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Cybersecurity Engineer at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Top 10
Vulnerability prioritization and dashboards help with efficient patch management
Pros and Cons
  • "Patch Management, if configured correctly, works effectively without requiring further action."
  • "Qualys can do regular check-ins to go over not only all the vulnerabilities but also the overall process to see if there is anything where we might need improvement."

What is our primary use case?

We use almost every module that Qualys has, except the EDR, which is endpoint protection. They came up with that module last year. We use their patch management, vulnerability scanners, cloud agents, and network passive scanners. We are using everything that is available.

How has it helped my organization?

They have a very good approach called TruRisk. If an exploit is publicly available or something is public-facing, they have an in-depth categorization process, so I do not have to think about what to patch first. Qualys take care of that. They assess them based on many factors. They have a team that works on that and goes through every aspect of the vulnerability in terms of how easily it can be exploited, and then they put a priority on it.

TruRisk automation has not helped us remediate vulnerabilities without needing to involve our security team. That is because we have been having some issues with the Windows Store app. We blocked it now but did not block it before, so it got installed on some of the machines. Because of that, we have to deal with it manually because Patch Management cannot do that. They will look for attributes, and they still exist. We cannot delete or update them because the Windows Store app is blocked, so we have to deal with those things manually.

They have a dashboard, which is very useful. I heavily rely on the dashboard. I create additional widgets if I have to, but the dashboards they have in their library are sufficient and very easy to use. I already know their language and I can build queries if necessary. 

Having this single source of truth affects the way our security and IT teams work together. Instead of me telling or sending screenshots, I can send them a link. When I send the link, others can see the exact same screen and easily drill down on endpoints.

This single source of truth helps reduce costs. It saves time, and time is always equal to money.

Patch Management has improved our patch rates. Previously, our approximate patching duration to close a vulnerability or remediate a vulnerability was almost 30 to 40 days. Right now, it does not exceed 11 days. Qualys has its own priority levels. They have priority 4, priority 3, priority 2, and priority 1 levels. Priority 4 ones are the most dangerous ones. They are patched right away. For other priorities, it was 30 to 40 days and then it was 21 days. The last one was about 14 days and now it is 11. It is a very good progress from what it was before.

I do not use their Risk Reduction Recommendation Report, but I usually go for the dashboard. The dashboard usually tells everything such as the end-of-life hardware, software, or other things. When I drill down, I can generate a report and present it to my IT colleagues and tell them that we need to get rid of this equipment or this software. We need to do something with it. This is an on-demand report, so I can put it on my schedule, and when I need it, I can generate it.

Patch Management has definitely helped to reduce our organization's risk. It is hard to provide metrics because, with the security field, you cannot be very precise about how secure you are. However, I can sleep at night and not stress about if some computer is being patched. I do not worry about situations where when you have a lot of systems, some of them you cannot patch because they have old applications. If you patch them, it will break something. I do not have that stress because I can rely on Qualys to do its job. In my previous job, I have had systems that I could not patch. I had to request a window to do the patchwork. With Qualys, I do not have to do that. There is a work/life balance. I got back my Saturdays and Sundays. In my previous job, I came to the job on Saturday and Sunday when people were not there and patched the systems. With Qualys, it is definitely not the case. We do not have to do that.

What is most valuable?

Patch Management, if configured correctly, works effectively without requiring further action. There are some applications that Patch Management cannot update, but they have a Custom Assessment and Remediation module to update third-party software. That module completes patch management, and you can now update everything.

The vulnerability scanner is solid and thorough. Vulnerability scans go through everything such as the endpoints, servers, and hardware.

What needs improvement?

They are constantly working on making it better. There is no 100% reliable or working application or software. There are caveats with the network passive sensor when it does not merge or something does not feel right, but whenever I have to report on those things, someone from their support team jumps on and tries to help us, which is why I like it. They should keep it up. 

They can maybe do check-ins with the customers once a month. All the vendors are doing it nowadays. Qualys can do regular check-ins to go over not only all the vulnerabilities but also the overall process to see if there is anything where we might need improvement. They know about the latest trends, and they have meetings about them. They can relay to us some newer information that we do not know, but they saw in our environment. That would be a nice thing.

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Qualys Patch Management
May 2025
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For how long have I used the solution?

I have probably been using it for three years, give or take.

How are customer service and support?

