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Cloud · head to head

Orca Security vs Qualys VMDR

Orca Security logo

Orca Security

Cloud

Agentless cloud-native application protection platform for code-to-runtime security.

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: Orca Security no public pricing; requires a demo and custom quote from 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.
  • They diverge on capability: Orca Security covers Agentless cloud scanning, Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Orca Security and Qualys VMDR actually diverge.

Attributes where Orca Security and Qualys VMDR differ
AttributeOrca SecurityQualys VMDR
Starting priceOn request$3/month
Pricing modelquotesubscription
Platformsweb, apiWeb, Cloud, Api
CategoryCloudCybersecurity
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 Orca Security

  • Agentless cloud scanning
  • Attack path analysis
  • Shadow AI detection
  • Secure code development
  • Alert prioritization
  • Workload 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.

Orca Security

  • Gaining full cloud asset visibility without deploying agentsnot Qualys VMDR
  • Prioritizing cloud risk with attack path correlationnot Qualys VMDR
  • Detecting shadow AI usage across cloud environmentsnot Qualys VMDR
  • Scanning code, containers, and IaC before deploymentnot Qualys VMDR
  • Reducing alert fatigue through contextual risk scoringnot 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 Orca Security
  • PCI DSS external scanning where an approved scanning vendor report is a contractual requirementnot Orca Security
  • An estate spanning datacentre, multiple public clouds and endpoints that needs one vulnerability view rather than three toolsnot Orca Security
  • Organisations replacing a manual patch-verification process with agent-reported evidence that a fix actually landednot Orca Security

Where each one falls short

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

Orca Security

  • No public pricing; requires a demo and custom quote from sales.
  • Agentless-only scanning may miss some runtime telemetry that agent-based tools capture.
  • Full value depends on integrating many of the platform's modules across code, cloud, and AI.
  • Primarily targeted at mid-to-large organizations with multi-cloud environments.

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

Orca Security

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Orca Security 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 Orca Security if

  • You need agentless cloud scanning.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want attack path analysis.
Orca Security 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 Orca Security or Qualys VMDR better?
Neither clearly leads. Orca Security 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, Orca Security or Qualys VMDR?
Orca Security starts at On request and Qualys VMDR at $3/month.
Does Orca Security or Qualys VMDR run on more platforms?
Orca Security runs on web, api. Qualys VMDR runs on Web, Cloud, Api.
What is Orca Security best used for?
Orca Security is most often used for gaining full cloud asset visibility without deploying agents, prioritizing cloud risk with attack path correlation, detecting shadow ai usage across cloud environments, scanning code, containers, and iac before deployment. Of those, gaining full cloud asset visibility without deploying agents and prioritizing cloud risk with attack path correlation are not what Qualys VMDR is typically brought in for.
What can Orca Security do that Qualys VMDR cannot?
Orca Security covers Agentless cloud scanning, Attack path analysis, Shadow AI detection, Secure code development. Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent, Scanner appliances, Authenticated scanning, TruRisk scoring.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Orca Security: How much does Orca Security cost?

Orca Security does not publish pricing tiers or rates on their website. Organizations must contact Orca Security directly or request a demo to receive custom pricing information based on their specific use case and requirements.

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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