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Cybersixgill vs Qualys VMDR vs Rapid7 Metasploit comparison

 

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:
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Cybersixgill is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 4.9%, down from 8.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rapid7 Metasploit is 1.7%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Qualys VMDR4.9%
Rapid7 Metasploit1.7%
Cybersixgill0.5%
Other92.9%
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

it_user1538721 - PeerSpot reviewer
General Manager - Cyber Security at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
We can easily conduct searches on leaked credentials
We can easily conduct searches on leaked credentials. It gives us the ability to look at a timeline and build profiles against companies that we are trying to protect, then track changes to credentials or leaking bucket/cloud services associated with those companies. That is the benefit for us. A lot of it is stuff that we can do manually, but it is more about the time it takes as well as the number of analysts you need to do it compared to getting it provided as a quick service. It is scalable in that we don't need a dozen people to do the work. With this tool, one person can do it.
Vaibhav Ghule - PeerSpot reviewer
Soc Lead & Edr Administration at Persistent Systems
Continuous risk-based monitoring has strengthened incident response and vulnerability prioritization
I haven't explored Qualys VMDR's vulnerability lifecycle automation yet. One of my analysts mentioned that queries lack grouping operators in Qualys VMDR. From my experience, I would appreciate improvements in the query options in Qualys VMDR, specifically in the query-building process where I would need more features and operators. Additionally, we have been facing issues with Qualys on the cloud level. We cannot download the configuration profile from the cloud agent, and it is showing a pending action for download. During 2025, we noticed outages of Qualys a couple of times. I want to mention that there is an issue with receiving timely RCA deliveries. While this is not necessarily about the tool, it relates to support. The support has not been very responsive, and we are receiving RCAs a little delayed whenever we raise support cases or communicate with the TAMs. Additionally, the UI has a slight latency, which I and my team have experienced. They have also reported this latency issue when navigating through different pages.
reviewer1247523 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Sales Services Department at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Extensive exploit database and seamless integration enhance penetration testing capabilities
The automated approach in the audits or in the hacking testing with Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved because even the same attack you provide today will go in different ways another day. I prefer when the auditor or pen-tester provides the attack in a non-automated mode. For some, it might be a valuable option, but I'm not sure it's valuable for us, as after the attack has been provided, we should release a report detailing how it transpired and what the customer should improve to block this way of attack. If the attack was provided in an automated mode, you cannot receive sufficient information that helps with this final report for the customer. While you can check the vulnerability, and the system will tell you there is no vulnerability, usually, a human can change one, two, or three parameters and using the same technique and the same scripts can break the system. Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved in areas concerning the experience with finding particular scripts pre-installed in the solution. Customers, administrators, and pen-testers spend considerable time trying to locate the specific component they need by the name of the technique or the name of the attack, so any improvements in making it easier to find those predefined components by name or timeframe would be beneficial. Search filters could be a correct improvement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The advanced analysis has made our security operations more efficient. It has also potentially given us quicker access to data that we might not have otherwise located."
"The size and scope of the solution’s collection is amazing, and when we compare what other solutions can and cannot do, we see how Cybersixgill Investigative Portal is superior in many ways."
"Rather than hiring more analysts, we have been able to do more with less and automate some of our investigation functions."
"They also provide some of the greatest notification capabilities. I put in a customer's company name and domain names, or sometimes I put in their IP addresses as a keyword. Once Sixgill collects information that includes those keywords, they then provide us email notifications. That means we can catch information related to our customers as soon as possible."
"To be diligent for the customer, we usually go into Cybersixgill Investigative Portal to analyze and search things. The solution tells us the reputation of cyber threat actors. So, if someone has a reputation of one, it is a really bad idea to care about what that person is saying. However, if you find someone with a reputation of nine, then there is a high probability that we need to address the problem. You can get information about these type of actors in Cybersixgill Investigative Portal. They have a huge collection, which is like having the rules/goals of the dark web and deep web without having to go there. Our analysts avoid going dark web because they have Cybersixgill Investigative Portal and can get the news from their browser, searching wherever they want."
"I have been very vocal about how much this tool has helped."
"If I conducted research manually it would take one week, but by using Sixgill it takes two hours or three hours."
"The solution’s approach of using limited open source intelligence and focusing, instead, on the Deep Web and Dark Web is what seals the deal. That is why I like them. I have other tools that I can aggregate all the open source intelligence from. I value Cybersixgill because it provides access to things that no one else does."
"Qualys VM's best features are vulnerability management and customizable scoring."
"Using the policy compliance module allowed this to be automated and saved time as well as generated more complete coverage of assets leading to greater assurance."
"For a typical IT system, it is very good to go with this solution."
"I like the automated report generation and vulnerability report generation."
"Qualys VM is very stable."
"Using the vulnerability management module you can track the list of vulnerabilities and can take action to remediate them."
"The reporting functionality is great."
"Overall, this is a good product and I recommend it, mainly because of the capabilities and the management using a single console."
"Overall, it is a very good product for penetration testing."
"For a free product, the capabilities are absolutely astonishing."
"The option to generate phishing emails has proven to be very valuable in understanding the behavior of users."
"It is easy to use, a useful product, and it has a very long list of available payloads."
"Rapid7 offers comprehensive features within one platform, eliminating the need to integrate multiple tools to see all alerts in one place."
"It is scalable. It's in line with our needs."
"The reporting on the solution is good."
"The most valuable features of Metasploit include its powerful capabilities for exploitation and scanning."
 

