IBM OpenPages vs Qualys Policy Compliance comparison

IBM and Qualys are both solutions in the IT Governance category. IBM is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.0, while Qualys is ranked #3 with an average rating of 9.0. IBM holds a 18.4% mindshare in IG, compared to Qualys’s 3.6% mindshare. Additionally, 71% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Qualys users who would recommend it.

IBM OpenPages

Read 9 IBM OpenPages reviews

1,514 Views
757 Comparison Views

71% willing to recommend

Qualys Policy Compliance

Read 8 Qualys Policy Compliance reviews

363 Views
298 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM OpenPages

Qualys Policy Compliance

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Qualys Policy Compliance and IBM OpenPages are competing products in the compliance management sector. IBM OpenPages appears to excel in comprehensive features, whereas Qualys Policy Compliance might offer advantages in pricing and support.

Features: Qualys Policy Compliance includes automated scanning, real-time compliance checks, and integration with SIEM tools for enhanced threat detection. It supports VMDR tools for asset and vulnerability management. IBM OpenPages provides robust risk management, extensive integration with broader GRC processes, and advanced analytics. Its workflow engine and powerful reporting capabilities further enhance its functional depth.

Room for Improvement: Qualys Policy Compliance could benefit from further enhancement in its user interface and reporting features. Expanding integration capabilities and scalability might also be advantageous. On the other hand, IBM OpenPages could improve workflow conditions to avoid errors, enhance risk assessment tools, and offer more user-friendly configurations for quicker adaptation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Qualys Policy Compliance offers a cloud-based deployment model for simplified setup and efficient customer support. IBM OpenPages, while capable of handling complex environments with detailed deployment configurations, may require more time for implementation but provides better customization options.

Pricing and ROI: Qualys Policy Compliance offers a transparent and cost-effective pricing structure with lower setup costs, leading to potentially higher initial ROI. IBM OpenPages, despite requiring a more substantial investment, delivers significant long-term ROI through its comprehensive risk management features, which may justify the cost for enterprises seeking in-depth compliance management.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM OpenPages vs. Qualys Policy Compliance Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM OpenPages vs. Qualys Policy Compliance

December 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 881,082 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

IBM OpenPages

Ranking in IT Governance

2nd

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

GRC (6th)

Qualys Policy Compliance

Ranking in IT Governance

3rd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the IT Governance category, the mindshare of IBM OpenPages is 18.4%, down from 24.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys Policy Compliance is 3.6%, up from 2.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Governance Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM OpenPages	18.4%
Qualys Policy Compliance	3.6%
Other	78.0%

IT Governance

Featured Reviews

Gabriele Meneguzzi

GRC Practice Leader at Stratos Analytics

Have improved operational control and simplified internal workflows through a clear user interface

The most useful features in IBM OpenPages are the workflow features and front-end. The workflow feature in IBM OpenPages is very flexible, easy to configure, and can help design every kind of process, while the front-end is very useful, clear, simple, and dynamic. The benefit of a centralized platform in risk management, such as IBM OpenPages, is that it allows sharing information and guarantees a central framework of risk and control. The dashboards in IBM OpenPages help with monitoring processes for different users and profiles, and we use the dashboard extensively to show the state of different processes to control them. IBM OpenPages integrates effectively with other tools and existing infrastructure for my customers as we integrate other tools, using APIs to match different information, though some other tools may better support integration. IBM offers Connect, an add-on for integration, but we do not use it, relying solely on API. The reporting tools in IBM OpenPages have very strong potential because they are linked with Cognos IBM, a business intelligence tool, allowing for very good and complex reports, though creating these reports requires skills in business intelligence to get the most out of IBM OpenPages.

Read full review

reviewer1906245

Information Security Analyst at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Facilitates continuous compliance monitoring and simplifies vulnerability tracking for distributed cloud assets

Regarding improvements I would like to see in Qualys Policy Compliance, there are a couple of vulnerabilities where the metrics that are already there and the way Qualys measures those metrics and labels them as critical, high, or low does not align with my understanding from a user standpoint. Every time, I have to put in a false positive. Since I have been doing that for the past one year, the same vulnerability tends to pop up and they mark it as critical. Qualys needs to update and rediscover those weaknesses and re-label them. I understand what the company design and what the tool does, but it takes some time for us to manage those things. In terms of missing features that I would like to see included in Qualys Policy Compliance, I do not think there are any. The feature does what we require and does the job. If there were some sort of reporting that fulfills auditor's requirements, particularly if there is an external audit and they ask us for any historical data like how long we have been compliant to the PCI framework, that would be valuable. Having reporting that shows historical data that we have been compliant from the date of inception, for example, from 2023 to 2025 onwards, would bring value to what we are reporting.

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

"The most useful features in IBM OpenPages are the workflow features and front-end, as noted by Ian Francis, an IBM expert lab, with the workflow feature being very flexible, easy to configure, and able to help design every kind of process, while the front-end is very useful, clear, simple, and dynamic."

"The content, reporting, and workflow features stand out as the most valuable aspects."

"IBM OpenPages provides time savings in recording risk management components."

"Everything about IBM OpenPages is valuable, particularly when compared to other solutions in the market like MetricStream, from which we switched due to its feasibility, user-friendliness, and performance."

