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Cybersecurity · head to head

Qualys VMDR vs Trivy

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
Trivy logo

Trivy

Cybersecurity

Open-source vulnerability and misconfiguration scanner

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Trivy has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; Trivy reports what public advisory databases know, so coverage varies by ecosystem and unfixed CVEs create noise
  • They diverge on capability: Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent, Trivy covers Multi-target scanning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Qualys VMDR and Trivy differ
AttributeQualys VMDRTrivy
Starting price$3/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Cloud, ApiLinux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes
Founded1999Unknown

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 Qualys VMDR

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

Only in Trivy

  • Multi-target scanning
  • Vulnerability detection
  • Misconfiguration checks
  • Secret detection

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

Trivy

  • Failing a pull request when a container image introduces a known CVEnot Qualys VMDR
  • Scanning Terraform and Kubernetes manifests for misconfiguration before applynot Qualys VMDR
  • Catching committed secrets as part of an existing CI stepnot 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.

Trivy

  • Reports what public advisory databases know, so coverage varies by ecosystem and unfixed CVEs create noise
  • No built-in triage or exception workflow, so suppressing accepted risk is managed in config files
  • Findings are point-in-time from CI, with no continuous runtime monitoring unless you add the commercial platform

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

Trivy

Free
  • TrivyFree
    • Full scanner
    • Unlimited scans
    • Community support

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 Trivy if

  • You need multi-target scanning.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want vulnerability detection.
Trivy review

Questions people ask

Is Qualys VMDR or Trivy better?
Neither clearly leads. Qualys VMDR starts at $3/month and Trivy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Qualys VMDR or Trivy?
Trivy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $3/month for Qualys VMDR and Free for Trivy.
Does Qualys VMDR or Trivy run on more platforms?
Qualys VMDR runs on Web, Cloud, Api. Trivy runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
Can I use Trivy for free?
Yes. Trivy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Qualys VMDR starts at $3/month.
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 Trivy is typically brought in for.
What can Qualys VMDR do that Trivy cannot?
Qualys VMDR covers Cloud Agent, Scanner appliances, Authenticated scanning, TruRisk scoring. Trivy covers Multi-target scanning, Vulnerability detection, Misconfiguration checks, Secret detection.

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.

Trivy: Is Trivy free?

Yes, open source from Aqua Security with no licence fee. Aqua sells a commercial platform around it.

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.

Trivy: What can Trivy scan?

Container images, filesystems, Git repositories, Kubernetes clusters and infrastructure-as-code, for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, secrets and licences.

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.

Trivy: Does Trivy need a server?

No. It is a single binary, which is a large part of why it became a default in CI.

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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