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Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management vs Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management (CSAM) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender External...
Ranking in Attack Surface Management (ASM)
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
Microsoft Security Suite (28th)
Qualys CyberSecurity Asset ...
Ranking in Attack Surface Management (ASM)
4th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
17
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (11th), Patch Management (8th), Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM) (2nd), Software Supply Chain Security (6th)
 

Featured Reviews

SF
Better at protecting from cyberattacks and haven't had any problems with the scalability of this solution
With Microsoft, support is always crazy, it's not easy to get support. That's their weakness. They need to improve their support. Microsoft will always give good support to their big customers or partners, but we're not a big company. If you had a thousand employees and were a big customer, maybe they'd offer better support. But in my 35 years of IT experience, it's always been the same with Microsoft. They transfer us to Europe because we speak French, but when we want to speak in English, they transfer us to people who don't know the product. Most of the time, we find a solution before they call us back.
Ramachandran Sugumar - PeerSpot reviewer
Helped discover about 10,000 vulnerabilities so far
We recently had some issues related to the continuous monitoring of the SaaS module. I am working with someone from the Qualys support team. He is helping us to resolve all the issues. One request is still open with the team because the risk scan was not happening at the application level. We opened a ticket and requested them to schedule a call. It might happen next week. The support provided by Qualys is good. Their SMEs have sufficient knowledge, and if they are not the right contact, they quickly redirect us to someone who can help resolve issues. The only minor issue is occasionally being redirected to multiple teams, causing slight delays. I would rate their support a ten out of ten.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It seems to be better at protecting from cyberattacks."
"The scanning results are pretty good, and some of the insights are quite valuable."
"I would rate the Qualys CSAM a ten out of ten for its overall performance."
"Qualys CSAM helps find all the assets. It categorizes information based on various criteria such as host and tenant version. It provides in-depth visibility into both hardware and software."
"We have a diverse organization with a robust infrastructure of more than 300,000 assets. By creating unauthorized lists and rules in the Qualys CSAM module, I can block certain software from being used in the organization."
"We have had zero attacks since we enabled all the features in Qualys CSAM."
"I would rate Qualys CSAM a ten out of ten."
"Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management offers valuable features such as continuous vendor support, rapid response times, dedicated vendor partnerships, and advanced technical capabilities for risk identification."
"Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management offers comprehensive features to cover our entire attack surface."
 

Cons

"With Microsoft, support is always crazy, it's not easy to get support."
"Further research and development are needed to enhance integration with other cloud agents and products, particularly improving communication with external products and vendors."
"Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management could be more cost-effective by offering a lower price point or integrating with existing VMDR features."
"From the user experience perspective, we need a simpler interface and reduced complexity in certain features, particularly with the Qualys Query Language."
"In my opinion, the area that needs improvement is the role-based access control (RBAC). The access privilege management needs to be more robust and streamlined to enhance user access management."
"Currently, whenever the agent is running, it consumes over ten percent of my CPU, indicating that CPU consumption is another area Qualys needs to address."
"They should address the false positives generated in EASM. It is fetching assets that have Infosys as the keyword. They should fix that."
"The scanning function could be improved."
"Qualys could improve by enhancing its dynamic tagging and role-based access control features, and by refining its user interface for a more intuitive and efficient user experience."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The pricing is fair. I would love to see the price come down a little bit, but we do get a lot of value out of it. We are squeezing every ounce of value we can out of the tool."
"The pricing for Qualys CSAM is nominal."
"Qualys is competitively priced for its features. Its pricing is suitable for large organizations with more than 4,000 assets, but for smaller organizations with few assets, such as banks, the costs might be high. They should come up with packages that are suitable for small organizations."
"Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management can be expensive, especially if we already have VMDR."
"It is cost-effective because, in a single tool, we are getting everything. All the solutions come in a single license or price."
"Though the solution is considered expensive, if bundled with other services such as VMDR or cloud agents, its value would significantly increase. It is currently a bit costly, but with bundling, it could become attractive to more customers."
"The pricing is market-competitive."
"The cost for Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management is high."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
19%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Retailer
6%
Healthcare Company
6%
Computer Software Company
24%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Government
10%
Retailer
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?
I don't see a big difference in pricing compared to its competitors. With "intelligent" or "smart" antivirus, people are willing to pay a little more for something that could make a difference for ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?
With Microsoft, support is always crazy, it's not easy to get support. That's their weakness. They need to improve their support. Microsoft will always give good support to their big customers or p...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management?
The kind of companies using it typically have one hundred or more users and are in various sectors, like manufacturing and insurance. We use it to protect against cyberattacks.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management (CSAM)?
The Qualys Cybersecurity Asset Management pricing is well-aligned with our usage.
What needs improvement with Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management (CSAM)?
The Qualys CAPS service requires further exploration and improvement, particularly in its handling of protocols and reactivity with MAC and IP addresses for CAP agents. Enhanced functionality in th...
What is your primary use case for Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management (CSAM)?
Our primary tool for asset inventory is Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management, which our software asset management team also utilizes to check our software library. We deploy Qualys Cloud agents as...
 

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Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about CrowdStrike, Trend Micro, Darktrace and others in Attack Surface Management (ASM). Updated: November 2024.
824,052 professionals have used our research since 2012.