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Upwind vs VMware Aria Automation comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 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 Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
54
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (5th), Container Security (8th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (7th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (2nd), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (6th)
Upwind
Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
25th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (40th), Container Security (27th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (20th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (18th), Managed Detection and Response (MDR) (28th), API Security (11th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (16th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (28th), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (13th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (18th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (8th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (7th), Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (14th), AI Security (11th)
VMware Aria Automation
Ranking in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
29th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
172
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Management (2nd), Configuration Management (11th), Network Automation (7th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 2.1%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Upwind is 2.1%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Automation is 1.0%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Qualys TotalCloud2.1%
Upwind2.1%
VMware Aria Automation1.0%
Other94.8%
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2859021 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Risk-based triage has transformed container security and now prioritizes high-impact threats
The best features Qualys TotalCloud offers currently include managing cloud infrastructure and container security while facing major challenges such as alert fatigue. Traditional vulnerability scanners flag hundreds of CVEs on short-lived Kubernetes containers, some of which have no internet exposure or are gone before we can even triage them. I leverage Qualys TotalCloud to move beyond static CVSS. I use it to implement runtime exposure, correlation risk reprioritization, and shift-left integration. This notifies developers to fix a base image upstream rather than patching live ephemeral instances. In my work with cloud and container security, the biggest operational hurdle was alert fatigue. I use Qualys to shift left from static CVSS severity to context-aware risk prioritization. I correlated raw vulnerability data with real-time risk factors such as public network exposure, active runtime execution, or overly permissive IAM roles. This allows us to immediately drop the priority of isolated containers and escalate lower-severity CVEs that sit on an exposed, high-risk path. We can map these findings directly back to our CI/CD pipelines so developers can patch the root base images upstream. We have drastically cut down the signal-to-noise ratio, saved a lot of manual hours doing triage work, and ensured engineering effort goes directly towards high-impact risk reduction.
Mohammed Mudasser - PeerSpot reviewer
AI/ML Engineer at a educational organization with 5,001-10,000 employees
Runtime context has transformed how we prioritize exploitable cloud risks and protect workloads
I appreciate runtime context, which helps connect vulnerabilities and misconfigurations with actual workload behavior and network relationships, making it easier to prioritize remediation based on real exposure rather than simply working through a long list of security findings. The best features that stand out to me are contextual vulnerability prioritization, cloud workload visibility, and runtime security. I especially value how Upwind connects vulnerabilities with actual runtime behavior, which helps focus on exploitable risk rather than working through a long list of findings. It has helped us focus on actual exploitable risk instead of treating every vulnerability equally. By considering runtime activity, exposure, reachability, and sensitive data context, the team can prioritize remediation much faster and reduce unnecessary alert noise. I also value the runtime visibility and attack path context because it connects security findings with network behavior and actual workload. This makes investigations more actionable and helps the team move from simply detecting issues to understanding their real impact. The biggest positive impact has been the prioritization of cloud security risk and improved visibility. Instead of chasing every vulnerability, we can focus on issues that are actually exposed or active at runtime, which makes the security team more efficient and remediation more targeted.
VasilisGiannitsiotis - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior IT at ITSolutions
Automation has streamlined complex financial workflows but still needs more intuitive orchestration
Something to improve in VMware Aria Automation would be related to VCF 9, as I do not know what it is trying to bring because they exposed it as the solution of everything. So VCF 9 will bring VCF Automation and VCF Operations, the new product line of VMware. I have not seen what this brings or what else it includes. Maybe in the area of vRealize Orchestrator, this would be beneficial because VRO can do everything. Perhaps a more user-friendly way to use that tool would be helpful because the possibilities there are endless. I am looking for more user-friendly navigation in VMware Aria Automation.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"In my opinion, this is the best tool."
"The dashboards are particularly valuable as they offer a comprehensive view of the environment, highlighting any misconfigurations."
"Once it is set up, Qualys has proved to be one of our greatest assets."
"The vulnerability management feature is the one I like the most because it provides a clear picture of all vulnerabilities."
"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable feature is its agent versatility."
"TotalCloud offers a comprehensive suite of features, including EDR, XDR, and TrueRisk, providing a centralized platform for managing vulnerabilities and security risks."
"By integrating TotalCloud, we have significantly reduced vulnerabilities in our deployment pipeline."
"Qualys TotalCloud has helped us view our risk structure, vulnerabilities, and security posture."
"They are a great overall cloud security platform and they continue innovating and adding new features."
"My advice for others looking into using Upwind is that if you are seeking a strong CNAPP with an advanced runtime and strong CDR capabilities, this is the product."
"The combination of runtime visibility, security insights, and contextual risk prioritization makes it much easier to focus on the risks that actually matter."
"Upwind has positively impacted my organization by reducing time to action and time to response by half."
"It is probably 90 percent quicker to get something out the door than it was before. For developers, depending on who is building VMs for them, sometimes they request anywhere from 20 to 100. Now, we can deploy them in a matter of an hour, where previously it might have taken me three days to deploy out 100 VMs."
"It is very stable, works well, is easy to use once it's deployed, and is also easy to deploy."
"We are able to provide self-service to all of our IT/development teams to expand and decrease their environments at will."
"We have also found it to be intuitive and user-friendly. It's something that, because it has the workflows that are very easily graphed out - you can follow what it's doing, it's very picturesque, you can see what it's doing easily - it's something that you can hand over to a user who is not familiar with it and they can wrap their brain around it pretty quickly."
