Cisco Secure Workload vs Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] comparison

Cisco and F5 are both solutions in the Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) category. Additionally, 100% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of F5 users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 16, 2025

Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform and Cisco Secure Workload are competing security products. Cisco Secure Workload has the edge due to its advanced features and comprehensive approach, offering a robust solution for organizations seeking enhanced security.

Features: Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform offers real-time threat detection, compliance monitoring, and container security monitoring, making it suitable for environments requiring critical security insights. On the other hand, Cisco Secure Workload provides micro-segmentation, application dependency mapping, and extensive workload security, enabling efficient management in complex cloud environments.

Room for Improvement: Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform could enhance its Kubernetes integrations, simplify onboarding processes, and improve its user interface for better accessibility. Cisco Secure Workload could benefit from more straightforward initial deployment, increased feature integration with Cisco’s ecosystem, and improved support for non-Cisco environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform is noted for its straightforward deployment, making it ideal for smaller setups. Cisco Secure Workload, while requiring more planning during setup, is supported by robust customer service that effectively assists larger enterprises with complex security needs.

Pricing and ROI: Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform offers a cost-effective solution for startups and mid-sized companies seeking foundational threat protection. Conversely, Cisco Secure Workload, despite higher upfront costs, provides superior long-term ROI through advanced capabilities and scalability, making it more suitable for enterprises aiming for expansive security investments.

To learn more, read our detailed Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) Report (Updated: July 2026).

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Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)

July 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

Featured Reviews

Robert Orłowski

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.

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Raj Metkar

Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA

Discover internal application dependencies and create a dependency map

We actively seek improvements in integrating the Infoblox DDI platform with Cisco Secure Workload. This integration allows Cisco Secure Workload to learn about our networks and network tags, providing valuable insights into vulnerabilities related to the operating system and various applications installed on our servers. Recently, Cisco announced a new product called HyperShield, an AI-based autonomous micro-segmentation solution. While Cisco has not stated that HyperShield will replace Cisco Secure Workload, it represents a natural evolution for the company. HyperShield features dynamic policy discovery and enforcement; however, once policies are enforced, they do not change until a discovery occurs, requiring a re-enforcement process. This new platform operates autonomously, minimizing the need for user or security engineer intervention. I would have expected Cisco to incorporate more automatic discovery and enforcement features within the existing Cisco Secure Workload product. Instead of enhancing the current product, they have introduced a new solution. Cisco plans to honor existing Tetration licenses, allowing users to transition to HyperShield without additional costs, reflecting the investment enterprises have already made. From Cisco’s perspective, this represents a natural progression in their product line. While the product name changes, it seems more of a rebranding effort. The enhancements are greater autonomy, improved discovery, and automatic enforcement, which are now being introduced in HyperShield. Cisco Secure Workload offers automatic policy enforcement but cannot adjust policies dynamically as the application needs to change. Having used the platform for the past five years, the recent announcement has been reassuring. Cisco has confirmed that our investment in the platform will not go to waste. They will honor our existing licenses, providing a natural migration path to the new solution without any disruption

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Skyler Cain

Software Development Manager at Rent Dynamics

SecOps program for us, as a smaller company, is amazing; they know what to look for

They could give a few more insights into security groups and recommendations on how to be more effective. That's getting more into the AWS environment, specifically. I'm not sure if that's Threat Stack's plan or not, but I would like them to help us be efficient about how we're setting up security groups. They could recommend separation of VPCs and the like - really dig into our architecture. I haven't seen a whole lot of that and I think that's something that, right off the bat, could have made us smarter. Even as part of the SecOps Program, that could be helpful; a quick analysis. They're analyzing our whole infrastructure and saying, "You have one VPC and that doesn't make a lot of sense, that should be multiple VPCs and here's why." The architecture of the servers in whatever cloud-hosting provider you're on could be helpful. Other than that, they should continue to expand on their notifications and on what's a vulnerability. They do a great job of that and we want them to continue to do that. It would be cool, since the agent is already deployed and they know about the server, they know the IP address, and they know what vulnerability is there, for them to test the vulnerability and see if they can actually exploit it. Or, once we patch it, they could double-check that it can't be. I don't know how hard that would be to build. Thinking on it off the top off my head, it could be a little challenging but it could also be highly interesting. It would also be great if we could test a couple of other features like hammering a server with 100 login attempts and see what happens. Real test scenarios could be really helpful. That is probably more something close to what they do with the SOC 2 audit or the report. But more visualization of that, being able to test things out on our infrastructure to make sure we can or can't hit this box could be interesting.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable feature is its agent versatility."

