The Best Data Loss Prevention Software in 2026
One of these is $12 a month on E3. Another is already inside a $60 E5 seat. Three will not print a number until a sales call.
Microsoft Purview DLP is the only product on this list with a public sticker. Microsoft 365 E5 is $60 per user per month paid yearly and includes Purview. On E3 ($39 per user per month) the Purview Suite add-on is $12 per user per month. E3 already covers DLP for Exchange, SharePoint and OneDrive; the add-on is the rest of the suite.
Nightfall prices per user per year on nightfall.ai/pricing, but the dollar amounts did not render as text on 1 September 2026. Vendr's median from 41 purchases is $25,000 a year (range $12,000-$73,200). Forcepoint, Symantec DLP and Cyberhaven are quote-only. Third-party 2026 ranges sit around $30-$80 per user per year for the legacy suites; Vendr's Cyberhaven median is $37,872 a year.
Data loss prevention is sold as one category and invoiced as three different products. Microsoft folds DLP into an E5 seat or a $12 Purview Suite add-on. Forcepoint and Symantec still sell modular suites for endpoint, network, email and cloud, and they will not show the number on a page.
Nightfall and Cyberhaven sell a SaaS seat for SaaS apps, browsers and GenAI paste, and they also wait for a call.
You are not choosing a classifier library. You are choosing which channels the tool can actually see, and whether the invoice is a Microsoft SKU you already own or a second vendor with a deployment project attached.
Top Picks
Based on features, real-world fit, and value for money.
| Tool | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Purview DLP | From microsoft.com/en-us/security, checked 1 September 2026. Microsoft 365 E5 $60.00/user/month paid yearly, includes… | Microsoft 365 shops that already pay for E5, or E3 tenants that will take the $12 Purview Suite add-on before calling a second vendor |
| Nightfall | Quote-only for the dollar amount. nightfall.ai/pricing (checked 1 September 2026) lists Nightfall Complete and Complete… | SaaS-heavy teams that need Slack, Google Drive, GitHub and GenAI paste covered, and do not have an on-prem file share to scan |
| Forcepoint DLP | Quote-only. forcepoint.com/forcepoint-dlp-pricing (checked 1 September 2026) asks you to talk to an expert for… | Hybrid estates that still have file shares, a network path and a need for one policy across email, web, endpoint and cloud |
| Symantec DLP | Quote-only. Broadcom's Symantec DLP page (checked 1 September 2026) offers Buy via Partner and Contact Us. No public… | Large enterprises that already run Symantec and need Exact Data Matching, Indexed Document Matching and a dedicated DLP team |
| Cyberhaven | Quote-only. cyberhaven.com/pricing returned 404 on 1 September 2026; the homepage is Talk to an expert. Vendr lists the… | Teams whose question is where a file came from (source code, a design folder, a departing laptop), not only which regex it matched |
Pricing read from each vendor's own published pricing page, checked Sep 2026. Every vendor here publishes a price.
Best for: Microsoft 365 shops that already pay for E5, or E3 tenants that will take the $12 Purview Suite add-on before calling a second vendor
PricingFrom microsoft.com/en-us/security, checked 1 September 2026. Microsoft 365 E5 $60.00/user/month paid yearly, includes Purview Suite (DLP, information protection, insider risk, eDiscovery). Microsoft 365 E3 $39.00/user/month paid yearly; E3 already includes Purview DLP for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and OneDrive. Microsoft Purview Suite add-on $12.00/user/month paid yearly, requires E3 or Office 365 E3 plus EMS E3. Prices may vary by Microsoft agreement. USD list, VAT may apply.
Best for: SaaS-heavy teams that need Slack, Google Drive, GitHub and GenAI paste covered, and do not have an on-prem file share to scan
PricingQuote-only for the dollar amount. nightfall.ai/pricing (checked 1 September 2026) lists Nightfall Complete and Complete + AI Agent Security as per-user-per-year packages; the $ figures did not render as text. FAQ: priced per user per year, final price depends on user count and data volume, 7-day proof of value, 2 endpoint devices per user, 150 GB data-at-rest scanning included with paid data-pack add-ons. Vendr 2026 (41 purchases): median $25,000/year, observed $12,000-$73,200. Vendr Business-tier list for 100-300 users typically $20,000-$60,000/year.
