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Qualys Exposure Management vs Tenable Cloud Security comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 13, 2026

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
5.3
Qualys TotalCloud enhances efficiency, reduces costs by 30-40%, and increases ROI by 10-20%, significantly saving time and resources.
Sentiment score
7.0
Qualys VMDR enhances vulnerability management, boosting security, reducing risks, saving resources, improving efficiency, and delivering ROI and compliance.
Sentiment score
5.3
Tenable Cloud Security is financially beneficial, offering cost-effective services and positive outcomes despite lacking specific recent metrics.
It has saved about 90% of our time.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
TotalCloud has generated overall savings of 30 to 40 percent across various departments.
Security Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
CallStream helps us integrate and automate tasks.
Senior Security Consultant at CyberNxt Solutions LLP
We saw a return on investment through significant savings in time, money, and resources.
System Admin at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Qualys TotalCloud's customer support is praised for expertise and responsiveness but occasionally faces response delays and inefficiencies.
Sentiment score
6.6
Qualys VMDR's support is responsive and knowledgeable, but users desire faster resolutions and improved service level agreements.
Sentiment score
3.4
Tenable Cloud Security support receives mixed reviews with praised efficiency and availability, but some note delayed and inconsistent assistance.
They are helpful, respond to my queries, and can answer any question.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys's tech support is highly responsive, providing multiple ways to interact with them.
Service Manager, Security Operations at CDA IT SOLUTIONS
Qualys' customer service provides quality answers, but the response time is long, even though it is within the SLA.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
The GUI in Qualys Enterprise TruRisk Management is excellent.
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
We usually get on calls with tech support, and they are very helpful.
Works at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
False positives are the main issue that we encounter and need to be handled by the support team.
Senior Project Engineer at CDACINDIA
With Element, if you need a feature, you can discuss it with them, and if implementation is possible, you will have that feature within a month or two, depending on complexity.
Information Security Architect at WSP
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
Qualys TotalCloud excels in scalability but may need skilled management, adaptable for varying environments and large-scale deployments.
Sentiment score
7.9
Qualys VMDR is praised for scalability, flexibility, and effective asset management despite potential cost and reporting slowdowns.
Sentiment score
5.8
Tenable Cloud Security excels in scalability, praised for handling assets efficiently, but faces challenges in larger multi-cloud setups.
We started our organization about nine months back. We started with about 30 users, and we now have more than 100 users.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Our organization currently uses it to manage over 1200 web applications.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It is absolutely scalable, and I would rate its scalability as nine out of ten.
retired at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
It is flexible and scalable, and we can use it and modify it as per our needs.
Junior Associate at ESDS Software Solution Pvt Ltd.
Scalability depends on the license and the number of assets being monitored.
System Admin at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Scalability is not a challenge.
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Qualys TotalCloud is praised for stability, boasting 99.9% uptime with minimal downtime and quickly resolved minor bugs.
Sentiment score
7.9
Qualys VMDR is highly reliable, with stable performance, rare issues, and effective passive scanning, though reporting concerns exist.
Sentiment score
7.8
Tenable Cloud Security is stable and reliable, with high ratings and prompt resolution of minor bugs, say users.
Overall, the support provided has been excellent.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It is a stable solution, which is why we chose it.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Continuous monitoring is crucial to ensure system stability and avoid vulnerabilities or threats.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys VMDR is stable.
Cyber Security Solution Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
This tool has good and excellent performance in the companies that we sell to in the last months for customers, so stability is evident.
QA Manager at a consultancy with 51-200 employees
I rate the stability of Qualys Enterprise TruRisk Management at eight point five out of ten because I occasionally find bugs that are frustrating, and I have already commented on the support issues.
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
In situations where there was a platform issue, they fixed it immediately and provided a complete explanation for the occurrence.
Information Security Architect at WSP
 

Room For Improvement

Users recommend enhancing compliance, UI, integration, and reporting, improving security features, and optimizing pricing and navigation for Qualys TotalCloud.
Qualys VMDR needs UI, reporting, integration improvements and better support to address user challenges with false positives and pricing.
Tenable Cloud Security needs improved speed, automation, integration, clearer licensing, better support, and AI-powered features for multi-cloud environments.
Ideally, the scanner should automatically detect and scan all subdomains, even if not explicitly defined, ensuring comprehensive vulnerability assessment.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
Ideally, updates should be more immediate, enabling quicker implementation of solutions.
Project Lead at Persistent Systems
Our goal is to integrate all these functions into Qualys, creating a single dashboard for comprehensive security monitoring and management.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
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.
System Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
It does not automate patching unless the patch management module is purchased separately.
System Admin at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
If AI features were integrated, it could enhance the capabilities significantly.
Information Security Analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Adding capabilities for the scanner to automatically pick up changes and add assets automatically would be valuable.
Information Security Architect at WSP
The only complaint I hear in the market is from resellers that Tenable management team in Brazil doesn't play fair with the channel and resellers.
Owner at SUNLIT TECHNOLOGIES
 

