A side-by-side comparison of Qualys with its main competitors. Easily compare performance across multiple categories and understand what the market is saying with independent reviews.
A side-by-side comparison of Qualys with its main competitors. Easily compare performance across multiple categories and understand what the market is saying with independent reviews.
UpGuard manages cyber risk everywhere it lives: your vendors, your internet-facing attack surface, and your workforce. You get one platform that connects all three risk areas instead of separate tools and spreadsheets stitched together. A risk in one surfaces in the others automatically. A breached vendor flags your own exposure. A leaked employee credential links straight to the account and the vendor involved. AI handles the repetitive work of triaging alerts, reviewing vendor evidence, and completing questionnaires. That means lean security teams can run programs that would otherwise need much bigger teams. UpGuard fits mid-market teams, deploys quickly, and slots in without replacing what you already have.
Qualys is an IT and vulnerability management platform designed to consolidate internal security data from across an enterprise, with some third-party risk management (TPRM) features. By leveraging a combination of cloud agents, network scanners, and cloud integrations, the platform discovers assets and aggregates vulnerability intelligence into a unified risk metric known as TruRisk. IT security and compliance teams use Qualys for vulnerability management, detection, and response (VMDR), as well as patch management, to lock down their own first-party digital infrastructure. However, verified user feedback indicates that the reporting functionality can be limited.
Key strengths
UpGuard unifies vendor, attack surface, and workforce risk in one console. Customers describe finally seeing the whole picture, rather than paying for three tools that each cover only part of it. UpGuard also surfaces exposures that ratings tools and scanners miss, without the multi-week delay of a typical scan cycle. Lean teams can run the entire program without expanding headcount or adding a managed service.
Through its Security Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) module, the platform automates the deployment and evaluation of vendor risk assessments using custom drag-and-drop components and a pre-built library of compliance templates.
Key weaknesses
UpGuard focuses on managing live, connected risk, not heavy, standalone compliance software. Full governance features, including policy and controls management, arrive later this year. Teams that need a mature governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) system of record today can run UpGuard alongside one for now. UpGuard also doesn’t translate risk into dollar figures. If financial risk quantification is a must-have, factor that into your evaluation.
Some users report that the platform's interface isn't as robust as it could be. Additionally, some users have noted that the product is more expensive than competitors'. While you can scan assets you own or directly control, using agents, authenticated scans, network scanners, and cloud integrations with Qualys, you can't install agents or run deep scans inside your vendor's environment, meaning its strengths don't transfer cleanly to third-party risk.
Usability and learning curve
Teams deploy quickly and get up and running without an extended onboarding period. New employees can learn the interface without lengthy training. A single console consolidates workflows that would otherwise require multiple tools, reducing the ongoing burden of learning and maintaining separate systems. Operating the platform doesn’t require a professional services engagement.
As the platform operates as an enterprise-wide security console, initial configuration involves defining asset tags, deploying cloud agents, and establishing network scan profiles before you can segment third-party vendors from first-party assets. Teams may face a learning curve to stand up a functional vendor risk program, as they'd need to isolate vendor-specific questionnaire data from corporate vulnerability metrics.
Cyber risk data accuracy
UpGuard’s data remains current. Vendor postures refresh continuously, and users can initiate a scan on demand instead of waiting for a fixed cycle. UpGuard attributes findings accurately, so teams do not spend weeks correcting assets assigned to the wrong company, a common issue with ratings tools. Threat Monitoring scans the open, deep, and dark web, along with social media, for leaked data, exposed credentials, and brand impersonation. AI filters out noise so the alerts that reach your team are worth acting on.
Qualys uses an inside-out data collection methodology that relies on network scanning and local asset instrumentation. The platform gathers security data via embedded cloud agents and network perimeter scans. For internal assets, this enables real-time monitoring and accurate attribution through direct machine access.
Vendor risk management features
UpGuard runs the complete third-party risk management (TPRM) process in one platform: onboarding, assessing, remediating, monitoring, and reporting on vendors. Each vendor’s live external exposure and any linked leaked credentials appear directly within the vendor program, so teams can act on verified risk instead of relying on paperwork. AI-powered security questionnaires read vendor evidence and complete assessments automatically, cutting completion time by up to 95%. Instant risk assessments return a point-in-time report in under a minute, mapped to frameworks like ISO 27001 and NIST CSF 2.0.
Qualys focuses its third-party validation around an assessment-driven vendor risk management (VRM) lifecycle based on its SAQ module. Qualys can support assessment-based vendor risk workflows, including questionnaire distribution and response collection. However, it acts more as a questionnaire and compliance survey module within a broader security platform rather than a dedicated TPRM system built around vendor inventory, continuous monitoring, trust evidence exchange, and vendor remediation.
Attack surface management features
UpGuard continuously monitors your internet-facing footprint. It maps assets, flags exposures such as misconfigurations, expired certificates, and open ports, and ranks remediation priorities. The UpGuard platform also detects typosquatting and lookalike domains set up to impersonate your brand before they’re used for phishing. Because attack surface monitoring runs alongside vendor and workforce risk, an exposed asset or leaked credential automatically links to the person and vendor involved. This gives teams visibility into both external exposure and vendor risk in a single view.
Qualys uses a combination of cybersecurity asset management (CSAM) and its external attack surface management (EASM) module. The platform features an outside-in asset discovery engine that takes a primary company domain and executes subdomain enumeration to uncover shadow IT, forgotten web apps, and exposed APIs.
Customer support
UpGuard supports every customer across all plan tiers, from the smallest plan to the largest. Support teams assist with both technical setup and larger program decisions. Customers frequently cite responsive, hands-on support as a reason they continue with UpGuard.