Best for: Hybrid estates that still have file shares, a network path and a need for one policy across email, web, endpoint and cloud
PricingQuote-only. forcepoint.com/forcepoint-dlp-pricing (checked 1 September 2026) asks you to talk to an expert for customized pricing on Forcepoint DLP and DLP SaaS. No public list price. Sold as cloud SaaS or on-prem, with separate endpoint, cloud/web, email and Risk-Adaptive Protection add-on modules. Third-party 2026 ranges: about $30-$60 per user per year (Underdefense); about $40,000-$60,000 a year for 1,000 seats (Ciphers Security). Treat both as cited estimates, not a quote.
Best for: Large enterprises that already run Symantec and need Exact Data Matching, Indexed Document Matching and a dedicated DLP team
PricingQuote-only. Broadcom's Symantec DLP page (checked 1 September 2026) offers Buy via Partner and Contact Us. No public list price. Sold as a Core (on-prem) suite and a Cloud suite (CloudSOC CASB plus DLP Cloud Detection). Ciphers Security's 2026 estimate: about $50,000-$80,000 a year for 1,000 seats. Underdefense lists it as enterprise-only, quote-based. Treat those as cited ranges, not a Broadcom price list.
Best for: Teams whose question is where a file came from (source code, a design folder, a departing laptop), not only which regex it matched
PricingQuote-only. cyberhaven.com/pricing returned 404 on 1 September 2026; the homepage is Talk to an expert. Vendr lists the DDR SKU (CYB-SW-DDR) as priced per endpoint per year. Vendr contract data: median $37,872/year, observed $30,000-$193,993. Nightfall's 2026 competitor note: AI capability is packaged separately from the endpoint license on Cyberhaven order forms. No official list price.
What it is
DLP software watches data at rest, in motion and in use, then blocks, encrypts, quarantines or coaches when someone tries to send it somewhere policy does not allow. The old channels are email, web upload, USB and a file share.
The channels that now decide a bake-off are Slack, a personal Drive account, a ChatGPT paste and an AI coding agent.
Classification is regex and templates on the legacy suites, machine-learning detectors on Nightfall, and data lineage on Cyberhaven (where the file came from, not only what string it contains). The engines differ. The invoice differs more.
Why it matters
Five hundred Purview Suite seats are $72,000 a year on top of E3. Five hundred Forcepoint seats at the commonly cited $50 per user per year are $25,000, if that quote includes the modules you need, which it often does not. Those two numbers are not the same product.
Purview is already in the Microsoft tenant. Forcepoint is a second console, a policy rewrite and, on a hybrid estate, months of rollout.
The other reason is coverage. Purview is strong inside Microsoft 365 and weaker the moment the file hits Slack, a personal browser session or a consumer AI tool.
That gap is what Nightfall, Cyberhaven and the Forcepoint cloud modules exist to close. Buying a second DLP without listing the channels you actually lose data through is how teams pay twice and still miss USB.
Key features to look for
The bottom line
If the estate is Microsoft 365, start with Purview DLP. E5 at $60 already includes it. E3 at $39 plus Purview Suite at $12 is the published path when you need more than Exchange and OneDrive DLP.
Do not buy a second product until you can name the channel Purview misses.
Nightfall is the SaaS and GenAI call when that channel is Slack, Drive or a paste into ChatGPT, and you can live with a per-user quote (Vendr median $25,000 a year).
Forcepoint and Symantec DLP are still the right tools for hybrid and on-prem, and they will not give you a number on a webpage; cite $30-$80 per user per year only as a 2026 third-party range.
Cyberhaven is the lineage product, quote-only, Vendr median $37,872 a year, and a poor substitute for a network DLP stack.
Frequently asked questions
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