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Calico Cloud vs Upwind comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Qualys TotalCloud
Sponsored
Ranking in Container Security
11th
Ranking in Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (10th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (9th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (8th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (2nd)
Calico Cloud
Ranking in Container Security
28th
Ranking in Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
19th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
AI Observability (22nd)
Upwind
Ranking in Container Security
26th
Ranking in Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
15th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (39th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (18th), API Security (11th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (25th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (30th), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (11th), Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (18th), Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) (8th), Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) (7th), AI Security (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 2.4%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Calico Cloud is 0.6%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Upwind is 2.8%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Qualys TotalCloud2.4%
Upwind2.8%
Calico Cloud0.6%
Other94.2%
Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP)
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer2859021 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr Security Engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Risk-based triage has transformed container security and now prioritizes high-impact threats
The best features Qualys TotalCloud offers currently include managing cloud infrastructure and container security while facing major challenges such as alert fatigue. Traditional vulnerability scanners flag hundreds of CVEs on short-lived Kubernetes containers, some of which have no internet exposure or are gone before we can even triage them. I leverage Qualys TotalCloud to move beyond static CVSS. I use it to implement runtime exposure, correlation risk reprioritization, and shift-left integration. This notifies developers to fix a base image upstream rather than patching live ephemeral instances. In my work with cloud and container security, the biggest operational hurdle was alert fatigue. I use Qualys to shift left from static CVSS severity to context-aware risk prioritization. I correlated raw vulnerability data with real-time risk factors such as public network exposure, active runtime execution, or overly permissive IAM roles. This allows us to immediately drop the priority of isolated containers and escalate lower-severity CVEs that sit on an exposed, high-risk path. We can map these findings directly back to our CI/CD pipelines so developers can patch the root base images upstream. We have drastically cut down the signal-to-noise ratio, saved a lot of manual hours doing triage work, and ensured engineering effort goes directly towards high-impact risk reduction.
Olakunle Obasoro - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps Engineer at Exponential Craft
Security posture has become visible and container risks are managed proactively
Regarding improvements for Calico Cloud, there is a need to build agentic security systems. I believe Calico Cloud is progressing towards this, and I believe they can enhance their teaching methods to facilitate adoption. Documentation needs continuous improvement. It is good and easy to read, but it can get better. Having a searchable summary feature, such as a chatbot, could help users quickly resolve issues without having to read extensive documentation. At the moment, I do not believe there are more improvements needed, but as mentioned earlier, there should be a focus on better documentation, possibly by embedding chatbot features that could respond to user prompts effectively.
Mohammed Mudasser - PeerSpot reviewer
AI/ML Engineer at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Runtime context has transformed how we prioritize exploitable cloud risks and protect workloads
I appreciate runtime context, which helps connect vulnerabilities and misconfigurations with actual workload behavior and network relationships, making it easier to prioritize remediation based on real exposure rather than simply working through a long list of security findings. The best features that stand out to me are contextual vulnerability prioritization, cloud workload visibility, and runtime security. I especially value how Upwind connects vulnerabilities with actual runtime behavior, which helps focus on exploitable risk rather than working through a long list of findings. It has helped us focus on actual exploitable risk instead of treating every vulnerability equally. By considering runtime activity, exposure, reachability, and sensitive data context, the team can prioritize remediation much faster and reduce unnecessary alert noise. I also value the runtime visibility and attack path context because it connects security findings with network behavior and actual workload. This makes investigations more actionable and helps the team move from simply detecting issues to understanding their real impact. The biggest positive impact has been the prioritization of cloud security risk and improved visibility. Instead of chasing every vulnerability, we can focus on issues that are actually exposed or active at runtime, which makes the security team more efficient and remediation more targeted.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The platform's unified view of the organization proves particularly valuable for leadership team meetings."
"Qualys TotalCloud's most valuable feature is its agent versatility."
"The vulnerability management feature is the one I like the most because it provides a clear picture of all vulnerabilities."
"I highly recommend Qualys TotalCloud to other users."
"Qualys TotalCloud has positively impacted our organization by helping us save time and manage all assets and remediation, allowing us to achieve quarterly and half-yearly goals."
"The best feature would be the ability to create policies. It is easy to control and update policies as required."
"While automatic inventory detection upon connection is a helpful feature, a truly valuable capability would be assessing an environment's security posture against Azure and CIS best practices."
"Qualys TotalCloud is overall the best tool available in the market for scanning purposes."
"The number one standout feature is the multi-cloud hybrid workload support, as the fact that Calico Cloud is not strictly bound to Kubernetes pods but can also utilize bare metal or virtual machines means it offers a unified control plane and allows for a single security policy to be applied and for traffic flow to be observed between VM-based databases and containerized applications running in Kubernetes, which is amazing for increasingly popular hybrid workloads."