"One of Qualys' best features is its categorization, which allows us to see the types of assets, their security postures, and the AI-powered version of the tool."

"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."

"The best part I like is the on-demand scans."

"Generally, Qualys is very good at detections, whether on cloud or on-prem, and the agent allows deployment on both infrastructures, providing continuous monitoring of your assets, which is a key selling point for us."

"The most valuable feature of Qualys TotalCloud is the visibility it provides."

"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable feature is its ability to link clusters of assets, providing a clear model of deployments, vulnerabilities, and statuses."

"The scalability is good as well. I would rate it ten out of ten."

More Qualys TotalCloud pros

"The most valuable feature is micro-segmentation, which is the most important with respect to visibility."

"A complete and powerful micro-segmentation solution."

"The solution is very user-friendly, which clients appreciate."

"Generally speaking, Cisco support is considered one of the best in the networking products and stack."

"Scalability is its most valuable feature."

"The scalability of Cisco Tetration is very good."

"The solution offers 100% telemetry coverage; the telemetry you collect is not sampled, it's not intermittent, it's complete, and you see everything in it, including full visibility of all activities on your endpoints and in your network."

"Secure Workload's best feature is that it's an end-to-end offering from Cisco."

More Cisco Secure Workload pros

"The capacity to respond to evidence requests from the SOX auditors has significantly improved because of this tool."

"Technical support is very helpful."

"We're using it on container to see when activity involving executables happens, and that's great."

"The most valuable feature is the SecOps because they have our back and they help us with the reports... It's like having an extension of your team. And then, it grows with you."

"We find the licensing and pricing very easy to understand and a good value for the services provided."

"It is a cost-effective choice versus other solutions on the market."

"The SecOps program is absolutely amazing when you do not have a dedicated resource for security."

"With Threat Stack, we quickly identified some AWS accounts which had services that would potentially be exposed and were able to remediate them prior to release of products."

More Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] pros

Cons

"From a downside perspective, the UI is not user-friendly and feels dated compared to other tools like Prisma Cloud."

"To be honest, I would move out from this tool because it does not give a full view of vulnerability."

"I sometimes have difficulty detecting or uninstalling certain versions of applications, which I have to do manually."

"Qualys's ticketing system can be confusing when assigning tasks to individuals, and support could be improved by offering instant call solutions with engineers in addition to ticket replies."

"The patching process with Qualys Patch Management, which is part of TotalCloud, does not cover installing certain prerequisites on the servers or workstations. This shortcoming means we must rely on SCCM when any service stack updates or additional prerequisites are needed."

"One of the things that could be improved is the alerts. Qualys is a fantastic tool, especially with the TruRisk feature, but one challenge that most leaders face involves alert fatigue."

"Qualys TotalCloud's increasing complexity, due to the development and deployment of multiple solutions, is making the GUI difficult to navigate."

"A feature improvement could be the inclusion of Windows OS support for container security, as it is currently only supported for Linux."

More Qualys TotalCloud cons

"The problem is that we can only deploy the particular solution where we have the hardware with Cisco."

"The emailed notifications are either hard to find or they are not available. Search capabilities can be improved."

"There's room for improvement when it comes to Cisco Secure Workload. A couple of internal areas could be refined a little bit. They are trying to solve it, depending on where you suppose the agent is. Suppose you have the agent on both the server and the client, which could be the front-end server or web server connecting to the. In that case, if those two are communicating on RPC, the server can look into its configuration. It could go down and find the configuration file on the FTP server and then set the policies to it. But there are a lot of different FTP servers out there. It's also a complex case for the tool to support all FTP servers."

