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Qualys VMDR vs Trivy comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

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 VMDR
Ranking in Container Security
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
94
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (6th), Vulnerability Management (1st), Configuration Management Databases (2nd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (1st)
Trivy
Ranking in Container Security
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Container Security category, the mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 2.3%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Trivy is 5.7%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Security
 

Featured Reviews

Ankesh Raj - PeerSpot reviewer
Real-time responses and reporting streamline vulnerability management
Qualys VMDR provides a real-time response and reporting feature, which is excellent. It allows us to see real-time graphs and reports for every asset, server, and more, which is very user-friendly. Our clients have given good feedback, and they are satisfied with the tool. We use it daily to fix vulnerabilities by connecting with infrastructure to remediate. The feedback from the client side is very good.
Utsav Sharma - PeerSpot reviewer
Maintain operational efficiency by detecting misconfigurations and vulnerabilities
The vulnerability scanning feature is excellent as it supports various container capabilities like Docker and Sharma. It also offers repository scanning in the source code domain, allowing pre-push code scans. The misconfiguration detection works well for CloudFormation, Docker files, and Terraform. Its compliance support, like NIST, ensures that configurations align with standards. Trivy helps me significantly detect misconfigurations missed by the ops engineers or in Terraform by the naked eye. It ensures that my deployments are free of misconfigurations and vulnerabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most recent is VMDR, which provides a comprehensive overview of how to detect, patch, and remediate specific vulnerabilities."
"It is very easy to use and there are lots of options. We can usually easily go through it and all of the things we want to configure, and we can configure everything to our specifications very easily."
"It is a simple solution that makes scanning easy. You just give it a scheduled task, and it will do everything for you."
"It allowed us to divide tasks easily among teammates, significantly improving efficiency."
"The most valuable feature is the certificate management."
"The biggest benefit is from a security operations perspective, where we are able to drive our security posture upwards by remediating any discovered vulnerabilities."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The process of defining and discovering scans is organized efficiently."
"The most valuable feature of Trivy is its easy integration with the CI/CD pipeline."
"Trivy is easy to integrate with CI/CD and can be installed on desktops to scan images."
"Trivy is particularly useful for checking if Docker images have critical vulnerabilities before they reach production."
"I appreciate Trivy for being open-source and not requiring any payment."
"The most valuable feature of Trivy is its easy integration with the CI/CD pipeline."
"The vulnerability scanning feature is excellent as it supports various container capabilities like Docker and Sharma."
"Overall, I would rate Trivy a ten out of ten."
"What I find valuable is the ease of setup with Trivy, including pre-defined operators that require minimal configuration."
 

Cons

"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."
"Qualys VM's vulnerability scan could be improved, especially the number of CVE numbers it can manage at a time."
"Qualys does have an on-prem solution, but it is very expensive."
"They're still evolving their platform in terms of reporting capabilities."
"Could use additional security for the app."
"The reporting in this solution can be improved."
"Qualys VM should improve its methodology."
"The response time of technical support takes a while."
"For malware detection, I need to use two tools: Trivy as my anomaly scanner and ClamAV. I am integrating these two tools into the CI pipeline. If both malware and anomaly detection could be managed by one tool, I would not need to depend on two tools. That would be my suggestion."
"Having little experience can hinder the ability to connect it to a user-friendly UI effectively."
"The reporting could be a little better."
"The only problem is that Trivy does not support reporting features such as generating reports in CSV, which is useful for auditing and reporting."
"A dynamic scanning capability during runtime would be a significant advantage."
"The reporting could be a little better. When integrating Trivy with CI, the interpretation of the reports could be improved."
"For malware detection, I need to use two tools: Trivy as my anomaly scanner and ClamAV. I am integrating these two tools into the CI pipeline. If both malware and anomaly detection could be managed by one tool, I would not need to depend on two tools."
"The main area for improvement is in differentiating between OS and application-based vulnerabilities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are no additional fees in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"The license is on a yearly basis."
"The product is more expensive than that of any other vendor."
"Qualys Virtual Scanner Appliance isn't expensive right now. But the price for their product bundles could be better."
"Qualys VM is quite expensive. It's a subscription-based license, and it's yearly. Right now, it's open for me, and I don't have any limitations or caps on the licenses. They are seeing if the product is viable for 4500 users. I can add as much as I want, and at the end of the subscription, they'll let me know how many licenses were actually used and bill me accordingly. On a scale from one to five, I would give their pricing a three. It's still expensive."
"When you want to cover yourself for scalability, you will be charged for the number you place on the scan itself."
"They have recently changed the pricing model, which is now better than it was before."
"In Nigerian Naira, we spend about roughly four to five million to use this solution and this is expensive compared to solutions like Nessus."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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?
Qualys offers better pricing and is feature-packed compared to other tools.
What needs improvement with Qualys VMDR?
There were some issues later with Qualys VMDR regarding security, specifically with numerous false positive reports.
What needs improvement with Trivy?
Trivy's marketing and awareness need improvement. Not everyone knows about it, which isn't ideal given its capabilities. There's potential to integrate AI and machine learning for enhanced function...
What is your primary use case for Trivy?
I use Trivy ( /products/trivy-reviews ) to scan code for vulnerabilities before deployment. Our projects, which are developed by different developers, involve various dependencies and third-party c...
What advice do you have for others considering Trivy?
I recommend Trivy to others due to its powerful and useful features. However, I suggest increasing its marketing to raise awareness. I rate Trivy an eight out of ten.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Qualys VM, QualysGuard VM, Qualys Asset Inventory, Qualys Container Security
No data available
 

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
Information Not Available
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