Fortinet FortiDB [EOL] vs Qualys VMDR comparison

Fortinet and Qualys are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Additionally, 75% of Fortinet users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Qualys users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Qualys VMDR and Fortinet FortiDB [EOL] compete in cybersecurity, with Qualys leading in pricing and customer support, while Fortinet FortiDB [EOL] excels in advanced features.

Features: Qualys VMDR provides comprehensive vulnerability management, threat detection, and IT workflow integration. Fortinet FortiDB [EOL] offers robust database security, extensive data protection, automatic database discovery, and compliance control features.

Room for Improvement: Qualys VMDR can enhance its vulnerability reporting detail, expand platform compatibility for broader enterprise application, and improve the speed of its scanning processes. Fortinet FortiDB [EOL] could benefit from a more straightforward deployment process, improved user interface for ease of navigation, and better integration with cloud services.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Qualys VMDR's cloud-based model offers flexible deployment with effective customer service. Fortinet FortiDB [EOL] requires complex on-premise installation, which can be time-intensive, and may not match Qualys in customer responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: Qualys VMDR is noted for its competitive pricing and high ROI with its broad cybersecurity coverage. Fortinet FortiDB [EOL] incurs higher upfront costs but promises considerable ROI for organizations focused on database security.

To learn more, read our detailed Vulnerability Management Report (Updated: May 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Vulnerability Management

May 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 851,823 peers since 2012

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

Zafran Security

Featured Reviews

Israel Cavazos Landini

Associate Director IT Security Operations at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees

Weekly insights and risk analysis facilitate informed security decisions

I appreciate the weekly insights Zafran provides, which include critical topics for networks and IT security, allowing us to evaluate which insights apply to our environment. The organization score feature is valuable to keep the leadership team updated on how our infrastructure fares security-wise. The applicable risk level versus base risk level feature is beneficial because prior to Zafran, we only used the base risk level, but now understand that risk depends on the asset itself. Zafran is an excellent tool.

Read full review

Jason Wetzel

Manager-Information Services at a maritime company with 501-1,000 employees

The cloud tools are able to test for ransomware when the firewall picks up something suspicous

With the smaller devices, you definitely have to do some planning, especially with throughput. If you have some of the high-fiber, say a 300 megabit fiber coming in, and you want to turn everything on, and you want to have a high encryption rate on the VPN, you're going to have some problems; if you're doing antivirus, web filtering, and you have high encryption on a VPN. They have some built-in chips that offload the VPN encryption work, but if you go above those chips' capabilities, then it starts to use CPU time and if you have a lot of data coming in that's getting scanned for viruses, or whatever else you're going to be scanning for, you start to notice the impact there and you'll lose throughput. With the lower-end devices you definitely notice that and you have to plan for it. Higher-end stuff has all that built in.

Read full review

Harold Jensen

Senior Cybersecurity Engineer at 3M Health Information Systems

Good visibility but expensive and needs better support

Support: It's often overseas and often following a script, basically asking us to redo what we opened the case with. Multiple APIs: There seems to be a lack of easy onboarding into Qualys. We had to use manual inputs and some API calls to get items in place. Dashboard: It is very rudimentary with very little customization. The Qualys Scripting Language (QSL) works differently in different Qualys modules, so when you get it working in one area you have to modify the syntax in others. User account management: We often have to give users more rights than needed just to give them what they need. Integration with the various Qualys Modules: You can tell the UI is different based on of the different teams that created them. QSL syntax same in all modules Responsiveness of some of the components: They time out, you get a blank screen, etc. Backend updates between the various modules: You update connectors and information takes a few minutes to show in VMDR or Global Asset View Connectors: Connectors have a throttling issue with AWS which causes them to frequently fail unless you manually run them again.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Zafran is an excellent tool."

"Overall, we have seen about eighty-seven percent reduction of the number of vulnerabilities that require urgency to remediate, specifically the number of criticals."

"Zafran has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."

"We are able to see the real risk of a vulnerability on our environment with our security tools."

"The most valuable features of this solution are the security aspects."

"The solution is very good at preventing intrusions. You can definitely rely on this solution to cover your security."

"It is extremely stable, and can expand as per our needs due to its stability."

"The biggest thing, for us lately, has been their cloud tools. They're like Intercept X from Sophos, where they'll test for ransomware. Fortinet has the same sort of set up with their cloud devices. So your firewall picks up something suspicious, it sends it up to the cloud for analysis. We also have their in-house antivirus. Having different antivirus checkpoints throughout the network is a good thing as well."

"We use it to protect files and to prevent users from browsing them while they are being used."

"The dashboard is very simple. It has an easy to use interface."

"It allowed us to divide tasks easily among teammates, significantly improving efficiency."

"Qualys VMDR provides a real-time response and reporting feature, which is excellent."

