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Aqua Cloud Security Platform vs Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 11, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
5.0
Organizations benefit from Qualys TotalCloud with improved efficiency, enhanced security, and substantial savings in time and resources.
Sentiment score
5.1
Aqua Cloud Security Platform increases ROI by enhancing efficiency, reducing manual tasks, and improving security and compliance efforts.
Sentiment score
3.7
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks boosts efficiency and ROI with XSOAR integrations, though ROI quantification can be challenging.
We are able to scan all our assets with less human intervention and achieve overall effective outcomes.
Dns architect at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
It has saved about 90% of our time.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
TotalCloud has generated overall savings of 30 to 40 percent across various departments.
Security Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
The impact can reduce remediation effort by 40% to 60%, avoiding production-level fixes which are costlier.
Security Practitioner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The main measurable benefits are faster identification and remediation of findings, fewer issues progressing to later stages, and reduced manual effort for repetitive security checks.
Information Security Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
It is generally used for the DevSecOps pipeline to scan the entire SAST, DAST, or ISC, performing excellently in that area.
Cyber Security Practice Lead at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The solution provides a good ROI, especially for regular customers, offering discounts for three-year licenses.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I don't think the tool in itself is very capable of doing that, but we have XSOAR and other tool integrations done on the platform, so this can be accomplished.
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Qualys TotalCloud delivers knowledgeable support with high ratings despite occasional delays, emphasizing personalized and effective problem-solving.
Sentiment score
6.6
Aqua Cloud Security Platform's customer support is generally favorable, with responsiveness, knowledge, but needs improvement in follow-up and proactivity.
Sentiment score
6.6
Cortex Cloud's customer service is praised for prompt, knowledgeable support and effective troubleshooting, earning high user ratings.
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate customer support a ten.
Head of IT at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Qualys' customer service provides quality answers, but the response time is long, even though it is within the SLA.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
The support team responds quickly and their debugging is excellent, going in-depth to resolve issues.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
On a scale of one to ten, I would rate the customer support for Aqua Cloud Security Platform a ten out of ten.
Cloud Security Support at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
The customer support for Aqua Cloud Security Platform is excellent, available 24/7, and provides better solutions for any issues raised through tickets.
Cyber Security Practice Lead at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The customer support has been responsive and knowledgeable.
Sr.Devops engineer at Scaler
If I make it a high priority, they have resolved one query within 20 minutes.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
If local Indian support cannot resolve an issue, global tech support aligns promptly within the agreed SLA.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Fast response times and knowledgeable staff who understand the intricacies of the system.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Qualys TotalCloud excels in scalability and multi-cloud support but faces occasional performance lags and management challenges.
Sentiment score
6.7
Aqua Cloud Security Platform offers scalable, flexible cloud security, though integration complexity and licensing costs may affect decisions.
Sentiment score
4.5
Palo Alto's Cortex Cloud is scalable and efficient, with easy onboarding, but can be costly for higher licenses.
We started our organization about nine months back. We started with about 30 users, and we now have more than 100 users.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Our organization currently uses it to manage over 1200 web applications.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
I would rate its scalability a ten out of ten.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
I find Aqua Cloud Security Platform reasonably scalable because it can support security checks across multiple cloud workloads, container images, Kubernetes environments, and CI/CD pipelines without requiring a proportional increase in manual effort.
Information Security Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Aqua Cloud Security Platform has good scalability because it is a SaaS platform, so I do not need to think much about scalability.
Security Practitioner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Aqua Cloud Security Platform did not seem to have any issues with scaling.
Cloud Security Support at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
For stability, scalability, mean time to response, and potential incident investigation improvements, I would give it a nine or probably even a ten.
Business Development Team Lead at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Onboarding endpoints and assets on Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is very easy.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
The platform is able to auto-shut certain resources that are not in use through the agentless scan feature.
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
Qualys TotalCloud is praised for high stability, reliability, minimal downtime, advanced scanning, prompt support, and seamless user experience.
Sentiment score
7.7
Aqua Cloud Security Platform is praised for stability and reliability, with minor issues rarely affecting overall performance and operations.
Sentiment score
7.8
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is praised for its stability, reliability, and seamless security performance without latency or issues.
Overall, the support provided has been excellent.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It has a lot of scanning mechanisms, which are agentless APIs, eBPF, and cloud agents, that are highly reliable.
Sr Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
It is a stable solution, which is why we chose it.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Regarding stability with Aqua Cloud Security Platform, I did not experience any problems.
DevOps Engineer
My impression of Cloud Runtime Security in stopping attacks in real-time is that I have never had an issue where it has let something through, causing an outage or concerns to the customer.
Business Development Team Lead at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
However, now in Cortex Cloud, I have not seen any lag or buffer.
Assistant Security Architect at Cloudnomics
My evaluation of how stable and reliable Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is very positive.
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
 

Room For Improvement

Qualys TotalCloud needs UI/UX improvements, enhanced automation, better integration, clearer licensing, and faster vulnerability detection for competitiveness.
