Qualys Exposure Management vs ServiceNow CMDB comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Qualys and ServiceNow are both solutions in the Configuration Management Databases category. Qualys is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.5, while ServiceNow is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.5. Qualys holds a 9.4% mindshare in CMD, compared to ServiceNow’s 19.5% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Qualys users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of ServiceNow users who would recommend it.

Qualys Exposure Management

Read 101 Qualys Exposure Management reviews

21,170 Views
423 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

ServiceNow CMDB

Read 34 ServiceNow CMDB reviews

2,176 Views
2,176 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Qualys Exposure Management

ServiceNow CMDB

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 13, 2026

Qualys VMDR and ServiceNow CMDB compete in the IT management and cybersecurity space, offering distinct functionalities. Qualys VMDR seems to have the upper hand with its robust vulnerability management features and real-time capabilities.

Features: Qualys VMDR provides comprehensive vulnerability management, scalable agent-based scanning, and integrated patch management, enabling detailed asset tracking. ServiceNow CMDB is renowned for its strong integration capabilities in IT service management, offering comprehensive asset tracking and service mapping features.

Room for Improvement: Qualys VMDR could enhance its user interface, asset tagging, and false positive management while improving reporting and dashboard functionalities. ServiceNow CMDB requires substantial customization, which can be costly for smaller businesses, and could benefit from improved discovery processes and third-party tool integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Qualys VMDR offers deployment flexibility across various environments but may need more responsive technical support. ServiceNow CMDB provides robust deployment options and excellent customer service but requires customization, which could complicate setup.

Pricing and ROI: Qualys VMDR can be expensive for small to mid-sized businesses, though it provides significant ROI through efficient vulnerability management. ServiceNow CMDB is also known for its high cost, especially for smaller enterprises, but delivers ROI to larger organizations by streamlining IT operations through its integration capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Qualys Exposure Management vs. ServiceNow CMDB Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Qualys Exposure Management vs. ServiceNow CMDB

September 2026

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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

Qualys Exposure Management

Ranking in Configuration Management Databases

3rd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

101

Ranking in other categories

IT Asset Management (2nd), Vulnerability Management (2nd), Container Security (10th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (1st)

ServiceNow CMDB

Ranking in Configuration Management Databases

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Configuration Management Databases category, the mindshare of Qualys Exposure Management is 9.4%, up from 4.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ServiceNow CMDB is 19.5%, down from 31.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Configuration Management Databases Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
ServiceNow CMDB	19.5%
Qualys Exposure Management	9.4%
Other	71.1%

Configuration Management Databases

Featured Reviews

Ajay Paul

System Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees

Vulnerability management has prioritized high‑risk patching and simplified bulk system reporting

The primary issue is with the reporting functionality. Even though we fix vulnerabilities, the reports do not reflect the changes immediately. Sometimes we need to manually run a script to scan the systems before Qualys Enterprise TruRisk Management will update the scan results. The main issue is the reporting delay, and sometimes the Qualys Enterprise TruRisk Management agent will not scan the system, which means we do not receive accurate reports in a timely manner. Additionally, there are many metrics for calculating vulnerabilities, such as the Qualys ID, severity scores, CVSS scores, and other metrics. The abundance of information can be confusing. These two aspects are the most significant negatives I have experienced with this tool.

Read full review

reviewer2782440

ServiceNow Consultant at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Automation features and integrated service mapping have streamlined incident and change management processes

There is probably room for improvement in ServiceNow CMDB. I'm so immersed in projects and solving direct customer issues that I don't think too much about potential improvements. Maintaining an accurate and up-to-date ServiceNow CMDB can be challenging due to incoming data from various sources, but ServiceNow has been developing small AI components to help with data discrepancies and deduplication recently. They have also improved integrations with other tools, providing many out-of-the-box integrations to different monitoring tools and CMDBs, which previously required coding experience for custom integrations. They are moving towards a more low-code or no-code approach, which is part of their goal as a company.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Provides great functionality."

