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Amazon Inspector vs Tenable Cloud Security comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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 TotalCloud
Sponsored
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (11th), Container Security (11th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (7th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (8th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (1st), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (6th)
Amazon Inspector
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (25th), IT Vendor Risk Management (7th)
Tenable Cloud Security
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (16th), Container Security (31st), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (20th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (24th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (18th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Vulnerability Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Amazon Inspector1.1%
Wiz4.4%
Qualys VMDR3.9%
Other90.6%
Vulnerability Management
Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Tenable Cloud Security3.1%
Wiz12.7%
Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks10.6%
Other73.6%
Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
 

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.
Abdalla Kenawy - PeerSpot reviewer
AWS DevOps SRE/Infrastructure Engineer at Capgemini
Automated insights streamline data security assessment
For Amazon Inspector, we have many EC2 or virtual machines deployed inside our AWS environment, and the problem is that the existing package deployed inside this EC2 instance has already outdated packages. As we progress with time, this package needs to be updated for security enhancement, which requires us to uninstall the package, install the new version, and then we should be fine. However, the challenge comes with how to scan all our EC2 instances for security vulnerabilities, which is currently managed by Amazon Inspector. Amazon Inspector can scan EC2 instances or ECR, which is the ECR registry where we can save artifacts Docker images. Amazon Inspector can also scan Docker images uploaded to ECR for Elastic Registry service, and it can scan databases and S3 based on the latest updates. I noticed this from a couple of months ago, and it provides huge benefits for security. Regarding the best features of Amazon Inspector, it gives us a list of all existing outdated packages as part of a deployed package on EC2 instances or specific Python packages that are part of the Docker file and the Docker image itself, which are causing security concerns. Amazon Inspector can list these security concerns and offer guidance on how we can remediate it by updating the package to a specific upper version or something similar.
CD
Information Security Architect at WSP
Has significantly improved proactive monitoring through automated asset discovery and seamless integration with cloud environments
Making the system smarter would be beneficial. Adding modules for integration with AWS and Azure would be helpful. Adding capabilities for the scanner to automatically pick up changes and add assets automatically would be valuable. When discussing a big company, it is mandatory to have tools that will assist us rather than waiting for manual input to add hosts. Adding assets manually is prone to mistakes. Humans might forget to add an asset or make errors when adding multiple assets. Taking the human element out of the context and making it more streamlined is the future for security. The human should be involved where expertise is needed, such as analysis and decision-making. Currently, with resource constraints, we need tools to collect and aggregate data, eliminate false positives as much as possible, and present relevant information to employees for action.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"One of Qualys' best features is its categorization, which allows us to see the types of assets, their security postures, and the AI-powered version of the tool."
"The agent and agentless scanning in TotalCloud, particularly the FlexScan method, is incredibly valuable. With traditional scanning approaches, we had to give IP ranges and whitelist IPs. All that is now simplified. FlexScan requires minimal intervention, and after configuration, it automatically collects data and performs necessary scans."
"The dashboards are particularly valuable as they offer a comprehensive view of the environment, highlighting any misconfigurations."
"Qualys TotalCloud provides unified vulnerability and threat assessment for IaaS and SaaS and a single prioritized view of risk, which helps reduce my workload by not having to combine multiple sources."
"I depend heavily on the reports that I have from this tool."
"While automatic inventory detection upon connection is a helpful feature, a truly valuable capability would be assessing an environment's security posture against Azure and CIS best practices."
"Its dashboards are brilliant. It provides in-depth insights."
"The best part I like is the on-demand scans."
"The automated vulnerability detection aspect is most valuable."
"Amazon Inspector is highly stable, rated ten out of ten, and this stability impacts business security and administration positively."
"It operates continuously, so as soon as resources are created, it scans them for vulnerabilities."
"It is scanning the whole repository for any sort of vulnerabilities, so it allows us to be more confident in our DevSecOps and not put a lot of folks or attention to it."
"I recommend Amazon Inspector because it allows the automation of processes and requires less manual monitoring."
"My experience with AWS technical support is very good, I didn't face any specific challenges, and even the documentation of AWS is good for both Microsoft, which is Azure, and AWS."
"The scalability of the solution itself is unparalleled."
"The most valuable feature of Amazon Inspector is the categorization of findings, which filters vulnerabilities by instance, container image, container repository, and Lambda function."
"The tool alerts us on depreciating performance or deficiencies of our web application. It helps us react on time."
"Tenable Cloud Security has positively impacted my organization with risk reduction and compliance."
"Element is precisely what we needed for close to real-time external surface monitoring, and the automatic integration capabilities, particularly with DNS, Azure, and AWS, are extremely valuable."
"The product's deployment phase is easy."
"The analytical and reporting capabilities are pretty straightforward and show every transaction and major attempt to attack the application in the cloud."
"Ermetic can provide super visibility for our cloud environment (we are using AWS)."
"The product's visibility and remediation work fine for me."
"Tenable Cloud Security excels in vulnerability detection, one of its strongest features. Another valuable feature is software composition analysis, which highlights and automates the detection of security flaws. Additionally, their knowledge base is excellent; if anything goes wrong, they provide clear guidance on what needs to be done to address specific vulnerabilities."
 

