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Microsoft Purview Information Protection vs Varonis Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 7, 2025

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
7.4
Microsoft Purview enhances protection, automates compliance, reduces response time, and supports growth, though exact savings are hard to quantify.
Sentiment score
4.8
Varonis Platform cuts costs, saving hospitals millions, despite initial investment, though perceptions may shift with automation and cloud rivals.
Purview can do a quick scan, and it doesn't use human resources, so it gets time to do things that we need humans to focus on.
The E5 license comes with different solutions like data discovery classification, CASB, DLP solutions, and Defender for Cloud.
The cost of data loss and your data going to a competitor is potentially massive.
I definitely say that we have had time savings by using the DataVantage module and also time savings using the AD module when we are dealing with different incidents.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.4
Users experience inconsistent Microsoft Purview support, citing slow responses and unresolved issues, despite some improvements in visibility and engagement.
Sentiment score
7.6
Varonis Platform support is efficient and reliable, though some users face delays despite generally positive feedback on customer service.
Sometimes, I get a fast and knowledgeable response, while other times, I've experienced delays and received no resolution.
It's hard to be an ambassador for a product when you know it will be hard to get support.
After our issues are reported, it takes a long time to find a resolution.
The customer support is above par; it is what I think other organizations should look at to be comparable to.
They respond quickly to anything we need, which is not common among platforms.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Purview Information Protection is praised for scalability despite some concerns with data analytics speed and policy update intervals.
Sentiment score
6.5
Varonis Platform excels in scalable data management for both SaaS and on-premises deployments, supporting diverse organizational needs.
It can be scaled across different departments organization-wide very quickly and easily.
It can handle large collections of data without issues.
Scalability can be improved by reducing these intervals.
Varonis's scalability as eight to eight point five out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
Microsoft Purview is stable and reliable, with minor delays and occasional drawbacks, fostering user trust and wide deployment.
Sentiment score
6.9
Varonis Platform is stable but faces performance and deployment challenges, especially with large data and new plugins.
Once implemented, I haven't had issues with its consistency.
The product is stable, and whatever it does, it does better than any other thing.
The solution is stable overall.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Purview requires better integration, pricing, navigation, and feature enhancements to address user concerns about functionality and support.
Varonis Platform needs better cloud integration, user-friendly features, performance optimization, seamless third-party tool integration, and lower licensing costs.
Effectiveness in Microsoft Purview Information Protection means enforcing the policy and making sure it works consistently across non-Microsoft products as well.
Having a roadmap or updates about new releases would be helpful for demonstrating to clients.
Clarifying product features and use cases would help avoid such confusion.
Varonis requires more access permissions for its core functions compared to competitors, which can be a concern for companies about data safety.
A phishing email module would be great; I look forward to when that comes out.
It would be beneficial if the reporting in Varonis Platform could use PDFs instead of Excel for better graphs.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Purview offers competitive pricing, flexible enterprise licenses, and cost-effective bundled solutions, despite some complexity in licensing options.
Varonis Platform is costly with licensing, maintenance, and server needs, making it ideal for larger organizations with specific budgetary allowances.
I talked to people who had compared it to other products on the market, and they're spending five figures to get started.
The E5 license covers most of the solutions for different technologies, so that way, it is good and more affordable compared to any other solution.
Our focus is on helping customers maximize their software investment.
Varonis is known for its high licensing cost, which can include the cost of multiple servers required for its operations, called collectors.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Purview enhances data protection with encryption, automated labeling, and compliance, excelling in Microsoft ecosystem integration and management.
The Varonis Platform enhances data security with advanced analytics, seamless integration, and compliance support for effective data governance.
Microsoft Copilot is an advantage because it's enterprise-grade AI.
It's paramount to have a single solution for information protection.
Regardless of the education, the employee might share the information anyway, so the AI shouldn't be the first point of failure. It should be a human making good decisions.
Varonis is excellent for scanning unstructured data sources like file shares, OneDrive, SharePoint, Azure Blob Storage, and S3s.
We have created automatic scripts in case there is a chance that it is a ransomware malicious actor, and it will automatically disable the user, log them out, and disable the actual workstation.
In my experience, the best features that Varonis Platform offers are data labeling, data classification, along with all the integrations and its easy-to-use platform.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Purview Informati...
Ranking in Data Governance
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
Data Privacy Management Software (2nd), Microsoft Security Suite (13th)
Varonis Platform
Ranking in Data Governance
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (20th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (9th), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (7th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (5th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (3rd), Compliance Management (7th), Ransomware Protection (10th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (7th), Insider Risk Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of Microsoft Purview Information Protection is 2.8%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Varonis Platform is 10.6%, up from 8.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Data Governance Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Varonis Platform10.6%
Microsoft Purview Information Protection2.8%
Other86.6%
Data Governance
 

Featured Reviews

Abhi T - PeerSpot reviewer
Achieve comprehensive data protection with reliable performance and room for enhanced discovery accuracy
The product is still in a growing phase. I could see that many use cases in their product are not capable enough in terms of detecting or protecting. Compared to other products, they are in the middle of bringing their solution up to the mark, so it is not a full-grown solution. They have to get more accurate results in terms of data discovery and classification. The second thing is their support; support from Microsoft takes a lot of time to get a response from their support team. The third thing is their OCR capability is not that great in terms of identifying the documents. We would love to see response times of less than 24 hours. Additionally, there is no way to check the policy's current status in terms of whether it got synced or not. You have to wait and test the use cases after 24 hours or after 48 hours, and once it starts working, then it appears the policy got implemented.
Fekri Hached - PeerSpot reviewer
Has improved data visibility and classification while supporting proactive security workflows
In my experience, the best features that Varonis Platform offers are data labeling, data classification, along with all the integrations and its easy-to-use platform. They have a really good setup, and their sales team and technical service are reliable; they hold monthly, weekly, and quarterly reviews, and they respond quickly to anything we need, which is not common among platforms. Varonis Platform has a big variety of integrations, and they continuously work on new updates and integrations, such as ChatGPT Enterprise and Zoom, ensuring that they meet any new needs that customers have, maintaining a roadmap for features that they constantly bring out. Since implementing Varonis Platform, we have noticed positive impacts in our organization. People are more careful when they go abroad, we have greater visibility, and it's very important for compliance to ensure we follow compliance rules, as we have some good reporting and the out-of-hours MDR service.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
13%
Retailer
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Insurance Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise9
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Purview Information Protection?
It ensures that sensitive data is automatically safeguarded, even for email attachments, regardless of the user or device.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Purview Information Protection?
Pricing is good because if somebody is looking for an overall cybersecurity solution, Microsoft has one license with many solutions bundled with that license. The E5 license covers most of the solu...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Purview Information Protection?
The product is still in a growing phase. I could see that many use cases in their product are not capable enough in terms of detecting or protecting. Compared to other products, they are in the mid...
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 Information Protection
SlashNext Complete
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Nottingham Building Society
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Purview Information Protection vs. Varonis Platform and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
872,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.