Qualys Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Qualys alternatives: Greenbone (OpenVAS), Wazuh, Nessus, Nuclei and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•3 min read•Security Software & Testing
Verdict:Qualys publishes no price list. Plans are quoted by asset count and modules, and third-party guides put typical VMDR cost at a few hundred dollars per asset per year, a rough third-party estimate. It has a free Community Edition, but the page gives no limits. That opacity is often the reason people look around. Qualys bundles scanning, asset inventory, patching and compliance reports, and no single free tool replaces all of that. The practical route is to split the job. Greenbone's free OpenVAS edition handles scheduled network and host scanning, and it is the closest free match to the core scanner. Wazuh adds agents on your servers for file integrity, configuration checks and compliance reporting, and Trivy covers containers and Kubernetes. Nuclei fills in targeted web and network checks. What you lose is the unified dashboard, the audit-ready reports that auditors recognise and the vendor support. Free Greenbone also lacks enterprise-software coverage, automatic scan starts and alerts, which are present in the paid editions. If you need a paid scanner with a visible price, Nessus Professional is $4,790 a year and its Essentials tier is limited to 5 IPs for non-commercial use, so it will not carry a business on its own. Compliance work such as PCI scans may require an approved vendor, so ask your auditor before you replace Qualys. Pilot against a single subnet and compare findings.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greenbone (OpenVAS) | Free (OPENVAS FREE is free of charge; it lacks enterprise-grade software coverage, automatic scan initialization, alerts, API access and support) | Linux, Docker | Free network and host vulnerability scanning | Docs only |
| Wazuh | Free (free, no license cost; paid support and cloud not priced on the page) | Windows, Linux, macOS, Self-hosted | Agent-based monitoring and compliance on your own servers | Docs only |
| Nessus | Free (Nessus Essentials: free for non-commercial use, up to 5 IPs); paid from $4790 per year (Nessus Professional, 1-year license) | macOS, Windows, Linux | A scanner with published pricing | Docs only |
| Nuclei | Free (Free open-source template-based scanner) | macOS, Windows, Linux | Fast targeted checks in CI or recon | Docs only |
| Trivy | Free (Free open-source scanner for containers, Kubernetes, code repositories, secrets and SBOMs) | macOS, Windows, Linux | Container and Kubernetes vulnerabilities | Docs only |
| Tenable | See pricing page | Web browser | Vulnerability Management | Docs only |
| Rapid7 | Paid from $1.62 per asset/month, InsightVM, starting at 500 assets | Web browser | Vulnerability Management | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want a free scheduled network vulnerability scanner (Greenbone (OpenVAS) is the pick)
- You need agent-based monitoring and compliance on servers (Wazuh is the pick)
- You want a paid scanner with a published price (Nessus is the pick)
- Your main exposure is containers and Kubernetes (Trivy is the pick)
- You need quick targeted checks for known web issues (Nuclei is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Qualys features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Qualys today: Free (Qualys Community Edition is listed as a free Qualys Security Platform; limits are not stated on the page) (Qualys pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Qualys alternatives
Qualys publishes no price list. Its subscriptions page says pricing depends on the Cloud Platform Apps you choose, the number of network addresses, web applications and user licences, and sends buyers to a phone number or quote request. Unlimited scans and agents are included, while sensors and extra apps are listed as additional options. The free Community Edition is described only as a Free Qualys Security Platform, with no limits stated.
Greenbone (OpenVAS)
Compared with Qualys: Greenbone's OPENVAS FREE is GPL-2.0 for the scanner and AGPL-3.0 for the manager. Qualys is a quoted cloud platform; Greenbone Free scans from your own server but lacks enterprise-software coverage, automatic scan starts, alerts and API access.
Price: Free (OPENVAS FREE is free of charge; it lacks enterprise-grade software coverage, automatic scan initialization, alerts, API access and support) (Greenbone (OpenVAS) pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Linux, Docker. GPL-2.0 (openvas-scanner); AGPL-3.0 (gvmd, GSA) (open source).
