Aqua Cloud Security Platform vs Orca Security comparison

Aqua Security and Orca Security are both solutions in the Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) category. Aqua Security is ranked #19, while Orca Security is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.4. Aqua Security holds a 3.1% mindshare in CNAP, compared to Orca Security’s 5.7% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Aqua Security users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Orca Security users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

Aqua Cloud Security Platform and Orca Security compete in the cloud security market. Users are happier with Orca Security's performance and ROI, while Aqua Cloud Security Platform is preferred for its comprehensive features and customer support.

Features: Aqua Cloud Security Platform is valued for its extensive coverage, integration capabilities, and robust customer support. Orca Security stands out with its automatic asset discovery, risk prioritization, and ease of use.

Room for Improvement: Aqua Cloud Security Platform users highlight the need for improved automation, better visualization tools, and faster updates. Orca Security users suggest enhancements in scalability, customization options, and additional reporting features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Aqua Cloud Security Platform is praised for its seamless deployment and responsive customer support. Orca Security is also easy to deploy but slightly lags in customer support availability.

Pricing and ROI: Aqua Cloud Security Platform offers competitive pricing with a strong focus on ROI. Orca Security, though higher in cost, is justified by users due to its superior features and returns on investment.

To learn more, read our detailed Aqua Cloud Security Platform vs. Orca Security Report (Updated: May 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Aqua Cloud Security Platform vs. Orca Security

May 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Qualys TotalCloud

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.8%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Aqua Cloud Security Platform is 3.1%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Orca Security is 5.7%, down from 7.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Orca Security	5.7%
Qualys TotalCloud	1.8%
Aqua Cloud Security Platform	3.1%
Other	89.4%

Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)

Featured Reviews

Robert Orłowski

IT Security Expert at Alior Bank S.A.

Unified risk scoring has improved our cloud visibility and simplifies remediation priorities

Qualys TotalCloud provides unified vulnerability and threat assessment across both IAS and SaaS. This solution provides a single prioritized view of risk, which helps reduce the work I would have to do. We are no longer based on CVSS; we are based on Qualys risk scoring, which is based on CVSS plus internal findings made by Qualys, and then assigns its own score. The TruRisk insight feature has found a small number of assets with high vulnerability scores, though I am cautious since some information is classified. Qualys TotalCloud has positively impacted our bank's performance, and we have definitely seen benefits after implementing this solution.

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Samir-Paul

Cloud Security Practitioner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Secures cloud workloads from build to runtime and has needed simpler setup and alert tuning

Regarding how Aqua Cloud Security Platform can be improved, the first area is the complex initial setup. Deployment and configuration can be complex, especially in large environments that require skilled resources. For Kubernetes environments, initial onboarding and policy setup takes time. Compared to Wiz onboarding, it is not very straightforward, as I have also worked with Wiz. The UI is powerful but not very simple for new users, as navigation and dashboard can be overwhelming. Alert noise and tuning are required because Aqua generates a large number of initial alerts that need tuning to reduce false positives. Additionally, pricing can be high depending on workload scale, especially for large Kubernetes and multi-cloud environments. For improvements to Aqua Cloud Security Platform, I think better integration with SOAR and XDR platforms, more AI-driven prioritization, and providing simpler out-of-the-box policies would be beneficial.

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reviewer2799597

Soc Analyst at a tech consulting company with 11-50 employees

Agentless cloud security has improved attack path visibility but still needs stronger real-time blocking

Yes, as per my experience, it has been very helpful. In our organization, we did not find any major or priority one kind of alerts or risks because we had a very good infrastructure structure and cybersecurity architecture built in our organization. Orca Security helped us find what vulnerabilities or gaps existed which we could improve within our architecture. It helped us in such a way that we used to close the open ports and only allowed internal IPs for necessity. For staging environments and for prod we had DOS protection. If network traffic showed that anybody was trying to flood our systems, we would only accept all and our client-related IPs or an approved list of vendor lists we would have. We would get to know where the gaps are and where the improvements we could make. Being an analyst class engineer, I could use my brain in those areas and it was very helpful to have Orca Security in my arsenal.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature is extensibility."