Cons

"With the growing integration of AI, I would like Qualys to enhance its service offerings to better accommodate AI-related risks."
"Qualys' customer service provides quality answers, but the response time is long, even though it is within the SLA."
"There should be improvement from a dashboard perspective when collecting and showcasing data to lead management."
"I sometimes have difficulty detecting or uninstalling certain versions of applications, which I have to do manually."
"Qualys TotalCloud has the potential to improve by integrating a hybrid platform for comprehensive management of both on-premises and cloud infrastructures."
"The support process is inefficient due to the excessive number of replies required when submitting tickets."
"Some major banks and insurance companies require an on-premises solution for comprehensive vulnerability management, which TotalCloud does not offer."
"The onboarding process is a bit difficult. In the initial phase, it is very difficult to understand the features, what the dashboard contains, and what criteria they are using."
"There is room for improvement in the scanning capabilities. I'd like to see broader coverage in terms of the vulnerabilities detected."
"There isn't too much to improve right now. Scanning on demand or as a part of the pipeline versus a post pipeline solution would be good, but it is not a deal breaker by any means."
"The other point is that the reporting features of Inspector need improvement. For example, I am in an organization with millions of CVEs, and getting an overview of all this is challenging."
"The most challenging aspect I faced with Amazon Inspector during integration was automating the remediation process."
"It has automated vulnerability assessment, yet I seek more flexibility in defining custom vulnerability checks tailored to my needs, which is more difficult."
"The false positive rate of Amazon Inspector is a little high, and it is not covering all different applications and scanning."
"There are challenges associated with the interdependencies in AWS services, like requiring an Active Directory for other services, resulting in additional charges."
"It has a limited scope. So, AWS Inspector primarily focuses on the security of the EC2 instance. So, if your architecture includes other AWS services, then you may need to use additional tools for your comprehensive security assessment. So that is one con. Another is, like, we have a dependency on agents."
"I didn't find anything that wasn't useful or needed to be added."
"There is a need for the support team to improve their response time since it is one of the areas where the product's technical team has certain shortcomings."
"I do think there might be room for more integrations. This could allow for further customization and flexibility, essentially offering different functionality options to accommodate various budgets."
"We still maintain Tenable Cloud Security but have reduced the number of licenses. We now use it occasionally to validate specific items rather than monitoring the entire surface, for which we use Element."
"Ermetic needs to improve its security scanning. I would like to see more dynamic graphical forms."
"If Tenable Cloud Security offers a complete Cnapp solution with CWP, CIEM, and Waap security, it will be able to compete with other competitors."
"In my experience, Tenable Cloud Security is not very stable."
"Due to its robust nature, the platform's adoption can be overwhelming initially. However, once organizations start using it, they tend to get used to it. I haven't had much direct interaction with the support team, but some partners have reported a desire for better support for the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Although Qualys TotalCloud is relatively expensive due to its unique automation features, its cost-effectiveness is rated an eight out of ten, with ten being the most costly."
"I am not sure about the pricing. From what I understand, it is a bit on the higher side, but I do not have the exact numbers."
"Qualys TotalCloud offers competitive pricing given its comprehensive suite of features, including integration, assessment, remediation, and detection capabilities, all within a single platform."
"It isn't cheap, but it's reasonable. It helps us to manage things with very few resources."
"The cost is high, but it meets our organizational needs."
"While Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive and may soon be considered overpriced."
"Qualys TotalCloud offers good pricing that is affordable and competitive with the market. Our partnership also provides us with additional benefits."
"As a middle management member, I do not have direct pricing knowledge, but based on the knowledge from our meetings, its pricing is competitive."
"It's priced according to market standards for its services."
"The lowest cost would be around $10 for a few small accounts, however, for thousands of accounts, it could be around $5000 to $6000 dollars per month."
"The pricing is very transparent and clear."
"It is scaled as you go. There are probably a certain number of scans per month, and there are tiers. If you're under a certain tier, it is free. The second level is pennies, and then all the way up to like a million. So, it has a tiered pricing program. They're pretty good with your initial scanning, and there is room to scale based on being affordable, but it is fairly cheap. There are no additional costs. They pretty much think about it as a pay-per-scan type model."
"The tool's pricing is fair."
"There is a need to opt for a subscription-based pricing model to use Tenable Cloud Security. I rate the product price an eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."
"The tool's price is good compared to other brands. The tool's subscription is for a year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
15%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise30
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise5
 

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 Amazon Inspector?
I am not honestly sure about the pricing side of Amazon Inspector, but that is taken care of by a separate team. I be...
What needs improvement with Amazon Inspector?
They might launch support for third-party environments in the next version regarding the best features in Amazon Insp...
What is your primary use case for Amazon Inspector?
I mostly use Amazon Inspector for vulnerability scanning on AWS native applications. For hybrid applications, we have...
What needs improvement with Tenable Cloud Security?
Making the system smarter would be beneficial. Adding modules for integration with AWS and Azure would be helpful. Ad...
What is your primary use case for Tenable Cloud Security?
We had other solutions that we used. One solution was that we did not have something exactly similar to what Element ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Ermetic CSPM?
I wasn't involved with the pricing, setup cost and licensing for Tenable Cloud Security.
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
No data available
Ermetic, Ermetic Identity Governance for AWS
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
betterment, caplinked, flatiron, university of nutri dame
Tyler Technologies, Bilfinger, BarkBox, MongoDB, airSlate, Adama, Latch, Cloudinary, Riskified, AppsFlyer, IntelyCare, Aidoc, 42Dot, and more.
Find out what your peers are saying about Wiz, Qualys, Tenable and others in Vulnerability Management. Updated: July 2026.
907,372 professionals have used our research since 2012.