"The ability to keep a record of internal incidents in the company, and also the monitoring of Key Indicators."

"The most valuable features are the workflow engine, calculations, and security rules."

"IBM OpenPages saves time in my work as a developer."

"The reason I decided to stick with Qualys is that for the past three years, we went through evaluating other tools, but Qualys was always our priority and always our first choice because of what it was offering as a platform."

"From the Qualys Policy Compliance, the best feature is that they have predefined templates for compliances, allowing easy application of compliance requirements against our products and providing clear reports on whether assets are compliant or not."

"The solution's interface looks good, which enhances asset scanning and ensures automatic patching."

"It's a simple product."

"The most valuable feature of QualysGuard Policy Compliance is the automation that can detect real-time threats and decrease risks."

"The platform allows multiple features that are very useful. The first one is being able to define the enterprise policy. The second one is to be able to automatically check the compliance level based on that policy, and the third one is that it allows us to generate reports and dashboards to see the compliance level easily."

"The reporting and security checks are valuable."

Cons

"IBM needs to work on pricing for organizations with around 100 users, as the licensing model is not competitive enough for SMEs."

"I believe there's room for improvement in establishing connections with external information."

"The reporting tools in IBM OpenPages have very strong potential because they are linked with Cognos IBM, a business intelligence tool, allowing for very good and complex reports, though creating these reports requires skills in business intelligence to get the most out of IBM OpenPages."

"IBM OpenPages could improve by adding more conditions to workflows, as some existing conditions might not work and can produce errors."

"IBM OpenPages needs improvement in its UI. Currently, it is difficult to see the relationships (associations/parents) between all items unless you click on the item itself."

"It would be useful to have more out-of-the-box functionality, especially triggers and calculations."

"Some self-relationships are not available in OpenPages' relationship model."

"The policy creation aspect needs improvement."

"Some sort of education or knowledge base about the product would be beneficial for beginners."

"There are a couple of vulnerabilities where the metrics that are already there and the way Qualys measures those metrics and labels them as critical, high, or low does not align with my understanding from a user standpoint."

"It would be good if the solution’s technical support could be faster."

"They need to improve the reporting part of the CI/CD pipelines and the ability to download scans from pods."

"The reporting needs improvement."

"There is no clear mapping for the CIS controls in terms of how they should be implemented into Qualys, so the implementation stage might be a little bit challenging for the customer. That means that the customer will end up opening support cases, which will overload their support team to explain those. If they are somehow published somewhere, it would save time and effort for both sides."

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The prices might be a little bit high. I cannot compare it with another product because we did not try any other product, but this is my impression when comparing different modules."

"The solution's pricing is in the mid-range, where it is neither expensive nor very cheap."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which IT Governance solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

25%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Retailer

Comms Service Provider

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	1

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	4

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with IBM OpenPages?

There is nothing in particular that needs improvement in IBM OpenPages, although reporting could be improved to make it easier to create reports.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM OpenPages?

My customers' main use cases for IBM OpenPages include ICT risk, operational risk management, and regulatory and compliance management.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering IBM OpenPages?

For those planning to use IBM OpenPages, I recommend defining exactly what you want and understanding how IBM OpenPages can help you before starting to use it. I rate IBM OpenPages a nine out of ten.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for QualysGuard Policy Compliance?

I was involved in the purchasing of Qualys Policy Compliance in my previous company, where the costs are based on the number of devices and features, with enterprise level pricing which I cannot sp...

See all answers

What needs improvement with QualysGuard Policy Compliance?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for QualysGuard Policy Compliance?

I have been working with Qualys Policy Compliance for the past four years. Our complete infrastructure is on cloud and we have assets distributed across Asia and North America. We have a couple of ...

See all answers

Comparisons

RSA Archer vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 31% of the time

MetricStream vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 20% of the time

OneTrust GRC vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 9% of the time

AuditBoard vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 6% of the time

SAS Enterprise GRC vs IBM OpenPages

Compared 4% of the time

More IBM OpenPages Competitors

No data available

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

GRC

January 2026

Download IBM OpenPages product report

Buyer's Guide

Qualys Policy Compliance

January 2026

Download Qualys Policy Compliance product report

Also Known As

OpenPages

No data available

Overview

Enables customers to manage risk and compliance initiatives across the enterprise, helping businesses to reduce loss, improve decision-making about resource allocation, and optimize business performance.

IBM

Qualys Policy Compliance (PC) automates the collection of technical controls from information assets within the enterprise, and maps this information to policies to fix and document compliance with regulations and business mandates. It provides compliance reporting by leveraging a comprehensive knowledge-base that is mapped to prevalent security regulations, industry standards and compliance frameworks.

Qualys

Sample Customers

Nationwide, Process Innovation AG, OSRAM Licht AG, Dep‹sito Central de Valores (DCV), Delta Lloyd Group, Unum

PDX, Cigna

Buyer's Guide

IBM OpenPages vs. Qualys Policy Compliance

December 2025

Free Report: IBM OpenPages vs. Qualys Policy Compliance

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM OpenPages vs. Qualys Policy Compliance and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our IBM OpenPages vs. Qualys Policy Compliance report.

See our list of best IT Governance vendors.

We monitor all IT Governance 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.