"It's also absolutely easy and intuitive. It uses the same basic layout as the rest of the product suite so it's really easy to navigate, find your way around between the tabs and the areas."
"We had a lot of config drift before, and this really helps us keep it on track. Speed to provision is probably our biggest, significant gain."
"I used the technical support during upgrades. They came onsite and are very technical. They are very good"
"The most valuable feature is the portal where you can assign permissions to specific people to request specific items in the catalog and allow them to provision things for themselves. Or it enables them to request different services that you can create through vRO and vRA."
 

Cons

"The onboarding process is a bit difficult. In the initial phase, it is very difficult to understand the features, what the dashboard contains, and what criteria they are using."
"From a downside perspective, the UI is not user-friendly and feels dated compared to other tools like Prisma Cloud."
"Some major banks and insurance companies require an on-premises solution for comprehensive vulnerability management, which TotalCloud does not offer."
"The support is not up to the mark and seems to be overburdened."
"I would appreciate additional integration options to connect Qualys TotalCloud with our other vulnerability management tools."
"The improvement needed in Qualys TotalCloud is mainly in the artificial intelligence automation agents, where we can customize and create what meets our needs, not necessarily having to use those provided in the tool."
"I think Qualys TotalCloud needs to improve its handling of zero-day vulnerabilities and supply chain management because modern ransomware attacks not only target prime critical infrastructures but also the supply chain system."
"The cost of Qualys TotalCloud is high and could be more competitive."
"Upwind can be improved because its UI is a bit difficult to navigate."
"I would like to see support for Google Cloud and Azure. Because they don't support Google and Azure today, we need something that's cohesive with our entire landscape. There is a gap right now with VMware. If you want support for these environments, you have to go elsewhere right now."
"There are still some issues such that, if you are going to go 100% cloud, if you don't want anything on-premise, there are some other solutions that might have a leg up."
"I'm not aware if a UI exists or not."
"Licensing's expensive."
"The basic support is not there for Google Cloud and Azure. They are unable to provision nor do cost controls."
"It's not a smooth upgrade process. For a DTA environment, which is very simple, it is a smooth process, but for our production environment, which is quite enhanced and has a lot of dependencies, it's not easy at all, and it results in a lot of errors... It takes a lot of retries to upgrade which ends up being costly."
"It is not intuitive or user-friendly. It's complicated as heck."
"Better training, or training modules, wouldn't hurt."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"Qualys TotalCloud offers good pricing that is affordable and competitive with the market. Our partnership also provides us with additional benefits."
"The pricing is comparable. It is built into our other product, so I cannot piecemeal it. It is a part of our subscription."
"Qualys TotalCloud offers competitive pricing given its comprehensive suite of features, including integration, assessment, remediation, and detection capabilities, all within a single platform."
"As a middle management member, I do not have direct pricing knowledge, but based on the knowledge from our meetings, its pricing is competitive."
"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 cost is high, but it meets our organizational needs."
"While Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive and may soon be considered overpriced."
Information not available
"I'm very interested in the integration with Puppet. However, my organization doesn't have the funding for something like Puppet right now. If VMware would integrate that feature set (Puppet) into vRA. That would be very awesome."
"It is an open-source product."
"So much can be done with the Open Source side, and especially for smaller shops. I personally think the pricing for Enterprise is hard to justify."
"From the customer perspective, the value was worth it."
"SaltStack is an open-source product."
"From a budget point of view, the pricing is a bit on the higher side."
"We have seen significant ROI. We used to have physical servers, it took 90 days to get a server, order it, buy it, and get it in. We have it down to 10 minutes, building a server with virtualization, and now that's too slow. So, we let the customer do it at their speed. Therefore, it is pretty much up in a couple of minutes and they have a server."
"It is pricey for what you get."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
18%
Outsourcing Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise38
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business33
Midsize Enterprise24
Large Enterprise131
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys TotalCloud?
We purchased Qualys TotalCloud for GCP and Azure as well. It is comparatively better than others regarding pricing. T...
What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
I am unsure about how Qualys TotalCloud can be improved. I do not have anything else to add about the needed improvem...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
My main use case for Qualys TotalCloud is telemetry, although I am unsure about the specifics. A quick specific examp...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Upwind?
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing process were pretty reasonable.
What needs improvement with Upwind?
I would appreciate more customizable dashboards and reporting for different teams, such as security operations, engin...
What is your primary use case for Upwind?
My main use case for Upwind is cloud security and workload protection. I primarily use it to gain visibility into clo...
What's the difference between VMware vRA (automation) and vROps (operations)?
vROP is a virtualization management solution from VMWare. It is efficient and easy to manage. You can find anything y...
Is there any way to try VMware Aria Automation for free?
When it comes to VMware Aria Automation, you have three choices for free runs: Hands-on Lab (HOL) Advanced lab A fre...
Which sectors can benefit the most from VMware Aria Automation?
I was looking at VMware Aria Automation case studies recently and I got the impression that three main kinds of compa...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
Upwind Security Upwind Platform for AWS Security Hub, Upwind Security Upwind for AWS Security Hub Extended
VMware vRealize Automation, vRA, VMware DynamicOps Cloud Suite, SaltStack
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
StockX, Yotpo, bill, Digital Turbine, nanit, CallRail, boomi
Rent-a-Center, Amway, Vistra Energy, Liberty Mutual
Find out what your peers are saying about Upwind vs. VMware Aria Automation and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.