Cisco Secure Workload vs CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Cisco and CrowdStrike are both solutions in the Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) category. Cisco is ranked #23, while CrowdStrike is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.8. Cisco holds a 2.1% mindshare in CWPP, compared to CrowdStrike’s 3.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Cisco users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of CrowdStrike users who would recommend it.

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Cisco Secure Workload and CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security are competitors in the cloud security market. Users generally favor the features of CrowdStrike for its proactive threat detection capabilities.

Features: Cisco Secure Workload is noted for strong analytics, visibility in hybrid environments, and integration with existing infrastructure. CrowdStrike Falcon is recognized for comprehensive threat intelligence, ease of scalability, and advanced threat detection, which users rate highly.

Room for Improvement: Cisco Secure Workload users often mention the need for easier setup processes, enhanced reporting, and better usability optimization. CrowdStrike Falcon feedback highlights the need to reduce resource consumption and suggestions to improve usability and efficiency.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: CrowdStrike Falcon is favored for its seamless deployment process, being less complex compared to Cisco Secure Workload. Cisco offers robust customer support, but CrowdStrike's automated deployment and operational readiness are seen as advantages in the initial stages.

Pricing and ROI: Cisco Secure Workload is considered competitively priced, attracting cost-conscious buyers. Although CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is more expensive, users believe its long-term ROI justifies this cost due to advanced security capabilities and market-leading threat intelligence.

To learn more, read our detailed Cisco Secure Workload vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Workload vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

September 2026

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.8%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cisco Secure Workload is 2.1%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is 3.8%, down from 5.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security	3.8%
Qualys TotalCloud	1.8%
Cisco Secure Workload	2.1%
Other	92.3%

Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP)

Featured Reviews

reviewer2859021

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.

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Raj Metkar

Director, Head of Networks at MUFG, EMEA

Discover internal application dependencies and create a dependency map

We actively seek improvements in integrating the Infoblox DDI platform with Cisco Secure Workload. This integration allows Cisco Secure Workload to learn about our networks and network tags, providing valuable insights into vulnerabilities related to the operating system and various applications installed on our servers. Recently, Cisco announced a new product called HyperShield, an AI-based autonomous micro-segmentation solution. While Cisco has not stated that HyperShield will replace Cisco Secure Workload, it represents a natural evolution for the company. HyperShield features dynamic policy discovery and enforcement; however, once policies are enforced, they do not change until a discovery occurs, requiring a re-enforcement process. This new platform operates autonomously, minimizing the need for user or security engineer intervention. I would have expected Cisco to incorporate more automatic discovery and enforcement features within the existing Cisco Secure Workload product. Instead of enhancing the current product, they have introduced a new solution. Cisco plans to honor existing Tetration licenses, allowing users to transition to HyperShield without additional costs, reflecting the investment enterprises have already made. From Cisco’s perspective, this represents a natural progression in their product line. While the product name changes, it seems more of a rebranding effort. The enhancements are greater autonomy, improved discovery, and automatic enforcement, which are now being introduced in HyperShield. Cisco Secure Workload offers automatic policy enforcement but cannot adjust policies dynamically as the application needs to change. Having used the platform for the past five years, the recent announcement has been reassuring. Cisco has confirmed that our investment in the platform will not go to waste. They will honor our existing licenses, providing a natural migration path to the new solution without any disruption

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Manish Indupuri

senior DevOps engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

Provides centralized visibility and real-time threat detection across multiple cloud accounts

Regarding how CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security can be improved, I would say they can improve their support. There were a couple of cases where we needed to escalate issues in order to get proper support. That part could use some tweaking on their end. Additionally, the recent incident during the last summer literally impacted our systems. We had some of our workloads that affected the business, and it was a difficult experience. Apart from that, it is a good tool and the experience with CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security has been excellent. We did not find any kind of issues, but if they could improve their response to security-related incidents and provide on-time support or better understand our concerns and address them accordingly, it could be very helpful. Regarding needed improvements, I think they should enhance automatic alerting with CI/CD scanning and reporting capabilities. Additionally, it would be better to implement Falcon sensor health monitoring so agents are always active. We could know how it is behaving and how it is treating our environment. That could be a little helpful.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Having everything in a single place to look for it and a single integration into ServiceNow has been the big transformation."

"It is a cloud-native app that integrates with both IaaS and SaaS. It seamlessly integrates with other platforms."

"The platform's unified view of the organization proves particularly valuable for leadership team meetings."

