Qualys VMDR vs Rapid7 Metasploit comparison

Qualys and Rapid7 are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Qualys is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.6, while Rapid7 is ranked #23 with an average rating of 8.4. Qualys holds a 5.5% mindshare in VM, compared to Rapid7’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Qualys users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Rapid7 users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 2025

Qualys VMDR and Rapid7 Metasploit compete in the realm of cybersecurity solutions, specifically in vulnerability management and penetration testing. While both have unique strengths, Qualys VMDR seems to have the upper hand in comprehensive vulnerability management, whereas Rapid7 Metasploit excels in penetration testing capabilities.

Features: Qualys VMDR provides robust vulnerability management, policy compliance, and continuous monitoring. Its cloud-based nature enhances convenience, and its patch management is complemented by a user-friendly interface. Rapid7 Metasploit is renowned for its penetration testing with strong integration of Nmap and Wireshark, offering capabilities for network scanning and exploitation. Additionally, it supports various payloads and exploits across multiple platforms, making it effective for diverse testing scenarios.

Room for Improvement: Users of Qualys VMDR suggest enhancements in integration, asset management, and reporting, especially for large deployments. Expansion of IoT and SCADA support and quicker vulnerability signature updates are recommended. Rapid7 Metasploit could improve by enhancing automation, user-friendliness, and integration with other vulnerability scanners to streamline processes further.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Qualys VMDR offers versatile deployment options such as cloud, on-premises, and hybrid configurations. Customer service is generally positive, although faster response times are suggested. Rapid7 Metasploit, primarily on-premises, provides straightforward support that satisfies many, but some users desire more detailed assistance.

Pricing and ROI: Qualys VMDR is seen as costly, especially for smaller enterprises, but its comprehensive updates offer significant value, justifying the investment for many. Negotiating better terms is advisable. Rapid7 Metasploit, with an open-source version, provides a more budget-friendly option for penetration testing, with a predictable pricing structure and strong integration with other security tools augmenting its value.

To learn more, read our detailed Qualys VMDR vs. Rapid7 Metasploit Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR vs. Rapid7 Metasploit

December 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 December 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Zafran Security is 1.1%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 5.5%, down from 9.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rapid7 Metasploit is 1.2%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Qualys VMDR	5.5%
Zafran Security	1.1%
Rapid7 Metasploit	1.2%
Other	92.2%

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Reviewer6233

Works at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal

While Zafran Security is already a powerful tool, there are areas where it could be further improved to provide even greater value. One key area for enhancement is the searching capabilities within its vulnerabilities module. By incorporating the ability to create Boolean searches, users would gain the ability to apply more complex filters and customize their search criteria. This would greatly enhance the precision and efficiency with which security teams can identify and prioritize vulnerabilities. Having such tailored search capabilities would save time and resources by narrowing down vast lists of vulnerabilities to those that meet specific parameters relevant to our unique risk environment. Additionally, integrating more robust reporting and visualization tools would be advantageous. Enhanced dashboards that offer customizable visual representations of risk configurations and threat landscapes would facilitate better communication with stakeholders, making it easier to explain vulnerabilities and the rationale behind certain security measures. This would also aid in demonstrating the improvements and value derived from existing security investments to leadership and non-technical team members.

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reviewer2753559

Cyber Security Solution Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees

Reduces vulnerability exposure time and automates workflow for efficient security management

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. Qualys doesn't have its own tool to deploy the agents all at once, so we need to use third-party tools such as BigFix or something else to deploy the agents, which is my main concern and should be fixed by the Qualys team. That is the main thing I would like to see changed, and apart from that, everything is good.

