Home›Comparisons›Confidencial vs BigID
BigID
vs
Confidencial
Discovery is not protection

Two tools to find and protect.
Or one that does both.

If you have BigID, Confidencial closes the enforcement gap it can't. If you don't, Confidencial replaces it — and protects the data it finds.

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Two ways to work with Confidencial

Add protection to your stack, or consolidate onto one platform.

Either way works. The question is how much integration overhead you want to carry.

Option A — ComplementKeep BigID

Add what BigID can't do.

BigID classifies your sensitive data. Confidencial encrypts it, controls where it goes, and protects it through AI pipelines. The two connect via policy rules with no manual handoff.

BigID classifications trigger Confidencial encryption automatically
No changes to your BigID configuration or workflows
Every flagged file gets persistent, field-level encryption
Protection follows the data outside your perimeter
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Option B — ConsolidateReplace BigID

Discovery and protection on one platform.

Confidencial Discover finds and classifies sensitive data. Shield applies persistent protection. AI Guard governs AI pipelines. One platform, one audit log, one vendor contract.

Discover: sensitive data classification across cloud and on-prem
Shield: persistent field-level encryption on classified data at rest
AI Guard: data-layer controls for AI pipelines, RAG, and LLMs
Exchange: secure document sharing, signing, and revocation
Single cryptographic audit log across every product
When discovery and protection live on the same platform, the classification-to-encryption handoff is automatic — no integration to maintain, no gap between finding a risk and closing it.
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If you're staying on BigID

Discovery stops where the breach starts.

Classification tells you where the risk is. It doesn't close it. Once a file is flagged, it's still readable, until Confidencial acts on it.

BigID
Discovers. Classifies. Flags.
Scans cloud + on-prem
Classifies PII, PHI, regulated data
Flags risk, maps policy gaps
The gap
Data is still readable here.
No built-in encryption
No control once file leaves
No AI pipeline protection
+ Confidencial closes it
Encrypts. Controls. Protects.
Auto encryption on flagged files
Protection travels beyond perimeter
AI fields stay encrypted in-pipeline
BigIDWhat it does
Scans unstructured data across cloud and on-prem
Classifies PII, PHI, and regulated data by type
Flags risk and maps policy gaps
No built-in encryption or remediation
No control once a file leaves your environment
No protection for data entering AI systems
+ ConfidencialWhat gets added
Automatic encryption triggered by BigID classifications
Field, word, paragraph, and pixel-level selective encryption
Protection travels with the file — outside the perimeter
Revoke access after a file is shared — no retrieval required
Sensitive fields stay encrypted through RAG pipelines and LLMs
Cryptographic audit log — every access, share, and policy event
Full capability comparison

BigID covers 3 of 10.
Confidencial covers all 10.

CapabilityBigID aloneConfidencial alone
Data Discovery & Classification
File-level detection across cloud and on-prem
Discover: deep field-level analysis — not just file or page
Privacy Compliance
Compliance mapping and reporting
Mapping plus audit-ready encryption evidence (HIPAA, PCI-DSS, GDPR)
Risk Identification & Tagging
Flags risk by data type, location, and policy
Identifies risk and acts on it — classification triggers encryption automatically
Remediation & Protection
No built-in encryption or protection
Shield: automated selective encryption and policy enforcement at rest
Granular Protection
Not supported
Field, word, paragraph, and pixel-level — format-preserving
Persistent Protection
Visibility only — data readable once accessed
Encryption travels with the data — inside and outside your perimeter
Secure Sharing Controls
No downstream control
Exchange: watermarking, access expiry, revocation after send
AI Data Governance
Blocks full documents — breaks AI usability
AI Guard: fields stay encrypted in pipelines — context preserved
Data-Centric Zero Trust
Policy mapping, no enforcement
Automated enforcement at the object level — not the network
Data-Blind Architecture
Requires metadata ingestion and content indexing
Privacy-first: Confidencial cannot access or infer the content it protects
BigID covers this
Confidencial covers this
Not covered
Blue rows = capabilities BigID doesn't cover alone
The blast radius

When protection travels with the data, the breach stops mattering.

Classification tells you what's at risk. Confidencial makes that risk irrelevant, because even if a file gets out, the sensitive content inside it is unreadable.

An insider downloads a flagged file and walks out with itDoesn't matter.
A sensitive document is emailed to the wrong recipientDoesn't matter.
Regulated data enters an AI pipeline without controlsDoesn't matter.
A third-party vendor's environment is compromisedDoesn't matter.
A cloud misconfiguration exposes an S3 bucket of classified filesDoesn't matter.
Common questions

What BigID customers ask us.

01

Can Confidencial replace BigID entirely?

Yes. Confidencial Discover handles sensitive data classification across cloud and on-prem environments. Shield applies persistent protection to what it finds. AI Guard governs data entering AI pipelines. Exchange controls how sensitive documents are shared externally. If your primary use for BigID is classification and compliance mapping, Confidencial covers that, and enforces on it, in a single platform.
02

If we keep BigID, how does the integration work?

Confidencial connects to BigID's classification output. Policy rules map BigID labels to Confidencial encryption profiles, when BigID flags a file as sensitive, Confidencial encrypts it automatically. No manual step, no workflow change, no BigID reconfiguration required.
03

What's the difference between discovering and protecting?

Discovery tells you which files contain sensitive data and where they live. Protection makes that data inaccessible to unauthorized parties with encryption. BigID stops at discovery. Confidencial goes further: it encrypts the sensitive fields within flagged files and keeps that encryption active wherever the file travels, including outside your environment and through AI systems.
04

How does selective encryption work without breaking document usability?

Confidencial encrypts only the sensitive portions of a document, such as specific fields, paragraphs, or values, and not the entire file. Authorized users see the protected content normally. Unauthorized users see encrypted placeholders. The document stays in its original format and remains usable for everything non-sensitive, including AI processing of non-sensitive sections.
05

What compliance standards does Confidencial support?

HIPAA, PCI-DSS, GDPR, ISO/IEC 27001, and related frameworks. Encryption is audit-logged with a tamper-evident cryptographic record — giving compliance teams verifiable evidence that sensitive data was protected, not just classified. That's the difference between a compliance report and compliance proof.
Ready to close the gap

Complement BigID, or replace it.
Either way, your data gets protected.

See how Confidencial handles the enforcement half of your data security stack, or the whole thing.

Book a demoLearn about selective encryption