Qualys VMDR vs Vicarius vRx comparison

Qualys and Vicarius are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Qualys is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.5, while Vicarius is ranked #15 with an average rating of 7.9. Qualys holds a 7.1% mindshare in VM, compared to Vicarius’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of Qualys users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Vicarius users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 13, 2025

Qualys VMDR and Vicarius vRx compete in the vulnerability management sector. Qualys VMDR seems to have the upper hand with its comprehensive vulnerability management tools, though Vicarius vRx provides innovative solutions like patchless protection.

Features: Qualys VMDR stands out with its comprehensive vulnerability management capabilities, including automatic detection and prioritization of vulnerabilities, cloud-based structure for minimizing local configuration issues, and detailed reporting features. Vicarius vRx offers patchless protection for unpatched software through anomaly monitoring, automation capabilities for streamlining patching, and efficient vulnerability scanning.

Room for Improvement: Qualys VMDR could enhance user guidance, integration for false positives management, and asset tagging. Users seek more straightforward reporting and customizable dashboard options. Vicarius vRx can improve by automating its patchless protection process, addressing login inconveniences, and enhancing mobile device support.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Qualys VMDR offers versatile deployment models encompassing various cloud solutions but lacks an on-premises option. Vicarius vRx focuses on Public Cloud deployments, simplifying setups. Both maintain strong customer support, with Qualys needing faster response times compared to Vicarius' streamlined support experience.

Pricing and ROI: Qualys VMDR is perceived as costly, but larger enterprises find its coverage justifies the price. It requires higher investment due to its features. Vicarius vRx, with a fair pricing strategy per asset, appeals more to smaller organizations despite being on the higher pricing end. Both promise strong ROI through risk reduction and enhanced security, catered differently by market segment and pricing flexibility.

To learn more, read our detailed Qualys VMDR vs. Vicarius vRx Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR vs. Vicarius vRx

July 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 865,384 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

Zafran Security

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Zafran Security is 0.9%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Qualys VMDR is 7.1%, down from 12.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Vicarius vRx is 0.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Israel Cavazos Landini

Associate Director IT Security Operations at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees

Weekly insights and risk analysis facilitate informed security decisions

I appreciate the weekly insights Zafran provides, which include critical topics for networks and IT security, allowing us to evaluate which insights apply to our environment. The organization score feature is valuable to keep the leadership team updated on how our infrastructure fares security-wise. The applicable risk level versus base risk level feature is beneficial because prior to Zafran, we only used the base risk level, but now understand that risk depends on the asset itself. Zafran is an excellent tool.

Read full review

Ankesh Raj

Information Security Analyst at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

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.

Read full review

OrenBen Shalom

Information Security Manager at Pango

Consolidates vulnerability discovery, prioritization, and remediation in a single platform

Vicarius vRx offers several advantages, especially for organizations with diverse operating systems and applications requiring frequent patching. The platform helps prioritize patch installation by identifying high-risk vulnerabilities, allowing IT teams to focus on critical threats first. This prioritization is crucial because it prevents IT teams from being overwhelmed by the constant influx of patches, enabling them to create a manageable plan and allocate resources effectively. By distinguishing between critical, high-risk, and medium-risk vulnerabilities, Vicarius vRx empowers IT teams to address the most urgent threats promptly and schedule less critical patches for later. Both native operating system updates and Vicarius vRx offer vulnerability remediation. Native OS updates allow for the patching of system vulnerabilities on Windows, macOS, and Linux. However, Vicarius vRx provides a single solution for installing both operating system and application updates by also discovering application vulnerabilities. Another valuable feature is virtual patching, which allows us to protect an asset from a specific vulnerability without installing a patch. Sometimes, installing a patch alone is insufficient and requires restarting the asset. However, production servers often cannot be restarted during the day, restricting restarts to specific timeslots. Virtual patching creates a network-based protection layer that prevents exploitation of a vulnerability, offering a temporary safeguard. While not a foolproof solution for long-term use, it's a valuable tool that reduces tension between IT and security teams by providing time to properly install patches.

