Vulnerability Scanning & Code Security
4.4/5.0
VerifiedContact SalesLast technical review:
Markdown for AI (.md)

Qualys

Unified enterprise SaaS cyber risk and vulnerability management platform for hybrid and multi-cloud environments

Pricing

Contact

Contact Sales
Score

4.4/5

Certifications
4
Last technical review
2026-10-30
Available plansVisit website (opens in a new tab)

Technical Overview

Qualys provides a cloud-native enterprise SaaS platform (Enterprise TruRisk Platform) that helps organizations discover, prioritize, validate, and eliminate cyber threats across hybrid and multi-cloud infrastructures. It combines vulnerability management, cloud security, compliance, and autonomous remediation into a centralized operating model.

Analyst Evaluation: Pros and Limitations

Verified Advantages

  • Comprehensive vulnerability coverage across hybrid infrastructure
  • Prioritized risk management through the TruRisk engine
  • Lightweight agent and agentless scanning architecture

Technical Considerations

  • Pricing and procurement model focused exclusively on large enterprises
  • Steep learning curve for teams without dedicated security specialists

Technical Capabilities & Features

5/7
Included:REST & GraphQL API
Included:SSO / SAML Authentication
Not available:Self-Hosted Option
Included:Full Data Export
Included:Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
Not available:Custom Domains & SSL
Included:Immutable Audit Logs
Scorecard
Show detailsHide details

Technical Scorecard: Qualys

84/100
DX & Tech Documentation
Excellent
85/100
Pricing Fairness
Favorable
70/100
Security & Governance
Excellent
95/100
Data Portability & Sovereignty
Excellent
80/100
Performance & Reliability
Excellent
90/100

Time to Value & Fit by Segment: Qualys

Estimated Time-to-Value1 - 7 days (Agile)

Standard sprint integration without complex external dependencies.

Learning CurveHigh (Specialized)

Requires dedicated DevOps or infrastructure architecture expertise.

Fit Index by Organization Size

Startup & Agile Teams1 to 50 members
20%
Mid-Market & Scaleup50 to 500 members
70%
Corporate Enterprise500+ members
100%
Pricing & TCO
Show detailsHide details

Pricing

Contact Sales/mo

Model: CONTACT.

Get Qualys (opens in a new tab)

Billing Risks & Hidden Clauses: Qualys

Audited Billing Critical Points:
  • Enterprise contracts require contacting sales with complex multi-module tiering that can inflate costs unexpectedly.
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Projection: QualysCONTACT
Deterministic cost estimation at 12 and 36 months based on team size, including SSO tax premiums and annual prepay discounts.
Show detailsHide details
Indie / Solo (1 active user)

Solo developer or independent technical founder.

Base Monthly Cost
$12/month
1 active user
12-Month Investment
$122/year
Includes ~15% savings via annual billing
3-Year TCO Projection (36m)
$366total
Consolidated software licensing expenditure

Estimated Self-Hosted VPS + DevOps Cost

Break-Even Point: Profitable starting at 3 active users

Calculated infrastructure: VPS 1 vCPU / 2GB RAM (~$5) + 0.5h DevOps/mes ($20)

Annual VPS + DevOps Cost$300/year
Differential vs SaaS LicensingSaaS is $178/year
Startup (10 active users)

Agile engineering team in validation and early traction stage.

Base Monthly Cost
$270/month
10 active users
12-Month Investment
$2,754/year
Includes ~15% savings via annual billing
3-Year TCO Projection (36m)
$8,262total
Consolidated software licensing expenditure

Estimated Self-Hosted VPS + DevOps Cost

Break-Even Point: Profitable starting at 5 active users

Calculated infrastructure: VPS 2 vCPU / 8GB RAM (~$15) + 2h DevOps/mes ($80)

Annual VPS + DevOps Cost$1,140/year
Differential vs SaaS LicensingSavings of $1,614/year
Growth (25 active users)

Scaling company with team governance and granular access control requirements.

Base Monthly Cost
$675/month
25 active users
12-Month Investment
$6,885/year
Includes ~15% savings via annual billing
3-Year TCO Projection (36m)
$20,655total
Consolidated software licensing expenditure

Estimated Self-Hosted VPS + DevOps Cost

Break-Even Point: Profitable starting at 13 active users

Calculated infrastructure: Cluster VPS 4 vCPU / 16GB RAM (~$45) + 6h DevOps/mes ($240)

Annual VPS + DevOps Cost$3,420/year
Differential vs SaaS LicensingSavings of $3,465/year
Scaleup (100 active users)

Established organization with enterprise security policies and mandatory SAML/SSO.

Base Monthly Cost
$2,700/month
100 active users
12-Month Investment
$27,540/year
Includes ~15% savings via annual billing
3-Year TCO Projection (36m)
$82,620total
Consolidated software licensing expenditure

Estimated Self-Hosted VPS + DevOps Cost

Break-Even Point: Profitable starting at 35 active users

Calculated infrastructure: Infraestructura HA redundante + Backups (~$150) + 16h DevOps/mes ($640)

Annual VPS + DevOps Cost$9,480/year
Differential vs SaaS LicensingSavings of $18,060/year
Usage Surcharges & Bill Shock Simulator: QualysWhat usage costs as you scale
Detect overage penalties before they impact engineering budget.
Show detailsHide details

Prototype / MVP (10 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 20 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$20/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
$0/month extra
Usage covered within plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$20/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Suitable for development; verify concurrent connection limits.