"They should scale down the hardware a bit. The initial hardware investment is two million dollars so it's a price point problem. The issue with the price comes from the fact that you have to have it with enormous storage and enormous computes."

"It has an uninviting interface."

"There is some overlap between Cisco Tetration and AppDynamics and there are few DC tools, it would be great to have a single pane of glass, rather than have to jump between different tools."

"The product should be easy to use, but it is not. Comparing it to other products, it was very complex."

"There was a controversy when Cisco reduced the amount of data they kept, and the solution became quite cost-intensive, which made its adoption challenging….Although they have modified it now, I preferred the previous version, and I wish all the functionality were back under the same product."

More Cisco Secure Workload cons

"It shoots back a lot of alerts."

"Some features do not work as expected."

"The API - which has grown quite a bit, so we're still learning it and I can't say whether it still needs improvement - was an area that had been needing it."

"The one thing that we know they're working on, but we don't have through the tool, is the application layer. As we move to a serverless environment, with AWS Fargate or direct Lambda, that's where Threat Stack does not have the capacity to provide feed. Those are areas that it's blind to now..."

"The solution’s ability to consume alerts and data in third-party tools (via APIs and export into S3 buckets) is moderate. They have some work to do in that area... The API does not mimic the features of the UI as far as reporting and pulling data out go. There's a big discrepancy there."

"I would like further support of Windows endpoint agents or the introduction of support for Windows endpoint agents."

"The one thing that we know they're working on, but we don't have through the tool, is the application layer."

"It's too expensive, but I'm always going to say that. It is very expensive compared to some other products."

More Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Qualys TotalCloud is cost-efficient and was selected for its value compared to other products."

"Qualys TotalCloud is expensive."

"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."

"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."

"It isn't cheap, but it's reasonable. It helps us to manage things with very few resources."

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

"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."

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

More Qualys TotalCloud pricing and cost advice

"The price is outrageous. If you have money to throw at the product, then do it."

"The pricing is a bit higher than we anticipated."

"The cost for the hardware is around 300k."

"It is not cheap and pricing may limit scalability."

"Pricing depends on the scope of the application and the features. Larger installations save more."

"Regarding price, Cisco Secure Workload can be expensive if you don't have a budget. If you're not doing micro-segmentation, every extra security measure or enforcement you're putting on top of your existing environment will be an extra cost. It's not a cheap solution at all. But from my point of view, if you need to do micro-segmentation, this is one of the best tools I've seen for it. I can't compare that to Microsoft's solution because I haven't looked into it. I've looked into VMware and Cisco. Those are the only two that I know of. I didn't know that Microsoft could do micro-segmentation at all. Maybe they can, but I haven't heard anything about it."

"The price is based on how many computers you're going to install it on."

"It is very expensive compared to some other products. The pricing is definitely high."

"I'm happy with the amount that we spend for the product that we get and the overall service that we get. It's not cheap, but I'm still happy with the spend."

"It came in cheaper than Trend Micro when we purchased it a few years ago."

"It is a cost-effective choice versus other solutions on the market."

"Pricing seems to be in line with the market structure. It's fine."

"We find the licensing and pricing very easy to understand and a good value for the services provided."

"What we're paying now is somewhere around $15 to $20 per agent per month, if I recall correctly. The other cost we have is SecOps."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

13%

Outsourcing Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

Construction Company

12%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Performing Arts

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	30

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	8

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

Questions from the Community

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

The price is very expensive, actually.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?

To be totally honest, I do not have any best features because I have had a bad experience using this tool, especially...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?

My main use case for Qualys TotalCloud is vulnerability management and exposure management. I use this tool to evalua...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Secure Workload?

CloudStrike offers antivirus capabilities and firewall features for servers and VDI but lacks automatic policy discov...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cisco Secure Workload?