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

"Zafran has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."

"We saw benefits from Zafran Security almost immediately after deploying it."

"Overall, we have seen about eighty-seven percent reduction of the number of vulnerabilities that require urgency to remediate, specifically the number of criticals."

"We are able to see the real risk of a vulnerability on our environment with our security tools."

"Zafran is an excellent tool."

"This solution gives us insight into our environment and improves our security. It helps us to maintain a good patching system whereby we know that XYZ is vulnerable within the system."

"Tech support is helpful."

"I am impressed with the VMDR feature."

"There are fewer false positives when using this solution."

"The features that are most valuable are the identification, scan features, and the identification of vulnerabilities."

"The prioritization of vulnerabilities has improved our remediation efforts by around thirty to thirty-five percent."

"Qualys VMDR provides a real-time response and reporting feature, which is excellent."

"It's very configurable to adjust impact to systems."

More Qualys VMDR pros

"Vicarius vRx has reduced 70% of the time we spend on patching."

"Vicarius vRx's automation feature is its most valuable, allowing us to automate manual tasks, receive automated reports, and easily check device update status."

"We can easily deploy patches for third-party applications. It automatically downloads the patches for you. You do not have to download them, upload them to the solution, and configure your own scripts or anything like that. It is all automatic."

"The ability to consolidate vulnerability discovery, prioritization, and remediation in one platform is crucial."

"I also like how easy it is to use. We instructed some companies on how to use it, provided them with an account, and gave them the ability to deploy and patch. They could quickly figure it out. We can spend an hour in the office showing someone how everything works, and they're good to go. It's the same with our customers."

"The dashboard is quite easy to manage. The automation aspect is also very valuable."

"Third-party software patching is the most valuable feature."

"Since we started using Vicarius vRx, I have not had to worry about patching the software."

More Vicarius vRx pros

Cons

"The dashboarding and reporting functionality of Zafran Security is an area that definitely could use some improvements."

"Initially, we were somewhat concerned about the scalability of Zafran due to our large asset count and the substantial amount of information we needed to process."

"I think the ability to have some enhanced reporting capabilities is something they can improve on, as they have good reports but we have asked for some specific reporting enhancements."

"Its integration with ServiceNow and other similar products is complicated and can be improved. It should also have virtual batching. They should support more standards and compliance requirements and more customizations. For policy compliance, they can add the standards required by the countries in the Middle East. Each country generates its own standards and frameworks, and those frameworks should be there in all products, not only in Qualys. The market here is huge, especially in the cybersecurity field. Qatar has a framework for Qatar 2022, and each and every company in the public or private sector has to follow the Qatar 2022 framework."

"We are moving away from Qualys to Defender ATP because I find that Defender ATP is much better at prioritizing the vulnerabilities that I should be looking at."

"Support could be improved since the response can be slow."

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

"This solution could be improved by extending the agent capabilities to different operating systems including Mac and Linux. We would also like the capability to easily check for vulnerability in assets in the IOTs."

"The response time of technical support takes a while."

"Some of the older features could be polished instead of focusing on releasing new features."

"The reporting and the GUI need improvements."

More Qualys VMDR cons

"We had an outage due to a change Vicarius performed in their system."

"The multi-tenant portal has room for improvement."

"Unlike previous vulnerability management systems that relied on network scanning appliances to discover and assess endpoints, Vicarius' agent-based approach is less effective for devices like switches, routers, and printers where agent installation is impractical."

"We did some automation. We kicked off scheduled updates to update our systems, but it did not work. When we attempted to scale the product and update multiple systems, we ran into a lot of issues. We also ran into the issue of it creating double assets."

"The user interface for deploying patches can be improved, as it appears complicated when launching patches. We can launch it for apps or OS, but the steps to get there are a bit tedious. This is the only thing."

"Vicarius vRx's application management capabilities could be improved by allowing users to manage and uninstall applications directly within the GUI, eliminating the need for scripting and streamlining the process."