Project activity: 4.9k GitHub stars · latest release v23.52.6 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Free network and host vulnerability scanning.
Wazuh
Compared with Qualys: Wazuh is a free XDR and SIEM with host agents under GPL-2.0, so it covers endpoints and compliance monitoring rather than Qualys's cloud scanning. You run the servers yourself, and paid support and cloud are not priced on its page.
Price: Free (free, no license cost; paid support and cloud not priced on the page) (Wazuh pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Windows, Linux, macOS, Self-hosted. GPL-2.0 (most code); AGPL-3.0 (engine) (open source).
Project activity: 17.5k GitHub stars · latest release v4.14.9 (Oct 15, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Agent-based monitoring and compliance on your own servers.
Worth knowing: XDR/SIEM with host agents; free cloud trial.
Nessus
Compared with Qualys: Nessus Essentials is free for non-commercial use and only 5 IPs, so it is a home-lab tool. Nessus Professional is $4,790 a year; Qualys publishes no price at all, which makes Nessus easier to budget for.
Price: Free (Nessus Essentials: free for non-commercial use, up to 5 IPs); paid from $4790 per year (Nessus Professional, 1-year license) (Nessus pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: macOS, Windows, Linux. Proprietary.
Best for: A scanner with published pricing.
Worth knowing: Nessus Expert is $6,790 for one year. Essentials is not for commercial use and has no technical support. Essentials Plus (20 IPs) is $199 per year, free for verified students and instructors.
Nuclei
Compared with Qualys: Nuclei is an MIT-licensed, template-based scanner from ProjectDiscovery. It checks web apps, networks and cloud services for specific known issues, but it has no asset inventory, patch tracking or compliance reports like Qualys.
Price: Free (Free open-source template-based scanner) (Nuclei pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: macOS, Windows, Linux. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 32.4k GitHub stars · latest release v3.11.1 (Aug 8, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Fast targeted checks in CI or recon.
Worth knowing: Template-driven scanning of web apps, networks and cloud; not an authenticated host-patch auditor.
Trivy
Compared with Qualys: Trivy is Apache-2.0 and scans containers, Kubernetes, code repositories, secrets and SBOMs from the command line. It replaces Qualys's container and cloud-native checks for free, but not its agent-based host scanning or reporting.
Price: Free (Free open-source scanner for containers, Kubernetes, code repositories, secrets and SBOMs) (Trivy pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: macOS, Windows, Linux. Apache-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 38.8k GitHub stars · latest release v0.76.1 (Oct 21, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Container and Kubernetes vulnerabilities.
Other popular options (paid)
Tenable
Compared with Qualys: Vulnerability management with a published price list for one-year subscriptions plus a free trial, where Qualys is sold through sales contact. Nessus Expert is its scanner-first option.
Price: See pricing page (Tenable pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Rapid7
Compared with Qualys: InsightVM lists a starting price of $1.62 per asset per month for 500 assets, a per-asset model that makes cost estimates possible before talking to sales, unlike Qualys.
Price: Paid from $1.62 per asset/month, InsightVM, starting at 500 assets (Rapid7 pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Which one to pick
- You want a free scheduled network vulnerability scanner: Greenbone (OpenVAS)
- You need agent-based monitoring and compliance on servers: Wazuh
- You want a paid scanner with a published price: Nessus
- Your main exposure is containers and Kubernetes: Trivy
- You need quick targeted checks for known web issues: Nuclei
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Greenbone (OpenVAS), Wazuh, Nessus, Nuclei, Trivy: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Qualys. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
More in Security Software & Testing
All Security Software & Testing alternatives →Sources
Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: Qualys, Greenbone (OpenVAS), Wazuh, Nessus, Nuclei, Trivy, Tenable, Rapid7. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.