"The solution shows us classic categories, including high, medium, and low risks. It also shows critical items, and that gives us the advantage of prioritizing things."

"It gives a very good overview of the inventory assessment process, and it can be accessed across our company because it's a global tool."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"I find Qualys VM very robust, and it's very useful for vulnerability management and patch management. The value that it brings to my environment is economies of scale. There is no limitation on adding any endpoints. You go by the rule, and it's added once another endpoint is added to our environment. It's automatically installed, and it's less work from our end. It frees up my license automatically if I don't need an endpoint or if my machine is decommissioned. I like the dashboard displays because I don't see any duplication. The most important part is vulnerability management and prioritization. Unlike Symantec, it shows the kind of vulnerability I would want to patch first. It provides a holistic view of the kind of vulnerabilities and the ones I should remediate first. I don't have to do a scan; it just brings up those critical kinds of vulnerabilities like zero-day vulnerabilities and tells me to prioritize them. You have to prioritize these vulnerabilities first and go on with the rest. The dashboard shows me the ones that have been fixed, so I don't have to complete an aging report. The user experience and the graphical interface are good. As it's user-friendly and understandable on an executive level, it brings real value. We also use this solution because it's robust and flexibile."

"There are fewer false positives when using this solution."

"The biggest benefit is from a security operations perspective, where we are able to drive our security posture upwards by remediating any discovered vulnerabilities."

More Qualys VMDR pros

Cons

"Initially, we were somewhat concerned about the scalability of Zafran due to our large asset count and the substantial amount of information we needed to process."

"The dashboarding and reporting functionality of Zafran Security is an area that definitely could use some improvements."

"We had some issues trying to fix some critical bugs, such as the SSL encryption."

"Some use case analyses could be improved."

"I'm an old-school guy. I really don't like web GUI interfaces. They're always slow and laggy and their design is restricted, whereas a binary deployment for an admin tool is always faster, easier, more flexible. I would like that kind of functionality from Fortinet."

"I would like better APIs and integration with other products, like Python and SQL."

"They need to improve the web filter to make it more user-friendly."

"The pricing of this solution is a little bit on the high side and can be improved."

"Qualys VM could improve by having more skilled support personnel."

"The response time of technical support takes a while."

"We face issues while scanning multiple assets."

"Qualys VM should improve its methodology."

"Qualys VMDR identifies vulnerabilities and suggests fixes. However, it does not automate patching unless the patch management module is purchased separately."

"Make some minimal dashboard improvements."

"Sometimes we face a problem with accessing the tool and not getting an expected result. From a technology point of view, they need to look into this."

"Reports were lacking somewhat on the customization side."

More Qualys VMDR cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The cost needs to be reduced."

"It is not costly."

"It is not expensive."

"It's relatively inexpensive in comparison to everything else that has the same functionality. If you're looking at SonicWall or if you're looking at WatchGuard, their prices are about a third higher with relatively the same functionality."

"In the licensing model, the licenses are a little bit expensive."

"The license is on a yearly basis."

"We have an annual contract for Qualys VMDR. I believe it's for either two years or five years."

"Qualys VM is quite expensive. It's a subscription-based license, and it's yearly. Right now, it's open for me, and I don't have any limitations or caps on the licenses. They are seeing if the product is viable for 4500 users. I can add as much as I want, and at the end of the subscription, they'll let me know how many licenses were actually used and bill me accordingly. On a scale from one to five, I would give their pricing a three. It's still expensive."

"It is different for every company, but for us, it's every three years."

"An annual license for a single scanner costs around $3,000."

"In Nigerian Naira, we spend about roughly four to five million to use this solution and this is expensive compared to solutions like Nessus."

"We do see over $100,000 in terms of price, for mid-size programs. You likely will pay more than $100,000 without any discount. It is a bit pricey."

"I used to work there, so I never paid for the product. As an employee, we get a lifetime license for personal use, and that's what I'm using. It is a comprehensive platform, so there is a lot more to it. There could be other solutions that are probably a little bit cheaper, but it depends on what people need. Different people have different needs. It offers many things on the same platform. If you add all the things up, it should be cheaper, but I have not done any analysis specifically."

More Qualys VMDR pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Vulnerability Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

851,823 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Government

No data available

Educational Organization

29%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zafran Security?

I find that the pricing for Zafran aligns well with the comprehensive features it offers. The asset and user-based li...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zafran Security?

Zafran is a new startup. Features are continuously being added or improved. 1) Continued integrations with existing (...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?

We connect this to our vulnerability scanner as input, our security tools to better determine risk, and our change ma...

See all answers

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What do you like most about Qualys VMDR?

I like that we have many scanners and channels that don't overload. It helps us scan and track easily. Also, the tagg...

See all answers

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

Qualys offers better pricing and is feature-packed compared to other tools.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Qualys VMDR?

