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Developer Tools · head to head

HCP Terraform vs Qualys VMDR

HCP Terraform logo

HCP Terraform

Developer Tools

Infrastructure as code provisioning and management, formerly Terraform Cloud

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
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
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only HCP Terraform has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: HCP Terraform legacy free version deprecated; no current freemium tier; 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.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which HCP Terraform and Qualys VMDR actually diverge.

Attributes where HCP Terraform and Qualys VMDR differ
AttributeHCP TerraformQualys VMDR
Starting priceFree$3/month
Pricing modelusage-basedsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWebWeb, Cloud, Api
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
FoundedUnknown1999

Identical on both: 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 HCP Terraform

Nothing recorded that Qualys VMDR does not also cover.

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.

HCP Terraform

  • Infrastructure as Code managementnot Qualys VMDR
  • Cloud resource provisioningnot 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 HCP Terraform
  • PCI DSS external scanning where an approved scanning vendor report is a contractual requirementnot HCP Terraform
  • An estate spanning datacentre, multiple public clouds and endpoints that needs one vulnerability view rather than three toolsnot HCP Terraform
  • Organisations replacing a manual patch-verification process with agent-reported evidence that a fix actually landednot HCP Terraform

Where each one falls short

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

HCP Terraform

  • Legacy free version deprecated; no current freemium tier
  • New users receive $500 credit but still require usage to continue service
  • Terraform Enterprise requires custom pricing

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

HCP Terraform

Free
  • Essentials$0.1/month
    • Per resource pricing
    • Remote state storage
    • VCS connection
  • Standard$0.47/month
    • Per resource pricing
    • Essentials features plus unlimited modules
    • Module deprecation
  • Premium$0.99/month
    • Per resource pricing
    • Standard features plus module revocation
    • Waypoint actions

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 HCP Terraform if

  • You want to start without paying.
HCP Terraform 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 HCP Terraform or Qualys VMDR better?
Neither clearly leads. HCP Terraform 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, HCP Terraform or Qualys VMDR?
HCP Terraform has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for HCP Terraform and $3/month for Qualys VMDR.
Does HCP Terraform or Qualys VMDR run on more platforms?
HCP Terraform runs on Web. Qualys VMDR runs on Web, Cloud, Api.
Can I use HCP Terraform for free?
Yes. HCP Terraform has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Qualys VMDR starts at $3/month.
What is HCP Terraform best used for?
HCP Terraform is most often used for infrastructure as code management, cloud resource provisioning. Of those, infrastructure as code management and cloud resource provisioning are not what Qualys VMDR is typically brought in for.
What can HCP Terraform do that Qualys VMDR cannot?
Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent, Scanner appliances, Authenticated scanning, TruRisk scoring.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

HCP Terraform: How much does HCP Terraform cost?

HCP Terraform uses per-resource pricing starting at $0.10/month/resource for Essentials, $0.47/month/resource for Standard, and $0.99/month/resource for Premium.

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.

HCP Terraform: Does HCP Terraform offer a free tier?

No, the legacy free version has been deprecated. However, new users receive $500 credit to try the service.

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.

HCP Terraform: What does the Standard plan include?

Standard plan at $0.47/month/resource includes unlimited modules, module deprecation, team notifications, no-code provisioning, and Waypoint templates.

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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