"Calico Cloud has positively impacted my organization by improving the security of deployed applications while having greater control and visibility over communication between the different microservices."
"Calico Cloud has had a positive impact on our organization by improving both our Kubernetes security posture and operational efficiency."
"Calico Cloud has positively impacted my organization, especially on the security front, as it helped us anticipate security threats."
"The impact of Calico Cloud is that we were able to achieve a more secure understanding of our security posture, access our containers knowing full well that all policies set were followed through, and see visually how everything was interconnected, which has impacted our business positively."
"The combination of runtime visibility, security insights, and contextual risk prioritization makes it much easier to focus on the risks that actually matter."
"My advice for others looking into using Upwind is that if you are seeking a strong CNAPP with an advanced runtime and strong CDR capabilities, this is the product."
"They are a great overall cloud security platform and they continue innovating and adding new features."
"Upwind has positively impacted my organization by reducing time to action and time to response by half."
 

Cons

"Qualys TotalCloud's increasing complexity, due to the development and deployment of multiple solutions, is making the GUI difficult to navigate."
"In TotalCloud, I would suggest improvements in policy checks to cater to various inventory types like VPCs, subnets, S3 buckets, or IAMs. There is a lack of data segregation according to criticality or inventory."
"Customer support with Qualys TotalCloud needs a little improvement with the response times."
"There should be improvement from a dashboard perspective when collecting and showcasing data to lead management."
"The cloud licensing unit system is unclear, especially since "units" aren't well-defined."
"The support is not up to the mark and seems to be overburdened."
"The response part of the Cloud Detection and Response (CDR) module can be improved."
"The vulnerability part is good, but the policy compliance module needs improvement because it involves a lot of manual work. Specifically, the remediation part of the controls requires enhancements."
"Another issue is the resource footprint because Calico Cloud is an all-inclusive networking solution with many daemons running inside the cluster, putting a noticeable load on the Kubernetes API server in large clusters."
"They may not have all the features that their competitor Cilium has, and they are doing a portion of what Cilium does and a portion of what Istio does."
"I think Calico Cloud could be improved by being a bit cheaper."
"Calico Cloud is a very good product with well-defined usage. I would appreciate seeing more improvement on real-time analysis capabilities."
"The integration process of Calico Cloud with existing systems has its challenges."
"Upwind can be improved because its UI is a bit difficult to navigate."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Although Qualys TotalCloud is relatively expensive due to its unique automation features, its cost-effectiveness is rated an eight out of ten, with ten being the most costly."
"The pricing is comparable. It is built into our other product, so I cannot piecemeal it. It is a part of our subscription."
"As a middle management member, I do not have direct pricing knowledge, but based on the knowledge from our meetings, its pricing is competitive."
"Its price seems higher compared to other tools, but it is worth it. If they could adjust the pricing and make it comparable with other tools, that would be great."
"It isn't cheap, but it's reasonable. It helps us to manage things with very few resources."
"Qualys TotalCloud is expensive, but it offers a premier solution with no headaches."
"The pricing for TotalCloud is attractive and competitive in the market. Given the features, especially the dashboard, I have no concerns regarding pricing."
"Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility."
Information not available
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
18%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Construction Company
20%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Healthcare Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Outsourcing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise38
No data available
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Qualys TotalCloud?
I was not involved in pricing, setup cost, and licensing, but I can say that the setup was fast, within a quarter, an...
What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
In terms of improvements, the features we are using in Qualys TotalCloud are working in the best optimal way, and I d...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
I have been using Qualys TotalCloud for the last eight months to scan the hardware and the virtual devices in our inf...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Calico Cloud?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Calico Cloud was determined by management who evaluated the...
What needs improvement with Calico Cloud?
I think there are a couple of issues with Calico Cloud, at least during the first time I used it more intensively. On...
What is your primary use case for Calico Cloud?
My main use case for Calico Cloud was primarily cloud network security. An unfortunate aspect of cloud architecture i...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Upwind?
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing process were pretty reasonable.
What needs improvement with Upwind?
I would appreciate more customizable dashboards and reporting for different teams, such as security operations, engin...
What is your primary use case for Upwind?
My main use case for Upwind is cloud security and workload protection. I primarily use it to gain visibility into clo...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
No data available
Upwind Security Upwind Platform for AWS Security Hub, Upwind Security Upwind for AWS Security Hub Extended
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Information Not Available
StockX, Yotpo, bill, Digital Turbine, nanit, CallRail, boomi
Find out what your peers are saying about Calico Cloud vs. Upwind and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,433 professionals have used our research since 2012.