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Automox vs Qualys Patch Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

Automox
Ranking in Patch Management
14th
Average Rating
8.8
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (46th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (55th), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) (18th)
Qualys Patch Management
Ranking in Patch Management
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Jack Leung - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 24, 2023
Easy to use and deploy agents but needs more stability
We primarily use it on the endpoint management and on the server It is very simple and straightforward to use.  Technical support is helpful. They can scale well. It's easy to deploy agents to endpoints.  They need to improve the automation features.  It could be more stable.  I've been using…
Brad Mathis - PeerSpot reviewer
Jun 10, 2024
Helps simplify patching, integrates well, and reduces costs
A common area for improvement in Patch Management, both within our environment and others I've encountered, is the lack of built-in driver updates. Ideally, the system would handle updates for network interface cards, video cards, and other components, eliminating the need to rely on manufacturer-specific tools like Dell Update or HP Update. Integrating these patching options would significantly improve the overall functionality. Qualys Patch Management primarily updates operating systems, third-party software including Adobe products and many more, leaving video card drivers and firmware updates to other tools. This focus on core software is understandable, as driver and firmware updates can be more complex. The price has room for improvement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Its flexibility is most valuable."
"The flexibility in creating tools to make changes on remote machines is most valuable to me. The reporting feature is also fantastic because on any given day I can bring up a list of machines that don't have patches, for example. Or I can bring up a list of machines that are in my environment on a certain day. The solution helps me with not only my own role, and what I look for internally myself, but it also helps during audits. I can go in and look at the number of machines in there, and their owners and timelines. It certainly helps tell a story for anything that IT requires."
"Previously, we would run a report, scan it, and compare it. We were spending 15 to 30 minutes a month on each machine on this stuff because you would find stuff that wasn't up to date, then you had to fix it. This solution takes that time down to minutes. Automox saves us easily many hours a month."
"It's easy to deploy agents to endpoints."
"Coming from prior solutions that were a lot more effort, Automox's patch management abilities are transformational. When I took over patching at my company, they were using on-premise architecture to patch. As the workforce shifted from being in the office into their home offices, I was able to lift and shift with no effort other than deploying the new agent out into the environment."
"The fact that it's just one product that can patch multiple operating systems is really great."
"Among the most valuable features are its ease of use and the Worklets. Both of them are time-savers. Worklets enable us to customize things for a given environment. It's something like when Apple lets other people create applications. Other peoples' Worklets can be used in our environment and in our customers' environments. That saves a lot of time, and it's really cool."
"They've been adding some new features lately, which I'm not nearly as familiar with, but the ability to just deploy patches and exempt certain machines from certain patches is helpful. For instance, for our servers, we may not want to roll out zero-day patches. We are able to exempt those and make sure that they don't get those policies. We've got certain servers that have to run a particular version of Java, and being able to exempt those servers from receiving Java updates is pretty fantastic."
"The integration of Qualys Gateway Scanner is my favorite feature. The patches our downloaded to QGS in our environment and deployed, saving bandwidth. The patch logging and policies have been helpful. The dashboard shows you when the patch has been applied to your assets."
"Qualys Patch Management streamlines our vulnerability management process by providing a single source of truth to assess, prioritize, and remediate vulnerabilities across all assets."
"Qualys' best feature is its reporting. At first, it may seem a little complicated to a beginning user, but it's helpful once you get used to it. Most of these scans run automatically. We set the scans up for the client to run at daily, weekly, or monthly intervals, depending on how critical the server or other hardware is."
"Patch Management, if configured correctly, works effectively without requiring further action."
"Qualys Patch Management has significantly reduced our organizational risks."
"Qualys Patch Management offers valuable features like scheduling and on-demand patching, allowing us to conveniently push patches to our servers at designated times."
"The most valuable features are the ease of managing both first-party and third-party patching, the generation of dashboards, and the provision of real-time information."
"Patch Management's most valuable feature is the ability to search for vulnerabilities using their QID."
 

