Fortify Software Security Center vs Qualys Web Application Scanning comparison

Fortify Software Security Center vs. Qualys Web Application Scanning

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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

Fortify Software Security C...

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

19th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Qualys Web Application Scan...

Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

13th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (15th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of Fortify Software Security Center is 1.3%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys Web Application Scanning is 1.8%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Static Application Security Testing (SAST) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Qualys Web Application Scanning	1.8%
Fortify Software Security Center	1.3%
Other	96.9%

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

Featured Reviews

Diego Caicedo Lescano

Chief Innovation Officer at SAGGA

Enables centralized analysis and improves governance through seamless tool integration

The main use case for Fortify Software Security Center is exceptional because we have governance and control through that console. You can centralize both static analysis and dynamic analysis, and correlate both analyses in one tool to get better results by combining those independent results from each solution. That is outstanding, and there is no tool I have seen on the market that offers these capabilities. I appreciate the interoperability with other solutions from Fortify Software Security Center. Because we are using Kiuwan, you can run Kiuwan analyses and integrate them with Fortify Software Security Center to get those results in a single console. That is a good console for centralizing things in one point. That is one of the best features of the on-premises Fortify.

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AnkitSharma13

Security Officer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Web scanning needs improvement but offers good vulnerability detection

The downside of Qualys Web Application Scanning is that it cannot crawl automatically. If I provide an IP address and a login form, it does basic testing, but it doesn't go deep as IBM AppScan does. If Qualys Web Application Scanning could improve its crawling capability, it would be more user-friendly. Qualys Web Application Scanning does IP-level testing, requiring direct input of credentials, and can only scan a few pages to provide known generic vulnerabilities, which isn't as beneficial from my point of view. The Vulnerability Management also relies heavily on version numbers and will flag vulnerabilities based on the component version, but it doesn't check if a real fix exists, leading to flags on components that actually have workarounds available.

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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

"You can easily download the tool's rule packs and update them."

"Fortify Analytics' AI function helps scan and provides more detailed explanations and recommendations about vulnerabilities."

"The main use case for Fortify Software Security Center is exceptional because we have governance and control through that console."

"This is a stable solution at the end of the day."

"The reporting is very useful because you can always view an entire list of the issues that you have."

"The overall rating for this tool is ten out of ten."

"I like the explanation of issues provided by Fortify Software Security Center."

"It's very important because they want to scan their source code every day, so we provide CICD integration to our customers so they can auto build and auto test every day, get reports, and fix issues."

More Fortify Software Security Center pros

"It protects against zero-day vulnerabilities, like Heartbleed."

"It scans web applications to identify vulnerabilities during deployment."

"I have found the detection of vulnerabilities tool thorough with good results and the graphical display output to be wonderful and full of colors."

"Key features include: Cloud-based, so the installation is not so tedious, easily deployed, highly scalable, and provides comprehensive reporting."

"Qualys' process of updating signatures is something we really appreciate, and it's way ahead of its industry peers."

"I recommend Qualys Web Application Scanning as it is easy to set up scans and is affordable from a cost perspective."

"QualysGuard web-based scanner is very useful for performing external penetration and PCI scans from remote locations."

"Qualys Web Application Scanning has multiple features like threat protection and container security scanning in one box."

More Qualys Web Application Scanning pros

Cons

"The support for Fortify on-premises is the same as for the other products. I would say the support is not good and I would rate it a three out of ten."

"Improvements needed for Software Security Center include better aggregation views of datasets."

"We are having issues with false positives that need to be resolved."

"Fortify Software Security Center's setup is really painful."

"This solution is difficult to implement, and it should be made more comfortable for the end-users."

"Improvements needed for Software Security Center include better aggregation views of datasets."

"The product's overlap feature is restrictive and requires more customization efforts, which can be expensive."

More Fortify Software Security Center cons

"There should be better visibility into the application."

"The authenticated scanning feature could be improved by adding support for real-time scanning tokens and authorization tokens."

"They should improve the performance of the security scanning. It should have better performance."

"The solution needs to adjust its pricing. They should make it more affordable."

"Sometimes the response time is low because the handshake fails, and then you have to re-login and start again."

"It's missing some zero-day patches."

"The licensing and user permissions are a little wonky for a DevOps team to use, probably because it’s traditionally an InfoSec tool."

"It should have better automatic reporting."

More Qualys Web Application Scanning cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This is a costly solution that could be cheaper."

"As a Fortify partner company providing technical support, I find the product expensive in our country, where local, inexpensive products are available."

"The solution is priced fair."

"I rate the software’s pricing a six out of ten."

"Qualys has an IT-based licensing based on a yearly license, which is a good way of handling it. However, in some cases, when we do the PCI scanning, the host will not like the scanning and we lose the IT license. So, this could be improved."

"From my perspective, it is a budget-friendly option."

