IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security vs Trustwave DbProtect comparison

IBM and Imperva are both solutions in the Database Security category. IBM is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7, while Imperva is ranked #2 with an average rating of 7.5. IBM holds a 31.8% mindshare in DS, compared to Imperva’s 29.4% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Imperva users who would recommend it.

IBM Security Guardium Data ...

Read 78 IBM Security Guardium Data Protection reviews

5,040 Views
4,133 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Imperva SecureSphere Databa...

Read 56 Imperva SecureSphere Database Security reviews

3,438 Views
3,129 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Trustwave DbProtect

Read 6 Trustwave DbProtect reviews

666 Views
659 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Security Guardium Data ...

Imperva SecureSphere Databa...

Trustwave DbProtect

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Security Guardium Data Protection, Imperva SecureSphere Database Security, and Trustwave DbProtect 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: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Database Security

July 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:

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is 31.8%, up from 31.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Imperva SecureSphere Database Security is 29.4%, down from 31.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Trustwave DbProtect is 4.3%, down from 5.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database Security

Featured Reviews

Jared Ochieng

Information Technology Security Specialist at infoark

Used for monitoring database activity and tracking databases

The response time could be improved. Navigating support for the solution can be challenging, especially when finding the right contact for specialized issues. Improvements could make raising tickets and identifying the correct support channels easier. While general support information is provided, specialized support may require contacting different teams. We guide our clients through this process to ensure they know where to turn for various needs. Typically, we are the first point of contact for any issues, big or small, and then direct them to the appropriate resources. The quality of technical support largely depends on the expertise of the partner who implemented the solution. If you have a partner who is well-versed in IBM, the technical support is usually excellent. If not, support might be less reliable.

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PrashantParab

Security Analist at HDFC Bank

Provides cluster management and has the ability to receive alerts if anyone tries to tamper a database

It would be more efficient if we could manage the consoles of management servers from a single location. Currently, if the management server for our DR environment is separate from the production management server, we have to log in to each server individually. For example, to check the status of production servers integrated with Infowa, I need to log in to the production management server. Similarly, I have to log in to the DR management server to check the status of the DR servers. Connecting both servers and managing them through a single console would make it easier to handle all alerts in one place.

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Marcelo Raza

Cyber Security Architect at Oakmount

A tool that offers a proper view and division of all databases while also allowing users to do continuous monitoring

I have seen that the tool's installation phase has some problems regarding the versions, specifically the version of SQL. Trustwave DbProtect doesn't accept some versions of SQL. Some credentials when you are installing give some problems, but all of them did pass through the installation phase but gave a certain amount of hard work to be done during the installation phase. The aforementioned area needs to be considered for improvement. The pain points with Trustwave DbProtect were about the installation and problems with the different versions not being accepted. A more compatible version of the product with other databases and operating systems should be possible.

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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

"It protects sensitive data and blocks unauthorized access to the data."

"This is a multi-platform solution that consolidates everything and centralizes support for it."

"The most valuable feature is the GUI, the interface. It also interfaces well with REST API, if you want to automate some of the commands."

"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."

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

"Its ability to find data."

"It tests security to support SOX compliance."

"I rate Guardium 10 out of 10 for data activity monitoring and nine for vulnerability assessment. It's easy to implement and does its job. But I would rate it seven out of 10 in terms of advanced features."

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection pros

"There are three major main use cases of this solution. The first one is to fulfill compliance regulations. Customers—especially the banks, health sector, and manufacturing—need to comply with the regulations in different countries. They have to fulfill compliance regulations around the privacy of data. In order to fulfill those requirements, they're using Imperva. It helps them to fulfill these requirements, and they are not fined by the regulators. That is the first use case why people buy Imperva."

"I would overall rate the Imperva SecureSphere Database Security as a product very positively with a score of 10 out of 10."

"The product’s most valuable feature is real-time highlights."

"This is a stable product."

"The solution is user-friendly."

"The technical support for Imperva is super, super, super."

"Database reporting features are valuable to us."

"The beauty of it is that it provides segregation of duties. Typically, in the traditional environment, DBAs administer the database, and they have too much access. We are in the process of implementing other Oracle solutions, and it brings some kind of segregation. Just because someone is a DBA does not mean that he or she should have access to all of the data. Some of the data can be masked so that privacy and security are enhanced, especially when it is customer data for an institution like a bank."

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that you can have a good view which is provided with a proper division of all your databases, which you can see in Trustwave DbProtect."

"Transfer and vulnerability scanning are the most valuable features of this product."

"This solution helps our clients to monitor their database use, and detect violations of the policy."

Cons

"IBM should add more database security features to Guardium. They could add user profiling, anomaly detection, and machine learning. IBM has user profiling, but they need to strengthen it. It should make sense for the users. It should remove most of the false positives."

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

"Needs nore cloud support."

