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BigFix vs Qualys Patch Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024
 

Categories and Ranking

BigFix
Ranking in Patch Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
95
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (5th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (14th), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (4th)
Qualys Patch Management
Ranking in Patch Management
7th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Bella Yakoby - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers third-party patching feature, good scalability, and enhance endpoint management capabilities
From the perspective of the team that's handling the environment, it's not so user-friendly compared to other solutions, the competitors. We hire new teams from time to time, and they are complaining, look, although BigFix is very robust and cross-platform, it's not so fun to work with. The user interface for the technical teams is not so advanced. It's not so intuitive compared to SCCM, compared to ManageEngine. And this is the fact that they have, with the teams, because they have the rejection. The look and feel of the system are old-fashioned. For new employees, it's less easy to find someone I don't need to educate on how to work with BigFix. Although it's easy, it's not as intuitive as the other solutions, and the functionality of the other solutions is less advanced. Let's summarize: The user interface has to be changed from the perspective of the teams that are managing the product. It's old school.
Brad Mathis - PeerSpot reviewer
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

"Prior to BigFix we used Altiris, which was distributed. We had to manage multiple servers, and duplicate the tasks that we did on each server. BigFix tremendously reduced the amount of work that we had to do on each server in a centralized manner. We could minimize the work that we had to do, and we had a lot more control over the tasks and what machines they ran on."
"The most valuable features are patch management, software installation, and asset management."
"We receive the patches automatically, and BigFix spreads them automatically to our endpoints."
"The use of fast query has been extremely valuable providing insight in real time of the endpoints."
"Having higher visibility on patching level, on patching successful, and non-successful has been a way that BigFix has improved my organization. Also, the ability to customize the content to do what we need it to do is very powerful and very flexible for us. Finally, in the area of custom interfaces like REST API really gives us the ability to provide for our external customers."
"It is for multiple use cases. A lot of people are looking at it just for security, and that's really endpoint security. The endpoint management part of it in terms of being able to constantly do patching for Windows, Unix, macOS, Cloud, Raspberry, VMware, and all Linux flavors is important, and they are very good at that. They have support for virtually every OS on the market."
"The solution is unbelievably scalable."
"It is user-friendly."
"For a few applications, you do not need to go and download the patches from the network or somewhere else. They have the patches or the latest updates in the directory. You can just select a patch and deploy it to a server. You can create a patch job and select the patch. Everything is within the interface. You do not need to go out of it."
"Qualys Patch Management significantly improved our patch rates by 80 percent, scanning for vulnerabilities every four hours via the Qualys agent."
"Qualys allows us to automate and fix patches through the tool, achieving a compliance rate of over 95%."
"The organization's risk score has significantly improved since integrating with Qualys Patch Management."
"Qualys Patch Management allows us to structure all the patches together and schedule patch management sessions."
"Overall, I would rate Qualys Patch Management a nine out of ten."
"The features I find most valuable in Qualys Patch Management include the ability to manage registry changes and run scripts both pre and post-patching. We have been able to apply workarounds for zero-day vulnerabilities efficiently."
"Qualys Patch Management offers a valuable feature that allows for deferred reboots, giving users control while still ensuring eventual patching."
 

Cons

"I would like to see a web UI SDK so we could take what is provided currently and be able to build our own customized web UI for particular customers that want to sell service."
"We would like to see a different license plan, e.g. to include features from lifecycle with Patch Management, as an example."
"I want to see a solution for being able to deploy automated software to a Mac running OS X 10.13, something that's going to deal with kernel exceptions and answering prompts for user permissions for data folders and whatnot. They need to really streamline and automate the Mac software deployment."
"I would eventually like to see a SaaS offering, a cloud-hosted BigFix instance where we only have to put a relay in our environment."
"It can be improved speed-wise. They can make it a little bit light. If you do any query for servers in bulk, it can take some time. Similarly, creating a job can take some time."
"I would like to see much better web reporting because as it is now, it's convoluted, basic, it's not modern, and there are limitations to it."
"The tool should be more friendly in terms of Web UI and should be having better vulnerability scanning mechanisms so a third-party application is not required to fulfill that aspect."
"BigFix can improve the way machines report back to the console. In the external relay management environment, it has become more of a hybrid environment with most of the machines not being on-site. The need of having public-facing reporting items interconnected is becoming more and more crucial. In general, the reporting could use some enhancement."
"They need to improve the user-friendliness of identifying how many devices are affected by a particular patch."
"There is room for improvement in terms of adding more patches."
"The pricing of the solution is slightly high compared to other tools in our field."
"Sometimes, legacy operating systems are not supported by Qualys Patch Management, which is an issue."
"One of the challenges that we have faced with the Patch Management tool is that you cannot patch all the things. There are some limitations, whereas, in SCCM, we can create a package and just deploy that through it. Anything is deployable through SCCM, whereas Patch Management is very selective."
"Currently, there are limitations in downloading patch jobs to view all associated assets and patch statuses."
"This authentication requirement blocks some patches from being pushed through Qualys, leaving them in a locked state."
"Pricing is on the higher side. We found it costly compared to other vendors."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is very fair."
"When purchasing, buying with other IBM tools provided us with a very good discount in pricing."
"The price of BigFix is better than the solutions. You are able to pay monthly or annually. There are not any hidden costs with BigFix. There is an additional cost for the SQL database."
"The price of the solution is high. There are not any additional fees from the standard license."
"The tool's price continues to go up. The cost per endpoint can vary, ranging from approximately 30 to 80 dollars per year. Compared to other products, pricing is in the middle. You need to buy an additional database license, but most users already have it."
"We have a subscription-based contract with BigFix."
"The price of BigFix could be lower. However, I am always seeking a lower price."
"I can estimate the reduced cost of servers maintenance to approximatively $500,000."
"The pricing is fair and within our budget."
"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."
"The pricing is reasonable and competitive. We get many more features at the same price compared to other solutions such as Microsoft SCCM. It is worth the money considering the services and features it has. Their support team is also awesome."
"Qualys Patch Management's pricing is competitive."
"Qualys Patch Management comes as part of a bundled package with several modules, making it a cost-effective deal for us."
"While the cost of Qualys Patch Management is slightly high compared to alternative tools, it is not excessively expensive."
"Pricing is on the higher side. We found it costly compared to other vendors."
"Qualys Patch Management is a cost-effective solution for managing our 43,000-plus assets."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
50%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
6%
Computer Software Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BigFix?
The most valuable features of the solution are Windows patching and the hardware and software inventory.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BigFix?
The pricing is competitive, but not the most competitive.
What needs improvement with BigFix?
BigFix could improve its asset management capabilities to discover assets, including hardware. More improvements could be made in asset management.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys Patch Management?
Pricing is on the higher side. We found it costly compared to other vendors.
What needs improvement with Qualys Patch Management?
It would be beneficial to have more efficiently scheduled task deployments that are tailored to specific asset types or deployment needs.
What is your primary use case for Qualys Patch Management?
We use Qualys Patch Management to detect open vulnerabilities and manage patches.
 

Also Known As

Tivoli Endpoint Manager
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

US Foods, Penn State, St Vincent's Health US Foods, Sabadell Bank, SunTrust, Australia Sydney, Stemac, Capgemini, WNS Global Services, Jebsen & Jessen, CenterBeam, Strauss, Christian Hospital Centre, Brit Insurance, Career Education Corporation
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Find out what your peers are saying about BigFix vs. Qualys Patch Management and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
824,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.