Fortra's Alert Logic MDR vs Tenable Nessus comparison

Fortra and Tenable are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Fortra is ranked #28 with an average rating of 10.0, while Tenable is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6. Fortra holds a 0.6% mindshare in VM, compared to Tenable’s 7.3% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Fortra users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Tenable users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Fortra's Alert Logic MDR and Tenable Nessus compete in the cybersecurity space, each with unique strengths. Alert Logic MDR is favored for comprehensive threat detection, while Tenable Nessus is recognized for robust vulnerability assessment tools.

Features: Alert Logic MDR offers continuous threat monitoring, rapid response times, and proactive threat management. Tenable Nessus provides detailed vulnerability scanning, extensive plugin support, and a focus on vulnerability assessment.

Room for Improvement: Alert Logic MDR could enhance its initial setup process, pricing transparency, and reporting interfaces. Tenable Nessus might improve ease of deployment, support documentation, and integration capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Alert Logic MDR integrates seamlessly with cloud platforms and provides proactive customer support, simplifying deployment. Tenable Nessus, while more complex in setup, offers strong support initiatives.

Pricing and ROI: Alert Logic MDR requires a higher initial investment but delivers a strong ROI through comprehensive threat response, suitable for those prioritizing active threat mitigation. Tenable Nessus offers competitive pricing and a cost-effective solution for vulnerability management.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortra's Alert Logic MDR vs. Tenable Nessus Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Fortra's Alert Logic MDR vs. Tenable Nessus

September 2025

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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

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Zafran Security is 1.0%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Fortra's Alert Logic MDR is 0.6%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Nessus is 7.3%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Tenable Nessus	7.3%
Zafran Security	1.0%
Fortra's Alert Logic MDR	0.6%
Other	91.1%

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Israel Cavazos Landini

Associate Director IT Security Operations at a pharma/biotech company with 10,001+ employees

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.

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reviewer2191746

President at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

It's a highly mature, competitively priced solution that provides total visibility into your ecosystem. FORTRA's Alert Logic has the only Cybersecurity Platform that integrates XDR+WAF+VM+DLP in one.

Alert Logic offers total visibility into the client's IT ecosystem. The solution's intrusion detection system inspects 100 percent of the network packets and installs universal agents on all physical and virtual servers for log collection. Alert Logic also aggregates logs of the client's various 3rd Party security tools into a single pane of glass. All of the analytics from those data feeds got to a 24/7 SOC with sophisticated resources. Alert Logic has massive threat intelligence resources to provide additional context to the incident response declarations. They do all the heavy lifting for clients who lack the technology and resources to operate their own SOC. The client is solely responsible for the incident response component. The macro analytics resides on Alert Logic's cloud. You have the ECM response and business application team on the client side. Everything works in tandem, which is the only way you can deal with the advanced threats we face today, especially the ransomware families. If you don't respond in minutes, you're in trouble.

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MohammedJaffir

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.

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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."

"We saw benefits from Zafran Security almost immediately after deploying it."

"Overall, we have seen about eighty-seven percent reduction of the number of vulnerabilities that require urgency to remediate, specifically the number of criticals."

"Zafran has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."

"The solution was consistently available, and I cannot recall any instances where it was down."

"It improves our security. Before, we didn't have anything scanning our containers. We had software scanning all the physical servers, but we had nothing to scan our containers. With Alert Logic, we can do that."

"It has the ability to install agents. It is pretty straightforward. You can automate the process pretty easily."

"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."

"The most valuable aspect of Alert Logic is its technology platform. They have SOCs in the US and Europe, giving them global visibility of the threat landscape. They detect and respond to threats in minutes. Their biggest value is human expertise. You're being attacked by a human, and you cannot respond to it unless you have a human on the other side. They have the human and technological resources to respond."

"The installation and configuration were slick."

"While I still have on-premises appliances, I can remotely monitor everything from the cloud, and Alert Logic's ease-of-access features have helped me streamline my workflow and reduce implementation time."

"Notifications and the detail of notifications are most valuable. It is a user-friendly solution."

More Fortra's Alert Logic MDR pros

"Ease of reviewing scores, identifying vulnerabilities, and getting information on them."

"The most valuable aspect of this solution is that you receive the entire report, which details the breakdown, especially in terms of critical, high, low, and mediums."

"Tenable Nessus is cheap and flexible."

"Tenable Nessus has provided increased visibility across the organization's servers."

"It notifies us of vulnerabilities as they arise, allowing us to respond quickly without manual intervention."

"The results are not that bad, but the key selling point is that it is an affordable tool set."

"The most valuable feature is the installation of Tenable which is incredibly easy."

"I like the fact that it was not expensive. I like that it's user-friendly."

More Tenable Nessus pros

Cons

"I think the ability to have some enhanced reporting capabilities is something they can improve on, as they have good reports but we have asked for some specific reporting enhancements."

"The dashboarding and reporting functionality of Zafran Security is an area that definitely could use some improvements."

