PII Crawler vs Fortra Data Security
PII Crawler
PII Crawler is a desktop and command-line scanner from Eligian Labs LLC (Washington, USA) that finds unencrypted personal data in files, network shares and databases on the customer's own hardware. According to the vendor site it detects 30+ PII types (SSN, DOB, names, addresses, phone, email, credit card, IBAN, passport and others) using pattern matching plus named-entity recognition, reads text in images inside PDFs via OCR, and samples Postgres, MySQL and SQL Server tables in memory. The vendor's security page documents that no file contents or matches are ever transmitted and that all four optional endpoints (licence registration, update check, error reporting, UI analytics) can be disabled with an --air-gapped flag or offline licence token. It ships for macOS (Apple Silicon), Windows x64 and Linux x64, exports JSON and CSV reports aimed at GDPR Article 30 and CCPA records, and is sold as a one-time $497 licence with a 7-day full trial.
Pros
- One-time $497 licence covering unlimited users, machines and scans, rather than a subscription (vendor pricing page)
- Security page enumerates every outbound endpoint and how to disable all of them; file contents and matches are never transmitted (piicrawler.com/security)
- Broad format coverage including OCR of images in PDFs, Office and OLE files, archives, mail files, and in-memory database sampling (vendor docs)
- CLI with JSON/CSV output and exit codes for CI/CD pipelines (vendor FAQ)
- Product and company have a verifiable history back to 2023: WHOIS, Wayback captures, eligian.com and the Washington LLC filing
Pricing: $497 one-time (unlimited users, machines and scans; no renewals). 7-day fully functional trial, no credit card or account. 14-day refund.
Fortra Data Security
Fortra is a data security company that delivers AI-amplified solutions to help organizations use and protect data with confidence. Fortra Data Security brings together Data Security Posture Management (DSPM), Data Classification, and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to provide visibility, context, and protection across the data lifecycle. Organizations can discover sensitive data, understand its risk and context, apply meaningful classification, and enforce policies across endpoints, networks, cloud, SaaS, email, and web. Fortra's integrated approach helps security teams move beyond simply finding data risk to taking action: reducing exposure, simplifying security operations, and supporting compliance across complex and hybrid environments.
Pros
- Deep endpoint visibility into data creation, modification, and movement
- Managed DLP service option reduces operational burden
- Data-centric approach tracks sensitive data wherever it goes
- Strong forensic capabilities for incident investigation
- Flexible deployment as self-managed or fully managed service
Pricing: Custom enterprise pricing / Managed DLP service available