Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management vs Tenable Security Center comparison

Qualys and Tenable are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Qualys is ranked #8 with an average rating of 9.2, while Tenable is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.6. Qualys holds a 0.9% mindshare in VM, compared to Tenable’s 4.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Qualys users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Tenable users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 20, 2025

Tenable Security Center and Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management are leading solutions in the cybersecurity category, focusing on vulnerability and asset management, respectively. Tenable has an advantage in vulnerability scanning with robust prioritization features, while Qualys shines in comprehensive asset visibility and management.

Features: Tenable Security Center offers Assurance Report Card, predictive prioritization, and comprehensive dashboards for effective vulnerability management. It excels in automated scanning distribution and the ability to create custom scan policies. Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management provides dynamic asset tagging, end-of-life insights, and effective external attack surface management, enhancing asset visibility and proactive vulnerability detection.

Room for Improvement: Tenable Security Center users seek better report configuration flexibility, improved web application scanning, and enhanced integration with other tools. Additionally, its query engine and risk acceptance processes need refinement. Qualys CSAM faces critiques regarding high licensing costs and limited configuration options, especially in the EASM module. Users suggest improvements in scan frequency, broader integration options, and a more straightforward user interface.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Tenable Security Center is mainly on-premises, requiring considerable infrastructure, whereas Qualys provides deployment flexibility via public and hybrid cloud options. Both companies receive mixed reviews for customer service, with variability in support quality, though Qualys's broader deployment options offer greater adaptability.

Pricing and ROI: Tenable Security Center is perceived as expensive, with complex licensing that can deter smaller enterprises, yet offers preventive value against data breaches. Qualys CSAM's pricing is competitive, particularly when bundled with other services like VMDR, but can still be a barrier for smaller organizations despite its comprehensive features. Both solutions bolster ROI by improving security postures and asset visibility.

To learn more, read our detailed Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management vs. Tenable Security Center Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management vs. Tenable Security Center

June 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

Zafran Security

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Zafran Security is 0.7%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management is 0.9%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Security Center is 4.9%, down from 11.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Israel Cavazos Landini

Associate Director IT Security Operations at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees

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.

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Scott Frederick

Director of Vulnerability Management at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Well-integrated with our vulnerability scanning utilities and efficient in asset tagging and identification

Our favorite features are the tagging and the ability to quickly find assets in the portal. Additionally, I do like the fact that Qualys CSAM is integrated with the rest of our vulnerability scanning utilities. We use the full suite from Qualys. The fact that it is integrated makes it very easy to understand. It shares tagging information with VMDR. That is very nice. Qualys CSAM has discovered assets not previously covered by our vulnerability management program. Primarily, if we have assets without vulnerabilities, they become less visible, but Qualys CSAM alerts us to them because they have IP addresses and are attached to our network. It could discover everything from printers to servers to endpoints. It could discover UPSs, network devices, and across all operating systems. It discovers our security badge readers and digital signage. We have to feed that the IP address ranges, but beyond that, it finds everything in our internal network. We were able to realize its benefits within the first quarter of installing it. We did have to take some time to learn it and understand how to operationally leverage what it was telling us, but it was very quick. In addition to vulnerabilities, Qualys CSAM helps identify other risk factors to a degree. For instance, we can see if servers or assets have incorrect naming standards. We have our network segmented into development model, test, and production, and we have server naming standards that identify which management they should be in. If a production server has the naming standard of a development model server, we can find that. That is one area we have used it for. We are not fully using TruRisk, but we are using the Qualys detection score that is central to our corporate risk prioritization approach. It has completely replaced our homegrown one.

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OndrejKOVAC

Solution engineer at EXPERTience

Empower clients with risk-based vulnerability management through continuous workflow and valuable insights

Tenable Security Center could improve by implementing more dynamic data displays and translating reports into European languages. This is especially relevant in Central Eastern Europe, where clients often require reports in local languages. Additionally, the licensing model could be more flexible for managed security providers, similar to a pay-as-you-go model.

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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

"Overall, we have seen about eighty-seven percent reduction of the number of vulnerabilities that require urgency to remediate, specifically the number of criticals."

"Zafran has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."

"We are able to see the real risk of a vulnerability on our environment with our security tools."

"Zafran is an excellent tool."

"We saw benefits from Zafran Security almost immediately after deploying it."

"The fact that it is integrated makes it very easy to understand."

"The support is extremely helpful, deserving a 10 out of 10 rating."

"Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management has helped to improve the organization's security posture significantly."

"When you implement a dynamic tag using a query, you do not need to manually tag all the servers. It categorizes all the servers that come under that query. The tagging part is automatically done within a few minutes. It reduces the effort."

"It provides most of the information needed regarding the assets, including the operating system and whether the assets are network devices or servers."

"I would rate Qualys CSAM a ten out of ten."