"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 documentation, especially with the initial setup, needs improvement."

"I would like more data on the alert payload. It would be good to have the ability to customize the alert payload to add whatever data that we want on there. Right now, it is a bit limited."

"This product needs to mature more. While it is a good product, there are some areas where it needs work."

"Could be more of an endpoint protector."

"Its menu is not very intuitive. I would like to see the user menu expanded a bit. The user menu is very layered, and because of the layers, you have to go down a path that is not very intuitive."

"As a user involved with the user interface, I believe there is a need to continue improving it based on feedback from our customers."

"Alert Logic needs to expand its SOCs to serve more markets, such as the Middle East and Asia. There should be infrastructure that covers more time zones. The company should also develop an EDR that is natively integrated into their solution. Currently, a client must buy another EDR solution like CrowdStrike or Sophos. I think Alert Logic is developing this. Built-in email security could also be developed and integrated."

"We'd like to have triggered alerts sent to us so we see errors quicker."

More Fortra's Alert Logic MDR cons

"This is still a maturing product. Tenable is only a scanner for one ability, while other solutions like Rapid7 have more tools for verification. We still have to manually verify to see if the vulnerability is a false positive or not."

"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."

"The problems I faced with Tenable Nessus were related to its dashboard's customization capabilities and its ability to provide data to third-party sources."

"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."

"The price could be reduced."

"It would be a good idea if they have a simulation of attacks or a use case for finding a new vulnerability or dealing with a zero-day attack."

"I would like to see an improvement in the ranking of high, medium and low vulnerability."

"The reporting could be improved. The reporting in Rapid7 is much better."

More Tenable Nessus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"Price of the solution was very reasonable considering the size of our organization at the time, and so it worked out perfectly."

"Alert Logic has better competitive pricing than some of its competitors."

"Almost any product that is on the AWS Marketplace is super easy to subscribe to."

"Its pricing is very reasonable considering what you get for what you pay. There is quite a good value there. Its licensing is also very logical. They've got the licensing price points at a reasonable level. It is on a monthly license but a yearly contract. There are no additional costs to the standard licensing fees."

"Our ROI would probably be zero. We don't even use it. It sits in there. We get emails and just delete them. Around the world, we don't even use it."

"The solution is worth the cost. It's a good investment."

"One problem with Tenable is its pricing policy. Optimal results can be achieved with Greenbone Solutions which has much more friendly pricing policies."

"Nessus Manager is not an expensive product. It has its limitations, but the pricing reflects that. We have a yearly subscription."

"The price is high for the solution. There are free tools with similar functionality available. The solution cost approximately $3,500."

"Its pricing is great and can't be improved. It is very cheap. It is less than 2,000 pounds a license, and you can't really ask for more. It has unlimited IPs and unlimited scans. There are no particular pricing constraints. The only additional cost is the inherent cost of the people to actually review the actual scans."

"We have a subscription, the licensing fees are paid yearly, and I am using the latest version."

"I would like to see better discounts."

"The price of Tenable Nessus could improve, it is expensive."

More Tenable Nessus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

22%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Educational Organization

Performing Arts

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	39
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	35

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zafran Security?

Since we stood Zafran Security up in our private cloud, we handle the maintenance on our side. As we opted not to use...

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What needs improvement with Zafran Security?

In terms of areas for improvement, Zafran Security is doing a really great job as a new and emerging company. Oftenti...

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What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?

My use cases for Zafran Security revolve around two primary areas. One is around vulnerability management and priorit...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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Comparisons

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Compared 32% of the time

Vulcan Cyber vs Zafran Security

Compared 14% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Zafran Security

Compared 9% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs Zafran Security

Compared 7% of the time

Cymulate vs Zafran Security

Compared 3% of the time

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Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Fortra's Alert Logic MDR

Compared 26% of the time

Rapid7 InsightIDR vs Fortra's Alert Logic MDR

Compared 13% of the time

Arctic Wolf Managed Detection and Response vs Fortra's Alert Logic MDR

Compared 12% of the time

CrowdStrike Falcon Complete MDR vs Fortra's Alert Logic MDR

Compared 12% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs Fortra's Alert Logic MDR

Compared 10% of the time

More Fortra's Alert Logic MDR Competitors

Qualys VMDR vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 11% of the time

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 11% of the time

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 8% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 6% of the time

Amazon Inspector vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 6% of the time

More Tenable Nessus Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Zafran Security

October 2025

Download Zafran Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Fortra's Alert Logic MDR

October 2025

Download Fortra's Alert Logic MDR product report

Buyer's Guide

Tenable Nessus

October 2025

Download Tenable Nessus product report

Also Known As

No data available

Alert Logic MDR, Alert Logic Managed Detection and ResponseAlert Logic Threat Manager, Alert Logic Cloud Defender, Critical Watch FusionVM

No data available

Overview

Zafran Security integrates with existing security tools to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities effectively, proving that most critical vulnerabilities are not exploitable, optimizing threat management.