"In my opinion, this is the best tool."

"TotalCloud's best feature is the integration of cloud accounts. It helps with the risk and security posture management of our cloud infrastructure."

"Qualys TotalCloud provides a single, prioritized view of risk, reducing the workload associated with consolidating multiple sources for risk prioritization."

"The most valuable feature is the consolidated information that it provides from various platforms."

"The best features in Qualys TotalCloud include the total asset management of the cloud environment. It is very easy to export the report and see the vulnerabilities related to the cloud specifically."

More Qualys TotalCloud pros

"It's stable."

"By using Tetration insight, we are able to get the latency on our level accounts and we can determine whatever the issue is with the application latency itself."

"A complete and powerful micro-segmentation solution."

"This product does everything that you need it to do and more and does a lot to provide visibility in a network environment, save time and money, and make the organization IT operate in a much more streamlined fashion."

"Scalability is its most valuable feature."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is that we don't have to do packet captures on the network."

"Generally speaking, Cisco support is considered one of the best in the networking products and stack."

"The most valuable feature is micro-segmentation, which is the most important with respect to visibility."

More Cisco Secure Workload pros

"The product's initial setup phase is easy."

"CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security has nearly saved us some amount, though I am not exactly sure of the numbers since the sales team handles the financial side, and what we have gained from CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is that EC2 downtime has been prevented and time has been saved considerably, around eight to ten hours per week through automatic onboarding and centralized visibility."

"The most valuable feature of CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is its lightweight sensor, taking minimal space and not impacting server performance."

"The most valuable feature is the auto-detection capability for threat hunting and issuing advisories on remedies."

"Technical support is helpful."

"The scalability of the product has been great."

"The immediate mitigation of potential threats and instant alerts are valuable."

"CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is user-friendly and provides detection transparency, allowing us to present real-time documentation to our executives clearly explaining any detected issues."

More CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security pros

Cons

"It has been working very well, but it would be helpful if the dashboard could generate reports tailored to specific compliance needs. For example, in India, we have to comply with RBI and SEBI guidelines. It w"

"In a future release, I suggest that zero-day vulnerabilities should be predicted in advance using AI technologies. The system is not 100% secure yet, so proactive threat hunting could be enhanced to be more proactive than the current system."

"Qualys's ticketing system can be confusing when assigning tasks to individuals, and support could be improved by offering instant call solutions with engineers in addition to ticket replies."

"The downside is only in container security, but it has not been a long time since they introduced these models."

"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."

"There should be improvement from a dashboard perspective when collecting and showcasing data to lead management."

"Some major banks and insurance companies require an on-premises solution for comprehensive vulnerability management, which TotalCloud does not offer."

"I would appreciate additional integration options to connect Qualys TotalCloud with our other vulnerability management tools."

More Qualys TotalCloud cons

"I'd like to see better documentation for advanced features. The documentation is fairly basic. I would also like to see better integration with other applications."

"It is highly scalable, but there is a limitation that it is only available on Cisco devices."

"There was a controversy when Cisco reduced the amount of data they kept, and the solution became quite cost-intensive, which made its adoption challenging….Although they have modified it now, I preferred the previous version, and I wish all the functionality were back under the same product."

"I would have expected Cisco to incorporate more automatic discovery and enforcement features within the existing Cisco Secure Workload product."

"The scalability of this solution needs to be improved."

"The emailed notifications are either hard to find or they are not available. Search capabilities can be improved."

"The product should be easy to use, but it is not. Comparing it to other products, it was very complex."

"It has an uninviting interface."

More Cisco Secure Workload cons

"In terms of improvement, CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security could expand into the remediation path."

"The pricing is very high and should be improved."

"The only challenge lies in token verification."

"The UI part needs to be improved."

"The threat intelligence and user behavioral analysis could be more comprehensive."

"Incorporating threat intelligence into the system would be a valuable addition."

"I suggest improvements for CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security in areas including vulnerability management and a more straightforward agent troubleshooting process."

"For the past six months, we have been facing some issues. Because it is a cloud-based infrastructure, it has been getting slower."

More CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Qualys TotalCloud offers competitive pricing given its comprehensive suite of features, including integration, assessment, remediation, and detection capabilities, all within a single platform."

"It isn't cheap, but it's reasonable. It helps us to manage things with very few resources."

"The pricing for TotalCloud is attractive and competitive in the market. Given the features, especially the dashboard, I have no concerns regarding pricing."

"While Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive and may soon be considered overpriced."

