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Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 16, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

Categories and Ranking

Zafran Security
Sponsored
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
27th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (6th)
Microsoft Defender Vulnerab...
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (17th), Microsoft Security Suite (22nd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (5th)
Qualys CyberSecurity Asset ...
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
10th
Average Rating
9.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Patch Management (7th), Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM) (2nd), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (4th), Software Supply Chain Security (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Zafran Security is 0.4%. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is 3.2%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management is 0.7%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

Israel Cavazos Landini - PeerSpot reviewer
Weekly insights and risk analysis facilitate informed security decisions
I appreciate the weekly insights Zafran provides, which include critical topics for networks and IT security, allowing us to evaluate which insights apply to our environment. The organization score feature is valuable to keep the leadership team updated on how our infrastructure fares security-wise. The applicable risk level versus base risk level feature is beneficial because prior to Zafran, we only used the base risk level, but now understand that risk depends on the asset itself. Zafran is an excellent tool.
TakayukiUmehara - PeerSpot reviewer
Ease of management and integration supports operations, but has high resource consumption
A valuable feature is the ease of management and integration with Microsoft products. I appreciate that I can click on a server in the Defender Console, notice a risk, and retrieve all necessary information. Speed is a key feature as it is very quick to administer and allows for manual configuration from the portal.
Revathi VeeraRaghavan - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides comprehensive visibility and covers the complete attack surface
For some of the software, there was no life cycle or general information. We wanted them to give details in the database as and when the software comes. I raised a ticket for that, and after that, they updated the details for more than one million software. They should address the false positives generated in EASM. It is fetching assets that have Infosys as the keyword. They should fix that. When we click on the web application, it only shows potential web assets. The application details are not there. Overall, CSAM has matured a lot. These are the few enhancements that need to be done.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Zafran is an excellent tool."
"We are able to see the real risk of a vulnerability on our environment with our security tools."
"Zafran has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."
"The recommendations, scores, and steps to remediate actions are highly useful."
"The product's stability is very high...The scalability of the product is amazing."
"The product’s most valuable features are compliance, recommendations, and inventories."
"The solution is highly scalable."
"The integration with SIEM is the best, specifically the native integration with Microsoft SIEM."
"Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is versatile and assesses vulnerabilities, providing detailed information on CVEs, their categories, and exploit statuses."
"One valuable feature is the Microsoft Security Scorecard."
"A valuable feature is the ease of management and integration with Microsoft products."
"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."
"I appreciate the feature that simplifies cloud security posture, offering insights into vulnerabilities, and reducing the complexity of managing the security program."
"Qualys CSAM is valuable for providing end-of-life and end-of-sale information. It gives me visibility into the number of products or hardware items that are end-of-life."
"The end-of-life and end-of-service software and hardware are some of my favorite features."
"Overall, I would give Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management a nine out of ten."
"Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management has helped to improve the organization's security posture significantly."
"The most valuable feature is the Management sensor, which helps identify gaps in policy agent availability, thereby improving agent utilization."
"I recommend Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management due to its superior asset information collection capabilities, including comprehensive hardware and software inventorying."
 

Cons

"Initially, we were somewhat concerned about the scalability of Zafran due to our large asset count and the substantial amount of information we needed to process."
"The technical support takes too much time to resolve tickets."
"The product is not stable; it is very resource-intensive, consuming a lot of memory and CPU, which makes it slow."
"The general support could be improved."
"The setup phase of the product is not that easy and needs a person to have a certain level of expertise."
"Probably my only criticism would be the cost. It is expensive."
"There is a good solution from Microsoft, however, there is a gap between Windows and Linux management."
"Sometimes the stability of the agents could be improved."
"It is challenging to extract and customize reports from the system."
"They should address the false positives generated in EASM. It is fetching assets that have Infosys as the keyword."
"The UI needs improvement as it can become overwhelming after prolonged use."
"Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management could be more cost-effective by offering a lower price point or integrating with existing VMDR features."
"The deployment is somewhat complicated and could be made more user-friendly for most users. It is currently not user-friendly for all users. It is good but can be improved. It is a new product, and they are working on it."
"The scanning function could be improved."
"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."
"All required features are available in Qualys CSAM. However, it would be helpful if Qualys CSAM started incorporating AI models. An inclusion of threat details for AI and LLM-related risks would be beneficial."
"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. Additionally, improvements to the user interface could be beneficial."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The product’s pricing is medium."
"The licensing model follows a per-user per-month structure."
"I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"The licensing costs are reasonable."
"The tool is a bit costly."
"The pricing for Qualys CSAM is nominal."
"The pricing is market-competitive."
"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 cost for Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management is high."
"It is cost-effective because, in a single tool, we are getting everything. All the solutions come in a single license or price."
"Qualys offers excellent value for money."
"The Qualys Cybersecurity Asset Management pricing is well-aligned with our usage."
"The pricing for Qualys Cybersecurity Asset Management is reasonable, with an annual subscription costing around $1,000 per year or a monthly subscription starting at approximately $72 per month, depending on the specific package and features included."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
6%
University
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
22%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
9%
Retailer
6%
 

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 Zafran Security?
I find that the pricing for Zafran aligns well with the comprehensive features it offers. The asset and user-based li...
What needs improvement with Zafran Security?
While Zafran Security is already a powerful tool, there are areas where it could be further improved to provide even ...
What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?
Our primary use case for Zafran involves leveraging it to enhance our vulnerability risk scoring methodology. In toda...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?
I would rate the price as a three for us due to the partnership discounts. For non-partners, however, the cost could ...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?
For our current usage, we do not have any complaints, but a potential improvement could be the introduction of a more...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management?
The pricing is reasonable relative to the features provided, as it collects all module data and operates as a main, c...
What needs improvement with Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management?
The deployment is somewhat complicated and could be made more user-friendly for most users. It is currently not user-...
What is your primary use case for Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management?
We use it to identify all our assets, including those on our premises, cloud, and remote environments. It continuousl...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs. Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
846,617 professionals have used our research since 2012.