I have interacted with them many times. Their support is good and reactive. When we needed support, it took a day or two. We can always reach out to our technical account manager. He is able to get on board with the engineers to help resolve issues, which I appreciate. If we need to fix something urgently, he can always help us.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We also use Microsoft through the GPL, and we have KACE, which checks for missing patches and applied patches, but mostly, we use Qualys. Qualys would be our single pane of glass where we see all those.

How was the initial setup?

I joined after the initial deployment was completed, but I deployed a couple of scanners, like vulnerability scanners on the VMs, and that process was easy. It was self-explanatory and straightforward. You just spin one up, put the IP address, and it works.

It does not require any maintenance. It is a cloud agent. As long as the cloud agent is installed on the endpoint, we are collecting all the information and the system is being patched. That is a good part.

What other advice do I have?

It took us some time to realize its benefits. I went to a Qualys conference, and that was when I started to realize its benefits. Till then, I thought Rapid7 was a good one or Manage Engine was a good one. I thought those products were good, and they also patch third parties whereas Qualys did not patch third parties. After going to Qualys, they explained there is a way to do that. It was a longer way, which I did not do. We decided to go with an MSP that specializes in installation and fine-tuning the Qualys product. When they did everything, I did not have to touch any configuration with Qualys Patch Management. Everything was going through. With the way we did things previously, it was going through, but it was a longer approach. It was taking a little longer and was more manual. We did not properly utilize tagging. We did not properly utilize the patching process scheduling. The MSP guys did tagging. They did automation of the patch management according to the risks. That was very important. Previously, we had six or seven jobs and sometimes, we manually patched individual machines. After the MSP guys did the fine-tuning, we had only two scheduled jobs, and that was it. The first job does 10 to 15 testing computers, and then the next one does the old machines.

I would rate Qualys Patch Management a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
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Sr Security Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Supports various applications and reduces manual workload
Pros and Cons
  • "Patch Management supports various software lists when compared to Microsoft Intune. It is especially beneficial for non-Microsoft applications. I can create a schedule, and various patches can be automatically deployed."
  • "Patch management significantly helped us track and reduce vulnerabilities."
  • "It would be better if Qualys Patch Management identifies whether the process has failed at the first instance and provides a retry button or retry mechanism, allowing retries for failed patches. This feature would reduce my manual workload."
  • "I deploy patches to endpoints and servers every month. However, despite a job showing as successful, I need to examine the job in detail."

What is our primary use case?

I use Qualys Patch Management as a single platform for patch management. We have Microsoft, Adobe, and various other apps. I create a scheduled task to push all the required patches to the laptops so that they have the latest version of these apps.

We also do compliance checks to ensure that, for example, we have the golden image on our servers and laptops. We use it for scanning to ensure that configurations are correct and based on the CIS guidelines.

All our servers and laptops have the Qualys agent, and we can then push the patches to those devices.

How has it helped my organization?

Patch Management offers a patch-based approach to vulnerabilities. It helps us prioritize and schedule critical or high-severity patches to address issues.

Patch Management gives us a single source of truth for assets and vulnerabilities that need to be assessed, prioritized, and remediated.

I use Patch Management with Qualys VMDR. After the patches are deployed, I check Qualys VMDR to verify if the issues have been addressed.

The Risk Reduction Recommendation Report is fine. It has some general information. It can give insights to people who are not familiar with the findings. I can generate a report and share it with different IT groups to help them understand the issue and the suggested solution. It can help address 70% to 80% of the issues. The rest of them might require further discussion to come up with a solution.

Patch management significantly helped us track and reduce vulnerabilities. For example, before adopting Qualys Patch Management, we found 10,000 or more vulnerabilities. We have now addressed those, limiting existing vulnerabilities to around hundreds. There is a great improvement.

What is most valuable?

Patch Management supports various software lists when compared to Microsoft Intune. It is especially beneficial for non-Microsoft applications. I can create a schedule, and various patches can be automatically deployed. There is no need to create a PowerShell script. It helps reduce the manual workload for patch deployment. 

What needs improvement?

I deploy patches to endpoints and servers every month. However, despite a job showing as successful, I need to examine the job in detail. For instance, if I have deployed patches to 100 endpoints, even though the job status says that it is successful, I still have to go deep into endpoints one by one to identify if there are some failures. It would be better if Qualys Patch Management identifies whether the process has failed at the first instance and provides a retry button or retry mechanism, allowing retries for failed patches. This feature would reduce my manual workload. 

