--- title: "Nessus Software Pricing, Alternatives & More 2026 | Capterra" description: "With the help of Capterra, learn about Nessus Software - reviews, pricing plans, popular comparisons to other Vulnerability Management products and more." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/130577/Nessus/" page_type: "product" language: "en" --- # Nessus Software Review 2026: Features, Integrations, Pros & Cons Last updated on August 20, 2026 Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Description](#description)[Use cases](#use-cases)[Alternatives](#alternatives)[FAQs](#faqs)[Features](#features)[Pricing](#pricing)[Support](#support)[Reviews](#reviews) Nessus ## What is Nessus? Built for security practitioners, by security professionals, Nessus Professional is the de-facto industry standard for vulnerability assessment. Nessus performs point-in-time assessments to help security professionals quickly identify and fix vulnerabilities, including software flaws, missing patches, malware, and misconfigurations. With features such as pre-built policies and templates, group snooze functionality, and real-time updates, it makes vulnerability assessment easy and intuitive. ## What is Nessus used for? [Vulnerability Scanner](https://www.capterra.com/vulnerability-scanner-software/)[Vulnerability Management](https://www.capterra.com/vulnerability-management-software/)[Network Security](https://www.capterra.com/network-security-software/) Top alternative Featured Overall rating Based on 94 user reviews Reviews sentiment Positive 98% Neutral 2% Negative 0% Starting price $4000.2 Flat Rate, One Time Free trial available Includes Free Version Capterra Shortlist charts the highest-rated and most popular products... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Do you work for Nessus?[Manage this product listing](https://digitalmarkets.gartner.com/get-listed/claim-bx?url=http://www.tenable.com/&name=Nessus) ## Compare with a popular alternative Capterra selects software alternatives based on relevant features, verified user reviews and user interactions. Placement may be influenced by client status. ### Nessus 4.7 (94) VS. [4.9 (332)](https://www.capterra.com/p/218549/UserWay/reviews/) Starting Price $4000.2 Flat Rate, One Time Starting Price $69 Other, Per Month Free Trial Free Version Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version Ease Of Use 4.6 (94) Ease Of Use 4.9 (42) Value For Money 4.5 (75) Value For Money 4.6 (36) Customer Service 4.3 (72) Customer Service 4.9 (36) ## Nessus alternatives [4.7 (6)](https://www.capterra.com/p/10015770/Aikido/#reviews) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 100% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [CyLock EVA](https://www.capterra.com/p/253040/CyLock-Anti-Hacker/) [4.9 (42)](https://www.capterra.com/p/253040/CyLock-Anti-Hacker/reviews/) Starting price $29.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 100% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/253040/CyLock-Anti-Hacker/) [Orca Security](https://www.capterra.com/p/188445/Orca-Security/) [4.8 (60)](https://www.capterra.com/p/188445/Orca-Security/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 100% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/188445/Orca-Security/) [ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus](https://www.capterra.com/p/185510/ManageEngine-Vulnerability-Manager-Plus/) [4.7 (41)](https://www.capterra.com/p/185510/ManageEngine-Vulnerability-Manager-Plus/reviews/) Starting price $695.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 95% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/185510/ManageEngine-Vulnerability-Manager-Plus/) [View all alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/130577/Nessus/alternatives/) ## FAQs about Nessus Overview ### What problems does Nessus solve? Nessus solves the problem of unknown network, server, cloud, and web application vulnerabilities by rapidly scanning assets, flagging missing patches and misconfigurations, and producing remediation-ready reports with CVEs and fix guidance. Security teams, system administrators, compliance managers, and auditors use it to speed assessments, prioritize patching, and support PCI and audit workflows. Answer based on 74 reviews Overview ### Which roles and teams benefit most from Nessus? Nessus is most used by security analysts, cybersecurity engineers, IT administrators, and security consultants who need to identify vulnerabilities, prioritize remediation, and validate system hardening. CISOs, IT managers, and executives use it to monitor risk exposure, support compliance efforts, and guide security decisions across infrastructure, networks, and applications. Answer based on 92 reviews Overview ### What company size and industries is Nessus built for? Nessus is built primarily for small businesses, which make up 49% of reviewers, especially in Information Technology and Services at 22% and Computer & Network Security at 19%. It also serves enterprises at 28% and midsize businesses at 23%, with vulnerability scanning as the most common use case. Answer based on 93 reviews Features and Usability ### What are the key features of Nessus? Nessus includes core vulnerability scanning for networks, web applications, and hosts, plus credentialed scans for deeper assessment. Reviewers most often highlight scan scheduling, customizable scan templates, and detailed reporting with CVE/CVSS-based findings and remediation guidance. Differentiating features include compliance scanning, plugin updates for new threats, API integrations, and