"My favourite feature of Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management is its ability to target missing software."

"The integration with different third-party tools, such as cloud providers like Azure and AWS, and asset management tools like CMDB systems, is valuable."

More Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management pros

"Tenable.sc is user-friendly."

"The most effective feature of Tenable Security Center for detecting vulnerabilities is its capability for critical mapping."

"The most important features are the dashboard and reporting. The dashboard provides statistics with graphs and bar charts for our management."

"The initial setup process is simple."

"The usability is really good. It's very easy to use and a good platform. It is scalable and very stable. The technical support is fine and the setup is super easy."

"The tool's dashboard and reporting capabilities match our company's needs since we are able to modify the basic view to create a new dashboard, and it works out very well for our needs."

"Compared to other products, the most valuable features of the solution are its ease of use and ability to provide visibility over scan results while providing many templates to users, making it a helpful tool."

"I find Tenable SC to be a very scalable product."

More Tenable Security Center pros

Cons

"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."

"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 main aspect that needs improvement is the user interface, which should be more intuitive."

"Some areas that would be helpful are more comprehensive tagging and the ability to set up better dynamic rules."

"The deployment is somewhat complicated and could be made more user-friendly for most users. It is currently not user-friendly for all users. It is good but can be improved. It is a new product, and they are working on it."

"From the user experience perspective, we need a simpler interface and reduced complexity in certain features, particularly with the Qualys Query Language."

"Qualys could improve by enhancing its dynamic tagging and role-based access control features, and by refining its user interface for a more intuitive and efficient user experience."

"Currently, in the EASM module, the scan frequency is limited to once daily, but allowing end users control over scan scheduling would be advantageous."

"The deployment is somewhat complicated and could be made more user-friendly for most users."

More Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management cons

"At times we have had the typical bugs."

"We experienced some difficulties with the solution’s support."

"A good plugin editor would be a good additional option for the Security Center."

"The reports and plugins for reports and scans could benefit from enhancements."

"Security can always be improved."

"Though the solution's technical support is responsive, they do take a lot of time, making it one of the solution's shortcomings that needs improvement."

"The product should provide risk-based vulnerability management."

More Tenable Security Center cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The pricing for Qualys CSAM is nominal."

"The pricing is fair. I would love to see the price come down a little bit, but we do get a lot of value out of it. We are squeezing every ounce of value we can out of the tool."

"Qualys offers excellent value for money."

"The pricing is reasonable relative to the features provided, as it collects all module data and operates as a main, centralized inventory, making it a cost-effective solution."

"The pricing for Qualys Cybersecurity Asset Management is reasonable, with an annual subscription costing around $1,000 per year or a monthly subscription starting at approximately $72 per month, depending on the specific package and features included."

"Qualys is competitively priced for its features. Its pricing is suitable for large organizations with more than 4,000 assets, but for smaller organizations with few assets, such as banks, the costs might be high. They should come up with packages that are suitable for small organizations."

"The Qualys Cybersecurity Asset Management pricing is well-aligned with our usage."

"Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management can be expensive, especially if we already have VMDR."

More Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management pricing and cost advice

"I use a local license to perform penetration testing and I'm pretty happy with everything when it comes to pricing and licensing."

"I would rate the pricing a nine out of ten, where ten is expensive. It is the most expensive tool my company is using."

"I rate the solution's price as seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive. The tool is quite expensive."

"Tenable.sc is more expensive than its competitors."

"We're able to save because we don't have to employ more staff members to help wit ht he scheduling of the scans, running the reports or sending them out to the systems owners. That alone is a big ROI for us."

"We're happy with the licensing cost and find it affordable."

"My company needs to make yearly payments towards the licensing costs. The pricing of the solution falls in the mid-range level, so it is not too expensive"

"The price can start at €10,000 ($13,000 USD) for between 500 and 1,000 assets, and the price can climb into the millions as more assets are added."

More Tenable Security Center pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

19%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

13%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

11%

Manufacturing Company

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...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zafran Security?

The dashboarding and reporting functionality of Zafran Security is an area that definitely could use some improvement...

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management?

The pricing is reasonable relative to the features provided, as it collects all module data and operates as a main, c...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management?

Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management helps us prioritize assets according to operating system, kernel version, insta...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management?

We are using Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management for daily activities such as identifying new assets through networ...

See all answers

What do you like most about Tenable SC?

The tool's dashboard and reporting capabilities match our company's needs since we are able to modify the basic view ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Tenable SC?

Tenable Security Center is quite expensive, particularly for the CEE region, causing us to lose cases due to its pric...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Tenable SC?