We actively seek improvements in integrating the Infoblox DDI platform with Cisco Secure Workload. This integration a...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Cisco Secure Workload?

When we onboarded Cisco Secure Workload, the usual use case was to discover internal application dependencies and cre...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Qualys TotalCloud

July 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Workload

August 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL]

July 2026

Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] report

Download Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] product report

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan

Cisco Tetration

Threat Stack, CSP,

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

Cisco Secure Workload offers advanced auditing, micro-segmentation, and network visibility, automating policy presentation for improved security. It enhances application dependency mapping and provides comprehensive telemetry with strategic policy enforcement.

Cisco Secure Workload specializes in automating micro-segmentation, data center management, and traffic analysis. Its capabilities facilitate application dependency mapping and enhance internal micro-segmentation, providing invaluable network visibility. Users find its automation in policy presentation and strategic enforcement beneficial, along with granular control and scalability, despite needing improvements in scalability and integration capabilities. Enhanced notification features, troubleshooting options, and an efficient interface are desired for seamless deployment, along with stronger multi-tenancy, redundancy, and monitoring functions. Broader platform support and integrated cloud connectivity are desired for unified management across tools.

What are the most important features?

Auditing: Provides in-depth network analysis and security auditing capabilities.
Micro-Segmentation: Enhances network security by automating segmentation at a granular level.
Application Dependency Mapping: Visualizes connections and interactions between applications.
Network Visibility: Delivers comprehensive insight into network activities and dynamics.
Policy Discovery: Streamlines policy creation through automation and reduces manual intervention.
Comprehensive Telemetry: Offers complete coverage and insights for better security assessment.

What benefits and ROI should be evaluated?

Enhanced Security Measures: Offers robust features for network security improvement.
Automated Processes: Reduces manual efforts through automation, increasing efficiency.
Scalability: Adapts to growing network demands with flexible scalability options.
Granular Control: Allows detailed control over network policies and enforcement.

Entities in finance, gas, and oil sectors utilize Cisco Secure Workload for networking site management and compliance maintenance. It integrates into extensive Cisco infrastructure, aiding routers, switches, and endpoints, thus supporting auditors in network synchronization and auditing needs.

Cisco

Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] offers robust security features including endpoint monitoring, rule customization, and integration capabilities, with easy connectivity to cloud services like Docker and AWS.

Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] provides tools for enhancing security visibility across cloud infrastructure. It supports AWS and Docker integration, facilitating efficient threat detection and management. Users appreciate its capability to configure customizable alerts and monitor endpoints, sessions, API interactions, and cloud services. However, there are areas needing improvement, such as better serverless environment support and reduced alert frequency. The platform services smaller organizations by compensating for limited security resources with its comprehensive monitoring and auditing tools.

What are the key features?

Easy Cloud Service Integration: Streamlined connectivity with Docker and AWS for efficient monitoring.
Customizable Rule Sets: Tailor security rules to meet specific organizational needs.
Email Alerts: Receive timely notifications about security events and threats.
Interactive Session Monitoring: Track live sessions for suspicious activities.
API Integration: Connect effortlessly with third-party tools for an enhanced security posture.
SecOps Support: Assistance for organizations lacking dedicated security teams.

What are the benefits and ROI features?

Streamlined Threat Detection: Effective process monitoring to identify potential threats.
Cost Efficiency: Serves companies with limited resources by providing essential security functions.
Comprehensive Audits: Helps in regular examinations of cloud infrastructure, enhancing compliance.
Visibility into Cloud Operations: Offers a detailed dashboard for threat visibility and monthly vulnerability assessments.

In specific industries, Threat Stack Cloud Security Platform [EOL] is utilized for its strength in monitoring cloud infrastructure and preventing unauthorized access. Organizations in fields where cloud operations are critical use it for regular audits and monitoring. Its capabilities in threat management are leveraged to maintain secure operations and compliance, especially where there is no dedicated security team.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

ADP, University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC)

StatusPage.io, Walkbase, Spanning, DNAnexus, Jobcase, Nextcapital, Smartling, Veracode, 6sense

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