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Cybersecurity · head to head

Idira vs Qualys VMDR

Idira logo

Idira

Cybersecurity

Built on CyberArk's legacy and powered by Palo Alto Networks

From
On request
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: Idira no pricing is published anywhere on the product page; every call to action is Request a Demo or a sales contact form; 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 Idira and Qualys VMDR actually diverge.

Attributes where Idira and Qualys VMDR differ
AttributeIdiraQualys VMDR
Starting priceOn request$3/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWebWeb, Cloud, Api
FoundedUnknown1999

Identical on both: 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 Idira

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.

Idira

  • Tracking all privileged account usage in manufacturing facilitiesnot Qualys VMDR
  • Securing clinical resource access across distributed healthcare practicesnot Qualys VMDR
  • Implementing managed privilege access management across government agenciesnot Qualys VMDR
  • Consolidating human, machine, and AI agent activity monitoringnot Qualys VMDR
  • Centralizing vault and secrets management across environmentsnot 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 Idira
  • PCI DSS external scanning where an approved scanning vendor report is a contractual requirementnot Idira
  • An estate spanning datacentre, multiple public clouds and endpoints that needs one vulnerability view rather than three toolsnot Idira
  • Organisations replacing a manual patch-verification process with agent-reported evidence that a fix actually landednot Idira

Where each one falls short

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

Idira

  • No pricing is published anywhere on the product page; every call to action is Request a Demo or a sales contact form
  • Endpoint privilege management and agentic AI identity governance are sold as separate solution categories rather than one bundled price, so evaluating total cost requires multiple sales conversations

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

Idira

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Idira review.

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 Idira if

Nothing in the data separates Idira from Qualys VMDR on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Idira 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 Idira or Qualys VMDR better?
Neither clearly leads. Idira starts at On request and Qualys VMDR at $3/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Idira or Qualys VMDR?
Idira starts at On request and Qualys VMDR at $3/month.
Does Idira or Qualys VMDR run on more platforms?
Idira runs on Web. Qualys VMDR runs on Web, Cloud, Api.
What is Idira best used for?
Idira is most often used for tracking all privileged account usage in manufacturing facilities, securing clinical resource access across distributed healthcare practices, implementing managed privilege access management across government agencies, consolidating human, machine, and ai agent activity monitoring. Of those, tracking all privileged account usage in manufacturing facilities and securing clinical resource access across distributed healthcare practices are not what Qualys VMDR is typically brought in for.
What can Idira do that Qualys VMDR cannot?
Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent, Scanner appliances, Authenticated scanning, TruRisk scoring.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Idira: How is Idira priced and what are the costs?

Idira pricing is not disclosed on the Palo Alto Networks website. The company directs interested organizations to request a demo or contact their sales team directly to discuss pricing and licensing options for this identity security platform.

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.

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.

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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