Aqua Cloud Security needs better affordability, reporting, intelligence, documentation, user interface, integrations, and AI-driven prioritization enhancements.
Cortex Cloud's interface and costs challenge users, with needs for improved integration, efficiency, and identity management features.
Ideally, the scanner should automatically detect and scan all subdomains, even if not explicitly defined, ensuring comprehensive vulnerability assessment.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
Ideally, updates should be more immediate, enabling quicker implementation of solutions.
Project Lead at Persistent Systems
Our goal is to integrate all these functions into Qualys, creating a single dashboard for comprehensive security monitoring and management.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Risk prioritization in security graphs is a point where Aqua Cloud Security Platform is less mature than Wiz, which excels at identifying critical vulnerabilities as a single attack path.
Cyber Security Practice Lead at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
For the licensing part and AI-driven prioritization, this needs improvement. While Aqua Cloud Security Platform prioritizes findings using CVSS and policy context, if we compare it with Wiz and Prisma Cloud, they are increasingly using AI-driven risk scoring that incorporates exploitability, identity exposure, internet reachability, and business context.
Cyber Security Practice Lead at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
There should be stronger automation for creating tickets and tracking remediation through closure, which is particularly useful for day-to-day security operations.
Information Security Engineer at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Regarding the generative AI security tool, I know for sure it's Agentic.
Cybersecurity Analyst at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The solution is quite premium in cost compared to alternatives such as Wiz.
Principle Cloud Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
There is not a clear MSP model compared to other vendors such as CrowdStrike.
Business Development Manager For Palo Alto Networks at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Qualys TotalCloud offers competitive pricing and flexibility, especially for large enterprises, with quick setup and comprehensive integration.
Aqua Cloud's pricing is workload-based, competitive, flexible, and perceived as more cost-effective compared to Prisma and Splunk.
In our case, replacing the tool will give us better functionalities without increasing the cost compared to what we pay today for the competitor.
Head of IT at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Qualys TotalCloud is expensive, but it offers a premier solution with no headaches.
Vice President at Inspira Enterprise
Qualys TotalCloud offers good pricing that is affordable and competitive with the market.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Compared to other vendors, Aqua Cloud Security Platform's pricing is good or lesser.
Cyber Security Practice Lead at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The license and setup costs have been reasonable, though a challenge arises when deploying the entire application in our own cloud, as we must manage everything from scratch.
Sr.Devops engineer at Scaler
Overall, it is good. Not too high, not too low.
Cyber Security Practice Lead at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The solution is costly, with high-end capabilities suitable for enterprises.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Today, it is smart and easy to calculate the licenses.
Cloud Security Manager at T-Systems International GmbH
 

Valuable Features

Qualys TotalCloud optimizes cloud security with AI, enhanced risk management, and efficient threat detection across multi-cloud environments.
Aqua Cloud Security Platform provides comprehensive cloud security with runtime protection, CI/CD integration, and enhances teamwork in multi-cloud environments.
Cortex Cloud enhances security management with AI-driven threat detection, automation, and seamless CI/CD integration, reducing response times significantly.
This view of risk helps reduce the work we would have to do to combine multiple sources to prioritize risk.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
FlexScan requires minimal intervention, and after configuration, it automatically collects data and performs necessary scans.
Senior Information Security Consultant at LTIMindtree
This user-friendly platform provides a comprehensive inventory of all assets and allows for customized policy and control design.
Manager SOC at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Aqua provides end-to-end security across containers, Kubernetes, serverless, and cloud workloads starting from build, deployment, runtime, and compliance in one platform.
Security Practitioner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Aqua Cloud Security Platform positively impacted my organization by allowing deployment from code to cloud in the entire CI/CD pipeline, with excellent capabilities and recent AI application security that is useful in the DevSecOps platform.
Cyber Security Practice Lead at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The best feature of Aqua Cloud Security Platform is the Kubernetes security, which secures admission controllers, runtime policies, namespace protection, and RBAC and pod security.
Sr.Devops engineer at Scaler
AI/ML aids in anticipating remediation for misconfigurations and vulnerabilities, and automatic remediation can be easily configured.
Senior Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks has reduced the time spent on incident investigations, and if I had to estimate, I would say it has cut our investigation time in half.
Sr. Compliance Analyst at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
This simplifies the management of shared responsibility among different people and entities, allowing you to use one single tool instead of having dozens of different tools to orchestrate and integrate.
Business Development Manager For Palo Alto Networks at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Qualys TotalCloud
Sponsored
Ranking in Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)
7th
Ranking in Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
54
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (5th), Container Security (8th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (6th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (2nd)
Aqua Cloud Security Platform
Ranking in Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)
15th
Ranking in Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
14th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.3
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Cloud and Data Center Security (9th), Container Security (12th), Software Supply Chain Security (7th), DevSecOps (8th)
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto N...