"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable features are its security capabilities that help identify and mitigate risk factors."

"The best feature would be the ability to create policies. It is easy to control and update policies as required."

"The best features in Qualys TotalCloud include the total asset management of the cloud environment. It is very easy to export the report and see the vulnerabilities related to the cloud specifically."

"Qualys TotalCloud provides unified vulnerability and threat assessment for IaaS and SaaS and a single prioritized view of risk, which helps reduce my workload by not having to combine multiple sources."

"I like the web API security and IoT scanning features the most. The user-friendly design of TotalCloud's interface enables customers to navigate it and use its full potential easily"

"By integrating TotalCloud, we have significantly reduced vulnerabilities in our deployment pipeline."

"Its dashboards are brilliant. It provides in-depth insights."

More Qualys TotalCloud pros

"From the ROI perspective, Aqua Cloud Security Platform provides value from day one in terms of identifying the posture of the environment, identifying vulnerabilities, and faster remediation."

"Aqua Security helps us to check the vulnerability of image assurance and check for malware."

"The most helpful feature of Aqua Security is Drift Prevention, which is a feature that allows images to be immutable. In addition, one of the main reasons we went with Aqua Security is because it provides strong protection when it comes to runtime security."

"The container security element of this product has been very valuable to our organization."

"The most valuable feature is the on-demand patching, as there are times when vulnerabilities don't have available fixes, and Aqua Security allows it to pass the vulnerability in real-time while the fix is being developed."

"We use Aqua Security for the container security features."

"From what I understand, the initial setup is simple."

More Aqua Cloud Security Platform pros

"Orca's SideScanning is the biggest feature. It's the 'wow' factor... With Orca's SideScanning, they just need permissions for your account and that makes it so simple."

"With Orca, I feel confident that I have full coverage of all of my resources."

"It's for protection. It's an agentless tool. We don't need to install anything at a customer's premises. We can just scan the entire assets in the cloud."

"Orca Security saves resources because it provides the actual output on the screen with the package path."

"Orca Security has updated its interface, making it more user-friendly. I find it particularly useful as it allows me to easily navigate the dashboard and prioritize actions based on severity and criticality."

"Orca provides X-ray vision into everything within the cloud properties, whereas normally, this would require multiple tools."

"Another valuable feature with Orca, something that's not talked about enough, is its ability to rank your gaps and your tasks... You can get visibility with agents and there are a lot of ways to do that. But the ranking and the context across the entire environment, that is what is unique about Orca."

"Before starting with Orca, I was blind; think about someone who was blind and now they can see, it's a new world."

More Orca Security pros

Cons

"The support is not up to the mark and seems to be overburdened."

"Qualys' customer service provides quality answers, but the response time is long, even though it is within the SLA."

"From a downside perspective, the UI is not user-friendly and feels dated compared to other tools like Prisma Cloud."

"Areas that need improvement in every solution include the remediation part. The remediation steps should be simple enough for everyone to understand."

"In TotalCloud, I would suggest improvements in policy checks to cater to various inventory types like VPCs, subnets, S3 buckets, or IAMs. There is a lack of data segregation according to criticality or inventory."

"TotalCloud could improve its scanning of niche devices like Wi-Fi dongles and USB modems because they are often untested. It covers everything else, like laptops, mobile devices, and Bluetooth IoT devices. They can improve on the small IoT devices because hackers and testers use these."

"The onboarding process is a bit difficult. In the initial phase, it is very difficult to understand the features, what the dashboard contains, and what criteria they are using."

"The system is not 100% secure yet, so proactive threat hunting could be enhanced to be more proactive than the current system."

More Qualys TotalCloud cons

"It's a bit hard to use the user roles. That was a bit confusing."

"We would like to see an improvement in the overview visibility that this solution offers."

"Aqua Security could provide more open documentation so that their learning resources can be more easily accessed and searched through online. Right now, a lot of the documentation is closed and not available to the public."