For reporting issues, we can check if the findings are addressed in the VMDR, but to verify if the latest patches have been applied on the endpoints or servers, we have to examine scheduled jobs one by one. 

It would help if error messages were clearer about causes, like endpoints being offline. This improvement would streamline troubleshooting, helping users ensure their PCs are on when deploying patches. Fail status alerts providing specific fail details would facilitate easier checks.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Qualys Patch Management for at least two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is highly stable. I would rate it an eight out of ten for stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We are utilizing it fully. It serves our needs.

How are customer service and support?

We get the first response to a question within two days, but when we have follow-up questions, they take longer, and the case may get dragged a little bit. It is not fit for us sometimes.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Intune is a comparison point, but previously, we had Ivanti Patch Management. Qualys Patch Management is much better, considering the number of issues we could address with it.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was quite a normal process. We needed to install the appliance and establish firewall rules to allow traffic with different software. For the endpoint part, Qualys agents were installed on the machines. We had no serious challenges deploying to most endpoints or configuring the firewall.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I am currently conducting a patch management review and evaluating new features or products, and Qualys Patch Management still meets our requirements.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Qualys Patch Management an eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Qualys Patch Management
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about Qualys Patch Management. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
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Mubashir K - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Engineer at Techensglobal
Real User
Top 20
Enhance client security with timely insights and streamlined patch management
Pros and Cons
  • "Qualys Patch Management allows us to structure all the patches together and schedule patch management sessions."
  • "Qualys Patch Management helps reduce our client's organizational risk by 50 percent."
  • "The pricing of the solution is slightly high compared to other tools in our field."
  • "The pricing of the solution is slightly high compared to other tools in our field."

What is our primary use case?

I am a cybersecurity engineer focused on vulnerability assessment and penetration testing. We use Qualys Patch Management to scan our client infrastructure and external-facing applications. We collect asset details from clients and perform activities using Qualys VMDR to prepare and submit reports. If vulnerabilities are detected, we conduct patch management.

We implemented Qualys Patch Management to simplify patching processes and maintain a comprehensive record of all assets, both those already patched and those requiring patching.

How has it helped my organization?

Qualys Patch Management's risk-based approach to automation is effective in addressing vulnerabilities. By configuring policies, patches are applied automatically, eliminating concerns about oversight and ensuring comprehensive mitigation.

The integration of Patch Management and VMDR is critical for medium and large organizations because it automatically includes relevant patches and configuration changes to remediate detected vulnerabilities. This allows organizations to gain clear visibility into device vulnerabilities and take immediate action to mitigate risks.

Qualys Patch Management keeps our clients informed of all security aspects. It keeps the quality up to date, with vulnerability databases and new CVEs based on the CVSS score. Clients are pleased with the insights on their security posture and any security gaps.

We use TruRisk automation and the Qualys knowledge base, with its batch management and information-sharing features, to remediate vulnerabilities without involving the security team.

Qualys Patch Management provides a centralized platform to identify, prioritize, and address vulnerabilities across all assets. This allows us to tailor vulnerability assessments and patching strategies for clients with critical assets, such as servers hosting public-facing web applications, by leveraging asset criticality tags to create dedicated sections within the platform.

Qualys Patch Management has helped improve our patch rate by 35 percent.

Qualys Patch Management helps reduce our client's organizational risk by 50 percent.

What is most valuable?

Qualys Patch Management allows us to structure all the patches together and schedule patch management sessions. If we do not need a particular patch, it can push it automatically. It provides insight into the organization's security posture and keeps databases updated with new CVEs.

What needs improvement?

The pricing of the solution is slightly high compared to other tools in our field. It’s manageable for clients, but as a service provider, it can be challenging due to the lower cost of vulnerability assessments and penetration testing.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Qualys Patch Management for the past two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Qualys Patch Management is a stable solution. I would rate its stability as a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability could be improved, as not everyone can afford it, and some may not fully understand how to use Qualys.

How are customer service and support?

During the license purchase process, there was some delay in technical communication from Qualys. 

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

What about the implementation team?

The deployment involved a team of six people and took about half a year.

What was our ROI?

Qualys Patch Management has saved time and resources by reducing the need for human resources. Clients are satisfied with the insights and reduced vulnerabilities over time.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

While the cost of Qualys Patch Management is slightly high compared to alternative tools, it is not excessively expensive. I would rate the pricing as a seven or eight out of ten for expense.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Qualys Patch Management ten out of ten.

