Qualys Web Application Scanning vs Rapid7 InsightAppSec comparison

The compared Qualys and Rapid7 solutions aren't in the same category. Qualys is ranked #15 in AS , with an average rating of 7.7, and holds a 1.8% mindshare in the category. Rapid7 is ranked #5 in DAST , with an average rating of 7.8, and holds a 6.2% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Qualys users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Rapid7 users who would recommend it.

Qualys Web Application Scan...

Read 40 Qualys Web Application Scanning reviews

4,234 Views
2,710 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Read 20 Rapid7 InsightAppSec reviews

1,939 Views
698 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Qualys Web Application Scan...

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Qualys Web Application Scanning and Rapid7 InsightAppSec based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Application Security Tools solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Qualys Web Application Scanning vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec Report (Updated: May 2022).

Buyer's Guide

Qualys Web Application Scanning vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec

May 2022

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Helped 884,122 peers since 2012

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 Web Application Scan...

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Security Tools (15th), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (13th)

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (5th), AI Observability (11th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Quality Assurance solutions, they serve different purposes. Qualys Web Application Scanning is designed for Application Security Tools and holds a mindshare of 1.8%, down 1.9% compared to last year.
Rapid7 InsightAppSec, on the other hand, focuses on Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), holds 6.2% mindshare, up 4.2% since last year.

Application Security Tools Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Qualys Web Application Scanning	1.8%
SonarQube	16.3%
Checkmarx One	9.9%
Other	72.0%

Application Security Tools

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Rapid7 InsightAppSec	6.2%
Veracode	17.2%
Checkmarx One	16.4%
Other	60.2%

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)

Featured Reviews

AnkitSharma13

Security Officer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Web scanning needs improvement but offers good vulnerability detection

The downside of Qualys Web Application Scanning is that it cannot crawl automatically. If I provide an IP address and a login form, it does basic testing, but it doesn't go deep as IBM AppScan does. If Qualys Web Application Scanning could improve its crawling capability, it would be more user-friendly. Qualys Web Application Scanning does IP-level testing, requiring direct input of credentials, and can only scan a few pages to provide known generic vulnerabilities, which isn't as beneficial from my point of view. The Vulnerability Management also relies heavily on version numbers and will flag vulnerabilities based on the component version, but it doesn't check if a real fix exists, leading to flags on components that actually have workarounds available.

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Shritam Bhowmick

Vulnerability Management Lead at garrett

Provides reliable applications security but needs better integration options

There are areas for improvements regarding false positives. Integration capabilities are lacking, as options for integrations with other tools such as SNOW, Jira, or other integration tools are not sufficient in Rapid7 InsightAppSec. The user interface sometimes has glitches, which may prevent appropriate results during navigation, and even when we get appropriate results, it can be impossible to export them to CSV records or download files. Regarding scalability, Rapid7 InsightAppSec is not a scalable solution for our industry due to limited integration capabilities. Rapid7 relies on another tool called InsightConnect, which requires additional investment, detracting from scalability. Another area that needs improvement is the integration of AI capabilities into the platform. Both Rapid7 InsightAppSec and InsightVM need to advance in that area. In terms of behavioral and pattern recognition, identifying complex attacks such as SQL, blind SQL, JSON, and LDAP injections often results in 94% false positives. This necessitates improvement in their behavioral-based analytics feature.

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

"The tool links vulnerabilities with DDIs and gives a complete overview of the application. The continuous monitoring capability is good."

"Qualys Web Application Scanning is robust and mature from industry standards."

"The most valuable feature is that we are able to scan the services and put credentials like a user ID password. We can verify the vulnerability level."

"With our vulnerabilities under control, it's putting our services in compliance and minimizing our risk for exposure."

"It is easy to use."

"Licensing is the most valuable. Qualys provides the best licensing for companies. It is the best product for the development purposes of web applications. The product has a lot of integrations."

"Automated scanning has significantly improved our web application security management by reducing manual work."

"It works with many different products."

More Qualys Web Application Scanning pros

"Rapid7 InsightAppSec helps us in both regulatory compliance and in strengthening our security posture."

"The product’s most valuable feature is UI. It is easy to manage and find vulnerabilities in the application."

"In Rapid7 InsightAppSec, a distinctive feature is the provision of a CDM for integrating web servers and web applications. To establish the connection between these applications, you only need to paste the provided CDN into your metadata. Once connected, every piece of information, including vulnerabilities, can be accessed. It also offers demo sessions."

"The automatic automation of the automated authorization to the SCANNET environment is valuable."

"Customers use the product for scanning purposes and do not want to be restricted with respect to the number of scans they perform."