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reviewer1247523

Head of Sales Services Department at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

Extensive exploit database and seamless integration enhance penetration testing capabilities

The automated approach in the audits or in the hacking testing with Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved because even the same attack you provide today will go in different ways another day. I prefer when the auditor or pen-tester provides the attack in a non-automated mode. For some, it might be a valuable option, but I'm not sure it's valuable for us, as after the attack has been provided, we should release a report detailing how it transpired and what the customer should improve to block this way of attack. If the attack was provided in an automated mode, you cannot receive sufficient information that helps with this final report for the customer. While you can check the vulnerability, and the system will tell you there is no vulnerability, usually, a human can change one, two, or three parameters and using the same technique and the same scripts can break the system. Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved in areas concerning the experience with finding particular scripts pre-installed in the solution. Customers, administrators, and pen-testers spend considerable time trying to locate the specific component they need by the name of the technique or the name of the attack, so any improvements in making it easier to find those predefined components by name or timeframe would be beneficial. Search filters could be a correct improvement.

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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

"Zafran is an excellent tool."

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

"With Zafran Security, it integrates with your security controls, allowing you to take that risk score and reduce it based on the controls in place or increase the risk based on different factors, such as if the issue is internet reachable or if there's an exploit in the wild."

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

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

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

"Qualys VM's best feature is vulnerability management."

"Performs automated, regular scans in the network."

"The most valuable feature is automation."

"There are many features. Its reliability, ease of installation, ease of use, and the richness of the information provided are the most valuable features."

"The vulnerability management feature is what I used the most. It is a good SaaS product. It is easy to use. It has a nice UI where you can see all the assets and vulnerabilities."

"The most valuable feature is the certificate management."

"Using this product, we now have a vulnerability management cycle wherein VMDR plays a major role."

"The prioritization feature is great. I think it has all of the advanced features that we need."

More Qualys VMDR pros

"Rapid7 Metasploit is a useful product."

"It is scalable. It's in line with our needs."

"I use Rapid7 Metasploit for payload generation and Post-Exploitation."

"The most valuable features and capabilities of Rapid7 Metasploit are its tight connection with InsightVM, which searches for potential threats and vulnerabilities and then validates whether we can break the system using those vulnerabilities, serving as a validator component of the InsightVM solution."

"It allows us to concentrate solely on identified vulnerabilities without the hassle of additional setup."

"The most valuable features of the solution are the scripts, the modules, and the tools that the Rapid7 Metasploit framework has."

"All of the features are great."

"The reporting on the solution is good."

More Rapid7 Metasploit pros

Cons

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

"Qualys VM's vulnerability scan could be improved, especially the number of CVE numbers it can manage at a time."

"Qualys doesn't have its own tool to deploy the agents all at once, so we need to use third-party tools such as BigFix or something else to deploy the agents, which is my main concern and should be fixed by the Qualys team."

"The solution is a bit expensive if you do not have access to discounts."

"The customer support is very bad."

"It's not very user-friendly at times and requires in-depth understanding. So, a layman or someone new to Qualys won't be able to easily understand it. You need education to use the solution."

"One of the biggest issues from the clients' perspective is that all Qualys computing is on the cloud."

"There's a need to upgrade or fix the potential vulnerability rate. Around 20,000 potential vulnerabilities were showing in Qualys VMDR, but none of the other tools showed them. When we checked, it wasn't the case. Support explained that even small issues were being counted as vulnerabilities, causing issues in our audit. So, the security features could be improved to identify vulnerabilities accurately."

"Qualys could be improved in its overall performance compared to other vulnerability management or scanning tools."

More Qualys VMDR cons

"If your company's patch is not up to date, but you have other detection or defense solutions such as endpoint detection and response and antivirus software, the product exploit may not work effectively. This is because its exploit database update process is slow and not real-time. For zero-day vulnerabilities or new security threats, relying on Rapid7 Metasploit alone may not be effective."

"Metasploit cannot be installed on a machine with an antivirus."

"The solution is not user-friendly and has room for improvement."

"The solution should improve the responsiveness of its live technical support."

"It is necessary to add some training materials and a tutorial for beginners."

"Better automation capabilities would be an improvement."

