Qualys VMDR vs Skybox Security Suite comparison

Qualys and Skybox Security are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Qualys is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.2, while Skybox Security is ranked #43 with an average rating of 7.3. Qualys holds a 11.1% mindshare in VM, compared to Skybox Security’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Qualys users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of Skybox Security users who would recommend it.

Qualys VMDR

Read 92 Qualys VMDR reviews

12,744 Views
9,682 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Skybox Security Suite

Read 35 Skybox Security Suite reviews

655 Views
478 Comparison Views

82% willing to recommend

Qualys VMDR

Skybox Security Suite

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 5, 2025

Qualys VMDR and Skybox Security Suite compete in the vulnerability management and network security domain. Qualys VMDR seems to have the upper hand in terms of ease of use and cloud integration, whereas Skybox offers extensive scalability and unique network insights.

Features: Qualys VMDR is notable for comprehensive vulnerability management, continuous monitoring, and ease of integration. Its cloud-based nature ensures up-to-date vulnerability detection. Skybox Security Suite stands out due to its massive scalability, integrated network model, and firewall assurance, providing extensive vulnerability context.

Room for Improvement: Qualys VMDR is criticized for high pricing, false positives, and complexity, with requests for improved analytics and broader system integration. Skybox Security Suite faces issues with complex setup and costly pricing, leading to calls for a better user interface and enhanced network modeling.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Qualys VMDR provides flexibility across public, private, and hybrid clouds, with potential improvements in technical support response times. Skybox Security Suite is predominantly on-premises and requires installation expertise, generally receiving good support ratings for quick, knowledgeable resolutions.

Pricing and ROI: Qualys VMDR, though expensive, justifies its cost with a positive ROI through risk reduction and comprehensive asset management. Discounts and subscription models are available to mitigate pricing. Skybox Security Suite also faces pricing concerns but is noted for delivering significant value, especially to large organizations.

To learn more, read our detailed Qualys VMDR vs. Skybox Security Suite Report (Updated: January 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR vs. Skybox Security Suite

January 2025

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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

Qualys VMDR

Ranking in Vulnerability Management

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Asset Management (4th), Configuration Management Databases (2nd), Container Security (12th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (3rd)

Skybox Security Suite

Ranking in Vulnerability Management

43rd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Firewall Security Management (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 11.1%, down from 13.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Skybox Security Suite is 0.5%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Harold Jensen

Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at 3M Health Information Systems

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.

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NenadMijatovic

Director of Sales at S4E Serbia

Efficient in vulnerability management, stable and easy to use

Vulnerability management is the most valuable feature because it lets you focus on the most critical vulnerabilities. That's the important thing. Here in Serbia, there are not so many companies that have too many firewalls inside one company. So, they usually don't buy this model for Firewall Assurance unless there is some compliance. So you can prove that your firewalls are compliant. So, that model is not so important here in Serbia. It's for bigger companies. So, they usually buy network assurance to build the model of the network and vulnerability management to focus on the most important vulnerabilities. Moreover, Skybox can collect data for many vendors. From the endpoint protection vendors to the network equipment vendors to other security vendors. So, it supports more than one hundred vendors to collect data from them.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This is one of the best products I have worked with so far. I like the power of Qualys, and it's a better solution because you can scan a compact file, a BIT file, or batch files. The product already knows what's happening inside, and you don't need to expand the package. Tenable will do the same thing, but you need to have a package issuance claim. With Qualys, we can immediately understand the file, even a compact file. If there's some kind of discovery or incident, you will know what happened in the environment."

"Intuitive and easy to use."

"Qualys VMDR provides a real-time response and reporting feature, which is excellent."

"Qualys VM is very stable."

"It is very easy to use and there are lots of options. We can usually easily go through it and all of the things we want to configure, and we can configure everything to our specifications very easily."

"It's really beneficial for scanning and interacting with the agent."

"Qualys VM's most valuable feature is automatic detection."

"The features that are most valuable are the identification, scan features, and the identification of vulnerabilities."

More Qualys VMDR pros

"The revalidation and policy recertifications are most valuable."

"Change Manager is most important because of the impact on each other of a network change or a firewall change. We want to understand this and to know, beforehand, what the impact of a change will be. We are a large network so that is a very important tool."

