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Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Qualys VMDR comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.3
Prisma Cloud enhances security and efficiency, reducing risks and response times, offering significant value despite initial costs.
Sentiment score
7.4
Qualys VMDR improves security by reducing vulnerabilities, streamlining patch management, and enhancing compliance, risk mitigation, and cost efficiency.
It eliminates the need for additional hardware, making it a financially and technically sound investment.
Reputation and data security are the two most important things to a financial institution.
We may have prevented a security breach with remediation of the findings.
We saw a return on investment through significant savings in time, money, and resources.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Prisma Cloud support is praised for responsiveness, though some report slow responses and varying support quality across regions.
Sentiment score
6.7
Qualys VMDR customer service is praised for effectiveness and support, but response time and request handling speed need improvement.
They can respond with technical documentation or pass on the case to the next level because it requires the development of a new feature or changing a feature due to a bug.
When you begin to deal with production workloads, issues need to be resolved faster.
You do not even get a valid or contextual answer.
We usually get on calls with tech support, and they are very helpful.
The response time takes a while.
The technical support provided by Qualys is pretty good.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Prisma Cloud scales well across environments, integrates seamlessly, and automates operations, though costs rise with increased licenses.
Sentiment score
7.9
Qualys VMDR is scalable and flexible in handling large networks, supporting numerous assets, with highly rated adaptability.
It's very scalable and very easy to use.
It's scalable.
The scalability is also a 10 out of 10.
Scalability depends on the license and the number of assets being monitored.
Qualys VMDR can handle scalability, although increasing the inventory can raise the licensing costs.
Qualys VMDR's scalability is good, and the customer support is good.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.0
Prisma Cloud offers reliable performance and stability, effectively handling environments with rare interruptions and quickly resolved issues.
Sentiment score
8.0
Qualys VMDR offers impressive stability with minimal issues, praised for its reliable performance despite occasional reporting and dataset handling challenges.
I would rate it a ten out of ten for stability.
There were some instances when it was not as stable, particularly the Defender setup, where it did not work for three days, so my team had to escalate, and then it suddenly worked.
Prisma Cloud is a stable platform.
Qualys VMDR is stable.
 

Room For Improvement

Prisma Cloud needs improvements in documentation, UI, automation, integrations, pricing, and support, with challenges in compliance and cloud support.
Qualys VMDR needs better cloud integration, cost management, interface simplicity, reporting, support, documentation, and third-party tool compatibility.
From a developer's perspective, especially for organizations like banks developing their applications, ensuring API security before deploying them to the cloud is crucial.
Prisma Cloud is an excellent tool.
Even though documentation was available, it took a while for a new person to understand what integration meant, what will be achieved after the integration, or how the integration needed to be done on the Azure or AWS side.
It does not automate patching unless the patch management module is purchased separately.
If AI features were integrated, it could enhance the capabilities significantly.
One area where Qualys VMDR can be improved is the missing feature for deploying agents for over 1,000 assets, as we need to do it manually.
 

Setup Cost

Prisma Cloud is expensive but valued for comprehensive security, flexible licensing, and potential cost savings in multi-cloud environments.
Qualys VMDR's pricing, high compared to competitors, is justified by comprehensive features and negotiable, suitable for large enterprises.
The cost was not on the higher side.
That's why a lot of our clients are shifting from cloud-native to Prisma Cloud: because of its effectiveness and because it is budget-friendly as well.
The solution is very expensive.
I would rate the pricing between seven to eight out of ten.
I have a notion that Qualys might be more expensive than Rapid7.
Qualys offers better pricing and is feature-packed compared to other tools.
 