Ranking in Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)
10th
Ranking in Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
8th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (20th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (10th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (9th), Software Supply Chain Security (6th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (6th), Application Security Posture Management (ASPM) (5th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.9%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Aqua Cloud Security Platform is 2.5%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is 1.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Qualys TotalCloud1.9%
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks1.9%
Aqua Cloud Security Platform2.5%
Other93.7%
Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2859021 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Risk-based triage has transformed container security and now prioritizes high-impact threats
The best features Qualys TotalCloud offers currently include managing cloud infrastructure and container security while facing major challenges such as alert fatigue. Traditional vulnerability scanners flag hundreds of CVEs on short-lived Kubernetes containers, some of which have no internet exposure or are gone before we can even triage them. I leverage Qualys TotalCloud to move beyond static CVSS. I use it to implement runtime exposure, correlation risk reprioritization, and shift-left integration. This notifies developers to fix a base image upstream rather than patching live ephemeral instances. In my work with cloud and container security, the biggest operational hurdle was alert fatigue. I use Qualys to shift left from static CVSS severity to context-aware risk prioritization. I correlated raw vulnerability data with real-time risk factors such as public network exposure, active runtime execution, or overly permissive IAM roles. This allows us to immediately drop the priority of isolated containers and escalate lower-severity CVEs that sit on an exposed, high-risk path. We can map these findings directly back to our CI/CD pipelines so developers can patch the root base images upstream. We have drastically cut down the signal-to-noise ratio, saved a lot of manual hours doing triage work, and ensured engineering effort goes directly towards high-impact risk reduction.
Samir Paul - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Practitioner at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Secures cloud workloads from build to runtime and has needed simpler setup and alert tuning
Regarding how Aqua Cloud Security Platform can be improved, the first area is the complex initial setup. Deployment and configuration can be complex, especially in large environments that require skilled resources. For Kubernetes environments, initial onboarding and policy setup takes time. Compared to Wiz onboarding, it is not very straightforward, as I have also worked with Wiz. The UI is powerful but not very simple for new users, as navigation and dashboard can be overwhelming. Alert noise and tuning are required because Aqua generates a large number of initial alerts that need tuning to reduce false positives. Additionally, pricing can be high depending on workload scale, especially for large Kubernetes and multi-cloud environments. For improvements to Aqua Cloud Security Platform, I think better integration with SOAR and XDR platforms, more AI-driven prioritization, and providing simpler out-of-the-box policies would be beneficial.
SJ
Technical Solutions Architect at IBM
Cloud security has improved as AI-driven runtime protection detects threats and reduces incidents
In my opinion, Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks could be improved or enhanced in various ways. I don't have an idea about that yet because for that you actually need to use two or three different other tools to make a basic comparison. If you ask me how good the tool is, I would fairly rate it quite high. The tool is very popular, and customers can already see that it is one of the cloud leaders in the security space. The platform had a very good feature which provides documentation links about how to use a specific feature on the UI. It takes you to the proper documentation page where it suggests what to do and tells you about the steps that need to be done for a resource deployment. My thoughts about improving the product which I believe could greatly aid vendors is that it used to be a very user-friendly tool, but now they have incorporated everything under one umbrella. It has XDR, XSOAR, and Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks. Before, we used to have separate modules and separate environments for each of these capabilities or features. Right now, it is a little complex and users would take their own time to know the tool better. This is something that would have been way better, but I would say there would be different opinions on this. Talking about user-friendliness, it has decreased now.
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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) solutions are best for your needs.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
18%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Government
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
15%
Construction Company
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise38
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise15
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys TotalCloud?
We purchased Qualys TotalCloud for GCP and Azure as well. It is comparatively better than others regarding pricing. T...
What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
I am unsure about how Qualys TotalCloud can be improved. I do not have anything else to add about the needed improvem...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
My main use case for Qualys TotalCloud is telemetry, although I am unsure about the specifics. A quick specific examp...
What do you think of Aqua Security vs Prisma Cloud?
Aqua Security is easy to use and very manageable. Its main focus is on Kubernetes and Docker. Security is a very valu...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Aqua Security?
Compared to other vendors, Aqua Cloud Security Platform's pricing is good or lesser. The pricing part is acceptable, ...
What needs improvement with Aqua Security?
I think Aqua Cloud Security Platform can be improved by making the platform easier to integrate and manage across CI/...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
I am not fully aware of the pricing and licensing of Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks. The pricing is also based on...
What needs improvement with Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
In my opinion, Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks could be improved or enhanced in various ways. I don't have an idea...
What is your primary use case for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?
The usual use cases for Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks that I have been working with mostly are as simple as dete...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
Aqua Security Platform, CloudSploit, Argon
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
HPE Salesforce Telstra Ellie Mae Cathay Pacific HomeAway
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Find out what your peers are saying about Aqua Cloud Security Platform vs. Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks and other solutions. Updated: October 2026.
920,929 professionals have used our research since 2012.