5 Best Qualys Alternatives for Small Businesses (2024)
Quick Verdict
If you're a small business looking for affordable vulnerability scanning with Shadow IT detection:
- 🏆Best Overall: CyberScore ($99/mo) - 73 cloud providers, Shadow IT, compliance
- 💰Best Budget: OpenVAS (Free, self-hosted)
- ⚙️Best for Teams: Nessus Essentials (Free for 16 IPs)
Why Look for Qualys Alternatives?
Qualys is the gold standard for enterprise vulnerability management. But for small businesses, it's overkill. Here's why teams are switching:
Typical SMB cost for Qualys
Deployment & training time
Only AWS/Azure/GCP scanned
Top 5 Qualys Alternatives (Ranked)
CyberScore
Best for Shadow IT & Cloud Security
✓ Pros
- • 73 cloud providers scanned (vs Qualys 3)
- • 7,560+ bucket patterns for Shadow IT
- • Cloud IAM credential detection (NEW)
- • Container Security (Docker/K8s)
- • Instant setup (0 deployment time)
- • Auto compliance (SOC 2, ISO, HIPAA)
✗ Cons
- • External scanning only (no agents)
- • Email support only (no phone)
- • No MDR services
"We switched from Qualys to CyberScore and found 3 forgotten S3 buckets in the first scan. Saved $34,000/year and got better cloud coverage."
— Jessica S., CISO at Financial Services
Tenable Nessus Professional
Best for Traditional Vuln Scanning
✓ Pros
- • Industry standard CVE scanner
- • Easy to use UI
- • Free version (Essentials) for 16 IPs
- • Good documentation
✗ Cons
- • No cloud storage scanning
- • No Shadow IT discovery
- • Manual compliance mapping
- • $3,990/year for Pro version
Best for: Teams that only need traditional network/web app vuln scanning, not cloud security or Shadow IT.
OpenVAS
Best Free & Open Source Option
✓ Pros
- • Completely free
- • Open source & customizable
- • Good CVE database
- • Active community
✗ Cons
- • Complex setup (self-hosted)
- • No cloud/Shadow IT scanning
- • Requires Linux expertise
- • No support
Best for: Security teams with Linux skills who want a free tool and don't need cloud security features.
Intruder.io
Best for Continuous Monitoring
✓ Pros
- • Continuous scanning (not on-demand)
- • Modern UI
- • Good integrations (Slack, Jira)
- • Basic cloud scanning
✗ Cons
- • Only AWS/Azure/GCP (no Shadow IT)
- • More expensive than CyberScore
- • No compliance automation
Best for: Teams that want continuous monitoring but CyberScore's on-demand model is $10/mo more and has better cloud coverage.
Wiz
Best for Cloud-Native Security
✓ Pros
- • Deep cloud security (AWS/Azure/GCP)
- • Kubernetes security
- • Cloud IAM analysis
- • Agentless scanning
✗ Cons
- • $50,000+/year (enterprise only)
- • Only 3 cloud providers
- • Complex setup
- • Overkill for SMBs
Best for: Funded startups ($10M+ raised) or enterprises. If you're an SMB, CyberScore gives you 80% of Wiz features for $1,188/year instead of $50K+.
Comparison Table
| Tool | Price/Year | Cloud Providers | Shadow IT | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CyberScore | $1,188 | 73+ | ✓ | SMBs, Shadow IT |
| Nessus Pro | $3,990 | 0 | ✗ | Traditional vuln |
| OpenVAS | FREE | 0 | ✗ | Budget teams |
| Intruder | $1,308 | 3 | ✗ | Continuous scan |
| Wiz | $50,000+ | 3 | ✓ | Enterprises |
| Qualys | $35,940 | 3 | Limited | Fortune 500 |
Our Recommendation
🏆 Winner: CyberScore
For 99% of small and medium businesses, CyberScore is the best Qualys alternative because:
- 1.30x cheaper than Qualys ($1,188 vs $35,940/year)
- 2.24x more cloud coverage (73 providers vs Qualys 3)
- 3.Instant setup (0 deployment time vs Qualys 2-4 weeks)
- 4.Exclusive features like Cloud IAM detection and Container Security
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