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Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Varonis Platform comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 15, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.3
Qualys TotalCloud enhances efficiency, reduces costs by 30-40%, and increases ROI by 10-20%, significantly saving time and resources.
Sentiment score
3.7
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks boosts efficiency and ROI with XSOAR integrations, though ROI quantification can be challenging.
Sentiment score
5.5
Varonis Platform offers significant ROI by reducing manual efforts, enhancing compliance, and improving security operations for organizations.
It has saved about 90% of our time.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
TotalCloud has generated overall savings of 30 to 40 percent across various departments.
Security Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
CallStream helps us integrate and automate tasks.
Senior Security Consultant at CyberNxt Solutions LLP
The solution provides a good ROI, especially for regular customers, offering discounts for three-year licenses.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I don't think the tool in itself is very capable of doing that, but we have XSOAR and other tool integrations done on the platform, so this can be accomplished.
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
Varonis Platform has definitely reduced the risk of data breaches at many client sites and has definitely lowered manual effort; manual effort has decreased by seventy percent due to automating data classification and permission reviews.
Global Leadership Council at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
I definitely say that we have had time savings by using the DataVantage module and also time savings using the AD module when we are dealing with different incidents.
cybersecurity architect at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
I have seen a return on investment mainly through time savings and improved security for sensitive data, making it a valuable investment.
Technical Consultant at Satcom Infotech Pvt Ltd
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Qualys TotalCloud's customer support is praised for expertise and responsiveness but occasionally faces response delays and inefficiencies.
Sentiment score
6.6
Cortex Cloud's customer service is praised for prompt, knowledgeable support and effective troubleshooting, earning high user ratings.
Sentiment score
7.0
Varonis Platform offers highly rated customer service with responsive technical support, though some users report occasional delays.
They are helpful, respond to my queries, and can answer any question.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys's tech support is highly responsive, providing multiple ways to interact with them.
Service Manager, Security Operations at CDA IT SOLUTIONS
Qualys' customer service provides quality answers, but the response time is long, even though it is within the SLA.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
If I make it a high priority, they have resolved one query within 20 minutes.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
If local Indian support cannot resolve an issue, global tech support aligns promptly within the agreed SLA.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Fast response times and knowledgeable staff who understand the intricacies of the system.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The customer support is above par; it is what I think other organizations should look at to be comparable to.
cybersecurity architect at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
They respond quickly to anything we need, which is not common among platforms.
Database and crm dynamics engineer at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
I would rate the customer support for Varonis Platform at nine out of ten.
Technical Consultant at Satcom Infotech Pvt Ltd
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Qualys TotalCloud excels in scalability but may need skilled management, adaptable for varying environments and large-scale deployments.
Sentiment score
4.5
Palo Alto's Cortex Cloud is scalable and efficient, with easy onboarding, but can be costly for higher licenses.
Sentiment score
6.2
Varonis Platform offers scalable SaaS deployment, efficiently managing data growth for large enterprises, supporting hybrid setups and extensive data.
We started our organization about nine months back. We started with about 30 users, and we now have more than 100 users.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Our organization currently uses it to manage over 1200 web applications.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It is absolutely scalable, and I would rate its scalability as nine out of ten.
retired at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
For stability, scalability, mean time to response, and potential incident investigation improvements, I would give it a nine or probably even a ten.
Business Development Team Lead at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Onboarding endpoints and assets on Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is very easy.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
The platform is able to auto-shut certain resources that are not in use through the agentless scan feature.
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
Varonis Platform is highly rated for scalability.
Technical Consultant at Satcom Infotech Pvt Ltd
Varonis Platform is highly scalable and designed to support large enterprise environments, which could have millions of files, thousands of users, and multiple data types.
Global Leadership Council at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Varonis's scalability as eight to eight point five out of ten.
Cyber Security Senior Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Qualys TotalCloud is praised for stability, boasting 99.9% uptime with minimal downtime and quickly resolved minor bugs.
Sentiment score
7.8
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is praised for its stability, reliability, and seamless security performance without latency or issues.
Sentiment score
7.2
Varonis Platform is stable and reliable for enterprises, despite occasional performance issues with new plugins and large data sets.
Overall, the support provided has been excellent.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It is a stable solution, which is why we chose it.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Continuous monitoring is crucial to ensure system stability and avoid vulnerabilities or threats.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
My impression of Cloud Runtime Security in stopping attacks in real-time is that I have never had an issue where it has let something through, causing an outage or concerns to the customer.
Business Development Team Lead at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
However, now in Cortex Cloud, I have not seen any lag or buffer.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
My evaluation of how stable and reliable Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is very positive.
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
It is a mature product with a long track record, widely adopted, and very reliable.
Global Leadership Council at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Users recommend enhancing compliance, UI, integration, and reporting, improving security features, and optimizing pricing and navigation for Qualys TotalCloud.
Cortex Cloud's interface and costs challenge users, with needs for improved integration, efficiency, and identity management features.
Varonis Platform needs interface improvements, simplified licensing, faster large dataset handling, cloud integration, better updates, troubleshooting, and pricing.
Ideally, the scanner should automatically detect and scan all subdomains, even if not explicitly defined, ensuring comprehensive vulnerability assessment.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
Ideally, updates should be more immediate, enabling quicker implementation of solutions.
Project Lead at Persistent Systems
Our goal is to integrate all these functions into Qualys, creating a single dashboard for comprehensive security monitoring and management.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Regarding the generative AI security tool, I know for sure it's Agentic.
Cybersecurity Analyst at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The solution is quite premium in cost compared to alternatives such as Wiz.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
There is not a clear MSP model compared to other vendors such as CrowdStrike.
Business Development Manager For Palo Alto Networks at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Varonis requires more access permissions for its core functions compared to competitors, which can be a concern for companies about data safety.
Cyber Security Senior Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
A phishing email module would be great; I look forward to when that comes out.
cybersecurity architect at a healthcare company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Enhancing tighter integration with third-party solutions, such as SIEM or SOAR platforms, for smoother incident response workflows.
Technical Consultant at Satcom Infotech Pvt Ltd
 

