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Qualys VMDR vs Trivy comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 19, 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
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
95
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (4th), Vulnerability Management (3rd), Configuration Management Databases (2nd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (1st)
Trivy
Ranking in Container Security
5th
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 November 2025, in the Container Security category, the mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 2.4%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Trivy is 6.1%, up from 3.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Trivy6.1%
Qualys VMDR2.4%
Other91.5%
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 prioritization of vulnerabilities has improved our remediation efforts by around thirty to thirty-five percent."
"The features that are most valuable are the identification, scan features, and the identification of vulnerabilities."
"The most valuable feature is the QID part, especially of CentralList, which makes it easy to assess new critical vulnerabilities."
"The best features of Qualys VMDR are its patch management capabilities and the ability to mitigate vulnerabilities automatically."
"Qualys VMDR provides a real-time response and reporting feature, which is excellent."
"The integrations for this solution are very good. I use a different product for virtual patching of vulnerabilities and Qualys integrates well with that product."
"The most recent is VMDR, which provides a comprehensive overview of how to detect, patch, and remediate specific vulnerabilities."
"I like Qualys because it is a very complete product, more so than Tenable."
"I can see vulnerabilities in the images of any applications deployed in the Kubernetes environment or as container applications."
"I definitely recommend Trivy."
"Trivy is easy to integrate with CI/CD and can be installed on desktops to scan images."
"What I find valuable is the ease of setup with Trivy, including pre-defined operators that require minimal configuration."
"Trivy is very reliable and always has an up-to-date database to scan images and identify vulnerabilities."
"Trivy's open source nature and wide functionality are incredibly valuable."
"I appreciate Trivy for being open-source and not requiring any payment."
"Trivy's open source nature and wide functionality are incredibly valuable."
 

Cons

"The reporting in this solution can be improved."
"Qualys could improve the inbuilt dashboards."
"The reporting and the GUI need improvements."
"Improve the API speed."
"The response time of technical support takes a while."
"Some of the older features could be polished instead of focusing on releasing new features."
"Qualys should improve their customer experience. They need to improve the tech support experience and the turnaround time."
"Qualys does have an on-prem solution, but it is very expensive."
"The only problem is that Trivy does not support reporting features such as generating reports in CSV, which is useful for auditing and reporting."
"Trivy generates many false positives, flagging non-existent vulnerabilities. Improvements could include better contextual analysis or granular filtering."
"Trivy is not scalable; however, I have scanned very large projects with it. It is stable but not scalable according to my experience."
"A dynamic scanning capability during runtime would be a significant advantage."
"Currently, the container image scanning is static. A dynamic scanning capability during runtime would be a significant advantage."
"In our CI/CD pipelines, Trivy lacks built-in functionality for report analysis."
"The reporting could be a little better."
"One drawback I have observed with Trivy is the difficulty in building or integrating a UI, particularly for an operator in the NetSuite example."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing is expensive and I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."
"The price is very reasonable."
"The solution is costly."
"It is more expensive than other products on the market."
"We do see over $100,000 in terms of price, for mid-size programs. You likely will pay more than $100,000 without any discount. It is a bit pricey."
"We have an annual contract for Qualys VMDR. I believe it's for either two years or five years."
"Qualys VM is better suited for medium to large companies because the price can be too much for smaller customers."
"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."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise69
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise9
 

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?
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...
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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