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Rapid7 InsightVM vs Tenable Nessus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.1
Rapid7 InsightVM customer service is praised for knowledge and professionalism but criticized for occasional delays and variable responsiveness.
Sentiment score
7.6
Tenable Nessus support is responsive and helpful, though users note response time variability and desire clearer API documentation.
 

Room For Improvement

Sentiment score
4.9
Rapid7 InsightVM needs integration enhancements, scalability improvements, better pricing, user experience, and modern features like mobile apps.
Sentiment score
5.6
Tenable Nessus requires enhancements in reporting, cloud integration, device support, automation, and security features for enterprise optimization.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Rapid7 InsightVM is highly scalable, adaptable for various organization sizes, efficiently handling extensive assets, but faces report generation challenges.
Sentiment score
6.6
Tenable Nessus is scalable for small to medium users, but large users may face challenges with data and bandwidth.
 

Setup Cost

Sentiment score
5.4
Rapid7 InsightVM pricing varies from $30 monthly to $100,000 annually, based on asset usage and number of IPs.
Sentiment score
6.4
Tenable Nessus offers competitive pricing with flexible licensing and discounts, praised for its value despite occasional cost concerns.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Rapid7 InsightVM is praised for stability and reliability, despite minor issues, with ratings typically between seven and nine.
Sentiment score
7.5
Tenable Nessus is stable and reliable, with users appreciating its consistent performance despite minor configuration and update issues.
 

Valuable Features

Sentiment score
8.0
Rapid7 InsightVM excels in vulnerability scanning, integration, risk prioritization, ease of use, and cost-effective, scalable asset management.
Sentiment score
8.0
Tenable Nessus is valued for its thorough vulnerability detection, user-friendly interface, fast scanning, and affordable, reliable security management.
 

Categories and Ranking

Rapid7 InsightVM
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
59
Ranking in other categories
Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (4th)
Tenable Nessus
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
78
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. Rapid7 InsightVM is designed for Risk-Based Vulnerability Management and holds a mindshare of 18.8%, up 13.6% compared to last year.
Tenable Nessus, on the other hand, focuses on Vulnerability Management, holds 13.2% mindshare, down 16.3% since last year.
Risk-Based Vulnerability Management
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

Shakeel Ahmad - PeerSpot reviewer
Brilliant audit report and scorecard but scans often get blocked by firewalls
The solution cannot scan third-party tools that have firewalls within them. The firewalls detect and block the solution. Conversely, Nexus is able to bypass firewalls because it has low detectability. We use Nexus when the solution cannot bypass a firewall. The solution can scan 60% of the time but Nexus can scan 90% of the time. The solution needs to improve its vulnerability design to include CVC results. Nexus has a good, long range and a good database for finding CVC numbers. We need this level of security detail but the solution does not seem to provide it.
Matthew Weisler - PeerSpot reviewer
Unlimited assets for one price and quick, agentless results
The solution has a single price for unlimited assets. Value wise, the solution is also great for pen testers and consultants. The solution is useful for vulnerability and patch management from both the internal and public facing sides. Quick assessments, compliance scores, and results are provided without having to do agents.
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816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Answers from the Community

NC
Nov 8, 2021
Nov 8, 2021
You have full visibility across cloud, network, virtual, and containerized infrastructures with Rapid7 Insight VM. You can easily prioritize vulnerabilities using attacker analytics. Overall, Rapid7 Insight VM is easy to understand, use, and deploy. This solution supplies many different types of valuable reporting and rarely reports false positives. Rapid7 can easily detect new devices and scan...
See 2 answers
MI
Sep 6, 2021
InsightVM - better functions on granting users different access to different asset groups.  It fits better for our company and is slightly cheaper.
Nov 8, 2021
You have full visibility across cloud, network, virtual, and containerized infrastructures with Rapid7 Insight VM. You can easily prioritize vulnerabilities using attacker analytics. Overall, Rapid7 Insight VM is easy to understand, use, and deploy. This solution supplies many different types of valuable reporting and rarely reports false positives. Rapid7 can easily detect new devices and scan endpoints quickly for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, or missing patches. Rapid7 Insight VM will identify the risk and suggest how to resolve the problem. We would like to see the reporting improved to offer some of the options other solutions provide. Rapid7 Insight VM can be a very expensive solution - it is really only for larger enterprise accounts. Integration with other solutions would make Rapid7 Insight VM more desirable. It’s easy to combine local testing with network-based testing using Tenable Nessus, which can easily find vulnerabilities across different platforms and operating systems. Tenable Nessus will identify what nodes you have in place, then provide you with a report identifying each vulnerability found by node. It works quickly and stealthily, and offers clear-cut reporting and the ability to scan for specific vulnerabilities. We would like to see the reporting process with Tenable Nessus improved. Instead of only PDF reports, one option might be to track with an Excel-based structure to better track vulnerabilities and remediation efforts and build reports from there. An option to use the same license for the cloud and on-premises at the same time would be very useful. Conclusion We felt that Tenable Nessus provided better reporting of vulnerabilities per device in a clearer, easier to understand manner. It is a very easy solution to use and makes accountability for tracing and reporting vulnerabilities easy. The flexible scanning options offered by Tenable Nessus are what we found most advantageous.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
40%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Educational Organization
39%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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 do you like most about Rapid7 InsightVM?
The product's initial setup phase was very easy.
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Tenable Nessus?
It is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing an eight out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive.
 

Also Known As

InsightVM, NeXpose
No data available
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

ACS, Acosta, AllianceData, amazon.com, biogen idec, CBRE, CATERPILLAR, Deloitte, COACH, GameStop, IBM
Bitbrains, Tesla, Just Eat, Crosskey Banking Solutions, Covenant Health, Youngstown State University
Find out what your peers are saying about Rapid7 InsightVM vs. Tenable Nessus and other solutions. Updated: March 2023.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.