"Qualys TotalCloud offers good pricing that is affordable and competitive with the market. Our partnership also provides us with additional benefits."

"Qualys TotalCloud is expensive."

"Qualys TotalCloud is cost-efficient and was selected for its value compared to other products."

"The cost is high, but it meets our organizational needs."

More Qualys TotalCloud pricing and cost advice

"The price is based on how many computers you're going to install it on."

"Pricing depends on the scope of the application and the features. Larger installations save more."

"The cost for the hardware is around 300k."

"Regarding price, Cisco Secure Workload can be expensive if you don't have a budget. If you're not doing micro-segmentation, every extra security measure or enforcement you're putting on top of your existing environment will be an extra cost. It's not a cheap solution at all. But from my point of view, if you need to do micro-segmentation, this is one of the best tools I've seen for it. I can't compare that to Microsoft's solution because I haven't looked into it. I've looked into VMware and Cisco. Those are the only two that I know of. I didn't know that Microsoft could do micro-segmentation at all. Maybe they can, but I haven't heard anything about it."

"It is not cheap and pricing may limit scalability."

"The pricing is a bit higher than we anticipated."

"The price is outrageous. If you have money to throw at the product, then do it."

"CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is very expensive for us. Last month, we had a big issue that took much time and money to resolve. It slowed down our business and required our management team to get involved. We had a problem similar to the "Blue Screen of Death" issue many US companies faced. This incident used up many of our IT resources in just a few months. That's why we're looking for a replacement tool now."

"CrowdStrike Falcon is very expensive."

"Its price is moderate."

"The price is not too high, it is okay."

"The pricing is reasonable, neither overly expensive nor excessively cheap, making it competitive compared to other market options."

"It's an expensive package but does what it says it will do."

"I am not the one who handled the pricing. A different team worked on it, but it is pretty expensive."

"The pricing is fair for what you get. I'd rate them a solid nine out of ten in terms of pricing."

More CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

18%

Outsourcing Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Outsourcing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	38

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	16

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...

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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...

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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...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CrowdStrike Falcon ASPM?

I believe that CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security is not expensive for United States-based companies. For Brazil, howe...

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What needs improvement with CrowdStrike Falcon ASPM?

I am aware that just as we have a one-click sensor for faster deployment of the agent, there is probably a tool that ...

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What is your primary use case for CrowdStrike Falcon ASPM?

We use cloud security comprehensively, including CSPM, DSPM, AISPM, and CDR, not just for our organization, but becau...

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Comparisons

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Compared 6% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Qualys TotalCloud

Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

VMware NSX vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 7% of the time

Check Point Email Security (formerly Harmony Email & Collaboration) vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 6% of the time

BMC Helix Cloud Security vs Cisco Secure Workload

Compared 6% of the time

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Wiz vs CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

Compared 5% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

Compared 5% of the time

SentinelOne Singularity Cloud Security vs CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

Compared 4% of the time

AWS GuardDuty vs CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

Compared 4% of the time

AWS Security Hub vs CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

Compared 3% of the time

More CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Qualys TotalCloud

October 2026

Download Qualys TotalCloud product report

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Workload

October 2026

Download Cisco Secure Workload product report

Buyer's Guide

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

October 2026

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security report

Download CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security product report

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan

Cisco Tetration

CrowdStrike Falcon ASPM

Overview

Qualys TotalCloud enhances security posture across cloud environments with continuous monitoring, vulnerability management, and risk visualization, ensuring efficient threat assessment and automated remediation for improved cyber risk reduction.

Qualys TotalCloud offers a robust suite of security tools essential for organizations managing multi-cloud infrastructures. By integrating cloud accounts and automating workflows, it supports AWS, Azure, and GCP, offering comprehensive vulnerability management and zero-day detection. The platform's user-friendly design, combined with its extensive risk management and unified threat assessment capabilities, enables organizations to prioritize and remediate vulnerabilities effectively. TruRisk Insights provides clear insights on cyber risks, while the automation options streamline patch management and scanning processes. API integration across IaaS and SaaS environments further enhances resource allocation efficiency and saves time, addressing misconfigurations across cloud environments.

What are the most important features of Qualys TotalCloud?

