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PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition vs Tenable Nessus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

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

PortSwigger Burp Suite Ente...
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) (5th)
Tenable Nessus
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition is 1.2%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Nessus is 12.5%, down from 15.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

Hasan Abufreiha - PeerSpot reviewer
Used for web application auditing and security audits for web applications
I would advise users to limit Burp Suite usage to specific scenarios and applications. Users should use the solution as an expert testing tool instead of using it as a general scanner or for information gathering in general. The tool might be overwhelming initially for new users, but it will be easy after you get used to the UI, features, and options. PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition has been doing an amazing job for years compared to other similar tools. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.
HarshBhardiya - PeerSpot reviewer
Provided increased visibility across the organization's servers
The user interface of Tenable Nessus feels outdated and could be more user-friendly. Additionally, the documentation is not well-organized, which can be confusing when searching for solutions or specific information related to Tenable Nessus Professional. The reporting feature could be improved by allowing users to create their own templates instead of relying on predefined ones.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable part of it was probably the ability to intercept and modify calls."
"I like normal dynamic scanning, general web applications scanning, and vulnerability assessments."
"The solution's extensions really expand the capabilities and features offered by the installation."
"Parallel scans can be done with PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition."
"The product's initial setup phase was super easy."
"The initial setup is straightforward."
"The tool is loaded with many features that give us ROI."
"We are in the early stage of using the solution making it difficult to fully determine the best features. However, we have noticed the CMDB and device discovery features look valuable at this time."
"The initial setup of Tenable Nessus is very easy."
"Out of the box, the product works well for us, so it's not a tool that we need to customize very much."
"It notifies us of vulnerabilities as they arise, allowing us to respond quickly without manual intervention."
"Tenable Nessus has provided increased visibility across the organization's servers."
"Tenable Nessus is cheap and flexible."
"We looked at Tenable, Qualys and Rapid7. We found Tenable was the best of all three."
"Easy to set up vulnerability scanner with good stability and a responsive technical support team."
"It's scalable."
 

Cons

"The product needs to have the ability to evaluate more."
"The stability of the scans could be improved."
"Scalability could be better."
"The solution is a bit expensive."
"The implementation of the solution is quite complicated and could be easier."
"There's definitely room for improvement. There are lots of false positives. Once I do the manual assessment, it comes as a false positive. They need to improve the Enterprise Edition, especially the part that gives false positives."
"The cost per license per user could be cheaper, specifically for individual licensing."
"From my personal experience, the solution's performance could be improved."
"We have had some false positives in the past, which we hope can improve in the future."
"They could make their reporting a little better."
"Lacks some penetration testing-related services."
"The report for counters is too simple and would be improved by a dashboard."
"Sometimes, the categorization for clients was tricky at first, however, they eventually got used to it."
"The user interface of Tenable Nessus feels outdated and could be more user-friendly."
"We use credentialed scans. They need more permissions and more changes or settings on Windows and Linux."
"The reporting feature needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Although the solution can be a bit expensive for small companies, its pricing is fairly reasonable for its capabilities."
"For Professional, it's about $400 per year."
"The tool's pricing is reasonable and costs around 400 dollars per year."
"PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition is neither a cheap nor an expensive product. PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition is a good tool for companies."
"PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition is expensive compared to other solutions."
"Our organization is huge so our license costs $30,000."
"Nessus Manager is not an expensive product. It has its limitations, but the pricing reflects that. We have a yearly subscription."
"We incurred a single cost for a perpetual license, although I cannot comment on the price as this is above my management level."
"The price is reasonable."
"I would like to see better discounts."
"The price of Tenable Nessus could improve, it is expensive."
"Nowadays, your vulnerability applications are going to be kind of pricey because lots of them, including Rapid7, are based upon a base price, but then they add in the nodes. That's where they get you. If you're a big network, obviously, you need to scan everything. Therefore, it's going to be costly. The risk and insurance money associated with having ransomware on my networks is going to cost me more money, time, and marketing than the price of the tool. That's why I'm speaking only as an information security officer to security operations. This is the tool that is there in my toolbox to say whether we vulnerable or not. At this point, I don't care about how much it costs my company to have it because if I wasn't able to report it and we got ransomware, then who cares? I'm probably going to be out of business because it happened. That's why I don't care about the price. I have it, and I could use it effectively and do my report. At the end of the day, even if we get ransomware, as long as I reported it, followed my protocol, and put in the change, irrespective of whether it was ignored or denied, I did my job."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
41%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition?
Parallel scans can be done with PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition?
I am using the Community Edition, which is free, however, I understand there might be extra expenses for additional features or services.
What needs improvement with PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition?
It would be beneficial if Burp Suite provided predefined payloads for each attack category, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting, to automate some tasks more effectively.
How would you choose between Rapid7 InsightVM and Tenable Nessus?
You have full visibility across cloud, network, virtual, and containerized infrastructures with Rapid7 Insight VM. You can easily prioritize vulnerabilities using attacker analytics. Overall, Rapid...
What's the difference between Tenable Nessus and Tenable.io Vulnerability Management?
Tenable Nessus is a vulnerability assessment solution that is both easy to deploy and easy to manage. The design of the program is such that if a company should desire to handle the installation t...
What do you like most about Tenable Nessus?
We have around 500 virtual machines. Therefore, we conduct monthly scans and open tickets for our developers to address identified vulnerabilities. These scans cover the servers, other network equi...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nasa, Disney, Dow Jones, Iberia Bank, IBM, Ernest and Young, Apple, Ryanair, Thyssenkrupp, Delivery Hero
Bitbrains, Tesla, Just Eat, Crosskey Banking Solutions, Covenant Health, Youngstown State University
Find out what your peers are saying about PortSwigger Burp Suite Enterprise Edition vs. Tenable Nessus and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.