"Another complaint we've gotten is that the portal doesn't remember your username and password. You tell them your email, and it sends an invitation. You need to click that, and it takes you to a new portal, where you can finally log in. Maybe it's a security precaution, but it seems like a lot of extra steps to log in."

"I would like to see more network architecture elements with patches."

More Vicarius vRx cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"They have recently changed the pricing model, which is now better than it was before."

"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."

"Usually every implementation is different and the quote is in function of number of assets."

"When you want to cover yourself for scalability, you will be charged for the number you place on the scan itself."

"Qualys is cheaper and more affordable than other solutions."

"The price is very reasonable."

"Qualys is a pay-as-you-go model, so there's flexibility to the pricing."

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

More Qualys VMDR pricing and cost advice

"The pricing was very reasonable and fair compared to other products. I liked that there was no tiered system. One price gave access to everything, which is nice. It is not something you get too often with enterprise IT."

"In the past, Vicarius vRx was cheap, but now they have adjusted their pricing policy, resulting in higher renewal costs. We have had some conversations with them regarding a smaller jump in the renewal cost."

"Vicarius vRx is priced competitively within the market."

"I do not use other solutions, so I cannot compare its pricing to others, but its price seems okay."

"Vicarius' pricing was reasonable compared to the other systems we evaluated."

"Vicarius vRx offers a competitive price point for the features it provides."

"The pricing is fair."

"The price of vRx seems fair. None of our clients complained about the pricing. They all thought it was reasonable. Once people understood what it does, it didn't take much to get them to sign up."

More Vicarius vRx pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Vulnerability Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

14%

Media Company

10%

Non Profit

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zafran Security?

Since we stood Zafran Security up in our private cloud, we handle the maintenance on our side. As we opted not to use...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Zafran Security?

In terms of areas for improvement, Zafran Security is doing a really great job as a new and emerging company. Oftenti...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?

My use cases for Zafran Security revolve around two primary areas. One is around vulnerability management and priorit...

See all answers

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 tagg...

See all answers

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

Qualys offers better pricing and is feature-packed compared to other tools.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Qualys VMDR?

There were some issues later with Qualys VMDR regarding security, specifically with numerous false positive reports.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Vicarius vRx?

I do not use other solutions, so I cannot compare its pricing to others, but its price seems okay.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Vicarius vRx?

I would be happy if the patch update could be downloaded to the Vicarius server and then implemented on the client. C...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Vicarius vRx?

We use Vicarius vRx to manage all third-party software updates. Previously, we could manage Windows updates, but thir...

See all answers

Comparisons

Wiz Code vs Zafran Security

Compared 37% of the time

Vulcan Cyber vs Zafran Security

Compared 15% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Zafran Security

Compared 9% of the time

ServiceNow Security Operations vs Zafran Security

Compared 8% of the time

Nucleus vs Zafran Security

Compared 7% of the time

More Zafran Security Competitors

Tenable Nessus vs Qualys VMDR

Compared 10% of the time

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Qualys VMDR

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs Qualys VMDR

Compared 8% of the time

Tenable Security Center vs Qualys VMDR

Compared 6% of the time

Wiz vs Qualys VMDR

Compared 5% of the time

More Qualys VMDR Competitors

Tenable Nessus vs Vicarius vRx

Compared 20% of the time

NinjaOne vs Vicarius vRx

Compared 14% of the time

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Vicarius vRx

Compared 10% of the time

Qualys Patch Management vs Vicarius vRx

Compared 8% of the time

ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus vs Vicarius vRx

Compared 8% of the time

More Vicarius vRx Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Zafran Security

July 2025

Download Zafran Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR

August 2025

Download Qualys VMDR product report

Buyer's Guide

Vicarius vRx

July 2025

Download Vicarius vRx product report

Also Known As

No data available

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

No data available

Overview

Zafran Security integrates with existing security tools to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities effectively, proving that most critical vulnerabilities are not exploitable, optimizing threat management.

