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Salt Security vs Tenable Nessus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Salt Security
Average Rating
0.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.7
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
API Security (5th), AI Security (14th)
Tenable Nessus
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
87
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. Salt Security is designed for API Security and holds a mindshare of 7.7%, down 13.8% compared to last year.
Tenable Nessus, on the other hand, focuses on Vulnerability Management, holds 5.2% mindshare, down 10.3% since last year.
API Security Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Salt Security7.7%
Akamai API Security9.8%
Imperva Application Security Platform7.9%
Other74.6%
API Security
Vulnerability Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Tenable Nessus5.2%
Wiz7.5%
Qualys VMDR5.0%
Other82.3%
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

IgmarRautenbach - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at Tegra
Provides visibility and control over all APIs
I've built integrations for different systems, and some specific integrations might not be built in yet. This might be an issue for large customers but is not a major concern overall. So, the integration part could be a bit extended. Every organization has different systems, but Salt integrates with 90% of them. If a custom integration is needed, they can build it. They're very good at integrations. So, Salt Security can provide a proof of concept with system integration and share results within two weeks, which often leads to customer purchases. At this point, the product covers everything needed. They keep adding new features, and my local customers haven't requested any missing functionality. The product roadmap is good for the market.
MohammedJaffir - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder at Cipheroot
Has enabled me to reduce false positives and perform deep credential auditing with seamless integrations
I mostly use the configuration audit feature for the audit configuration as a scan policy, and I will use it for credential audit, which helps me scan credentials access such as local administrator or root access, performing a deeper and more accurate check of local configuration settings and file systems, making it a highly recommended feature. Regarding integration capabilities, we can integrate Tenable Nessus with SIM tools such as Splunk, IBM QRadar, and Azure Sentinel, as well as with ticketing systems such as ServiceNow, Jira, and Slack. There is no complexity as it is very easy to integrate everything. In terms of the reporting feature, while vulnerability scanning can throw some false positives, Tenable Nessus has very few, achieving a reduction of 75% to 80% false positives with manual analysis needed. We can generate standard Nessus reports that typically include host summaries and vulnerabilities by host and plugin, alongside solutions and remediation recommendations. The main benefits I get from Tenable Nessus are complete asset inventory and comprehensive attack surface management, allowing us to prioritize vulnerabilities based on risk, focusing on true risk and threat path analysis.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's really great. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. I haven't encountered any instability issues."
"The initial setup is very straightforward."
"Tenable Nessus is one of the best vulnerability assessment tools, that I know."
"We looked at Tenable, Qualys and Rapid7. We found Tenable was the best of all three."
"You can then direct your team to create a report on the discovered vulnerabilities."
"User friendly and good dashboards."
"The value that Tenable Nessus brings to my company is significant because we can see risks; it is also good to see the pages risk and system risks, and it saves money."
"The features of Tenable Nessus that I have found most valuable are its reliability and its ability to collate a dependable output, where we are able to get the same vulnerability when we test manually. The output is quite reliable."
"The solution is very stable."
 

