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Microsoft ATA [EOL] vs Varonis Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 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

Microsoft ATA [EOL]
Average Rating
6.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Varonis Platform
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (9th), Data Governance (4th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (5th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (4th), Compliance Management (7th), Ransomware Protection (11th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (7th)
 

Featured Reviews

it_user1369068 - PeerSpot reviewer
Good integration, simple to maintain, and very stable
Scalability shouldn't be a problem, at least for the size of network team that I work with. Right now we have between 400 and 500 users. This is deployed in a network that is actually about 500 users. We don't plan to increase usage. We're already using it as fully as we can and we don't have any more room. We might look at all the Microsoft programs that relate to office 365, like the ATP, because there is a difference between the ATA and the ATP. We are going to look and see whether there's any gaps that we can close. I think if you compare ATA with the actual ATP it's basically the same functionality. One is more on-premises versus the cloud. Since we are progressively in moving to the cloud, we might look at the ATP, which integrates better with the Microsoft cloud.
Frederic  Delos - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers the ability to identify sensitive areas, allowing you to drill down into the sensitive data
The most effective feature for me is its ability to identify sensitive areas, allowing you to drill down into the sensitive data, provided you have access, to determine whether it's a false positive or a true positive. That's the best thing for me, out of all of it. It's got everything, like other ones, but I like to be able to look at something if I'm doing forensics on the alert and say, "Okay, do I really need to do something with this?" For example, we don't want sensitive data in our OneDrive. So it identifies the sensitive data that's possibly in the OneDrive. And what I can do is look at it and identify whether it's actually sensitive data in Datalert or whether it looks like sensitive data, but I know it's a false positive. If it is a false positive, I can basically say ignore this pattern based on X, Y, and Z, you know, whether it's Redjax or keyword proximity. So I like that. With other tools, I gotta go through a whole process because it's a little bit more complex. Here, I can tag it and bag it in one shot. And the next good time I scan, it slips over it. So it helps in that.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of the most valuable features is the ability to report on questionable activity."
"The stability of the solution is very good."
"The solution works well when used with other Microsoft solutions."
"It can easily identify unusual behavior or access patterns that may pose a potential threat, while operating as a unified reporting system."
"The telemetry to capture everything and the reports are very easy to configure without having a developer degree."
"The 24/7 support is the most valuable feature. They have been able to answer support questions pretty quickly."
"The most important feature is remediation. In remediation support, there is no group permission. We'll go ahead and remediate the access from the Dell folder to the parent folder."
"The solution's classification engine is highly configurable and efficient."
"Varonis offers robust data access governance, allowing us to understand which sensitive data exists and who has access to it."
"On the Varonis side, technical support is phenomenal. Their ability to explain is very good, and they seem to be very knowledgeable. When I get an alert that doesn't quite make sense, they dive in there and kind of take me through it. That's very useful and very good. There are some false alerts, but it is better to have a false alert than no alert at all."
"The solution ensures that users have not accidentally shared sensitive information with the wrong people or too many people."
 

Cons

"Some of the newer features are not completely there yet... For example, there's a tool that allows you to grade your overall internal security and I don't feel that it's completely accurate."
"There are occasions where it generates some false positives and you have to embark into figuring it out. You need to find out if it was a true alert or a false positive. It's a little bit cumbersome in that area."
"It would be ideal if the interface allowed for more granular configurations. For example, if I were to set a rule that is a deviation from the pre-defined rules in the Microsoft product, there's conflict."
"I would like it to have cloud integration."
"The remediation process can be improved. There will be no existing permission group for the McAfee channel domains. We can create a new permissions group for the required folder."
"I'd like to see automatic updates for this solution. Currently, it's a manual process to update all the keywords"
"There is one thing that if I add something manually, I get so many alerts. That's the biggest bad thing."
"For unstructured data monitoring, it's one of the top ones, if not the top one, due to its usability."
"We have Microsoft Office 365. I just saw an article today which says that they're actually getting integrated with Microsoft Office 365, which would be a useful feature. For user-based reports, log on activity, and stuff like that, it doesn't seem to really be present like Log360. That could just be my inexperience with it. I've been dealing with it for only about two and a half months."
"Varonis requires more access permissions for its core functions compared to competitors, which can be a concern for companies about data safety."
"The solution's interface is a little complicated with regard to setting up filters and reports."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I believe we are looking into new licenses. They may be called the E5. Honestly, I don't have it on top of my mind, but I think it's around seven to $10 a user per month."
"It's expensive, kind of, really expensive."
"You could do a subscription, where you pay yearly, or you could purchase it outright. The licensing cost is based on the number of users on the system that you are monitoring."
"Licensing is on an annual basis. Maintenance and renewal fees are separate. Varonis Datalert is quite expensive."
"The pricing is good. It neither expensive nor cheap. It is average."
"The platform is expensive. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."
"Varonis Platform wasn't certainly the cheapest solution."
"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about Varonis Platform?
The solution has significantly improved data security and compliance posture by allowing us to track and monitor activities. We can see who accesses data and when files are created and understand w...
What needs improvement with Varonis Platform?
Varonis started as an on-premises solution and is transitioning to cloud. It hasn't fully moved yet, which is an area for improvement. Varonis requires more access permissions for its core function...
What is your primary use case for Varonis Platform?
The primary use case for Varonis Platform is data discovery, specifically for discovering sensitive data in our organization to protect it. We are looking for a solution that can scan our repositor...
 

Also Known As

Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics, MS ATA [EOL]
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Turkish Airlines, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Empa, The Alberta Teachers' Association
Nottingham Building Society
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