"There's room for improvement, particularly in management capabilities as it may not be comprehensive enough for all customers, and it has been lacking in the realm of cloud security posture management."

"The user interface could be improved, especially in terms of organization and clarity."

"Sometimes I got stressed with the UI."

"We would like to see an improvement in the overview visibility that this solution offers."

"I would like Aqua Security to look into is the development of a web security portal."

More Aqua Cloud Security Platform cons

"The solution could improve by making the dashboards more elaborative and more descriptive."

"The timeout settings could be made more customizable, as sometimes if I leave the office early, it's still running unless manually turned off."

"I believe they need more time developing this solution, which means they need to be more comprehensive and extended in their approach."

"I would be happy if they offered more automatic remediation options."

"The documentation for Orca Security could be improved."

"I experienced some problems with custom tags in Orca Security where I tried to separate the environment for business units so I could ask the tech lead responsible for that vulnerability to fix them."

"I have concerns about OCI support. When I work with Orca Security, the support for OCI is limited, so I cannot effectively work with the OCI environment."

"A few things could potentially be improved, particularly regarding false positives and the UI."

More Orca Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Although Qualys TotalCloud is relatively expensive due to its unique automation features, its cost-effectiveness is rated an eight out of ten, with ten being the most costly."

"As a middle management member, I do not have direct pricing knowledge, but based on the knowledge from our meetings, its pricing is competitive."

"While Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive and may soon be considered overpriced."

"Qualys TotalCloud offers competitive pricing given its comprehensive suite of features, including integration, assessment, remediation, and detection capabilities, all within a single platform."

"Qualys TotalCloud is cost-efficient and was selected for its value compared to other products."

"The pricing is comparable. It is built into our other product, so I cannot piecemeal it. It is a part of our subscription."

"Qualys TotalCloud is expensive."

"TotalCloud's price is about right where I would expect it to be."

More Qualys TotalCloud pricing and cost advice

"The pricing of this solution could be improved."

"It comes at a reasonable cost."

"Dealing with licensing costs isn't my responsibility, but I know that the licenses don't depend on the number of users, but instead are priced according to your workload."

"They were reasonable with their pricing. They were pretty down-to-earth about the way they pitched their product and the way they tried to close the deal. They were one of the rare companies that approached the whole valuation in a way that made sense for our company, for our needs, and for their own requirements as well... They will accommodate your needs if they are able to understand them and they're stated clearly."

"Aqua Security is not cheap, and it's not very expensive, such as Splunk, they are in the middle."

"Overall, the pricing is reasonable and the discounts have been acceptable."

"We have a total of 25 licenses for this solution. The solution is on a pay-and-you-use model."

"The most expensive solution is Palo Alto. They claim to be very robust. The next most expensive is Wiz, followed by Orca and all the rest."

"It is the cost of the visibility that you get. When you really sit down and think about what do you need to do to secure an environment with a low impact on the business, and you take a look out into the world, I think this tool is well justified around cost."

"The pricing depends on how many assets you have running in your cloud and how many environments you have. If you have a dev environment, test environment, and a production environment then it's really important that you have coverage for all of them."

"I think their pricing model is aligned with market demand. Of course, Orca could probably better align their pricing model with the needs of smaller businesses as well as some larger-scale enterprises with millions of assets. But in all fairness, I think the Orca sales team has been accommodating and ensured that we're happy with the pricing."

"Orca Security is cheaper compared to other solutions in the same space."

"The price is a bit expensive for smaller organizations."

More Orca Security pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

21%

Government

10%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	28

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	11

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys TotalCloud?

The price is very expensive, actually.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?

Areas that need improvement in every solution include the remediation part. The remediation steps should be simple en...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?

Our use case involves the assets that we have under cloud, the assets exposed to the internet, and the internal appli...

See all answers

What do you think of Aqua Security vs Prisma Cloud?

Aqua Security is easy to use and very manageable. Its main focus is on Kubernetes and Docker. Security is a very valu...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Orca Security?