"I like the automated report generation and vulnerability report generation."

"They also have threat detection which maps threats. There is a feed that comes from Qualys when a new vulnerability is found. It tells us which machines are infected with that vulnerability."

"If you are familiar with or have hands on experience with Qualys Asset Inventory, this is a better tool, as it will give you in-depth details of all the assets and the managing inventory will be better, and it will also give you advanced features compared to those of other inventory tools."

"It is quite easy to implement."

"I find Qualys VM very robust, and it's very useful for vulnerability management and patch management. The value that it brings to my environment is economies of scale. There is no limitation on adding any endpoints. You go by the rule, and it's added once another endpoint is added to our environment. It's automatically installed, and it's less work from our end. It frees up my license automatically if I don't need an endpoint or if my machine is decommissioned. I like the dashboard displays because I don't see any duplication. The most important part is vulnerability management and prioritization. Unlike Symantec, it shows the kind of vulnerability I would want to patch first. It provides a holistic view of the kind of vulnerabilities and the ones I should remediate first. I don't have to do a scan; it just brings up those critical kinds of vulnerabilities like zero-day vulnerabilities and tells me to prioritize them. You have to prioritize these vulnerabilities first and go on with the rest. The dashboard shows me the ones that have been fixed, so I don't have to complete an aging report. The user experience and the graphical interface are good. As it's user-friendly and understandable on an executive level, it brings real value. We also use this solution because it's robust and flexibile."

"It gives you a lot of options, and it integrates with our ServiceNow for ticketing and all."

"The customer service level is very high."

More Qualys Exposure Management pros

"It integrates with so many different things. ServiceNow CMDB assisted us in streamlining multiple processes."

"I deal mostly with asset management, and ServiceNow helps me do my job more effectively."

"We chose ServiceNow because it has more functionalities. It takes at least one week to be trained on ServiceNow, and it is easy to learn."

"The different tables are available in ServiceNow CMDB are quite good. We don't need to create many custom tables."

"The most valuable feature of ServiceNow is the user interface because you can customize or configure it directly from the user interface by using the mouse."

"It's not too difficult to configure with regard to the UI. My experience working with ServiceNow CMDB has been a very comfortable one."

"The most valuable feature of ServiceNow CMDB is that it provides transparency and tracking of CI usage across multiple process owners or service owners."

"It is a dependable source of data. If I want to understand what technologies are used to deliver certain business outcomes, this is what I would use. I can know that this particular server is being used to deliver this business application or business service."

More ServiceNow CMDB pros

Cons

"The support has not been very responsive, and we are receiving RCAs a little delayed whenever we raise support cases or communicate with the TAMs."

"We face issues while scanning multiple assets."

"Representation of the total number of vulnerabilities (with name) vs. the number of patches (with name)."

"The ability to manage user accounts and give rights to the operator to know about abnormalities of applications is something that needs improvement."

"Solution for fixing problems need to be better documented, such as in a step by step way."

"Qualys VM's machine learning and artificial intelligence features could be improved."

"I would like to see this solution more developed and competitive in the Cloud space."

"I’m convinced it could be possible to do a simpler interface."

More Qualys Exposure Management cons

"Customers are not getting value for money paid for the performance analytics model because they don't use the whole set of functionalities, and that is the problem."

"ServiceNow CMDB could be easier to use. Beginners don't always understand the features. It would be helpful if ServiceNow offered more training or self-guided courses where people could learn to leverage the platform better. I've used ServiceNow for a long time, but I see new users struggling with these processes. There's a steep learning curve."

"The E2E solution has a huge dependency on scanning tools and ServiceNow lacks integration with scanning tools."

"There are areas that could be improved, but that's a longer discussion."

"There are some gaps in the technologies that can be solved. Operational technology isn't quite 100% there yet, but I hear it is on the roadmap. I would also like it to be cheaper."

