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Pentera vs Qualys VMDR comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

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

Pentera
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Penetration Testing Services (2nd), Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (2nd)
Qualys VMDR
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
94
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (6th), Vulnerability Management (1st), Configuration Management Databases (2nd), Container Security (10th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

Pentera and Qualys VMDR aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Pentera is designed for Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) and holds a mindshare of 29.3%, up 28.3% compared to last year.
Qualys VMDR, on the other hand, focuses on Vulnerability Management, holds 7.4% mindshare, down 12.8% since last year.
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS)
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

Jon Medvenics - PeerSpot reviewer
Useful in vulnerability management and can automate pen tests
One of the big issues we have is that the tool has an additional license for compromised credentials. Suppose compromised credentials for any of your domains appear in leaks, dumps, or are being sold. In that case, they try to aggregate that data and highlight that, for example, ten users appeared in recent dumps as compromised credentials. However, they don't provide much information about where those compromises came from or their source information, probably to protect their sources. Also, if you have credentials and want to check if they're still valid or can still be used, and you confirm they can't be used (maybe they're from a leak or a twenty-year-old database), there's no way for you to flag that these credentials aren't a problem anymore. The solution has a sort of flat report. It's annoying to go through lots of legwork only to see the same names or credentials still there, and you can't do anything about it in their portal. We've given them feedback, but I think it's probably on their long list of feature requests to address. For me, that would be a greater user configuration of the tests performed on a granular level. As I mentioned with Cymulate, they show you every line of code they will run and what tool is being used, step by step. Pentera is more closed in that regard. If Pentera released a feature that allows you to alter the attack path or change the command, that would be incredibly useful. Pentera might use one or a few different methods to do something, but if none of those work, it will just say everything is fine and secure. If Pentera could adapt or change based on what it finds in the environment, that would be very valuable. As a customer, we understand our environments better than an automated tool, so providing context to help the tool get better results would be valuable.
Ankesh Raj - PeerSpot reviewer
Real-time responses and reporting streamline vulnerability management
Qualys VMDR provides a real-time response and reporting feature, which is excellent. It allows us to see real-time graphs and reports for every asset, server, and more, which is very user-friendly. Our clients have given good feedback, and they are satisfied with the tool. We use it daily to fix vulnerabilities by connecting with infrastructure to remediate. The feedback from the client side is very good.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The product is easy to use."
"The solution is SaaS-based. From a cloud perspective, it has Pentera Surface and Pentera Core. The Core is the on-prem deployed solution, while the Surface is the cloud-hosted solution that scans your public infrastructure. From the Surface perspective, the most valuable feature so far has been the attack surface mapping."
"The vulnerability scanner, exploit achievements, and remediation actions are all great."
"Pentera has many authentic features."
"What I like the most about Pentera is its solution-oriented approach."
"The most valuable feature of Pentera is that you can do continuous vulnerability assessment, which is automated."
"The platform's most valuable features are credential management and vulnerability management."
"Pentera has many authentic features."
"The most valuable features are vulnerability detection and the scanning capability to enable identification of vulnerabilities across our network."
"The most valuable feature is the vulnerability assessment."
"There are fewer false positives when using this solution."
"Qualys VMDR provides a real-time response and reporting feature, which is excellent."
"It gives you a lot of options, and it integrates with our ServiceNow for ticketing and all."
"Continuous monitoring is a crucial feature that we use more frequently."
"Authenticated scans provide different options, including those using or not using the FactSet and adding option profiles."
"The most valuable feature of Qualys Container Security is the detailed information in the reports and the remediation. This is done to make sure there are no vulnerabilities."
 

Cons

"The price could be improved."
"Maybe scalability. I know that the Pentera right now is high level in order to scan big deals over 500 IPs and not less, and not less. That can be more granular. This will be useful."
"There is room for improvement in virtualization compatibility."
"The automated penetration testing features must be improved."
"One area for product improvement could be the inclusion of a dashboard to cover multiple branches and subsidiaries, allowing for centralized monitoring."
"The vulnerability scanner, exploit achievements, and remediation actions are all great."
"The licensing and IP management need improvement."
"The licensing and IP management need improvement. When the IP is imported into a system, we cannot withdraw or revoke the license."
"They should make it accessible for more operating systems."
"There were some issues later with Qualys VMDR regarding security, specifically with numerous false positive reports."
"The price could be better. Asset view is still a legacy feature. I'm not able to extract the information about the asset with complete details. It would be better if they fixed that in the next release. I know Qualys is already working on it, so I'm hopeful it will be available in the next five or six months. That would be something that's changed where I seek improvement."
"The tool needs to improve the adding assets and report generation features. I would like to see the policy scan of offline appliances in the product's future releases."
"They have integrated with other third parties, but it is still not viable."
"It would be nice to have an all-in-one solution that was automated and could handle the scanning and reports as well as the patching and updating."
"If anything, I would like to see the user interface modernized a bit more."
"One of the biggest issues from the clients' perspective is that all Qualys computing is on the cloud."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's cost is reasonable. I rate the pricing a three out of ten."
"It's not that expensive, but it could be more cost-effective."
"We have to pay a yearly licensing cost for Pentera."
"The tool is relatively cheap."
"Qualys VM is better suited for medium to large companies because the price can be too much for smaller customers."
"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."
"Qualys VM is reasonably priced."
"Usually every implementation is different and the quote is in function of number of assets."
"The price is very reasonable."
"There is a license for the use of this solution. We pay annually instead of monthly to receive a better discount on the price."
"It is more expensive than other products on the market."
"We have an annual contract for Qualys VMDR. I believe it's for either two years or five years."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Educational Organization
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pentera?
What I like the most about Pentera is its solution-oriented approach.
What needs improvement with Pentera?
The licensing and IP management need improvement. When the IP is imported into a system, we cannot withdraw or revoke the license.
What is your primary use case for Pentera?
I am using the OpenIntra solution for pentesting and managing candidates in my environment. I also use this solution for house customers.
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 tagging system is good for tagging. We can still use QualysAgent task ID tools even ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys VMDR?
Qualys offers better pricing and is feature-packed compared to other tools.
What needs improvement with Qualys VMDR?
There were some issues later with Qualys VMDR regarding security, specifically with numerous false positive reports.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Qualys VM, QualysGuard VM, Qualys Asset Inventory, Qualys Container Security
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blackstone Group Caterpillar Apria Healthcare Taylor Vinters Sandler Capital Management Drawbridge BNP Paribas British Red Cross
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
Find out what your peers are saying about Pentera vs. Qualys VMDR and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
860,592 professionals have used our research since 2012.