Qualys VMDR vs Sysdig Secure comparison

Qualys and Sysdig are both solutions in the Container Security category. Qualys is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.6, while Sysdig is ranked #17 with an average rating of 8.3. Qualys holds a 2.3% mindshare in Container Security, compared to Sysdig’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Qualys users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Sysdig users who would recommend it.

Qualys VMDR

Read 96 Qualys VMDR reviews

12,798 Views
2,432 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Sysdig Secure

Read 12 Sysdig Secure reviews

3,517 Views
2,954 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Qualys VMDR

Sysdig Secure

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 25, 2026

Qualys VMDR and Sysdig Secure compete in the cybersecurity solutions category, with Qualys having an upper hand in vulnerability management features while Sysdig stands out in cloud-native capabilities.

Features: Qualys VMDR provides comprehensive vulnerability management, asset management, and policy compliance. It offers continuous monitoring, integrates with various environments, and includes features like certificate management. Sysdig Secure excels with robust cloud-native capabilities, runtime security, and effective cloud provider integrations, appealing strongly to DevSecOps and Kubernetes-focused organizations.

Room for Improvement: Qualys VMDR users recommend improving the reporting complexity, integration with other tools, and reducing false positives. Enhanced cloud features and simplified asset management processes are also suggested. Sysdig Secure requires better dashboarding and reporting, expanded scalability, and platform support. Both products have distinct areas to refine.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Qualys VMDR supports private cloud and hybrid deployment models, offering flexibility for businesses. However, its customer service experiences are inconsistent with slow response times. Sysdig Secure supports on-premises and cloud environments but also faces challenges in service efficiency despite strong community forum support.

Pricing and ROI: Qualys VMDR is considered expensive, particularly for smaller enterprises, but delivers value through comprehensive features leading to significant ROI by reducing vulnerabilities. Sysdig Secure's pricing is competitive in cloud environments, especially for Kubernetes-focused deployments. Both offer good ROI when aligned with specific organizational needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Qualys VMDR vs. Sysdig Secure Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR vs. Sysdig Secure

December 2025

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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 VMDR

Ranking in Container Security

9th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Asset Management (3rd), Vulnerability Management (3rd), Configuration Management Databases (3rd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (1st)

Sysdig Secure

Ranking in Container Security

17th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (22nd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (15th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (6th), AI Observability (72nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Container Security category, the mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 2.3%, down from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Sysdig Secure is 2.9%, up from 2.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Container Security Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Qualys VMDR	2.3%
Sysdig Secure	2.9%
Other	94.8%

Container Security

Featured Reviews

Vaibhav Ghule

Soc Lead & Edr Administration at Persistent Systems

Continuous risk-based monitoring has strengthened incident response and vulnerability prioritization

I haven't explored Qualys VMDR's vulnerability lifecycle automation yet. One of my analysts mentioned that queries lack grouping operators in Qualys VMDR. From my experience, I would appreciate improvements in the query options in Qualys VMDR, specifically in the query-building process where I would need more features and operators. Additionally, we have been facing issues with Qualys on the cloud level. We cannot download the configuration profile from the cloud agent, and it is showing a pending action for download. During 2025, we noticed outages of Qualys a couple of times. I want to mention that there is an issue with receiving timely RCA deliveries. While this is not necessarily about the tool, it relates to support. The support has not been very responsive, and we are receiving RCAs a little delayed whenever we raise support cases or communicate with the TAMs. Additionally, the UI has a slight latency, which I and my team have experienced. They have also reported this latency issue when navigating through different pages.

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Mumu Muhaemin

DevSecOps Engineer at a outsourcing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Runtime threat detection has improved and security teams prioritize real Kubernetes risks

The best feature Sysdig Secure offers is threat detection. The threat detection feature on Sysdig Secure stands out compared to other solutions I have seen or used because Sysdig sees the actual behavior inside the container or kernel and correlates it with Kubernetes infrastructure, which makes detection both earlier and more precise in a cloud-native environment. Sysdig Secure has positively impacted our organization by improving visibility into our Kubernetes environment and focusing on real risk, which has reduced alert noise, improved threat detection at runtime, and made vulnerability management more efficient by prioritizing issues that actually affect running workloads.

