Cisco Secure Workload vs CloudPassage comparison

Cisco and CloudPassage are both solutions in the Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) category. Cisco is ranked #18 with an average rating of 9.5, while CloudPassage is ranked #27. Cisco holds a 2.1% mindshare in CWPP, compared to CloudPassage’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of CloudPassage users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

CloudPassage and Cisco Secure Workload are two prominent security solutions in the enterprise security category. Cisco Secure Workload generally has an upper hand with advanced features and higher satisfaction scores, while CloudPassage is preferred for competitive pricing and support.

Features: CloudPassage offers comprehensive security monitoring, easy integration, and competitive pricing. Cisco Secure Workload stands out with advanced application segmentation, granular policy enforcement, and detailed control features, leading in feature satisfaction.

Room for Improvement: CloudPassage needs enhancement in threat detection accuracy, reporting capabilities, and analytics refinement. Cisco Secure Workload requires improvements in configuration complexity, user interface simplification, and setup procedures.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: CloudPassage is recognized for quick deployment and responsive customer service. Cisco Secure Workload provides satisfactory support but faces challenges with its deployment complexity.

Pricing and ROI: CloudPassage offers a cost-effective option with positive ROI, making it suitable for budget-conscious users. Cisco Secure Workload's higher price is seen as justified by its capabilities, offering good ROI for those prioritizing comprehensive features.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Workload vs. CloudPassage Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Workload vs. CloudPassage

June 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 July 2026, in the Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.6%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Workload is 2.1%, down from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CloudPassage is 1.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Qualys TotalCloud	1.6%
Cisco Secure Workload	2.1%
CloudPassage	1.2%
Other	95.1%

Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)

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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Raj Metkar

Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA

Discover internal application dependencies and create a dependency map

We actively seek improvements in integrating the Infoblox DDI platform with Cisco Secure Workload. This integration allows Cisco Secure Workload to learn about our networks and network tags, providing valuable insights into vulnerabilities related to the operating system and various applications installed on our servers. Recently, Cisco announced a new product called HyperShield, an AI-based autonomous micro-segmentation solution. While Cisco has not stated that HyperShield will replace Cisco Secure Workload, it represents a natural evolution for the company. HyperShield features dynamic policy discovery and enforcement; however, once policies are enforced, they do not change until a discovery occurs, requiring a re-enforcement process. This new platform operates autonomously, minimizing the need for user or security engineer intervention. I would have expected Cisco to incorporate more automatic discovery and enforcement features within the existing Cisco Secure Workload product. Instead of enhancing the current product, they have introduced a new solution. Cisco plans to honor existing Tetration licenses, allowing users to transition to HyperShield without additional costs, reflecting the investment enterprises have already made. From Cisco’s perspective, this represents a natural progression in their product line. While the product name changes, it seems more of a rebranding effort. The enhancements are greater autonomy, improved discovery, and automatic enforcement, which are now being introduced in HyperShield. Cisco Secure Workload offers automatic policy enforcement but cannot adjust policies dynamically as the application needs to change. Having used the platform for the past five years, the recent announcement has been reassuring. Cisco has confirmed that our investment in the platform will not go to waste. They will honor our existing licenses, providing a natural migration path to the new solution without any disruption

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it_user854058

Lead Information Security Engineer

It helped us be more aware of what our security posture is, but not all of the features work in my environment

I would say CloudPassage is very useful for certain things. If you just want a few modules then focus on what you need and negotiate the price based on the individual module, rather than looking at the whole thing, because I didn't find all the modules very useful. Also, use Splunk in combination with it if you want reporting. I would give CloudPassage at least a seven out of 10. I rate it on the high-end because of the customer support - I've never seen any support that is comparable to that, it's very good, excellent. The support staff actually care, they actually follow up; it's very nice. And CloudPassage really listens to its customers. The product itself is very nice if you're only looking to check off your compliance requirements, but if you're looking for more of dashboarding and things like that, CloudPassage is improving but it's not quite there.

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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

"If someone were to ask me to review Qualys TotalCloud, I would summarize it as an end-to-end solution for cloud security with visibility and governance-grade controls without needing to manage multiple disconnected tools."

"Qualys TotalCloud has significantly improved our organization by automating our reporting processes, reducing the time spent on report creation from two hours to less than fifteen to twenty minutes."

"TotalCloud provides the easiest and the best approach for cloud infrastructure management."

"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"

"I would definitely recommend Qualys TotalCloud to other users."

"Generally, Qualys is very good at detections, whether on cloud or on-prem, and the agent allows deployment on both infrastructures, providing continuous monitoring of your assets, which is a key selling point for us."

"The most valuable feature of Qualys TotalCloud is the visibility it provides."

"Qualys TotalCloud is an excellent platform, and the beauty of the platform is that we can get all the vulnerabilities, see all the reports in a single dashboard, view them segregated, and easily learn about critical, high, and medium findings with appropriately provided remediation steps."

