Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) 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:
 

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
7.1
Informatica IDMC enhances data quality, efficiency, and analytics, offering secure integration and reduced cloud migration costs for businesses.
The investment return was good because IBM Security Guardium Data Protection provided significant security and compliance benefits.
We see return on investment from this solution in terms of time; time reduction or cost benefits is what we are getting very good results from.
 

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
6.9
Informatica's customer service is praised for quick, knowledgeable support, though response times can vary with customization and membership levels.
I did not receive support from IBM.
If they are unsure how to resolve an issue, they keep customers informed, providing updates about progress and ensuring communication with the product team to deliver accurate responses.
The response time is pretty good because we have someone in-house, who is an expert from Informatica, in our team who can help us with any sort of queries usually.
I would rate it as nine out of ten for Informatica PowerCenter kind of products or the Informatica integration products.
 

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
7.3
Informatica IDMC delivers scalable, flexible data management across cloud and on-premise environments, accommodating diverse enterprise needs efficiently.
I find Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) to be a sustainable and scalable solution.
As a SaaS platform, IDMC is quite scalable and provides complete flexibility.
 

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
7.7
Informatica Cloud is highly rated for stability, despite occasional issues; support effectively resolves any reported bugs.
Stability is crucial because IDMC holds business-critical data, and it needs to be available all the time for business users.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM Security Guardium needs better file monitoring, interface, reporting, speed, integration, and performance with enhanced cloud support and analytics.
Informatica IDMC requires improvements in integration, user interface, performance, support consistency, connectivity, automation, data tagging, and pricing.
Improving the tool learning process would be beneficial.
The observability concept in Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) needs improvement as the capabilities are not up to the mark compared to the industry.
One of my clients has a requirement; they want to integrate metadata into the process, which means, for example, if I just want to implement a new field into my database, that field needs to be reflected throughout, let's say, 200 mappings. This highlights the need for a data-driven approach.
I also want to see integration with other Informatica products, such as IICS, to leverage the metadata from EDC.
 

Setup Cost

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection offers comprehensive but expensive solutions, now priced by servers, benefiting large enterprises despite costs.
Informatica IDMC, a costly solution for large enterprises, offers extensive features and flexibility, justifying its premium pricing.
Guardium is an expensive tool because it is targeted towards corporate enterprises.
It ranges from a quarter million to a couple of million a year.
The licenses are too expensive compared to before, which is why customers are now preferring other data metadata management tools like OneTrust, Collibra, and Azure Purview.
I think the costs are reasonable for the kinds of features that Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) has.
 

Valuable Features

IBM Guardium offers real-time monitoring, customizable reporting, and robust integration, enhancing data protection and compliance across platforms.
Informatica IDMC excels in data management with strong integration, AI-driven analytics, and a flexible user interface.
The most valuable features, in my opinion, included the alerts and protections for specific tables and fields.
In on-premise, we call it EDC for metadata management, while in cloud-based technologies, it is known as the Metadata Command Center, which serves the same purpose as EDC concerning CDGC.
Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC) can connect to pretty much any application, including Oracle Analytics and Power BI, and it works quite seamlessly.
The platform's ability to pull in data from other platforms without the need for an additional integration tool enhances its appeal.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Security Guardium Data ...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
Database Security (1st)
Informatica Intelligent Dat...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
186
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (4th), Data Quality (1st), Business Process Management (BPM) (11th), Business-to-Business Middleware (6th), API Management (7th), Cloud Data Integration (3rd), Data Governance (2nd), Test Data Management (3rd), Cloud Master Data Management (MDM) Solutions (1st), Data Management Platforms (DMP) (2nd), Data Masking (1st), Metadata Management (1st), Test Data Management Services (3rd), Product Information Management (PIM) (1st), Data Observability (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Database Development and Management Tools solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is designed for Database Security and holds a mindshare of 29.2%, down 32.5% compared to last year.
Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC), on the other hand, focuses on Data Management Platforms (DMP), holds 14.1% mindshare, up 13.3% since last year.
Database Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection29.2%
Imperva SecureSphere Database Security26.3%
Oracle Audit Vault14.7%
Other29.799999999999997%
Database Security
Data Management Platforms (DMP) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Informatica Intelligent Data Management Cloud (IDMC)14.1%
Palantir Foundry25.9%
Adobe Audience Manager6.2%
Other53.8%
Data Management Platforms (DMP)
 

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.
SaurabhGaonshindhe - PeerSpot reviewer
Modular structure and AI features stream new reporting processes
One of my clients has a requirement; they want to integrate metadata into the process, which means, for example, if I just want to implement a new field into my database, that field needs to be reflected throughout, let's say, 200 mappings. This highlights the need for a data-driven approach. My experience with technical support from Informatica is quite interesting; I would rate it as nine out of ten for Informatica PowerCenter kind of products or the Informatica integration products, because my team can do some hands-on using their free licenses or one-month kind of products. However, for products Master Data Management or related to MDM or Data Governance, there is no way by which we can directly practice, and my team struggles at that point.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Database Security solutions are best for your needs.
867,349 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
28%
Computer Software Company
9%
Insurance Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Insurance Company
7%
 

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 Business42
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise134
 

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.
How does Azure Data Factory compare with Informatica Cloud Data Integration?
Azure Data Factory is a solid product offering many transformation functions; It has pre-load and post-load transformations, allowing users to apply transformations either in code by using Power Q...
Which Informatica product would you choose - PowerCenter or Cloud Data Integration?
Complex transformations can easily be achieved using PowerCenter, which has all the features and tools to establish a real data governance strategy. Additionally, PowerCenter is able to manage huge...
What are the biggest benefits of using Informatica Cloud Data Integration?
When it comes to cloud data integration, this solution can provide you with multiple benefits, including: Overhead reduction by integrating data on any cloud in various ways Effective integration ...
 

Also Known As

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
ActiveVOS, Active Endpoints, BPM, Address Verification, Persistent Data Masking, Cloud Test Data Management, PIM, , Enterprise Data Catalog, Data Integration Hub, Cloud Data Integration, Data Quality, Cloud API and App Integration
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
The Travel Company, Carbonite
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Imperva, Oracle and others in Database Security. Updated: August 2025.
867,349 professionals have used our research since 2012.