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Qualys VMDR vs Trivy 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 Container Security
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
41
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (10th), 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)
Qualys VMDR
Ranking in Container Security
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
96
Ranking in other categories
IT Asset Management (3rd), Vulnerability Management (3rd), Configuration Management Databases (3rd), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (1st)
Trivy
Ranking in Container Security
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Container Security category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.7%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 2.1%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Trivy is 2.6%, down from 5.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Container Security Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Trivy2.6%
Qualys VMDR2.1%
Qualys TotalCloud1.7%
Other93.6%
Container Security
 

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.
Vaibhav Ghule - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Utsav Sharma - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Security Consultant at Ernst & Young
Maintain operational efficiency by detecting misconfigurations and vulnerabilities
The vulnerability scanning feature is excellent as it supports various container capabilities like Docker and Sharma. It also offers repository scanning in the source code domain, allowing pre-push code scans. The misconfiguration detection works well for CloudFormation, Docker files, and Terraform. Its compliance support, like NIST, ensures that configurations align with standards. Trivy helps me significantly detect misconfigurations missed by the ops engineers or in Terraform by the naked eye. It ensures that my deployments are free of misconfigurations and vulnerabilities.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I would definitely recommend Qualys TotalCloud to other customers."
"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable features are its cloud security posture management, Kubernetes, and container security capabilities."
"The vulnerability management feature is the one I like the most because it provides a clear picture of all vulnerabilities."
"The most valuable feature is the consolidated information that it provides from various platforms."
"Qualys TotalCloud provides unified vulnerability and threat assessment for IaaS and SaaS and a single prioritized view of risk, which helps reduce my workload by not having to combine multiple sources."
"Once you have your vulnerabilities fixed and your patches pushed out using Qualys TotalCloud, then you are able to eliminate threats and cyber risk."
"Qualys TotalCloud helps you not just to identify misconfigurations, but you can actually also fix issues."
"Qualys TotalCloud has helped us view our risk structure, vulnerabilities, and security posture."
"This solution has provided information about existing vulnerabilities, and helped with quick remediation in case of global malware attacks."
"The most valuable features of Qualys VM are its ability to do proper vulnerability assessment. It has a lot of updates for all the vulnerability databases from all over the globe. It's an amazing solution when it comes to the versatility of the features it has. Additionally, the reports are very good. It generates very detailed reports about the vulnerabilities inside the environment"
"Qualys VMDR has positively impacted my organization by reducing vulnerability exposure time through faster detection and patching, and it has improved compliance reporting with accurate and up-to-date data."
"In a world of the hybrid workforce and work from home, if you're looking for a more effective vulnerability management tool, you have to go to the agent-based vulnerability management tools that are out there, and we've been extremely happy with Qualys."
"Qualys VM helps to identify the vulnerabilities on a timely basis, helping companies upgrade their networks and apply patches, and in the latest version it has added the patching capability, which is very useful."
"I like the automated report generation and vulnerability report generation."
"I find most valuable to achieve a channel system and we can also use it to track when we actually close the ticketing of the sites, and in addition, it is quite easy to implement."
"We can now perform vulnerability scans with WAF integration, and the WAF has improved the vulnerability identification and reports to the SOC and CSO."
"I appreciate Trivy for being open-source and not requiring any payment."
"Trivy is particularly useful for checking if Docker images have critical vulnerabilities before they reach production."
"I definitely recommend Trivy."
"Trivy is easy to integrate with CI/CD and can be installed on desktops to scan images."
"Trivy is very reliable and always has an up-to-date database to scan images and identify vulnerabilities."
"It's customizable, allowing me to add any rules and format HTML templates as I wish."
"What I find valuable is the ease of setup with Trivy, including pre-defined operators that require minimal configuration."
"Overall, I would rate Trivy a ten out of ten."
 