Base Production (50 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 20 GB.
Low Risk / Predictable Bill
Base Monthly Rate
$20/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
+$5/month extra
Variable surcharge for consumption above plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$25/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Implement table compression policies and temporal partitioning.

Active Growth (250 GB)

Included base quota in plan: 20 GB.
High Risk / Accelerated Overages
Base Monthly Rate
$20/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
+$41/month extra
Variable surcharge for consumption above plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$61/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Offload cold backups to standard object storage (S3).

Large Scale (1.000 GB (1 TB))

Included base quota in plan: 20 GB.
Critical Risk / Severe Bill Shock
Base Monthly Rate
$20/mo
Fixed subscription or contracted tier
Overage Penalty
+$176/month extra
Variable surcharge for consumption above plan quota
Estimated Monthly Invoice
$196/mo
Total monthly cost before taxes
Technical Mitigation Recommendation:

Migrate to dedicated instance or self-hosted cluster to curtail I/O fees.

Procurement Strategy & Discounts: QualysB2B Negotiation Playbook
Corporate executive level with highest authority to approve budgetary exceptions.
Show detailsHide details

Fair Market Price & B2B Procurement Benchmark

Non-renewal notice: 60 days before expirationMedian achieved discount: -12%
Public List Price
Custom / Contact
100% baseline
Audited Market Average
-12% median
~88% of list price
Optimized Target Price
-20% target
Max achievable discount (Q4 / multi-year): -20%

Verified Tactical Savings Levers

  • Annual Upfront PrepayUp to -20%

    Consolidated discount for upfront annual billing versus monthly rate.

  • Volume Seat TiersUp to -25%

    Tiered volume pricing discounts when exceeding team seat thresholds.

Security & Data Exit
Show detailsHide details

Compliance & Security Standards: Qualys

SOC 2 Type IIAudited
ISO 27001Audited
GDPR / RGPDAudited
HIPAAAudited
PCI-DSSNot reported
Jurisdiction & Legal Sovereignty
🇺🇸United States [US]Subject to US CLOUD ActGDPR DPA Available
SSO Availability (SAML Enterprise)
Enterprise-Only SSO
Data Residency
USEUGLOBALAWSAzureGCP
AI Privacy Policy
Zero customer data retention
Data Liberation & Migration Runbook: QualysJSON · CSV · XML
Actionable escape runbook and credential export guarantees to mitigate vendor lock-in.
Show detailsHide details
Supported Structured Export Formats
JSONCSVXML
Password Hash Portability
Subject to Support Ticket (Manual Process)

Credential hash export requires commercial mediation or formal support ticket approval.

CLI Command / Rescue Endpoint
/api/2.0/fo/asset/host/
Exit Protocol & Migration Notes

La exportación de datos de vulnerabilidades e informes de conformidad se realiza mediante llamadas programadas a la API REST de Qualys en formatos estructurados estándar.

Deployment & Infrastructure Requirements: QualysDocker
Hardware specs and Docker directives to run on local servers, dedicated VPS, or Kubernetes without telemetry leak to the cloud.
Show detailsHide details
Minimum Memory1 GB RAM (Recommended)
Compute CPU1 vCPU
Runtime / LanguageTypeScript / Go / Rust
Code LicenseOpen Source
Docker CLI Directive
docker run -d --name qualys -p 8080:8080 qualys:latest
Companion Services & Dependencies:
PostgreSQL 15+Redis 7+
Community & Repository
Show detailsHide details

Technical Reputation of Qualys

85/100 Technical Trust

Frequent Praises in Production

  • Comprehensive vulnerability coverage across hybrid infrastructure
  • Prioritized risk management through the TruRisk engine
  • Lightweight agent and agentless scanning architecture

Reported Production Frictions

  • Pricing and procurement model focused exclusively on large enterprises
  • Steep learning curve for teams without dedicated security specialists
Commercial Treatment & Vendor Lock-in:Requires Sales Contact

Assisted cancellation requiring meeting with account team or contract notice period.

Frequently Asked Technical Questions (Qualys)

How is Qualys deployed in enterprise production environments?

Qualys operates via a cloud-native SaaS architecture, deploying lightweight agents on servers or virtual scanners within local data centers and cloud environments.

Does Qualys offer integration capabilities with CI/CD tools or ITSM?

Yes, the platform features a complete application programming interface and native connectors to integrate with ticketing systems like ServiceNow and development pipelines for automated remediation.

What pricing model does the Qualys platform use?

Qualys operates under a customized commercial pricing model tailored for the enterprise segment, requiring direct sales contact for module and asset-volume quotes.

Direct Alternatives

All tools in Qualys
Embed Verification Badge
Official Badge
Show detailsHide details
TheJudex Verified - Qualys