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Tenable Nessus vs Vulcan Cyber 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
2.5
Tenable Nessus excels in vulnerability management, boosting security, offering cost-efficiency, and enhancing threat detection and patch deployment.
Sentiment score
8.9
Vulcan Cyber significantly reduces time and resource usage, enabling quicker task completion and faster inter-team notifications.
With our vulnerability management platform, I used to get reports weekly, but with Vulcan Cyber, I get them daily.
Senior Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Our security team probably spends 15 minutes instead of two hours daily notifying the teams.
Technical Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
3.8
Tenable Nessus support is knowledgeable and efficient but sometimes delayed, with high overall satisfaction despite occasional response speed issues.
Sentiment score
6.5
Vulcan Cyber offers responsive support with good communication, but faces challenges in latency, integration delays, and feature request visibility.
We received support within one to three hours.
CIO at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Whenever any issue arises, we contact the support, and they are always there for us.
Information security engineer at Cyberisk
The technical support is good yet could improve in terms of response time.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
We do not necessarily have visibility of when those feature requests are going into the development pipeline.
Head of Cybersecurity at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It would enhance my experience if Vulcan informed customers of forthcoming maintenance or changes that might cause website downtime.
IT Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Their technical support team is very good, knowledgeable, and helpful.
Works at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.6
Tenable Nessus is scalable, adaptable, and well-regarded, though larger environments may face server and cloud storage challenges.
Sentiment score
7.6
Vulcan Cyber efficiently scales with diverse environments, integrating multiple data sources, handling high volumes, and earning positive ratings.
Whether managing 50 servers today or 500 tomorrow, performance or capacity are not hindered.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
Tenable Nessus is definitely scalable, especially for license formats designed for scalability.
Security Center Coordinator at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
We have a lot of assets under management, and it effectively scales up to accommodate hundreds or even thousands of assets.
IT Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I'd rate the scalability ten out of ten.
IT Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I would rate it ten out of ten for scalability, as integration with multiple connectors is possible without exceeding licensing limits.
Technical Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
5.7
Tenable Nessus is stable with reliable performance, minor update issues, occasional false positives, and rare network interference.
Sentiment score
7.0
Vulcan Cyber is generally stable, scoring high on stability, with minor UI issues and occasional communication lapses.
We have not encountered any issues with missing network items or errors in API and webhook interactions.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
The stability of Tenable Nessus is extraordinary.
Founder at Cipheroot
It would be better if Vulcan notified me, the customer, about upcoming maintenance or changes, indicating when the website might be down.
IT Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The product's stability is commendable, with no noticeable lags or slowness.
Technical Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
I would rate it a nine out of ten in terms of stability.
IT Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Tenable Nessus needs improved reporting, integration, and user interface, along with expanded capabilities, flexible pricing, and better documentation.
Vulcan Cyber users seek improved connectors, performance, simplified UI, better integration, enhanced reporting, and more effective data management.
This is Tenable's property. They want to sell Tenable Security Center, and they closed all the API capability for Tenable Nessus Professional.
Co-Founder at RSU Consultancy
The documentation is not well-organized, which can be confusing when searching for solutions or specific information related to Tenable Nessus Professional.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
The product's pricing has roughly tripled within the last couple of years, making us reconsider renewing the license for the scanner.
Security Center Coordinator at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
It would be beneficial if the platform allowed remote access to devices for immediate remedies.
IT Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Providing real-world examples of how to construct a ticket format for Jira, Azure DevOps, or ServiceNow with specific examples would help us understand how it might work in our environment.
Head of Cybersecurity at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Having it more customized or providing more customization options for me would be beneficial.
IT Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise evaluations praise Tenable Nessus for competitive pricing, though licensing flexibility issues may increase costs for larger networks.
Vulcan Cyber is affordably priced but lacks some features, leading to cost-effectiveness questions despite competitive enterprise appeal.
The pricing for Tenable Nessus has increased significantly, tripling over the last few years.
Security Center Coordinator at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
Tenable Nessus's pricing is adequate if it is fully utilized.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Tenable Nessus is that the installation is somewhat easier, but preparing the product, such as the SKU and license options, is quite tricky.
Senior Security Consultant at ITSEC Asia
For our use case, the solution is lacking some features, and the cost savings don't make it worth it.
Head of Cybersecurity at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Tenable Nessus offers comprehensive vulnerability coverage, flexible scanning, ease of use, affordable pricing, and effective integration, enhancing security management.
Vulcan Cyber integrates data for comprehensive risk insights, offering intuitive interfaces, customization, and efficient vulnerability management with strong support.
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.
Founder at Cipheroot
The scanning and reporting features are the most valuable aspects of Tenable Nessus.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable features of Tenable Nessus include its ease of access and quick usability.
Security Center Coordinator at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
It offers a comprehensive view of the assets and their associated vulnerabilities, which aids in assessing and mitigating threats.
IT Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The automation capabilities using the Vulcan API platform or the API feature allow me to easily automate scripts and reports and schedule them.
Senior Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Instead of having 100 vulnerabilities and not knowing how to prioritize and assign all your FTEs there, you now have only ten that you know you need to fix, and you're assigning the right number of FTEs.
IT Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Tenable Nessus
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
87
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Vulcan Cyber
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
25th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (9th), Cloud Security Remediation (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Tenable Nessus is 5.1%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Vulcan Cyber is 0.6%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Tenable Nessus5.1%
Vulcan Cyber0.6%
Other94.3%
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

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.
reviewer2649297 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
Streamlines prioritization but reporting needs enhancement
There are several areas needing improvement. The product helps, but the reporting relies heavily on Power BI. It is limited to graphical views and requires additional filtering, posing operational challenges. The inability to download specific asset details directly from the Power BI portal is a drawback, particularly for non-technical users, though it provides high-level executive summaries. The reporting model should be enhanced so that we have the flexibility to download. We have requested a few features, and they are open to accepting those requests. It needs ITSM improvements. It has out-of-the-box integration with ServiceNow, but the customer is using BMC Helix ITSM. We would like an integration with BMC Helix ITSM. When uploading CSV files without an out-of-the-box connector, duplicate entries for assets occur. We have already reported this to them, but we are not sure when they will fix it. It will significantly benefit if we can directly upload business context information from CMDB without manual merging efforts. It can also have automatic remediation capabilities through SCCM or something else.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
27%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business39
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise35
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Large Enterprise10
 

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Vulcan Cyber?
I don't deal with the pricing of the solution. I'm not a part of that department.
What needs improvement with Vulcan Cyber?
One area for improvement is clarity in the results column of vulnerability reports. Currently, the path where the vulnerability lies is not clear, so Vulcan needs to work on specifying the correct ...
What is your primary use case for Vulcan Cyber?
I have been using the solution for more than six months. Essentially, any reporting I do for our internal Internet assets involves using Vulcan. The primary use of Vulcan is extracting the reports,...
 

Interactive Demo

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bitbrains, Tesla, Just Eat, Crosskey Banking Solutions, Covenant Health, Youngstown State University
Stitch Fix, Mandiant, Wealthsimple, Entrust, Anaplan, Deloitte, Origami Risk, Verana Health
Find out what your peers are saying about Tenable Nessus vs. Vulcan Cyber and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.