IBM OpenPages vs Qualys Policy Compliance comparison

IBM and Qualys are both solutions in the IT Governance category. IBM is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.0, while Qualys is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.6. IBM holds a 21.7% mindshare in IG, compared to Qualys’s 3.4% mindshare. Additionally, 71% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Qualys users who would recommend it.

IBM OpenPages

Read 8 IBM OpenPages reviews

1,311 Views
787 Comparison Views

71% willing to recommend

Qualys Policy Compliance

Read 7 Qualys Policy Compliance reviews

284 Views
222 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM OpenPages

Qualys Policy Compliance

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Qualys Policy Compliance and IBM OpenPages are competing products in the compliance management sector. IBM OpenPages appears to excel in comprehensive features, whereas Qualys Policy Compliance might offer advantages in pricing and support.

Features: Qualys Policy Compliance includes automated scanning, real-time compliance checks, and integration with SIEM tools for enhanced threat detection. It supports VMDR tools for asset and vulnerability management. IBM OpenPages provides robust risk management, extensive integration with broader GRC processes, and advanced analytics. Its workflow engine and powerful reporting capabilities further enhance its functional depth.

Room for Improvement: Qualys Policy Compliance could benefit from further enhancement in its user interface and reporting features. Expanding integration capabilities and scalability might also be advantageous. On the other hand, IBM OpenPages could improve workflow conditions to avoid errors, enhance risk assessment tools, and offer more user-friendly configurations for quicker adaptation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Qualys Policy Compliance offers a cloud-based deployment model for simplified setup and efficient customer support. IBM OpenPages, while capable of handling complex environments with detailed deployment configurations, may require more time for implementation but provides better customization options.

Pricing and ROI: Qualys Policy Compliance offers a transparent and cost-effective pricing structure with lower setup costs, leading to potentially higher initial ROI. IBM OpenPages, despite requiring a more substantial investment, delivers significant long-term ROI through its comprehensive risk management features, which may justify the cost for enterprises seeking in-depth compliance management.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM OpenPages vs. Qualys Policy Compliance Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM OpenPages vs. Qualys Policy Compliance

September 2025

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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

IBM OpenPages

Ranking in IT Governance

2nd

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

GRC (6th)

Qualys Policy Compliance

Ranking in IT Governance

3rd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the IT Governance category, the mindshare of IBM OpenPages is 21.7%, down from 23.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys Policy Compliance is 3.4%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Governance Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM OpenPages	21.7%
Qualys Policy Compliance	3.4%
Other	74.9%

IT Governance

Featured Reviews

Badri Anand Santhanam

Senior Risk Advisory Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Enhancing enterprise risk management and reporting capabilities with insightful dashboards and automated features.

IBM OpenPages offers strong reporting capabilities with Cognos integration, providing standard tabular reports, various charts, and powerful dashboards for different lines of defense. It caters to the first line managing risks and controls, the second line of SMEs providing oversight, and the independent audit function with an internal audit management module. The solution is more intuitive and task-based, allowing better involvement of the risk function across different lines of defense. The automated features translate into reporting capabilities, and data can be easily extracted and downloaded in different formats.

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Bhupendra Nayak

Cyber Security Consultant at Confidential

A VMDR solution that can be used to detect, block, and mitigate vulnerabilities

We use QualysGuard Policy Compliance for VMDR (Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response). We can use the solution to detect, block, and mitigate vulnerabilities The most valuable feature of QualysGuard Policy Compliance is the automation that can detect real-time threats and decrease…

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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 features are the workflow engine, calculations, and security rules."

"IBM OpenPages provides time savings in recording risk management components."

"The ability to keep a record of internal incidents in the company, and also the monitoring of Key Indicators."

"The content, reporting, and workflow features stand out as the most valuable aspects."

"Everything about IBM OpenPages is valuable, particularly when compared to other solutions in the market like MetricStream, from which we switched due to its feasibility, user-friendliness, and performance."

"IBM OpenPages saves time in my work as a developer."

"The reporting and security checks are valuable."