Cons

"From a downside perspective, the UI is not user-friendly and feels dated compared to other tools like Prisma Cloud."
"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."
"The downside is only in container security, but it has not been a long time since they introduced these models."
"Regarding technical support from Qualys, they respond, but the response time can be too long. Sometimes we need to wait weeks for solutions to simple questions."
"In my opinion, what can be improved in Qualys TotalCloud includes pricing and container scanning."
"There should be improvement from a dashboard perspective when collecting and showcasing data to lead management."
"A feature improvement could be the inclusion of Windows OS support for container security, as it is currently only supported for Linux."
"I would appreciate additional integration options to connect Qualys TotalCloud with our other vulnerability management tools."
"They're still evolving their platform in terms of reporting capabilities."
"Sometimes the scanning can get overwhelmed and start to drag when a lot of users are trying to scan at once."
"I think the only area to improve it is the way the scores are calculated."
"Qualys VMDR could improve in reducing the occurrences of false positive vulnerabilities."
"The reporting is lacking a little, and it would be nice to have reports sent via email."
"Improve the user interface."
"We face issues while scanning multiple assets."
"One area for improvement is the simplification of the process to ignore certain vulnerabilities on specific devices."
"Having little experience can hinder the ability to connect it to a user-friendly UI effectively."
"Currently, the container image scanning is static. A dynamic scanning capability during runtime would be a significant advantage."
"The only problem is that Trivy does not support reporting features such as generating reports in CSV, which is useful for auditing and reporting."
"For malware detection, I need to use two tools: Trivy as my anomaly scanner and ClamAV. I am integrating these two tools into the CI pipeline. If both malware and anomaly detection could be managed by one tool, I would not need to depend on two tools. That would be my suggestion."
"Trivy is not scalable; however, I have scanned very large projects with it. It is stable but not scalable according to my experience."
"Trivy can improve by providing an output in PDF format. Additionally, it takes longer to scan container images built with many layers."
"Trivy's marketing and awareness need improvement."
"The reporting could be a little better. When integrating Trivy with CI, the interpretation of the reports could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost is high, but it meets our organizational needs."
"The pricing is comparable. It is built into our other product, so I cannot piecemeal it. It is a part of our subscription."
"Although Qualys TotalCloud is relatively expensive due to its unique automation features, its cost-effectiveness is rated an eight out of ten, with ten being the most costly."
"The pricing for TotalCloud is attractive and competitive in the market. Given the features, especially the dashboard, I have no concerns regarding pricing."
"Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility."
"It isn't cheap, but it's reasonable. It helps us to manage things with very few resources."
"While Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive and may soon be considered overpriced."
"As a middle management member, I do not have direct pricing knowledge, but based on the knowledge from our meetings, its pricing is competitive."
"There are no additional fees in addition to the standard licensing fees."
"The solution is costly."
"Qualys is cheaper and more affordable than other solutions."
"It is a high cost product. Compared to the other solutions, it is around 15 to 20% higher in cost."
"The pricing is very competitive."
"It is different for every company, but for us, it's every three years."
"We have an annual contract for Qualys VMDR. I believe it's for either two years or five years."
"The pricing and licensing for Qualys could be improved."
Information not available
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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
15%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Construction Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
 

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 Business20
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise70
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise9
 

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 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.
What needs improvement with Qualys VMDR?
I haven't explored Qualys VMDR's vulnerability lifecycle automation yet. One of my analysts mentioned that queries la...
What advice do you have for others considering Qualys VMDR?
I have some understanding about PeerSpot, and I have visited the website. PeerSpot is similar to TrustRadius. It take...
What needs improvement with Trivy?
Trivy's marketing and awareness need improvement. Not everyone knows about it, which isn't ideal given its capabiliti...
What is your primary use case for Trivy?
I use Trivy ( /products/trivy-reviews ) to scan code for vulnerabilities before deployment. Our projects, which are d...
What advice do you have for others considering Trivy?
I recommend Trivy to others due to its powerful and useful features. However, I suggest increasing its marketing to r...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
Qualys VM, QualysGuard VM, Qualys Asset Inventory, Qualys Container Security
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
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
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Qualys VMDR vs. Trivy and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.