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Pentest-Tools.com vs Qualys Web Application Scanning comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Pentest-Tools.com
Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
47th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
3.8
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Penetration Testing Services (23rd)
Qualys Web Application Scan...
Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
11th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Application Security Tools (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of Pentest-Tools.com is 0.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys Web Application Scanning is 1.9%, 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
ProductMindshare (%)
Qualys Web Application Scanning1.9%
Pentest-Tools.com0.5%
Other97.6%
Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
 

Featured Reviews

JagdishPrasad - PeerSpot reviewer
ML Professor at Pune University, Pune
Centralized automation has streamlined vulnerability assessments and improved stakeholder communication
I think that Pentest-Tools.com can be improved in a few ways. As I mentioned before, every software has areas for improvement. Pentest-Tools.com is a strong and mature platform overall, but one area for improvement is deeper customization and workflow automation because while the platform already offers a wide range of scanning capabilities, advanced users would benefit from granular control over the scanning configurations, testing profiles, and automated workflows. Additional options for tailoring assessments to specific environment and organizational requirements could further improve the efficiency and flexibility of the software. Another opportunity lies in expanding the integration with enterprise security ecosystems because many organizations operate complex security environments that include SIEM platforms, ticketing systems, vulnerability management solutions, and DevOps and DevSecOps pipelines. Broader and more seamless integration with these technologies would help organizations to incorporate Pentest-Tools.com more effectively into their existing security operations and continuous monitoring processes. I would also like to see enhancements in historical analysis and trend reporting capabilities. While the current reporting is very useful, additional dashboards that provide long-term visibility into vulnerability trends, remediation progress, and recurring issues and overall security posture improvements would offer valuable strategic insight for management and security leadership teams. Another potential enhancement could be more extensive collaboration features for larger security teams; improving the mechanisms for assigning findings and tracking remediation ownership, managing the review workflow, and facilitating communication among team members could strengthen Pentest-Tools.com's value for enterprise-scale deployment. Overall, these suggestions are intended as enhancements rather than criticisms. Pentest-Tools.com already provides substantial value and performs its core functionality effectively. But the improvements I would like to see include expanded enterprise integration, richer historical analytics, and greater support for modern application architecture along with more advanced automation features that further streamline the security assessment lifecycle. I have tried to cover as much as possible in terms of improvements from my end, and nothing else is coming to mind after that.
AnkitSharma13 - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Pentest-Tools.com has had a very positive impact by improving the efficiency, consistency, and overall effectiveness of our security assessment processes."
"Pentest-Tools.com has positively impacted my organization in two significant ways."
"Automated scanning has significantly improved our web application security management by reducing manual work."
"The advantage of Qualys Web Application Scanning lies in its user-friendly dashboard and appealing reports, which are useful for presentation to leadership."
"Qualys' process of updating signatures is something we really appreciate, and it's way ahead of its industry peers."
"Its most valuable features are patch management, vulnerability management, and PCI compliance."
"Qualys is perfect, scalability-wise."
"I would recommend this tool."
"Qualys Web Application Scanning is very stable and reliable."
"Network scanner has good reporting, coverage was also good."
 

Cons

"One area for improvement is deeper customization and workflow automation because while the platform already offers a wide range of scanning capabilities, advanced users would benefit from granular control over the scanning configurations, testing profiles, and automated workflows."
"Pentest-Tools.com could improve in a couple of areas. First, the reporting flexibility could be enhanced."
"The software’s pricing could be improved."
"I have experience with adaptive scanning for single-page applications, which was not very effective."
"They should improve the performance of the security scanning. It should have better performance."
"The reporting contains too many false positives."
"The pricing does not seem to be competitive."
"There's a distinction between internal and external scanning processes that could be streamlined. Currently, for internal scanning, specific configurations and scanner appliances need to be deployed within the network, which differs from the simpler setup for external scans. This dual process complicates the setup for comprehensive scanning coverage."
"The tool should have a live HTTP editor and more configuration options for some situations, such as handling applications that have URL rewriting enabled."
"Qualys Web Application Scanning is very complex to use, and its graphical interface is not very user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The cost is $30,000 USD for one year to cover WAS (Web Application Security) and the VM (Virtual Machine) security in a company with 200 employees."
"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."
"We are on an annual license for the solution and the pricing could be more affordable."
"From my perspective, it is a budget-friendly option."
"We normally purchase an annual license."
"Qualys Web Application Scanning's pricing is a bit expensive compared to other solutions available in the market."
"It is an expensive platform."
"The product is expensive, at least initially, in comparison to other products in this category."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Healthcare Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise27
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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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?
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...
What is your primary use case for Qualys Web Application Scanning?
I use Qualys Web Application Scanning, and we are using Vulnerability Management. By Vulnerability Management, I mean not TotalCloud; they have some on-premises solutions also. Patch Management and...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Qualys WAS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. Google 2. Microsoft 3. Amazon 4. Facebook 5. Apple 6. IBM 7. Oracle 8. SAP 9. Cisco 10. HP 11. Dell 12. VMware 13. Red Hat 14. SUSE 15. Ubuntu 16. CentOS 17. Fedora 18. Arch Linux 19. Gentoo 20. Slackware 21. Mageia 22. OpenSUSE 23. Manjaro 24. PopOS 25. elementary OS 26. Linux Mint 27. Ubuntu MATE 28. Zorin OS 29. Deepin
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.
Find out what your peers are saying about SonarSource Sàrl, Checkmarx, Veracode and others in Static Application Security Testing (SAST). Updated: May 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.