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IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Oracle Audit Vault vs Trustwave DbProtect 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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is 32.0%, up from 31.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Oracle Audit Vault is 16.0%, up from 14.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Trustwave DbProtect is 4.6%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Security
 

Featured Reviews

Ahmer Faisel Khan - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers mature agents, compliance reporting and reliable database security
The solution should allow the data to shift to a centralized repository with elastic servers and big data infrastructure. If a customer searches for old logs for retention purposes, there are limitations on appliances once they are set with specific hardware, so they can only be changed by uninstalling or reinstalling the hardware. The solution's aggregator feature allows data aggregation, but for instance, if a customer wants a project ready in two years, having an Elasticsearch in DB or the capacity to store huge amounts of data would be beneficial in data investigation or evaluation at an affordable cost. Some AI features should be added to IBM Security Guardium Data Protection. For example, the AI features implemented in the solution can be anomaly detection or suspicious activity identification.
Yves Moro - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides good security, and is helpful for auditing the data and seeing what's happening
Currently, you need two servers: one for Audit Vault and one for the firewall. If they can combine them into one server, it will be great because it is costly to have two servers. It will also make its installation easier. I have heard that in the new version, there will be only one server for both. I use it only for security purposes, and they can continue to improve it with more security tools and features. It should be powerful like FortiGate. When it becomes powerful like FortiGate, people will only go for this solution for their infrastructure. Their support could be faster.
Marcelo Raza - PeerSpot reviewer
A tool that offers a proper view and division of all databases while also allowing users to do continuous monitoring
I have seen that the tool's installation phase has some problems regarding the versions, specifically the version of SQL. Trustwave DbProtect doesn't accept some versions of SQL. Some credentials when you are installing give some problems, but all of them did pass through the installation phase but gave a certain amount of hard work to be done during the installation phase. The aforementioned area needs to be considered for improvement. The pain points with Trustwave DbProtect were about the installation and problems with the different versions not being accepted. A more compatible version of the product with other databases and operating systems should be possible.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"There are different modules but the most valuable ones are firewalling and masking. Additionally, the auditing of the entire database is helpful, which includes all the activity of the database users and administrators. We can monitor everything and log as well."
"The most valuable feature is the visualization of data and the ability to monitor our databases."
"It has automated a bunch of manual tasks, giving us insights into activities that we would not otherwise be able to capture."
"The most valuable feature is the GUI, the interface. It also interfaces well with REST API, if you want to automate some of the commands."
"Being an IBM product it really offers security integration capabilities and robust features. Over the years, it has satisfactory met the requirements of our customers which makes it a very reliable and versatile solution."
"The most valuable feature of the solution for the customers is the monitoring and full log of the database activity of privileged users."
"Provides a unified key management system to help simplify encryption key management."
"The most valuable features are the reporting and data-level access control."
"It has provided us with a unique opportunity to automate risk discovery."
"The most valuable feature of Oracle Audit Vault is that it is agentless and enhanced user interface."
"The critical event alerts and reporting features have greatly reduced loss of man hours that would have been spent on going through the whole audit event logs."
"All of the other components that make up the infrastructure in the environment including the operating system are also quite valuable."
"The solution is very stable and reliable."
"A powerful, flexible solution for database traffic monitoring."
"It has reduced the stress of collecting database event logs in silos from each database."
"Technical support is perfect."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that you can have a good view which is provided with a proper division of all your databases, which you can see in Trustwave DbProtect."
"This solution helps our clients to monitor their database use, and detect violations of the policy."
"Transfer and vulnerability scanning are the most valuable features of this product."
 

Cons

"I would like to see a lot of additional reporting and analytics features. They have basic outlier detection, but I would love to see that go further, and model it after analytics tools like Splunk."
"It was difficult implementing it, configuring it, getting it up and running and in production. However, since then, I believe it has stabilized."
"I would like to be able to upgrade appliances within major versions without needing to rebuild the appliance."
"I have already mentioned to IBM that a primary need is to improve the number of records in the reports above 65,535."
"Initial setup is very complex. Once you start interacting with people's databases, they get very hesitant. Then, the amount of social tasks to socialize the solution ensuring people are comfortable with it became a much heavier lift."
"The solution lacks control over database security."
"More automation, user guides, and tips would make this solution better."
"IBM Guardium Data Protection is a mature product. There is a lot of encryption that is not owned by IBM and is done by a third party and is not an integral part of the solution."
"I hear from many people that say IBM Guardian is better than Oracle Audit Vault when it comes to performance. IBM Guardian works transparently in the database, but Oracle Audit Vault consumes some ratios on the server."
"Some of our customers were asking about latency when the application wants to get to the database."
"The product monitors only the database and not the operating systems."
"Stability could be improved, we have had some challenges"
"The performance of Oracle Audit Vault could be improved, especially in handling large data collections and generating reports on time."
"One feature that is missing is the ability to have a secret server that is always encrypted."
"Customized reporting is something that we are struggling with, and it is quite tough for us."
"They should simplify the integration and work with different vendors and mechanisms."
"I have seen that the tool's installation phase has some problems regarding the versions, specifically the version of SQL."
"The product does not have encryption or data masking."
"We have not been able to integrate this product with a lot of standard incident response solutions, so an open API would help in this regard."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Guardium is most suitable for large scale enterprises because the pricing model is better if you are implementing a large number of databases."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is low price, and ten is very high price, I rate the solution's pricing a nine out of ten."
"The tool is not cheap, but it is not expensive."
"One of the deployments that I know of had three databases, and the yearly fees are approximately $50,000 USD."
"Reasonable cost but could be lower."
"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."
"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."
"Oracle can be an expensive solution depending on the options and user needs."
"This solution is definitely not expensive, and it is a small fraction of the overall database licensing costs."
"The licensing cost is about $360,000, annually."
"For the bank, the license was $48,000 last time. That was the licensing for the bank on just one license."
"The licensing fees, including support, are approximately $5,000 USD per database, per year."
"I rate the pricing a five on a scale from one to ten, where one is the lowest and ten is the highest."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
30%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
31%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
7%
Retailer
6%
Financial Services Firm
21%
Computer Software Company
11%
Healthcare Company
9%
Insurance Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
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, co...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Guardium Data Protection?
The pricing is good, and I have no problem with it. Although there is no flexibility to compete with other products, ...
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 activit...
What do you like most about Oracle Audit Vault?
Oracle Audit Vault has a lot of great features, but what I find most valuable is the database firewall.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Audit Vault?
I would rate the costliness of Oracle Audit Vault as a seven out of ten. It is a bit expensive.
What needs improvement with Oracle Audit Vault?
The performance of Oracle Audit Vault could be improved, especially in handling large data collections and generating...
What do you like most about Trustwave DbProtect?
The most valuable feature of the solution is that you can have a good view which is provided with a proper division o...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Trustwave DbProtect?
Price-wise, Trustwave DbProtect falls in the mid-range category in Portugal. Many solutions similar to Trustwave DbPr...
What needs improvement with Trustwave DbProtect?
I have seen that the tool's installation phase has some problems regarding the versions, specifically the version of ...
 

Also Known As

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
Audit Vault
Application Security DbProtect
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Abu Dhabi Department of Finance, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health, Educational Testing Service, Ryohin Keikaku Co. Ltd., SPC Brasil, REDISA, Qatar Olympic Committee, Seneca College, Hunan Social Insurance Management and Service Bureau,
Pax World Investments, Crest Savings Bank, Magnolia Hotels
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Imperva, Oracle and others in Database Security. Updated: April 2025.
848,989 professionals have used our research since 2012.