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Qualys VMDR vs Red Canary comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 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
7.0
Qualys VMDR enhances ROI by streamlining management, improving compliance, reducing vulnerabilities, saving time, and minimizing breaches effectively.
Sentiment score
8.5
Red Canary improved security ROI by efficiently detecting threats, reducing incident response times, and offering detailed alerts and cost savings.
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
We have probably spent maybe 15% of the time that we were spending on incident investigation and system monitoring, demonstrating a return on investment.
Head of Information Security and Privacy at Ovative Group
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
Qualys VMDR support is responsive and helpful, but users note occasional delays and suggest better response time and depth.
Sentiment score
8.7
Red Canary's customer service is highly rated for excellent communication, frequent interactions, and effective emergency response.
We usually get on calls with tech support, and they are very helpful.
Works at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
The technical support provided by Qualys is pretty good.
System Admin at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
When reaching out via email, they reply quickly.
Information Security Analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
In emergencies, there is an on-call person available to resolve issues immediately.
SOC Analyst at Valorant
Their customer support is excellent.
Head of Information Security and Privacy at Ovative Group
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Qualys VMDR is highly scalable, supporting numerous assets efficiently with customizable management and seamless cloud-based architecture.
Sentiment score
7.0
Red Canary is praised for scalability and seamless data integration, suitable for diverse clients, though cost may affect smaller enterprises.
Scalability depends on the license and the number of assets being monitored.
System Admin at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Qualys VMDR can handle scalability, although increasing the inventory can raise the licensing costs.
Information Security Analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Qualys VMDR's scalability is good, and the customer support is good.
Cyber Security Solution Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
We've been able to connect and throw all of the data that we have access to over to their systems to parse, process, and monitor without issue.
Head of Information Security and Privacy at Ovative Group
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
Qualys VMDR is highly stable, reliable, and effective, with minimal downtime and challenges mostly due to user-side issues.
Sentiment score
8.4
Red Canary is praised for its stable and reliable performance, running smoothly without issues, ensuring user satisfaction.
Qualys VMDR is stable.
Cyber Security Solution Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Qualys VMDR needs improved support, efficient reporting, UI, asset notifications, reduced tool dependency, better pricing, and comprehensive resources.
Red Canary MDR needs improvements in pricing, language support, system features, and integration to better serve diverse clients.
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.
Cyber Security Solution Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
If AI features were integrated, it could enhance the capabilities significantly.
Information Security Analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 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
Red Canary can be improved by continuing to add new features and capabilities.
Head of Information Security and Privacy at Ovative Group
Red Canary's pricing spectrum may not be ideal for smaller financial institutions.
SOC Analyst at Valorant
 

Setup Cost

Qualys VMDR pricing is high for small businesses but offers flexibility, discounts, and comprehensive features for larger enterprises.
Despite higher costs, Red Canary's pricing is considered fair and valuable, enhancing security for enterprises at around $100/device.
Qualys offers better pricing and is feature-packed compared to other tools.
Works at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
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
The services are higher priced.
SOC Analyst at Valorant
 

Valuable Features

Qualys VMDR offers user-friendly management, real-time insights, and powerful integrations, significantly improving vulnerability prioritization and remediation efficiency.
<p>Red Canary streamlines MITRE ATT&amp;CK processes, EDR integration, and compliance, enhancing security and resource allocation in key industries.</p>
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 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
In my experience, the best features Red Canary offers are their team, their monitoring team, their expertise at incident investigation, and a focus on suspicious or actual indicators of compromise to ensure that we're not spending time just reviewing logs, but that we're actually looking at things that may indicate we have broader issues.
Head of Information Security and Privacy at Ovative Group
Red Canary detects threats and attack patterns, allowing us to assess any significant damage caused to the banking environment, particularly if protected data has been damaged or corrupted.
SOC Analyst at Valorant
 

Categories and Ranking

Qualys VMDR
Ranking in Risk-Based Vulnerability Management
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
96
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (3rd), Vulnerability Management (3rd), Configuration Management Databases (3rd), Container Security (9th)
Red Canary
Ranking in Risk-Based Vulnerability Management
16th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (23rd), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (39th), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Risk-Based Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 12.1%, down from 17.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Canary is 1.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Risk-Based Vulnerability Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Qualys VMDR12.1%
Red Canary1.6%
Other86.3%
Risk-Based Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

Vaibhav Ghule - PeerSpot reviewer
Soc Lead & Edr Administration at Persistent Systems
Continuous risk-based monitoring has strengthened incident response and vulnerability prioritization
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 improvements in the query options in Qualys VMDR, specifically in the query-building process where I would need more features and operators. Additionally, we have been facing issues with Qualys on the cloud level. We cannot download the configuration profile from the cloud agent, and it is showing a pending action for download. During 2025, we noticed outages of Qualys a couple of times. I want to mention that there is an issue with receiving timely RCA deliveries. While this is not necessarily about the tool, it relates to support. 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. Additionally, the UI has a slight latency, which I and my team have experienced. They have also reported this latency issue when navigating through different pages.
JH
Head of Information Security and Privacy at Ovative Group
Gained trusted 24/7 threat coverage and now focus security efforts on architecture and design
In my experience, the best features Red Canary offers are their team, their monitoring team, their expertise at incident investigation, and a focus on suspicious or actual indicators of compromise to ensure that we're not spending time just reviewing logs, but that we're actually looking at things that may indicate we have broader issues. The Red Canary team's expertise stands out compared to others I've worked with because their team is organized into smaller pods that support a given number of clients, so they're not just a bevy of operators going around the clock. The teams themselves have coordination and cohesion, and they get to know us. Their integrations into the different platforms and systems that we use all line up with our needs, whereas a number of other platforms offered a different variety of integrations that did not line up with our requirements. Red Canary has positively impacted my organization because I don't have to spend and hire resources to look at logs, which has enabled us to do much more in terms of improving security across the organization. With the freed-up resources, we've been able to implement CSPM, SAST, software testing tooling, and engage much more closely with our developers and engineers to focus on secure architecture and design.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise70
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

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 tagging system is good for tagging. We can still use QualysAgent task ID tools even ...
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 lack grouping operators in Qualys VMDR. From my experience, I would appreciate imp...
What needs improvement with Red Canary MDR?
Red Canary's pricing spectrum may not be ideal for smaller financial institutions.
What is your primary use case for Red Canary MDR?
We use Red Canary ( /products/red-canary-reviews ) to monitor incoming and outgoing traffic. For example, when we receive an alert that data from our internal IP address to an external IP address h...
 

Also Known As

Qualys VM, QualysGuard VM, Qualys Asset Inventory, Qualys Container Security
Red Canary Managed Detection and Response (MDR)
 

Overview

 

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
DuPont, Quanta Services, Microchip Technology, Hopkins Public Schools, Henny Penny, Schumacher Homes
Find out what your peers are saying about Qualys VMDR vs. Red Canary and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.