Zafran Security introduces an innovative operating model for managing security threats and vulnerabilities. By leveraging the threat exposure management platform, it pinpoints and prioritizes exploitable vulnerabilities, reducing risk through immediate remediation. This platform enhances your hybrid cloud security by normalizing vulnerability signals and integrating specific IT context data, such as CVE runtime presence and internet asset reachability, into its analysis. No longer reliant on patch windows, Zafran Security allows you to manage risks actively.

What are the key features of Zafran Security?

Threat Exposure Management: Utilizes existing tools to prioritize vulnerabilities and manage threats.
Integrative Analysis: Combines security data with IT context for precise vulnerability management.
Real-time Risk Reduction: Enables immediate risk management without waiting for patches.
Hybrid Cloud Compatibility: Functions across diverse cloud environments for comprehensive security.

What benefits can users expect from Zafran Security?

Improved Security: Enhances protection by efficiently identifying and mitigating risks.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces unnecessary patching expenses by confirming non-exploitable vulnerabilities.
Time Savings: Frees developers to focus on root causes by handling immediate threats.
Comprehensive Insight: Offers a holistic view of security threats and vulnerabilities.

In industries where security is paramount, such as finance and healthcare, Zafran Security provides invaluable protection by ensuring that only exploitable vulnerabilities are addressed. It allows entities to maintain robust security measures while allocating resources efficiently, fitting seamlessly into existing security strategies.

Zafran Security

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

Vicarius vRx supports managed service providers and partners with compliance packages, vulnerability management, and patching for PCI, HIPAA, and cybersecurity needs, focusing on third-party and OS patching, especially on Microsoft Windows.

Vicarius vRx automates patching, virtualized patching, and severity prioritization through its cloud-based, agent-based approach which enhances consistency and flexibility. It includes patchless protection to block malware in unpatched software and features simplified dashboards for integrated vulnerability discovery and remediation. Users appreciate the user-friendly scripting engine, efficient third-party software patching, and real-time cybersecurity updates. Community support and customizable deployment options further add value. However, users find name changes and login difficulties confusing and report tediousness when configuring multiple reports. Desired improvements include virtual environment for patch testing, enhanced network device vulnerability scans, and better Microsoft Endpoint Manager interactions.

What are the key features of Vicarius vRx?

Automated patching: Streamlines the process of patching applications and operating systems.
Virtualized patching: Enables patching in a virtual environment to prevent disruptions.
Severity prioritization: Helps prioritize vulnerabilities to address the most critical issues first.
Patchless protection: Blocks malware in software that hasn't been patched yet.
User-friendly scripting engine: Simplifies the creation and execution of scripts for automation.
Integrated vulnerability discovery: Combines detection and remediation in a single dashboard.
Real-time updates: Provides immediate cybersecurity updates and notifications.
Community support: Offers robust support from the user community.
Customizable deployment options: Allows tailoring to fit specific requirements.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Time-saving: Reduces the time required for software patching and management.
Vulnerability reduction: Decreases the number of vulnerabilities through automated processes.
Enhanced security: Provides patchless protection and real-time updates to improve security postures.
Flexibility: The cloud-based, agent-based approach adapts to various environments and needs.
Simplified management: User-friendly interfaces and streamlined processes offer easier administration.
Improved compliance: Helps meet PCI, HIPAA, and cybersecurity regulatory requirements.

Among managed service providers, Vicarius vRx is implemented for updating systems, showing capabilities to customers in lab environments, and securing endpoints through agent-based patching. These providers use vRx to efficiently manage third-party software patching and to maintain cybersecurity standards across industries.

Vicarius

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

Buyer's Guide

Qualys VMDR vs. Vicarius vRx

July 2025

Free Report: Qualys VMDR vs. Vicarius vRx

Find out what your peers are saying about Qualys VMDR vs. Vicarius vRx and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Qualys VMDR vs. Vicarius vRx report.

See our list of best Vulnerability Management vendors and best Risk-Based Vulnerability Management vendors.

We monitor all Vulnerability Management 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.