Our clients who use Qualys Patch Management are medium to enterprise-level businesses.

Qualys handles the maintenance for Patch Management.

I recommend Qualys Patch Management to others due to its ability to enhance organizational and client security posture while reducing time and costs associated with vulnerability assessment and auditing.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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reviewer2645955 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
MSP
Top 5Leaderboard
Prioritization and syncing increase risk reduction and has good integrations available
Pros and Cons
  • "The integrations with VMware include configurations to mitigate vulnerabilities. It helps us identify permissions and whatever is applicable for the vulnerability for faster patching."
  • "We've been able to reduce organizational risk by 50%."
  • "The patch status and patch completion information should be improved."
  • "The patch status and patch completion information should be improved. If a patch fails due to some reason, such as a Windows error, the error code that gets published should be more detailed."

What is our primary use case?

I have used this management system to remediate vulnerabilities.

How has it helped my organization?

There are a few vulnerabilities we can remediate very quickly. It reduces the time delay. If there are configuration-level changes, we can create and push scripts. 

It helps us increase visibility for faster remediation. 

What is most valuable?

Syncing between the MBR and patches is the feature. Another valuable feature is pushing configuration-level changes for a script, which leads to a single solution for all the changes. 

From a risk perspective, prioritization helps us more by allowing us to see the visibility of assets with more critical vulnerabilities. We can then push the patches immediately to remediate or reduce risk as soon as possible. That is the major advantage I have.

The integrations with VMware include configurations to mitigate vulnerabilities. It helps us identify permissions and whatever is applicable for the vulnerability for faster patching. 

It helps us remediate vulnerabilities without involving our security team. This helps further relieve time delays. We've saved around 50% of time with patching with Qualys.

The solution provides a single source of truth. We have everything all in one place, saving 40% of our time when compared to the older approach. We don't have to look at different platforms or move back and forth between tools between patching and validation. 

It has effective risk reduction recommendation reports. It streamlines remediation and gives us more data on the vulnerabilities. It helps us to identify the risk factors and levels of risk for increased prioritization.

Our patch rates have increased significantly. 

We've been able to reduce organizational risk by 50%.

What needs improvement?

The patch status and patch completion information should be improved. If a patch fails due to some reason, such as a Windows error, the error code that gets published should be more detailed. This would make it easier for us to identify where the issue lies, whether at the network level, machine level, or elsewhere. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for the past three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is rated ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is rated ten out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate technical support as nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I used different solutions like KACE, among others. We switched so we could use a single tool to make the process as simple as possible.

How was the initial setup?

We use a hybrid cloud approach.

The setup was just about enabling a module for it. Since the system is already deployed, we only had to enable the module.

We use it across multiple locations.

There is no maintenance required once deployed.

What was our ROI?

As I said previously, it has reduced the risk by fifty percent compared to the previous solution. Everything is in SaaS.

What other advice do I have?

As a single tool, it is a better choice. I would recommend the solution to other users. 

I would rate the overall solution as nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
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Koketso Ditlhage - PeerSpot reviewer
Information Communication Technology Specialist at UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Efficiently manages vulnerabilities and patch management with automated features
Pros and Cons
  • "I would give it a ten out of ten."
  • "We dislike having to pay extra. We don't mind paying for additional modules like Certificate View."

What is our primary use case?

We are in the education industry, and we perform weekly scans. On weekends, we scan our entire management, servers, and expectations. Then on Monday, I set up some weekly reports. From these, I'll have my vulnerabilities and Patch management reports showing which third-party applications I installed on users' workstations. I tested these on a Monday or Tuesday with Patch Management. If all goes well, by Wednesday or Thursday, I'm patching the rest of the environment. In terms of workstations, I scan and patch them weekly, but for servers, I wait for the Microsoft patching cycle. Only then do we patch the servers, allowing for a restart for each update. After the Microsoft updates, we can restart our servers.

What is most valuable?

The auto patch is useful. On zero-day vulnerabilities or patches, we can automatically apply those without user interference. We can drastically decrease vulnerabilities, especially third-party ones, such as a Java update that usually takes time to test on different machines. With Patch Management, machines can be grouped into test workstations, and a fix can be deployed and monitored for a day or two. If nothing goes wrong, it is deployed to all users. In Koketso Towers, you will notice about one thousand or five thousand mortgages decrease. This has helped us keep up with vulnerabilities, especially on workstations. Test management is a module added to the vulnerability management scanner, which also has the auto-fix feature. We don't usually use this on servers but on workstations. For instance, if there's a vulnerability that is not a zero-day, but something else, we can test and deploy it almost immediately from the workstation.

