable features of Imperva SecureSphere Database Security are the user-friendliness, easy-to-use interface compared to competitors, database operations do not need a specialist, and simple to manage for our security team. Additionally, the solution can show all the databases and the level of sensitivity. It can show what is more sensitive or less sensitive."
"The company focuses on and has a passion for security."
"The most valuable feature is the automatic reports on new databases, which gives us up-to-date inventory management."
"Database reporting features are valuable to us."
"The discovery module provides good visibility."
"The most valuable feature of Oracle Audit Vault is that it is agentless and enhanced user interface."
"Our client was scheduled to take a year and a half to set up compliance, but by deploying this product they were able to do the compliance reports within three months."
"A powerful, flexible solution for database traffic monitoring."
"This solution acts as a complete data warehouse for our audit data."
"It is a good product for controlling all databases. It is helpful for auditing the data. When people are doing any actions on the databases, they are recorded automatically in the vault. You can work on the collected data to find out exactly what is happening on a database. You can implement database encryption on the databases to control people's access to the database content, such as rows and tables."
"Oracle Audit Vault has a lot of great features, but what I find most valuable is the database firewall."
"The feature that I have found most valuable is that it can help us secure our databases."
"All of the other components that make up the infrastructure in the environment including the operating system are also quite valuable."
 

Cons

"They could enable the out-of-the-box feature to track application user activity."
"The solution could be improved for NoSQL databases."
"An area for improvement would be the user interface - currently, it takes around two to three months to become comfortable using it."
"There are features like end-to-end and S-TAP mapping, and the ability to install policies for your configuration builder. They're not there, but we'd like to see them in the next version."
"The analysis part of this product could be improved. It's a very comprehensive product, so the features it has complement customer requirements. But I would like to see more emphasis on analytics, and it would be great if they added machine learning. They already have analysis insights, but a comprehensive analytical feature that's already incorporated into the solution would be very helpful."
"I'd like to them make sure that the data sources can be more easily managed, because some of them are tied to multiple things. You try to remove one and you have to go to all the different spots to remove the associations before you can get rid of it."
"I'd like to see a smoother GUI interface for the CAS agent - CAS does configurations on the database - to interface better with the vulnerability assessments."
"Could be more user friendly; deployment is a little complex."
"I'd like to see some sort of solution for storage."
"I have worked with IBM before, and I prefer its ease of deployment and management. Imperva SecureSphere Database Security has tricky deployment, whereas IBM's deployment is straightforward because of the UI."
"Performance can be slow under heavy loads, but this should be adjusted by scaling."
"It would be better to update the solution by using a GUI that guides me, rather than through a CLI."
"Overall, it's a very good product but they could do with some modifications log-wise."
"Some cloud versions are not supported by the agent."
"The GUI for this solution could use some improvement."
"I would like to see integration such that there is support for different kinds of environments, such as on-premises versus cloud."
"I hear from many people that say IBM Guardian is better than Oracle Audit Vault when it comes to performance. IBM Guardian works transparently in the database, but Oracle Audit Vault consumes some ratios on the server."
"Customized reporting is something that we are struggling with, and it is quite tough for us."
"They should simplify the integration and work with different vendors and mechanisms."
"The performance of Oracle Audit Vault could be improved, especially in handling large data collections and generating reports on time."
"The product monitors only the database and not the operating systems."
"Some of our customers were asking about latency when the application wants to get to the database."
"One feature that is missing is the ability to have a secret server that is always encrypted."
"Currently, you need two servers: one for Audit Vault and one for the firewall. If they can combine them into one server, it will be great because it is costly to have two servers. It will also make its installation easier. I have heard that in the new version, there will be only one server for both."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Guardium has not saved us time or money."
"The price of Guardium is higher than the main competitor, Imperva. In addition, it's complex as the calculation of the licensing is done by Processor Value Unit (PVU). However, before purchasing a DAP solution, it is important to analyze specific points to evaluate the cost-benefit of each tool. For example: Does the environment to be monitored have mainframes? If so, it's a point for Guardium. If not, a point for Imperva. Note: IBM is looking into a new licensing policy and reducing the price of Guardium."
"I would suggest to review the type of data, need for security, and if the organizational structure needs the options IBM Guardium provides."
"It is a very costly product."
"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."
"The price is good for the quality of the solution."
"For IBM Guardium, licensing is very simple and straightforward. There are no issues I can speak of."
"The tool is not cheap, but it is not expensive."
"Licensing fees are on a yearly basis, and it is a good value for the money."
"The pricing is reasonable and competitive."
"The product is expensive."
"They have introduced new price models, which makes the product more affordable now."
"There is an annual licensing fee for upgrading the device."
"Imperva is too expensive for small and medium-sized enterprises. They're missing out on technology that helps them manage their data security better. Data security is essential because even the strongest network may be attacked from the inside without it."
"Its pricing could be cheaper for the African countries or developing economies. The British pound is valued way more than the currency of most African countries. A better or cheaper pricing model for Nigerian and African customers would be better. It has a per-year subscription model. You pay exactly for what you need. That's all. You don't have to buy what you don't need."
"The product’s price is reasonable compared to other products."
"This solution is definitely not expensive, and it is a small fraction of the overall database licensing costs."
"Oracle can be an expensive solution depending on the options and user needs."
"For the bank, the license was $48,000 last time. That was the licensing for the bank on just one license."
"The licensing cost is about $360,000, annually."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Computer Software Company
11%
Insurance Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
28%
Computer Software Company
14%
Insurance Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
29%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
7%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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, co...
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 enterpr...
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 activit...
What do you like most about Oracle Audit Vault?
Oracle Audit Vault has a lot of great features, but what I find most valuable is the database firewall.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Audit Vault?
I would rate the costliness of Oracle Audit Vault as a seven out of ten. It is a bit expensive.
What needs improvement with Oracle Audit Vault?
The performance of Oracle Audit Vault could be improved, especially in handling large data collections and generating...
 

Also Known As

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
No data available
Audit Vault
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
BlueCross BlueShield, eHarmony, EMF Broadcasting, GE Healthcare, Metro Bank, The Motley Fool, Siemens
Abu Dhabi Department of Finance, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health, Educational Testing Service, Ryohin Keikaku Co. Ltd., SPC Brasil, REDISA, Qatar Olympic Committee, Seneca College, Hunan Social Insurance Management and Service Bureau,
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Imperva, Oracle and others in Database Security. Updated: May 2025.
852,098 professionals have used our research since 2012.