They can tweak their UI since the new version seems a bit jumbled up, and the old UI was more user-friendly.

See all answers

Comparisons

Wiz Code vs Zafran Security

Compared 51% of the time

Vulcan Cyber vs Zafran Security

Compared 20% of the time

ServiceNow Security Operations vs Zafran Security

Compared 12% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Zafran Security

Compared 10% of the time

Armis vs Zafran Security

Compared 7% of the time

More Zafran Security Competitors

No data available

Tenable Nessus vs Qualys VMDR

Compared 13% of the time

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Qualys VMDR

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs Qualys VMDR

Compared 9% of the time

Tenable Security Center vs Qualys VMDR

Compared 6% of the time

Wiz vs Qualys VMDR

Compared 5% of the time

More Qualys VMDR Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)

May 2025

Download Zafran Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Database Security

May 2025

Download Fortinet FortiDB [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR

May 2025

Download Qualys VMDR product report

Also Known As

No data available

FortiDB, FortiGuard Database Security

Qualys VM, QualysGuard VM, Qualys Asset Inventory, Qualys Container Security

Overview

Zafran Security integrates with existing security tools to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities effectively, proving that most critical vulnerabilities are not exploitable, optimizing threat management.

Zafran Security introduces an innovative operating model for managing security threats and vulnerabilities. By leveraging the threat exposure management platform, it pinpoints and prioritizes exploitable vulnerabilities, reducing risk through immediate remediation. This platform enhances your hybrid cloud security by normalizing vulnerability signals and integrating specific IT context data, such as CVE runtime presence and internet asset reachability, into its analysis. No longer reliant on patch windows, Zafran Security allows you to manage risks actively.

What are the key features of Zafran Security?

Threat Exposure Management: Utilizes existing tools to prioritize vulnerabilities and manage threats.
Integrative Analysis: Combines security data with IT context for precise vulnerability management.
Real-time Risk Reduction: Enables immediate risk management without waiting for patches.
Hybrid Cloud Compatibility: Functions across diverse cloud environments for comprehensive security.

What benefits can users expect from Zafran Security?

Improved Security: Enhances protection by efficiently identifying and mitigating risks.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces unnecessary patching expenses by confirming non-exploitable vulnerabilities.
Time Savings: Frees developers to focus on root causes by handling immediate threats.
Comprehensive Insight: Offers a holistic view of security threats and vulnerabilities.

In industries where security is paramount, such as finance and healthcare, Zafran Security provides invaluable protection by ensuring that only exploitable vulnerabilities are addressed. It allows entities to maintain robust security measures while allocating resources efficiently, fitting seamlessly into existing security strategies.

Zafran Security

FortiDB software is a comprehensive database security and compliance platform that helps large enterprises and cloud-based service providers protect their databases and applications from internal and external threats. Its flexible policy framework allows you to quickly and easily implement internal IT control frameworks for database activity monitoring, IT audit and regulatory compliance.

Fortinet

Vulnerability Management, Detection, and Response (VMDR) is a cornerstone product of the Qualys TruRisk Platform and a global leader in the enterprise-grade vulnerability management (VM) vendor space. With VMDR, enterprises are empowered with visibility and insight into cyber risk exposure - making it easy to prioritize vulnerabilities, assets, or groups of assets based on business risk. Security teams can take action to mitigate risk, helping the business measure their actual risk exposure over time.

Qualys VMDR offers an all-inclusive risk-based vulnerability management solution to prioritize vulnerabilities and assets based on risk and business criticality. VMDR seamlessly integrates with configuration management databases (CMDB), Qualys Patch Management, Custom Assessment and Remediation (CAR), Qualys TotalCloud and other Qualys and non-Qualys solutions to facilitate vulnerability detection and remediation across the entire enterprise.

With VMDR, users are empowered with actionable risk insights that translate vulnerabilities and exploits into optimized remediation actions based on business impact. Qualys customers can now aggregate and orchestrate data from the Qualys Threat Library, 25+ threat intelligence feeds, and third-party security and IT solutions, empowering organizations to measure, communicate, and eliminate risk across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments.

Qualys

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Chunghwa Telecom

Agrokor Group, American Specialty Health, American State Bank, Arval, Life:), Axway, Bank of the West, Blueport Commerce, BSkyB, Brinks, CaixaBank, Cartagena, Catholic Health System, CEC Bank, Cegedim, CIGNA, Clickability, Colby-Sawyer College, Commercial Bank of Dubai, University of Utah, eBay Inc., ING Singapore, National Theatre, OTP Bank, Sodexo, WebEx

Buyer's Guide

Vulnerability Management

May 2025

Download Free Report

Find out what your peers are saying about Wiz, Qualys, Tenable and others in Vulnerability Management. Updated: May 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

851,823 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our list of best Vulnerability Management vendors.

We monitor all Vulnerability Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.