What needs improvement?

I do not have any major problems. I think it's working great. My recommendation would be not just for Patch Management but for Qualys itself. I am using Qualys through a third party or reseller. The issue is that when buying Qualys licenses, from my side, I'm buying for about seven thousand five hundred users or machines. I also need to buy licenses for another seven thousand five hundred for patch management. We dislike having to pay extra. We don't mind paying for additional modules like Certificate View. The test management part requires buying licenses. We are trying to negotiate with our reseller. If they can't provide us, we'll go straight to Qualys and see if they can assist.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Patch Management for about six months now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable. I have encountered no problems so far.

How are customer service and support?

We don't interact much since our service is managed. We only contact Qualys if there are serious issues. Last year, we communicated with Qualys two times when our service provider couldn't assist us in resolving one vulnerability.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We started before moving to VMDR. We used a previous version called Qualys VM, and now it's Qualys VMDR. With Qualys VM, we had access to the console.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was straightforward. We began by installing the scanner, scanning the entire environment, and then categorizing items as servers, workstations, etc., applying tags accordingly. It took us about two weeks to have it fully operational with both daily and monthly reports set up. The deployment is easy through SCCM from Microsoft, as we deploy based on our AD groups.

What other advice do I have?

I would give it a ten out of ten. It is an excellent module to have within the environment, as most environments have Windows Patch cycles, but not for third-party applications. Patch Management not only addresses third-party applications but can also patch vulnerabilities. It allows seamless deployment from the console if a patch for a vulnerability is available. I would rate the overall solution a 10 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Sudeep Banerjee - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Portfolio Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 10
Comprehensive dashboard makes it easy to apply patches and monitor pending updates
Pros and Cons
  • "We have all the information on one page. The dashboard provides comprehensive information on one page, making it easy to apply patches and monitor pending updates."
  • "Overall, I would rate Qualys Patch Management a nine out of ten."
  • "It is pretty good. However, it would be good to have more widgets and AI-generated reports. I have not seen anything related to AI with Qualys. It would be beneficial for Qualys to incorporate AI-generated tools for Patch Management and VMDR. This could assist in managing risks, providing AI-generated reports, and creating risk letters for clients, which can streamline communication."
  • "However, it would be good to have more widgets and AI-generated reports. I have not seen anything related to AI with Qualys."

What is our primary use case?

We have been using Qualys Patch Management alongside vulnerability management. We utilize it to manage high and critical vulnerabilities by prioritizing patches based on asset value and vulnerability score. We rate our asset with an asset value. Along with that, once we have a vulnerability score, we prioritize patches and servers that are high and critical. That is how we utilize both vulnerability management and patch management.

How has it helped my organization?

The risk-based approach provides a better way of patching. It helps identify criticalities based on asset value, enhancing decision-making.

Qualys Patch Management has helped us reduce the overall risk in our environment by integrating with vulnerability management and VMDR, allowing us to address risks based on asset value and risk levels. It is important for us that it is integrated with VMDR so that we are aware of the vulnerabilities in our system and can apply patches as per the associated risk, asset value, and threat to the environment. It is very important to integrate these tools. It helps reduce vulnerabilities through diligent patch application and improves overall efficiency.

TruRisk score is helpful for us, but we still have to ensure the security team is involved in the governance process to ensure that we are taking care of the entire environment. We include the security team on the governance side but the implementation and the activity can be done without them.

There has been an improvement in our patch rate. The efficiency in our environment increased by 30% over three years, compared to the tool we used previously. The duration of patching decreased in the environment.

The Risk Reduction Recommendation Report is good. It gives an overview of what can be remediated soon. It gives a good understanding of which patch can remediate the majority of the risks in the environment. It helps us see which vulnerabilities would reduce the most risk within our organization.

What is most valuable?

We have all the information on one page. The dashboard provides comprehensive information on one page, making it easy to apply patches and monitor pending updates. It helps a lot from the governance point of view to see what exactly is missing and what exactly has been applied.

What needs improvement?

