Why customers choose Tenable over Qualys
Coverage
Coverage and accuracy
As of March 2026, Tenable Research has published more than 319K+ plugins covering more than 116K CVEs. We update and publish vulnerability coverage and zero-day research at tenable.com/plugins.
"We compared [Tenable and Qualys], and we realized the results were different. Tenable would find critical vulnerabilities while Qualys wouldn't."
Network security engineer, Canadian retail company3
156K K
Vulnerabilities assessed with 447,000+ plugins
814
Vulnerabilities disclosed by Tenable Research
< 24 hrs
Median time for coverage of high-profile issues
Vision
Vision beyond vulnerability management
Tenable has broadened its traditional vulnerability management strengths, adding: external attack surface management (EASM), cloud security, industrial OT security, AI and identity systems/Active Directory (AD) security. Tenable has the best coverage across your entire attack surface.
“When it came to operational technology … that's where Tenable won… When it comes to the cloud area, Tenable was by far the best solution of the finalists.”
Vulnerability management architect, German manufacturing company2
Innovation
Vulnerability management innovation
Introduced in 2024, Vulnerability Intelligence offers granular intelligence on vulnerabilities, including tracking vulnerability history to see changes over time.
Exposure Response enables customers to uniquely track risk remediation with SLAs, instead of relying on cumulative risk scores. Tenable provides a single end-to-end workflow and takes a risk-based approach regardless of patch availability.
Services
Professional services, customer success, and support
Tenable offers:
- Expert professional services.
- Dedicated customer success team for each customer.
- Advanced levels of support to enterprises, including Premier and Elite support.
Compliance
Leader in compliance
Tenable is the leader in compliance with 12% more CIS benchmarks covered than Qualys.
Tenable has hundreds of frameworks and directives to help your organization stay secure and in compliance.
The best part? There is no extra charge.
“When we go into policies for cloud systems, that's where Tenable definitely shined. Throughout [the POC], they [Tenable] were able to find 25% more [than Qualys].”
Vulnerability management architect at the German manufacturing company6
167 K
total audit checks
42 K
unique audit checks
4,751
published audit checks
Compare Tenable to Qualys
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Tenable
Included: Wide variety of assets: endpoints, network devices, identity systems, cloud workloads, AI models, web apps
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Overall asset coverage
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Qualys
Not included: Lack of OT and mature identity exposure security capabilities
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Tenable
Included: Fully operational, industry-leading CIEM protecting customers today
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Cloud security identity protection
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Qualys
Not included: Sub-par CIEM, more focused on traditional CSPM
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Tenable
Included: Tenable One is an exposure management platform that combines integrated risk metrics across vulnerability management, web app security, cloud, identity, OT and attack surface management
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Exposure management analytics
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Qualys
Not included: Qualys TruRisk is often limited to module-specific views
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Tenable
Included: Ability to benchmark internally and against industry peers
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Internal and peer benchmarking
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Qualys
Not included: Not offered
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Tenable
Included: Provides rich vital context on any given vulnerability including exploitation likelihood and potential impact
|
Vulnerability intelligence
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Qualys
Not included: Lacks a robust vulnerability database with enriched metadata and advanced search/filtering capabilities
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Tenable
Included: Fully-fledged patch management integrated with Tenable One Vulnerability Management, as well as integration with the leading third-party remediation tools
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Patch management and remediation
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Qualys
Not included: Partial patch management integrated with VMDR; no support for popular remediation tools like BigFix
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Tenable
Included: Partner-first with 180+ partners and 320+ pre-built integrations7
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Partner ecosystem
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Qualys
Not included: Channel partners contribute to 51% of Qualys revenue8
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Tenable
Included: Advanced levels of support, including Premier and Elite, as well as professional services
|
Professional services and support
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Qualys
Not included: Does not offer professional services and limited support from an overstretched TAM
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Tenable
Included: Tenable One AI Exposure empowers your security teams to stop reacting to isolated symptoms and start managing your entire AI surface in one unified platform
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AI capabilities
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Qualys
Not included: Lacks this capability; primarily focuses on agentic AI and shadow AI available via a separate module
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Tenable
Included: Simplified asset-based pricing model aligned with customer maturity
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Pricing model
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Qualys
Not included: Often adds hidden costs for scanners, agents, APIs, and individual modules (e.g. Policy Audit)
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1 - Tenable source, Qualys source
2 - Internal customer interview
3 - Internal customer interview
4 - Qualys Threat Protection Web page, Dashboards, Data Sheet
5 - Qualys Policy Compliance webpage
6 - Internal customer interview
7 - Tenable blog, Tenable technology partners page
8 - 2025 Financial results Q4, 2025
Recognized as a leader in exposure management by industry analysts
Tenable is a Leader in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Exposure Assessment Platforms
Tenable One
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