DLP is acquired through containing Microsoft licenses and, for selected extended data-security scenarios, pay-as-you-go billing. Microsoft 365 E3 supplies core Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive DLP. Microsoft Purview Suite adds advanced Purview capabilities to an eligible E3 base, while Microsoft 365 E5 contains the Purview Suite capabilities within a broader productivity and security bundle. Microsoft requires a license for each user benefiting from user-based protection. Browser, network, non-Microsoft, and at-rest scenarios can add Azure consumption charges and deployment prerequisites.
Microsoft 365 E3 core DLP: Obtain core DLP for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business through Microsoft 365 E3. E3 is a broader suite and does not provide the full Endpoint, Teams, Copilot, risk-adaptive, browser, network, or extended incident scope by itself.
Microsoft Purview Suite: Add advanced user-based Data Loss Prevention and the rest of the Purview Suite to an eligible Microsoft 365 E3 base or Office 365 E3 plus Enterprise Mobility + Security E3 base.
Microsoft 365 E5: Obtain all Microsoft Purview Suite capabilities through a broader Microsoft 365 productivity, identity, endpoint, threat-protection, analytics, and compliance plan. With-Teams and no-Teams states are separate bundle offers, not DLP plans.
Microsoft Purview pay-as-you-go data security: Link the Microsoft 365 tenant to an Azure subscription for supported at-rest or in-transit Information Protection and DLP policies. At-rest protection is metered by protected assets and in-transit protection by policy-scoped requests; the current public table did not expose numeric U.S. rates.
DLP Core and DLP Cloud are the two current solution sets. Core covers endpoint, network, storage, image recognition, and Information Centric Analytics. Cloud combines DLP cloud services with CloudSOC CASB. A buyer needing both on-premises and cloud coverage should scope both packages. DSPM and CloudSOC Advanced Threat Protection are additional purchases, while partner services are separate engagements.
DLP Cloud Service for Email standalone: The DLP Cloud Service for Email component is also available as a standalone route for Microsoft Exchange Online, Gmail for Business, and Microsoft Exchange Server. No public route-specific price is stated.
Symantec Email Security.cloud bundle: The DLP Cloud Service for Email component can be bundled with the separate Symantec Email Security.cloud service for email threat protection. This is not another DLP Core or DLP Cloud plan.
Microsoft 365 organizations standardizing DLP policy across email, files, collaboration, endpoints, Fabric, and eligible Copilot workflows
Enterprises requiring central policy administration, audit telemetry, alerts, Defender XDR correlation, and Microsoft Sentinel integration
Programs that need exact data match, document fingerprinting, trainable classifiers, OCR-supported detection, sensitivity labels, and custom sensitive information types
Large and distributed enterprises protecting regulated data and intellectual property
Security teams needing consistent DLP policies across customer-managed and cloud channels
Buyers requiring one standalone DLP SKU and one deterministic public price for every channel
Non-Microsoft-first environments unwilling to deploy Microsoft identity, Edge, supported SASE, scanner, or cloud-app integrations
Teams that cannot stage policies in simulation, tune classifiers and exceptions, train users, and operate alerts
Buyers requiring transparent self-service prices or a permanent free edition
Small teams seeking a lightweight single-channel DLP tool with minimal administration
Buyers assuming DLP Core and DLP Cloud are one package
Source check
99/100
96/100
Key features
Central DLP policy store spanning supported Microsoft 365 workloads, endpoints, cloud apps, on-premises repositories, Fabric, Copilot, browser, and network locations
Sensitive information types, regular expressions, validation, proximity, exact data match, document fingerprinting, trainable classifiers, labels, and OCR-supported text
Policy templates, custom conditions, administrative units, workload and identity scope, simulation, and policy tuning
Endpoint controls for clipboard, print, USB, network share, restricted apps, browser upload, and other supported egress activities
Unified DLP policies, incident response, reporting, and administration through DLP Enforce Platform
Endpoint discovery, monitoring, user coaching, business justification, blocking, encryption, and quarantine responses
Network traffic monitoring plus email and web prevention
Data-at-rest discovery and remediation across endpoints, file shares, servers, databases, Exchange, and SharePoint
Exact data matching, indexed document matching, described content matching, vector machine learning, OCR, and form recognition
Cons
Licensing is feature- and workload-specific
each benefiting user needs the appropriate entitlement, and equivalent education, government, frontline, Office 365, and standalone workload rights differ.
The USD 12 public amount belongs to Microsoft Purview Suite, not DLP alone, and the eligible base license adds cost.
No public numeric price, priced unit, payment timing, commitment, renewal, minimum quantity, or implementation amount is published.