"It's very easy to use and user-friendly. It does the job."

"Dynamic application security scanning provides predefined templates and supports customization. The ability to scan external and internal applications, including on-premises ones, is precious. Additionally, it is a cloud platform, so we don't need to deploy servers or resources. This makes it time-efficient and cost-effective."

"The reporting functionality is excellent."

More Rapid7 InsightAppSec pros

Cons

"The authenticated scanning feature could be improved by adding support for real-time scanning tokens and authorization tokens."

"The downside of Qualys Web Application Scanning is that it cannot crawl automatically."

"The area of false positives could be improved. There are quite a number of false positives as compared to other solutions. They could probably fine tune the algorithm to be able to reduce the number of false positives being detected."

"The downside of Qualys Web Application Scanning is that it cannot crawl automatically. If I provide an IP address and a login form, it does basic testing, but it doesn't go deep as IBM AppScan does."

"Deployment can be complicated."

"In certain cases, this product does have false positives, which the company should work on."

"When comparing this solution to Veracode, Veracode has good interactive features and gives a clear understanding of what the vulnerabilities are, which error line of the vulnerability is on and what can be done. It gives interactive features, whereas this solution does not give a clear understanding of where or how to fix the problem."

"The virus code updates are not frequent enough."

More Qualys Web Application Scanning cons

"When you add new projects for the same product, it either duplicates or replaces the scan configuration. If I run a scan for the same product with a different scan configuration, it should keep the previous scan configuration and not replace it with the new scan configuration. It should just add the new scan configuration. That would be helpful. They do keep the results as it is, but the scan configuration keeps changing. For example, I have set a scan configuration to a full scan, and next week, I want to run a new scan for the same product with some changes or new functionalities. I want to run a partial scan. Currently, if I change the scan configuration to partial, it changes the old one also to partial. That should be improved."

"The reporting is definitely an aspect of the solution that's in need of some work. We found that we'd try to use widgets, but often getting them to work for us wasn't very clear. They need to be more user friendly or offer better instructions."

"The number of web applications we can scan is limited."

"The reporting feature of Rapid7 InsightAppSec needs improvement as it currently provides basic reports."

"The only concern I have with Rapid7 is that it does not provide enough information about vulnerabilities within AppSec."

"I required a solution to manage on-premises, but I was not as satisfied as expected."

"In the future, if they can have integration with a lot of ticketing systems then it would be amazing."

"They should add more features. I would like to see them do a little more on static analysis and also interactivity analysis. Currently, it does very basic static analysis. It could do a little more static analysis, which is something that would help. A lot more interactivity analysis should also be there. It should basically look at security during interactivity."

More Rapid7 InsightAppSec cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing was reasonable and competitive. It was not too far above the other products."

"Qualys Web Application Scanning's pricing is a bit expensive compared to other solutions available in the market."

"The product pricing is fair and reasonably priced."

"I rate the software’s pricing a six out of ten."

"From my perspective, it is a budget-friendly option."

"Qualys WAS' pricing is competitive."

"The product is expensive, at least initially, in comparison to other products in this category."

"Try the free trial of the product to understand the basic working mechanisms."

More Qualys Web Application Scanning pricing and cost advice

"The price of this product is very cheap."

"They offer a good price, but I don't remember its cost. It is fair as compared to the competition. We have opted for project-based licensing, not user-based. We can add any number of users. That doesn't matter. It is worth the money."

"Rapid7 InsightAppSec is cheap."

"I'm not sure how much it costs exactly, but I know it's expensive."

"Its price is competitive. It is not expensive."

"I rate Rapid7 InsightAppSec’s pricing an eight out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	27

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Qualys Web Application Scanning?

The vulnerability management feature is a strong one. And also the patch management feature.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys Web Application Scanning?

Regarding pricing, I think for personal use, it is costly, but if organizations are ready to pay, then it is fine as they are using it.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Qualys Web Application Scanning?

See all answers

What do you like most about Rapid7 InsightAppSec?

In Rapid7 InsightAppSec, a distinctive feature is the provision of a CDM for integrating web servers and web applications. To establish the connection between these applications, you only need to p...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Rapid7 InsightAppSec?

Customers sometimes experience issues with performance. One thing that I recall is that most customers often want to have reporting as per their customized dashboard. This needs to be improved beca...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Rapid7 InsightAppSec?

I usually recommend this solution for financial institutions. Banks and financial institutions need this solution mostly because they have to follow stringent compliance advisory requirements, so t...

