Same-subcategory comparison

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability ManagementvsQualys VMDR

Compare buyer fit, pricing, capability depth, and purchase constraints within one buying category. A higher score is not a universal winner.

Comparison summary

How to choose

These conclusions apply to this subcategory and the buyer conditions shown here. They do not make one product universally better.

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management

Consider when

Organizations already using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Intune
Enterprises needing continuous endpoint vulnerability and software inventory

Check before choosing

Microsoft Defender for Business customers under the current availability rule
Buyers seeking web application security, external ASM, or a general cloud-posture platform

Full profile

Qualys VMDR

Consider when

Mid-market and enterprise teams managing large hybrid asset estates
Organizations that want continuous inventory and threat-informed TruRisk prioritization

Check before choosing

Very small teams seeking a simple scanner with transparent self-service pricing
Buyers requiring patch deployment without a separate Patch Management entitlement

Full profile

Dimension	Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management	Qualys VMDR
Pricing and trial	Defender Vulnerability Management Add-on $2.00 USD · per user · per month · U.S. add-on annual-payment rate · billed annually · one-year commitment · Requires eligible Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 or Microsoft 365 E5 licensing Defender Vulnerability Management Standalone $3.00 USD · per user · per month · U.S. standalone annual-payment rate · billed annually · one-year commitment · Standalone endpoint vulnerability management that can complement another EDR The U.S. official page explicitly binds both prices to yearly payment and an annual commitment. The add-on requires an eligible Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 or Microsoft 365 E5 base entitlement; standalone can complement another EDR. Server coverage follows separate Defender for Servers licensing. Full profile	Qualys VMDR Amount unverified — check official pricing Qualys publishes the pricing factors and a 30-day VMDR trial but does not display a binding VMDR amount, payment timing, minimum purchase, contract duration, renewal price, or module total. No numeric Offer is generated. Full profile
Best for	Organizations already using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Intune Enterprises needing continuous endpoint vulnerability and software inventory Buyers that want threat- and business-context prioritization	Mid-market and enterprise teams managing large hybrid asset estates Organizations that want continuous inventory and threat-informed TruRisk prioritization Security and IT teams coordinating remediation through reports, tickets, and ITSM
Not for	Microsoft Defender for Business customers under the current availability rule Buyers seeking web application security, external ASM, or a general cloud-posture platform Teams expecting native patch deployment without Intune, Configuration Manager, or another management tool	Very small teams seeking a simple scanner with transparent self-service pricing Buyers requiring patch deployment without a separate Patch Management entitlement Teams expecting WAS, TotalCloud, MDR, and every Qualys platform application inside VMDR
Source check	99/100	98/100
Key features	Continuous endpoint and software inventory Device discovery and authenticated Windows network scanning Vulnerability and configuration assessment Threat-, exploit-, exposure-, and business-context prioritization Security recommendations, exceptions, and remediation tracking	Continuous hybrid asset discovery and inventory Cloud Agents, virtual scanners, passive sensors, and supported inventory sensors Vulnerability and security-misconfiguration assessment Qualys Detection Score and TruRisk prioritization Real-time threat indicators, exploit, malware, and attack context
Cons	The USD 2 add-on price requires an eligible base subscription Standalone and add-on prices are annual commitments paid yearly Server capabilities use separate Defender for Servers licensing	No public numeric price, minimum purchase, payment timing, contract duration, or renewal term was verified Asset, endpoint, web-application, user, sensor, and module quantities can materially affect the quote Patch deployment and several adjacent exposure capabilities require separate applications
Category buying score	82Higher category-fit score	81
Rank	#2	#4
Context	Security & Privacy / Vulnerability Management Software	Security & Privacy / Vulnerability Management Software
Discovery and assessment coverage	86Covers continuous endpoint discovery and authenticated Windows network scanning, though it does not provide cloud posture or web application scanning.	88The platform continuously assesses both vulnerabilities and security misconfigurations across network addresses, endpoints, and containers.
Risk prioritization quality	89Weights risk dynamically by combining threat actor activity, exploit availability, and asset-specific business value.	87TruRisk and Qualys Detection Score combine vulnerability findings with real-time threat, exploit, malware, and attack context so teams can rank work by risk rather than by presence alone.
Remediation operations	77Enables vulnerable-application blocking and triggers remediation tasks, but depends on integrations with Intune and Configuration Manager rather than deploying patches natively.	76Operational remediation is supported by ticket creation, owner routing, ServiceNow integration, and tracking, while closed-loop patch installation remains outside VMDR unless Patch Management is separately subscribed.
Vulnerability intelligence and accuracy	85Authenticated Windows network scanning, configuration assessment, and asset-context prioritization support more grounded vulnerability intelligence, but the facts do not establish validation breadth beyond Microsoft endpoint-focused assessment.	85Qualys VMDR includes real-time threat indicators plus exploit, malware, and attack context, which supports richer vulnerability intelligence, while the facts still require buyers to confirm exact order entitlements.
Scale and deployment	77The service is cloud-managed and offers continuous endpoint assessment, which supports distributed administration, but the supplied facts do not provide explicit scale limits, performance metrics, or deployment boundaries.	82The architecture scales across hybrid environments using virtual scanners and Cloud Agents, though deploying and tuning these sensors requires active IT administration.
Reporting and integrations	78Intune and Configuration Manager task integration provides a direct operational connection for remediation, yet the integration scope is specifically Microsoft management tooling rather than a broader reporting and export ecosystem.	81Reporting and integration paths include dashboards, scheduled reports, compliance evidence, exports, tickets, owner routing, and ServiceNow, supporting operational handoff and stakeholder visibility within those channels.
Support and total cost	73The add-on starts at USD 2.00 per user per month with an eligible base entitlement and the standalone route starts at USD 3.00 per user per month, both billed annually with one-year commitment, so total cost depends on licensing path and existing Microsoft subscriptions.	59Qualys VMDR has quote-based pricing with multiple variables, no verified public numeric amount, and separate entitlements for patching and some adjacent capabilities, which makes total cost harder to estimate up front.
Full profile	Full profile	Full profile

