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Qualys VMDR vs Rapid7 InsightVM

A side-by-side comparison across pricing, deployment, integrations, compliance, and vulnerability management-specific features. Descriptive comparison only — no recommendations.

4 min read Data verified: May 2026 Vulnerability Management
Qualys VMDR
Vulnerability Management
VMDR ~$199-$250/asset/yr 100 assets ≈ $19,900/yr; some practitioners report ~$40/asset for VMDR module alone at enterprise scale; median enterprise contract ~$12K/yr per Vendr data. Patch Management adds ~15-25%; WAS $1,995/yr for 25 web apps.
Paid
Visit official site →
Rapid7 InsightVM
Vulnerability Management
From ~$1.93/asset/mo (~$23.18/asset/yr) at 500-asset minimum 500 assets ≈ $11,580/yr; volume-based discounts at 1,000+, 5,000+ assets; enterprise deployments $30K-$150K+/yr
Paid
Visit official site →
$ Pricing & plans
5 dimensions
Pricing model
VMDR ~$199-$250/asset/yr
100 assets ≈ $19,900/yr; some practitioners report ~$40/asset for VMDR module alone at enterprise scale; median enterprise contract ~$12K/yr per Vendr data. Patch Management adds ~15-25%; WAS $1,995/yr for 25 web apps.
From ~$1.93/asset/mo (~$23.18/asset/yr) at 500-asset minimum
500 assets ≈ $11,580/yr; volume-based discounts at 1,000+, 5,000+ assets; enterprise deployments $30K-$150K+/yr
Pricing tier
Paid
Paid
Free tier / trial
Free tier
Qualys Community Edition free (16 internal + 3 external assets + 1 web app); 30-day VMDR trial; 45-day Patch Management trial
Trial only
30-day free trial of InsightVM via Rapid7 website; live demo and PoC engagements available
Volume discounts
Tiered breaks at 1,000, 5,000, 10,000+ assets
multi-year commitments reduce per-asset cost; bundling VMDR with other Qualys modules increases discount leverage
Per-asset pricing decreases with volume
bundling InsightVM with InsightIDR or InsightAppSec yields 10-20% bundle savings; multi-year terms reduce annual cost
Hidden costs
Virtual scanner appliances ($8K-$9K/yr each), Patch Management module (+15-25%…
over VMDR), Web Application Scanning, professional services for implementation, ServiceNow/CMDB integration may add cost
Implementation and training, professional services, Managed VM service if…
elected, additional Rapid7 modules (InsightAppSec for web app scanning sold separately), log ingestion for InsightIDR if bundled
↗ Deployment & integrations
3 dimensions
Deployment
Cloud SaaS via Qualys Cloud Platform
virtual scanner appliances (~$8K-$9K/yr each) or physical for internal/segmented networks; agent-based scanning via Qualys Cloud Agent
Hybrid model
cloud-based Insight Platform + on-premises Security Console (control center) + distributed Scan Engines + Insight Agent for endpoints
Typical deployment time
Days for cloud-only assets
weeks for distributed enterprises requiring scanner appliances in multiple network zones; implementation services often $5K-$50K
Days for cloud-only scope
weeks for distributed enterprises with multiple scan engines and agent rollouts; complexity scales with environment size
Key integrations
ServiceNow, Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, IBM QRadar, Jira, Slack, AWS, Azure,…
GCP, Kubernetes, Active Directory; pre-approved scanner for AWS EC2
ServiceNow, Jira, Splunk, Microsoft SCCM, AWS, Azure, GCP, Microsoft Sentinel,…
Slack, PagerDuty, Active Directory; open API for custom integrations; Rapid7 Extensions Library
🔍 Vulnerability Management-specific evaluation
7 dimensions
Scanner type
Cloud-based unified platform
network scanner appliances, cloud agent for endpoints, container/Kubernetes security, web application scanning (WAS module), cloud security posture management
Network and host-based scanner with Security Console + Scan Engines + Insight Agent
web app scanning via separately licensed InsightAppSec
Vulnerability prioritization
Qualys TruRisk AI-powered prioritization correlating threat intelligence, asset…
criticality, exploit data; CVSS v3, real-time threat feeds; risk-based scoring
