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Qualys Policy Compliance vs RSA Archer 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

Qualys Policy Compliance
Ranking in IT Governance
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
RSA Archer
Ranking in IT Governance
1st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
GRC (1st), IT Vendor Risk Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the IT Governance category, the mindshare of Qualys Policy Compliance is 2.5%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of RSA Archer is 34.1%, up from 33.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
IT Governance
 

Featured Reviews

Bhupendra Nayak - PeerSpot reviewer
A VMDR solution that can be used to detect, block, and mitigate vulnerabilities
We use QualysGuard Policy Compliance for VMDR (Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response). We can use the solution to detect, block, and mitigate vulnerabilities The most valuable feature of QualysGuard Policy Compliance is the automation that can detect real-time threats and decrease…
IMRAN ALMARZOOQI - PeerSpot reviewer
Automates compliance management effectively but needs improved interface and dashboards
The tool basically automates whatever processes you already have, so I cannot specify improvements in that regard. However, my main issue with Archer is the graphics. The graphics have always been lacking. I always need to depend on another tool to read information from Archer to have better dashboards. It is like using Linux, and it has a Linux mindset and interface. I want to use Archer for top management and CEOs, but it looks too technical, and the dashboards are not really friendly. They are bulky, like opening an old Nintendo system from nineteen-ninety. The management agrees that Archer lacks in terms of presentation and dashboarding. It is complex, not user-friendly, and bulky. The interface just looks old.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The reporting and security checks are valuable."
"The platform allows multiple features that are very useful. The first one is being able to define the enterprise policy. The second one is to be able to automatically check the compliance level based on that policy, and the third one is that it allows us to generate reports and dashboards to see the compliance level easily."
"The most valuable feature of QualysGuard Policy Compliance is the automation that can detect real-time threats and decrease risks."
"It's a simple product."
"The solution's interface looks good, which enhances asset scanning and ensures automatic patching."
"Flexible record permissions and data import features."
"This solution helped us with the centralization of our governance data, so we could house all of our controls in one place. We could use that central repository of all our controls to build our risk management strategy and our policy and governance. So we could use controls as a central library and build policy, and then build risk management around it."
"Risk management is one of the most impressive features of Archer, especially with the recent restructuring of the user interface."
"It has various valuable features. For example, showing us if a control aligns with specific standards or frameworks helps us understand it better and verify its compliance."
"Its user interface is pretty neat, and there is flexibility in generating the data. You can customize reports at any level. You can directly get reports in Tableau format. If you want to generate statistical data, you can create reports with graphs. There is an adequate amount of flexibility for changing the format, the type of graphs, etc."
"It has the best workload management features."
"From my perspective, because I've always done it as a consultant, I do like the way it is configured. They've gone into changing the application builder interface, so it is even easier. When you're working with users, it is really easy to show them how to do things quickly and how to configure, change, and design stuff quickly."
"Archer has simplified our security audits. It's made it easier to raise and trigger questionnaires to customers."
 

Cons

"There is no clear mapping for the CIS controls in terms of how they should be implemented into Qualys, so the implementation stage might be a little bit challenging for the customer. That means that the customer will end up opening support cases, which will overload their support team to explain those. If they are somehow published somewhere, it would save time and effort for both sides."
"Some sort of education or knowledge base about the product would be beneficial for beginners."
"It would be good if the solution’s technical support could be faster."
"The reporting needs improvement."
"The policy creation aspect needs improvement."
"There should be a way to export and get data from the system in PDF or PowerPoint presentation format. This would be a great addition."
"Archer could be improved by having more customization. I'm not sure if the backend processes have API calls and those kinds of seamless integrations, but from the front, some of the solutions are very out-of-the-box. It's not customizable, so that could be a little problematic since you have to use their features. In terms of the backend structure, I'm not too sure because I'm not a developer—I was an end user and product owner of Archer—and I don't quite know the backend and developmental features. But since it's an out-of-the-box solution, sometimes customization was challenging and support was a little problematic because we had to reach out to them all the time."
"Initially, technical support is a little weak, and I would rate it six out of ten. The issue with initial support is that new engineers are often not as experienced."
"An area for improvement would be the user interface. They could also offer more on-demand applications free of cost."
"I would like to see real-time data, from vulnerabilities, and threats."
"The bullet chart is the best graph for my purposes, and it should be available for inclusion in the dashboards."
"Performance could be improved."
"Its customization features could be better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The prices might be a little bit high. I cannot compare it with another product because we did not try any other product, but this is my impression when comparing different modules."
"The solution's pricing is in the mid-range, where it is neither expensive nor very cheap."
"The price of the solution is very affordable."
"The license is costly for the solution, but the remaining set up and maintenance is quite cheaper."
"The solution’s pricing is moderate."
"I am not 100% familiar with that, especially with their new model. I just know that the way they've licensed per user to scale is good."
"It is not expensive. It is reasonable. We only pay for the licensing."
"As I am a developer and responsible for providing production support, I do not have personal knowledge of the pricing. However, my colleagues claim that it is very expensive in comparison with other tools."
"The solution is not at all a cheap product."
"Fairly highly-priced, especially for smaller companies."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Educational Organization
46%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about QualysGuard Policy Compliance?
The most valuable feature of QualysGuard Policy Compliance is the automation that can detect real-time threats and decrease risks.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for QualysGuard Policy Compliance?
The product is very expensive, rated nine out of ten, however, it is worth trying and can potentially replace other platforms.
What needs improvement with QualysGuard Policy Compliance?
Some sort of education or knowledge base about the product would be beneficial for beginners. They could offer more training sessions for beginners who are new to the solution, as learning would be...
What do you like most about RSA Archer?
It has various valuable features. For example, showing us if a control aligns with specific standards or frameworks helps us understand it better and verify its compliance.
What needs improvement with RSA Archer?
If the user needs to fill data, they need to go to one page and then to the next page if they can reduce the number of clicks to perform some activities and would like RSA to improve in this area. ...
What is your primary use case for RSA Archer?
I perform all of our information security management governance and risk -related activities through Archer. My organization manages all types of audits and Enterprise risk activities using Archer.
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Also Known As

No data available
Archer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

PDX, Cigna
T-Systems, Bridge Point, Equifax, First Data, Global Imaging Company, Manulife Financial
Find out what your peers are saying about Qualys Policy Compliance vs. RSA Archer and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,963 professionals have used our research since 2012.