There are more vulnerabilities around than ever. The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report highlighted an almost 200% growth in the exploitation of vulnerabilities in 2023. In the first seven months of 2024, new vulnerabilities rose by another 30% compared to the previous year. No wonder vulnerability management tools are becoming a staple of the enterprise cybersecurity arsenal.

"Vulnerability management is a core function of cybersecurity," said Michelle Abraham, research director, Security and Trust at IDC. "Leaving vulnerabilities without action exposes organizations to endless risk since vulnerabilities may leave the news but not the minds of attackers."

Many vulnerability management tools have similar features. But when I looked into them more closely, I noticed that they each have their own focus or approach. Some are more specialized than others. I compared them based on price as well as four key features:

Be aware, however, that an apples-to-apples comparison based on price is impossible due to the different ways vendors price their products and services as well as a lack of transparency on pricing.

According to NIST, vulnerability management is a "capability that identifies vulnerabilities [common vulnerabilities and exposures] on devices that are likely to be used by attackers to compromise a device and use it as a platform from which to extend compromise to the network."

As well as mitigating configuration or code issues that might allow an attacker to exploit an environment, the definition is often broadened to include patch management, MDM, IT asset management, and EDR. The vulnerability management function is often integrated into a large security suite.

Vulnerability management can be broken into a series of steps, many of which are now automated:

They can be deployed as on-premises software, delivered as SaaS, or as managed services.

Vulnerability management as a managed service is delivered by a provider via the cloud rather than downloading and running on-prem software. It continuously identifies, assesses, reports, and manages vulnerabilities across cloud identities, workloads, platform configurations, and infrastructure.

Certain core functions are present in all top vulnerability management platforms. These include:

Those looking for a vulnerability management tool should ask questions such as:

Whatever tool you choose from the list above, the benefits of vulnerability management quickly show up in terms of fewer breaches, data that is better safeguarded, attacks being spotted far earlier than before, and added automation.

The tools covered here were selected based on analyst reports, peer reviews, and user satisfaction, as well as reviews posted in TechRepublic and other Technology Advice sites. I also provided a mix of full-fledged vulnerability management products, highly specialized tools, and those where vulnerability management is one module within a much larger suite.