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AttackIQ vs XM Cyber comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 22, 2026

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 TotalCloud
Sponsored
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (11th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (8th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (8th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (1st), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (6th)
AttackIQ
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
42nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (4th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (18th), Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (6th)
XM Cyber
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
37th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Continuous Controls Monitoring (3rd), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (27th), Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (4th)
 

Featured Reviews

RO
IT Security Expert at Alior Bank S.A.
Unified risk scoring has improved our cloud visibility and simplifies remediation priorities
Qualys TotalCloud provides unified vulnerability and threat assessment across both IAS and SaaS. This solution provides a single prioritized view of risk, which helps reduce the work I would have to do. We are no longer based on CVSS; we are based on Qualys risk scoring, which is based on CVSS plus internal findings made by Qualys, and then assigns its own score. The TruRisk insight feature has found a small number of assets with high vulnerability scores, though I am cautious since some information is classified. Qualys TotalCloud has positively impacted our bank's performance, and we have definitely seen benefits after implementing this solution.
Akash Das Barman - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Trainee at DataSpace Academy
Continuous validation has improved MITRE-based detection coverage across hybrid environments
Overall, AttackIQ is a strong platform, but there are a few areas where it could improve. One area is the learning curve for new users. Since the platform is deeply tied to MITRE ATT&CK mapping and security validation workflows, beginners may need more guided onboarding and simplified explanations for certain modules. Another improvement could be more customizable dashboards and reporting views for different stakeholders, especially for executive-level summaries versus technical SOC analysis. I also think integrations and automation workflows could be expanded further for multi-vendor environments, making it easier to correlate results across different security tools. From an operational perspective, more built-in recommendations for remediation or detection tuning after simulation would also be valuable, especially for teams that are still maturing their security operations.One additional area for improvement in AttackIQ could be deeper real-time guidance during simulations, especially for less experienced analysts. For example, after identifying a detection gap, the platform could provide more prescriptive recommendations on how to improve SIEM correlation rules or EDR configuration. That would help teams move faster from validation to remediation. I also think improving visualization of attack paths and attack chain relationships would make investigations easier during purple team exercises. Another potential improvement is making some workflows lighter and easier for smaller organizations that may not have a large dedicated SOC team, because BAS platforms can sometimes feel enterprise-focused.
Stephen Owen - PeerSpot reviewer
Group CISO at a insurance company with 51-200 employees
Has significantly improved risk visibility and optimized remediation efforts across dynamic environments
We tightly integrate with APIs, consuming feeds and open source data. We have integrated with XM Cyber, and we are elevating ourselves with AI and MCP tools as we view this as a forerunner to reducing the workload for our agents and IT staff. We're pushing all our security partners to provide AI and MCP tools. Our vision is for them to offer a chat interface where a junior IT or an experienced infrastructure engineer can ask for what needs to be patched next without using an interface. Their current interface is very usable and professional, ranking in the top tier of applications. Their reporting is good, offering custom reports, and their API integration is a new capability that serves us well. We have high expectations for the next generation, such as a chat interface to ask questions. However, everything has been very good. We push the boundaries with digital twins; I understand XM Cyber uses a similar concept of graph databases to map environments. I would like access to that and querying languages, enabling more informed business decisions. XM Cyber sees much of our estate, which is beneficial for making informed decisions, and we can harness those insights and data for business analytics. For instance, it could help us gain insights into change management—if a particular server impacts another and that server is supported by yet another server, we could glean significant insights for change management meetings.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"TotalCloud's best feature is the integration of cloud accounts. It helps with the risk and security posture management of our cloud infrastructure."
"One of the most valuable features of Qualys TotalCloud is FlexScan, which is specifically for internet-facing VMs. We found this feature to be very useful. It was a key differentiator for us."
"The most valuable feature is the consolidated information that it provides from various platforms."
"The dashboards are particularly valuable as they offer a comprehensive view of the environment, highlighting any misconfigurations."
"The agent and agentless scanning in TotalCloud, particularly the FlexScan method, is incredibly valuable. With traditional scanning approaches, we had to give IP ranges and whitelist IPs. All that is now simplified. FlexScan requires minimal intervention, and after configuration, it automatically collects data and performs necessary scans."
"With TotalCloud, we can scan through the API. If we are not able to deploy cloud agents on the machine, we can use the API."
"Once you have your vulnerabilities fixed and your patches pushed out using Qualys TotalCloud, then you are able to eliminate threats and cyber risk."
"Qualys TotalCloud has improved our security posture."
"Overall, I've had a good experience with the product. It's worked well for me."
"After using AttackIQ, it has helped the team and the company improve on false positives and reduce risk, as most people are now capable of identifying how to work on detection, improving fine-tuning and all those things."
"AttackIQ has had a positive impact on the organization, especially in the areas of continuous security validation, detection improvement, and overall defensive readiness, with highlights including improved visibility into detection gaps, stronger security controls validation, better SOC readiness, and faster detection engineering improvements, which are improvement areas we have implemented in our project using AttackIQ."
"AttackIQ is solving a lot of the problems that I had before or that we as an organization had before, even the security team, so it is solving all my issues."
"It saves you money while making you more secure."
"Since implementing XM Cyber, we have improved the way we are doing patching, focusing on the choke points in our patching cycle, and it improves the way we assess the risk."
"XM Cyber permits us to identify if a zero-day vulnerability can affect our infrastructure; it helps me understand the company's total risk that we have in our infrastructure and workstation vulnerability, and it permits us to identify the real impact when we have a vulnerability."
"What I personally like very much, from my experience, is that it is very reliable."
"Six weeks into using XM Cyber, we saw a compelling return on investment—primarily in risk reduction, with a specific issue our other security tooling did not pick up but XM Cyber did, reducing IT remediation time and saving over 60,000 US dollars per year while significantly lowering our loss exposure amount."
"The platform's most valuable feature is attack simulation."
"XM Cyber made it clear that browser vulnerabilities were the top priority because the platform was able to examine how vulnerabilities within our estate could be exploited and what the path would be from some bad actor in order to exploit those vulnerabilities."
 