They have already covered most of the things. I do not see a lot of opportunities for improvement. It is pretty good. However, it would be good to have more widgets and AI-generated reports. I have not seen anything related to AI with Qualys. It would be beneficial for Qualys to incorporate AI-generated tools for Patch Management and VMDR. This could assist in managing risks, providing AI-generated reports, and creating risk letters for clients, which can streamline communication.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Qualys Patch Management for more than three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We did not encounter any significant stability issues, except during a notified period when they were transitioning to another cloud vendor or fixing an issue.

How are customer service and support?

Customer service is responsive and effective. They are pretty fast. They generally respond to inquiries and provide a resolution within a couple of hours. So far, I have not seen a case where the resolution was not provided within 48 hours.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used BigFix. We switched to Qualys because BigFix moved from IBM to HCL, and we wanted a tool certified for PCI compliance. Qualys is PCI compliant.

How was the initial setup?

We have a hybrid deployment model. It was an easy process because we knew what we needed to configure the firewall rules and ports. The documentation and other information was provided by the Qualys partner. It did not take us a long time to get it deployed and test it out. We did a PoC, and everything worked fine.

Overall, the setup process was straightforward, and with good documentation and support, we deployed it within our change management framework in about two weeks.

It does not require any maintenance, but we need to ensure that we get rid of the licenses when not required or request licenses when we have more devices planned to be onboarded. That is something we need to look into. When we do not have a device or we do not need a scanner in a particular location, we can get rid of it, so from a maintenance point of view, there is not much.

What about the implementation team?

This deployment also involved integration with vulnerability management. We had a project manager coordinating efforts with the vendor, a documentation coordinator, and a team to handle change management and firewall configurations. Overall, we had three people. Effort-wise, it did not require a lot. They had to coordinate a couple of times for two to three hours.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Its price is competitive in the market. Compared to other solutions like Rapid7, Qualys offers a favorable price point and robust features.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate Qualys Patch Management a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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IT Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
MSP
Top 5Leaderboard
Streamlines vulnerability remediation with VMDR integration
Pros and Cons
  • "Patch Management offers pre-action and post-action features, which provide the ability to execute scripts during the installation or uninstallation of software. This helps me make changes from Qualys itself."
  • "We have seen about 60% to 70% improvement in the patch rate so far."
  • "They should focus on increasing the list of supported patches. New software or data is continuously released, and it would be beneficial if patches were updated in the knowledge base more quickly."
  • "Not all patches are supported, so there are some restrictions. Some remediations require script-level changes which Qualys does not support."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily use Patch Management in our organization for remediating vulnerabilities for which patches are supported by Qualys. 

How has it helped my organization?

There is a zero-touch mechanism in Qualys for patch management. For example, if we have a product for which frequent patches are released, we do not have to manually initiate a patch. It can be initiated automatically when a new patch is available.

The integration between Qualys VMDR and Patch Management allows us to monitor job statuses and ensures timely remediation. Previously, we had only the VMDR solution from Qualys. For remediation, we had to go to a different solution. There was a delay in the syncing process. With the integration of Qualys VMDR and Patch Management, we have more real-time and comprehensive data. We can see information about the status of the job and other things in a single console. We have a faster view of the remediation effort.

We also have the ability to view and select patches based on the assets. There might be hundreds of patches available in the knowledge base. It gives us patches available only for the selected assets. This saves time and reduces risk.

For vulnerability management, Qualys serves as a single source of truth, but for patch management, we have to use some more tools because Qualys does not support certain scenarios.

We have seen about 60% to 70% improvement in the patch rate so far. It has reduced the organization's risk. 

What is most valuable?

Patch Management offers pre-action and post-action features, which provide the ability to execute scripts during the installation or uninstallation of software. This helps me make changes from Qualys itself.

What needs improvement?

Not all patches are supported, so there are some restrictions. Some remediations require script-level changes which Qualys does not support. We have to manually create those scripts.

They should focus on increasing the list of supported patches. New software or data is continuously released, and it would be beneficial if patches were updated in the knowledge base more quickly. Sometimes, there are delays of three to four days, which should be addressed.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Qualys Patch Management for more than one and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. Occasionally, I need to change patches for certain software like Google Chrome, but overall, it is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is good. It handles the requirements effectively.

We are using it at multiple locations. We have about 300k users.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate their customer support a nine out of ten. Although there can be some delays, overall, the support is satisfactory.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used a different patch management solution previously. We switched to Qualys because it integrates seamlessly with VMDR, which makes it easier to manage vulnerabilities and patching in a single console.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was easy. We had already deployed the agent. It involved selecting the asset and enabling the module.

