Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Tenable Security Center comparison

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Executive Summary
Updated on Mar 13, 2024

Tenable and Prisma Cloud offer strong security solutions with varying deployment times and pricing structures. Tenable focuses on customizable reporting and centralized management, while Prisma Cloud is praised for its multi-cloud visibility and threat detection capabilities.

  • Features: Tenable Security Center is lauded for its intuitive dashboard, accurate vulnerability scanning, customizable reporting, and centralized management. In contrast, Prisma Cloud stands out for its comprehensive multi-cloud visibility, ease of use, advanced threat detection, and automated compliance assessment capabilities.
  • Pricing and ROI: Tenable has varying opinions on pricing and setup cost, with some finding it reasonable while others find it expensive and complicated. In contrast, Prisma Cloud is perceived as competitive in pricing, with flexible licensing options. Tenable offers enhanced security posture and visibility, streamlined vulnerability management, and valuable risk assessment insights. Prisma Cloud provides significant cost savings, increased security measures, risk reduction, and compliance streamlining.
  • Room for Improvement: Tenable users have highlighted the need for a more intuitive UI, enhanced customization options for reports, and better integrations. In contrast, Prisma Cloud users have mentioned the desire improved documentation and training resources, and enhanced alerting and reporting capabilities.
  • Deployment and customer support: Overall, users seem to have experienced longer deployment times with Tenable Security Center (around three months), with an additional setup phase. Both solutions were praised for responsiveness, helpfulness, and expertise in their customer support.

The summary above is based on 140 interviews we conducted recently with Tenable Security Center and Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks users. To access the review's full transcripts, download our report.

To learn more, read our detailed Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs. Tenable Security Center Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"What I found most valuable in Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is the VAS, such as the web application and API security. I feel that VAS adds a lot of value, mainly because it gives visibility through the application layer and threat detection features.""It scans our containers in real time. Also, as they're built, it's looking into the container repository where the images are built, telling us ahead of time, "You have vulnerabilities here, and you should update this code before you deploy." And once it's deployed, it's scanning for vulnerabilities that are in production as the container is running.""Comprehensive and valuable for providing security. It is scalable, its stability is impressive, and setting it up is straightforward.""Visibility is a key feature. Integration with other technologies across the board, whether they are Palo Alto technologies, Windows technologies, or cloud technologies, is probably the biggest thing.""The first aspect that is important is the fact that Prisma Cloud is cloud-agnostic. It's actually available for the five top cloud providers: AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle, and Alibaba Cloud. The second aspect is the fact that we can write our own rules to try to detect misconfigurations in those environments.""The container and serverless security is most valuable. It is quite a new technology for this region. Even though containers have been there for a long time, the adoption of containers is very minimal in this region. When it comes to using Kubernetes containers in a complex architecture, there is a lack of security in the market. People aren't aware of the security controls or the process for governance. Container security provided by Prisma Cloud is quite good at filling that gap.""The solution will streamline and minimize manual efforts.""The most valuable feature is that the rule set is managed and that it can be run on a regularly scheduled basis."

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"Has a great advanced scanning feature.""This solution has a much lower rate of false positives compared to competing products.""I find Tenable SC to be a very scalable product.""Feature-wise, Tenable Security Center is a very fast tool with many dashboards and reports, and it covers all our systems.""The most valuable features of Tenable SC are the reports and the dashboards.""What is useful to me is being able to fulfill very customized scanning policies. In the clinical environment, because of vendor control, we can't perform credential-vulnerability scanning. And network scans, which I've done before, can cause a lot of impact. Being able to create very customized policies to be able to routinely scan and audit our clinical networks, while simultaneously not causing impact, is important to us.""The tool gives us fewer false positives. Compared to its competitors, the solution’s reports are more accurate.""The most valuable features of Tenable SC are scanning, reporting, dashboards, and automation."

More Tenable Security Center Pros →

Cons
"The information presented in the UI sometimes doesn't look intuitive enough.""The licensing is a bit confusing.""More documentation with real-world use cases would be helpful.""Some of the usability within the Compute functionality needs improvement. I think when Palo Alto added on the Twistlock functionality, they added a Compute tab on the left side of the navigation. Some of the navigation is just a little dense. There is a lot of navigation where there is a tab and dropdowns. So, just improving some of the navigation where there is just a very dense amount of buttons and drop-down menus, that is probably the only thing, which comes from having a lot of features. Because there are a lot of buttons, just navigating around the platform can be a little challenging for new users.""In terms of securing cloud-native development at build time, a lot of improvement is needed. Currently, it's more a runtime solution than a build-time solution. For runtime, I would rate it at seven out of 10, but for build-time there is a lot of work to be done.""The alignment of Twistlock Defender agents with image repositories needs improvement. These deployed agents have no way of differentiating between on-premise and cloud-based image repositories. If I deploy a Defender agent to secure an on-premise Kubernetes cluster, that agent also tries to scan my ECR image repositories on AWS. So, we have limited options for aligning those Defenders with the repositories that we want them to scan. It is scanning everything rather than giving us the ability to be real granular in choosing which agents can scan which repositories.""The solution does not currently support servers for GCP.""I think Prisma Cloud could improve its preventive governance policy and CWP run time modules."

