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Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs Qualys TotalCloud comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

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

Zafran Security
Sponsored
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
18th
Average Rating
9.4
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (2nd)
Microsoft Defender Vulnerab...
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
12th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (16th), Microsoft Security Suite (20th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (5th)
Qualys TotalCloud
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
11th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
30
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (11th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (9th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (7th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (1st), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Zafran Security is 0.8%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is 3.0%, up from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.1%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

Israel Cavazos Landini - PeerSpot reviewer
Weekly insights and risk analysis facilitate informed security decisions
I appreciate the weekly insights Zafran provides, which include critical topics for networks and IT security, allowing us to evaluate which insights apply to our environment. The organization score feature is valuable to keep the leadership team updated on how our infrastructure fares security-wise. The applicable risk level versus base risk level feature is beneficial because prior to Zafran, we only used the base risk level, but now understand that risk depends on the asset itself. Zafran is an excellent tool.
NaySan @ Suraj Verma - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides actionable vulnerability insights and recommendations with notable efficiency
They may need to improve the portal refresh rate for Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management because it takes time for recommendations to disappear after mitigation; sometimes, it takes one week, when it should ideally take only one to two hours. Overall, everything is good with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, but the portal refresh rate can take up to seven days in some cases and three or four days in others to reflect changes.
Sushant Samantara - PeerSpot reviewer
Helps us minimize attack surfaces by identifying root accounts and encryption issues
TotalCloud provides written explanations to guide remediation and eliminate cyber risks. While all cloud platforms offer security features, it's challenging to consolidate them into a single dashboard. Qualys TotalCloud effectively addresses this by consolidating multiple cloud platforms and subscriptions onto one dashboard. This allows users to quickly identify and mitigate misconfigurations and risks, simplifying security management. Before implementing TotalCloud, our compliance rate was approximately 50 to 60 percent. However, after adopting the platform, it has increased to 80 to 90 percent. TotalCloud also helps us minimize attack surfaces by identifying root accounts and encryption issues, thereby enhancing our overall security by 40 percent. TotalCloud offers a unified platform for assessing vulnerabilities and threats across both IaaS and PaaS environments. This unified view has improved our cloud security posture management. We gain a single, prioritized view of risks through TotalCloud's TruRisk Insights feature. This feature considers not only the QDA score but also factors in cost and other relevant elements to provide a comprehensive risk assessment. From a potentially overwhelming list of findings, TruRisk Insights prioritizes the most critical risks, allowing us to focus our efforts and resources on addressing these high-priority tasks efficiently. A single, prioritized view of risk streamlines the risk assessment process by eliminating the need to consolidate multiple sources. This comprehensive view is instrumental in communicating with other business customers who may be unaware of potential risks or misconfigurations within their resources. By identifying and informing them of these issues, we can guide them towards compliance and ensure a more secure environment. TruRisk Insights provides valuable findings by identifying vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, displaying them on a dashboard, and offering deeper insights into the attack surface. It analyzes not only internet-facing devices but also those indirectly connected, providing a comprehensive understanding of potential risks. This is crucial because even devices not directly connected to the internet can be vulnerable if they have an attack surface. TruRisk Insights also offers mitigation strategies, making it a highly useful tool for managing security risks. With the VMDR feature enabled and the Qualys Agent installed on various assets, we can identify existing vulnerabilities. TruRisk Insights then calculates risk scores, prioritizes tasks, and presents the number of findings. This allows us to focus on mitigating high-priority vulnerabilities while deferring those with lower priority, ultimately reducing overall risk. TruRisk Insights provides device details, allowing for containerization of misconfigured devices. This process involves isolating problematic devices and rectifying misconfigurations, ultimately enhancing our security posture.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Zafran is an excellent tool."
"Zafran has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."
"We saw benefits from Zafran Security almost immediately after deploying it."
"We are able to see the real risk of a vulnerability on our environment with our security tools."
"Overall, we have seen about eighty-seven percent reduction of the number of vulnerabilities that require urgency to remediate, specifically the number of criticals."
"The product's stability is very high...The scalability of the product is amazing."
"Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is versatile and assesses vulnerabilities, providing detailed information on CVEs, their categories, and exploit statuses."
"The solution helps identify threats and vulnerabilities."
"The integration with Sentinel has been one of the most valuable features for my organization."
"The main advantage of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is that it can locate and prevent most threats even when the endpoints are not connected to the corporate network, as long as the internet is available."
"The integration with SIEM is the best, specifically the native integration with Microsoft SIEM."
"The solution is up-to-date and helps prevent zero-day attacks."
"Overall, I would rate Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management a nine out of ten."
"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable feature is its agent versatility."
"The best features in Qualys TotalCloud include the total asset management of the cloud environment. It is very easy to export the report and see the vulnerabilities related to the cloud specifically."
"I would definitely recommend it because it is easy to handle any cloud resources."
"CSPM is currently the most used feature, and we are enjoying the new feature, FlexScan, which is valuable for Internet-facing VMs."
"One of the most valuable features of Qualys TotalCloud is FlexScan, which is specifically for internet-facing VMs. We found this feature to be very useful. It was a key differentiator for us."
"I would definitely recommend Qualys TotalCloud to other users."
"By integrating TotalCloud, we have significantly reduced vulnerabilities in our deployment pipeline."
"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable feature is its ability to link clusters of assets, providing a clear model of deployments, vulnerabilities, and statuses."
 

