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Relativity vs Varonis Data Security Platform

Relativity logo

Relativity

Legal

Ediscovery and legal data platform for large matters

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Varonis Data Security Platform logo

Varonis Data Security Platform

Cybersecurity

Data security platform that maps effective permissions, content classification and access activity across file shares, Microsoft 365 and SaaS.

From
$100/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Relativity quote-only and expensive, typically billed on data volume, so costs escalate with matter size; Varonis Data Security Platform deployment is a project rather than an installation: collectors, service accounts, the initial crawl of a large file estate and behavioural baselining typically run for weeks to months before the first genuinely useful report, so value arrives well after the invoice does.
  • They diverge on capability: Relativity covers Large-scale processing, Varonis Data Security Platform covers Effective permissions modelling.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Relativity and Varonis Data Security Platform actually diverge.

Attributes where Relativity and Varonis Data Security Platform differ
AttributeRelativityVaronis Data Security Platform
Starting priceOn request$100/year
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWeb, Cloud, Self-hostedWeb, Desktop
CategoryLegalCybersecurity
FoundedUnknown2005

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Relativity

  • Large-scale processing
  • Review workflow
  • Analytics and active learning
  • Application ecosystem

Only in Varonis Data Security Platform

  • Effective permissions modelling
  • Content classification
  • Access activity auditing
  • Behavioural alerting
  • Blast radius view
  • Automated remediation
  • Stale data identification
  • Ransomware detection

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Relativity

  • Large litigation with very high document volumesnot Varonis Data Security Platform
  • Corporate investigations requiring defensible, auditable reviewnot Varonis Data Security Platform
  • Firms whose review process is already built around the platformnot Varonis Data Security Platform

Varonis Data Security Platform

  • Answering an auditor or a board asking exactly which sensitive files are reachable by every employee and who has opened themnot Relativity
  • Cleaning up Microsoft 365 sprawl where Teams, SharePoint sites and shared links accumulated faster than governancenot Relativity
  • Investigating an insider incident where you need a defensible record of what a departing employee accessed and whennot Relativity
  • Reducing the blast radius of a compromised account before an incident by removing global access groups and broken inheritancenot Relativity

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Relativity

  • Quote-only and expensive, typically billed on data volume, so costs escalate with matter size
  • Complex enough that certified specialists are a job title, which is a real staffing cost
  • Considerable overkill for small matters, where lighter self-service tools are far cheaper

Varonis Data Security Platform

  • Deployment is a project rather than an installation: collectors, service accounts, the initial crawl of a large file estate and behavioural baselining typically run for weeks to months before the first genuinely useful report, so value arrives well after the invoice does.
  • The collection model requires granting the platform broad read access across the data you are trying to protect, which needs its own approval and creates a high-value target, and some change boards spend longer approving that access than approving the purchase.
  • Findings are produced far faster than remediation capacity: an initial scan routinely surfaces hundreds of thousands of overexposed objects, and fixing them means altering permissions owned by business units, so without an executive mandate it becomes a dashboard nobody acts on.
  • Licensing is driven by identity counts and connected data sources, so a directory full of stale accounts and service principals inflates the bill and every additional platform you connect adds cost, which quietly pushes organisations to leave their least-governed systems uncovered.
  • Coverage is deepest in the Microsoft estate and thinner elsewhere: connectors exist for other SaaS and database platforms but they do not all support the same classification, alerting and automated remediation, so a heterogeneous estate receives uneven protection at a uniform price.

Pricing, plan by plan

Relativity

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Relativity review.

Varonis Data Security Platform

$100/year
  • Varonis Essentials$100/year
    • Data classification
    • Access visibility
    • Permission management
  • Varonis Professional$175/year
    • All Essentials features
    • Threat detection
    • User behavior analytics
  • Varonis Enterprise$300/year
    • All Professional features
    • Advanced analytics
    • Incident response

Which should you pick?

Choose Relativity if

  • You need large-scale processing.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted.
  • You also want review workflow.
Relativity review

Choose Varonis Data Security Platform if

  • You need effective permissions modelling.
  • You work on Web, Desktop.
  • You also want content classification.
Varonis Data Security Platform review

Questions people ask

Is Relativity or Varonis Data Security Platform better?
Neither clearly leads. Relativity starts at On request and Varonis Data Security Platform at $100/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Relativity or Varonis Data Security Platform?
Relativity starts at On request and Varonis Data Security Platform at $100/year.
Does Relativity or Varonis Data Security Platform run on more platforms?
Relativity runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted. Varonis Data Security Platform runs on Web, Desktop.
What is Relativity best used for?
Relativity is most often used for large litigation with very high document volumes, corporate investigations requiring defensible, auditable review, firms whose review process is already built around the platform. Of those, large litigation with very high document volumes and corporate investigations requiring defensible, auditable review are not what Varonis Data Security Platform is typically brought in for.
What can Relativity do that Varonis Data Security Platform cannot?
Relativity covers Large-scale processing, Review workflow, Analytics and active learning, Application ecosystem. Varonis Data Security Platform covers Effective permissions modelling, Content classification, Access activity auditing, Behavioural alerting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Relativity: What does Relativity cost?

It does not publish rates. Ediscovery is generally billed on data volume and users, quoted per matter or organisation.

Varonis Data Security Platform: Is this data loss prevention?

No, and it is a common confusion. DLP watches data in motion and tries to stop it leaving. Varonis works on data at rest: where it is, who can reach it, and who touched it. They address different halves of the same problem and organisations frequently run both.

Relativity: Is Relativity only for law firms?

No. Corporate legal departments and government agencies use it for investigations as well as litigation.

Varonis Data Security Platform: On-premises or SaaS?

It is now sold principally as SaaS, with edge collectors deployed on your network to reach on-premises file shares and directories. Older on-premises deployments with Windows collectors and SQL Server still exist in the field and are being migrated.

Relativity: Do I need trained staff?

In practice yes. Relativity certification is a recognised specialism, and that staffing cost is part of the total.

Varonis Data Security Platform: Does it need agents on every server?

Generally no. It collects through APIs and network protocols with service accounts, with collectors deployed near the data rather than agents on every host. That is one reason deployment is less invasive than the scale of the data suggests.

Varonis Data Security Platform: How long until it is useful?

Expect weeks to a few months depending on the size of the file estate and how quickly the service accounts and access are approved. The classification and behavioural baselining both need time before the alerts mean anything.

Varonis Data Security Platform: Can it fix the problems it finds automatically?

Yes, it can remove global access groups, repair broken inheritance and quarantine exposed files under policy. Most organisations run this in simulation first, because automatically changing permissions on live business data goes wrong loudly.

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