Qualys has often been synonymous with DAST and has been a major player in the application security market for years, allowing companies to check off their DAST box.

Founded in 1999, the company offers a broad range of cybersecurity solutions. However, in recent years, Qualys' association with DAST has given it a bad reputation when it comes to API security testing, particularly due to Qualys DAST’s noisy, slow, and ineffective scans.

Legacy DAST scanners, like Qualys, often use irrelevant tests that aren't aligned with your actual API configuration, are difficult to configure, and typically lack API discovery.

How can Escape create a better DAST solution for API testing? We'll let you judge if we're better by comparing time to value and scanning results. In this article, we'll show why and what makes us different than Qualys.

Head-to-head comparison: Escape vs Qualys

Below, you’ll find an in-depth comparison between Escape and Qualys's WAS (Web Application Scanning & API Security scanner) across the entire API security workflow – from API discovery to remediation. We focused on key differences between those two tools. If you want to get a quick recap and an infographic that you can download and share with others, jump to the last section.

We've built this comparison based on the following sources:

• Qualys official website
• Feedback from an independent industry analyst who used to run DAST scans with Qualys WAS scanner
• Demos and official documentation
• Feedback from security professionals (whether Qualys's and Escape's current customers or not)

API Discovery

You can't secure what you can't see. The faster you discover your exposed APIs, the quicker you reduce the risk of API breaches.

Currently, Qualys WAS with API Security requires a manual process to add APIs to its inventory.

This process requires inputting the name, API URL, and API specification. See it for yourself below:

Although Qualys launched a Beta API security version in July 2024, which promises automated API discovery across multi-cloud environments (AWS, Azure), containers (Kubernetes), and API gateways (Apigee, Mulesoft), there’s no clear explanation of how this automation will work. So far, all product demos still reflect a manual approach. We'll update this comparison once it's clear!

In contrast, Escape offers a fully automated API discovery solution, designed to deliver immediate value. Escape uses a sophisticated combination of subdomain enumeration, AI-powered fingerprinting, and OSINT techniques to identify APIs quickly—often within minutes. This ensures that all APIs, including those not actively in use, are discovered and documented.

Unlike Qualys, Escape eliminates the need to manually input each API URLs or upload specifications. You simply enter your main domain, and Escape takes care of the rest, building a comprehensive API inventory effortlessly. Simplified deployment processes minimize the need for specialized knowledge and extensive internal resources.

Once you've discovered all your exposed APIs, you can enrich the data discovered and classified in API inventory by connecting with your developer tools like Postman, GitHub, and GitLab, cloud platforms like AWS and Azure, and gateways like Apigee, Axway, Kong Gateway and Kong Connect and Mulesoft.

To scan internal APIs behind your organization's firewall or VPN, you can connect Escape's repeater proxy.

Scan setup

The next point of comparison is the ease of scan setup and its maintenance.

Qualys requires manual upload of API schemas to start scans, as it doesn't automatically generate schemas. Users need to ensure the Swagger version 2.0/OpenAPI 3.0 file (JSON format) is visible to the scanning service or that the Postman collection is uploaded to the scan settings so the APIs can be tested for common application security flaws.

After you've uploaded the schema, you must also set up an option profile (a set of scan configuration options in Qualys).

Qualys WAS does not handle APIs natively. To conduct thorough API security testing, you must create a profile specifically configured for API testing, which includes the 30 tests aligned with the OWASP API Top 10. It's important to note that API compliance tests on the image below are currently only available in Beta, limiting full coverage in certain cases.

In contrast, Escape uses a proprietary machine learning algorithm to automatically reconstruct API documentation. Of course, to improve overall coverage, you might need to configure authentication and upload specifications you might have on your side, but it's not a requirement to start initial scans.

This ensures that any changes in your API structure are immediately reflected, allowing for continuous and accurate security scanning, without the need for constant intervention.

API Testing

Qualys’ API security testing, integrated within its Web Application Scanning (WAS) tool, primarily focuses on identifying vulnerabilities outlined in the OWASP API Top 10. While Qualys has recently begun supporting native handling of APIs (only REST and SOAP), it mainly addresses common issues like authentication and authorization flaws, rate limiting, and injection vulnerabilities. Its capabilities depend heavily on the presence of an accurate Swagger file and a predefined schema.

Qualys does offer some secret detection capabilities, but these are focused more on scanning stored data rather than being specifically designed for detecting secrets like API tokens or keys.

Escape relies on its proprietary feedback-driven Business Logic Security Testing algorithm. It excels in detecting even complex business-logic vulnerabilities, especially in modern API types like GraphQL. Escape's algortihm addresses this complexity by autonomously generating legitimate traffic to test API's business logic.

Through techniques like Sourcing Inference and Strong Typing Inference, Escape ensures the accuracy of generated requests, while integration with generative AI enhances adaptability, particularly in complex attack scenarios.

Escape’s business logic testing is robust, and it includes comprehensive secret detection across various environments, not just repositories. Here is the full list of secrets that Escape can detect.

The platform also prioritizes reducing noise, ensuring that logs are concise and directly tied to meaningful vulnerabilities. This results in a more efficient scanning process that minimizes unnecessary data, making it easier for teams to focus on critical issues.

