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BigFix vs Qualys Patch Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 16, 2024

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
4.9
BigFix delivers quick ROI with efficient patch management, reducing manual labor and costs while improving compliance and operational efficiency.
Sentiment score
5.6
Qualys Patch Management delivers high ROI, reducing vulnerabilities and costs, enhancing security, and improving efficiency despite its higher price.
With Qualys, we can save around 70 percent of time and between 30 to 40 percent of money.
Information Security Manager at BARC India
We have a 50 percent return on investment due to reduced operational complexity and increased efficiency in patching and detection.
Information Security - Manager at Infosys
We have achieved significant time savings of 90 percent, primarily due to comprehensive oversight and visibility of security issues.
Manager Information Security at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.6
BigFix's customer service is praised for expertise and responsiveness, enhanced by community resources and recent support improvements.
Sentiment score
7.3
Qualys Patch Management's customer service is responsive and helpful, despite occasional delays and reliance on the knowledge base.
On a scale from one to ten, with ten being the highest quality, enterprise support provides timely responses, typically within four to eight hours.
Technical Director at SYSTEX
Technical support from HCL is satisfactory unless there are customization requirements.
Founder Director at Techsa Services
Whenever we need any kind of support, the BigFix team is present and available.
Solution Sales Specialist at TD SYNNEX
The support team is experienced and responsive.
Senior Security Consultant at CyberNxt Solutions LLP
The support team is responsive and provides detailed information.
Vulnerability Management Engineer at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees
Whenever we raise a request and mention the priority of the ticket, they respond immediately via email or call.
Security Consultant at Onity
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
4.7
BigFix effectively manages environments of all sizes with high scalability, supporting large deployments without performance issues.
Sentiment score
8.4
Qualys Patch Management is highly adaptable, efficiently managing global networks with seamless integration and dynamic scaling, despite licensing limitations.
BigFix requires some minimum configuration requirements.
RPA Developer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
It scales efficiently across different machines globally, ensuring patches are deployed smoothly.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys Patch Management is a globally scalable product, easily handling increasing workloads and users.
Information Security Manager at BARC India
If a client has purchased licensing for ten thousand assets and exceeds that, Qualys continues to scan those additional assets, which ensures the client's coverage.
Lead Product Manager ASM at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.2
BigFix is praised for its stability, efficient large-scale deployments, and autonomous operations with minimal user intervention and near-perfect ratings.
Sentiment score
7.6
Qualys Patch Management is stable, highly rated for reliability, with occasional minor issues often due to network conditions.
I would rate the stability of Qualys Patch Management nine point five out of ten.
Information Security Lead at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
The stability of Qualys Patch Management is impeccable.
Sr Cyber Security Manager at BARC India
Overall, it is reliable.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Room For Improvement

BigFix users seek pricing adjustments, enhanced interface, improved documentation, better integration, scalability, and cloud and mobile management solutions.
Qualys Patch Management needs better integration, ease of use, and support while addressing pricing, reporting, and functionality issues.
Building a management console is quick and simple, taking only one to two hours for setup.
Technical Director at SYSTEX
The problem was related to the hardware configuration and hardware specifications.
RPA Developer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
In addition to reporting improvements, there should be a feature for application control to allow or disallow certain applications from being executed on endpoints.
Founder Director at Techsa Services
There is a limitation where Qualys may not always offer solutions for remediation, particularly for end-of-life or end-of-service applications.
System Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
It would be better if Qualys Patch Management identifies whether the process has failed at the first instance and provides a retry button or retry mechanism, allowing retries for failed patches.
Sr Security Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
For critical options, they could make them red, green for medium, and blue for less significant options.
Cyber Security Specialist at UBS Financial
 

Setup Cost

BigFix offers flexible pricing with competitive but potentially costly plans, beneficial licensing, and discount options for larger deployments.
Qualys Patch Management offers robust features at a competitive price, with volume discounts improving affordability for smaller environments.
The pricing is pretty good and now follows a subscription model similar to SolarWinds, making it easier for customers to subscribe and unsubscribe.
Founder Director at Techsa Services
We get many more features at the same price as other solutions such as Microsoft SCCM.
Senior Security Consultant at CyberNxt Solutions LLP
However, it can be a bit expensive sometimes, and I think clients can be shocked when they see the price.
Lead Product Manager ASM at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
The pricing is reasonable and less expensive than the previous tool.
Technical Lead - Security Operations at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
 

