No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Vormetric Application Crypto Suite 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM Security Guardium Data ...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
Database Security (1st)
Vormetric Application Crypt...
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Data Masking (8th)
 

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 26.7%, down 32.0% compared to last year.
Vormetric Application Crypto Suite, on the other hand, focuses on Data Masking, holds 2.5% mindshare, up 2.4% since last year.
Database Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection26.7%
Imperva Data Security Fabric24.8%
Oracle Audit Vault9.3%
Other39.2%
Database Security
Data Masking Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Vormetric Application Crypto Suite2.5%
Perforce Delphix10.1%
Broadcom Test Data Manager6.9%
Other80.5%
Data Masking
 

Q&A Highlights

CR
Diretor Comercial e de Marketing at DKRLI
Jul 07, 2020
 

Featured Reviews

HA
Senior Business Development Executive at Digitaltrack
Centralized monitoring has improved audit readiness and streamlines investigations of data access
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a strong platform, but there are a few areas where I think it could be improved. One area is alert tuning and prioritization. Large environments can generate a significant number of alerts, and while the platform provides good visibility, reducing noise and automatically highlighting the highest-risk events would help security teams work more efficiently. Another area is ease of administration. As environments become more complex with cloud, hybrid, and on-premises databases, managing policies and configurations can require significant effort. Simplifying some of those workflows could reduce the operational overhead for administration. I would also like to see deeper automation and more advanced analytic capabilities. The security industry as a whole is moving toward faster threat detection and automated response, and having more built-in intelligence to identify unusual behavior with less manual tuning would be valuable. A couple of additional areas come to mind regarding needed improvements for IBM Security Guardium Data Protection. Integration is one of them. IBM Security Guardium Data Protection integrates with a variety of security tools, but as organizations adopt more cloud-native platforms and multicloud environments, smoother integration and simpler deployment processes would be beneficial. Many security teams are managing dozens of tools today, so reducing integration complexity can save a lot of operational effort. From a usability perspective, some administration and reporting tasks could be more intuitive, especially for new users. The platform is feature-rich, which is a strength, but it can also create a learning curve. Regarding support, my experience has generally been positive, but complex issues can sometimes require coordination across multiple teams before they are fully resolved. One feature I appreciate about IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is the detailed audit trail that IBM Security Guardium Data Protection maintains. When investigating an issue, having a historical record of database activity can save a lot of time and provide the context needed to understand what happened. That is especially useful for compliance and forensic investigations. As for a wish-list item, I would like to see even more intelligent alert correlation and risk prioritization. A challenge across the security industry is that teams often deal with a large number of alerts from different tools, and determining which ones require immediate attention can still be time-consuming. Although IBM Security Guardium Data Protection already provides strong monitoring capabilities, more automated context and prioritization could help security teams focus on the highest-risk events faster.
reviewer2537625 - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Protection at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Useful to encrypt sensitive data or crown jewel data stored in various places within organizations
One of the most valuable features is the solution's integration with many leading industry solutions, both on-premises and cloud-based. It has API integration with a large number of technologies. The key management capability supports security protocols by providing an additional layer of security by separating duties. It's more secure to store encryption keys in a separate system like Thales rather than locally. If a database is compromised, the keys in Thales remain protected, making it harder for attackers to access the information.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We acquired Guardium to encrypt certain databases to meet a customer requirement and it has been performing to spec."
"The features I like are the robust policies, which allow us to create customized monitoring based on specific activities."
"The product has proven to be flexible"
"The centralization of data is probably the most valuable feature because we span multiple database technologies."
"Provides a unified key management system to help simplify encryption key management."
"The most valuable feature is using the capture operation mode “S-TAP/K-TAP agent”, because all activities in the database are captured, including direct access to the database server by privileged users, which is useful because, even if the database server logs were deleted, the Guardium Collector has already stored such data to enable traceability of access."
"Easy to set up data activity monitoring solution that provides competent technical support. Scalable, stable, and has good performance."
"We use Guardium to support security initiatives and compliance policies such as APCI, SOX, GDPR, pretty much everything."
"Transfer encryption is a great feature of Crypto Suite, the solution is very user-friendly and enables us to provide the security of a database file folder layer."
"One of the most valuable features is the solution's integration with many leading industry solutions, both on-premises and cloud-based. It has API integration with a large number of technologies."
"Transfer encryption is a great feature of Crypto Suite."
 

Cons

"The only downside is that the deployment is complex and requires special expertise to deploy."
"The price of this solution is quite high for smaller organizations, so they should release a version that is affordable for small and medium-sized businesses."
"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."
"Guardium could be improved in the area of data encryption."
"An area for improvement would be the user interface - currently, it takes around two to three months to become comfortable using it."
"The technical support is very poor."
"Right now we're having some issues where it's using a high CPU, we don't know why. So, better testing before the product is ready would help."
"Real-time masking is a bit simple and doesn't allow you to create complex masking rules."
"Some feature sets could be improved, particularly alerting, reporting, and monitoring capabilities."
"Could be more agent-led with options for simplifying implementation."
"Customer support is reasonable on the whole but it could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Guardium is most suitable for large scale enterprises because the pricing model is better if you are implementing a large number of databases."
"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."
"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."
"Guardium has not saved us time or money."
"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."
"It's an expensive solution"
"It is not an expensive product. We purchase its yearly license."
Information not available
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Database Security solutions are best for your needs.
902,270 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Answers from the Community

CR
Diretor Comercial e de Marketing at DKRLI
Jul 7, 2020
Jul 7, 2020
I have been working with Guardium for 5 years, but I had not heard of Vormetric. So, I will not be able to help. Something I can report is from the IBM website: " IBM Security Guardium Data Encryption runs on a variety of Microsoft Windows, UNIX, and Linux platforms. It requires prerequisite software available from Vormetric, Inc. Visit the Vormetric website for information. For additional inf...
See 2 answers
ET
Works at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
Jul 7, 2020
IBM is reselling Vormetric. IBM Guardium Data Protection includes Vormetric as part of the Data Protection Family.
SM
Information Security Analyst at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jul 7, 2020
I have been working with Guardium for 5 years, but I had not heard of Vormetric. So, I will not be able to help. Something I can report is from the IBM website: " IBM Security Guardium Data Encryption runs on a variety of Microsoft Windows, UNIX, and Linux platforms. It requires prerequisite software available from Vormetric, Inc. Visit the Vormetric website for information. For additional information, refer to the Software requirements section. Vormetric is not affiliated or associated with IBM. Vormetric software products and licenses are subject to change in accordance with the policies and procedures of Vormetric. " Source: https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/ShowDoc.wss?docURL=/common/ssi/rep_ca/2/897/ENUS216-412/index.html&request_locale=en
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business29
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 needs improvement with IBM Security Guardium Data Protection?
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a strong platform, but there are a few areas where I think it could be improved. One area is alert tuning and prioritization. Large environments can generat...
What needs improvement with Vormetric Application Crypto Suite?
Some feature sets could be improved, particularly alerting, reporting, and monitoring capabilities.
What is your primary use case for Vormetric Application Crypto Suite?
I use the system to encrypt sensitive data or crown jewel data stored in various places within organizations. For example, we can encrypt databases with it. We store and manage the encryption keys ...
 

Also Known As

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
BD, Delta Dental, CMI
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Imperva, Oracle and others in Database Security. Updated: June 2026.
902,270 professionals have used our research since 2012.