GraphQL API support

Qualys does not natively support GraphQL APIs. This means that if your stack includes GraphQL APIs, Qualys won't be able to scan them directly. GraphQL, a query language for APIs, has gained significant traction in recent years due to its flexibility and efficiency, but it is not currently compatible with Qualys's scanning and integration capabilities, which rely on traditional REST APIs.

In contrast, Escape has exceptional support for GraphQL Security Testing, integrating 100 GraphQL-specific tests,  like aliasing and batching attacks, and even the most complicated access control issues.

“Escape is an innovative tool, and its results and algorithms are truly impressive. It was able to find GraphQL vulnerabilities that their competitors haven't seen. It also provides me with extensive testing capabilities." – Pierre Charbel, Product Security Engineer, Lightspeed

Contrarily to other scanners, Escape handles GraphQL natively and not as another HTTP API. Even better, our engine is capable of suggesting code fixes for all findings and all GraphQL engines to maximize developer productivity when fixing issues.

Escape relies on a powerful feedback-driven graph exploration algorithm that can explore and understand the business logic of your GraphQL API.

Remediation for developers

Detecting vulnerabilities is only the first step; providing developers with actionable remediation guidance is equally important.

Qualys provides generic remediation information in a text format without offering tailored code snippets, potentially increasing the burden on developers.

Escape goes above and beyond by offering tailored remediations and code snippets to address identified vulnerabilities efficiently.

Reporting

One significant issue with Qualys is its lack of a structured approach to prioritizing vulnerabilities.

Qualys has just recently launched their API security offering, and their current API security dashboard is still evolving. It provides basic information on discovered APIs, vulnerabilities, and compliance checks. However, the dashboard lacks depth in prioritization features, offering limited insights into which vulnerabilities pose the greatest risk based on context like business impact or exploitability. As a result, security teams might find it challenging to quickly identify and focus on the most critical API risks, making it less effective in environments with large and complex API infrastructures.

Escape, however, offers a distinct advantage with its vulnerability prioritization funnel. This feature automatically identifies and prioritizes business-critical vulnerabilities, ensuring that the most significant threats are addressed promptly. In addition, it clear shows each application's code owner.

By streamlining the prioritization process, Escape enables security teams to focus their efforts where they matter most, enhancing overall security and providing peace of mind that critical vulnerabilities are being effectively managed.

By integrating regulatory frameworks like PCI-DSS, GDPR, and HIPAA, Escape also highlights which APIs pose the greatest risks in terms of compliance violations in a unified view.

Recap: Pros and Cons

Escape vs Qualys: Infographic

Qualys

Pros

• Bundled with other Qualys platform offerings: If your organization is already using other Qualys products, Qualys WAS & API security can be bundled and managed within the same ecosystem
• Cost-effective for existing Qualys customers: For organizations already subscribed to the Qualys platform, adding an API security module might be relatively cheap

Cons

1. Noisy and slow scans: According to a former user feedback, Qualys API scans are often slow—taking up to 12 hours to complete—and can generate a high volume of false positives, making it harder to focus on actual security risks
2. Limited API support: Only supports REST and SOAP APIs
3. Dependence on predefined schemas: To perform effective scans, Qualys requires accurate Swagger/OpenAPI files, which can be cumbersome to maintain and manage
4. No actionable remediations: Qualys does not provide developer-friendly code snippets, which can slow down the security patching process.
5. Limited reporting and UI: The API security reporting features in Qualys are relatively basic, offering limited insights and prioritization features. This makes it harder to efficiently manage vulnerabilities and risks at for enterprise scale

Escape

Pros

• Addition of agentless API discovery to its DAST scanning: Exceptional ability to discover even Shadow APIs in minutes by scanning exposed source code, reducing the time to value and risk of overlooked vulnerabilities
• Automated API documentation generation that helps you to launch scans right away and reduces the need for maintenance
• In-depth GraphQL testing capabilities and lowest false-positive rate
• Ability to prioritize the most critical API by business context, data sensitivity, and exposure.
• Actionable remediation code snippets for developers that help you build better relationships with them

Cons

• Advanced feature sets may require specialized knowledge
• Number of integrations with some of the operational tools

Conclusion

While Qualys provides basic vulnerability scanning coverage and can be cost-effective for existing users, it falls short as an enterprise-level automated API security solution. For organizations seeking comprehensive coverage across all API types, especially at scale, Qualys lacks key features such as automated, comprehensive API discovery, advanced testing capabilities for APIs like GraphQL, and actionable remediation guidance for developers. These limitations make it less suitable for organizations that require robust, automated security tools tailored specifically for modern, diverse API environments.

Escape provides a more holistic and automated approach to API discovery and security. Its focus is on agentless API discovery, automated schema generation, DAST-based advanced security testing, and actionable insights for developers.

If you still have doubts, take a moment with our team and see directly during a demo why Escape is a better choice for your DAST.

💡Want to learn more? Discover the following articles:

• Reinventing API security: Why Escape is better than traditional DAST tools
• Escape vs Rapid7
• Escape vs Invicti
• Escape vs Burp Suite Enterprise
• Escape vs StackHawk

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Escape - The API Security Blog authored by Alexandra Charikova. Read the original post at: https://escape.tech/blog/escape-vs-qualys/