Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Rapid7 Metasploit vs Tenable Nessus comparison

Sponsored
 

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

Zafran Security
Sponsored
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
27th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (6th)
Rapid7 Metasploit
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
20th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Tenable Nessus
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Zafran Security is 0.4%. The mindshare of Rapid7 Metasploit is 1.6%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Nessus is 10.2%, down from 13.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

Israel Cavazos Landini - PeerSpot reviewer
Weekly insights and risk analysis facilitate informed security decisions
I appreciate the weekly insights Zafran provides, which include critical topics for networks and IT security, allowing us to evaluate which insights apply to our environment. The organization score feature is valuable to keep the leadership team updated on how our infrastructure fares security-wise. The applicable risk level versus base risk level feature is beneficial because prior to Zafran, we only used the base risk level, but now understand that risk depends on the asset itself. Zafran is an excellent tool.
Mani Bommisetty - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive insights with robust vulnerability detection and streamlined alert management
Rapid7 has a significant advantage in providing a clear picture of my environment. It provides insight and incident detection response capabilities. When deployed with the same agent in servers or endpoints, it identifies vulnerabilities and monitors data transmission to external sources. Rapid7 offers comprehensive features within one platform, eliminating the need to integrate multiple tools to see all alerts in one place.
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

"We are able to see the real risk of a vulnerability on our environment with our security tools."
"Zafran is an excellent tool."
"Zafran has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."
"The reporting on the solution is good."
"I don't have any other tools like it, and I always use it when I'm doing a pen test. Metasploit is a great solution for penetration testing,"
"Technical support has been helpful and responsive."
"Rapid7 Metasploit is a useful product."
"The solution is open source and has many small targetted penetration tests that have been written by many people that are useful. You can choose different subjects for the test, such as Oracle databases or Apache servers."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."
"Rapid7 has a significant advantage in providing a clear picture of my environment."
"It's not possible to do penetration testing without being very proficient in Metasploit."
"Tenable Nessus has provided increased visibility across the organization's servers."
"The most valuable features of Tenable Nessus are the scanning option. Advanced scanning is highly useful. The offline config audits and application assessments are useful."
"Its initial setup was simple and straightforward."
"A valuable feature of the solution is that it is easy to understand."
"It is easy to deploy and easy to use. Its reporting is good. From this reporting, you can see the pain point in your network, which makes it easy to fix them. It is easy to understand the reports and export them."
"The solution is easy to understand for users because instructions are included on the platform."
"The most valuable feature of Tenable Nessus is the GUI and user-friendliness. Additionally, the environment is easy to work with."
"The most valuable feature is the installation of Tenable which is incredibly easy."
 

Cons

"Initially, we were somewhat concerned about the scalability of Zafran due to our large asset count and the substantial amount of information we needed to process."
"The solution should improve the responsiveness of its live technical support."
"Rapid7 Metasploit could be made easier for new users to learn."
"Better automation capabilities would be an improvement."
"We'd like them to offer better coverage of malware."
"There are numerous outdated exploits in their database that should be updated."
"The database is not always updated with the latest vulnerabilities or zero-day exploits. If a vulnerability arises a month or two ago, it might not be included in the database, which is something I would like to see improved."
"The database is not always updated with the latest vulnerabilities or zero-day exploits."
"The solution is not very scalable, it does not provide any automation to be able to scale it."
"EQA's and dashboards should be addressed in the next release."
"They could make their reporting a little better."
"We use credentialed scans. They need more permissions and more changes or settings on Windows and Linux."
"We'd like to see more integration potential within the solution."
"The user interface of Tenable Nessus feels outdated and could be more user-friendly."
"Sometimes, the categorization for clients was tricky at first, however, they eventually got used to it."
"The solution could improve by having better integration with different vendors' IPS solutions. The ACLs and IPS policies signatures should be enabled based on the results of Tenable Nessus automatically, we currently have to do it manually which is very time-consuming. It has done a good job integrating with Fortinet but we would like it to be better integrated with other solutions that we have."
"In terms of what could be improved, I would say its reporting portion."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"We pay monthly. The pricing is reasonable."
"The pricing structure involves a one-time purchase cost of approximately twenty thousand dollars or euros for all customers."
"It is a reasonably priced solution. I would rate it from five out of ten."
"Rapid7 Metasploit is cheaper than Tenable.io Vulnerability Management."
"Rapid7 Metasploit is an open-source solution."
"It is expensive. Our license expired, and our company is not thinking to renew because of our budget."
"I use the open-source version of this product. Pricing is not relevant."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the product's pricing a six. So it's fairly priced."
"Tenable Nessus needs to be licensed. We own a license for the security center and that license is charged by the number of IP addresses that you can scan. You're allowed to have as many scanners as you want and there's no license for the number of scanners. We have a bunch of Nessus scanners out there, and as long as we're comfortable with staying under that IP address limit, that's really all we have to be concerned about."
"The price is okay. I would give it a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"The product is free."
"The cost is around $4,300 per year. Use is unlimited. You don't pay more if you want to use it for another IP."
"There is an annual license required to use this solution."
"The solution has a single price for unlimited assets."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Vulnerability Management solutions are best for your needs.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
7%
Educational Organization
38%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zafran Security?
I find that the pricing for Zafran aligns well with the comprehensive features it offers. The asset and user-based li...
What needs improvement with Zafran Security?
While Zafran Security is already a powerful tool, there are areas where it could be further improved to provide even ...
What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?
Our primary use case for Zafran involves leveraging it to enhance our vulnerability risk scoring methodology. In toda...
What do you like most about Rapid7 Metasploit?
I use Rapid7 Metasploit for payload generation and Post-Exploitation.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rapid7 Metasploit?
Metasploit is cheaper than Nessus and offers a more robust community edition that provides a good experience for stud...
What needs improvement with Rapid7 Metasploit?
While Metasploit excels in vulnerability assessment, it could improve in vulnerability management. Nessus currently h...
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. Yo...
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 ...
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 addre...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Metasploit
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
City of Corpus Christi, Diebold, Lumenate, Nebraska Public Power District, Prairie North Regional Health, Apptio, Automation Direct, Bob's Stores, Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions, Carnegie Mellon University
Bitbrains, Tesla, Just Eat, Crosskey Banking Solutions, Covenant Health, Youngstown State University
Find out what your peers are saying about Rapid7 Metasploit vs. Tenable Nessus and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
848,716 professionals have used our research since 2012.