More Qualys TotalCloud pros

"The only use case I can see that makes sense is micro-segmentation. I think there are other use cases for it. The main purpose of the product is to do micro-segmentation by collecting IP. That could be done by installing an agent, and then you have all the communication coming in and out. You could also use some flow sensors installed in the network that receive a copy of the traffic and then report that back to the system."

"Instead of proving that all the access control lists are in place and all the EPGs are correct, we can just point the auditor to a dashboard and point out that there aren't any escaped conversations. It saves an enormous, enormous amount of time."

"The product offers great visibility into the network so we can enforce security measures."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is security."

"Scalability is its most valuable feature."

"A complete and powerful micro-segmentation solution."

"The most valuable feature is micro-segmentation, which is the most important with respect to visibility."

"Generally speaking, Cisco support is considered one of the best in the networking products and stack."

More Cisco Secure Workload pros

"Key features are the Software Vulnerability Assessment and the CSM, which is the configuration check."

"Our scores let us know when to trigger workflow to go out in a patch, it has reduced the amount of time we had to take to manually verify software and check our updates, and it helped us be more aware of what our security posture is."

"Policies are very easy to manage on a day-to-day basis."

"CloudPassage allowed us to implement changes that affected hundred of servers within our environments in seconds."

Cons

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

"The support process is inefficient due to the excessive number of replies required when submitting tickets."

"I sometimes have difficulty detecting or uninstalling certain versions of applications, which I have to do manually."

"Qualys TotalCloud needs to improve its accuracy for non-Windows operating systems."

"Some major banks and insurance companies require an on-premises solution for comprehensive vulnerability management, which TotalCloud does not offer."

"Qualys TotalCloud's increasing complexity, due to the development and deployment of multiple solutions, is making the GUI difficult to navigate."

"Although TotalCloud is a helpful tool, some of its advanced features are still under development."

"To improve the user experience, reporting could be simplified for better comprehension by end users and project managers, facilitating issue resolution."

More Qualys TotalCloud cons

"They should scale down the hardware a bit. The initial hardware investment is two million dollars so it's a price point problem. The issue with the price comes from the fact that you have to have it with enormous storage and enormous computes."

"I would have expected Cisco to incorporate more automatic discovery and enforcement features within the existing Cisco Secure Workload product."

"Secure Workload is a little complicated to use, and the dashboard isn't intuitive, so it takes a while to learn how to use it."

"There was a controversy when Cisco reduced the amount of data they kept, and the solution became quite cost-intensive, which made its adoption challenging….Although they have modified it now, I preferred the previous version, and I wish all the functionality were back under the same product."

"The problem is that we can only deploy the particular solution where we have the hardware with Cisco."

"Cisco Tetration needs more flags and system alerts that we should get with network capture."

"There is some overlap between Cisco Tetration and AppDynamics and there are few DC tools, it would be great to have a single pane of glass, rather than have to jump between different tools."

"It is not so easy to use and configure. It needs a bunch of further resources to work, which is mainly the biggest downside of it. The deployment is huge."

More Cisco Secure Workload cons

"Of all the advertised functions, I only find two things that really work in my environment, even though I wanted to use all of them. They're not flexible enough to be used."

"Anything outside of the software vulnerability management and the CSM, things like the GhostPort, need some improvement. The dashboard is in beta. It looks really good, I wish it would come out of beta."

"The reports and graphs are unintuitive."

"In the CSM module the policies are really hard to work with it. It is not very flexible at all. I would suggest that they change that. Right now, the scan is based on the group that the server is in. What happens if the server is in multiple groups?"

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"It isn't cheap, but it's reasonable. It helps us to manage things with very few resources."

"The pricing for TotalCloud is attractive and competitive in the market. Given the features, especially the dashboard, I have no concerns regarding pricing."

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

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

"Qualys TotalCloud offers good pricing that is affordable and competitive with the market. Our partnership also provides us with additional benefits."

"Qualys TotalCloud is expensive, but it offers a premier solution with no headaches."

More Qualys TotalCloud pricing and cost advice

"Regarding price, Cisco Secure Workload can be expensive if you don't have a budget. If you're not doing micro-segmentation, every extra security measure or enforcement you're putting on top of your existing environment will be an extra cost. It's not a cheap solution at all. But from my point of view, if you need to do micro-segmentation, this is one of the best tools I've seen for it. I can't compare that to Microsoft's solution because I haven't looked into it. I've looked into VMware and Cisco. Those are the only two that I know of. I didn't know that Microsoft could do micro-segmentation at all. Maybe they can, but I haven't heard anything about it."

"The price is outrageous. If you have money to throw at the product, then do it."

"The price is based on how many computers you're going to install it on."

"Pricing depends on the scope of the application and the features. Larger installations save more."

"It is not cheap and pricing may limit scalability."

"The cost for the hardware is around 300k."

"The pricing is a bit higher than we anticipated."

"CloudPassage is a little bit on the expensive side. So my suggestion is that the company lower its price point a wee bit or sell modules, separate them in modules, because I only find two things that are useful to me, yet I pay for four or five modules. It didn't seem like it was a fair deal."