It does not require any maintenance from our side. It is a SaaS platform. Everything is handled by Qualys.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend Qualys Patch Management if you are integrating it with VMDR. If you are using a different solution for vulnerability management and considering Qualys solely for patch management, it might not be the best choice.

I would rate Qualys Patch Management a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
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reviewer2584884 - PeerSpot reviewer
Foundation Services Director at a leisure / travel company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 20
Makes first-party and third-party patching easy, and the risk-based approach helps to direct efforts
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features are the ease of managing both first-party and third-party patching, the generation of dashboards, and the provision of real-time information."
  • "There is room for improvement in the detection logic. It sometimes detects open vulnerabilities that are not truly there, such as orphan files that are not really exploitable. It would be helpful if they were classified as information-only rather than Sev 4 or Sev 5."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case is to try to reduce our time to remediate. One of our sister teams, the attack surface team, uses the scanning piece. Therefore, we thought it would be best to close the ecosystem and use the patching piece. The feedback from the PoC made it evident that making a shift was necessary.

By implementing Qualys Patch Management, we wanted to reduce the meantime to remediate and have the ability to weigh our threats so that we are not just patching everything; we are patching what is most critical to our environment.

The automation capability that it has to create jobs, set them, and forget them was very intriguing to our business.

How has it helped my organization?

The risk-based approach is beneficial because not everything that requires a patch poses a true risk. It makes much more sense because everything that requires a patch may not necessarily be an exposure or true risk. As a leader, it allows me to make sure that I am directing our efforts into something that means. We are not chasing things around because that does not produce a lot of value in the end. 

We were able to realize its benefits immediately. We configured it and used it in the test and a few production machines. It was easy to build jobs and associate the tags that were being used. With the full knowledge base that Qualys has, we did not have to decipher what scanning is saying versus what the actual resolution is. Having all that built into one solution is just great.

Qualys Patch Management gives us a single source of truth for assets and vulnerabilities that need to be assessed, prioritized, and remediated. That is why we purchased it.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features are the ease of managing both first-party and third-party patching, the generation of dashboards, and the provision of real-time information. It provides real-time information, with the agent checking in every four hours, offering nearly up-to-date information at any time of the day. This is in contrast to our previous tool, where we did not have this capability.

What needs improvement?

There is room for improvement in the detection logic. It sometimes detects open vulnerabilities that are not truly there, such as orphan files that are not really exploitable. It would be helpful if they were classified as information-only rather than Sev 4 or Sev 5.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Qualys Patch Management for a couple of months. We are a new customer for Qualys Patch Management. We are just onboarding it.

We have done a couple of PoCs for two to three months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not experienced any downtime, glitches, or bugs, so I would rate its stability very high.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Qualys Patch Management appears to be dynamic. It should be able to scale with our needs as the organization grows.

How are customer service and support?

I am still investigating this aspect. I have not had a need to open any tickets or cases.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used Ivanti. We switched to Qualys to simplify our toolset because we faced challenges bridging the gaps between what Qualys was identifying and what Ivanti was reporting. This change was made to reduce confusion and the effort involved in aligning two systems.

We already had the vulnerability management piece from Qualys, and we just added Patch Management.

The scanning piece has definitely reduced risks, and now, with Patch Management, we will be able to bridge the gap and see further reductions in risks.

How was the initial setup?

Qualys vulnerability management is in the cloud, but with us turning on the Patch Management piece, it is probably going to be a hybrid setup. We will have a piece in the cloud and then some data collector pieces that will allow us to locally deploy patches versus having the machines go out on the Internet.

It is pretty straightforward. We are still in the process of onboarding. We are not done yet.

What about the implementation team?

Seven people are currently involved in the implementation phase. Its usage will be global. Phase one is just our server management. We have about 2,100 servers. Our IT group has about 45 to 50 people.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Qualys Patch Management is expensive.

What other advice do I have?

When we did our PoC, we already had the VMDR piece. We enabled the patch piece and brought the right hand and the left hand together. This integration automatically should include all the relevant patches and configuration changes required to remediate vulnerabilities detected by VMDR. It will be crucial. That is still to be determined, but when two of our critical service delivery organizations are using the same sheet of music or the same tool, it makes us more agile and more responsive to the threats we are trying to protect our business against.

I would rate Qualys Patch Management a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Other
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Qualys Patch Management Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: May 2025
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Qualys Patch Management Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.