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Cybersecurity · head to head

Endor Labs vs Qualys VMDR

Endor Labs logo

Endor Labs

Cybersecurity

Security and AI agent governance for code and supply chain

From
Free
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

  • Only Endor Labs has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Endor Labs pricing requires contacting sales, no transparent rates; 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: Endor Labs covers AI coding agent governance, Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Endor Labs and Qualys VMDR actually diverge.

Attributes where Endor Labs and Qualys VMDR differ
AttributeEndor LabsQualys VMDR
Starting priceFree$3/month
Pricing modelSeat-based per contributing developer with volume discountssubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, CLI, IDEWeb, Cloud, Api
Founded20211999

Identical on both: 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 Endor Labs

  • AI coding agent governance
  • SAST scanning
  • Secrets detection
  • Reachability analysis
  • Open source dependency scanning
  • Package firewall
  • MCP server integration

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.

Endor Labs

  • Securing AI coding agent outputs before deploymentnot Qualys VMDR
  • Reducing SAST false positives with reachability analysisnot Qualys VMDR
  • Managing open source supply chain risknot Qualys VMDR
  • Enforcing security policies in CI/CD pipelinesnot 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 Endor Labs
  • PCI DSS external scanning where an approved scanning vendor report is a contractual requirementnot Endor Labs
  • An estate spanning datacentre, multiple public clouds and endpoints that needs one vulnerability view rather than three toolsnot Endor Labs
  • Organisations replacing a manual patch-verification process with agent-reported evidence that a fix actually landednot Endor Labs

Where each one falls short

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

Endor Labs

  • Pricing requires contacting sales, no transparent rates
  • Developer tier lacks UI and historical scan data
  • Free tier limited to local scanning only
  • Seat-based model may become expensive for large teams

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

Endor Labs

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Local scanning
    • Read-only vulnerability data
    • No UI, policies, or scan history

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 Endor Labs if

  • You need ai coding agent governance.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, CLI, IDE.
  • You also want sast scanning.
Endor Labs 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 Endor Labs or Qualys VMDR better?
Neither clearly leads. Endor Labs starts at Free and Qualys VMDR at $3/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Endor Labs or Qualys VMDR?
Endor Labs has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Endor Labs and $3/month for Qualys VMDR.
Does Endor Labs or Qualys VMDR run on more platforms?
Endor Labs runs on Web, CLI, IDE. Qualys VMDR runs on Web, Cloud, Api.
Can I use Endor Labs for free?
Yes. Endor Labs has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Qualys VMDR starts at $3/month.
What is Endor Labs best used for?
Endor Labs is most often used for securing ai coding agent outputs before deployment, reducing sast false positives with reachability analysis, managing open source supply chain risk, enforcing security policies in ci/cd pipelines. Of those, securing ai coding agent outputs before deployment and reducing sast false positives with reachability analysis are not what Qualys VMDR is typically brought in for.
What can Endor Labs do that Qualys VMDR cannot?
Endor Labs covers AI coding agent governance, SAST scanning, Secrets detection, Reachability analysis. Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent, Scanner appliances, Authenticated scanning, TruRisk scoring.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Endor Labs: What is the difference between Endor Labs Developer and paid tiers?

Developer tier is free and provides local scanning via MCP server with read-only vulnerability access and no UI. Paid tiers (Core and Pro) add team features like policy enforcement, enterprise integrations, reporting, and scan history.

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.

Endor Labs: How does Endor Labs define seats for pricing?

Seats are calculated per contributing developer (those with commits in monitored repositories within the last 90 days). Volume discounts apply as team size grows.

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.

Endor Labs: Does Endor Labs support on-premises deployment?

The platform is cloud-based SaaS by default. Enterprise customers should contact sales to discuss custom deployment options.

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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