See all answers

Comparisons

OWASP Zap vs Qualys Web Application Scanning

Compared 8% of the time

Checkmarx SAST vs Qualys Web Application Scanning

Compared 7% of the time

SonarQube vs Qualys Web Application Scanning

Compared 7% of the time

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs Qualys Web Application Scanning

Compared 6% of the time

Veracode vs Qualys Web Application Scanning

Compared 5% of the time

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Invicti vs Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Compared 12% of the time

Rapid7 AppSpider vs Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Compared 12% of the time

PortSwigger Burp Suite Professional vs Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Compared 9% of the time

OWASP Zap vs Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Compared 8% of the time

More Rapid7 InsightAppSec Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Qualys Web Application Scanning

February 2026

Download Qualys Web Application Scanning product report

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 InsightAppSec

February 2026

Download Rapid7 InsightAppSec product report

Also Known As

Qualys WAS

InsightAppSec

Overview

Qualys Web Application Scanning (WAS) is a fully cloud-based web application security scanner. The scanner will automatically crawl periodically and test web applications to discover potential vulnerabilities, including cross-site scripting (XSS) and SQL injection. The consistent testing equips the automated service to generate consistent results, lessen false positives, and offer the ability to scale to protect thousands of websites effortlessly.

Qualys Web Application Scanning is bundled with different scanning technology to carefully scan websites for malware infections and will send notifications to website owners to assist in preventing blacklisting and brand reputation damage. As digital transformation takes place in various organizations, Qualys WAS gives organizations the ability to track and document their web app security status through its interactive reporting capabilities.

Qualys WAS empowers organizations to remediate any web application vulnerabilities quickly. Some of the key tools offered are:

Deep Scanning: All apps and APIs on your internal network and public cloud are covered by Qualys WAS deep scanning to show you any visible vulnerabilities.
DevSec Ops Tool: Detect security issues in your code while still in app development stages and generate comprehensive reports.
Comprehensive Discovery: Discover and catalog new and unknown web apps in your network.
Malware Detection: Scan a website, identify vulnerabilities, and receive alerts to any infections.

Benefits of Qualys Web Application Scanning

Qualys Web Application Scanning offers many benefits, including:

Quick Deployment: Requires no infrastructure or software to upkeep.
Effortless Scalability: Effortlessly launch a deep scan and protect thousands of websites.
Centralized Management: Manage and mend all web app vulnerabilities through a single interface.
Excellent Integration Capabilities: Integrates with Qualys Web App Firewall (WAF) for a single-click virtual patching of found vulnerabilities.
Respond to Threats Immediately: Qualys Continuous Monitoring offers the user a hands-free service by automatically launching scanning and sending notifications of a potential threat.
Cost-effective Solution: Data is analyzed in real time as Qualys WAS is an end-to-end solution; this helps avoid costs associated with managing multiple security vendors.

Reviews from Real Users

Qualys Web Application Scanning stands out among its competitors for a variety of reasons. Two of those reasons are its progressive scan and quick detection of vulnerabilities.

P.K., a senior software developer at a tech vendor, writes, "The feature that I have found most valuable is the progressive scan. It is good. It's done in 24 hours."

Nagaraj S., lead cybersecurity engineer at a tech service company, notes, "I have found the detection of vulnerabilities tool thorough with good results and the graphical display output to be wonderful and full of colors. It allows many types of outputs, such as bar and chart previews."

Qualys

Your web applications may be complex, but your application security testing tool doesn’t need to be. InsightAppSec brings Rapid7’s proven Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) technology to the Insight platform, combining powerful application crawling and attack capabilities, flexibility in scan scope and scheduling, and accuracy in results with a modern UI, intuitive workflows, and sensible data organization. This enables you to identify XSS, SQL injection, CSRF, and other vulnerabilities with unparalleled ease. The best part? All of these capabilities are delivered via the cloud so that you’re up and running in minutes to identify the critical security risks that exist in your applications.

Rapid7

Sample Customers

BskyB, Cartagena, ClearPoint Learning Systems, Connect Group, du, Fortrex Technologies, HBOR, HDI, Highlights for Children, The Lithuanian State Enterprise Centre of Registers, City of Miami Beach, Microsoft, MidlandHR, MSCI Inc., Northern Arizona University, Ofgem, Olympus Europa, PhoneFactor, RTL Nederland, ThousandEyes, VGZ Organisatie B.V.

CenterPoint Energy, CPA Australia, Hypertherm, First American Financial Corporation, Rackspace

Buyer's Guide

Qualys Web Application Scanning vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec

May 2022

Free Report: Qualys Web Application Scanning vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec

Find out what your peers are saying about Qualys Web Application Scanning vs. Rapid7 InsightAppSec and other solutions. Updated: May 2022.

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