dashboards. Answer based on 63 reviews Pricing ### How much does it cost and what fees or limitations are included? Nessus starts at $4,000.20 as a one-time fee for the 1-year Basic plan, with free version and free trial options available. The 2-year Plan 2 costs 7,800.39 and 3-year Plan 3 costs 11,400.60; advanced support adds 472 and training 230.10. Reviewers call pricing fair, but some find paid versions costly. Answer based on 21 reviews Integrations ### Which third-party tools and platforms does Nessus integrate with? Nessus integrates with Splunk Enterprise for sending scan results and connects with Unified VRM for broader vulnerability management workflows. Reviewer mentions confirm these two third-party platforms, covering security analytics and risk management use cases rather than a wide general-purpose app ecosystem. Answer based on 16 reviews Getting Started and Support ### What training and onboarding options does Nessus offer? Nessus offers live online training, webinars, documentation, and videos to help teams get started. Live online sessions and webinars can provide guided instruction, while documentation and videos support self-paced reference and step-by-step learning for product setup and feature review. Answer based on 2 reviews Getting Started and Support ### What customer support options does Nessus offer, and how do users rate the experience? Nessus offers email/help desk, FAQ/forum, knowledge base, phone support, and chat. Users often describe support as helpful and able to provide clear solutions, and training resources are seen as useful. However, some report weak assistance during setup, unresolved agent issues, and needing to troubleshoot problems on their own. Answer based on 10 reviews Scan functionality ### How well does Nessus handle vulnerability scanning? Nessus handles vulnerability scanning well for networks, servers, web apps, and compliance checks. Security teams value its broad scan types, current plugins, scheduling, and detailed findings with remediation guidance. Some users report slower scan times, heavy resource use, limited exclusions, and authentication issues with complex web applications or 2FA. Answer based on 55 reviews ## Features AI summary Based on 617 Vulnerability Management reviews Capterra data shows that buyers of vulnerability management software rank the following features as their top priorities: - **Vulnerability Scanning** (**66%** of reviewers rated this feature as critical) - **Vulnerability/Threat Prioritization** (**63%**) - **Patch Management** (**63%**) Nessus supports all three of the features reviewers rate most important: **Vulnerability Scanning**, **Vulnerability/Threat Prioritization**, and **Patch Management**. Combined, these capabilities help businesses identify security issues, focus on the most urgent risks first, and apply fixes more efficiently, allowing teams to reduce exposure and maintain a stronger security posture. Vulnerability Scanning 4.8 (17) 58.82% of 17 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Discover patch statuses and vulnerabilities Vulnerability/Threat Prioritization 4.5 (20) 60.00% of 20 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Classify levels of threat and organize actions based on priorities Vulnerability Assessment 4.7 (25) 68.00% of 25 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important The process of identifying, quantifying, and prioritizing the vulnerabilities in a system. Risk Assessment 4.3 (6) 16.67% of 6 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Initiate collection and analysis of known risks Network Scanning 4.7 (19) 68.42% of 19 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Scanning networks to identify security threats Web-Application Security 4.3 (17) 64.71% of 17 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Identify and respond to security threats to web applications Nessus 33 features ### All Features - Activity Dashboard: Dashboard to view the status of ongoing processes, identify current incidents and track past activities - Alerts/Notifications: Alerts or notifications of various types such as pop-up messages, sounds, banners, or badges - API: Application programming interface that allows for integration with other systems/databases - Application Security: Identify and respond to security threats to developed applications - Assessment Management: Creation, administration, and evaluation of assessments or tests - Audit Management: Plan, schedule, and execute organization's accounts and assets to ensure compliance with policies and laws - Audit Trail: A record of all activities within the system, including user access, changes made, etc. - Compliance Management: Track and manage adherence to policies for any service, product, process, or supplier - Compliance Tracking: Track and report regulatory data to either internal management or external stakeholders - Monitoring: Observe and track the demand, usage, progress or quality of a system, product, or user - Network Scanning: Scanning networks to identify security threats - Network Security: Prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible resources - Patch Management: Install software updates and bug fixes remotely - Penetration Testing: A simulated attack attempting to gain access to resources that they should not have access/permissions to perform operations. - Policy Management: Create, manage, and track policies and procedures within an organization - Real-Time Analytics: Analyze and gain insights into data in real-time - Real-Time Data: Receive data and information in real time - Real-Time Monitoring: Active monitoring of systems, applications, or networks - Real-Time Reporting: Active reporting of data and metrics - Reporting & Statistics: Collection, analysis, and representation of numerical data and generation of reports to understand various patterns - Reporting/Analytics: View and track pertinent metrics to find patterns and gain insights from data - Risk Analysis: Analyze potential risks across the organization - Risk Assessment: Initiate collection and analysis of known risks - Runtime Container Security: Continuously vetting activities within the container application environment including hosts, open ports, protocols and payloads. - Threat Intelligence: Information to prevent, understand and identify cyber threats - Threat Protection: Protect incoming and outgoing communications against malware, spam, display spoofing, and other threats - Vulnerability Assessment: The process of identifying, quantifying, and prioritizing the vulnerabilities in a system. - Vulnerability Management: Detect (and block) vulnerabilities and threats in your applications based on vulnerability information - Vulnerability Protection: Safeguards to protect network vulnerabilities - Vulnerability Scanning: Discover patch statuses and vulnerabilities - Vulnerability/Threat Prioritization: Classify levels of threat and organize actions based on priorities - Web-Application Security: Identify and respond to security threats to web applications - Website Crawling: Crawling and indexing web pages --- Get Advice We can help you find the software with the features you need. Features 4.6 (94) 4.6 Based on 94 reviews ## Pricing Value for money 4.5 (75) Free Trial Free Version [View pricing plan details](https://www.capterra.com/p/130577/Nessus/pricing/) Basic $4,000.2 Flat Rate,One Time It includes: - Accurate Visibility - Advanced Detection - Easy-to-Use - Phone/Community/Chat Support Plan 2 $7,800.39 Flat Rate,One Time It includes: - Accurate Visibility - Advanced Detection - Easy-to-Use - Phone/Community/Chat Support Plan 3 $11,400.6 Flat Rate,One Time It includes: - Accurate Visibility - Advanced Detection - Easy-to-Use - Phone/Community/Chat Support Value for money 4.5 (75) 4.5 Based on 75 reviews Connect with a Capterra advisor for a free 15-minute consultation Get a personalized software list aligned to your business needs with guidance from our expert advisors. Our team has helped 1 million+ businesses like yours find options that fit their needs. ## Support, customer service and training options Customer Service 4.3 (72) Support - Email/Help Desk - FAQs/Forum - Knowledge Base - Phone Support - 24/7 (Live rep) - Chat Training - In Person - Live Online - Webinars - Documentation - Videos Deployment - Web - Android - iPhone/iPad Typical users - Freelancers - Small businesses - Mid size businesses - Enterprises Customer Service 4.3 (72) 4.3 Based on 72 reviews ## User reviews Overall rating 4.7 Based on 94 reviews Filter by rating 5(66) 4(26) 3(2) 2(0) 1(0) Mentioned topic Sorted by most recent BS Ben S. Infrastructure Architect Education Management ### "If you are not already using Nessus as a core product for security scanning, you should start today. " 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 August 11, 2026 We have been using Nessus for years, and run full scans on a regular basis. Issues are resolved as soon as possible after detection and ones that cannot be resolved are documented and reported to management. Pros Nessus is an excellent vulnerability assessment tool that can be purchased at very low cost and provides tremendous value and protection to an organization. Their support is excellent, licensing is simple, and the product is always up to date with scanning for zero-day issues. Cons The only thing I wish Nessus would improve upon would be the ability to add devices into a custom group, and then be able to select that group for different scans and reports. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. JB Jeremy B. Offensive Security Consultant Computer & Network Security ### "Decent product with awful price tag" 3.0 Overall Rating 3.0 3.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 2.0 2.0 Likelihood to Recommend 3/10 May 8, 2025 Solid product, minus reporting. But massively overpriced and undermaintained. Pros good for discovery, fingerprinting, and finding CVEs for systems/software Cons performance is pretty poor, licensing experience is poor, does not normalize scope data, does not always show its work in scan output, lots of typos in finding text, filtering does not work as well as one would hope Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. KR Kiran R. Vulnerability Assessor Computer & Network Security ### "Tenable Nessus: Excellent tool for security testing" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 0.0 0.0 Likelihood to Recommend 9/10 February 3, 2025 This is one of the best tool I've used, very competent and shows great results. Accuracy of scans are good and detects most vulnerabilities like SQL injection, XSS, and other misconfigurations. Automated scans are very friendly to setup and compares scope to OWASP top 10 vulnerabilities. Overall performance is good and also doesn't overload website. We even have multiple tenable products and it's integration with tenable.io ecosystem is great. Pros API support for automation and integration into CI/CD pipelines. Great scanning capabilities with form based and token based authentication. Reporting of results with CVSS scoring are accurate and remediation fixes are provided by this tool itself Cons Handling of dynamic applications with complex authentication needs improvement. Scan timings takes more than ETA Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. AK Alex K. Systems Engineer Financial Services ### "Our auditors love Nessus Professional" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 December 19, 2024 Pros We love the overall ease of use and the amount of details that scans have along with the findings for quick remediation. Our auditors love the reporting. Cons Sometimes there are limitations in the scan exclusions. We would also like to see integrations with ticketing systems. