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

Tenable Nessus vs Tenable Vulnerability Management comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 12, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.1
Tenable Nessus efficiently manages vulnerabilities, enhancing security and reducing costs, providing a high return on investment for organizations.
Sentiment score
8.1
Tenable Vulnerability Management enhances ROI by transforming vulnerabilities into actionable tasks, valued for visibility and cost-effective detection.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.9
Tenable Nessus support is responsive and helpful, though delays and complex issues may require improved development support.
Sentiment score
5.9
Tenable support is quick for basic issues but slow on complex ones; users want faster response and clearer processes.
Whenever any issue arises, we contact the support, and they are always there for us.
The technical support is good yet could improve in terms of response time.
It needs improvement in response time and addressing feature requests promptly.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Tenable Nessus scales well across networks, though licensing affects scalability, and challenges arise with internet bandwidth and data storage.
Sentiment score
7.4
Tenable Vulnerability Management is highly scalable, supporting many users and assets, despite initial licensing challenges, with strong growth prospects.
Whether managing 50 servers today or 500 tomorrow, performance or capacity are not hindered.
They can seamlessly scale the number of endpoints from 100 to 1,000,000 in a day.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
Tenable Nessus is stable, reliable, and performs well, though users report rare minor issues like update delays and sluggishness.
Sentiment score
8.0
Tenable Vulnerability Management is stable and reliable, with few issues, strong infrastructure, and high user ratings.
We have not encountered any issues with missing network items or errors in API and webhook interactions.
I have faced no stability issues with Tenable.
The stability is commendable, and I would rate Tenable ten out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Tenable Nessus needs better reporting, interface, cloud transition, role-based access, and comprehensive scanning with improved asset and vulnerability management.
Tenable's interface, support, and customization need improvement, with pricing concerns and performance challenges impacting small businesses.
The documentation is not well-organized, which can be confusing when searching for solutions or specific information related to Tenable Nessus Professional.
I would suggest HP WebInspect as a better option than Tenable.io.
They should also accelerate the process of implementing new features upon request.
 

Setup Cost

Tenable Nessus offers competitive pricing, typically $2,500-$4,300 annually, but smaller organizations seek more flexible and affordable options.
Tenable's pricing is seen as high by enterprises, with costs based on assets, prompting suggestions for flexible payment options.
Tenable Nessus's pricing is adequate if it is fully utilized.
Tenable charges around $40 per device, while Rapid7 costs $10 to $15 per device.
 

Valuable Features

Tenable Nessus offers comprehensive scanning, user-friendly interface, extensive vulnerability coverage, and affordable pricing, excelling in vulnerability management and compliance.
Tenable Vulnerability Management excels in interface, scalability, and integration, offering strong cloud capabilities, risk prioritization, and continuous monitoring.
The scanning and reporting features are the most valuable aspects of Tenable Nessus.
The features I personally like include host discovery.
Tenable enables vulnerability management through potential AI integration that consolidates efforts and resolves multiple vulnerabilities simultaneously.
It provides survivability benefits. It helps me understand if the system is capable of withstanding certain levels of stress.
 

Categories and Ranking

Tenable Nessus
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
80
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Tenable Vulnerability Manag...
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Tenable Nessus is 8.6%, down from 11.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Vulnerability Management is 6.0%, down from 8.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management
 

Q&A Highlights

NC
Nov 24, 2021
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Mani Bommisetty - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlines vulnerability management with excellent reporting and potential AI integration
Tenable is user-friendly and excels in reporting. It allows me to easily fetch and schedule reports. The software's discovery feature aids in strengthening our security posture. The single-sensor installation process on various operating systems is smooth, unlike Rapid7, which requires different versions for separate systems. Furthermore, Tenable enables vulnerability management through potential AI integration that consolidates efforts and resolves multiple vulnerabilities simultaneously.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Vulnerability Management solutions are best for your needs.
841,004 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Answers from the Community

NC
Nov 24, 2021
Nov 24, 2021
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 themselves, they would be able to do so. The updates that the program requires to keep up-to-date take up a large portion of the setup time. Tenable Nessus can be deployed in under an hour. The speed o...
See 2 answers
DG
Nov 7, 2021
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 themselves, they would be able to do so. The updates that the program requires to keep up-to-date take up a large portion of the setup time. Tenable Nessus can be deployed in under an hour. The speed of an organization’s internet can impact how quickly the deployment will go. Furthermore, once it has been set up, only a small management team is necessary for maintenance. Tenable Nessus is an incredibly important program that provides businesses and organizations with robust protection. This ease of deployment and management gives it an edge over the competition. Tenable.io Vulnerability Management is basically comparable to Tenable Nessus in regards to setup and management. It is relatively straightforward to set up. A single person could deploy it in a non-business setting in a matter of hours. The setup can be handled without requiring a business to rely on the help of outside consultants. As with Tenable Nessus, a small team of two or three people is all that is necessary to manage the solution. Organizations can save a great deal of time and resources by choosing to utilize this solution. Tenable Nessus is a solution with good scalability. This can be accomplished with relative ease. However, the load that it can handle makes it a poor fit for larger organizations. At a certain point, the farther up you scale it, the more the solution quality diminishes. Tenable.io Vulnerability Management is able to offer a much higher level of scalability. It is typically used without trouble by organizations with many thousands of users. As with Tenable Nessus, the process is relatively simple. Conclusion: The actual difference in time and ease as far as deploying Tenable Nessus versus Tenable.io Vulnerability Management is negligible and cannot truly set one apart from the other. Ease of management is another area where these two solutions are very similar. A major difference between them is their scalability. While both can be scaled relatively easily, Tenable.io Vulnerability Management is able to handle a higher level of scalability, with the diminishment of quality being a far lesser concern than is the case with Tenable Nessus.
Jairo Willian Pereira - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 24, 2021
Both, but I prefer Nessus Pro (costs and you can define out-of-band your better presentation/xLAP platform). Tenable.io has its facilities and extra plugins/views/analytics, but nothing that can't be externally performed by another ETL/presentation tool (for a fraction of cost, sometimes using free toolings like Pentaho, OpenRefine, OBIEE and others).
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
42%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Government
6%
Educational Organization
32%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
 

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'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 needs improvement with Tenable.io Vulnerability Management?
I would suggest HP WebInspect as a better option than Tenable.io. My current client doesn't have access to it. However, from my experience, HPE WebInspect provides more extensive reports and detail...
What advice do you have for others considering Tenable.io Vulnerability Management?
I would rate it four out of ten. For startups, freelancers, or companies between startup and midsize, Tenable is recommended. However, for midsize or enterprise-level companies, I would not prefer ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Tenable.io
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bitbrains, Tesla, Just Eat, Crosskey Banking Solutions, Covenant Health, Youngstown State University
Global Payments AU/NZ
Find out what your peers are saying about Tenable Nessus vs. Tenable Vulnerability Management and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
841,004 professionals have used our research since 2012.