Comparison summary

Most material score differences

These are the stored dimension rationales returned with each score. They explain the buyer conditions behind the gap without speculating about hidden model reasoning.

Support and total cost

14 pts

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management · 73/100: The add-on starts at USD 2.00 per user per month with an eligible base entitlement and the standalone route starts at USD 3.00 per user per month, both billed annually with one-year commitment, so total cost depends on licensing path and existing Microsoft subscriptions.
Qualys VMDR · 59/100: Qualys VMDR has quote-based pricing with multiple variables, no verified public numeric amount, and separate entitlements for patching and some adjacent capabilities, which makes total cost harder to estimate up front.

Scale and deployment

5 pts

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management · 77/100: The service is cloud-managed and offers continuous endpoint assessment, which supports distributed administration, but the supplied facts do not provide explicit scale limits, performance metrics, or deployment boundaries.
Qualys VMDR · 82/100: The architecture scales across hybrid environments using virtual scanners and Cloud Agents, though deploying and tuning these sensors requires active IT administration.

Reporting and integrations

3 pts

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management · 78/100: Intune and Configuration Manager task integration provides a direct operational connection for remediation, yet the integration scope is specifically Microsoft management tooling rather than a broader reporting and export ecosystem.
Qualys VMDR · 81/100: Reporting and integration paths include dashboards, scheduled reports, compliance evidence, exports, tickets, owner routing, and ServiceNow, supporting operational handoff and stakeholder visibility within those channels.

Research basis

This page uses stored product facts, official evidence, and category scoring rationales. It is not an account-based hands-on test, and third-party user ratings are not folded into the category buying score.

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management: Fact confidence: 99% · Fact checked: 2026-08-10
Qualys VMDR: Fact confidence: 98% · Fact checked: 2026-08-10