"There are numerous outdated exploits in their database that should be updated."

"I think areas with shortcomings that need improvement are more integration and automation."

More Rapid7 Metasploit cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The solution is costly."

"The price is very reasonable."

"Usually every implementation is different and the quote is in function of number of assets."

"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."

"The solution is expensive."

"In Nigerian Naira, we spend about roughly four to five million to use this solution and this is expensive compared to solutions like Nessus."

"Qualys VM is better suited for medium to large companies because the price can be too much for smaller customers."

"The product is more expensive than that of any other vendor."

More Qualys VMDR pricing and cost advice

"We pay monthly. The pricing is reasonable."

"I have used the free version of Rapid7 Metasploit."

"The pricing structure involves a one-time purchase cost of approximately twenty thousand dollars or euros for all customers."

"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the product's pricing a six. So it's fairly priced."

"There are two versions available, one of which is the Pro version, and the other is the free version."

"It is expensive. Our license expired, and our company is not thinking to renew because of our budget."

"It is a reasonably priced solution. I would rate it from five out of ten."

"The cost is approximately $15 per device."

More Rapid7 Metasploit pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	69

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zafran Security?

Since we stood Zafran Security up in our private cloud, we handle the maintenance on our side. As we opted not to use...

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What needs improvement with Zafran Security?

In terms of areas for improvement, Zafran Security is doing a really great job as a new and emerging company. Oftenti...

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What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?

My use cases for Zafran Security revolve around two primary areas. One is around vulnerability management and priorit...

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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 tagg...

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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?

One area where Qualys VMDR can be improved is the missing feature for deploying agents for over 1,000 assets, as we n...

See all answers

What do you like most about Rapid7 Metasploit?

I use Rapid7 Metasploit for payload generation and Post-Exploitation.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rapid7 Metasploit?

The pricing of Rapid7 Metasploit is quite affordable. It has a free version that many customers start with, and after...

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What needs improvement with Rapid7 Metasploit?

The automated approach in the audits or in the hacking testing with Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved because even ...

See all answers

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Compared 13% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Zafran Security

December 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR

December 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 Metasploit

December 2025

Download Rapid7 Metasploit product report

Also Known As

No data available

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

Metasploit

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

Vulnerability Management, Detection, and Response (VMDR) is a cornerstone product of the Qualys TruRisk Platform and a global leader in the enterprise-grade vulnerability management (VM) vendor space. With VMDR, enterprises are empowered with visibility and insight into cyber risk exposure - making it easy to prioritize vulnerabilities, assets, or groups of assets based on business risk. Security teams can take action to mitigate risk, helping the business measure their actual risk exposure over time.

Qualys VMDR offers an all-inclusive risk-based vulnerability management solution to prioritize vulnerabilities and assets based on risk and business criticality. VMDR seamlessly integrates with configuration management databases (CMDB), Qualys Patch Management, Custom Assessment and Remediation (CAR), Qualys TotalCloud and other Qualys and non-Qualys solutions to facilitate vulnerability detection and remediation across the entire enterprise.

With VMDR, users are empowered with actionable risk insights that translate vulnerabilities and exploits into optimized remediation actions based on business impact. Qualys customers can now aggregate and orchestrate data from the Qualys Threat Library, 25+ threat intelligence feeds, and third-party security and IT solutions, empowering organizations to measure, communicate, and eliminate risk across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments.

Qualys

Attackers are always developing new exploits and attack methods—Metasploit penetration testing software helps you use their own weapons against them. Utilizing an ever-growing database of exploits, you can safely simulate real-world attacks on your network to train your security team to spot and stop the real thing.

Rapid7

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

City of Corpus Christi, Diebold, Lumenate, Nebraska Public Power District, Prairie North Regional Health, Apptio, Automation Direct, Bob's Stores, Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions, Carnegie Mellon University

Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR vs. Rapid7 Metasploit

December 2025

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