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Cybersecurity · head to head

Qualys VMDR vs SafeCity

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
S

SafeCity

Government

Integrated Public Safety Platform

From
$2000/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; SafeCity the vendor's own homepage as captured by the Internet Archive in December 2021/January 2022 confirms Safecity is run by Red Dot Foundation, presenting itself as a community safety initiative with blog content and no commercial pricing page, product tier, or subscription anywhere on the site, consistent with a not-for-profit rather than a commercially sold product
  • They diverge on capability: Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent, SafeCity covers Video Surveillance.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Qualys VMDR and SafeCity actually diverge.

Attributes where Qualys VMDR and SafeCity differ
AttributeQualys VMDRSafeCity
Starting price$3/month$2000/month
PlatformsWeb, Cloud, ApiWeb, Desktop, Mobile
CategoryCybersecurityGovernment
Founded19992014

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), 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 Qualys VMDR

  • Cloud Agent
  • Scanner appliances
  • Authenticated scanning
  • TruRisk scoring
  • Asset inventory
  • Patch Management
  • Cloud connectors
  • Container sensor

Only in SafeCity

  • Video Surveillance
  • AI Analytics
  • Command Center
  • Incident Management
  • Emergency Response
  • Camera Systems
  • CAD
  • GIS

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

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 SafeCity
  • PCI DSS external scanning where an approved scanning vendor report is a contractual requirementnot SafeCity
  • An estate spanning datacentre, multiple public clouds and endpoints that needs one vulnerability view rather than three toolsnot SafeCity
  • Organisations replacing a manual patch-verification process with agent-reported evidence that a fix actually landednot SafeCity

SafeCity

  • Citizen Servicesnot Qualys VMDR
  • Records Managementnot Qualys VMDR
  • Public Safetynot Qualys VMDR
  • Civic Engagementnot Qualys VMDR

Where each one falls short

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

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.

SafeCity

  • The vendor's own homepage as captured by the Internet Archive in December 2021/January 2022 confirms Safecity is run by Red Dot Foundation, presenting itself as a community safety initiative with blog content and no commercial pricing page, product tier, or subscription anywhere on the site, consistent with a not-for-profit rather than a commercially sold product

Pricing, plan by plan

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

SafeCity

$2000/month
  • City Platform$2000/month
    • Video Analytics
    • Command Center
    • Incident Management

Which should you pick?

Choose Qualys VMDR if

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

Choose SafeCity if

  • You need video surveillance.
  • You work on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
  • You also want ai analytics.
SafeCity review

Questions people ask

Is Qualys VMDR or SafeCity better?
Neither clearly leads. Qualys VMDR starts at $3/month and SafeCity at $2000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Qualys VMDR or SafeCity?
Qualys VMDR starts at $3/month and SafeCity at $2000/month.
Does Qualys VMDR or SafeCity run on more platforms?
Qualys VMDR runs on Web, Cloud, Api. SafeCity runs on Web, Desktop, Mobile.
What is Qualys VMDR best used for?
Qualys VMDR is most often used for a hybrid workforce where scheduled network scans miss most laptops and continuous agent-based assessment is the only way to get real coverage, pci dss external scanning where an approved scanning vendor report is a contractual requirement, an estate spanning datacentre, multiple public clouds and endpoints that needs one vulnerability view rather than three tools, organisations replacing a manual patch-verification process with agent-reported evidence that a fix actually landed. Of those, a hybrid workforce where scheduled network scans miss most laptops and continuous agent-based assessment is the only way to get real coverage and pci dss external scanning where an approved scanning vendor report is a contractual requirement are not what SafeCity is typically brought in for.
What can Qualys VMDR do that SafeCity cannot?
Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent, Scanner appliances, Authenticated scanning, TruRisk scoring. SafeCity covers Video Surveillance, AI Analytics, Command Center, Incident Management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

SafeCity: Is Safecity free to use?

Safecity is operated by the Red Dot Foundation, a non-profit organization (Sec 8, Not for Profit in India). The platform itself is presented as a free service that allows users to safely report incidents of abuse anonymously.

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.

SafeCity: How is Safecity funded?

Safecity's parent organization, the Red Dot Foundation, relies on donations to support its operations. The website includes a donation option for those who wish to contribute to the organization's mission.

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.

SafeCity: Is there a paid tier or premium features?

The available content does not disclose any paid tiers, premium features, or subscription models. Safecity appears to operate as a free service with no tiered pricing.

Source
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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