Setup Cost

Qualys TotalCloud is costly but offers value and integration, ideal for enterprises despite higher pricing.
Varonis Platform pricing is high, ideal for large enterprises, with separate module licenses and options for purchase or subscription.
Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive.
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Pricing is managed by our finance team; however, Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys TotalCloud is expensive, but it offers a premier solution with no headaches.
Vice President at Inspira Enterprise
The solution is costly, with high-end capabilities suitable for enterprises.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Today, it is smart and easy to calculate the licenses.
Cloud Security Manager at T-Systems International GmbH
Varonis is known for its high licensing cost, which can include the cost of multiple servers required for its operations, called collectors.
Cyber Security Senior Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Varonis Platform has been good, with competitive costs.
Technical Consultant at Satcom Infotech Pvt Ltd
 

Valuable Features

Qualys TotalCloud enhances risk management with misconfiguration detection, TruRisk integration, continuous monitoring, automation, and seamless integration for IaaS and SaaS.
Cortex Cloud enhances security management with AI-driven threat detection, automation, and seamless CI/CD integration, reducing response times significantly.
Varonis Platform enhances data security and compliance with data classification, threat detection, and seamless integration with major platforms.
This view of risk helps reduce the work we would have to do to combine multiple sources to prioritize risk.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
It will help cybersecurity professionals monitor the cloud and find vulnerabilities.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
We are enjoying the new feature, FlexScan, which is valuable for Internet-facing VMs.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
AI/ML aids in anticipating remediation for misconfigurations and vulnerabilities, and automatic remediation can be easily configured.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks has reduced the time spent on incident investigations, and if I had to estimate, I would say it has cut our investigation time in half.
Sr. Compliance Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
This simplifies the management of shared responsibility among different people and entities, allowing you to use one single tool instead of having dozens of different tools to orchestrate and integrate.
Business Development Manager For Palo Alto Networks at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Varonis is excellent for scanning unstructured data sources like file shares, OneDrive, SharePoint, Azure Blob Storage, and S3s.
Cyber Security Senior Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Varonis Platform is agent-based and AI-driven for detection and response, identifying data based on its content and context.
Technical Consultant at Satcom Infotech Pvt Ltd
Varonis Platform helped us quickly identify stale data, permissioned folders, and unusual access patterns, significantly improving our data governance and security posture.
Sr Investigation Specialist at Ifood
 

