AWS Security Hub vs Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks comparison

AWS Security Hub vs. Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

September 2026

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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 TotalCloud

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 2.1%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS Security Hub is 2.5%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is 2.1%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Qualys TotalCloud	2.1%
Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks	2.1%
AWS Security Hub	2.5%
Other	93.3%

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)

Featured Reviews

reviewer2859021

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.

Misbah Mohammed Kollathodi

Engineering Technical Leader Sre (Cloud/Kubernetes Security) at Cisco

Centralized compliance monitoring has strengthened our cloud security posture and daily governance

AWS Security Hub is something which I basically use to see how much your infrastructure is compliant. It is basically what we call a CSPM, which is a cloud security posture management tool. You can automate the best practices and continue with security best practices; it will give you your misconfigurations and aggregate all your tickets in one place. The best thing about AWS Security Hub is that it is a single point of place where you can get all your misconfigurations without having to go to each service and check. For example, if your business deals with any compliance like PCI DSS or FSBP and ISD, you can check how much your infrastructure is compliant with these standards. Each standard has several security controls, and AWS Security Hub checks these security controls and tells us what percentage your application and infrastructure is compliant with these standards. It also has integration with GuardDuty, Inspector, and other AWS services. In that aspect, it provides a lot of findings. It also supports some third-party product sources. I believe it will reduce your effort to correct those findings and can automate the security tests, consolidate the view of findings across accounts and providers. You can also apply remediation for these findings and automate that; for example, if somebody opens the security group, you can use tools such as Amazon Inspector to close this port when this finding comes. So I would say it is a good tool for cloud security, cloud security posture management, compliance management, and all these things. If you are dealing with sensitive data, it is very critical. A lot of people are using AWS Security Hub today in our company, maybe in every account we have. It is a must for cloud security. I believe bigger organizations use that, so it is a need for our security strategy.

Cloud security has improved as AI-driven runtime protection detects threats and reduces incidents

Sonali Jha

Technical Solutions Architect at IBM

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.

More Qualys TotalCloud pros

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is extensibility."

"The biggest strengths of Qualys TotalCloud are that it is pretty good at cloud visibility, has easy integration, and also has multi-cloud compatibility."

"I found the initial setup user-friendly."

"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."

"I highly recommend Qualys TotalCloud to other users."

"Qualys TotalCloud helps you not just to identify misconfigurations, but you can actually also fix issues."

"I rate the breadth of FlexScan in providing visibility into on-premises, multicloud, and container environments as fantastic."

"The vulnerability management feature is the one I like the most because it provides a clear picture of all vulnerabilities."

"AWS Security Hub has very good integration features. It allows for AWS native services integration, and it helps us to integrate some of the services outside of AWS. They have partners, such as Amazon Preferred Network Partners (APN). If you have different security tools around APN, we can integrate those findings with AWS Security Hub reducing the need to refer to different portals or different UIs. You can have AWS Security Hub act as a single common go-to dashboard."

"The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that it is easy to manage...It is a scalable solution."

"AWS Security Hub has very good integration features. It allows for AWS native services integration, and it helps us to integrate some of the services outside of AWS."

"AWS Security Hub brings many features into one table that is quite useful, and the app team finds it easier to see what is missing."

"This solution is for security posture management for the cloud, showing the security posture of your cloud infrastructure and giving you good insight into whether your infrastructure is secure or not."

"I rate Security Hub ten out of ten for stability."

"The platform has valuable features for security."

"Easily integrates with third-party tools"

More AWS Security Hub pros

"I have absolutely seen improvements in our incident close rates, with mean time to detect and respond reduced significantly, sometimes by at least forty to fifty percent."

"The AI and automation features in detecting and responding to high-risk threats are impressive; it's one of the best tools regarding AI technology and unifies security in one platform in real-time, improving vulnerability analysis, incident response, and compliance reporting."

"The most valuable features I have found in Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks are those that we provided to customers in a stock environment, as we have done some POCs and tried to check how it can help different organizations, and this same solution has been positioned for multiple customers."