Cons

"Initially, we were somewhat concerned about the scalability of Zafran due to our large asset count and the substantial amount of information we needed to process."
"The dashboarding and reporting functionality of Zafran Security is an area that definitely could use some improvements."
"I think the ability to have some enhanced reporting capabilities is something they can improve on, as they have good reports but we have asked for some specific reporting enhancements."
"The worst aspect is the refresh rate of the dashboard. A vulnerability I patch within 15 minutes takes 24 additional hours for an update."
"The automated remediations can be more specific."
"There should be risk scoring added to Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management; specifically, they call it quantification of the risk."
"The constant changes in the product configuration or the console setup can sometimes be challenging."
"The worst aspect is the refresh rate of the dashboard."
"The setup phase of the product is not that easy and needs a person to have a certain level of expertise."
"It is challenging to extract and customize reports from the system."
"Integration can be improved."
"To improve the user experience, reporting could be simplified for better comprehension by end users and project managers, facilitating issue resolution."
"We encountered challenges identifying the correct resource category for certain items, such as those in containers or storage."
"The cloud licensing unit system is unclear, especially since "units" aren't well-defined."
"Qualys' customer service provides quality answers, but the response time is long, even though it is within the SLA."
"The support is not up to the mark and seems to be overburdened."
"The response part of the Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) module can be improved."
"Although TotalCloud is a helpful tool, some of its advanced features are still under development."
"There is room for improvement in the support."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"The licensing model follows a per-user per-month structure."
"The product’s pricing is medium."
"The licensing costs are reasonable."
"The tool is a bit costly."
"Its price seems higher compared to other tools, but it is worth it. If they could adjust the pricing and make it comparable with other tools, that would be great."
"Although Qualys TotalCloud is relatively expensive due to its unique automation features, its cost-effectiveness is rated an eight out of ten, with ten being the most costly."
"TotalCloud's price is about right where I would expect it to be."
"The pricing for TotalCloud is attractive and competitive in the market. Given the features, especially the dashboard, I have no concerns regarding pricing."
"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."
"Qualys TotalCloud is expensive, but it offers a premier solution with no headaches."
"The cost is high, but it meets our organizational needs."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zafran Security?
The current pricing of Zafran Security is fair overall. They were good to work with to accommodate our organization w...
What needs improvement with Zafran Security?
The dashboarding and reporting functionality of Zafran Security is an area that definitely could use some improvement...
What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?
Zafran Security is helping reduce the amount of critical vulnerabilities in our environments that require prompt reme...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?
I would rate the price as a three for us due to the partnership discounts. For non-partners, however, the cost could ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?
I have not thought about improvements for Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management as of now, but this is typicall...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys TotalCloud?
It isn't cheap, but it's reasonable. It helps us to manage things with very few resources.
What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
The onboarding process is a bit difficult. In the initial phase, it is very difficult to understand the features, wha...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
We are managing AWS, Azure, as well as Google Cloud services in the cloud. We have different applications using those...
 

Also Known As

No data available
No data available
Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs. Qualys TotalCloud and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.