Falco vs Qualys TotalCloud
Falco
falco.orgQualys TotalCloud
qualys.comSide by side
| Figure | Falco | Qualys TotalCloud |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 3 |
| Spec score · Cloud Workload Protection Platforms | 7.7 (#9) | 8.3 (#4) |
| Founded | 2016 | 1999 |
| Integrations | Falco's plugins include sources for GitHub webhooks, Kubernetes audit events, AWS EKS audit events, CloudTrail logs, Docker events, Okta audit logs, and Nomad events. | Supported TotalCloud integrations include GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Jenkins, Bamboo, Azure DevOps, VSCode, Jira, and ServiceNow. |
| Support | Community support is available through Kubernetes Slack and the project's mailing list; the project also lists partner-provided enterprise offerings. | Qualys subscriptions include 24/7/365 telephone and online customer and technical support, free training, and certification. |
Plans
Qualys TotalCloud
- 30-day free trialFree
- TotalCloud Free licenseFree
- Qualys Cloud Platform subscriptionPriced on request
In their own words
Falco
Falco is a free, open source runtime security project for Linux and self-hosted environments. It monitors hosts, containers, Kubernetes, and cloud environments for abnormal behavior, potential threats, and compliance violations in real time. Events are compared with built-in detection rules, and users can create rules for their own environments. Sources include Linux kernel system calls, Kubernetes audit logs, cloud events such as AWS CloudTrail, and events from GitHub and Okta. For kernel event monitoring, Falco uses an eBPF driver by default and offers a kernel module for wider compatibility. Installation options cover Linux hosts, Docker containers, and Kubernetes, including official Helm charts; supported architectures include x86_64 and ARM64. Falcosidekick can forward events to more than 50 systems, including email, chat, message queues, serverless functions, and databases. Falco is hosted by the CNCF as a graduated project. Detection depends on having appropriate rules in place, while resource use varies with server load and workload. The project recommends testing performance in the target environment.
Qualys TotalCloud
Qualys TotalCloud is a cloud-native application protection platform for multi-cloud and container environments. It covers AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure through a single license, control plane, and TruRisk score. Its security domains include CSPM, CWPP, CIEM, CDR, Kubernetes and container security, IaC, SSPM, DSPM, and AI-SPM. TruRisk prioritizes verified, attackable exposures using exploitability, threat intelligence, asset criticality, and runtime context. FlexScan offers agentless, agent-based, network, and pipeline scanning. QFlow provides more than 300 automated playbooks and integrates with ServiceNow, Jira, SIEM, and SOAR platforms. Qualys says TotalCloud can assess cloud resources, including transient and ephemeral resources, in under 10 minutes. It also manages SaaS security posture for Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Zoom, and Google Workspace. Pre-built policy frameworks include CIS, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and NIST. A free license with limited API calls for control evaluation is listed; subscription pricing is available on request.