"It would be helpful, and convenient to improve the Chat support."

"The manuals should be clearer. There needs to be an online course or tutorial for faster management training."

"It will not go as fast as you want. "

"Personally, I would not recommend this product."

"Sometimes the connectors to the databases need to be manually updated and we have to configure them again, which is something that should be improved."

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection cons

"Imperva needs to improve their cloud capabilities."

"The interface is not user-friendly."

"The solution is expensive."

"I would like to see integration such that there is support for different kinds of environments, such as on-premises versus cloud."

"The agent does not monitor databases in the containers."

"Imperva SecureSphere Database Security can improve something in all the versions I have used."

"The solution could improve by having more integration."

"Imperva SecureSphere Database Security could improve the database defense feature called camouflage. This feature was responsible for the data mask but now it does not work well and we need another solution. All our banks have teams that are regarded with care and they need to mask sensitive data in order to provide testing to developers."

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security cons

"The product does not have encryption or data masking."

"We have not been able to integrate this product with a lot of standard incident response solutions, so an open API would help in this regard."

"I have seen that the tool's installation phase has some problems regarding the versions, specifically the version of SQL."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is not cheap, but it is not expensive."

"It is a very costly product."

"It's an expensive solution"

"I would suggest to review the type of data, need for security, and if the organizational structure needs the options IBM Guardium provides."

"One of the deployments that I know of had three databases, and the yearly fees are approximately $50,000 USD."

"Reasonable cost but could be lower."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"For IBM Guardium, licensing is very simple and straightforward. There are no issues I can speak of."

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection pricing and cost advice

"The price is very high but compared to the price of the overall solution, then I think it's a good deal because the solution itself is great."

"The price of the solution is reasonable. The cost of the solution depends on the customer, they have the flex protect licensing which can vary in price."

"The pricing over-all depends on the entry level. For example, if support and maintenance are about $20,000 - $25,000, the initial cost can be five times more. It is less expensive for the company to maintain the client than to make the deployment."

"The product’s price is reasonable compared to other products."

"The product is expensive."

"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."

"It is quite expensive. We wanted it in my former organization, but the price was very high. So, we couldn't purchase it. I moved to a different organization, and this organization has purchased it."

"We have all the licenses, which we pay for annually. The price is a little high, but the product is good."

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security pricing and cost advice

"I rate the pricing a five on a scale from one to ten, where one is the lowest and ten is the highest."

"The licensing fees, including support, are approximately $5,000 USD per database, per year."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

28%

Computer Software Company

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

24%

Computer Software Company

13%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

20%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Performing Arts

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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...

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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 enterpr...

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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...

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Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

My recommendation is Imperva.

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What do you like most about Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?

The tool's pricing is flexible and affordable for small and medium enterprises.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Imperva SecureSphere Database Security?

It is not cheaper, but based on the feature, it is okay.

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Comparisons

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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

OpenText Data Privacy and Protection Foundation (Voltage) vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 3% of the time

Cyera vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 2% of the time

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Oracle Audit Vault vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 17% of the time

DataSunrise Database Security vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 9% of the time

jSonar vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 2% of the time

Imperva DDoS vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 2% of the time

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

Compared 1% of the time

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Oracle Audit Vault vs Trustwave DbProtect

Compared 24% of the time

Trustwave AppDetectivePRO vs Trustwave DbProtect

Compared 12% of the time

More Trustwave DbProtect Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

August 2025

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection report

Download IBM Security Guardium Data Protection product report

Buyer's Guide

Imperva SecureSphere Database Security

August 2025

Imperva SecureSphere Database Security report

Download Imperva SecureSphere Database Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Database Security

July 2025

Download Trustwave DbProtect product report

Also Known As

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium

No data available

Application Security DbProtect

Overview

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

Imperva SecureSphere Database Security:

Audits all access to sensitive data.
Alerts or blocks database attacks and unauthorized activities, in real time.
Detects and virtually patches database vulnerabilities.
Identifies excessive user rights and dormant users, and enables a complete rights review cycle.
Accelerates incident response and forensics investigations with advanced analytics.

Imperva

Trustwave DbProtect is a security platform designed for consistent monitoring and management of enterprise databases within the data center.

Built on a centrally managed and distributed architecture, DbProtect uncovers database weaknesses. This includes configuration mistakes, identification and access control issues, missing patches, or any toxic combination of settings that could lead to escalation of privileges attacks, data leakage, denial-of-service (DoS), or unauthorized modification of data held within data stores – both relational databases and big data stores.

Trustwave

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

BlueCross BlueShield, eHarmony, EMF Broadcasting, GE Healthcare, Metro Bank, The Motley Fool, Siemens

Pax World Investments, Crest Savings Bank, Magnolia Hotels

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Imperva, Oracle and others in Database Security. Updated: July 2025.

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