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Qualys VMDR vs The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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
5.5
Qualys TotalCloud boosts efficiency, reduces manual effort, decreases risk, and offers significant cost savings with a notable ROI.
Sentiment score
7.0
Qualys VMDR enhances ROI by streamlining management, improving compliance, reducing vulnerabilities, saving time, and minimizing breaches effectively.
Sentiment score
3.7
NodeZero Platform reduces pen testing costs and time, improves scalability, and increases efficiency through continuous autonomous capabilities.
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
A reduction in remediation time has been seen because it is finding things before they happen.
Director of Enterprise Security at a energy/utilities company with 51-200 employees
Being able to find them because there have been no eyes on that particular section so far ever, and fixing those potentially prevented those companies from getting breached.
IT Security Consultant at Systemhaus for you GmbH
So far, I have seen a return on investment with The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai, as we managed to save a lot of time and effort with this because this is an autonomous tool, and our manual effort is significantly reduced because of a product of this type.
Senior Manager | Manager Security Services at RISK ASSOCIATES
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Qualys TotalCloud support is praised for efficiency and staff knowledge but criticized for delays and inconsistent quality.
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
7.1
Horizon3.ai's NodeZero Platform is praised for responsive, efficient support, though licensing negotiations need improvement according to users.
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
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
Overall, when it comes to The NodeZero Platform's tech support, you can reach them via a chat message on their website, and they respond almost immediately.
Director of IT Security at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Previously, with time-sensitive engagements, I would worry about resolving issues before deadlines. That concern has diminished as they've become more responsive and require less escalation to engineering.
Principal Consultant at JTI Cybersecurity
The vast majority of times they are able to resolve the exact questions my team has on the first attempt, which is really good for customer or technical support.
Chief Information Officer at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Qualys TotalCloud excels in scalability, efficiently supporting diverse environments and business sizes, though it may require skilled management.
Sentiment score
7.9
Qualys VMDR is highly scalable, supporting numerous assets efficiently with customizable management and seamless cloud-based architecture.
Sentiment score
7.2
NodeZero Platform is scalable for enterprises, easily manages assets, and could benefit from expanded web app capabilities.
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
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 have conducted pen tests in environments with hundreds of thousands of IP addresses without any scalability issues.
CEO at cybovate
We currently scan approximately 1,500-2,000 assets and haven't encountered any scaling or throughput issues.
Information Security Manager at a non-profit with 51-200 employees
The platform offers various insider threats, segmentation tests, phishing tests, and PCI DSS tests.
Head Dig IT Al And Response/ Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Qualys TotalCloud is highly stable with reliable support, 99.9% uptime, minimal bugs, and effective maintenance communication.
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
8.2
NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai is generally stable, with occasional minor memory and network issues, but rated highly by 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
We have not encountered any issues on the platform regarding accessibility, performance, or stability.
CEO at cybovate
Regarding stability, it has never crashed, and there has not been any lagging from deployment or running.
Director of Enterprise Security at a energy/utilities company with 51-200 employees
I would rate the stability of The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai as a ten.
Senior Manager | Manager Security Services at RISK ASSOCIATES
 

Room For Improvement

Users suggest enhancing Qualys TotalCloud with clearer reports, better integration, intuitive UI, AI risk assessments, and improved documentation.
Qualys VMDR needs improved support, efficient reporting, UI, asset notifications, reduced tool dependency, better pricing, and comprehensive resources.
Users desire improved whitelisting, reporting, integration, scan speed, automation, and cost efficiency on NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai.
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
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
This service reveals which credentials and email addresses are available on the deep web, as well as which domains have been set up using typo-squatting techniques.
Information Security Manager at a non-profit with 51-200 employees
The one thing that is very much asked from us as a service provider is DAST testing, so when a company is building a software, they could see their current security status while they are building the application.
Offensive Security Analyst at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
One of the areas where improvement is needed is in the visibility and reporting for large enterprises.
CEO at cybovate
 

Setup Cost

Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is high yet justified by comprehensive features and flexibility, benefiting larger enterprises seeking robust security.
Qualys VMDR pricing is high for small businesses but offers flexibility, discounts, and comprehensive features for larger enterprises.
Enterprise users find NodeZero by Horizon3.ai cost-effective, flexible, with stable pricing and valuable compared to traditional testing.
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
The pricing is much more affordable than traditional penetration tests.
Manager, Information Technology at a performing arts with 11-50 employees
It's a bit cheaper than manual penetration testing because manual testing typically allows you to scan only a few subnets.
Works at a hospitality company with 201-500 employees
Usually, manual penetration test scans take considerable time and money.
Security Engineer at Herjavec Group
 