Active Risk Score (1-1000 dynamic scale) incorporating CVSS, threat context,…
malware exposure, exploit likelihood; Real Risk Score; Live Dashboards for trending and progress tracking
Asset coverage
On-premises servers, endpoints, network devices, cloud workloads…
(AWS/Azure/GCP), containers, mobile, OT, IoT; agent-based and agentless approaches
Servers, endpoints, network devices, cloud workloads (AWS/Azure/GCP),…
containers, virtual environments; agentless and agent-based; Project Sonar for external attack surface awareness
Authenticated scanning
SSH, SMB, WMI, SNMP, database credentials
Qualys Cloud Agent for continuous authenticated scanning without credential management overhead
SSH, SMB, WMI, SNMP, database credentials
Insight Agent for credential-less continuous monitoring on endpoints
Remediation workflows
Integrated Patch Management module deploys patches from same agent
automated workflows; ServiceNow/Jira ticketing integrations; remediation tracking dashboards
Remediation Projects for assigning fix tickets to IT teams with SLA tracking
native ServiceNow/Jira integration; integrated patch management via Microsoft SCCM and other tools
Compliance frameworks
PCI DSS, HIPAA, NIST 800-53, NIST CSF, CIS Benchmarks, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, SOX, GDPR
Policy Compliance module for automated framework assessment
PCI DSS, HIPAA, NIST CSF, NIST 800-53, CIS Benchmarks, ISO 27001, SOX, GDPR
policy compliance assessments and reporting
Pricing model
Per-asset annual subscription
modular pricing where each Qualys module (VMDR, Patch Management, WAS, Container Security) is priced separately based on assets/applications
Per-asset annual subscription with 500-asset minimum
no per-scanner fees (unlimited scan engines included); volume discounts at higher tiers
✓ Compliance & certifications
1 dimension
Compliance certifications
FedRAMP Moderate, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, supports PCI DSS, HIPAA, NIST CSF,…
CIS Benchmarks, GDPR compliance reporting
SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, FedRAMP, PCI DSS
supports PCI DSS, HIPAA, NIST 800-53, CIS Benchmarks compliance reporting
◧ Positioning
3 dimensions
Target deployment
Mid-market to enterprise wanting unified cloud-based vulnerability + asset…
management + patch management
Mid-market to enterprise wanting modern UI, Active Risk Score, and integrated…
remediation projects
Strengths cited
Unified cloud platform combining vulnerability management, asset inventory,…
patch management, and compliance in one console; strong continuous asset discovery; TruRisk AI-prioritization; broad integration ecosystem
Live dashboards with Active Risk Score (1-1000 dynamic scale), Insight Agent…
for continuous monitoring, integrated Remediation Projects workflow, no per-scanner fees (unlimited scan engines), unified Rapid7 platform if pairing with InsightIDR
Where it fits less well
Per-asset pricing scales with environment size and can be costly for larger deployments
advanced modules (Patch Management, WAS) are priced separately; smaller deployments may find more value in alternatives
500-asset minimum commitment may not fit small deployments
initial setup and asset tagging involves planning; pricing often reported as competitive with Tenable/Qualys but final figure depends on negotiation
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Tenable Nessus vs Qualys VMDR→ Tenable Nessus vs Rapid7 InsightVM→ Tenable Nessus vs OpenVAS (Greenbone)→

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Methodology Comparison data synthesized from publicly available vendor documentation, MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK Evaluations, AV-TEST results, Gartner Peer Insights, G2/Capterra/TrustRadius reviews, anonymized transaction data (Vendr, CostBench, CheckThat.ai), and publicly reported pricing as of May 2026. defend.network is independent and has no commercial relationship with the vendors compared.