Orca Security vs Qualys
One agentless platform and one data model for cloud, code, and AI.
Qualys extended its vulnerability management heritage into a broad cloud suite, spread across separate modules, sensors, and scan modes and tied together by TruRisk scoring. Orca delivers that breadth as one agentless-first platform on a single data model, so risk across cloud, code, and AI is connected and prioritized in one place.
saved per year by consolidating onto one agentless platform
Source: Paidy Case Study
alerts prioritized by real reachability, not raw scores
Source: Swiggy Case Study
complete visibility across AWS, Azure, and Oracle, tools consolidated
Source: Latitude Financial Case Study
Broad coverage spread across modules and sensors
- Cloud, code, AI, and identity are covered by separate modules (TotalCloud, Container Security, WAS, CIEM, TotalAI), each with its own tooling and workflows
- TruRisk scoring ties findings together, but the modules are deployed, operated, and licensed separately.
- A cross-domain question means working across products and reconciling their outputs.
One platform, one data model
- Orca connects cloud, code, and AI in a single graph, so an exposed dependency or an over-permissioned identity is scored in the same context as the workload and data it can reach. Teams see what is exploitable and what to fix first without assembling the picture themselves.
Multiple scan modes to run and maintain
- Workloads need several scan modes: agentless snapshot, Cloud Agents, network and API scans, and container and registry sensors.
- Snapshot scanning is periodic and offline, so real-time and runtime depth still relies on the Cloud Agent, and Kubernetes runtime uses node sensors
- Choosing, deploying, and tuning the right mode per environment is ongoing work that grows with the estate
One agentless connection, full depth
- SideScanning™ reads workloads through cloud APIs and returns vulnerabilities, malware, secrets, and PII in one pass across Linux, Windows, containers, serverless, and Kubernetes. One connection, no sensors to roll out, and the same coverage whether you run a few accounts or thousands.
How Orca compares to Qualys
Capability by capability, across the dimensions that matter most to cloud security teams.
Security Solutions
Cloud
- Complete CSPM, CIEM, DSPM, API security, vulnerability management, CWPP, container, and Kubernetes coverage correlated in a single platform with a Unified Data Model
- Rich, multi-stage attack paths confirm which exposures are actually reachable and exploitable helping you prioritize by real impact rather than isolated severity
- Orca is powered by patented agentless SideScanning™ technology, giving you get deep, accurate, and actionable context for which risks matter, and which to fix first
- TotalCloud covers CSPM, CIEM, agentless snapshot scanning, and attack paths, but the pieces are separate modules and sensors stitched together by TruRisk scoring
- Depth and context depend on how many you deploy and how well their outputs line up
Code
- Complete application security coverage across SAST, SCA, secrets detection, IaC scanning, SCM posture, malicious-package detection, and container image scanning, correlated in one platform
- By connecting every finding to live cloud assets, Orca confirms real-world exposure and reachability, so prioritization reflects what’s actually exploitable rather than what’s merely flagged
- Powered by AI and unified cloud context, Orca seamlessly guides teams from discovery to in-code fixes that eliminate risk at the root and stop new risk before it ever hits production
- Coverage runs through Container Security, QScanner, and WAS, so it centers on images, dependencies, and web-app DAST. No true SAST for first-party code and no code-to-cloud reachability, so a code flaw is never tied to the running asset it exposes
- These pieces are separate tools and sensors correlated by TruRisk scoring, not one data model. You get a score assembled across modules rather than a single graph that proves which findings are reachable and exploitable in production
AI
- End-to-end AI coverage in one platform, from an AI-BOM inventory of every model, dataset, and pipeline to AI-SPM posture, sensitive-data access, exposed-key detection, and runtime threat monitoring
- Orca knows which models are internet-exposed, which can reach sensitive data, and which run in production and ranks accordingly
- Agentless discovery and the Orca Sensor connect build to runtime, flagging prompt injection, model exfiltration, and drift as they happen, so teams govern every AI system before it becomes a liability
- These pieces are separate tools and sensors correlated by TruRisk scoring, not one data model. You get a score assembled across modules rather than a single graph that proves which findings are reachable and exploitable in production
- TotalAI feeds the same TruRisk score as everything else, but AI still lives in its own module rather than one graph, so it stays another surface to triage instead of context natively connected to the workloads, data, and identities around it
Explore the Orca platform
Self-guided tours tailored to your role. No form, no sales call.
Teams that adopted Orca
From organizations that evaluated and chose Orca.
I’ve used Trend Micro, Qualys, and Tenable… Tenable and Qualys both felt like they loosely bolted their legacy enterprise products onto the cloud. That doesn’t work well because you still have to deal with agents.”
Jeremy Turner
Senior Cloud Security Engineer, Paidy
Orca adds value practically from the first day of use. With other tools, we wait months to see value coming from them.”
Vivek Menon
Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer, Digital Turbine
Being able to consolidate tool sets creates efficiency, not just in cost but in how you manage all this stuff.”
Tony Wilson
General Manager, Information Security, Latitude Financial
Validated by peers and analysts
Independent recognition from practitioners and industry analysts.
PeerSpot reviews
“The best feature is Orca Side-Scanning. Because of this feature, the platform does not need to use agents for the detection of virtual machines, containers, and hosts.”
Cyber Security Consultant
“Orca Security goes beyond just basic vulnerability detection when analyzing risks contextually and holistically. I think it adds a strong contextual understanding.”
Cyber Security Analyst
Analyst recognition
Leader — CNAPP
Top-rated agentless CNAPP on G2. High scores for ease of use and time to value.
CNAPP market presence
Recognized in Gartner’s CNAPP market analysis for agentless architecture and unified visibility.
Cloud Security ROI Report
Independent analysis of ROI from real-world Orca deployments.
Related reading
Research and analysis to help you evaluate your options.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Orca connects through cloud provider APIs rather than deploying agents, so it can run in parallel with Qualys Cloud Agents or scan modes without any conflict. Teams typically compare findings from both platforms over a few weeks before making a decision.
Orca is built for cloud workloads, containers, and cloud-native infrastructure. For organizations using Qualys VMDR to scan on-premises servers or endpoints outside the cloud, Orca is typically evaluated as a replacement for Qualys TotalCloud rather than for on-prem vulnerability management.
Orca doesn’t calculate risk scores per module and then combine them. Instead, every signal, workload vulnerabilities, identity permissions, network exposure, and data sensitivity, lives in the same graph from the start, so a single risk score already reflects the full attack path rather than an aggregate of separate module outputs.
No. Orca connects to cloud accounts through read-only API access and typically completes an initial scan of the full environment within 30 minutes, without needing to install or reconfigure agents across existing workloads.
Orca scans container images across registries and CI/CD pipelines for vulnerabilities, secrets, and misconfigurations, then correlates each finding with runtime context and cloud exposure. So a registry finding is prioritized by whether the image is actually deployed and reachable, not scored in isolation. You get the scanning coverage plus the context that tells you which findings matter, from one agentless platform rather than a separate container sensor.
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