Setup Cost

Qualys TotalCloud is costly but offers value and integration, ideal for enterprises despite higher pricing.
Qualys VMDR pricing is competitive but may be high, with discounts and customization available based on usage and enterprise size.
Tenable Cloud Security is favorably received for its fair pricing, offering good value for enterprise cloud security solutions.
Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive.
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Pricing is managed by our finance team; however, Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys TotalCloud is expensive, but it offers a premier solution with no headaches.
Vice President at Inspira Enterprise
I would rate the pricing between seven to eight out of ten.
System Admin at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I have a notion that Qualys might be more expensive than Rapid7.
Information Security Analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Qualys offers better pricing and is feature-packed compared to other tools.
Works at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
 

Valuable Features

Qualys TotalCloud enhances risk management with misconfiguration detection, TruRisk integration, continuous monitoring, automation, and seamless integration for IaaS and SaaS.
Qualys VMDR offers comprehensive vulnerability management with effective prioritization, continuous monitoring, and robust integration for efficient threat management.
Tenable Cloud Security offers comprehensive vulnerability detection, asset management, and integration, enhancing security and compliance with proactive monitoring.
This view of risk helps reduce the work we would have to do to combine multiple sources to prioritize risk.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
It will help cybersecurity professionals monitor the cloud and find vulnerabilities.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
We are enjoying the new feature, FlexScan, which is valuable for Internet-facing VMs.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
The prioritization of vulnerabilities has improved our remediation efforts by around thirty to thirty-five percent.
Works at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
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.
JMS, RPSG Ventures Limited at RP Sanjiv Goenka Group
Qualys VMDR's continuous monitoring capabilities help us respond to emergent threats by enabling my team to reach out to the security engineers whenever there is any detection of a vulnerability, informing them about it, and creating an incident.
Soc Lead & Edr Administration at Persistent Systems
The automatic integration capabilities, particularly with DNS, Azure, and AWS, are extremely valuable.
Information Security Architect at WSP
Perhaps the best functionalities are related to promoting a deeper analysis of the environment where applications are running in terms of creating a double armor of security to block threats that may come in the cloud with Tenable Cloud Security.
Owner at SUNLIT TECHNOLOGIES
The best features Tenable Cloud Security offers in my experience are automatic scanning, frequent scanning, and automatic finding, which I find valuable.
Cloud Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Qualys TotalCloud
Sponsored
Ranking in Container Security
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (11th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (8th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (8th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (2nd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (7th)
Qualys Exposure Management
Ranking in Container Security
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
101
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (3rd), Vulnerability Management (2nd), Configuration Management Databases (3rd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (1st)
Tenable Cloud Security
Ranking in Container Security
31st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (21st), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (20th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (24th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (19th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Container Security category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.6%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys Exposure Management is 2.1%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Cloud Security is 1.9%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Qualys Exposure Management2.1%
Qualys TotalCloud1.6%
Tenable Cloud Security1.9%
Other94.4%
Container Security
 

Featured Reviews

RO
IT Security Expert at Alior Bank S.A.
Unified risk scoring has improved our cloud visibility and simplifies remediation priorities
Qualys TotalCloud provides unified vulnerability and threat assessment across both IAS and SaaS. This solution provides a single prioritized view of risk, which helps reduce the work I would have to do. We are no longer based on CVSS; we are based on Qualys risk scoring, which is based on CVSS plus internal findings made by Qualys, and then assigns its own score. The TruRisk insight feature has found a small number of assets with high vulnerability scores, though I am cautious since some information is classified. Qualys TotalCloud has positively impacted our bank's performance, and we have definitely seen benefits after implementing this solution.
Ajay Paul - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
CD
Information Security Architect at WSP
Has significantly improved proactive monitoring through automated asset discovery and seamless integration with cloud environments
Making the system smarter would be beneficial. Adding modules for integration with AWS and Azure would be helpful. Adding capabilities for the scanner to automatically pick up changes and add assets automatically would be valuable. When discussing a big company, it is mandatory to have tools that will assist us rather than waiting for manual input to add hosts. Adding assets manually is prone to mistakes. Humans might forget to add an asset or make errors when adding multiple assets. Taking the human element out of the context and making it more streamlined is the future for security. The human should be involved where expertise is needed, such as analysis and decision-making. Currently, with resource constraints, we need tools to collect and aggregate data, eliminate false positives as much as possible, and present relevant information to employees for action.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
6%
Construction Company
6%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business12
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise74
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
To be totally honest, I do not have any best features because I have had a bad experience using this tool, especially...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
My main use case for Qualys TotalCloud is vulnerability management and exposure management. I use this tool to evalua...
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.
What needs improvement with Qualys VMDR?
I haven't explored Qualys VMDR's vulnerability lifecycle automation yet. One of my analysts mentioned that queries la...
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 take...
What needs improvement with Tenable Cloud Security?
Making the system smarter would be beneficial. Adding modules for integration with AWS and Azure would be helpful. Ad...
What is your primary use case for Tenable Cloud Security?
We had other solutions that we used. One solution was that we did not have something exactly similar to what Element ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ermetic CSPM?
I wasn't involved with the pricing, setup cost and licensing for Tenable Cloud Security.
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
Qualys VM, QualysGuard VM, Qualys Asset Inventory, Qualys Container Security
Ermetic, Ermetic Identity Governance for AWS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
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
Tyler Technologies, Bilfinger, BarkBox, MongoDB, airSlate, Adama, Latch, Cloudinary, Riskified, AppsFlyer, IntelyCare, Aidoc, 42Dot, and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about Qualys Exposure Management vs. Tenable Cloud Security and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.