"We are on an annual license for the solution and the pricing could be more affordable."

"Qualys WAS' pricing is competitive."

"It is best to be an institutional buyer and directly contact the sales team, as they can provide over-the-top discounts for bulk orders."

"There are different options available with respect to licensing."

"It is an expensive platform."

More Qualys Web Application Scanning pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Static Application Security Testing (SAST) solutions are best for your needs.

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885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	27

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Micro Focus Software Security Center?

The pricing for the on-premises Fortify is expensive.

What needs improvement with Micro Focus Software Security Center?

In my opinion, there are no areas that could be improved with Fortify Software Security Center. I would say it is a good product and a mature product. However, the SAST has many improvement areas. ...

What is your primary use case for Micro Focus Software Security Center?

We have installed Fortify Static Code Analysis, SAST, in Ecuador in two customers. The Fortify ScanCentral includes three components: SAST, Fortify Software Security Center, and the WebInspect.

What do you like most about Qualys Web Application Scanning?

The vulnerability management feature is a strong one. And also the patch management feature.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys Web Application Scanning?

Regarding pricing, I think for personal use, it is costly, but if organizations are ready to pay, then it is fine as they are using it.

What needs improvement with Qualys Web Application Scanning?

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Comparisons

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

SonarQube vs Qualys Web Application Scanning

Compared 7% of the time

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs Qualys Web Application Scanning

Compared 6% of the time

Veracode vs Qualys Web Application Scanning

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Static Application Security Testing (SAST)

Download Fortify Software Security Center product report

Qualys Web Application Scanning

Download Qualys Web Application Scanning product report

Also Known As

Micro Focus Software Security Center, Application Security Center, HPE Application Security Center, WebInspect

Qualys WAS

Overview

Software Security Center enables management, development, and security teams to work together to triage, track, validate, automate, and manage software security activities.

OpenText

Qualys Web Application Scanning (WAS) is a fully cloud-based web application security scanner. The scanner will automatically crawl periodically and test web applications to discover potential vulnerabilities, including cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection. The consistent testing equips the automated service to generate consistent results, lessen false positives, and offer the ability to scale to protect thousands of websites effortlessly.

Qualys Web Application Scanning is bundled with different scanning technology to carefully scan websites for malware infections and will send notifications to website owners to assist in preventing blacklisting and brand reputation damage. As digital transformation takes place in various organizations, Qualys WAS gives organizations the ability to track and document their web app security status through its interactive reporting capabilities.

Qualys WAS empowers organizations to remediate any web application vulnerabilities quickly. Some of the key tools offered are:

Deep Scanning: All apps and APIs on your internal network and public cloud are covered by Qualys WAS deep scanning to show you any visible vulnerabilities.
DevSec Ops Tool: Detect security issues in your code while still in app development stages and generate comprehensive reports.
Comprehensive Discovery: Discover and catalog new and unknown web apps in your network.
Malware Detection: Scan a website, identify vulnerabilities, and receive alerts to any infections.

Benefits of Qualys Web Application Scanning

Qualys Web Application Scanning offers many benefits, including:

Quick Deployment: Requires no infrastructure or software to upkeep.
Effortless Scalability: Effortlessly launch a deep scan and protect thousands of websites.
Centralized Management: Manage and mend all web app vulnerabilities through a single interface.
Excellent Integration Capabilities: Integrates with Qualys Web App Firewall (WAF) for a single-click virtual patching of found vulnerabilities.
Respond to Threats Immediately: Qualys Continuous Monitoring offers the user a hands-free service by automatically launching scanning and sending notifications of a potential threat.
Cost-effective Solution: Data is analyzed in real time as Qualys WAS is an end-to-end solution; this helps avoid costs associated with managing multiple security vendors.

Reviews from Real Users

Qualys Web Application Scanning stands out among its competitors for a variety of reasons. Two of those reasons are its progressive scan and quick detection of vulnerabilities.

P.K., a senior software developer at a tech vendor, writes, "The feature that I have found most valuable is the progressive scan. It is good. It's done in 24 hours."

Nagaraj S., lead cybersecurity engineer at a tech service company, notes, "I have found the detection of vulnerabilities tool thorough with good results and the graphical display output to be wonderful and full of colors. It allows many types of outputs, such as bar and chart previews."

Qualys

Sample Customers

Neosecure, Acxiom, Skandinavisk Data Center A/S, Parkeon

BskyB, Cartagena, ClearPoint Learning Systems, Connect Group, du, Fortrex Technologies, HBOR, HDI, Highlights for Children, The Lithuanian State Enterprise Centre of Registers, City of Miami Beach, Microsoft, MidlandHR, MSCI Inc., Northern Arizona University, Ofgem, Olympus Europa, PhoneFactor, RTL Nederland, ThousandEyes, VGZ Organisatie B.V.

Fortify Software Security Center vs. Qualys Web Application Scanning