Accurate Vulnerability Reports: Delivers precise and actionable insights for risk mitigation.
Zero-Day Detection: Identifies and addresses zero-day vulnerabilities proactively.
Unified Threat Assessment: Offers comprehensive evaluation of threats across the environment.
Extensive Risk Management: Manages risks effectively with advanced insights and prioritization.
Continuous Monitoring: Provides non-stop surveillance for vulnerabilities and threats.
Cloud-Native Automation: Streamlines processes and reduces manual efforts using automation.
FlexScan for Internet-Facing VMs: Scans external VMs efficiently to detect vulnerabilities.
Dashboard Risk Visualization: Clear visualization helps prioritize vulnerabilities.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Improved Security Posture: Enhances threat detection and response across clouds.
Time Savings: Automation reduces time spent on manual vulnerability management.
Resource Efficiency: Better allocation of resources through streamlined workflows.
Enhanced Risk Prioritization: Focus on critical vulnerabilities for effective mitigation.
Integrated Cloud Accounts: Facilitates seamless cloud management and security.

Qualys TotalCloud is deployed in sectors needing rigorous vulnerability management, such as finance and healthcare. Companies utilize it to secure multi-cloud environments like AWS, Azure, and GCP, focus on compliance, and integrate security into CI/CD pipelines to detect and remedy threats pre-deployment.

Qualys

Cisco Secure Workload offers advanced auditing, micro-segmentation, and network visibility, automating policy presentation for improved security. It enhances application dependency mapping and provides comprehensive telemetry with strategic policy enforcement.

Cisco Secure Workload specializes in automating micro-segmentation, data center management, and traffic analysis. Its capabilities facilitate application dependency mapping and enhance internal micro-segmentation, providing invaluable network visibility. Users find its automation in policy presentation and strategic enforcement beneficial, along with granular control and scalability, despite needing improvements in scalability and integration capabilities. Enhanced notification features, troubleshooting options, and an efficient interface are desired for seamless deployment, along with stronger multi-tenancy, redundancy, and monitoring functions. Broader platform support and integrated cloud connectivity are desired for unified management across tools.

What are the most important features?

Auditing: Provides in-depth network analysis and security auditing capabilities.
Micro-Segmentation: Enhances network security by automating segmentation at a granular level.
Application Dependency Mapping: Visualizes connections and interactions between applications.
Network Visibility: Delivers comprehensive insight into network activities and dynamics.
Policy Discovery: Streamlines policy creation through automation and reduces manual intervention.
Comprehensive Telemetry: Offers complete coverage and insights for better security assessment.

What benefits and ROI should be evaluated?

Enhanced Security Measures: Offers robust features for network security improvement.
Automated Processes: Reduces manual efforts through automation, increasing efficiency.
Scalability: Adapts to growing network demands with flexible scalability options.
Granular Control: Allows detailed control over network policies and enforcement.

Entities in finance, gas, and oil sectors utilize Cisco Secure Workload for networking site management and compliance maintenance. It integrates into extensive Cisco infrastructure, aiding routers, switches, and endpoints, thus supporting auditors in network synchronization and auditing needs.

Cisco

CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security helps organizations stop cloud breaches from code to runtime. As CrowdStrike's cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP), it combines real-time cloud detection and response with proactive cloud security to help security teams prevent, detect, investigate, and stop modern cloud attacks.

Industry-leading threat intelligence and AI-powered insights help security teams understand how adversaries operate, uncover evasive threats, and respond with confidence. The result is a stronger cloud security posture, faster investigations, and reduced mean time to detect and respond.

What are CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security's key features?

Real-Time Protection: Detects and responds to cloud attacks in real time.
Industry-Leading Adversary Intelligence: Turns intel into prioritized risk and threats.
Cloud Asset Visibility: Discovers and maps assets across the entire cloud estate.
Preemptive Security: Identities risks earlier in development to prevent insecure deployments.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Faster Threat Detection and Response: Achieve up to 89% faster cloud detection and response
Improved Cloud Security Posture: Identify and prioritize high-risk vulnerabilities and misconfigurations faster
Reduce Blind Spots: Gain up to 72% faster ability to monitor the entire cloud estate
Compliance Assurance: Aids in maintaining industry standards.
Return on Investment: 264% Return on Investment over 3 year period

Organizations use Falcon Cloud Security to stop cloud breaches from code to runtime. It helps teams reduce blind spots, focus on the risks most likely to lead to a breach, and detect and respond to attacks faster. By connecting proactive cloud security with real-time detection and response, it strengthens security from development through production.

CrowdStrike

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

ADP, University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNCC)

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Cisco Secure Workload vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

September 2026

Free Report: Cisco Secure Workload vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Secure Workload vs. CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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