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. KC Kevin C. IT Intern Warehousing ### "Great Software to Detect Vulnerabilities" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 December 12, 2024 Nessus has been a great tool for the company I work at. Deploying it is just a matter of installing it, and putting in the right information in the installation, which can be automated. Once it's installed, it just works. It detects every known vulnerability there is. Pros Vulnerability scanning in Nessus is very accurate, it rarely gets anything wrong. It is also easy to deploy. Cons The only downsides of Nessus that I have experienced are that sometimes it gets false positives, but not very often, and that the UI of the website can be finicky sometimes. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. GT Giuseppe T. Cybersecurity Consultant Computer & Network Security ### "Great vulnerability scanner" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 0.0 0.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 October 17, 2024 My overall experience with Nessus has been extremely positive. It's reliable, regularly updated, and the scan reports are easy to read and actionable. The speed at which it identifies vulnerabilities is impressive, and it's saved me countless hours of manual checks. Pros Nessus is hands down the most popular vulnerability scanner for good reason. It runs incredibly comprehensive vulnerability scans, catching everything from outdated software to complex misconfigurations. It's quick, efficient, and can be installed almost anywhere, which is a huge plus. The free version for personal use, covering up to 16 hosts, is more than enough for home networks or small businesses to get started. Cons No cons I can think of. It has all the features that a decent vulnerability scanner should have. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. AJ Abhijeet J. Lead Consultant Computer & Network Security ### "A Must have for MSSP" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 3.0 3.0 Customer Service 3.0 3.0 Likelihood to Recommend 8/10 September 5, 2024 Pros A Professional tool that gives stellar results Cons Price can be a bit steep for small businesses Switched from [Pentest-Tools.com](https://www.capterra.com/p/211194/Pentest-Tools-com/) Pentest-tools was lower on the price side but did not find any good vulnerabilities like Nessus did. Alternatives considered [Nexpose](https://www.capterra.com/p/238841/Nexpose/) Reasons for choosing Nessus As an MSSP, we need to give results to the customer and keep them safe from all vulnerabilities. We cannot choose an inferior product and negotiate with results. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. Gaurav P. Lead Security Consultant Information Technology and Services ### "Nessus Vulnerability Management - Thorough Scan of your Network" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 9/10 July 19, 2024 Used Nessus for quite some time now. Excellent product . Pros User Interface , Scan Profiling , Policy creation is easy and straightforward Cons Reporting features could be improved upon Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. Paul P. Responsable On-Premise and Cloud Infrastructure Retail ### "A good product to scan vulnerability but it's expensive" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 0.0 0.0 Likelihood to Recommend 7/10 June 26, 2024 Pros Nessus allows you to have vulnerability dashboards and allows rapid remediation Cons nessus is complicated to configure but also is a fairly expensive product Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. RB Robert B. ITO Financial Services ### "Great product. Nessus is an industry leader for a reason. " 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 June 7, 2024 Pros Nessus provides very valuable insight into network vulnerabilities and the remediation required to address the vulnerabilities. Nessus is and has been an industry leader for along time and is tried, tested, and true. Very good program that helps keep industries safe. Cons Nessus can be cost prohibitive and difficult to initially setup. Having employees with good technical knowledge will be important if implementing Nessus software, otherwise, outsourcing is a good option as well. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. [View all Reviews](https://www.capterra.com/p/130577/Nessus/reviews/) ## Top-rated software of 2026 ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox. Popular comparisons [CyLock EVA vs Nessus](https://www.capterra.com/compare/130577-253040/Nessus-vs-CyLock-Anti-Hacker)[ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus vs Nessus](https://www.capterra.com/compare/130577-185510/Nessus-vs-ManageEngine-Vulnerability-Manager-Plus) [Invicti vs Nessus](https://www.capterra.com/compare/130577-171539/Nessus-vs-Netsparker-Web-Application-Security-Scanner)[Acunetix vs Nessus](https://www.capterra.com/compare/130577-171379/Nessus-vs-Acunetix)