No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

VMware Aria Automation vs WithSecure Elements Exposure Management (XM) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 18, 2026

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

VMware Aria Automation
Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
19th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
172
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Management (3rd), Configuration Management (8th), Network Automation (6th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (5th)
WithSecure Elements Exposur...
Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
36th
Average Rating
10.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (77th), Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (28th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) category, the mindshare of VMware Aria Automation is 0.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WithSecure Elements Exposure Management (XM) is 0.7%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
VMware Aria Automation0.8%
WithSecure Elements Exposure Management (XM)0.7%
Other98.5%
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
 

Featured Reviews

VasilisGiannitsiotis - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT at ITSolutions
Automation has streamlined complex financial workflows but still needs more intuitive orchestration
Something to improve in VMware Aria Automation would be related to VCF 9, as I do not know what it is trying to bring because they exposed it as the solution of everything. So VCF 9 will bring VCF Automation and VCF Operations, the new product line of VMware. I have not seen what this brings or what else it includes. Maybe in the area of vRealize Orchestrator, this would be beneficial because VRO can do everything. Perhaps a more user-friendly way to use that tool would be helpful because the possibilities there are endless. I am looking for more user-friendly navigation in VMware Aria Automation.
PP
System Specialist at Fix-Forum Oy
Stable, scalable, and can be deployed on both cloud and on-premises
We usually need the solution to have extra protection against data breaches, as we have seen with our customers. The solution is deployed on the public cloud The solution works both outside and on-premises of the company, thus preventing secondary breaches from reaching the company's data. The…

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"A lot of its DevOps for infrastructure capabilities improve reliability. Much effort was put in by some customers, like a large automobile manufacturer, a large telecom, and two large banks, to achieve a certain level of capabilities in this space. These DevOps for infrastructure capabilities have saved time for developers. In one use case for a large marketplace, a typical release cycle took about 80 hours and was brought down to three hours by automating deployment for developers. The quicker that deployments happen, the faster that they can do their product release cycles."
"For a few years, when we needed a server, it took us three months to deliver one, and now we can bring one up in approximately 15 minutes."
"We automated many tool deployments with the help of the product, cutting short manual deployments and eliminating the need for human interaction. Its most valuable features include integrating various tools and working with different products using plugins."
"The new version is user-friendly and intuitive."
"SaltStack being so fast makes it very convenient and practical; allows me to get information about my servers in no time."
"It provides velocity both from management and customer perspectives, from ingesting new catalog items, developing new workflows for additional features, and/or allowing customer access to multiple guest OS instances at scale in a shorter time frame."
"The solution is user-friendly and intuitive."
"Another valuable feature is the flexible user interface. They can manage all of the servers, the full lifecycle of VMs, on one screen."
"The solution works both outside and on-premises of the company, thus preventing secondary breaches from reaching the company's data."
 

Cons

"We have seen couple of bugs."
"They should make it a little bit more dynamic, a little bit easier to deal with large-scale AD deployments. They need to make it a little more enterprise-ready. That is the one thing that kills us."
"Salt does not support performing remote actions that require a sudo password with Salt SSH (agentless Salt execution)."
"I would like to see more integration to do things like DR, from a court perspective."
"The initial setup was not straightforward. It was not simple, and we had a PoC. We had VMware help us deploy it, and it took them an exorbitant amount of time."
"Better training, or training modules, wouldn't hurt."
"That ServiceNow implementation is a little rough, but those guys in Ohio are doing a great job on it."
"I don't feel that, with our implementation of vRealize Automation, we have really gotten very far."
"The cost of the solution has room for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It made the provisioning of the virtual machines easier and faster. We can react more quickly to customers' demands."
"I would rate it high because, compared to other solutions, VMware’s pricing is quite expensive. VMware products have become significantly more costly in recent years, leading to higher costs."
"It is an expensive product. After VMware's acquisition by Broadcom, there was a rise in the price of VMware Aria Automation."
"I'm very interested in the integration with Puppet. However, my organization doesn't have the funding for something like Puppet right now. If VMware would integrate that feature set (Puppet) into vRA. That would be very awesome."
"vRealize automation really should be a front door to the whole VMware suite of products."
"The cost of the solution is reasonable for us. Although it is relatively high, we prioritize stability and integration over cost."
"Better pricing is always handy, but I feel it's at the right price point."
"This is an expensive product and the high price is starting to become an issue for us."
"The cost of the solution is mid-ranged but worth the price."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) solutions are best for your needs.
886,468 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise130
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What's the difference between VMware vRA (automation) and vROps (operations)?
vROP is a virtualization management solution from VMWare. It is efficient and easy to manage. You can find anything you need from the software interface. It provides complete visibility over applic...
Is there any way to try VMware Aria Automation for free?
When it comes to VMware Aria Automation, you have three choices for free runs: Hands-on Lab (HOL) Advanced lab A free trial I cannot describe in detail the second and third options as my company ...
Which sectors can benefit the most from VMware Aria Automation?
I was looking at VMware Aria Automation case studies recently and I got the impression that three main kinds of companies were using it most often: Social organizations Financial institutions and ...
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

VMware vRealize Automation, vRA, VMware DynamicOps Cloud Suite, SaltStack
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Rent-a-Center, Amway, Vistra Energy, Liberty Mutual
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Wiz, Palo Alto Networks, SentinelOne and others in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM). Updated: March 2026.
886,468 professionals have used our research since 2012.