Categories and Ranking

Qualys TotalCloud
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (11th), Container Security (12th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (8th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (8th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (2nd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (7th)
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto N...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (16th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (10th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (10th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (8th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (10th), Software Supply Chain Security (6th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (5th), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (5th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (4th)
Varonis Platform
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (16th), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) (9th), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (6th), Data Governance (5th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (1st), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (3rd), Compliance Management (8th), Ransomware Protection (7th), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (6th), Insider Risk Management (1st), AI Security (8th)
 

Featured Reviews

RO
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.
SJ
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
Cloud security has improved as AI-driven runtime protection detects threats and reduces incidents
In my opinion, Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks could be improved or enhanced in various ways. I don't have an idea about that yet because for that you actually need to use two or three different other tools to make a basic comparison. If you ask me how good the tool is, I would fairly rate it quite high. The tool is very popular, and customers can already see that it is one of the cloud leaders in the security space. The platform had a very good feature which provides documentation links about how to use a specific feature on the UI. It takes you to the proper documentation page where it suggests what to do and tells you about the steps that need to be done for a resource deployment. My thoughts about improving the product which I believe could greatly aid vendors is that it used to be a very user-friendly tool, but now they have incorporated everything under one umbrella. It has XDR, XSOAR, and Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks. Before, we used to have separate modules and separate environments for each of these capabilities or features. Right now, it is a little complex and users would take their own time to know the tool better. This is something that would have been way better, but I would say there would be different opinions on this. Talking about user-friendliness, it has decreased now.
TarunKumar11 - PeerSpot reviewer
Global Leadership Council at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Data governance has strengthened and automation now reduces risk and manual compliance work
Varonis Platform offers key features including data discovery, data classification, data analysis, governance, user and entity behavior analysis, also known as UEBA, which helps in ransomware detection, insider threat detection, and compliance reporting. It does a lot of automation from a remediation standpoint, as well as investigation and forensics. The number one feature that makes the biggest difference for my clients is visibility into unstructured data; that is the most difficult for organizations to achieve. They do not have a good understanding of where sensitive data resides, who has access to this data, whether this access is appropriate, and how data is being used. Varonis Platform provides visibility, governance, threat detection, and automated remediation around data. Varonis Platform is a great data discovery platform that provides visibility into sensitive data estimates and how it is being used. Clients have been able to reduce excessive permissions, strengthen their compliance posture, detect insider threats, and ransomware activity, which would otherwise be difficult and manual. Varonis Platform is deployed in my clients' organizations in a combination of all types. Many clients use Varonis Platform in a largely SaaS-based model since it is a data security platform consumed in this way, and many organizations still operate hybrid environments. As far as Varonis Platform is in a position to get the data source and identify systems, it can discover and classify more secure data. Deployment in most of our clients is cloud-based, connecting to Microsoft 365, AWS, or other SaaS applications such as Salesforce. In other environments, it is a hybrid deployment with SaaS and on-premises, including file servers, NAS devices, and AD servers.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) solutions are best for your needs.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Construction Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Healthcare Company
7%
Insurance Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise15
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
To be totally honest, I do not have any best features because I have had a bad experience using this tool, especially...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
My main use case for Qualys TotalCloud is vulnerability management and exposure management. I use this tool to evalua...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
I am not fully aware of the pricing and licensing of Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks. The pricing is also based on...
What needs improvement with Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
In my opinion, Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks could be improved or enhanced in various ways. I don't have an idea...
What is your primary use case for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
The usual use cases for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks that I have been working with mostly are as simple as dete...
What needs improvement with Varonis Platform?
Varonis Platform could be improved because when I used it, we had a significant issue related to the large volume of ...
What is your primary use case for Varonis Platform?
My main use case for Varonis Platform is to monitor access to sensitive data across file shares, Microsoft 365, and S...
What advice do you have for others considering Varonis Platform?
Varonis Platform receives a rating of seven out of ten. I chose seven out of ten because the user experience was easy...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
No data available
SlashNext Complete
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
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Nottingham Building Society
Find out what your peers are saying about Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs. Varonis Platform and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.