In two implementation projects that I participated in, the customers reported difficulty with the options for generat...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Orca Security?

When discussing the main use case for Orca Security, I am referring to implementations for my clients. I participate ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Orca Security?

Orca Security typically delivers three major positive changes, in my opinion: a faster understanding of risks in clou...

See all answers

Comparisons

Wiz vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 13% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 9% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 6% of the time

Nucleus Security vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 5% of the time

Wiz Code vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 2% of the time

More Qualys TotalCloud Competitors

Sysdig Secure vs Aqua Cloud Security Platform

Compared 9% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Aqua Cloud Security Platform

Compared 7% of the time

Wiz vs Aqua Cloud Security Platform

Compared 5% of the time

Snyk vs Aqua Cloud Security Platform

Compared 4% of the time

TrendAI Deep Security vs Aqua Cloud Security Platform

Compared 4% of the time

More Aqua Cloud Security Platform Competitors

Wiz vs Orca Security

Compared 11% of the time

Upwind vs Orca Security

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Orca Security

Compared 4% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Orca Security

Compared 4% of the time

Darktrace vs Orca Security

Compared 3% of the time

More Orca Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Qualys TotalCloud

May 2026

Download Qualys TotalCloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Aqua Cloud Security Platform

May 2026

Download Aqua Cloud Security Platform product report

Buyer's Guide

Orca Security

May 2026

Download Orca Security product report

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan

Aqua Security Platform, CloudSploit, Argon

No data available

Overview

Qualys TotalCloud enhances security posture across cloud environments with continuous monitoring, vulnerability management, and risk visualization, ensuring efficient threat assessment and automated remediation for improved cyber risk reduction.

Qualys TotalCloud offers a robust suite of security tools essential for organizations managing multi-cloud infrastructures. By integrating cloud accounts and automating workflows, it supports AWS, Azure, and GCP, offering comprehensive vulnerability management and zero-day detection. The platform's user-friendly design, combined with its extensive risk management and unified threat assessment capabilities, enables organizations to prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities effectively. TruRisk Insights provides clear insights on cyber risks, while the automation options streamline patch management and scanning processes. API integration across IaaS and SaaS environments further enhances resource allocation efficiency and saves time, addressing misconfigurations across cloud environments.

What are the most important features of Qualys TotalCloud?

Accurate Vulnerability Reports: Delivers precise and actionable insights for risk mitigation.
Zero-Day Detection: Identifies and addresses zero-day vulnerabilities proactively.
Unified Threat Assessment: Offers comprehensive evaluation of threats across the environment.
Extensive Risk Management: Manages risks effectively with advanced insights and prioritization.
Continuous Monitoring: Provides non-stop surveillance for vulnerabilities and threats.
Cloud-Native Automation: Streamlines processes and reduces manual efforts using automation.
FlexScan for Internet-Facing VMs: Scans external VMs efficiently to detect vulnerabilities.
Dashboard Risk Visualization: Clear visualization helps prioritize vulnerabilities.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Improved Security Posture: Enhances threat detection and response across clouds.
Time Savings: Automation reduces time spent on manual vulnerability management.
Resource Efficiency: Better allocation of resources through streamlined workflows.
Enhanced Risk Prioritization: Focus on critical vulnerabilities for effective mitigation.
Integrated Cloud Accounts: Facilitates seamless cloud management and security.

Qualys TotalCloud is deployed in sectors needing rigorous vulnerability management, such as finance and healthcare. Companies utilize it to secure multi-cloud environments like AWS, Azure, and GCP, focus on compliance, and integrate security into CI/CD pipelines to detect and remedy threats pre-deployment.

Qualys

Aqua Cloud Security Platform supports container environments with strong features such as Docker and Kubernetes integration, efficient vulnerability management, and seamless runtime protection, making it a key choice for cloud and container security.

