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Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs Qualys VMDR comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 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

Microsoft Defender Vulnerab...
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
17th
Ranking in Risk-Based Vulnerability Management
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (21st), Microsoft Security Suite (25th)
Qualys VMDR
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
2nd
Ranking in Risk-Based Vulnerability Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
92
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (4th), Configuration Management Databases (2nd), Container Security (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is 3.4%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 11.1%, down from 13.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

René-SylvainBédard - PeerSpot reviewer
The vulnerability assessment is very accurate because it runs directly into the vulnerability database
I have three years of experience with Microsoft Defender and Office 365 for eleven years. My company operates as a shop for Microsoft products, and we have always stayed with Microsoft. We intend to displace the competition when my company enters a new client environment. I have dealt with customers who were using Carbon Black and SentinelOne. My company's customers switched work from their previous products to Microsoft because the tools they were using were power-hungry solutions, which had an impact on production. Microsoft Office 365's premium licenses have many built-in services, which our customers used to use from some other products. With Microsoft products, there is no need for our company's customers to pay extra for licensing charges. The major difference between Carbon Black and Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management revolves around areas like stability and integration capabilities within the operating systems, which are strong in Microsoft, especially compared to any of its competitors. The actual depth of knowledge that the platform offers is good because Microsoft has been very rigorous in documenting every single vulnerability that exists for its platform. Microsoft has the most complete list of vulnerabilities for its platform.
Harold Jensen - PeerSpot reviewer
Good visibility but expensive and needs better support
Support: It's often overseas and often following a script, basically asking us to redo what we opened the case with. Multiple APIs: There seems to be a lack of easy onboarding into Qualys. We had to use manual inputs and some API calls to get items in place. Dashboard: It is very rudimentary with very little customization. The Qualys Scripting Language (QSL) works differently in different Qualys modules, so when you get it working in one area you have to modify the syntax in others. User account management: We often have to give users more rights than needed just to give them what they need. Integration with the various Qualys Modules: You can tell the UI is different based on of the different teams that created them. QSL syntax same in all modules Responsiveness of some of the components: They time out, you get a blank screen, etc. Backend updates between the various modules: You update connectors and information takes a few minutes to show in VMDR or Global Asset View Connectors: Connectors have a throttling issue with AWS which causes them to frequently fail unless you manually run them again.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product’s most valuable features are compliance, recommendations, and inventories."
"One valuable feature is the Microsoft Security Scorecard."
"The most valuable aspect is the kind of assessment results I get, and the recommendations provided in Microsoft products really help in taking care of the resources."
"The solution is up-to-date and helps prevent zero-day attacks."
"The solution helps identify threats and vulnerabilities."
"The product's stability is very high...The scalability of the product is amazing."
"The solution is highly scalable."
"The recommendations, scores, and steps to remediate actions are highly useful."
"I like the automated report generation and vulnerability report generation."
"Monitors workstations and servers for vulnerabilities and creates reports."
"Qualys VMDR provides a real-time response and reporting feature, which is excellent."
"It is a stable solution."
"The most valuable feature is automation."
"Qualys VMDR provides us with a quick response to threat findings through regular scheduled scanning, which improves our security operations."
"It's really beneficial for scanning and interacting with the agent."
"Qualys VMDR provides a real-time response and reporting feature, which is excellent."
 

Cons

"The technical support takes too much time to resolve tickets."
"The setup phase of the product is not that easy and needs a person to have a certain level of expertise."
"It is challenging to extract and customize reports from the system."
"The automated remediations can be more specific."
"The constant changes in the product configuration or the console setup can sometimes be challenging."
"Integration can be improved."
"The general support could be improved."
"The reporting and the GUI need improvements."
"When you want to cover yourself for scalability, you will be charged for the number you place on the scan itself."
"Endpoint stability and fault resolution could be improved."
"The ability to manage user accounts and give rights to the operator to know about abnormalities of applications is something that needs improvement."
"What we have found is that the solution is not closely tied with the patch management. It is okay with newer ones, like Windows 10 machines; it gives the correct patch. But for Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008, it does not give us the correct patch so we have to manually identify the patches. This is a major problem."
"I would like to see this solution more developed and competitive in the Cloud space."
"Integration could be better. When you think about scanning, it's not used just with this product alone but with other Qualys products. If you think about the bundle, the product itself is good. But integration with other products and packages has space for improvement. They should also offer a better price for bundles."
"It is more expensive vs. other products on the market."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 licensing model follows a per-user per-month structure."
"The tool is a bit costly."
"The product’s pricing is medium."
"The solution is costly."
"The pricing and licensing for Qualys could be improved."
"An annual license for a single scanner costs around $3,000."
"Usually every implementation is different and the quote is in function of number of assets."
"Qualys VM is reasonably priced."
"In Nigerian Naira, we spend about roughly four to five million to use this solution and this is expensive compared to solutions like Nessus."
"The pricing is very competitive."
"Qualys Virtual Scanner Appliance isn't expensive right now. But the price for their product bundles could be better."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Government
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
36%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?
We are aware of the pricing for some parts that we are using. Microsoft documentation helps figure out pricing and other aspects. Overall, every organization wishes for cheaper options, but we look...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?
The automated remediations can be more specific. However, the score and recommendation aspects are good. Currently, I do not see any significant challenges.
What is your primary use case for Qualys VM?
Qualys VM is used for vulnerability scans for the internet and applications using application exchange. There are many applications. We also use the solution for asset management per team, and the ...
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 tagging system is good for tagging. We can still use QualysAgent task ID tools even ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys VMDR?
For smaller enterprises, the pricing is on the pricier side. However, for larger enterprises, it's considered okay. I would rate the pricing between seven to eight out of ten.
 

Also Known As

No data available
Qualys VM, QualysGuard VM, Qualys Asset Inventory, Qualys Container Security, Qualys Virtual Scanner Appliance
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs. Qualys VMDR and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,158 professionals have used our research since 2012.