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IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Oracle Advanced Security 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
7.0
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
Database Security (1st)
Oracle Advanced Security
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Encryption (12th), Data Masking (12th)
 

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 27.3%, down 32.5% compared to last year.
Oracle Advanced Security, on the other hand, focuses on Endpoint Encryption, holds 3.0% mindshare, up 1.6% since last year.
Database Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Security Guardium Data Protection27.3%
Imperva Data Security Fabric25.6%
Oracle Audit Vault10.5%
Other36.599999999999994%
Database Security
Endpoint Encryption Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Oracle Advanced Security3.0%
Microsoft BitLocker17.8%
ESET Endpoint Encryption8.0%
Other71.2%
Endpoint Encryption
 

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.
reviewer1458726 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Good support, stable, and offers encryption at both the column and table level
The most valuable feature is the data encryption option for columns and tables. We are also getting the benefit of detection data. If I want to share data with another Oracle user then the data sharing is automatically detected. We don't need to modify anything. This is a complete security solution and all of the features that we are using are available off the shelf.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Database Activity Monitoring fulfills the international standard security requirements, such as PCI DSS, and is very transparent on all of the query access controls of the monitored databases."
"Supports security initiatives and ensures compliance policies."
"The product is stable - during my time using it, I have not had any crash problems with the servers, and I haven't needed to do any restarts."
"Helps us define and monitor critical data in the environment, even when stored in RDBMS, big data, or unstructured files."
"In general, deploying this solution will cost very little compared to the cost of losing data."
"Overall, this is a wonderful product."
"I like IBM Guardium Data Protection because of its good performance, the resources aren't used up to the detriment of the application, it's robust, and we don't really have any serious downtime on it."
"Ease of deployment is a valuable feature."
"Overall, it is a good solution and I can recommend it to anybody who wants to encrypt columnar data and protect it against theft."
"The features that are the most used by the customers and partners are, at the moment, for GDPR, so obviously data encryption and data reduction are the most valuable to them."
"The most valuable feature is the data encryption option for columns and tables."
"The features that are the most used by the customers and partners are, at the moment, for GDPR, so obviously data encryption and data reduction. Our customers also like the partitioning option."
 

Cons

"I would like to see streamlining of some of the agent features, some of the patches; make it a little bit more user-friendly on the documentation."
"An area for improvement would be the user interface - currently, it takes around two to three months to become comfortable using it."
"The installation should be a bit easier."
"Could be more user friendly; deployment is a little complex."
"Real-time masking is a bit simple and doesn't allow you to create complex masking rules."
"The solution could be improved for NoSQL databases."
"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."
"An improvement would be to make the pricing relative in terms of regions."
"It is really constrained as an environment because you cannot change something that would be useful. It is a very good product because it is very similar to what you have on-premises. Yes, it is constrained, but it is expected because it is a platform as a service so it has to be constrained."
"Encrypting a single column is straightforward, but encrypting at the table level requires more work and takes longer to complete."
"It is really constrained as an environment because you cannot change something that would be useful."
"Having a single command to encrypt a table would be an improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is a very costly product."
"Reasonable cost but could be lower."
"We haven't talked much about pricing and licencing. But it is not cheap for sure"
"Guardium has not saved us time or money."
"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."
"I would suggest to review the type of data, need for security, and if the organizational structure needs the options IBM Guardium provides."
"The tool is not cheap, but it is not expensive."
"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."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
Insurance Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Insurance Company
7%
Construction Company
7%
Energy/Utilities Company
7%
 

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
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
IBVI, illycaffe, Scottish water, trueblue, AirAsia
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Imperva, Oracle and others in Database Security. Updated: March 2026.
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