Aqua Cloud Security Platform focuses on comprehensive container and cloud security enhancements. It offers robust tools for Docker and Kubernetes, efficient vulnerability management, and on-demand patching. The platform is praised for its Runtime Protection, Drift Prevention, and robust documentation, promoting seamless integration with existing platforms. Image scanning, Digital Threat Analysis, and sandboxing services accentuate security measures while integration with Docker Hub ensures ease of use. Scalable runtime policies, image assurance, and dynamic threat analysis simplify security tasks. Challenges remain in developing web security portals and greater standard server integration. Enhancing reporting, simplifying training, and improving log forwarding are key goals. Resource consumption, clearer roles, automation, and code analysis are vital future considerations.

What are the most important features of Aqua Cloud Security Platform?

Docker and Kubernetes Support: Ensures container security and streamlined operations.
Vulnerability Management: Efficient scanning and on-demand patching.
Strong Runtime Protection: Implements Drift Prevention and scalable policies.
Seamless Integration: Works with existing platforms for optimal performance.
Image Assurance and Threat Analysis: Provides thorough security checks and dynamic analysis.

What benefits or ROI can users expect?

Simplified Container Security: Streamlines container and cloud tasks for enhanced protection.
Enhanced Image Assessment: Detects configurations and risks efficiently.
Greater Data Protection: Ensures application visibility and security in deployments.
Flexible Licensing Models: Offers potential for reconsideration and optimization.

Aqua Cloud Security Platform is leveraged in industries focusing on container security, vulnerability scanning, and securing Kubernetes configurations within CI/CD pipelines. It is employed for image assessments and network security, demonstrating its efficacy in cloud applications and workload protection. Efficiently identifying misconfigurations and risks in cloud environments, it provides scanning for public clouds and docker environments, emphasizing data protection and application visibility tailored to customer-specific deployments.

Aqua Security

Orca Security provides comprehensive security management with agentless visibility and SideScanning technology, ensuring efficient threat detection without performance impact.

Orca Security offers agentless visibility across multi-cloud environments, streamlining security management with features like SideScanning technology and centralized security tools. It focuses on automation, vulnerability management, and compliance checks, enhancing a company's security posture with real-time alerts and integrated threat detection. Its intuitive interface prioritizes critical issues, making it suitable for managing DevSecOps processes efficiently.

What are the key features of Orca Security?

Agentless Visibility: Gain comprehensive insights into cloud environments without deploying agents.
SideScanning Technology: Detect threats and vulnerabilities efficiently across platforms.
Comprehensive Security Management: Centralizes security across AWS, GCP, and Azure with minimal setup effort.
CIEM Feature: Enhances security posture with integrated identity and access management.
Real-Time Alerts: Provide immediate awareness of security threats and vulnerabilities.
Automation and Compliance: Streamline processes with automated vulnerability management and compliance checks.

What benefits and ROI should companies look for in Orca Security?

Centralized Management: Simplifies security operations by consolidating tools across cloud environments.
Improved Security Posture: Reduces alerts and manages threats effectively with detailed insights.
Efficient Threat Detection: Enhances response capabilities with integrated threat detection and real-time alerts.
Easy Deployment and Setup: Facilitates quick implementation without complex configurations.
Enhanced Integration: Supports seamless integration with existing security frameworks and processes.

Companies in industries such as finance, healthcare, and technology leverage Orca Security for cloud security posture management, ensuring compliance with standards and securing applications and databases. Its agentless approach provides comprehensive visibility across AWS, GCP, and Azure, enhancing risk assessment and vulnerability management without impacting asset performance.

Orca Security

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

HPE Salesforce Telstra Ellie Mae Cathay Pacific HomeAway

BeyondTrust, Postman, Digital Turbine, Solarisbank, Lemonade, C6 Bank, Docebo, Vercel, and Vivino

Buyer's Guide

Aqua Cloud Security Platform vs. Orca Security

May 2026

Free Report: Aqua Cloud Security Platform vs. Orca Security

Find out what your peers are saying about Aqua Cloud Security Platform vs. Orca Security and other solutions. Updated: May 2026.

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