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 best features of Qualys VMDR are its patch management capabilities and the ability to mitigate vulnerabilities automatically."

"The Vulnerability Management and Patch Management features are the most valuable features of this solution."

"I like the automated report generation and vulnerability report generation."

"It is very easy to use and there are lots of options. We can usually easily go through it and all of the things we want to configure, and we can configure everything to our specifications very easily."

"The initial setup and onboarding process of Qualys VMDR was quite smooth, as we were able to draft the SOPs from the documentation portal itself and everything was available in the documentation, so it was not a hassle for us to get the integrations done on time."

"It is a stable solution."

"The most valuable feature is the vulnerability assessment."

"Qualys VM has allowed us to know the vulnerabilities we need to prioritize based on the threat levels and the possible impact if there's an intrusion."

More Qualys VMDR pros

"In terms of measurable outcomes, I have seen a reduction in vulnerabilities, as Sysdig Secure can tell us how many vulnerabilities are present on a day-to-day report basis, which has improved our efficiency by more than 50% and helps us stay compliant with necessary regulations."

"We appreciate this feature, especially when combined with CD monitoring. The implementation of requested features has been remarkable, such as scanning for compliance in CRM processes for the US government. We heavily rely on this feature to assess compliance with federal requirements."

"Sysdig Secure has positively impacted our organization by improving visibility into our Kubernetes environment and focusing on real risk, which has reduced alert noise, improved threat detection at runtime, and made vulnerability management more efficient by prioritizing issues that actually affect running workloads."

"The tool has the capability to conduct scans initially. It can perform scans on your virtual machines, physical machines, containers, and container images. A standout feature is its ability to scan offline container images stored in your container registry. Additionally, it can scan runtime images in your cluster or on your host machine. This allows for the detection of vulnerabilities in running containers, including loaded libraries. Notably, the tool can identify which library vulnerabilities are already present in your system. An added advantage is its capacity to take action beyond threat detection. It has the ability to block access and respond to encountered threats."

"The log monitor is the most valuable feature."

"I have not seen any stability issues so far."

"I see Sysdig as the most comprehensive solution in comparison to its competitors."

"The proactiveness of the support has been fantastic. Every time we mention something in a meeting that we're trying to do, he proactively takes that as an investigation topic and looks into it. He'll provide the solution even though we might not have asked him to investigate it."

More Sysdig Secure pros

Cons

"Finding things in management can be quite difficult."

"Qualys could be improved in its overall performance compared to other vulnerability management or scanning tools."

"The reporting and the GUI need improvements."

"The user interface (UI) is quite complicated."

"There seems to be a lack of easy onboarding into Qualys."

"The support has not been very responsive, and we are receiving RCAs a little delayed whenever we raise support cases or communicate with the TAMs."

"We face issues while scanning multiple assets."

"Qualys VM's vulnerability scan could be improved, especially the number of CVE numbers it can manage at a time."

More Qualys VMDR cons

"Reporting can definitely be better. Live dashboards should be configurable for a longer period of time rather than 30 days. Being able to go back in time to compare six months ago to today would be valuable."

"Sysdig Secure needs to scale more for complete cloud-native coverage."

"Sysdig's biggest weakness is dashboarding and reporting. You have access to the data and can get everything you need, but we need the ability to summarize the information quickly in a format that senior leaders can understand. We report to the executive level and global board. I need to roll all that in-depth information into a quick summary, and their maturity level isn't there. I'm seeing that on the future road map, but it isn't there now."

"The dashboard could be more simple and show the more important issues that are detected first. We'd like to be able to set it up so more important issues show up more prominently in the dashboard."

"The solution needs to improve overall from a CSPM standpoint since they can't compete with Wiz or Orca."

"Sysdig Secure works well for us, but there are a few areas for improvement, such as the alerting and notification system being more flexible for complex workflows, and some dashboard and reporting features could be more customizable to match specific team needs."