"From a technical standpoint or pricing, Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is a stronger solution in the market at the moment compared to other products from ConnectWise or Symantec."

"The capabilities of Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks are valuable because it is the best product in the market."

"Overall, Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is a technically strong product, and I rate it ten out of ten."

"I have seen several benefits from using Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks: It was easy to use and easy to migrate from the IBM platform."

"Previously with Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, I deployed this product for one of my customers, and after three to four months, they said that previously they had around four hours of MTTR, and now it has reduced to just 15 to 20 minutes."

More Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks pros

Cons

"I would appreciate additional integration options to connect Qualys TotalCloud with our other vulnerability management tools."

"Two areas for improvement in Qualys TotalCloud are the speed of the public cloud platform and vulnerability detection."

"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."

"In TotalCloud, I would suggest improvements in policy checks to cater to various inventory types like VPCs, subnets, S3 buckets, or IAMs. There is a lack of data segregation according to criticality or inventory."

"It is already perfect, but they can bring some newer dashboards and customization options for the dashboard. It would be great to be able to include on-prem assets on the dashboard."

"In my opinion, what can be improved in Qualys TotalCloud includes pricing and container scanning."

"Qualys TotalCloud can be improved in the integration piece, especially with ServiceNow, where there's a bidirectional sync integrated, as there is no native capability from Qualys that can give monitoring metrics of how many assets came in and how many failed or were not properly reconciled or combined."

"To improve the user experience, reporting could be simplified for better comprehension by end users and project managers, facilitating issue resolution."

More Qualys TotalCloud cons

"However, the sheer number of services can be overwhelming when implementing something new."

"Feature-wise, we are not able to do multi-cloud. We are doing individual cloud monitoring, and we see other tools are better than AWS Security Hub."

"There is room for improvement in implementing AI capabilities. It would be beneficial for Security Hub to implement preventative measures and to directly apply recommendations instead of just suggesting them."

"Whenever my team gets some alarms from the central team, my team needs to initiate whether it's a real or false trigger. The central team needs to keep adjusting to the parameters or at least the concerned IPs, whether it's really from the company's pool of IPs, so the trigger process can be improved. In the next release of AWS Security Hub, I'd like a better dashboard that could result in better alert visibility."

"Adding SIEM features would be beneficial because of the limited customization of AWS Security Hub."

"Security Hub is currently not worth investing in, as it requires more configurations and integration with other services to work effectively."

"AWS Security Hub should improve the time it takes to update. It takes a long period of time when updating. It can take 24 hours sometimes to update. Additionally, when integrating this solution with more security tools, takes time."

"The user interface, graphs, and dashboards of the solution could improve in the future. They are not very sophisticated and could use an update."

More AWS Security Hub cons

"The pricing is high, making ROI challenging to justify, especially during transitions between solutions."

"Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is not the cheapest solution in the market, but I know that is the best solution for SOC and Cloud once have all tools to connect cloud issues with SOC procedures, because we are partners with T-Systems."

"As per my experience with Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, the UI could be simpler."

"In my opinion, Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks can be improved by addressing forensic information collection and storage, although I cannot suggest specific things right now, based on what customers might need."

"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."

"From the commercial perspective, we have some limitations because Palo Alto has a minimum number of users of endpoints set at 200, which is quite high for the Italian market."

"Overall, I rate Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks as an eight out of ten. I think that it could improve on price, as I know that the Google solution has the best price, and this is one of the conditions."

"The negative aspects or areas for improvement in the product include the fact that the cost might be a bit high, which challenges commercials, but not technically."

More Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is high, but it meets our organizational needs."

"While Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive and may soon be considered overpriced."

"Qualys TotalCloud is expensive, but it offers a premier solution with no headaches."

"The pricing for TotalCloud is attractive and competitive in the market. Given the features, especially the dashboard, I have no concerns regarding pricing."

"Qualys TotalCloud offers good pricing that is affordable and competitive with the market. Our partnership also provides us with additional benefits."

"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."

"I am not sure about the pricing. From what I understand, it is a bit on the higher side, but I do not have the exact numbers."