Valuable Features

Prisma Cloud enhances security with dynamic identity creation, compliance management, and integration across AWS and CI/CD pipelines.
Qualys VMDR offers comprehensive, scalable vulnerability management with continuous monitoring, automated scanning, and intuitive reporting for enhanced security.
CSPM can audit the current cloud configuration, identify misconfigurations, and assess risk.
It provides security across AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle, and Alibaba.
Since the agent is already installed in the container, we can protect it directly from the application side.
The prioritization of vulnerabilities has improved our remediation efforts by around thirty to thirty-five percent.
It impacts my workflow overall, with the patch management features as it has the missing patches listed in detail, making it easier to get a comprehensive report and providing some dashboards that offer visual representation.
Qualys VMDR offers a one-stop solution for monitoring and reporting.
 

Categories and Ranking

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto N...
Ranking in Container Security
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
111
Ranking in other categories
Web Application Firewall (WAF) (6th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (2nd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (2nd), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (2nd)
Qualys VMDR
Ranking in Container Security
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
95
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (6th), Vulnerability Management (2nd), Configuration Management Databases (2nd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Container Security category, the mindshare of Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is 10.9%, down from 15.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 2.4%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks10.9%
Qualys VMDR2.4%
Other86.7%
Container Security
 

Featured Reviews

Harsh_Vardhan - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides visibility and control that our customers need
Different modules are valuable for different customers. We are leveraging CSPM. It is one of the best solutions for comprehensive visibility into cloud resource configurations and compliance. It has a lot of out-of-the-box policies, and the visibility that we are getting is impressive. The DSPM module is valuable. This is the latest one that Palo Alto procured from Dig Security. No competitor provides this functionality in a single pane of glass. The support for Linux and container security is also very good. That is the beauty of Prisma Cloud. However, in terms of Windows security, Prisma Cloud is lacking because currently, there is no runtime protection available. The UI is very good. We get all the things within a single UI. It is easy to use. A new user can easily understand it. It is very user-friendly.
Ankesh Raj - PeerSpot reviewer
Real-time responses and reporting streamline vulnerability management
Qualys VMDR provides a real-time response and reporting feature, which is excellent. It allows us to see real-time graphs and reports for every asset, server, and more, which is very user-friendly. Our clients have given good feedback, and they are satisfied with the tool. We use it daily to fix vulnerabilities by connecting with infrastructure to remediate. The feedback from the client side is very good.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business34
Midsize Enterprise20
Large Enterprise58
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise69
 

Questions from the Community

What is your primary use case for Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
Prisma Cloud helps support DevSecOps methodologies, making those responsibilities easier to manage.
What Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform do you recommend?
We like Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, since it offers us incredible visibility into our entire cloud system. We are able to easily see where our container vulnerabilities lie and and where cl...
What do you think of Aqua Security vs Prisma Cloud?
Aqua Security is easy to use and very manageable. Its main focus is on Kubernetes and Docker. Security is a very valuable feature and their speed of integration is very good. The initial setup was ...
What do you like most about Qualys VMDR?
I like that we have many scanners and channels that don't overload. It helps us scan and track easily. Also, the tagging system is good for tagging. We can still use QualysAgent task ID tools even ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys VMDR?
Qualys offers better pricing and is feature-packed compared to other tools.
What needs improvement with Qualys VMDR?
There were some issues later with Qualys VMDR regarding security, specifically with numerous false positive reports.
 

Also Known As

Prisma Public Cloud, RedLock Cloud 360, RedLock, Twistlock, Aporeto
Qualys VM, QualysGuard VM, Qualys Asset Inventory, Qualys Container Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Amgen, Genpact, Western Asset, Zipongo, Proofpoint, NerdWallet, Axfood, 21st Century Fox, Veeva Systems, Reinsurance Group of America
Agrokor Group, American Specialty Health, American State Bank, Arval, Life:), Axway, Bank of the West, Blueport Commerce, BSkyB, Brinks, CaixaBank, Cartagena, Catholic Health System, CEC Bank, Cegedim, CIGNA, Clickability, Colby-Sawyer College, Commercial Bank of Dubai, University of Utah, eBay Inc., ING Singapore, National Theatre, OTP Bank, Sodexo, WebEx
Find out what your peers are saying about Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs. Qualys VMDR and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.