Cons

"From a downside perspective, the UI is not user-friendly and feels dated compared to other tools like Prisma Cloud."
"I would like the ability to disable certain default built-in policies as they can be misleading when creating dashboards. That is the top one."
"There is a lack of data segregation according to criticality or inventory."
"Although TotalCloud is a helpful tool, some of its advanced features are still under development."
"The support is not up to the mark and seems to be overburdened."
"The areas in the solution that have room for improvement include the UI/UX design, which should be improved, and they should integrate more artificial intelligence into the product."
"I sometimes have difficulty detecting or uninstalling certain versions of applications, which I have to do manually."
"Areas that need improvement in every solution include the remediation part. The remediation steps should be simple enough for everyone to understand."
"The initial setup was difficult. It was not straightforward."
"The initial setup was quite difficult and took a long time."
"The main reasons I would not give it a full perfect score are the learning curve for new users and some opportunities for improvement in reporting, customization, and remediation guidance."
"One area for improvement is the initial configuration complexity, which is very complex in the initial stage to configure the whole thing and integrate with the SOC, presenting a learning curve for organizations that are new to adversary emulation or continuous security validation, particularly concerning the initial setup scenario customization and workflow tuning."
"We'd like to see a cheaper price."
"We have not saved any time or effort, but we can prove that the effort involved around vulnerability management has been better spent to greater effect, and we've been able to demonstrate that vulnerabilities that do represent a high risk have been remediated more rapidly and more effectively."
"They could improve support because when we need to create a super case and escalate to resolve with technical support, they resolve our ticket in approximately two weeks."
"We have high expectations for the next generation, such as a chat interface to ask questions."
"XM Cyber could identify all areas of vulnerability. They could expand the identification span for different areas."
"There are many interesting things about XM Cyber, but the part that can be improved is the mobile exposure and the IBM i specific equipment."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Although Qualys TotalCloud is relatively expensive due to its unique automation features, its cost-effectiveness is rated an eight out of ten, with ten being the most costly."
"Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility."
"Qualys TotalCloud offers good pricing that is affordable and competitive with the market. Our partnership also provides us with additional benefits."
"The pricing is comparable. It is built into our other product, so I cannot piecemeal it. It is a part of our subscription."
"The cost is high, but it meets our organizational needs."
"Its price seems higher compared to other tools, but it is worth it. If they could adjust the pricing and make it comparable with other tools, that would be great."
"It isn't cheap, but it's reasonable. It helps us to manage things with very few resources."
"Qualys TotalCloud is cost-efficient and was selected for its value compared to other products."
Information not available
"We have to pay standard licensing fees."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
8%
Construction Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Retailer
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise29
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
Areas that need improvement in every solution include the remediation part. The remediation steps should be simple en...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
Our use case involves the assets that we have under cloud, the assets exposed to the internet, and the internal appli...
What needs improvement with AttackIQ?
Overall, AttackIQ is a strong platform, but there are a few areas where it could improve. One area is the learning cu...
What is your primary use case for AttackIQ?
My main use case for AttackIQ has been validating security controls and testing detection coverage against MITRE ATT&...
What advice do you have for others considering AttackIQ?
AttackIQ is very strong in continuous security validation, MITRE ATT&CK alignment, and realistic attack simulatio...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for XM Cyber?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was that we have a large, complicated estate, and in the licens...
What needs improvement with XM Cyber?
The roadmap is a disadvantage because this kind of technology should incorporate AI. At the moment, we don't have any...
What is your primary use case for XM Cyber?
My major use case for XM Cyber is managing the services in our company, Prosegur Iberia, for Spain and Portugal. We d...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
DeepSurface
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Information Not Available
Hamburg Port Authority, Plymouth Rock Corporation
Find out what your peers are saying about AttackIQ vs. XM Cyber and other solutions. Updated: May 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.