"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."

More Qualys TotalCloud pricing and cost advice

"There are multiple subscription models, like yearly, monthly, and packaged."

"The price of AWS Security Hub is average compared to other solutions."

"AWS Security Hub's pricing is pretty reasonable."

"The pricing is fine. It is not an expensive tool."

"The price of the solution is not very competitive but it is reasonable."

"Security Hub is not an expensive solution."

"The cost is based on the number of compliances, core checks, and services required, and for more than 10,000 recommendations, the charge is just one dollar."

"AWS Security Hub is not an expensive tool. I would consider it to be a cheap solution. AWS Security Hub follows the PAYG pricing model, meaning you will have to pay for whatever you use."

Information not available

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Comparison Review

it_user186927

Director of Operations at a comms service provider with 10,001+ employees

Feb 16, 2015

Cybereason vs. Interset vs. SQRRL

Capture DB - they all use NoSQL db and hence solve the ad hoc query and 'go back in time' problem with current best of breed SIEM and DLP solutions that rely on real time analysis of incoming logs (and don't store them). This means deeper and quicker iterative threat analysis and assessment…

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys TotalCloud?

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

18%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

15%

Construction Company

10%

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	38

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

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...

Which is better - Azure Sentinel or AWS Security Hub?

We like that Azure Sentinel does not require as much maintenance as legacy SIEMs that are on-premises. Azure Sentinel...

What needs improvement with AWS Security Hub?

I do not see any areas for improvement in AWS Security Hub itself, but the cost factor is something that is the main ...

What is your primary use case for AWS Security Hub?

AWS Security Hub is something I have used daily as it is a part of my job for cloud security purposes. If you are dea...

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...

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Qualys TotalCloud

Comparisons

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JupiterOne vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 6% of the time

Orca Security vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 6% of the time

Nucleus Security vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 4% of the time

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Microsoft Sentinel vs AWS Security Hub

Compared 31% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs AWS Security Hub

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs AWS Security Hub

Compared 4% of the time

Check Point Cloud Firewall (formerly CloudGuard Network Security) vs AWS Security Hub

Compared 4% of the time

Datadog vs AWS Security Hub

Compared 2% of the time

More AWS Security Hub Competitors

Wiz vs Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 10% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 8% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security vs Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 7% of the time

WithSecure Elements Exposure Management (XM) vs Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 6% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security vs Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

Compared 5% of the time

More Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks Competitors

Product Reports

Download Qualys TotalCloud product report

Qualys TotalCloud

October 2026

Download AWS Security Hub product report

AWS Security Hub

October 2026

Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks

October 2026

Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks report

Download Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks product report

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan

SQRRL

No data available

Overview

Qualys TotalCloud enhances security posture across cloud environments with continuous monitoring, vulnerability management, and risk visualization, ensuring efficient threat assessment and automated remediation for improved cyber risk reduction.

Qualys TotalCloud offers a robust suite of security tools essential for organizations managing multi-cloud infrastructures. By integrating cloud accounts and automating workflows, it supports AWS, Azure, and GCP, offering comprehensive vulnerability management and zero-day detection. The platform's user-friendly design, combined with its extensive risk management and unified threat assessment capabilities, enables organizations to prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities effectively. TruRisk Insights provides clear insights on cyber risks, while the automation options streamline patch management and scanning processes. API integration across IaaS and SaaS environments further enhances resource allocation efficiency and saves time, addressing misconfigurations across cloud environments.

What are the most important features of Qualys TotalCloud?

Accurate Vulnerability Reports: Delivers precise and actionable insights for risk mitigation.
Zero-Day Detection: Identifies and addresses zero-day vulnerabilities proactively.
Unified Threat Assessment: Offers comprehensive evaluation of threats across the environment.
Extensive Risk Management: Manages risks effectively with advanced insights and prioritization.
Continuous Monitoring: Provides non-stop surveillance for vulnerabilities and threats.
Cloud-Native Automation: Streamlines processes and reduces manual efforts using automation.
FlexScan for Internet-Facing VMs: Scans external VMs efficiently to detect vulnerabilities.
Dashboard Risk Visualization: Clear visualization helps prioritize vulnerabilities.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Improved Security Posture: Enhances threat detection and response across clouds.
Time Savings: Automation reduces time spent on manual vulnerability management.
Resource Efficiency: Better allocation of resources through streamlined workflows.
Enhanced Risk Prioritization: Focus on critical vulnerabilities for effective mitigation.
Integrated Cloud Accounts: Facilitates seamless cloud management and security.