"Overall, the tool has helped us reduce risks. If any step is missing, it's easier for my team or engineers to identify it. The tool provides accurate recommendations based on the data. Its integration is easy, and I have integrated it with Fortinet firewalls."

"When you import all the assets that you have, like desktops, servers, networks, devices, routers, and then firewalls, and other products, then Skybox makes like, a model of the network, but with context. So, it is not just a model in VIZIO. Or something like it like that. You get the model with context, and, like, it looks like a real network in a real-time. So you can check your network and the security of your network on that model."

"The most valuable features are the rule compliance and the OS vulnerability checks."

"The product's most valuable feature is vulnerability management."

"Correlates logs and threats and prioritizes; provides network maps;p provides change result context and resulting vulnerability."

"The most valuable feature is the compliance, whether it's access compliance or the configuration compliance, to make sure that all of our devices are configured as they're supposed to be, to limit access as much possible, to follow least-access guidelines."

More Skybox Security Suite pros

Cons

"When tested on Zero day, there were errors."

"Qualys VM could improve by having more skilled support personnel."

"There's a need to upgrade or fix the potential vulnerability rate. Around 20,000 potential vulnerabilities were showing in Qualys VMDR, but none of the other tools showed them. When we checked, it wasn't the case. Support explained that even small issues were being counted as vulnerabilities, causing issues in our audit. So, the security features could be improved to identify vulnerabilities accurately."

"If AI features were integrated, it could enhance the capabilities significantly."

"We face issues while scanning multiple assets."

"Qualys could improve the inbuilt dashboards."

"Could use additional security for the app."

"The reporting and dashboards could improve in Qualys VM. However, they have improved since the previous versions."

More Qualys VMDR cons

"There is room for improvement in the product's user interface. It could be more user-friendly."

"The price is costly, and I hope they can reduce the cost."

"Skybox Security Suite can improve the change management module. It is the one part of the tool that is used with the firewall devices and you have a change management module that is used to record changes of all firewalls in the company. It's not compatible with all brands, this is where they can improve the solution."

"I've had issues with licensing where, when they were expiring and I asked for the updated licenses, I would the wrong ones. I think their process needs to be straightened out a little bit - I don't know if they fixed it already, it has been awhile. It wasn't as straightforward as it could have been."

"They are not satisfied with the complexity of the solution and the price."

"During implementation, we realised approximately 30 devices were not supported by the Skybox platform."

"The solution needs to move improve its interface to a full web browser version that is more accessible and doesn't require installation for use."

"If anything could be improved it would be staying on top of the collector scripts, but I understand that's a very tough challenge."

More Skybox Security Suite cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"The tool's pricing is expensive and I would rate the pricing a seven out of ten."

"Qualys VM is quite expensive. It's a subscription-based license, and it's yearly. Right now, it's open for me, and I don't have any limitations or caps on the licenses. They are seeing if the product is viable for 4500 users. I can add as much as I want, and at the end of the subscription, they'll let me know how many licenses were actually used and bill me accordingly. On a scale from one to five, I would give their pricing a three. It's still expensive."

"The pricing and licensing for Qualys could be improved."

"Qualys is a pay-as-you-go model, so there's flexibility to the pricing."

"An annual license for a single scanner costs around $3,000."

"The solution is expensive."

"It's very expensive, especially if you want to use multiple modules of Qualys."

More Qualys VMDR pricing and cost advice

"I've seen the pricing of every solution on the market. When you compare apples to apples, where Skybox becomes exceedingly expensive is if you look at it compared to something like FireMon that only does a fraction of what Skybox does. But if you include everything that Skybox does, it becomes way more expensive than the competition, but you're also not comparing apples to apples. If you look at FireMon, and you look at like just the firewall assurance piece, they are fairly comparable and, actually, Skybox comes in a little bit cheaper in some cases, depending on which product you're looking at."

"With licensing, the number of network nodes becomes very expensive to the point where you have to rationalize if the tools are warranted anymore."

"When compared with other companies, the license is more costly."

"The product's pricing is excellent value. In terms of licensing, make sure you understand your network components, all your hops through your network, thoroughly, before you decide on the total cost. If you want to do point-to-point flow analysis and such, you need to have the configuration of all the devices in between point A and point B. A lot of people don't realize all their network components until they start using this product."

