Qualys VM
Vulnerability scanner software
DevSecOps software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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What is Qualys VM
Qualys VM (Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response) is a cloud-based vulnerability scanning and management product used to discover, assess, and prioritize security weaknesses across IT assets. It targets security and IT operations teams that need continuous visibility into vulnerabilities on endpoints, servers, and networked systems, including hybrid environments. The product combines authenticated and unauthenticated scanning with asset inventory, risk-based prioritization, and workflow features for remediation tracking. It is delivered as part of the Qualys Cloud Platform and integrates with other Qualys modules and common IT/security tools.
Broad asset discovery and scanning
Qualys VM supports network-based vulnerability scanning across a wide range of operating systems and device types. It can run both authenticated and unauthenticated scans to improve coverage and reduce false positives for many host-based findings. The platform also includes asset inventory and tagging concepts that help organize scan targets and results at scale. This breadth aligns well with organizations that need a single program for enterprise vulnerability assessment.
Cloud-delivered management model
The service is delivered from the Qualys Cloud Platform, which centralizes configuration, scanning results, and reporting without requiring customers to host the core management infrastructure. This model can simplify upgrades and content updates (for example, vulnerability signatures and checks) compared with fully self-managed tooling. It also supports distributed scanning through scanners/sensors deployed in customer environments. Centralized administration is useful for teams managing multiple networks and business units.
Remediation workflow and reporting
Qualys VM provides dashboards, reporting, and ticketing/workflow capabilities to track remediation progress over time. It supports prioritization approaches that help teams focus on higher-risk vulnerabilities rather than treating all findings equally. The product’s reporting and export options are commonly used for audit evidence and operational metrics. These features help bridge security findings with IT operations execution.
DevSecOps coverage is indirect
While Qualys VM can integrate with CI/CD and ITSM tools, its core strength is infrastructure vulnerability management rather than developer-native security testing. Teams looking for deep code, dependency, or container build-time scanning may need additional tools or modules outside VM. As a result, DevSecOps use cases often rely on integrations and process design rather than a single end-to-end workflow in VM. This can increase implementation effort for engineering-led programs.
Tuning and operations overhead
Large environments typically require careful scoping, scheduling, and credential management to maintain scan quality and avoid operational impact. Authenticated scanning improves accuracy but adds ongoing work to manage credentials, access, and exceptions. Organizations may need dedicated operational ownership to keep asset tags, scan targets, and remediation workflows current. Without this, results can become noisy or incomplete.
Licensing and module complexity
Qualys is sold as a platform with multiple apps/modules, and capabilities can vary depending on what is licensed. Customers may need to evaluate which modules are required to meet specific use cases beyond core VM (for example, endpoint agents, patching, or cloud posture features). This can make cost and scope planning more complex than single-purpose tools. Procurement and renewal discussions may require careful mapping of features to internal requirements.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Per-asset subscription (pay-as-you-go) Free tier/trial: Free community edition available; 30-day free VMDR trial available Example costs (from Qualys official site):
- VMDR (announcement): “Pricing starts at $199 per asset (minimum quantity 32).” (Qualys VMDR announcement/press release).
- VMDR TruRisk™ FixIT (SME package): Starting at $2,995 (Qualys SME subscriptions page).
- VMDR TruRisk™ ProtectIT (SME package): Starting at $4,645 (Qualys SME subscriptions page). Discounts / notes: Pricing depends on selection of Cloud Platform Apps, number of network addresses (IPs), web applications, and user licenses; Qualys asks customers to request a quote for exact pricing. Several VMDR product pages state pricing is per-asset and to contact sales or request a quote. Official pages used: Qualys VMDR app page, Qualys SME subscriptions page, Qualys VMDR announcement/press release, Qualys Free Services and VMDR trial pages.
Seller details
Qualys, Inc.
Foster City, California, USA
1999
Public
https://www.qualys.com/
https://x.com/qualys
https://www.linkedin.com/company/qualys/