Valuable Features

BigFix offers scalable and customizable endpoint management with robust patching, software distribution, and security compliance across multiple platforms.
Qualys Patch Management offers automated patching, risk prioritization, and real-time insights, enhancing security efficiency and usability across platforms.
The BigFix features that have proven most effective include inventory, software delivery, software distribution, software catalog, and both software and hardware management.
Technical Director at SYSTEX
I use this mainly to capture inventory for IBM products, and as BigFix was part of IBM, it gets easily integrated with IBM solutions.
RPA Developer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
BigFix supports something known as Patch Policies, which allows users to define that whenever critical patches are released, they should get evaluated against machines and automatically deploy them.
Founder Director at Techsa Services
We leverage this functionality to deploy scripts that adjust registry values, effectively patching vulnerabilities and enhancing the security of our machines.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
We have been able to apply workarounds for zero-day vulnerabilities efficiently.
Senior Security Consultant at CyberNxt Solutions LLP
It provides insight into the organization's security posture and keeps databases updated with new CVEs.
Cyber Security Engineer at Techensglobal
 

Categories and Ranking

BigFix
Ranking in Patch Management
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
99
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (9th), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (33rd), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (9th)
Qualys Patch Management
Ranking in Patch Management
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
46
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Patch Management category, the mindshare of BigFix is 4.4%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys Patch Management is 3.3%, down from 3.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Patch Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Qualys Patch Management3.3%
BigFix4.4%
Other92.3%
Patch Management
 

Featured Reviews

AM
RPA Developer at Hexaware Technologies Limited
Successfully manage endpoint security and compliance while facing integration challenges
I have not come across any difficulties. I integrated it with ILMT (IBM License Metric Tool). It lets us identify all software being used in my organization with BigFix. It provides input of all types of software being used, including details and information about hardware specifications. I am more involved in software licensing and procurement, so I utilize this tool for procuring more licenses if needed for our company. After integration, we get different dashboards showcasing our IBM infrastructure, highlighting various issues in our environment that we can mitigate. I recommend BigFix to others. I rate BigFix a seven out of ten.
AN
Cyber Security Specialist at UBS Financial
Patch management process becomes more efficient and cost-effective while significantly improving vulnerability remediation rates
Regarding improvements in Qualys Patch Management, I did not quite understand the downsides they were expecting. Initially, I was confused about where to find and how to use the available features. It was challenging to identify the options we could employ and why we were using them. However, once I gained hands-on experience, I was able to identify the tool's particular features, making it easier for us to use it. The initial phase had some difficulty with the user interface. I would them to improve user training. They have used many colors, which can be confusing, so they should use specific colors for specific options. For critical options, they could make them red, green for medium, and blue for less significant options. This would make it easier for a beginner to recognize which buttons are dangerous to click. Such adjustments can help new users learn the solution faster.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business30
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise67
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise24
 

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 pretty good and now follows a subscription model similar to other major software solutions, making it easier for customers to subscribe and unsubscribe.
What needs improvement with BigFix?
I have concerns about BigFix's pricing, which I find to be slightly on the higher side. While it may not be the most affordable or competitive option, there is room for improvement. Additional feat...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys Patch Management?
Qualys reduces risk for us and our clients by upwards of 50% when we arrive at a client site with no previous software installed. If they have other software they were using and then transition to ...
What needs improvement with Qualys Patch Management?
The interface could benefit from improved user experience and quality of life improvements. The dashboard could be more intuitive, as this is a common concern for applications with extensive point-...
What is your primary use case for Qualys Patch Management?
Our clients vary greatly because we support many other technologies, such as Microsoft 365. Our clients can range from fewer than 100 to up to 2,000 or 3,000 devices.
 

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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about BigFix vs. Qualys Patch Management and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
883,760 professionals have used our research since 2012.