Valuable Features

Qualys TotalCloud offers comprehensive vulnerability detection, cloud security management, and automation with insightful dashboards for efficient threat management.
Qualys VMDR offers user-friendly management, real-time insights, and powerful integrations, significantly improving vulnerability prioritization and remediation efficiency.
NodeZero Platform provides automated penetration testing, vulnerability verification, and remediation guidance with scalability and effective cybersecurity enhancements for organizations.
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
When a new vulnerability, such as a zero-day exploit, is identified, they review your previous scans to determine if you might be vulnerable to it, and they proactively notify you.
Director of IT Security at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The detailed reports not only list the vulnerabilities that matter, but they also include direct links to patches.
Information Security Manager at a non-profit with 51-200 employees
The NodeZero Platform's real attack capabilities help in identifying vulnerabilities on our on-prem systems because it provides actual vulnerabilities by attacking our systems.
Chief Information Security Officer at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Qualys TotalCloud
Sponsored
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (11th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (8th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (8th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (1st), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (6th)
Qualys VMDR
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
96
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (3rd), Configuration Management Databases (3rd), Container Security (9th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (1st)
The NodeZero Platform by Ho...
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
8th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (13th), Penetration Testing Services (1st), Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (1st), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 3.9%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai is 1.4%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Qualys VMDR3.9%
The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai1.4%
Qualys TotalCloud1.0%
Other93.7%
Vulnerability Management
 

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.
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.
Brent Hamlin - PeerSpot reviewer
Infrastructure Manager at a construction company with 501-1,000 employees
Continuous threat scanning has improved remediation time and strengthened executive reporting
The best features that The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai offers include the automated scans, which are great to use; you set it, scope it, and let it go, which works really well. The executive reporting feature is impactful for me as a manager, providing a strong foundation to give quarterly and yearly reports to our executives and board to see the state of our infrastructure from a security standpoint. The level of detail and clarity in the executive reports from The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai absolutely helps me communicate effectively with leadership. They are detailed enough for me to extract the necessary information tailored for the executives and to provide a broader perspective on our mitigation efforts or accepted risk stance and where additional controls exist. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai has positively impacted my organization by giving us a better continuous picture of our security posture, what's exploitable, and what can be used against the organization. It allows us to run scans whenever needed, unlike a single third-party system that only provides a snapshot in time; our processes must be ongoing as the security landscape is dynamic. NodeZero's endpoint security effectiveness feature impacts my understanding of potential security threats by providing a clear picture of both the external and internal landscapes within my organization, enabling me to prioritize and adjust as needed for vulnerabilities such as WordPress plugin issues or user enumerations and software code version assessments. I have built The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai into our weekly and monthly workflows for security CI/CD, and we scan our externally accessible assets every week to address anything quickly if it comes up. That includes our firewalls, websites, and anything that is an external web server, which we scan weekly, while the monthly scans are for internal systems that feed our security CI/CD pipeline, enabling us to action across and prioritize any vulnerabilities caught by The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Construction Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
8%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise29
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise70
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise8
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
Areas that need improvement in every solution include the remediation part. The remediation steps should be simple en...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
Our use case involves the assets that we have under cloud, the assets exposed to the internet, and the internal appli...
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 Horizon3.ai?
The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai could be improved by reducing the elapsed time from identifying a zero-day vulne...
What is your primary use case for Horizon3.ai?
My main use case for The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai includes pen testing and vulnerability management. I use Th...
What advice do you have for others considering Horizon3.ai?
My advice to others looking into using The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai is to do yourself a favor and see what th...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
Qualys VM, QualysGuard VM, Qualys Asset Inventory, Qualys Container Security
Horizon3.ai
 

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
Government agencies, Defense Industrial Base organizations, and enterprises in regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and criticalinfrastructure rely on NodeZero to meet rigorous security and compliance requirements with continuous, scheduled, and on-demand testing.
Find out what your peers are saying about Qualys VMDR vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai and other solutions. Updated: May 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.