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"The reporting side can be improved. The dashboards are nice, but exporting things out for reports for management was a little tough.""The user interface can be improved.""The solution needs to improve its support. I would like to see a bird's eye view of my network architecture. I would also like to see the continuous view feature in the tool.""The solution is expensive.""The vulnerability scan does not work correctly until the access privileges are set by the system administrator.""Deploying Tenable.sc is highly complex because it's an on-prem solution, whereas Tenable.io is cloud-based, so you can go live as soon as you log in. Tenable.sc involves significant integration with other on-prem solutions, and the deployment takes about two to three weeks with the help of a system integrator""We are facing some challenges related to our channel.""I will say it's a lot slower compared to an MS scan. It takes so much longer, so the performance could definitely be worked on."

More Tenable Security Center Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "The purchasing process was easy and quick. It is a very economical solution."
  • "Our licensing fees are $18,000 USD per year."
  • "One thing we're very pleased about is how the licensing model for Prisma is based on work resources. You buy a certain amount of work resources and then, as they enable new capabilities within Prisma, it just takes those work resource units and applies them to new features. This enables us to test and use the new features without having to go back and ask for and procure a whole new product, which could require going through weeks, and maybe months, of a procurement process."
  • "The pricing and the licensing are both very fair... The biggest advice I would give in terms of costs would be to try to understand what the growth is going to look like. That's really been our biggest struggle, that we don't have an idea of what our future growth is going to be on the platform. We go from X number of licenses to Y number of licenses without a plan on how we're going to get from A to B, and a lot of that comes as a bit of a surprise. It can make budgeting a real challenge for it."
  • "From my exposure so far, they have been really flexible on whatever your current state is, with a view to what the future state might be. There's no hard sell. They "get" the journey that you're on, and they're trying to help you embrace cloud security, governance, and compliance as you go."
  • "If a competitor came along and said, "We'll give you half the price," that doesn't necessarily mean that's the right answer, at all. We wouldn't necessarily entertain it that way. Does it do what we need it to do? Does it work with the things that we want it to work with? That is the important part for us. Pricing wasn't the big consideration it might be in some organizations. We spend millions on public cloud. In that context, it would not make sense to worry about the small price differences that you get between the products."
  • "The pricing and licensing are expensive compared to the other offerings that we considered."
  • "I don't know a better way to do it, but their licensing is a little confusing. That's due to the breadth of different types of technologies they are trying to cover. The way you license depends on where you're securing. When they were Twistlock it was a simple licensing scheme and you could tell what you were doing. Now that they've changed that scheme with Palo Alto, it is quite confusing. It's very difficult to predict what your costs are going to be as you try to expand coverage."
  • More Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "It is slightly more expensive than other solutions in the same sphere."
  • "We're able to save because we don't have to employ more staff members to help wit ht he scheduling of the scans, running the reports or sending them out to the systems owners. That alone is a big ROI for us."
  • "The licensing costs for this solution are approximately $100,000 US, and I think that covers everything."
  • "The pricing is more than Nexpose."
  • "Costing is pretty reasonable compared to the competition."
  • "We're a Fortune 500 company... our licensing costs [are] in the seven figures."
  • "We pay around 60,000 on a yearly basis."
  • "The price can start at €10,000 ($13,000 USD) for between 500 and 1,000 assets, and the price can climb into the millions as more assets are added."
  • More Tenable Security Center Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Prisma Cloud helps support DevSecOps methodologies, making those responsibilities easier to manage.
    Top Answer:We like Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, since it offers us incredible visibility into our entire cloud system. We are able to easily see where our container vulnerabilities lie and and where cloud… more »
    Top Answer:Aqua Security is easy to use and very manageable. Its main focus is on Kubernetes and Docker. Security is a very valuable feature and their speed of integration is very good. The initial setup was… more »
    Top Answer:The tool's dashboard and reporting capabilities match our company's needs since we are able to modify the basic view to create a new dashboard, and it works out very well for our needs.
    Top Answer:I rate the solution's price as seven on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive. The tool is quite expensive.
    Top Answer:The tool's initial configuration is not so easy. The hardware requirements related to the tool need to be better because we need a lot of memory to achieve speed in the solution. If our company needs… more »
    Ranking
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    8.4
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    Also Known As
    Palo Alto Networks Prisma Cloud, Prisma Public Cloud, RedLock Cloud 360, RedLock, Twistlock, Aporeto
    Tenable.sc, Tenable Unified Security, Tenable SecurityCenter
    Learn More
    Overview

    Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is a cloud security solution used for cloud security posture management, cloud workload protection, container security, and code security. It provides visibility, monitoring, and alerting for security issues in multi-cloud environments. 

