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Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs Tanium comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 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
10th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (11th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (7th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (7th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (2nd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (6th)
Microsoft Defender Vulnerab...
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
13th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (20th), Microsoft Security Suite (17th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (5th)
Tanium
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
24th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (14th), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (23rd), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (8th), Autonomous Endpoint Management (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.2%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is 1.4%, down from 3.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tanium is 1.7%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Qualys TotalCloud1.2%
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management1.4%
Tanium1.7%
Other95.7%
Vulnerability Management
 

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.
reviewer2770602 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Security Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
Has helped with regional threat monitoring but needs better documentation and real-time capabilities
The documentation from Microsoft needs significant improvement. The documents are disorganized, with one document linking to another, making the steps unclear and difficult to follow. Regarding updates, it is not truly real-time as it takes between eight to twelve hours for updates to occur. It would be beneficial if updates could happen more quickly, perhaps within 10 minutes to half an hour. Support for integration and documentation needs to be more straightforward. The pricing is expensive, even though it is part of the E5 package.
Sandeepraj Gatla - PeerSpot reviewer
Dfir Analyst at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Endpoint monitoring has strengthened incident response and provides rapid isolation and forensics
Tanium provides an endpoint which is isolated from the network and environment. We can easily search its logs and history and connect remotely directly to that particular device which has been isolated from the network. We can search for the history and logs, including audit logs and event logs. The complete activity of the user or owner of the device is visible to us. We can see the artifacts of particular USB transfers internally for official use. We can not only connect remotely but also see the device status and how many failures have occurred within the network so far. We can see the IP address, how many times it has changed its IP address, and how many times it was connected to VPN or external VPN or internal VPN and what has been searched while on VPN. We can block the IOCs or IP addresses as well. We can block domains, hashes, SHA values, SHA-256, SHA-1, SHA-5 and MD5. Although I am not completely involved in the automation team, we do have that team and I have worked in some CERT recently. Tanium is more useful while we are in the CERT because most of the times when we are on high alert, Tanium does play a main role for that particular incident or any high case. Tanium is a simple tool and we can easily integrate it to many devices and it is a mandatory tool to secure an endpoint. It is mandatory to give any RDP connection and the tool should be present in the particular device. It is completely mandatory and it is in the policy as well.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"If I had to say something positive about the product that brings me the biggest benefit, I would say it has accurate reports, gets new update CVEs, zero-day attack detection, and is easy to manage with its GUI."
"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable feature is its agent versatility."
"Qualys TotalCloud fulfills all these needs."
"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."
"I would definitely recommend Qualys TotalCloud to other customers."
"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable features are its security capabilities that help identify and mitigate risk factors."
"I would rate Qualys TotalCloud ten out of ten."
"The scalability is good as well. I would rate it ten out of ten."
"The product’s most valuable features are compliance, recommendations, and inventories."
"The solution helps identify threats and vulnerabilities."
"The recommendations, scores, and steps to remediate actions are highly useful."
"Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is versatile and assesses vulnerabilities, providing detailed information on CVEs, their categories, and exploit statuses."
"The integration with Sentinel has been one of the most valuable features for my organization."
"One valuable feature is the Microsoft Security Scorecard."
"The solution is highly scalable."
"Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management has streamlined our threat management processes and provided region-specific customization for our healthcare operations."
"Tanium’s best features include support for any Windows, Linux, or Mac endpoint, regardless of where it is, and the ability to do IT operations and security operations."
"I like the fact that you can create patching campaigns depending on the area of your network that you want to address first. I like the ability it has to make several campaigns that work in parallel."
"Tanium is a simple tool and we can easily integrate it to many devices and it is a mandatory tool to secure an endpoint."
"The most valuable features of this solution are the consolidation of all historical data on device endpoints, security drivers, firmware, and Software version gaps."
"Tanium is stable and it is also lightweight."
"I like the tool's incident response and security patching."
"The security features are very valuable."
"The product is granular and can build complex roles compared to other EDR vendors."
 