"We also evaluated VMware NSX, but the pricing and features available in a CloudPassage implementation were decisive in deciding to go with CP."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

17%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

14%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	29

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	8

No data available

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...

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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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Workload?

CloudStrike offers antivirus capabilities and firewall features for servers and VDI but lacks automatic policy discov...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Workload?

We actively seek improvements in integrating the Infoblox DDI platform with Cisco Secure Workload. This integration a...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Workload?

When we onboarded Cisco Secure Workload, the usual use case was to discover internal application dependencies and cre...

See all answers

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Comparisons

Wiz vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 8% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 6% of the time

JupiterOne vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 5% of the time

Nucleus Security vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 5% of the time

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Illumio Segmentation vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 14% of the time

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 12% of the time

VMware NSX vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 8% of the time

TrendAI Deep Security vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 5% of the time

Cisco Hypershield vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 20% of the time

Check Point CloudGuard CNAPP vs CloudPassage

Compared 16% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs CloudPassage

Compared 11% of the time

Cavirin vs CloudPassage

Compared 11% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security vs CloudPassage

Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Qualys TotalCloud

June 2026

Download Qualys TotalCloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Workload

June 2026

Download Cisco Secure Workload product report

Buyer's Guide

Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)

June 2026

Download CloudPassage product report

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan

Cisco Tetration

CloudPassage Halo

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

Cisco Secure Workload offers advanced auditing, micro-segmentation, and network visibility, automating policy presentation for improved security. It enhances application dependency mapping and provides comprehensive telemetry with strategic policy enforcement.

Cisco Secure Workload specializes in automating micro-segmentation, data center management, and traffic analysis. Its capabilities facilitate application dependency mapping and enhance internal micro-segmentation, providing invaluable network visibility. Users find its automation in policy presentation and strategic enforcement beneficial, along with granular control and scalability, despite needing improvements in scalability and integration capabilities. Enhanced notification features, troubleshooting options, and an efficient interface are desired for seamless deployment, along with stronger multi-tenancy, redundancy, and monitoring functions. Broader platform support and integrated cloud connectivity are desired for unified management across tools.

What are the most important features?

Auditing: Provides in-depth network analysis and security auditing capabilities.
Micro-Segmentation: Enhances network security by automating segmentation at a granular level.
Application Dependency Mapping: Visualizes connections and interactions between applications.
Network Visibility: Delivers comprehensive insight into network activities and dynamics.
Policy Discovery: Streamlines policy creation through automation and reduces manual intervention.
Comprehensive Telemetry: Offers complete coverage and insights for better security assessment.

What benefits and ROI should be evaluated?

Enhanced Security Measures: Offers robust features for network security improvement.
Automated Processes: Reduces manual efforts through automation, increasing efficiency.
Scalability: Adapts to growing network demands with flexible scalability options.
Granular Control: Allows detailed control over network policies and enforcement.

Entities in finance, gas, and oil sectors utilize Cisco Secure Workload for networking site management and compliance maintenance. It integrates into extensive Cisco infrastructure, aiding routers, switches, and endpoints, thus supporting auditors in network synchronization and auditing needs.

Cisco

CloudPassage offers cloud security solutions ensuring data protection and compliance. Its comprehensive platform provides security monitoring, vulnerability management, and incident response for dynamic cloud environments.

CloudPassage specializes in securing cloud-based infrastructures, facilitating visibility and control across complex environments. Its key functionalities include real-time vulnerability management and automated security monitoring, helping maintain compliance with industry standards. The adaptable solution is designed to seamlessly integrate with existing systems, providing users with effective security measures needed to safeguard cloud resources. CloudPassage delivers significant protection against evolving threats, empowering organizations to confidently deploy applications in the cloud.

What are the most valuable features of CloudPassage?

Automated Security Monitoring: Offers continuous oversight of cloud environments to identify potential threats.
Vulnerability Management: Detects vulnerabilities to help prioritize remediation efforts efficiently.
Compliance Management: Ensures adherence to regulatory standards and automates compliance checks.
Incident Response: Provides real-time alerts and comprehensive incident management tools.

What benefits and ROI should users consider?

Improved Security Posture: Helps enhance overall security, reducing risk exposure.
Cost Efficiency: Minimizes potential security breaches, reducing associated financial impacts.
Time Savings: Streamlines security processes, allowing teams to focus on critical tasks.
Scalability: Supports growing workloads, adapting to changing requirements effectively.

CloudPassage is implemented across industries such as finance, healthcare, and retail where securing sensitive data is crucial. Its versatile capabilities support compliance with sector-specific regulations, ensuring secure cloud infrastructure deployment regardless of industry-specific challenges.

CloudPassage

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

ADP, University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC)

Citrix

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Workload vs. CloudPassage

June 2026

Free Report: Cisco Secure Workload vs. CloudPassage

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Workload vs. CloudPassage and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.

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