IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs Vormetric Application Crypto Suite comparison

The compared IBM and Thales Cloud Security solutions aren't in the same category. IBM is ranked #1 in DS , with an average rating of 8.8, and holds a 32.0% mindshare in the category. Thales Cloud Security is ranked #9 in DM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 85% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Thales Cloud Security users who would recommend it.

IBM Security Guardium Data ...

Read 78 IBM Security Guardium Data Protection reviews

4,901 Views
2,342 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Vormetric Application Crypt...

Read 2 Vormetric Application Crypto Suite reviews

110 Views
86 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM Security Guardium Data ...

Vormetric Application Crypt...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Security Guardium Data Protection and Vormetric Application Crypto Suite based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Imperva, Oracle and others in Database Security.

To learn more, read our detailed Database Security Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Database Security

April 2025

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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

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Database Security (1st)

Vormetric Application Crypt...

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Masking (9th)

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 32.0%, up 31.1% compared to last year.
Vormetric Application Crypto Suite, on the other hand, focuses on Data Masking, holds 2.9% mindshare, down 3.6% since last year.

Database Security

Data Masking

Q&A Highlights

CarlosRibeiro

Diretor Comercial e de Marketing at DKRLI

Jul 07, 2020

IBM Guardium Data Protection vs. Vormetric Application Crypto Suite for a tech services company

I have been working with Guardium for 5 years, but I had not heard of Vormetric. So, I will not be able to help. Something I can report is from the IBM website: " IBM Security Guardium Data Encryption runs on a variety of Microsoft Windows, UNIX, and Linux platforms. It requires prerequisite software available from Vormetric, Inc. Visit the Vormetric website for information. For additional information, refer to the Software requirements section. Vormetric is not affiliated or associated with IBM. Vormetric software products and licenses are subject to change in accordance with the policies and procedures of Vormetric. " Source: https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/ShowDoc.wss?docURL=/common/ssi/rep_ca/2/897/ENUS216-412/index.html&request_locale=en

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Featured Reviews

Ahmer Faisel Khan

Director | CTO at COMMTEL

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.

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reviewer2537625

Data Protection at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees

Useful to encrypt sensitive data or crown jewel data stored in various places within organizations

One of the most valuable features is the solution's integration with many leading industry solutions, both on-premises and cloud-based. It has API integration with a large number of technologies. The key management capability supports security protocols by providing an additional layer of security by separating duties. It's more secure to store encryption keys in a separate system like Thales rather than locally. If a database is compromised, the keys in Thales remain protected, making it harder for attackers to access the information.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."

"It is very easy to obtain reports and manage the reporting interface."

"The front-end works very well."

"One of the most valuable features is the accelerator. It has a predefined report for PCI SOX compliance and other compliances."

"The most valuable feature of the solution for the customers is the monitoring and full log of the database activity of privileged users."

"We are using it to do a lot of data discovery from a data classification for structured data."

"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."

"The tool helps detect invalid login attempts within a specific time frame."

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection pros

"One of the most valuable features is the solution's integration with many leading industry solutions, both on-premises and cloud-based. It has API integration with a large number of technologies."

"Transfer encryption is a great feature of Crypto Suite."

Cons

"Since we are resellers we do not have enough information about the technical aspects and the areas of improvement. However, one consistent report that we receive from our customers is that IBM does not offer timely support due to the size of the organisation. It would be great if they could improve their response time."

"Performance and the ability to use resources could be improved."

"Right now, we're in the development phase for IBM Guardium Data Protection, so I don't have any recommendations about additional features and room for improvement in the solution. We're very excited to work on IBM Guardium Data Protection because we are new to the solution, and we're still exploring product features. We're very excited about integrations and use case creation, and it's only after six to eight months that I'll be able to share my recommendations in terms of additional features the solution should have. We did find some difficulty in deploying IBM Guardium Data Protection here in Pakistan because of the lack of resources."

"The integration part of the present solution is very complex and tedious. Plus it gives a lot of false positives which need to be eradicated over time."

"More predictive, using Watson AI would be good."

"The solution could be improved for NoSQL databases."

"They could enable the out-of-the-box feature to track application user activity."

"There could be a feature to integrate and protect multiple databases. The local support services need improvements as well."

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection cons

"Could be more agent-led with options for simplifying implementation."

"Some feature sets could be improved, particularly alerting, reporting, and monitoring capabilities."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Guardium is most suitable for large scale enterprises because the pricing model is better if you are implementing a large number of databases."

"My company purchased IBM Guardium Data Protection in a package, so I'm unable to give its exact licensing cost, but for the package of three IBM solutions, it wasn't very expensive. I'd rate the pricing for all three solutions three out of five. When my team deployed IBM Guardium Data Protection, all features were included."

"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."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"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."

"The price of the solution could be better."

"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."

"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."

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection pricing and cost advice

Information not available

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Answers from the Community

CarlosRibeiro

Diretor Comercial e de Marketing at DKRLI

Jul 7, 2020

IBM Guardium Data Protection vs. Vormetric Application Crypto Suite for a tech services company

See 2 answers

Eric-Tsoi

Works

Jul 7, 2020

IBM is reselling Vormetric. IBM Guardium Data Protection includes Vormetric as part of the Data Protection Family.

Read full answer

Sidney Monteiro

Information Security Analyst at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Jul 7, 2020

Read full answer

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

30%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

No data available

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, control, and analysis to secure sensitive data and comply with regulations. IBM S...

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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, it generally costs between one hundred and three hundred thousand per year depen...

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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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What needs improvement with Vormetric Application Crypto Suite?

Some feature sets could be improved, particularly alerting, reporting, and monitoring capabilities.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Vormetric Application Crypto Suite?

I use the system to encrypt sensitive data or crown jewel data stored in various places within organizations. For example, we can encrypt databases with it. We store and manage the encryption keys ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Vormetric Application Crypto Suite?

I rate Vormetric Application Crypto Suite an eight out of ten.

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Comparisons

Imperva SecureSphere Database Security vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 52% of the time

Oracle Audit Vault vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 18% of the time

DataSunrise Database Security vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 5% of the time

Voltage SecureData Enterprise vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 3% of the time

Informatica Secure@Source vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

Compared 1% of the time

More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection Competitors

Voltage SecureData Enterprise vs Vormetric Application Crypto Suite

Compared 53% of the time

More Vormetric Application Crypto Suite Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection

April 2025

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection report

Download IBM Security Guardium Data Protection product report

Buyer's Guide

Data Masking

March 2025

Vormetric Application Crypto Suite report

Download Vormetric Application Crypto Suite product report

Also Known As

InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium

No data available

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.

IBM

At the core of the Vormetric Application Crypto Suite from Thales is a set of products that streamline development efforts to add encryption, tokenization, masking and other cryptographic functions to applications. The job of the developer is made easy and fast by leveraging sample code and APIs that are best for their environment, while key management functions are kept separate and secure in a FIPS 140-2 hardware or virtual appliance that is operated by IT or SecOps. Securing data at the application, with separation of duties for key management, provides the highest levels of protection and compliance.

The Vormetric Application Crypto Suite also includes applications and utilities that leverage the core components to add security layers to databases and other structured data stores.

Thales Cloud Security

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

BD, Delta Dental, CMI

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