    The solution is user-friendly, easy to set up, and integrates with SIEM for generating alerts and reports. Its most valuable features include security features, monitoring capabilities, reporting, compliance monitoring, vulnerability dashboard, data security features, and multi-cloud capabilities. Prisma Cloud has helped organizations by providing comprehensive protection, automating workflows, simplifying troubleshooting, and improving collaboration between SecOps and DevOps.

    Prisma Cloud Features

    Prisma Cloud offers comprehensive security coverage in all areas of the cloud development lifecycle:

    • Code security: Protect configurations, scan code before it enters production, and integrate with other tools.

    • Security posture management: Monitor posture, identify and remove threats, and provide compliance across public clouds.

    • Workload protection: Secure hosts and containers across the application lifecycle.

    • Network security: Gain network visibility and enforce micro segmentation.

    • Identity security: Enforce permissions and secure identities across clouds.

    Benefits of Prisma Cloud

    • Unified management: All users use the same dashboards built via shared onboarding, allowing cloud security to be addressed from a single agent framework.

    • High-speed onboarding: Multiple cloud accounts and users are onboarded within seconds, rapidly activating integrated security capabilities.

    • Multiple integration options: Prisma Cloud can integrate with widely used IDE, SCM, and CI/CD workflows early in development, enabling users to identify and fix vulnerabilities and compliance issues before they enter production. Prisma Cloud supports all major workflows, automation frameworks, and third-party tools.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Prisma Cloud stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its integration capabilities, as well as its visibility, which makes it very easy for users to get a full picture of the cloud environment.

    Alex J., an information security manager at Cobalt.io, writes, “Prisma Cloud has enabled us to take a very strong preventive approach to cloud security. One of the hardest things with cloud is getting visibility into workloads. With Prisma Cloud, you can go in and get that visibility, then set up policies to alert on risky behavior, e.g., if there are security groups or firewall ports open up. So, it is very helpful in preventing configuration errors in the cloud by having visibility. If there are issues, then you can find them and fix them.”

    Luke L., a cloud security specialist for a financial services firm, writes, “You can also integrate with Amazon Managed Services. You can also get a snapshot in time, whether that's over a 24-hour period, seven days, or a month, to determine what the estate might look like at a certain point in time and generate reports from that for vulnerability management forums.”

    Get a risk-based view of your IT, security and compliance posture so you can quickly identify, investigate and prioritize your most critical assets and vulnerabilities.

    Managed on-premises and powered by Nessus technology, the Tenable Security Center (formerly Tenable.sc) suite of products provides the industry’s most comprehensive vulnerability coverage with real-time continuous assessment of your network. It’s your complete end-to-end vulnerability management solution.

    Sample Customers
    Amgen, Genpact, Western Asset, Zipongo, Proofpoint, NerdWallet, Axfood, 21st Century Fox, Veeva Systems, Reinsurance Group of America
    IBM, Sempra Energy, Microsoft, Apple, Adidas, Union Pacific
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company33%
    Manufacturing Company18%
    Financial Services Firm18%
    Healthcare Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization14%
    Computer Software Company14%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm31%
    Comms Service Provider15%
    Manufacturing Company15%
    Computer Software Company12%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization17%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Government12%
    Financial Services Firm10%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise20%
    Large Enterprise52%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business17%
    Midsize Enterprise22%
    Large Enterprise61%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business35%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise46%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise27%
    Large Enterprise54%
    Buyer's Guide
    Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs. Tenable Security Center
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs. Tenable Security Center and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is ranked 1st in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) with 82 reviews while Tenable Security Center is ranked 10th in Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) with 48 reviews. Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is rated 8.4, while Tenable Security Center is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks writes "The dashboard is very user-friendly and can be used to generate custom RQL based on user requirements". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Tenable Security Center writes "A security solution for vulnerability assessment with automated scans". Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks is most compared with Wiz, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Aqua Cloud Security Platform, AWS Security Hub and CrowdStrike Falcon Cloud Security, whereas Tenable Security Center is most compared with Tenable Vulnerability Management, Qualys VMDR, Rapid7 InsightVM, Tenable Nessus and XM Cyber. See our Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs. Tenable Security Center report.

    See our list of best Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) vendors.

    We monitor all Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.