DLP Core and DLP Cloud are separate packages, so broad hybrid coverage requires a multi-package quote.
DSPM and CloudSOC Advanced Threat Protection are explicitly additional purchases for DLP Cloud.
Category buying score
81
84Higher category-fit score
Rank
#2
#1
Context
Security & Privacy / Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Software
Security & Privacy / Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Software
Channel and data coverage
85The product spans supported Microsoft 365 workloads, endpoints, cloud apps, on-premises repositories, Fabric, Copilot, browser, and network locations, which gives it broad channel reach for Microsoft-centered environments.
89Verified channels include endpoint, network traffic, storage, email, web, sanctioned and unsanctioned SaaS and IaaS, shadow IT, roaming users, and generative-AI applications when both solution sets are purchased.
Detection and classification accuracy
88Employs document fingerprinting, exact data match, and trainable classifiers alongside traditional regular expressions to identify sensitive items.
91The matching and detection stack includes exact data matching, indexed document matching, content matching, vector machine learning, OCR, and form recognition, which supports nuanced identification of structured and unstructured sensitive content, while the facts do not provide test results or precision metrics, so the score reflects strong method coverage rather than measured performance.
Enforcement controls
86Supports diverse endpoint actions including clipboard, print, USB, and network share blocks, but specific egress paths require SASE or secure browsers.
88The platform includes endpoint blocking, encryption, quarantine, network prevent actions, and email and web transmission control, and it also supports file remediation through the network discover and protect path, which gives buyers a broad set of control actions with package-specific placement.
Incident operations
79Aggregates security events into Activity Explorer and integrates with Microsoft Sentinel, though advanced hunting and security copilot require separate licensing.
85Centralized incident administration, reporting, and investigation are supported, and the APIs can feed incidents and updates into surrounding systems, but the facts do not establish a fully defined operational playbook or SLA tooling, so the score reflects operational depth without overstating process maturity.
Governance and integrations
82Central DLP policy administration integrates with Information Protection labels and classifiers, Microsoft 365 audit telemetry, Defender XDR, and Microsoft Sentinel for organizations already standardized on those Microsoft governance and security surfaces.
81The product exposes REST, FlexResponse, content extraction, incident reporting, and update APIs and integrates with Microsoft Purview Information Protection and ServiceNow, which supports governance connectivity, while the facts do not show a large public integration catalog or synchronization guarantees, so the score stays moderate.
User and risk context
75Integrates with separate Insider Risk Management products to apply Adaptive Protection policies, which depends on purchasing the necessary license tiers.
86Information Centric Analytics is included with DLP Core and supplies user and entity behavior analytics, risk scoring, and investigation workflows for user-centric prioritization.
Support and total cost
60Lacks a standalone license, requiring organizations to purchase broad suites like M365 E5 or add-ons alongside possible Azure pay-as-you-go charges.
54Incurs high pricing complexity and hidden costs due to unpublicized custom partner quoting, split packages, separate add-ons, and a strict 24-hour expiration shutoff.
These are the stored dimension rationales returned with each score. They explain the buyer conditions behind the gap without speculating about hidden model reasoning.
User and risk context
11 pts
Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention · 75/100
Integrates with separate Insider Risk Management products to apply Adaptive Protection policies, which depends on purchasing the necessary license tiers.
Symantec Data Loss Prevention · 86/100
Information Centric Analytics is included with DLP Core and supplies user and entity behavior analytics, risk scoring, and investigation workflows for user-centric prioritization.
Incident operations
6 pts
Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention · 79/100
Aggregates security events into Activity Explorer and integrates with Microsoft Sentinel, though advanced hunting and security copilot require separate licensing.
Symantec Data Loss Prevention · 85/100
Centralized incident administration, reporting, and investigation are supported, and the APIs can feed incidents and updates into surrounding systems, but the facts do not establish a fully defined operational playbook or SLA tooling, so the score reflects operational depth without overstating process maturity.
Support and total cost
6 pts
Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention · 60/100
Lacks a standalone license, requiring organizations to purchase broad suites like M365 E5 or add-ons alongside possible Azure pay-as-you-go charges.
Symantec Data Loss Prevention · 54/100
Incurs high pricing complexity and hidden costs due to unpublicized custom partner quoting, split packages, separate add-ons, and a strict 24-hour expiration shutoff.
Research basis
Research basis
This page uses stored product facts, official evidence, and category scoring rationales. It is not an account-based hands-on test, and third-party user ratings are not folded into the category buying score.
Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention
Fact confidence: 99% · Fact checked: 2026-09-23
Symantec Data Loss Prevention
Fact confidence: 96% · Fact checked: 2026-08-12
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