"I wish we didn't have to pay for additional modules. For example, the vulnerability module is at an additional cost so that we can pull the Qualys scans and actually have automated tickets involved. If that workflow can also be part of that, it would be nice."

"An area for improvement in ServiceNow is the reporting because there are reporting features that would be better when done within the platform, rather than having to buy the performance analytics model. There is so much difference between the dashboarding that you can do from the platform versus what's on the performance analytics model. Some of the features currently available within performance analytics would be good to have within the platform because sometimes, customers will say that the tool is okay, but it's not enough, so you'll need to go with the performance analytics model, and that's costly."

"The platform's stability needs improvement."

More ServiceNow CMDB cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing is expensive and I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."

"Qualys Virtual Scanner Appliance isn't expensive right now. But the price for their product bundles could be better."

"It is a high cost product. Compared to the other solutions, it is around 15 to 20% higher in cost."

"There is a license for the use of this solution. We pay annually instead of monthly to receive a better discount on the price."

"There are no additional fees in addition to the standard licensing fees."

"I used to work there, so I never paid for the product. As an employee, we get a lifetime license for personal use, and that's what I'm using. It is a comprehensive platform, so there is a lot more to it. There could be other solutions that are probably a little bit cheaper, but it depends on what people need. Different people have different needs. It offers many things on the same platform. If you add all the things up, it should be cheaper, but I have not done any analysis specifically."

"Qualys is a pay-as-you-go model, so there's flexibility to the pricing."

"We have an annual contract for Qualys VMDR. I believe it's for either two years or five years."

More Qualys Exposure Management pricing and cost advice

"I would like it to be cheaper. If you've got a large environment, it can get quite expensive quite quickly. You still get a return on investment, but everybody has a tight budget. In terms of licensing, everything is pretty much known upfront. Being SaaS-based, there are no real additional gotchas that we came across."

"It is really expensive. I don't know actually how much it costs, but in 2016, when a client decided to move from an old solution to ServiceNow and had to choose a supplier for ServiceNow, I had heard that it could cost $10 per hour, which is really expensive. I am not aware of any additional fees to the standard licensing fees. There is no standard ServiceNow solution. When a company wants to acquire ServiceNow, they already know which module they will choose. In a basic package, you would have Service Catalog, Incident Management, and Change Management. These modules are usually required in an IT company."

"In comparison to the cost of other solutions, you get value for your money with ServiceNow CMDB. It could definitely be cheaper though."

"The product is pricey."

"The market sees ServiceNow as the Ferrari in terms of pricing. It's at the very top, and its cost is very, very high."

"The product price falls on the higher side of the spectrum."

"It is always fluctuating. It seems to change every six months. Every time they come out with a new iteration, it changes. It is pretty complicated, and they should improve it."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Outsourcing Company

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

15%

Outsourcing Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	21
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	74

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	23

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys VMDR?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing shows that we can consider both time and money saved.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Qualys VMDR?

I haven't explored Qualys VMDR's vulnerability lifecycle automation yet. One of my analysts mentioned that queries lack grouping operators in Qualys VMDR. From my experience, I would appreciate imp...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Qualys VMDR?

I have some understanding about PeerSpot, and I have visited the website. PeerSpot is similar to TrustRadius. It takes reviews from customers or end users who are using the tools and technologies i...

See all answers

What needs improvement with ServiceNow CMDB?

I believe that related to the solutions in the Now Assist platform, we can put more autonomy on that. Some reconciliation can be automated. AI Assist is the current improvement now. I don't have an...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ServiceNow CMDB?

I primarily work with ITSM, HR, SPM, AI, Now Assist, CMDB, and CSDM modules, covering almost all of these areas. I use the integration with ServiceNow CMDB with all the processes that we have imple...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering ServiceNow CMDB?