Qualys provides 24/7/365 support that's included with all active subscriptions. Technical assistance is delivered via ticketing, where issues are submitted through a customer portal.
Workflow automation
Risk Automations turns a risk signal into action across the platform, with no code and no engineering ticket. On the vendor side, it automates onboarding from questionnaire data, triages vendor score drops, schedules recurring vendor reports, and opens remediation tickets in ServiceNow or Jira. On the threat side, a Breach Risk detection can trigger a workflow that alerts Teams or Slack and runs a system-level fix, like blocking a malicious IP or forcing a credential reset. This is the difference between a tool that reports on risk and one that resolves it.
The platform's built-in automation streamlines your incident response and accelerates threat mitigation. With a native API, teams can export high-fidelity indicators of compromise (IOC) into existing security dashboards. This enables security teams to sync external intelligence with internal security information and event management (SIEM) platforms, or trigger automated defensive plays inside your security operations center (SOC).
Artificial intelligence features
UpGuard’s AI performs specific, defined tasks, rather than vague “AI-powered” work. The AI Threat Analyst sorts and scores incoming threats across your attack surface, the dark web, and social media. It clears out approximately 60% of alerts as noise, so your team only reviews what matters. The same triage logic extends to vendor and workforce signals as well. Every AI result carries a citation back to the source, so your team can verify it before acting.
Qualys drives its automation with an agentic AI framework embedded in its risk operations center (ROC). This vulnerability infrastructure relies on goal-directed agents to autonomously reason over risk data and accelerate remediation.
API and integrations
A well-documented REST API and webhooks let teams pull risk data into their own tools and trigger actions programmatically, without waiting on engineering support. For no-code work, Risk Automations adds more than 100 native integrations, including Jira, ServiceNow, Microsoft Entra, Slack, and Cloudflare. A Universal API Connector Node extends its reach to any open API.
The platform uses API connectivity with a marketplace to export vulnerability data and asset intelligence to your defensive infrastructure. It connects natively across enterprise software categories, supporting SIEM systems like Splunk, IBM QRadar, and Microsoft Azure Sentinel. It also supports ServiceNow and Jira.
Purchasing & licensing transparency
UpGuard publishes its pricing rather than hiding it behind a sales call. A free tier lets teams monitor up to five vendors and use Trust Exchange, UpGuard’s AI-powered questionnaire tool, at no cost. Paid Vendor Risk plans start at USD 1,750 per month, billed annually. Teams can start with one product and add others as they scale. One license covers both monitoring and assessments, so pricing doesn’t fragment across separate products.
Qualys doesn't make its pricing, plan details, or licensing information publicly available. It also doesn't publish any information about a free plan. You can trial certain products for free for 30 days.
Customers
UpGuard customers include Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), Morningstar, TDK, PagerDuty, Hopin, and IAG. Read UpGuard’s customer stories to learn more.
Notable customers include Ameritas, Associated British Foods, Aberdeen, and Cisco. Qualys positions itself as the ideal solution for businesses of all sizes and the public sector.
G2 rating Accurate as of March 2025
More than 700 verified reviews give UpGuard a 4.5 out of 5 rating on G2. UpGuard also holds G2’s top ranking as the leader in Third-Party & Supplier Risk Management for 15 consecutive quarters. The 2026 G2 Best Software Awards recognized UpGuard as one of the Top 100 Global Software Companies. Among verified reviewers, 98% give UpGuard four- or five-star ratings, and 94% approve of its product direction.
Qualys doesn’t make its pricing or subscription plan details publicly available. You’d need to contact the platform’s team via its website to receive pricing. The platform offers a free, 30-day trial for some of its products.
Here’s an overview of Qualys’s plans and services:
No free plan
Qualys doesn’t make any information available about a free plan.
Free trial
Qualys allows you to trial several products for 30 days. To start a free trial, you’d need to complete a standard form on the Qualys website.
No plan information
Qualys doesn’t make any of its plan information publicly available.
No plan information
Qualys doesn’t make any of its plan information publicly available.
Add-ons and additional costs
The following additional features and services could increase costs:
Professional services: Implementation and complex integrations may incur additional costs.
How does Qualys’s pricing compare to its competitors?
UpGuard
UpGuard’s pricing starts at USD 1,750 per month. The platform maximizes value by offering out-of-the-box workflows supporting the entire TPRM lifecycle—saving users from having to purchase additional tools to fill TPRM workflow gaps.
It offers a free plan that lets you monitor up to five vendors, with access to assessment and remediation workflows. UpGuard’s Trust Exchange tool, which streamlines vendor questionnaires and trust management, is also free.
Detectify has three plans: Surface Monitoring, Application Scanning, and API Scanning. Surface Monitoring allows you to test all assets across your attack surface and costs around $345 per month, Application Scanning enables you to scan your web applications for around $100 per month, and API Scanning allows you to scan your APIs for around $100 per month.
Wiz doesn’t make its pricing publicly available. However, its website does state that licensing is modular and scales with active developers, log ingestion, or sensors.
Gartner Peer Insights Overall ratings for the IT VRM Solutions market. Accurate as of January 2024
4.4, based on 160 reviews. Named a Representative Vendor in the 2022 Gartner Market Guide for IT VRM Solutions
4.4, based on 642 reviews
G2 rating Accurate as of March 2025
More than 700 verified reviews give UpGuard a 4.5 out of 5 rating on G2. UpGuard also holds G2’s top ranking as the leader in Third-Party & Supplier Risk Management for 15 consecutive quarters. The 2026 G2 Best Software Awards recognized UpGuard as one of the Top 100 Global Software Companies. Among verified reviewers, 98% give UpGuard four- or five-star ratings, and 94% approve of its product direction.
