IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Imperva SecureSphere Database Security comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary
Updated on Apr 5, 2022

We performed a comparison between IBM Guardium Data Protection and Imperva SecureSphere Database Security based on our users’ reviews in four categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.

  • Ease of Deployment: IBM Guardium Data Protection users gave mixed reviews on the setup and deployment, with many feeling it was complex. Imperva SecureSphere Database Security users felt the setup and deployment was easy, for the most part, but that it depended highly on the environment.
  • Features: IBM Guardium Data Protection reviewers liked the flexibility and the reporting features of the software and activity monitoring on the database servers, but felt the software wasn’t user-friendly. Imperva SecureSphere Database Security users liked the stability of the product and the user interface but felt the reporting feature needed improvement.
  • Pricing: IBM Guardium Data Protection reviewers felt the pricing was high yet competitively priced for enterprise-level companies. Most Imperva SecureSphere Database Security reviewers felt the pricing was on the higher side.
  • Service and Support: IBM Guardium Data Protection users gave mixed reviews regarding support, with some feeling there was room for improvement. Likewise, Imperva SecureSphere Database Security users had mixed reviews on the support they received.

Comparison Results: IBM Guardium Data Protection and Imperva SecureSphere Database Security have a similar user rating regarding ease of deployment, pricing, and service and support. In terms of features, IBM Guardium Data Protection reviewers felt the software wasn’t user-friendly. In contrast, Imperva SecureSphere Database Security reviewers felt the reporting feature needed improvement.

765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"I think it scales pretty well. It can run on most of the database platforms currently out there. That is something we really like as a feature, because we try to hit everything in our environment to make sure we're meeting those regulations.""Guardium does a great job of capturing data and having the ability of trying to pull it out and make sense of it. Using it for business applications is its biggest capability.""Setting up Guardium was easy and straightforward.""It's made database monitoring more visible to the business, creating more conversations about how we should do it better.""The product has proven to be flexible""Ease of deployment is a valuable feature.""Provides a unified key management system to help simplify encryption key management.""What I like about IBM Guardium Data Protection is that some of its features were deployed by collectors during the installation phase. The solution has collector and aggregator features, license installation, and even server patches that you won't find in other security providers. I like the collector-aggregator capabilities of IBM Guardium Data Protection where you install each component on separate servers, then on the aggregator, you collect all the logs on a central server or central console."

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"The integration with CounterBreach is great.""The solution is very stable.""The tool's pricing is flexible and affordable for small and medium enterprises.""The company focuses on and has a passion for security.""The functionality is very useable and easy to understand.""There are three major main use cases of this solution. The first one is to fulfill compliance regulations. Customers—especially the banks, health sector, and manufacturing—need to comply with the regulations in different countries. They have to fulfill compliance regulations around the privacy of data. In order to fulfill those requirements, they're using Imperva. It helps them to fulfill these requirements, and they are not fined by the regulators. That is the first use case why people buy Imperva.""The integration is great.""Database reporting features are valuable to us."

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security Pros →

Cons
"I would like to see IBM Guardium have other encryption algorithms employed.""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. I think that's been offloaded to another third-party product that I think IBM actually endorses for that.""Guardium Data Protection is far better in terms of external integration. But in terms of firewall features, like when you're blocking activities, it's as if Oracle AVDF simply has superior features. This is just from third-party observations, but the users of Oracle AVDF are saying that when it comes to the firewall and protection functionality, they're much more inclined to AVDF.""We have had some issues with patches breaking things unexpectedly in our environments.""They could enable the out-of-the-box feature to track application user activity.""The solution lacks control over database security.""I would like to be able to upgrade appliances within major versions without needing to rebuild the appliance.""Could be more user friendly; deployment is a little complex."

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"It is very expensive. Its price can be better.""Data encryption. Yeah, Imperva needs to pull up on data encryption and make it a standard feature to allow maybe for tokenization, encryption of data, and things like that.""Once we read the activity logs on the platform, we cannot open them anywhere else as they are stored in a proprietary format.""The interface is not user-friendly.""Its reporting can be improved. The reporting feature is currently not good enough for our clients.""I'd like to see some sort of solution for storage.""Integration with other databases or third-party products would be useful.""The only challenge I see is that SecureSphere is deployed on servers or databases which are held on physical infrastructure. However, there are databases which are hosted on cloud platforms and Imperva has a separate tool altogether for that, not SecureSphere."