I help customers evaluate their CMDB health. We use the CMDB health to make that analysis, to see the relationships, what is missing with the processes they have, and any mis-ownership issues. So, ...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Qualys Exposure Management

September 2026

Download Qualys Exposure Management product report

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow CMDB

September 2026

Download ServiceNow CMDB product report

Also Known As

Qualys VM, QualysGuard VM, Qualys Asset Inventory, Qualys Container Security

No data available

Overview

Qualys VMDR is a comprehensive cybersecurity tool offering vulnerability management, patch management, and continuous monitoring with real-time asset discovery. It delivers scalable, cloud-based solutions that enhance security operations without additional infrastructure.

Qualys VMDR provides a robust platform for enterprise security, integrating vulnerability management, compliance, and asset inventory for full visibility across cloud and on-premises environments. It features a comprehensive dashboard with threat intelligence-driven prioritization and remediation capabilities. Users benefit from accurate assessments via agent-based scanning and appreciate the intuitive, customizable scanning and reporting interface. However, there's room for improvement in false positive reduction, UI simplification, and integration capabilities, along with enhancements in asset management for large-scale deployments and the vulnerability database. Enhancing technical support speed, patch management, compliance standards, and inter-module navigation would further enrich user experience.

What are the key features of Qualys VMDR?

Vulnerability Management: Identifies and manages security vulnerabilities across environments.
Patch Management: Ensures systems are updated with the latest patches.
Continuous Monitoring: Offers real-time insights into security posture.
Asset Discovery: Provides up-to-date asset inventory and visibility.
Threat Intelligence: Enhances prioritization and remediation processes.
Customizable Dashboard: Facilitates easier scanning and reporting through an intuitive interface.

What benefits can users expect when evaluating Qualys VMDR?

Scalability: Cloud-based deployment offers easy, cost-effective expansion.
Accurate Assessment: Agent-based scanning keeps security data current.
Enhanced Security Operations: Comprehensive features streamline vulnerability management.
Advanced Reporting: Facilitates detailed insights for better security decision-making.

Qualys VMDR is widely used in industries needing stringent security and compliance measures, offering comprehensive vulnerability and compliance management. It is deployed to secure web applications, servers, and crucial assets, supporting a wide range of sectors by ensuring policy adherence and vulnerability tracking through its powerful cloud platform.

Qualys

ServiceNow CMDB offers a user-friendly interface with customizable features, seamless integration, reliable performance, detailed discovery tools, and robust data governance. It is essential for effective asset management and IT service optimization.

ServiceNow CMDB serves as a central management facility for configuration items supporting processes like incident, change, and asset management. It provides scalable tracking of IT hardware assets, integrates discovery, and manages relationships among configuration items to enhance infrastructure and service visualization. With strong data governance, automation capabilities, and integration with business modules, it supports cloud and on-premises environments effectively.

What are the most important features of ServiceNow CMDB?

User-Friendly Interface: Customizable and easy-to-navigate, allowing for efficient management.
Seamless Integration: Interfaces with Microsoft Active Directory and business tools effortlessly.
Automation Capabilities: Automates processes to enhance operational efficiency.
Reliability: Offers consistent performance and detailed discovery tools.
Data Governance: Strong regulatory compliance and data management.

What key benefits or ROI should users expect?

Asset Tracking: Centralized asset management with scalable solutions.
IT Service Management: Enhanced project and service portfolio management.
Centralization: Consolidates configuration data for improved decision-making.
Scalability: Adapts to growing business needs and large data sets.

ServiceNow CMDB is implemented across multiple industries to manage complex IT infrastructures. In finance, it supports asset tracking and compliance. Healthcare uses it for critical configuration management and reliable discovery. Tech companies benefit from its integration capabilities and process automation to maintain competitive edge.

ServiceNow

Sample Customers

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

Wayfair, Siemens, Allianz, Experian, Vitas Healthcare

Buyer's Guide

Qualys Exposure Management vs. ServiceNow CMDB

September 2026

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