Cons

"Two areas for improvement in Qualys TotalCloud are the speed of the public cloud platform and vulnerability detection."
"Overall, we are satisfied with it. However, the response part of the Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) module can be improved. It is not yet in place according to requirements; it is not completely available even though the module has been released."
"There is room for improvement in vulnerability scanning, particularly for PaaS environments. Currently, Qualys does not have full access to these instances, which limits its effectiveness."
"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."
"Although TotalCloud is a helpful tool, some of its advanced features are still under development."
"The vulnerability part is good, but the policy compliance module needs improvement because it involves a lot of manual work. Specifically, the remediation part of the controls requires enhancements."
"In a future release, I suggest that zero-day vulnerabilities should be predicted in advance using AI technologies. The system is not 100% secure yet, so proactive threat hunting could be enhanced to be more proactive than the current system."
"The support is not up to the mark and seems to be overburdened."
"The worst aspect is the refresh rate of the dashboard. A vulnerability I patch within 15 minutes takes 24 additional hours for an update."
"The automated remediations can be more specific."
"Regarding Microsoft's technical support, I would rate it a three out of ten; they could be more responsive and knowledgeable."
"The setup phase of the product is not that easy and needs a person to have a certain level of expertise."
"The documentation from Microsoft needs significant improvement. The documents are disorganized, with one document linking to another, making the steps unclear and difficult to follow."
"The general support could be improved."
"When I create rules, it gave me problems and I did not know where the problem was located."
"Integration can be improved."
"Tanium required local admin or root rights on Mac devices, which did not comply with our security policies. This made the solution less suitable for our restrictive environment."
"Any movement into a SaaS solution has challenges since the processes and data flows are not well defined. Hence, you need to build it at the same time."
"There are some bugs in the product. The tool needs to improve in the area of reporting."
"I would like to have more integrations and custom plugins to input. Integration is always a big deal in a lot of different environments."
"The solution needs to improve the reporting and tracking capabilities."
"The solution lacks mobility."
"When working with Tanium, there are some older devices that haven't been patched for a long time, and certain patches are not included in Tanium. I have to search outside to download patches, create bundles, and then perform the task."
"The performance could improve in future releases. We have had performance issues in specialized web environments, but overall I think the problems are less than 2% of the computer systems being used."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"As a middle management member, I do not have direct pricing knowledge, but based on the knowledge from our meetings, its pricing is competitive."
"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."
"The cost is high, but it meets our organizational needs."
"Qualys TotalCloud is expensive."
"Qualys TotalCloud is cost-efficient and was selected for its value compared to other products."
"The licensing model follows a per-user per-month structure."
"The tool is a bit costly."
"The product’s pricing is medium."
"I rate the product's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is a low price, and ten is a high price."
"The licensing costs are reasonable."
"There is an annual license required to use this solution."
"The product's pricing differs from region to region depending on negotiations and the number of endpoints."
"It's an expensive solution. It would be nice if the cost were lower."
"The solution is expensive but it's a good investment."
"The solution offers value for money."
"It is higher than some competitors in the market."
"Tanium is a more expensive solution in Latin America than some of the competitors, such as BigFix."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise30
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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...
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?
Configuration of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is something that needs improvement. In future updates o...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management?
I can control the applications using Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, which are its best features for me ...
What needs improvement with Tanium?
While there is always room for improvement, I am pleased with Tanium.
What is your primary use case for Tanium?
The primary use case for Tanium ( /products/tanium-reviews ) is compliance, patching, and inventory as part of the co...
What advice do you have for others considering Tanium?
For smaller companies, Tanium is quite a big investment, and one needs to have a considerable setup to make it econom...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
No data available
Tanium Inc Cloud, Tanium XEM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Information Not Available
JPMorgan Chase, eBay, Amazon, US Bank, MetLife, pwc, Cerner, Delphi, MGM Grand, New York Life
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs. Tanium and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,834 professionals have used our research since 2012.