Quick Answer
Last verified:
High confidence

Qualys VMDR costs $50 to $1K per user/month as of March 2026. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: No free tier available
Last verified: | Sources: 10 pricing pages and reviews
+70% above list price

Qualys VMDR true cost runs 70% above the listed $50-$1000/user/month price as of March 2026. For a 25-person team, expect ~$267,750 in year-one costs vs the $157,500 base license. Key hidden costs: patch management separate license, totalcloud qlu-based licensing complexity, third-party integration fees in etm. Verified from 10 sources by CostBench.

Hidden Costs Breakdown

1

Patch Management Separate License

medium addon

Patch Management is sold as a separately paid solution, not included in the base VMDR subscription. Organizations need to budget for this additional module if they want integrated patching capabilities.

reddit

Patch Management is a separately paid for solution.

2

TotalCloud QLU-Based Licensing Complexity

medium addon

Qualys shifted to QLU (Qualys Units) based licensing for TotalCloud, determined by resource counts rather than flat connector pricing. This can lead to unpredictable costs as your cloud resource count grows.

reddit

They don't do flat rate pricing anymore based on connector counts.

reddit

pricing for ETM is based on IP counts (like with VMDR) and Resource counts (like with TotalCloud).

3

Third-Party Integration Fees in ETM

medium integration

When using ETM (Enterprise Threat Management) to ingest findings from third-party tools like Tenable or Rapid7, you pay per-asset fees for those integrations even if you already have VMDR licenses.

reddit

You only pay per-asset fees (IP and/or resource count) when bringing in findings from third-party tools (Tenable, Rapid7, Microsoft Defender, etc.) for those same assets.

4

Per-Scanner Deployment Costs for MSPs

high implementation

MSPs face challenges with Qualys pricing model as they expect per-client individual payment rather than consolidated MSP pricing, making it difficult to manage at scale.

reddit

Qualys really don't seem to be setup for MSP's. They expect you to pay per client individually which seams to be a nightmare to manage

Example: True Cost for 25 Users

License (25 × $525 × 12) $157,500/yr
Patch Management Separate License +15-25% of license costs
TotalCloud QLU-Based Licensing Complexity +10-20% of license costs
Third-Party Integration Fees in ETM +10-15% of license costs
Per-Scanner Deployment Costs for MSPs +20-30% of license costs
Estimated Year 1 Total ~$267,750
That's roughly 1.7× the advertised license price. The median Qualys VMDR contract is $12,000/yr across Vendr purchases.

Frequently Asked Questions

01 What hidden costs should I budget for with Qualys VMDR?

Beyond the license fee, budget for: Patch Management Separate License (15-25% of license costs); TotalCloud QLU-Based Licensing Complexity (10-20% of license costs); Third-Party Integration Fees in ETM (10-15% of license costs); Per-Scanner Deployment Costs for MSPs (20-30% of license costs). Total ownership typically runs 70% higher than the listed price.

02 Does Qualys VMDR charge for implementation?

Qualys VMDR implementation is not included in the license cost. MSPs face challenges with Qualys pricing model as they expect per-client individual payment rather than consolidated MSP pricing, making it difficult to manage at scale.. Estimated impact: 20-30% of license costs.

03 How much does Qualys VMDR support cost?

Basic support is included, but premium support (faster response times, 24/7 availability) typically adds 15-20% to your annual contract. This can be thousands of dollars per year for larger deployments.

04 Are there overage or storage costs with Qualys VMDR?

Most Qualys VMDR plans include limited storage. Once you exceed the included amount, you'll pay overage fees which can range from $50-$500+ per month depending on data volume.

05 What add-ons cost extra with Qualys VMDR?

Many features marketed as part of Qualys VMDR are actually add-ons: advanced reporting, API access, integrations, and specialized modules. Each can add $10-$100+ per user per month.

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