"There was a security concern related to a specific feature. While the feature itself was promising, it posed a challenge. The situation revolved around code scanning. If your source code is hosted within your own premises, say on Bitbucket, you naturally wouldn't want your code to be accessible to external parties beyond your company. Keeping your code base private is a standard practice. However, in the case of code scanning using Sysdig Secure, they copy your code to their SaaS platform. This posed an issue for us. When we inquired about this, their response acknowledged the concern. In an upcoming release, they plan to enable code scanning within your on-premises environment through the assistance of an agent. This change is already in progress. While this tool stands out compared to existing solutions in the market, it's important to note that there are still some limitations to consider. Another drawback we encountered relates to our expertise with Kubernetes. The tool can monitor Kubernetes audit logs, triggering alerts and notifications. However, it falls short in terms of taking direct action based on these alerts. There are different methods of event capture, including through system labels and system calls, as well as via Kubernetes audit events. Notably, at the system level, Sysdig Secure can both detect and respond to events, allowing actions like blocking and warning. This proactive approach is effective at the system call level. However, when it comes to monitoring Kubernetes audit events, Sysdig Secure can only notify without being able to execute any further actions. It can't block access or containers. The vendor likened their role to that of a monitoring camera, observing events and sending notifications without the capacity to intervene. This limitation applies to Kubernetes audit events. Given that everything operates within our system, there is a workaround available: configuring system-level policies to block containers as necessary."

"I give it an eight because of the bugs, specifically the fix version bug where sometimes there is no fix version shown, and I wish Sysdig Secure would create a customizable UI that orders features by importance to enhance user experience."

More Sysdig Secure cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive."

"Qualys VM is reasonably priced."

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

"The solution is reasonably priced for the value it provides."

"The price is very reasonable."

"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 is cheaper and more affordable than other solutions."

More Qualys VMDR pricing and cost advice

"The solution's pricing depends on the agents...In short, the price depends on the environment of its user."

"Sysdig is competitive. The quality matches the pricing. Obviously, everyone wants things to be cheaper, but if you're realistic, you acknowledge that quality service comes with a price. Sysdig is the gold standard for Kubernetes, and I wouldn't choose anything else. We live in Kubernetes. Everything is containerized, so that means a lot to us, and we're willing to make an investment."

"I am always going to say that it could be a little bit cheaper. I do feel that it is a little bit on the expensive side."

"It is quite costly compared to other tools."

"In comparison to other cloud solutions, it's reasonably priced. However, when compared to in-house built open-source projects, it might be considered somewhat costly. The cost depends on whether someone sees the support provided by Sysdig as an advantage or if it's deemed unnecessary. Personally, I find the support to be excellent and consider it a good value."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

21%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	20
Midsize Enterprise	12
Large Enterprise	70

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

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 ...

See all answers

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

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing shows that we can consider both time and money saved.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Qualys VMDR?

See all answers

What do you like most about Sysdig Secure?

The proactiveness of the support has been fantastic. Every time we mention something in a meeting that we're trying to do, he proactively takes that as an investigation topic and looks into it. He'...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Sysdig Secure?

Sysdig Secure works well for us, but there are a few areas for improvement, such as the alerting and notification system being more flexible for complex workflows, and some dashboard and reporting ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Sysdig Secure?

Our primary use case for Sysdig Secure is runtime threat detection and vulnerability management.

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR

January 2026

Download Qualys VMDR product report

Buyer's Guide

Sysdig Secure

January 2026

Download Sysdig Secure product report

Also Known As

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

No data available

Overview

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

In the cloud, every second counts. Attacks move at warp speed, and security teams must protect the business without slowing it down. Sysdig stops cloud attacks in real time, instantly detecting changes in risk with runtime insights, a unique AI architecture, and open source Falco. Sysdig delivers live visibility by correlating signals across cloud workloads, identities, and services to uncover hidden attack paths. By knowing what is running, teams can prioritize the vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, permissions, and threats that matter most. From prevention to defense, Sysdig helps enterprises move faster and focus on what matters: innovation.

Sysdig. Secure Every Second.

Sysdig

Sample Customers

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

SAP Concur, Goldman Sachs, Worldpay, Experian, BigCommerce, Arkose Labs, Calendly, Noteable, Bloomreach. More here: https://sysdig.com/customers/

Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR vs. Sysdig Secure

December 2025

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