"The platform allows multiple features that are very useful. The first one is being able to define the enterprise policy. The second one is to be able to automatically check the compliance level based on that policy, and the third one is that it allows us to generate reports and dashboards to see the compliance level easily."

"It's a simple product."

"The most valuable feature of QualysGuard Policy Compliance is the automation that can detect real-time threats and decrease risks."

"From the Qualys Policy Compliance, the best feature is that they have predefined templates for compliances, allowing easy application of compliance requirements against our products and providing clear reports on whether assets are compliant or not."

"The solution's interface looks good, which enhances asset scanning and ensures automatic patching."

Cons

"IBM OpenPages could improve by adding more conditions to workflows, as some existing conditions might not work and can produce errors."

"Some self-relationships are not available in OpenPages' relationship model."

"IBM OpenPages needs improvement in its UI. Currently, it is difficult to see the relationships (associations/parents) between all items unless you click on the item itself."

"IBM needs to work on pricing for organizations with around 100 users, as the licensing model is not competitive enough for SMEs."

"It would be useful to have more out-of-the-box functionality, especially triggers and calculations."

"I believe there's room for improvement in establishing connections with external information."

"The policy creation aspect needs improvement."

"It would be good if the solution’s technical support could be faster."

"The reporting needs improvement."

"Some sort of education or knowledge base about the product would be beneficial for beginners."

"They need to improve the reporting part of the CI/CD pipelines and the ability to download scans from pods."

"There is no clear mapping for the CIS controls in terms of how they should be implemented into Qualys, so the implementation stage might be a little bit challenging for the customer. That means that the customer will end up opening support cases, which will overload their support team to explain those. If they are somehow published somewhere, it would save time and effort for both sides."

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The solution's pricing is in the mid-range, where it is neither expensive nor very cheap."

"The prices might be a little bit high. I cannot compare it with another product because we did not try any other product, but this is my impression when comparing different modules."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

25%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	1
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about IBM OpenPages?

The product’s interface is very intuitive.

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What needs improvement with IBM OpenPages?

IBM OpenPages could improve by adding more conditions to workflows, as some existing conditions might not work and can produce errors. Additionally, although there are risk assessment tools, I do n...

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What is your primary use case for IBM OpenPages?

I primarily use IBM OpenPages ( /products/ibm-openpages-reviews ) for compliance and audit programs.

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What do you like most about QualysGuard Policy Compliance?

The most valuable feature of QualysGuard Policy Compliance is the automation that can detect real-time threats and decrease risks.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for QualysGuard Policy Compliance?

I was involved in the purchasing of Qualys Policy Compliance in my previous company, where the costs are based on the number of devices and features, with enterprise level pricing which I cannot sp...

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What needs improvement with QualysGuard Policy Compliance?

I would appreciate improvements in our wrapper certificates and the policy compliance aligning better with automation scripting languages such as Python or Ansible. They need to improve the reporti...

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Comparisons

RSA Archer vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 39% of the time

MetricStream vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 25% of the time

OneTrust GRC vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 12% of the time

AuditBoard vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 7% of the time

SAS Enterprise GRC vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM OpenPages Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GRC

September 2025

Download IBM OpenPages product report

Buyer's Guide

Qualys Policy Compliance

September 2025

Download Qualys Policy Compliance product report

Also Known As

OpenPages

No data available

Overview

Enables customers to manage risk and compliance initiatives across the enterprise, helping businesses to reduce loss, improve decision-making about resource allocation, and optimize business performance.

IBM

Qualys Policy Compliance (PC) automates the collection of technical controls from information assets within the enterprise, and maps this information to policies to fix and document compliance with regulations and business mandates. It provides compliance reporting by leveraging a comprehensive knowledge-base that is mapped to prevalent security regulations, industry standards and compliance frameworks.

Qualys

Sample Customers

Nationwide, Process Innovation AG, OSRAM Licht AG, Dep‹sito Central de Valores (DCV), Delta Lloyd Group, Unum

PDX, Cigna

Buyer's Guide

IBM OpenPages vs. Qualys Policy Compliance

September 2025

Free Report: IBM OpenPages vs. Qualys Policy Compliance

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