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Cybersecurity · head to head

Cybereason Defense Platform vs Qualys VMDR

Cybereason Defense Platform logo

Cybereason Defense Platform

Cybersecurity

AI-driven endpoint protection and detection

From
$50/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Qualys VMDR logo

Qualys VMDR

Cybersecurity

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

From
$3/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Cybereason Defense Platform no published pricing on any platform tier: three plan levels (Enterprise, Enterprise Advanced, Enterprise Complete) feature-differentiated but cost-free; 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: Cybereason Defense Platform covers Next-gen antivirus, Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cybereason Defense Platform and Qualys VMDR actually diverge.

Attributes where Cybereason Defense Platform and Qualys VMDR differ
AttributeCybereason Defense PlatformQualys VMDR
Starting price$50/year$3/month
PlatformsWindows, Macos, Linux, MobileWeb, Cloud, Api
Founded20121999

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).

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 Cybereason Defense Platform

  • Next-gen antivirus
  • Endpoint detection and response
  • Machine learning detection
  • Behavioral analysis
  • Threat hunting
  • Automated remediation
  • XDR integration
  • Ransomware protection

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.

Cybereason Defense Platform

  • Enterprise threat detection and response platformnot Qualys VMDR
  • Managed detection and response (MDR) servicesnot Qualys VMDR
  • Advanced cybersecurity for large organizationsnot 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 Cybereason Defense Platform
  • PCI DSS external scanning where an approved scanning vendor report is a contractual requirementnot Cybereason Defense Platform
  • An estate spanning datacentre, multiple public clouds and endpoints that needs one vulnerability view rather than three toolsnot Cybereason Defense Platform
  • Organisations replacing a manual patch-verification process with agent-reported evidence that a fix actually landednot Cybereason Defense Platform

Where each one falls short

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

Cybereason Defense Platform

  • No published pricing on any platform tier: three plan levels (Enterprise, Enterprise Advanced, Enterprise Complete) feature-differentiated but cost-free
  • MDR services cost hidden: tiered MDR inclusion (Essentials, Essentials+XR, Complete) does not disclose pricing per tier
  • Add-on pricing absent: incident response, DFIR, assessments, mobile defense, threat hunting marked as 'Add-On' with no pricing
  • Sales-gated all pricing: no budget range or starting price available; customers must book demo or contact sales

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

Cybereason Defense Platform

$50/year
  • Cybereason NGAV$50/year
    • Next-gen antivirus
    • Machine learning detection
    • Ransomware protection
  • Cybereason EDR$85/year
    • All NGAV features
    • Endpoint detection
    • Automated response
  • Cybereason Complete$150/year
    • All EDR features
    • Managed detection
    • 24/7 SOC support

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 Cybereason Defense Platform if

  • You need next-gen antivirus.
  • You work on Windows, Macos, Linux, Mobile.
  • You also want endpoint detection and response.
Cybereason Defense Platform review

Choose Qualys VMDR if

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

Questions people ask

Is Cybereason Defense Platform or Qualys VMDR better?
Neither clearly leads. Cybereason Defense Platform starts at $50/year and Qualys VMDR at $3/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cybereason Defense Platform or Qualys VMDR?
Cybereason Defense Platform starts at $50/year and Qualys VMDR at $3/month.
Does Cybereason Defense Platform or Qualys VMDR run on more platforms?
Cybereason Defense Platform runs on Windows, Macos, Linux, Mobile. Qualys VMDR runs on Web, Cloud, Api.
What is Cybereason Defense Platform best used for?
Cybereason Defense Platform is most often used for enterprise threat detection and response platform, managed detection and response (mdr) services, advanced cybersecurity for large organizations. Of those, enterprise threat detection and response platform and managed detection and response (mdr) services are not what Qualys VMDR is typically brought in for.
What can Cybereason Defense Platform do that Qualys VMDR cannot?
Cybereason Defense Platform covers Next-gen antivirus, Endpoint detection and response, Machine learning detection, Behavioral analysis. Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent, Scanner appliances, Authenticated scanning, TruRisk scoring.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cybereason Defense Platform: What are the Cybereason Enterprise pricing tiers?

Cybereason offers three tiers (Enterprise, Enterprise Advanced, Enterprise Complete) with different MDR service levels (MDR Essentials, MDR Essentials+XR, MDR Complete), but exact pricing is not published.

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.

Cybereason Defense Platform: How much do add-on services cost (incident response, DFIR, threat hunting)?

Add-on services (incident response, DFIR, security assessments, mobile defense, threat hunting) are available across all plans but marked as 'Add-On' with no published pricing.

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.

Cybereason Defense Platform: How do I get pricing from Cybereason?

Click 'Book a Demo' or 'Talk to a Cybereason Defender' on the website. Cybereason sales will discuss pricing, platform fit, and custom solutions based on your organization's needs.

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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