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Qualys Web Application Scanning vs SonarQube Cloud (formerly SonarCloud) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

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 Web Application Scanning improved visibility, reduced costs and failure rates, and increased ROI with automation, despite licensing challenges.
Sentiment score
5.7
SonarQube Cloud enhances code understanding, integrates with CI/CD, and offers positive ROI, benefiting large projects economically.
It is easily integrable with the CI/CD pipeline and supports multiple projects with its extensive plugin options.
The product is designed for bigger clients, while smaller companies are often put aside.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.0
Qualys Web Application Scanning support is mostly praised for responsiveness, with minor concerns about higher-tier access and engagement.
Sentiment score
7.8
SonarQube Cloud support varies; while integration is easy, users seek better documentation and proactive technical engagement.
Once we purchase the license, we have access to top-notch support.
I have dealt with Qualys's technical support, and any enhancements are challenging.
The customer service and support for SonarQube Cloud are responsive and helpful.
Integrating it into different solutions is straightforward.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Qualys Web Application Scanning is scalable, handling multiple licenses and users, though some issues arise with concurrent scans.
Sentiment score
6.4
SonarQube Cloud is scalable and user-friendly, suitable for diverse projects, but has some functionality limitations compared to competitors.
It is licensed for assets, so we just contact the team for additional licenses if needed.
At one point, there was a limitation on reporting for 100,000 assets at a time.
It has been used in multiple projects and performs well.
There are limitations, and it seems to have fewer capabilities than Veracode.
SonarQube Cloud is a scalable product, and I rate its scalability at seven out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Qualys Web Application Scanning is praised for stability and reliability, with users rating it highly and few issues reported.
Sentiment score
7.9
SonarQube Cloud is stable and reliable, though improvements in user experience, documentation, and CI/CD integration are needed.
From my team's feedback, it is almost an eight out of ten.
It is a quite stable solution.
 

Room For Improvement

Qualys Web Application Scanning users seek improved XSS detection, simpler interface, better pricing, and enhanced integration features.
SonarQube Cloud requires better testing, flexibility, UI, integration, and security features to enhance user experience and vulnerability detection.
With the growing reliance on AI, Qualys Web Application Scanning should be updated to handle AI-based applications and LLM-based attacks.
I would like it to be cheaper because it is a bit expensive compared to competitors like Tenable Nessus.
One area of improvement is reducing false positives by prioritizing agent findings over remote findings when there is a corresponding local agent finding.
To improve SonarQube Cloud (formerly SonarCloud), it should excel in all these domains.
I would like to see SonarQube Cloud provide more detailed solutions for fixing code issues, especially solutions related to CVEs.
Static code analysis is good, but the product lacks dynamic code scanning capabilities, an area where Veracode excels.
 

Setup Cost

Qualys Web Application Scanning offers competitive pricing and flexible licensing, though some users seek improved cost-effectiveness.
SonarQube Cloud's pricing, based on lines of code, is seen as competitive but costly for small businesses.
They offer discounts on bulk licenses, making it cheaper compared to competitors like Veracode DAST.
I find it a bit expensive compared to other competitors.
SonarQube Cloud is roughly equivalent in cost to Veracode, maybe a little cheaper.
From my experience, SonarQube Cloud (formerly SonarCloud) is very expensive for small companies.
We used the open-source version of SonarQube Cloud for its minimum features and did not license its extensive capabilities.
 

Valuable Features

Qualys Web Application Scanning offers Selenium integration, effective threat detection, and seamless CI/CD integration with a user-friendly interface.
SonarQube Cloud offers vulnerability detection, CI/CD integration, detailed reports, and user-friendly dashboards for enhanced code quality management.
It effectively detects vulnerabilities like the OWASP Top 10 without any issues in reporting.
Qualys Web Application Scanning is accurate and provides minimal false positives.
Credential scanning is very effective because it goes in-depth into the system, crawling the pages, and reporting on vulnerabilities.
I use SonarQube Cloud (formerly SonarCloud) to check the quality of developer code and identify vulnerabilities.
It is integrated easily with the CI/CD pipeline, saving time and cost.
I find SonarQube Cloud very easy to use and simple to integrate initially.
 

Categories and Ranking

Qualys Web Application Scan...
Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
11th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
38
Ranking in other categories
Application Security Tools (13th)
SonarQube Cloud (formerly S...
Ranking in Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Static Application Security Testing (SAST) category, the mindshare of Qualys Web Application Scanning is 2.1%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SonarQube Cloud (formerly SonarCloud) is 5.8%, down from 6.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Static Application Security Testing (SAST)
 

Featured Reviews

SubhajitAich - PeerSpot reviewer
A stable solution that can be used for infrastructure vulnerability scanning and web application scanning
Qualys Web Application Scanning is very complex to use, and its graphical interface is not very user-friendly. Compared to other solutions like Tenable and Rapid7, you need to navigate a lot to get the actual results out of Qualys Web Application Scanning. If I have to search for one thing within the entire console, I have to look for it randomly. It's not very easy and very comfortable to find something. Overall, it's a very good solution, but it will be very good if the tool is more user-friendly.
Archana Verma - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides valuable insights on code vulnerabilities and integrates seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines
I find SonarQube Cloud to be very user-friendly with an easy-to-use interface. It provides detailed code smell reports and insights on hotspots, which can later represent security vulnerabilities. It gives precise reports compared to Coverity and has a slightly lower number of false positives. It is integrated easily with the CI/CD pipeline, saving time and cost. It provides information on upcoming vulnerability details and loopholes that might turn into vulnerabilities.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Insurance Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Qualys Web Application Scanning?
The vulnerability management feature is a strong one. And also the patch management feature.
What needs improvement with Qualys Web Application Scanning?
I would like it to be cheaper because it is a bit expensive compared to competitors like Tenable Nessus ( /products/tenable-nessus-reviews ). After using the product for a year, I might have more s...
What do you like most about SonarCloud?
Recently, they introduced support for mono reports and microservices, which is a noteworthy development as it provides a more detailed view of each service.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SonarCloud?
From my experience, SonarQube Cloud (formerly SonarCloud) is very expensive for small companies. It would be a great improvement if the price for smaller companies were reduced, as I do not have th...
What needs improvement with SonarCloud?
I need a solution that can bring together three key areas: vulnerabilities, static scanning, and misarchitecture. Currently, to achieve our expectations, we have to use more than one product, as so...
 

Also Known As

Qualys WAS
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

BskyB, Cartagena, ClearPoint Learning Systems, Connect Group, du, Fortrex Technologies, HBOR, HDI, Highlights for Children, The Lithuanian State Enterprise Centre of Registers, City of Miami Beach, Microsoft, MidlandHR, MSCI Inc., Northern Arizona University, Ofgem, Olympus Europa, PhoneFactor, RTL Nederland, ThousandEyes, VGZ Organisatie B.V.
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Find out what your peers are saying about Qualys Web Application Scanning vs. SonarQube Cloud (formerly SonarCloud) and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,671 professionals have used our research since 2012.