Microsoft Purview Data Governance vs Varonis Platform comparison

Microsoft Purview Data Governance vs. Varonis Platform

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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

Microsoft Purview Data Gove...

Ranking in Data Governance

1st

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Microsoft Security Suite (8th)

Varonis Platform

Ranking in Data Governance

7th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (10th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (5th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (8th), Compliance Management (8th), Ransomware Protection (8th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Data Governance category, the mindshare of Microsoft Purview Data Governance is 23.7%, down from 25.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Varonis Platform is 9.7%, up from 6.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Data Governance

Q&A Highlights

Peter-Param

Manager Cyber Security at AnglicareSA

Feb 04, 2025

What are the main differences between Varonis and Microsoft Purview?

Microsoft Purview offers seamless integration with Azure and other Microsoft products, extensive data classification, and multi-cloud capabilities. Varonis Platform excels in detailed data access monitoring, comprehensive security features, and compliance management tools. Hope this helps.

The sensitivity and retention options in Purview are excellent

Featured Reviews

James McDowall

Senior Microsoft Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Some of the menu headings may not be easy to understand for some people. For example, when I first used Purview, I noticed that one of the self-compliance centers had changed its name. Microsoft has done a huge amount of updates, and sometimes it's hard to keep track of what Purview can do. We almost constantly have to explore it. Maybe Microsoft could have a 365 roadmap where we can look at upcoming features, or some kind of bulletin announcement for Purview users that explains new features and what they can do in simple terms. We could also look at the menu settings. In my experience of using Purview, we've never used it as an exclusive system for IT professionals or technical staff. We were very keen that other specialists around the business made use of some of these features because we thought that some of what Purview could do was relevant to other departments as well as IT. For example, we have HR managers and financial staff who use it. I think that some of the terminology in Purview is pitched toward IT and tech professionals, and it may not be immediately understood by other specialists. This is something that could be improved.

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Frederic Delos

Senior Cloud Engineer at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

Offers the ability to identify sensitive areas, allowing you to drill down into the sensitive data

The most effective feature for me is its ability to identify sensitive areas, allowing you to drill down into the sensitive data, provided you have access, to determine whether it's a false positive or a true positive. That's the best thing for me, out of all of it. It's got everything, like other ones, but I like to be able to look at something if I'm doing forensics on the alert and say, "Okay, do I really need to do something with this?" For example, we don't want sensitive data in our OneDrive. So it identifies the sensitive data that's possibly in the OneDrive. And what I can do is look at it and identify whether it's actually sensitive data in Datalert or whether it looks like sensitive data, but I know it's a false positive. If it is a false positive, I can basically say ignore this pattern based on X, Y, and Z, you know, whether it's Redjax or keyword proximity. So I like that. With other tools, I gotta go through a whole process because it's a little bit more complex. Here, I can tag it and bag it in one shot. And the next good time I scan, it slips over it. So it helps in that.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It is critical that Purview delivers data protection across multi-cloud and multi-platform environments. That is the number one reason that people are adopting hybrid and best-of-the-breed approaches. Especially in banking, it is critical because people want to protect, govern, and secure their data. This is one of the first conversations that happens with security and the architecture group on the client side."

"Purview helps mitigate risk and allows us to govern the information being shared among apps and devices."

"MIP also provides strong information rights management settings, such as the ability to specify who has access to content and at what time."

"My favorite Purview feature is auto-scanning. Once we set up Purview, we can automatically scan multiple data sources when new data comes into specific databases, like SQL and Oracle. We don't need to rediscover the new data or do anything manually because it automatically happens."

"The ability to classify data quickly and effortlessly is arguably Microsoft Purview's most valuable feature."

"The data lineage feature stands out. It tracks where the data comes from and any changes made."

"Purview's greatest benefit for us is data discovery."

"Purview's ability to connect to iOS, Mac, and Android devices is critical."

More Microsoft Purview Data Governance pros

"The 24/7 support is the most valuable feature. They have been able to answer support questions pretty quickly."

"The solution ensures that users have not accidentally shared sensitive information with the wrong people or too many people."

"The most important feature is remediation. In remediation support, there is no group permission. We'll go ahead and remediate the access from the Dell folder to the parent folder."

"On the Varonis side, technical support is phenomenal. Their ability to explain is very good, and they seem to be very knowledgeable. When I get an alert that doesn't quite make sense, they dive in there and kind of take me through it. That's very useful and very good. There are some false alerts, but it is better to have a false alert than no alert at all."

"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 what's happening in our environment."

"Varonis offers robust data access governance, allowing us to understand which sensitive data exists and who has access to it."

"The analytics would have to be our most valuable feature."

"I also appreciate the reporting feature, which allows for the extraction of various reports based on specific needs. These reports can be used for audit purposes, such as tracking changes in file locations or deletions."

More Varonis Platform pros

Cons

"As Microsoft Purview got a little more mature, the deployments got a little more complex, as we were kind of seeing that there are a lot of ways, like there were a hundred ways to do one thing or less."

"In terms of the competence of the tools with the Microsoft ecosystem, the product can do better."

"The product needs improvement to edit the number of assets. It needs to be more inuitive as well."

"he one thing it doesn't do is data quality."

"Reflecting organizational changes within Purview is impractical."

"I try to avoid opening tickets with Microsoft due to long response times, which is frustrating."

