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IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Trustwave DbProtect comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 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 Security Guardium Data ...
Ranking in Database Security
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Trustwave DbProtect
Ranking in Database Security
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is 28.0%, down from 32.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Trustwave DbProtect is 3.6%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection28.0%
Trustwave DbProtect3.6%
Other68.4%
Database Security
 

Featured Reviews

DP
Chief Executive Officer at Kipustec
Ensures data security and compliance with reliable alerts and protections
The manuals should be clearer. There needs to be an online course or tutorial for faster management training. The maintenance was slightly complicated. I had to read the manuals carefully and even failed the Guardium certification exam due to insufficient information or time. Improving the tool learning process would be beneficial.
Marcelo Raza - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"There are different modules but the most valuable ones are firewalling and masking. Additionally, the auditing of the entire database is helpful, which includes all the activity of the database users and administrators. We can monitor everything and log as well."
"We now have the ability to begin to understand how people, applications, and service accounts are interacting with data to better protect it."
"We have integrated IBM Guardium​ with IBM Watson Curator. They access Curator to identify and correlate other actions the user is doing to determine if this is a legitimate action or not."
"Supports security initiatives and ensures compliance policies."
"You could easily throw it onto a VM or add additional hardware. One central manager supports about a hundred managed units, so scalability is excellent.​"
"We now have the ability to begin to understand how people, applications, and service accounts are interacting with data to better protect it."
"It does not require our involvement to run it. It runs in the background and the people that do the reporting do so. The reports go to the directors who are in charge of the various data areas. It's pretty clean. Clearly there is some setup, but after you get it set up it just goes."
"The solution supports a lot of databases."
"This solution helps our clients to monitor their database use, and detect violations of the policy."
"We are happy with the product overall, including its features and support."
"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."
"Its automation functionality and ease of use."
"Transfer and vulnerability scanning are the most valuable features of this product."
"Database activity monitoring is valuable because it helps monitor and identify any fraudulent or suspicious activities that are executed on the database."
"Knowing what is in your enterprise and its vulnerabilities can save you from being the next headline."
 

Cons

"Sometimes the performance is not good, and also sometimes we have sudden bugs causing difficulties."
"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."
"Reporting has always been a weakness, but it has improved across the versions."
"Initially it did not have support external applications like, say, Tableau, ServiceNow, Remedy, and the like. They have started growing into it, but I would like to have more and more integration with outside applications."
"The solution lacks control over database security."
"Initially, from 32-bit to 64-bit was a nightmare, but the latest 64-bit versions are pretty straightforward."
"The one thing that I would like to see improved, but I don't think it's going to be in the next release, is its reporting capabilities."
"The biggest complaint that I hear from customers and users is that using this solution requires database skills, yet it is a security and monitoring tool."
"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."
"Regarding stability, I would give it a rating of 3.5/5."
"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."
"The product does not have encryption or data masking."
"The system that is running scans can become slow to respond. Thus, you should be able to say, don't consume more than a particular amount of resources when scanning."
"We encountered issues with stability, especially during database upgrades and migration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost depends on the number of databases. You can purchase advanced licenses, but the standard license is calculated based on the number of databases you have to onboard."
"Its cost is good. With the new metric of licensing, such as PDO not being available now, customers are expecting a good price for the solution."
"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."
"Guardium is most suitable for large scale enterprises because the pricing model is better if you are implementing a large number of databases."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is very high price, I rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten."
"Guardium won mostly because of our scope and scale. It was able to perform at the scale that we wanted to use it. ​"
"We haven't talked much about pricing and licencing. But it is not cheap for sure"
"I would suggest to review the type of data, need for security, and if the organizational structure needs the options IBM Guardium provides."
"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
24%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise17
Large Enterprise44
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, 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.
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Also Known As

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
Application Security DbProtect
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Pax World Investments, Crest Savings Bank, Magnolia Hotels
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. Trustwave DbProtect and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.