COMPARISON
Symmetry vs.
Microsoft Purview
Find Out Why Organizations of All Sizes Trust Symmetry to Protect Their Data Without it Ever Leaving Their Custody and Control - Especially the Most Innovative and Security-conscious Fortune 50 Organizations, and Federal Agencies.
Why Symmetry
Comprehensive Coverage Beyond the Microsoft Ecosystem
Unlike Purview’s Microsoft-centric approach, Symmetry delivers enterprise-wide data security across ALL platforms—AWS, GCP, Oracle, Snowflake, Linux file systems, and legacy on-premise systems. Get consistent classification, governance, and protection everywhere your data resides.
Faster Deployment, Immediate Value
While Purview requires months of complex manual tweaking to reduce false positives and re-indexing, Symmetry delivers actionable data insights within days.
Enterprise-Grade AI-Powered Classification at Scale
Symmetry’s purpose-built classification engine handles massive data volumes across heterogeneous environments with consistent accuracy. Unlike Purview’s dependency on Microsoft-specific metadata and labels, Symmetry understands data in its native context—whether it’s in a Snowflake table, an S3 bucket, or an on-premise Oracle database—delivering reliable classification without platform limitations.
Symmetry Differentiators
Symmetry Systems, a purpose built DSPM, delivers deep, data-centric protection & actionable insights across all cloud and on-premise data stores.
Microsoft Purview
Microsoft Purview is a unified data governance solution that helps organizations manage, protect, and gain visibility into their data.
Deployment Model for DSPM
★ ★ ★
Symmetry’s in-your-cloud deployment model means your data and metadata never leaves your custody or control.
Microsoft Purview
★ ★★
Microsoft Purview is a Microsoft technology so that you don’t rely on third-party services or port your data outside of Microsoft.
Coverage outside Microsoft ecosystem
★ ★ ★
Symmetry offers not only extensive support extensive support for Azure, but also AWS, GCP, OCI and on-premise file shares, data lakes, and data stores, but works for all your on-premise or hybrid cloud data stores too.
Microsoft Purview
★★
Primarily optimized for the Microsoft ecosystem, but currently only covers Azure-managed data stores.
Data Classification Coverage and Precision
★ ★ ★
High precision with the ability to create custom AI-powered classifiers and complex policies for enterprise needs. Continuously learns and can be tuned to biz context, false positives.
Microsoft Purview
★
Strong built-in classifiers but more limited in customization and precision. Lacks ability to train customer identifiers on data and edits require hierarchy to be rebuilt. Performed badly in benchmarking.
Time to full implementation and value
★ ★ ★
Symmetry Systems typically delivers actionable data insights within days through automated deployment and pre-built policies.
Microsoft Purview
★
Microsoft Purview often requires months to years for full implementation due to complex manual configuration and extensive policy setup requirements.
Cost
★ ★ ★
Symmetry has a predictable pricing strategy tailor made for data security – based on instances, not consumption.
Microsoft Purview
★
Microsoft Purview is charged on a consumption basis and a lot of features are not being charged currently in preview – big cost implications on the horizon.
Find Out What Sets Symmetry Apart from the Pack
Symmetry stands apart by uniquely combining data visibility and protection with identity context to provide unmatched control over sensitive information across complex cloud, SaaS, and on-premises environments. Find out for yourself how its data-to-identity security platform bridges traditional gaps between data security, identity access, and AI risk management — delivering measurable enterprise outcomes