"The price of the Skybox Security Suite can be expensive."

"I rate the pricing two on a scale of one to ten, where one is very expensive, and ten is cost-effective."

"Skybox Security Suite has indeed helped us reduce costs. The prices of AlgoSec and Skybox Security Suite are approximately 50 percent different. The tool may require special vendor support from abroad, resulting in slightly higher costs. Its pricing is in the middle."

"The solution is based on a subscription model for annual licenses."

More Skybox Security Suite pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

36%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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 ...

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

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.

See all answers

What do you like most about Skybox Security Suite?

Overall, the tool has helped us reduce risks. If any step is missing, it's easier for my team or engineers to identify it. The tool provides accurate recommendations based on the data. Its integrat...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Skybox Security Suite?

Skybox Security Suite has indeed helped us reduce costs. The prices of AlgoSec and Skybox Security Suite are approximately 50 percent different. The tool may require special vendor support from abr...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Skybox Security Suite?

There is room for improvement in the product's user interface. It could be more user-friendly.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 34% of the time

Tufin Orchestration Suite vs Skybox Security Suite

Compared 29% of the time

FireMon Security Manager vs Skybox Security Suite

Compared 15% of the time

RedSeal vs Skybox Security Suite

Compared 5% of the time

Tenable Nessus vs Skybox Security Suite

Compared 2% of the time

More Skybox Security Suite Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR

January 2025

Download Qualys VMDR product report

Buyer's Guide

Skybox Security Suite

December 2024

Download Skybox Security Suite product report

Also Known As

Qualys VM, QualysGuard VM, Qualys Asset Inventory, Qualys Container Security, Qualys Virtual Scanner Appliance

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Qualys

Skybox Security

Overview

Vulnerability Management, Detection, and Response (VMDR) is a cornerstone product of the Qualys TruRisk Platform and a global leader in the enterprise-grade vulnerability management (VM) vendor space. With VMDR, enterprises are empowered with visibility and insight into cyber risk exposure - making it easy to prioritize vulnerabilities, assets, or groups of assets based on business risk. Security teams can take action to mitigate risk, helping the business measure their actual risk exposure over time.

Qualys VMDR offers an all-inclusive risk-based vulnerability management solution to prioritize vulnerabilities and assets based on risk and business criticality. VMDR seamlessly integrates with configuration management databases (CMDB), Qualys Patch Management, Custom Assessment and Remediation (CAR), Qualys TotalCloud and other Qualys and non-Qualys solutions to facilitate vulnerability detection and remediation across the entire enterprise.

With VMDR, users are empowered with actionable risk insights that translate vulnerabilities and exploits into optimized remediation actions based on business impact. Qualys customers can now aggregate and orchestrate data from the Qualys Threat Library, 25+ threat intelligence feeds, and third-party security and IT solutions, empowering organizations to measure, communicate, and eliminate risk across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments.

The Skybox Security Suite platform combines firewall and network device data with vulnerability and threat intelligence, prioritizing security issues in the context of your unique environment. Powerful attack vector analytics reduce response times and risks, bringing firewall, vulnerability and threat management processes for complex networks under control.

Firewall Assurance brings all firewalls into one normalized view, continuously monitoring policy compliance, optimizing firewall rulesets and finding attack vectors that others miss. Skybox covers the most comprehensive list of firewall vendors, complex rulesets, even virtual and cloud-based firewalls. With proven scalability in 1,500+ firewall deployments, Firewall Assurance keeps rules optimized and ensures changes don’t introduce new risk.

Gain total visibility of the vulnerabilities in your attack surface without waiting for a scan. Leverage Skybox Research Lab's vulnerability and threat intelligence, and automatically correlate it to your unique environment. With network modeling and advanced simulations, pinpoint exposed vulnerabilities and other attack vectors. And use context to prioritize vulnerabilities in terms of actual risk and respond to threats with accuracy and efficiency.

For more information or to view a demo, visit www.skyboxsecurity.com.

Sample Customers

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

ADP, Blue Cross Blue Shield, BT, USAID, Delta Dental, EDF Energy, EMC, HSBC, Johnson & Johnson

Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR vs. Skybox Security Suite

January 2025

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