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Qualys VMDR vs Tenable Cloud Security 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.0
Qualys VMDR enhances ROI by streamlining management, improving compliance, reducing vulnerabilities, saving time, and minimizing breaches effectively.
Sentiment score
5.3
Tenable Cloud Security is financially beneficial, offering cost-effective services and positive outcomes despite lacking specific recent metrics.
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
6.6
Qualys VMDR support is responsive and helpful, but users note occasional delays and suggest better response time and depth.
Sentiment score
3.4
Tenable Cloud Security support receives mixed reviews with praised efficiency and availability, but some note delayed and inconsistent assistance.
We usually get on calls with tech support, and they are very helpful.
Works at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
The response time takes a while.
Security Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
The technical support provided by Qualys is pretty good.
System Admin at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
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
7.9
Qualys VMDR is highly scalable, supporting numerous assets efficiently with customizable management and seamless cloud-based architecture.
Sentiment score
5.8
Tenable Cloud Security excels in scalability, praised for handling assets efficiently, but faces challenges in larger multi-cloud setups.
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
 

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
7.8
Tenable Cloud Security is stable and reliable, with high ratings and prompt resolution of minor bugs, say users.
Qualys VMDR is stable.
Cyber Security Solution Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 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

Qualys VMDR needs improved support, efficient reporting, UI, asset notifications, reduced tool dependency, better pricing, and comprehensive resources.
Tenable Cloud Security needs improved speed, automation, integration, clearer licensing, better support, and AI-powered features for multi-cloud environments.
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
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
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 VMDR pricing is high for small businesses but offers flexibility, discounts, and comprehensive features for larger enterprises.
Tenable Cloud Security is favorably received for its fair pricing, offering good value for enterprise cloud security solutions.
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 VMDR offers user-friendly management, real-time insights, and powerful integrations, significantly improving vulnerability prioritization and remediation efficiency.
Tenable Cloud Security offers comprehensive vulnerability detection, asset management, and integration, enhancing security and compliance with proactive monitoring.
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 VMDR
Ranking in Container Security
9th
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 (2nd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (1st)
Tenable Cloud Security
Ranking in Container Security
23rd
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) (13th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (12th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (17th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (13th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Container Security category, the mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 2.4%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Cloud Security is 1.7%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Qualys VMDR2.4%
Tenable Cloud Security1.7%
Other95.9%
Container Security
 

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.
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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881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Government
11%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

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 Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
 

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 do you like most about Tenable Cloud Security?
The solution’s vulnerability management feature has helped us identify and mitigate risks well.
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. Adding capabilities for the scanner to automatically pick up changes and add asset...
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 is doing. For example, we were using Bitsight, Evelin, and also Tenable Cloud Se...
 

Also Known As

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

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
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 VMDR vs. Tenable Cloud Security and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.