"Running eDiscovery once a day takes quite a long time because it has to fetch your data. I also want the eDiscovery results to be improved. At the same time, I would like to get a centralized page where I could see records management applied to my Office 365 tenant visualized instead of waiting for a custom script to run through the complete tenant."

"Some of the menu headings may not be easy to understand for some people."

More Microsoft Purview Data Governance cons

"Varonis requires more access permissions for its core functions compared to competitors, which can be a concern for companies about data safety."

"The solution's interface is a little complicated with regard to setting up filters and reports."

"One area for improvement is the calculation engine. When applying rules in Varonis, especially for large datasets (terabytes of data), the calculations can be slow and require time to process. Speeding up this process would be beneficial."

"Varonis requires more access permissions for its core functions compared to competitors, which can be a concern for companies about data safety."

"The GUI should be more functional. There should be a process for connecting through Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc."

"There is one thing that if I add something manually, I get so many alerts. That's the biggest bad thing."

"It is significantly complex."

"I'd like to see automatic updates for this solution. Currently, it's a manual process to update all the keywords"

More Varonis Platform cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is cheap. It is based on consumption. If somebody wants to start using it, the price is definitely cheaper than a tool like Collibra."

"Some people find the tier licensing system complicated, but it offers a lot of value for money if we use the features."

"Price-wise, I think it's very generous and accessible to not just enterprises but small to medium-sized companies as well. I think it's very fair in terms of how they break apart the storage and the actual computing, and that makes it very accessible. So, that is a very big plus for Purview."

"The pricing is reasonable because it's part of the 365 E3 or E5 license you buy."

"Currently, the licensing differs for the governance side compared to the risk and compliance side."

"I consider it cost-efficient because of the metrics it provides."

"The pricing is decent. It is neither too low nor too high. Given its capabilities, the pricing is justified."

"Microsoft Purview is a subscription-based service, so we need either an E3 or E5 license to use it."

More Microsoft Purview Data Governance pricing and cost advice

"The platform is expensive. I rate the pricing a nine out of ten."

"The pricing is good. It neither expensive nor cheap. It is average."

"It's expensive, kind of, really expensive."

"You could do a subscription, where you pay yearly, or you could purchase it outright. The licensing cost is based on the number of users on the system that you are monitoring."

"Varonis Platform wasn't certainly the cheapest solution."

"Licensing is on an annual basis. Maintenance and renewal fees are separate. Varonis Datalert is quite expensive."

"I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

14%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Insurance Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Azure Purview?

It is designed to seamlessly connect to various data sources, which is particularly beneficial for our customers who primarily use Microsoft technologies.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Azure Purview?

The auto-tagging feature should be available at a lower licensing level.

What needs improvement with Microsoft Azure Purview?

Auto-tagging should be available at lower levels of licensing. Right now, a high level of licensing is needed for auto-tagging, and this feature should be made available at a lower license level.

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...

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Product Reports

Microsoft Purview Data Governance

Download Microsoft Purview Data Governance product report

Microsoft Purview Data Governance report

Varonis Platform

Download Varonis Platform product report

Also Known As

Microsoft Purview, MS Azure Purview

No data available

Overview

The new Microsoft Purview portal offers an enhanced governance experience, serving as a unified platform for managing and governing data across various sources, including Azure, Microsoft 365, on-premises, and multicloud environments. Designed to streamline governance, compliance, risk, and security efforts, the new portal provides a user-friendly interface and unlocks advanced features like live view and preset scans. Existing users of Microsoft Purview can upgrade to this enhanced experience, gaining access to improved user interface, enhanced capabilities, and consolidated management of data assets. Additionally, the upgrade sets the stage for future developments, including account consolidation and fine-grained access control.

Microsoft

Varonis Platform specializes in network security and data monitoring with modules for alerting, data classification, and access management, benefiting environments like Microsoft 365.

Varonis is designed to secure data by auditing and tracking data movement. It leverages data alert and classification modules to identify and manage sensitive information. The platform enhances network security by alerting users to unexpected data modifications and deletions, crucial for effective data loss prevention. It supports unstructured data management, ensuring proper data access and permission controls. Known for its 24/7 support, Varonis offers comprehensive analytics and unified reporting, helping prevent data overexposure and facilitating compliance efforts.

What are the key features of Varonis Platform?

24/7 Support: Provides round-the-clock assistance.
Data Monitoring: Tracks data activities efficiently.
Unified Reporting: Consolidates data access reports.
Data Classification: Identifies sensitive data effectively.
Permission Management: Simplifies managing access rights.
Behavior Analytics: Detects abnormal behavior patterns.

What benefits should be highlighted in user reviews?

Enhanced Security: Improves data protection measures.
Compliance Support: Assists in meeting compliance standards.
Data Transparency: Offers clarity in data access activities.
Access Control: Ensures proper access to data.
Centralized Remediation: Eases remediation procedures.

Varonis Platform is widely utilized in industries needing stringent data confidentiality and management, such as finance and healthcare, for tracking data modifications and unauthorized access. Enterprises deploy it to manage permissions within large datasets, benefiting Microsoft 365 environments. While Varonis requires enhancements in cloud integration, the current deployment is often based on-premises, with attention to addressing the security needs and effective data handling for critical infrastructure.

Varonis

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Nottingham Building Society

Microsoft Purview Data Governance vs. Varonis Platform