Cons

"The breadth of access to data is good, but there are gaps. More data would be my suggestion because the platform is good and I have no complaints about the system. I think it is just a case of always trying to get more data sources."
"Sixgill has strong capabilities based on search queries, but there is some difficulty in using Sixgill."
"Regarding their scraping abilities, things could be solidified. There are definitely improvements that could be made on the specificity for setting certain queries."
"The breadth of access to data is good, but there are gaps."
"Sixgill has strong capabilities based on search queries, but there is some difficulty in using Sixgill. Their querying is very powerful but it can be difficult. It's not hugely complex but you need some skill to use Sixgill querying."
"Regarding their scraping abilities, things could be solidified. There are definitely improvements that could be made on the specificity for setting certain queries."
"We need real-time updated information. If we could have this, it would be amazing. For example, if someone was posting something, then ten second later, it was on the platform. Sometimes, it takes a minute or hours right now, depending on the forum."
"We need real-time updated information. If we could have this, it would be amazing."
"Qualys could improve the inbuilt dashboards."
"Reports were lacking somewhat on the customization side."
"It would be nice to have an all-in-one solution that was automated and could handle the scanning and reports as well as the patching and updating."
"The reporting and the GUI need improvements."
"Qualys currently does not have any features for scanning SCADA, IoT, and Industrial Control Systems."
"This solution could be improved by extending the agent capabilities to different operating systems including Mac and Linux. We would also like the capability to easily check for vulnerability in assets in the IOTs."
"Integration could be better. When you think about scanning, it's not used just with this product alone but with other Qualys products."
"I do not like that all of the data is stored on the cloud."
"Integration with popular vulnerability scanners would be a useful feature."
"The solution should be more user friendly."
"The solution should improve the responsiveness of its live technical support."
"While Metasploit excels in vulnerability assessment, it could improve in vulnerability management."
"The initial setup was a bit "tweaky" for the open-source version."
"Advanced Infrastructure should be implemented in the next release for better orchestration."
"Rapid7 Metasploit could be made easier for new users to learn."
"I would like to see more capabilities, more functions, and more features. More types of attack vectors."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Sometimes, Cybersixgill Investigative Portal is cheaper than its competitors."
"The pricing and licensing are good. It is expensive for us because the US dollar is quite strong compared to our dollar. Otherwise, it is quite reasonable for what it is. All the tools in the market are around the same price from my experience."
"The pricing is cheap compared with Recorded Future. Sixgill's cost-effectiveness is very good."
"We do see over $100,000 in terms of price, for mid-size programs. You likely will pay more than $100,000 without any discount. It is a bit pricey."
"It is different for every company, but for us, it's every three years."
"Qualys VM is reasonably priced."
"I used to work there, so I never paid for the product. As an employee, we get a lifetime license for personal use, and that's what I'm using. It is a comprehensive platform, so there is a lot more to it. There could be other solutions that are probably a little bit cheaper, but it depends on what people need. Different people have different needs. It offers many things on the same platform. If you add all the things up, it should be cheaper, but I have not done any analysis specifically."
"Qualys Virtual Scanner Appliance isn't expensive right now. But the price for their product bundles could be better."
"It's very expensive, especially if you want to use multiple modules of Qualys."
"We have an annual contract for Qualys VMDR. I believe it's for either two years or five years."
"The pricing and licensing for Qualys could be improved."
"The cost is approximately $15 per device."
"It is expensive. Our license expired, and our company is not thinking to renew because of our budget."
"The great advantage with Rapid7 Metasploit, of course, is that it's free."
"The pricing structure involves a one-time purchase cost of approximately twenty thousand dollars or euros for all customers."
"Rapid7 Metasploit is cheaper than Tenable.io Vulnerability Management."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the product's pricing a six. So it's fairly priced."
"We pay monthly. The pricing is reasonable."
"There are two versions available, one of which is the Pro version, and the other is the free version."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business20
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise70
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What do you like most about Qualys VMDR?
I like that we have many scanners and channels that don't overload. It helps us scan and track easily. Also, the tagg...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys VMDR?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing shows that we can consider both time and money saved.
What needs improvement with Qualys VMDR?
I haven't explored Qualys VMDR's vulnerability lifecycle automation yet. One of my analysts mentioned that queries la...
What do you like most about Rapid7 Metasploit?
I use Rapid7 Metasploit for payload generation and Post-Exploitation.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rapid7 Metasploit?
The pricing of Rapid7 Metasploit is quite affordable. It has a free version that many customers start with, and after...
What needs improvement with Rapid7 Metasploit?
The automated approach in the audits or in the hacking testing with Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved because even ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Qualys VM, QualysGuard VM, Qualys Asset Inventory, Qualys Container Security
Metasploit
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Current customers include large enterprises, financial services, manufacturing, GSIs, MSSPs, government and law enforcement entities.
Agrokor Group, American Specialty Health, American State Bank, Arval, Life:), Axway, Bank of the West, Blueport Commerce, BSkyB, Brinks, CaixaBank, Cartagena, Catholic Health System, CEC Bank, Cegedim, CIGNA, Clickability, Colby-Sawyer College, Commercial Bank of Dubai, University of Utah, eBay Inc., ING Singapore, National Theatre, OTP Bank, Sodexo, WebEx
City of Corpus Christi, Diebold, Lumenate, Nebraska Public Power District, Prairie North Regional Health, Apptio, Automation Direct, Bob's Stores, Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions, Carnegie Mellon University
Find out what your peers are saying about Wiz, Tenable, Qualys and others in Vulnerability Management. Updated: February 2026.
885,286 professionals have used our research since 2012.