Cons

"The biggest area they need to fix, without a doubt, is the ability to copy and sync profiles and worklets between all of the organizations you manage, and the ability to have top-level user access control across all of the companies that you manage."
"As concerns the patching concepts, there's a bit of a learning curve in terms of working out how Automox wants you to work within the console, not only splitting up everything into groups, but then having the various policies assigned."
"There should be better inventory capabilities. Right now, they only allow you to have insight into software out-of-the-box. It would be nice to also extend that into custom inventory that can be modified and managed by the practitioner."
"The stability has come a long way from what it was like when it started and now it's really good."
"When we bring on a new client, we need to go into that client and manually set up my account, my chief engineer's account, three technicians' accounts, and a billing person's account all over again, which is annoying. We have probably up to 15 or 16 of our clients on Automox now. For every single one of those, we have had to go in and set this up. Then, if anything changes, we have to remember to go to Automox and change it 15 or 16 times. So, we just want inheritable permissions, and that is it. We have talked to them about this, and they are like, "Yeah, we hear a lot of complaints about it." I am thinking, "Guys, I have been complaining about this for a year and a half. When are you going to do it?" It must be some tricky thing or not an easy fix, because I can only assume if it were easy, then they would have done it by now."
"We would like to see additional detailed reporting for Service providers like us. We had to build our own reports via their APIs to meet our needs."
"They need to improve the automation features."
"It should have integrated workstation access. So, there should be a remote desktop feature."
"Qualys's current response time for releasing solutions to zero-day vulnerabilities, which takes approximately 12 to 16 hours, needs improvement."
"There is room for improvement in terms of adding more patches."
"Qualys can do regular check-ins to go over not only all the vulnerabilities but also the overall process to see if there is anything where we might need improvement."
"Qualys could improve its randomized download feature and provide more detailed information about patch failures, including the reason for failure."
"Qualys's current response time for releasing solutions to zero-day vulnerabilities, which takes approximately 12 to 16 hours, needs improvement."
"Currently, there are limitations in downloading patch jobs to view all associated assets and patch statuses."
"There is room for improvement in terms of adding more patches. Not all patches are available for deployment on Qualys Patch Management, so collaborating with various vendors to provide new patches would be beneficial."
"Its implementation is too recent to make any judgments about areas needing improvement. In terms of pricing, of course, it is not free. Cheaper is always better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its licensing for a year was nine grand. There was no additional fee."
"The pricing and licensing costs have been great for us... My advice to others who are evaluating or thinking of implementing Automox is to give it a shot. If a free trial is still available, definitely use it, because it makes life a lot easier."
"We are on the premium licensing, which is the one that has the API capability that we use."
"The product is a great value."
"There are no additional costs in addition to the extended licensing fees with Automox. You get your support and your per endpoint license with what you purchased."
"Automox just charges us a set amount per user, per month, for using the product. That is very important to us. Because it's a cloud-native solution, you're saving on the cost of hosting an on-premises solution on your servers."
"For all these software tools, it is usually a subscription model. There is a monthly charge that we need to pass along to our clients because we are doing all this for their benefit. It is only a couple of bucks a month per computer, and that is a low enough price point where our clients, without exception, have accepted it, and said, "This is great. We will pay that. It sounds like a worthwhile thing.""
"We're doing it annually directly through Automox. It is per endpoint. It is $2 and some change per endpoint, but I believe the cost is right around $28,000. Everything is covered in this fee."
"The licensing cost is more than 2,000 for the whole Americas region"
"Qualys is fairly priced."
"The pricing is reasonable and less expensive than the previous tool."
"From what I have heard, Qualys Patch Management is pricey, which is a main barrier to entry. Another aspect that I do not like about Qualys is that they do not add new patch management functionalities to the existing package. It is a separate SKU, so you have to pay more money."
"Pricing for Qualys Patch Management is moderate."
"Qualys Patch Management's pricing is competitive."
"It is affordable, but they should provide features as per the rate they are charging. We have a big infrastructure with about 80,000 licenses. We expect better support from the Qualys team. So, it is affordable, but more features should be there, and the support should be better."
"Qualys Patch Management is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Automox?
It's easy to deploy agents to endpoints.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Automox?
We do pay a monthly licensing fee. I'd rate the pricing as average. It's not cheap yet not too expensive. You can also pay for more support if you require them to provide consultancy services.
What needs improvement with Automox?
They need to improve the automation features. It could be more stable.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys Patch Management?
From what I have heard, Qualys Patch Management is pricey, which is a main barrier to entry. Another aspect that I do not like about Qualys is that they do not add new patch management functionalit...
What needs improvement with Qualys Patch Management?
They are constantly working on making it better. There is no 100% reliable or working application or software. There are caveats with the network passive sensor when it does not merge or something ...
What is your primary use case for Qualys Patch Management?
We use almost every module that Qualys has, except the EDR, which is endpoint protection. They came up with that module last year. We use their patch management, vulnerability scanners, cloud agent...
 

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Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Automox vs. Qualys Patch Management and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.