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Accounting · head to head

Creem vs Qualys VMDR

Creem logo

Creem

Accounting

All-in-one payment and compliance platform for software companies

From
$3.9/percent
Rated
-
Qualys VMDR logo

Qualys VMDR

Cybersecurity

Cloud-delivered vulnerability management licensed per asset, using scanner appliances and a lightweight agent.

From
$3/month
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Creem per-transaction fee model scales with volume, potentially expensive for high-frequency transactions; Qualys VMDR licensing is per asset and each capability is its own subscription, so patch management, endpoint detection, web application scanning, container security and policy compliance are separate line items, and the platform demonstrated in a proof of concept is rarely the platform in the quote.
  • They diverge on capability: Creem covers Global payments processing, Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Creem and Qualys VMDR actually diverge.

Attributes where Creem and Qualys VMDR differ
AttributeCreemQualys VMDR
Starting price$3.9/percent$3/month
Pricing modelPer-transaction flat ratesubscription
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, Cloud, Api
CategoryAccountingCybersecurity
FoundedUnknown1999

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Creem

  • Global payments processing
  • Automated tax compliance
  • Subscription billing
  • Revenue distribution
  • Digital product support
  • Fraud protection
  • AI business assistant
  • Affiliate platform

Only in Qualys VMDR

  • Cloud Agent
  • Scanner appliances
  • Authenticated scanning
  • TruRisk scoring
  • Asset inventory
  • Patch Management
  • Cloud connectors
  • Container sensor

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Creem

  • SaaS subscription billing and managementnot Qualys VMDR
  • Digital product distribution with license keysnot Qualys VMDR
  • Global payment processing across 100+ countriesnot Qualys VMDR
  • Revenue sharing among co-founders and affiliatesnot Qualys VMDR
  • Automated tax compliance for international salesnot Qualys VMDR

Qualys VMDR

  • A hybrid workforce where scheduled network scans miss most laptops and continuous agent-based assessment is the only way to get real coveragenot Creem
  • PCI DSS external scanning where an approved scanning vendor report is a contractual requirementnot Creem
  • An estate spanning datacentre, multiple public clouds and endpoints that needs one vulnerability view rather than three toolsnot Creem
  • Organisations replacing a manual patch-verification process with agent-reported evidence that a fix actually landednot Creem

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Creem

  • Per-transaction fee model scales with volume, potentially expensive for high-frequency transactions
  • Limited to software and digital product companies, not suitable for physical goods
  • AI business assistant availability and capabilities not fully detailed
  • Requires using Creem as Merchant of Record, limiting white-label options
  • Mobile app only available in beta for iOS and Android

Qualys VMDR

  • Licensing is per asset and each capability is its own subscription, so patch management, endpoint detection, web application scanning, container security and policy compliance are separate line items, and the platform demonstrated in a proof of concept is rarely the platform in the quote.
  • Ephemeral cloud instances consume asset entitlement until they age out of inventory, so an autoscaling group that creates and destroys hosts hourly can burn licence capacity on machines that existed for minutes, and controlling that means tuning purge policies rather than tuning the cloud.
  • Authenticated scanning produces materially better results than unauthenticated, but it requires storing and rotating privileged credentials for every target platform, which is a security project in its own right, and teams that skip it receive reports full of unconfirmed potential findings that nobody trusts.
  • The console is a set of modules with separate interfaces, search syntaxes and report engines, so an analyst moving between vulnerability management, policy compliance and web application scanning learns each one, and cross-module reporting usually ends in a spreadsheet or a script against the API.
  • The tool surfaces findings far faster than any organisation can remediate them, and it does not solve the ownership problem: without an agreed prioritisation policy and a named owner in IT operations, a first scan producing tens of thousands of findings becomes a dashboard that everyone learns to ignore.

Pricing, plan by plan

Creem

$3.9/percent
  • StandardFree
    • 3.9% + $0.40 per transaction
    • No setup fees
    • No monthly fees

Qualys VMDR

$3/month
  • VMDR$3/month
    • Per asset
    • Vulnerability scanning
    • Detection
  • VMDR+$5/month
    • All VMDR features
    • Advanced analytics
    • Cloud integration
  • VMDR Complete$7/month
    • All VMDR+ features
    • Threat intel
    • Response automation

Which should you pick?

Choose Creem if

  • You need global payments processing.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want automated tax compliance.

Choose Qualys VMDR if

  • You need cloud agent.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, Api.
  • You also want scanner appliances.

Questions people ask

Is Creem or Qualys VMDR better?
Neither clearly leads. Creem starts at $3.9/percent and Qualys VMDR at $3/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Creem or Qualys VMDR?
Creem starts at $3.9/percent and Qualys VMDR at $3/month.
Does Creem or Qualys VMDR run on more platforms?
Creem runs on Web, iOS, Android. Qualys VMDR runs on Web, Cloud, Api.
What is Creem best used for?
Creem is most often used for saas subscription billing and management, digital product distribution with license keys, global payment processing across 100+ countries, revenue sharing among co-founders and affiliates. Of those, saas subscription billing and management and digital product distribution with license keys are not what Qualys VMDR is typically brought in for.
What can Creem do that Qualys VMDR cannot?
Creem covers Global payments processing, Automated tax compliance, Subscription billing, Revenue distribution. Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent, Scanner appliances, Authenticated scanning, TruRisk scoring.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Creem: What are Creem's transaction fees compared to competitors?

Creem charges a flat 3.9% plus 40 cents per successful transaction with no additional setup, monthly, or hidden fees. For a $5,000 transaction volume, Creem estimates $235 in fees compared to Lemon Squeezy at $565 ($400 + $165).

Source
Qualys VMDR: Agent or scanner: which do I need?

Usually both. The agent covers endpoints and servers you control and gives continuous data; scanners cover devices you cannot install an agent on, such as network gear, printers and appliances, and provide the external perimeter view.

Creem: Does Creem handle international tax compliance?

Yes. Creem automatically handles VAT, GST, and sales tax filing and remittance as a Merchant of Record across 50+ countries, eliminating manual tax compliance work.

Source
Qualys VMDR: Does it patch as well as detect?

Yes, through the Patch Management module, which is a separate subscription using the same agent. Core VMDR detects and prioritises but does not deploy fixes.

Creem: Can I use Creem for subscription billing?

Yes. Creem provides subscription management with billing, dunning, and a customer portal. Revenue splits are included for distributing earnings to co-founders and affiliates.

Source
Qualys VMDR: How are assets counted for licensing?

By the number of assets in inventory, which includes cloud instances and containers depending on the modules in use. Short-lived cloud assets count until they are purged, so purge settings directly affect what you consume.

Qualys VMDR: Can I keep the data in a specific region?

Yes. Qualys operates several regional platform instances and you choose which one your subscription lives on. Moving between them later is not trivial, so decide before onboarding.

Qualys VMDR: Does it scan web applications?

Web Application Scanning is a separate module licensed per application, not part of core VMDR, and it is a dynamic scanner with the usual limits around authenticated flows in single-page applications.

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