At a Glance
| Criterion | DataXray | Varonis |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment model | On-premises, air-gapped, hybrid or cloud. Your data never moves. | Cloud SaaS only after December 31, 2026. The self-hosted product is retired. |
| What it reads | Every file in full, at petabyte scale. It finds PII, PHI, IP and CUI wherever they live. | Built around metadata and access activity. |
| Access and permissions | Maps who can access every file from the users and groups in your identity provider, and flags excess access for your team to act on. | Maps permissions and access activity across your data stores. |
| Changing a classification rule | Applies to files already read, with no full rescan. | A full rescan. |
| Remediation | Redaction and reclassification inside the file. Policy is enforced through Purview, DLP and the IAM systems you already run. | Alerts, plus remediation of the access and permissions around the file. |
| Threat detection | File-level context flows to your SIEM and endpoint tools. The Alerting module catches suspicious file activity. | Behavioral monitoring and alerting on data access. |
| Governance ecosystem | Native integrations with Collibra, Atlan and Microsoft Purview. It feeds any catalog, DLP or IAM system you already own. | Security tools such as Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, CrowdStrike and QRadar. |
| AI readiness | Tags each file with its content and entitlements, so the AI tools you run answer for the right user. | Monitors AI tools such as Microsoft 365 Copilot for risky access. |
| Time to value | Deploys in hours on your own servers, with no replatforming. | Migrating off self-hosted is a multi-quarter infrastructure project. |
What Changes When You Switch, and What Doesn’t
- Your files stay put. DataXray runs in your data center, in the cloud or fully air-gapped. Files are read in place, and content never leaves your environment.
- You see what’s inside each file. Varonis is built around who touches a file. DataXray opens the file and classifies what it holds, at 98.7% accuracy on document-level PII and PCI in text-based English files. Then it labels, retains or redacts the file, depending on your policy. If you change a rule, it applies to files already read, with no full rescan.
- Your security tools keep their feed. File-level attributes flow to your SIEM, DLP and Microsoft Purview. For file activity, the Alerting module catches suspicious activity with rules your team writes.
Keep Your Policy and Your Environment
It installs inside your environment in hours. The dictionaries and patterns you built in Varonis come across as DataXray rules, so your policy carries over. DataXray then reads your estate before your Varonis license runs out, so there’s no gap in coverage.
DataXray has done this before. It runs for financial institutions, defense agencies and critical infrastructure operators across the US, Europe and Asia, including networks where it has taken over from Varonis.
Questions Teams Ask
Is DataXray an alternative to Varonis?
Yes, if your files have to stay on your own servers. DataXray reads every file, acts on what it finds and feeds your SIEM, DLP and governance tools. The Alerting module covers file activity.
What happens on January 1 if we’re still on Varonis self-hosted?
The software won’t switch off overnight, but it stops moving forward. End of life usually means no more patches, no new features and no one to call when something breaks. New file types, new regulations and new threats go unaddressed. Your next security review will flag a retired product guarding your most sensitive files, and the gap grows every month it keeps running.
Where can DataXray run?
Anywhere your files need to stay. That can be your own data center, the cloud, a mix of both, or a network with no outside connection at all. It’s the same software in each place. For government networks, DataXray runs on STIG-compliant, FIPS-enabled systems.
Can we bring over the rules we built in Varonis?
Yes. Your dictionaries and patterns come across as DataXray rules, and you can add your own categories on top.
What replaces Varonis activity monitoring?
DataXray tells you what’s in each file. The Alerting module watches activity on those files against rules your team sets, with no learning period, and keeps an append-only audit record. Both feed your SIEM.