Qualys TotalCloud is deployed in sectors needing rigorous vulnerability management, such as finance and healthcare. Companies utilize it to secure multi-cloud environments like AWS, Azure, and GCP, focus on compliance, and integrate security into CI/CD pipelines to detect and remedy threats pre-deployment.

Qualys

AWS Security Hub provides multi-account management and compliance checks alongside integrations with AWS services and third-party tools. It centralizes vulnerability tracking and risk prioritization, delivering real-time alerts for proactive security management.

AWS Security Hub enhances cloud security management through a centralized dashboard that monitors infrastructure resources and compliance scores, ensuring adherence to AWS standards. With integrations for vulnerability detection and security posture management, users can streamline security operations. While the platform offers notable benefits, areas for improvement include customization options for findings suppression and integration with multi-cloud environments.

What are the key features of AWS Security Hub?

Multi-Account Management: Seamlessly manage security across numerous accounts.
Compliance Checks: Stay aligned with standards such as PCI through automated reviews.
AWS Integrations: Connect effortlessly with AWS and third-party services to enhance security posture.
Real-Time Alerts: Quickly respond to potential threats with immediate notifications.
Risk Prioritization: Focus on critical vulnerabilities to enhance resource allocation.

What benefits should users expect from using AWS Security Hub?

Proactive Security: Early threat detection enables quicker mitigation strategies.
Cloud-Native Functionality: Utilize tools tailored for cloud environments.
Compliance Insights: Simplified compliance management provides transparency.
Ease of Use: Streamlined interface facilitates efficient security management.

Industries implementing AWS Security Hub leverage its capabilities for comprehensive security across multiple accounts and regions. Health, finance, and retail sectors benefit by automating compliance checks and monitoring security infrastructures. This service aids in identifying misconfigurations, tracking alerts, and ensuring infrastructure integrity during cyber incidents.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks enhances cloud security with features like AI/ML threat detection and automated remediation, ensuring real-time protection and efficient management across cloud environments.

Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks offers comprehensive cloud security posture management and runtime protection. It reduces manual tasks and accelerates incident investigation through advanced threat detection and AI-driven anomaly detection. With integration to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, it boosts threat response while reducing incident resolution time. Although users find the UI complex and pricing high, its capabilities in securing AWS, Azure, and other environments, as well as its potential integration with CyberArk, emphasize its enterprise-ready design for cloud transformation across diverse industry sectors.

What are the key features of Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks?

Runtime Protection: Ensures real-time security for workloads.
AI/ML-powered Threat Detection: Identifies threats using AI/ML technology.
Automated Remediation: Streamlines threat response through automation.
Comprehensive Detection Coverage: Offers extensive detection capabilities with unified data.
Integration with MITRE ATT&CK: Enhances threat response efficiency.

What benefits or ROI should users consider?

Enhanced Security Visibility: Provides dashboards for better security insights.
Reduced Manual Tasks: Automates processes for efficiency gains.
Improved Threat Response: Accelerates incident resolution with AI-driven anomaly detection.
Seamless Cloud Integration: Supports APIs and multi-cloud environments.

Cortex Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is deployed across industries like telecom, BFSI, and manufacturing for robust cloud security. It's leveraged for detecting misconfigurations and vulnerabilities, aiding cloud transformation and compliance with standards such as GDPR and NIST. The integration across cloud infrastructures, including AWS and Azure, supports policy creation and threat management strategies for diverse enterprises.

Palo Alto Networks

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Edmunds, Frame.io, GoDaddy, Realtor.com

Information Not Available