Tenable Security Center could improve by implementing more dynamic data displays and translating reports into Europea...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 43% of the time

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Compared 18% of the time

ServiceNow Security Operations vs Zafran Security

Compared 10% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Zafran Security

Compared 8% of the time

Nucleus vs Zafran Security

Compared 7% of the time

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Amazon Inspector vs Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management

Compared 13% of the time

Armis vs Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management

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CrowdStrike Falcon vs Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management

Compared 9% of the time

Axonius vs Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management

Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Tenable Security Center

Compared 11% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Tenable Security Center

Compared 11% of the time

Tenable Nessus vs Tenable Security Center

Compared 10% of the time

The NodeZero Platform vs Tenable Security Center

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)

June 2025

Download Zafran Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management

May 2025

Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management report

Download Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management product report

Buyer's Guide

Tenable Security Center

May 2025

Download Tenable Security Center product report

Also Known As

No data available

Tenable.sc, Tenable Unified Security, Tenable SecurityCenter

Overview

Zafran Security integrates with existing security tools to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities effectively, proving that most critical vulnerabilities are not exploitable, optimizing threat management.

Zafran Security introduces an innovative operating model for managing security threats and vulnerabilities. By leveraging the threat exposure management platform, it pinpoints and prioritizes exploitable vulnerabilities, reducing risk through immediate remediation. This platform enhances your hybrid cloud security by normalizing vulnerability signals and integrating specific IT context data, such as CVE runtime presence and internet asset reachability, into its analysis. No longer reliant on patch windows, Zafran Security allows you to manage risks actively.

What are the key features of Zafran Security?

Threat Exposure Management: Utilizes existing tools to prioritize vulnerabilities and manage threats.
Integrative Analysis: Combines security data with IT context for precise vulnerability management.
Real-time Risk Reduction: Enables immediate risk management without waiting for patches.
Hybrid Cloud Compatibility: Functions across diverse cloud environments for comprehensive security.

What benefits can users expect from Zafran Security?

Improved Security: Enhances protection by efficiently identifying and mitigating risks.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces unnecessary patching expenses by confirming non-exploitable vulnerabilities.
Time Savings: Frees developers to focus on root causes by handling immediate threats.
Comprehensive Insight: Offers a holistic view of security threats and vulnerabilities.

In industries where security is paramount, such as finance and healthcare, Zafran Security provides invaluable protection by ensuring that only exploitable vulnerabilities are addressed. It allows entities to maintain robust security measures while allocating resources efficiently, fitting seamlessly into existing security strategies.

Zafran Security

Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management provides advanced real-time asset visibility, dynamic tagging, and External Attack Surface Management. It streamlines asset discovery and management using cloud agents and IP-based scanning, enhancing risk management and software lifecycle tracking.

Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management offers a comprehensive solution for managing asset inventories and tracking software lifecycle states. It facilitates network visibility and supports zero-day vulnerability solutions, enhancing security posture through efficient monitoring. Users benefit from its cloud-based interface, which provides in-depth asset configurations and insights. Key features include automated vulnerability scanning and unauthorized software management, reducing manual efforts. The platform also emphasizes the importance of timely remediation and ongoing risk mitigation across multiple environments. Despite its strengths, users note the need for enhanced integration with additional CMDBs beyond ServiceNow, as well as cost efficiency improvements. Requests also include better report customization, more scan control, and a simplified UI.

What are the key features of Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management?

Real-time Visibility: Offers continuous insight into asset status and condition.
Dynamic Tagging: Allows for flexible organization and assessment of assets.
External Attack Surface Management: Identifies potential threats from external sources.
Automated Vulnerability Scanning: Reduces manual scanning efforts and identifies vulnerabilities instantly.
Unauthorized Software Management: Detects and manages software not approved for use.
Asset Purge Rule: Automates the removal of obsolete assets from the inventory.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Enhanced Security Posture: Gains stronger defense through effective asset monitoring.
Efficient Risk Management: Identifies threats quickly, enabling timely resolutions.
Improved Compliance: Assists in meeting industry standards and regulations.
Reduced Manual Effort: Automates repetitive tasks, saving time and resources.
Comprehensive Insight: Provides detailed data for informed decision making.

In industries like finance, healthcare, and manufacturing, Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management enhances asset control by offering visibility into hardware and software configurations. It aids in maintaining security compliance and identifying unauthorized software, crucial for sectors with strict regulatory requirements.

Qualys

Get a risk-based view of your IT, security and compliance posture so you can quickly identify, investigate and prioritize your most critical assets and vulnerabilities.

Managed on-premises and powered by Nessus technology, the Tenable Security Center (formerly Tenable.sc) suite of products provides the industry’s most comprehensive vulnerability coverage with real-time continuous assessment of your network. It’s your complete end-to-end vulnerability management solution.

Tenable

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

IBM, Sempra Energy, Microsoft, Apple, Adidas, Union Pacific

Buyer's Guide

Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management vs. Tenable Security Center

June 2025

Free Report: Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management vs. Tenable Security Center

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