MetricStream vs Qualys Policy Compliance comparison

MetricStream and Qualys are both solutions in the IT Governance category. MetricStream is ranked #4, while Qualys is ranked #3 with an average rating of 9.0. MetricStream holds a 18.4% mindshare in IG, compared to Qualys’s 3.6% mindshare. Additionally, 66% of MetricStream users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Qualys users who would recommend it.

MetricStream

Read 2 MetricStream reviews

1,250 Views
550 Comparison Views

66% willing to recommend

Qualys Policy Compliance

Read 8 Qualys Policy Compliance reviews

363 Views
298 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

MetricStream

Qualys Policy Compliance

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Qualys Policy Compliance and MetricStream are products in IT compliance management. Qualys Policy Compliance has the upper hand in pricing and support, while MetricStream is favored for its features and integrations.

Features: Qualys Policy Compliance is known for automated compliance checks, robust policy management, and integration with its security ecosystem. MetricStream is recognized for its comprehensive risk management features, workflow automation, and customizable dashboards.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Qualys Policy Compliance offers a cloud-based model praised for ease and speed, with responsive customer service. MetricStream offers varied deployment options with complex implementation but good support and detailed pre-sales consultations.

Pricing and ROI: Qualys Policy Compliance has competitive pricing with rapid ROI, appealing to those seeking cost-effective solutions. MetricStream's higher initial cost is offset by extensive features and long-term value, providing solid ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed MetricStream vs. Qualys Policy Compliance Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

MetricStream vs. Qualys Policy Compliance

December 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

MetricStream

Ranking in IT Governance

4th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Continuous Controls Monitoring (9th), GRC (9th), IT Vendor Risk Management (17th)

Qualys Policy Compliance

Ranking in IT Governance

3rd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the IT Governance category, the mindshare of MetricStream is 18.4%, down from 19.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys Policy Compliance is 3.6%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Governance Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Qualys Policy Compliance	3.6%
MetricStream	18.4%
Other	78.0%

IT Governance

Featured Reviews

AdhishP

Practice Lead Cybersecurity at Finesse Global

Reasonably priced, stable, with out of the box deployment, and has good local support

They have now reworked it. The interface is mobile-friendly and it is getting a good response from our customers. It's a very good feature that the product offers. It is also available as a cloud option, which is getting a lot of interest from customers who are looking into the GRCC. It is very useful, especially in the solution platform. It has good features and good functionality, and our customers feel there is a lot of merit in that. I think that the portal is constantly improving. They do their own enhancements very often. They keep doing those enhancements from their site itself.

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reviewer1906245

Information Security Analyst at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Facilitates continuous compliance monitoring and simplifies vulnerability tracking for distributed cloud assets

Regarding improvements I would like to see in Qualys Policy Compliance, there are a couple of vulnerabilities where the metrics that are already there and the way Qualys measures those metrics and labels them as critical, high, or low does not align with my understanding from a user standpoint. Every time, I have to put in a false positive. Since I have been doing that for the past one year, the same vulnerability tends to pop up and they mark it as critical. Qualys needs to update and rediscover those weaknesses and re-label them. I understand what the company design and what the tool does, but it takes some time for us to manage those things. In terms of missing features that I would like to see included in Qualys Policy Compliance, I do not think there are any. The feature does what we require and does the job. If there were some sort of reporting that fulfills auditor's requirements, particularly if there is an external audit and they ask us for any historical data like how long we have been compliant to the PCI framework, that would be valuable. Having reporting that shows historical data that we have been compliant from the date of inception, for example, from 2023 to 2025 onwards, would bring value to what we are reporting.

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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 interface is mobile-friendly and it is getting a good response from our customers."

"Key features are usability and ease of configuration. It allows us to have all the information in a single place and provide real-time indicators and information for our executives."

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

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

"The reason I decided to stick with Qualys is that for the past three years, we went through evaluating other tools, but Qualys was always our priority and always our first choice because of what it was offering as a platform."

"The reporting and security checks are valuable."

"It's a simple product."

"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 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."

Cons

"We would like to have more dashboards and reports, such as geographical and trend reports in the next version. Also, an improvement in the mobile version would be helpful."

"I would like to see out-of-the-box integration with more security, it would be helpful."

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

"The policy creation aspect needs improvement."

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

"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."

"There are a couple of vulnerabilities where the metrics that are already there and the way Qualys measures those metrics and labels them as critical, high, or low does not align with my understanding from a user standpoint."

"The reporting needs improvement."

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

Pricing and Cost Advice

"They are flexible in terms of customers' needs."

"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."

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

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

24%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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

Questions from the Community

What are the main differences between RSA Archer, MetricStream and IBM OpenPages?

RSA Archer, IBM OpenPages and MetricStream are the top GRC software solutions in the market today. Out of the 3, IBM OpenPages has a slightly upper hand as IBM has come up with powerful Artificial ...

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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?

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What is your primary use case for QualysGuard Policy Compliance?

I have been working with Qualys Policy Compliance for the past four years. Our complete infrastructure is on cloud and we have assets distributed across Asia and North America. We have a couple of ...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GRC

January 2026

Download MetricStream product report

Buyer's Guide

Qualys Policy Compliance

January 2026

Download Qualys Policy Compliance product report

Overview

Provides advanced capabilities such as risk calculators and risk heat maps for risk analysis and monitoring.

MetricStream

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

Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, ACCO Brands Corporation, AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, AIB International, Associated Banc-Corp, BAE Systems, Barclaycard, Dell Inc, DIRECTV, Energizer, Fresenius Kabi, Hasbro, Goodyear, HudsonCity Savings Bank, Infigen Energy, Kaydon, Leroy Merlin, Mountry Financial Corp., Nicholas Piramal, Pepco, Pfizer, Societe Generale, Whitney Bank

PDX, Cigna

Buyer's Guide

MetricStream vs. Qualys Policy Compliance

December 2025

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