Cons

"The integration part could be a bit extended."
"Scans aren't done properly and some devices aren't pinged."
"The price could be more reasonable. I used the free Nessus version in my lab with which you can only scan 16 IP addresses. If I wanted to put it in the lab in my network at work, and I'm doing a test project that has over 30 nodes in it, I can't use the free version of Nessus to scan it because there are only 16 IP addresses. I can't get an accurate scan. The biggest thing with all the cybersecurity tools out there nowadays, especially in 2020, is that there's a rush to get a lot of skilled cybersecurity analysts out there. Some of these companies need to realize that a lot of us are working from home and doing proof of concepts, and some of them don't even offer trials, or you get a trial and it is only 16 IP addresses. I can't really do anything with it past 16. I'm either guessing or I'm doing double work to do my scans. Let's say there was a license for 50 users or 50 IP addresses. I would spend about 200 bucks for that license to accomplish my job. This is the biggest complaint I have as of right now with all cybersecurity tools, including Rapid7, out there, especially if I'm in a company that is trying to build its cybersecurity program. How am I going to tell my boss, who has no real budget of what he needs to build his cybersecurity program, to go spend over $100,000 for a tool he has never seen, whereas, it would pack the punch if I could say, "Let me spend 200 bucks for a 50 user IP address license of this product, do a proof of concept to scan 50 nodes, and provide the reason for why we need it." I've been a director, and now I'm an ISO. When I was a director, I had a budget for an IT department, so I know how budgets work. As an ISO, the only thing that's missing from my C-level is I don't have to deal with employees and budgets, but I have everything else. It's hard for me to build the program and say, "Hey, I need these tools." If I can't get a trial, I would scratch that off the list and find something else. I'm trying to set up Tenable.io to do external PCI scans. The documentation says to put in your IP addresses or your external IP addresses. However, if the IP address is not routable, then it says that you have to use an internal agent to scan. This means that you set up a Nessus agent internally and scan, which makes sense. However, it doesn't work because when you use the plugin and tell it that it is a PCI external, it says, "You cannot use an internal agent to scan external." The documentation needs to be a little bit more clear about that. It needs to say if you're using the PCI external plugin, all IP addresses must be external and routable. It should tell the person who's setting it up, "Wait a minute. If you have an MPLS network and you're in a multi-tenant environment and the people who hold the network schema only provide you with the IP addresses just for your tenant, then you are not going to know what the actual true IP address that Tenable needs to do a PCI scan." I've been working on Tenable.io to set up PCI scans for the last ten days. I have been going back and forth to the network thinking I need this or that only to find out that I'm teaching their team, "Hey, you know what, guys? I need you to look past your MPLS network. I need you to go to the edge's edge. Here's who you need to ask to give me the whitelist to allow here." I had the blurb that says the plugin for external PCI must be reachable, and you cannot use an internal agent. I could have cut a few days because I thought I had it, but then when I ran it, it said that you can't run it this way. I wasted a few hours in a day. In terms of new features, it doesn't require new features. It is a tool that has been out there for years. It is used in the cybersecurity community. It has got the CV database in it, and there are other plugins that you could pass through. It has got APIs you can attach to it. They can just improve the database and continue adding to the database and the plugins to make sure those don't have false positives. If you're a restaurant and you focus on fried chicken, you have no business doing hamburgers."
"They could make their reporting a little better."
"You can scale Nessus to the extent that you can afford it. You need to have a license for every device you scan. As long as you can afford the increased costs, you won't have a problem scaling it."
"Sometimes, the categorization for clients was tricky at first, however, they eventually got used to it."
"The tool needs to upgrade asset tracking."
"We'd like to see more integration potential within the solution."
"One significant drawback we encounter is the tool's tendency to flag patched packages incorrectly. For instance, if a package is patched by Debian maintainers but not updated to a major or minor version, Nessus may still flag it as vulnerable based on its database. This discrepancy leads to false alarms and requires our developers, system admins, and DevOps teams to address them."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The product is free."
"The pricing is much more manageable versus other products."
"The price is high for the solution. There are free tools with similar functionality available. The solution cost approximately $3,500."
"When comparing the price of Tenable Nessus to other similar solutions, such as Acunetix, Tenable Nessus is not as expensive. It is averagely priced in the market. We pay for the solution annually."
"I think the price is fairly affordable. It provides a license that is fair."
"Nessus is affordable, but its licensing model could be improved with more flexibility for adding assets."
"Cost-wise, it's an affordable tool."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
24%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business39
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise35
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Salt Security?
It's really great. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten. I haven't encountered any instability issues.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salt Security?
It is an annual subscription fee. It's very affordable. The value it provides justifies the cost, considering automation and availability features. Compared to other solutions, it's within a typica...
What needs improvement with Salt Security?
I've built integrations for different systems, and some specific integrations might not be built in yet. This might be an issue for large customers but is not a major concern overall. So, the integ...
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...
 

Also Known As

Salt Security API Protection Platform
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Appsflyer, Armis, City National Bank, Coralogix, Finastra, Gett, Honeybook, Payoneer
Bitbrains, Tesla, Just Eat, Crosskey Banking Solutions, Covenant Health, Youngstown State University
Find out what your peers are saying about Akamai, Imperva, Checkmarx and others in API Security. Updated: January 2026.
881,282 professionals have used our research since 2012.