More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "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."
  • "​If you are researching this type of solution, work with IBM."
  • "Guardium has not saved us time or money."
  • "The biggest challenge is the cost associated with the product, and the cost of maintaining. Everything is not translated directly to the benefits we see. There are benefits, yes, but if I were writing the check, would I buy Guardium? No."
  • "Guardium won mostly because of our scope and scale. It was able to perform at the scale that we wanted to use it. ​"
  • "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."
  • "One of the deployments that I know of had three databases, and the yearly fees are approximately $50,000 USD."
  • More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "The cost of support for this solution is very expensive."
  • "Licensing fees are on a yearly basis, and it is a good value for the money."
  • "There is an annual licensing fee for upgrading the device."
  • "Pricing is low and scalable to add features and volume."
  • "The pricing over-all depends on the entry level. For example, if support and maintenance are about $20,000 - $25,000, the initial cost can be five times more. It is less expensive for the company to maintain the client than to make the deployment."
  • "We have all the licenses, which we pay for annually. The price is a little high, but the product is good."
  • "They have introduced new price models, which makes the product more affordable now."
  • "The price is very high but compared to the price of the overall solution, then I think it's a good deal because the solution itself is great."
  • More Imperva SecureSphere Database Security Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer:It sends out an immediate alert when there's suspicious activity.
    Top Answer:IBM solutions have fair price strategy, and operates on a yearly basis. If it's a SaaS solution, then you can opt for yearly basis.
    Top Answer:The tool's pricing is flexible and affordable for small and medium enterprises.
    Top Answer:The tool's pricing is flexible and affordable for small and medium enterprises.
    Ranking
    1st
    out of 22 in Database Security
    Views
    6,560
    Comparisons
    3,241
    Reviews
    14
    Average Words per Review
    450
    Rating
    8.4
    2nd
    out of 22 in Database Security
    Views
    5,154
    Comparisons
    3,202
    Reviews
    11
    Average Words per Review
    433
    Rating
    8.2
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
    Learn More
    Overview

    IBM Security Guardium Data Protection automatically discovers and classifies sensitive data from across the enterprise, providing real-time data activity monitoring and advanced user behavior analytics to help discover unusual activity around sensitive data.

    Deploy the solution to help discover regulated data in your data stores and use pre-built templates for regulations such as PCI, SOX, HIPAA, CCPA and many more, to streamline and automate compliance workflows.

    Imperva SecureSphere Database Security:

    • Audits all access to sensitive data.
    • Alerts or blocks database attacks and unauthorized activities, in real time.
    • Detects and virtually patches database vulnerabilities.
    • Identifies excessive user rights and dormant users, and enables a complete rights review cycle.
    • Accelerates incident response and forensics investigations with advanced analytics.
    Sample Customers
    Information Not Available
    BlueCross BlueShield, eHarmony, EMF Broadcasting, GE Healthcare, Metro Bank, The Motley Fool, Siemens
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm40%
    Computer Software Company18%
    Healthcare Company10%
    Insurance Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm27%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Government9%
    Insurance Company7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm44%
    Comms Service Provider19%
    Media Company11%
    Energy/Utilities Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm26%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Government9%
    Insurance Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business32%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise54%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise73%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise49%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise69%
    Buyer's Guide
    IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. Imperva SecureSphere Database Security
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. Imperva SecureSphere Database Security and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is ranked 1st in Database Security with 70 reviews while Imperva SecureSphere Database Security is ranked 2nd in Database Security with 52 reviews. IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is rated 8.2, while Imperva SecureSphere Database Security is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection writes "Provides visibility, has a single console that shows all information, and collector-aggregator capabilities". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Imperva SecureSphere Database Security writes "The fine-grained auditing available on the platform makes life easier and helps explain anything happening in your database". IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is most compared with Oracle Audit Vault, Oracle Advanced Security, DataSunrise Database Security, Vormetric Application Crypto Suite and IBM InfoSphere Optim Data Privacy, whereas Imperva SecureSphere Database Security is most compared with Oracle Audit Vault, DataSunrise Database Security, Trustwave DbProtect, jSonar and Imperva DDoS. See our IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs. Imperva SecureSphere Database Security report.

    See our list of best Database Security vendors.

    We monitor all Database Security reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.