Zafran Security introduces an innovative operating model for managing security threats and vulnerabilities. By leveraging the threat exposure management platform, it pinpoints and prioritizes exploitable vulnerabilities, reducing risk through immediate remediation. This platform enhances your hybrid cloud security by normalizing vulnerability signals and integrating specific IT context data, such as CVE runtime presence and internet asset reachability, into its analysis. No longer reliant on patch windows, Zafran Security allows you to manage risks actively.

What are the key features of Zafran Security?

Threat Exposure Management: Utilizes existing tools to prioritize vulnerabilities and manage threats.
Integrative Analysis: Combines security data with IT context for precise vulnerability management.
Real-time Risk Reduction: Enables immediate risk management without waiting for patches.
Hybrid Cloud Compatibility: Functions across diverse cloud environments for comprehensive security.

What benefits can users expect from Zafran Security?

Improved Security: Enhances protection by efficiently identifying and mitigating risks.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces unnecessary patching expenses by confirming non-exploitable vulnerabilities.
Time Savings: Frees developers to focus on root causes by handling immediate threats.
Comprehensive Insight: Offers a holistic view of security threats and vulnerabilities.

In industries where security is paramount, such as finance and healthcare, Zafran Security provides invaluable protection by ensuring that only exploitable vulnerabilities are addressed. It allows entities to maintain robust security measures while allocating resources efficiently, fitting seamlessly into existing security strategies.

Zafran Security

Fortra's Alert Logic MDR specializes in threat detection and response with features like log access and user-friendly notifications. It is used primarily in extensive e-commerce deployments for network protection.

Fortra's Alert Logic MDR provides a unified interface with comprehensive search capabilities, immediate log access, and efficient reporting tools. Users benefit from accurate scanning, automated security warnings, and rapid response times, supported by SOCs for global visibility. The technology employs human expertise for enhanced threat detection and prevention, with a hardware setup designed to avoid virtual environment issues. However, there's a need for improved error tracing, intuitive navigation, and stronger analytical automation within the platform. Enhancements in setup documentation and user interfaces are desired, alongside demands for a built-in EDR and better alert management systems.

What are the key features of Fortra's Alert Logic MDR?

Comprehensive Searching: Enables detailed investigations.
Immediate Log Access: Provides quick insight into system activities.
User-Friendly Notifications: Enhances alert effectiveness.
Automated Security Warnings: Offers proactive security measures.
Optimized Platform: Delivers efficient functionality across services.
Heuristic Monitoring: Guards against complex threats.

What benefits and ROI should users seek in reviews?

Quick Response Times: Minimizes downtime and improves efficiency.
Global Visibility: Extends threat management reach through SOCs.
Human Expertise: Enhances detection and intervention accuracy.
Streamlined Deployment: Facilitates smoother hardware integration.

Fortra's Alert Logic MDR is widely implemented across public and private sectors for robust network protection. It supports large-scale e-commerce operations, offering advanced detection capabilities with AI and machine learning. Security scanning, intrusion detection, and vulnerability analysis in Kubernetes are key applications.

Fortra

Tenable Nessus provides an efficient vulnerability management system with swift deployment and comprehensive scanning capabilities, making it an ideal choice for organizations seeking to enhance their security posture through effective threat detection and mitigation strategies.

Renowned for its top-tier vulnerability detection, Tenable Nessus offers a robust platform that integrates effortlessly across systems, enhancing threat management through automation, real-time monitoring, and customizable scanning options. Its broad asset coverage, including network devices and applications, coupled with ease of deployment, positions it as a go-to option for risk assessment and compliance. Organizations value its extensive reporting features and database, although they suggest enhancements in reporting formats and false positive detection. A more intuitive interface, improved cloud support, and competitive pricing models are sought after to cater to evolving enterprise needs.

What are the key features of Tenable Nessus?

Comprehensive Vulnerability Detection: Identifies security gaps across systems and platforms.
Remedy Recommendations: Provides actionable insights for vulnerability fixes.
Predictive Prioritization: Helps in focusing on critical vulnerabilities first.
Seamless Integration: Compatible with diverse platforms for cohesive threat management.
Automation Capabilities: Streamlines routine scans and reports.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Fast Setup: Quick deployment that saves time and resources.
Cost-Effective: Affordable pricing supports budget-conscious cyber strategies.
Real-Time Monitoring: Offers continuous oversight of system health.
Extensive Reports: Detailed insights enhance decision-making processes.

In industries such as finance, healthcare, and tech, Tenable Nessus is implemented for scanning internal and external networks, identifying risks, and ensuring data protection compliance. Organizations conduct regular scans to detect security vulnerabilities in servers and databases, leveraging its capabilities to strengthen their security frameworks while managing cloud infrastructures and enterprise networks efficiently.

Tenable

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Bitbrains, Tesla, Just Eat, Crosskey Banking Solutions, Covenant Health, Youngstown State University

Buyer's Guide

Fortra's Alert Logic MDR vs. Tenable Nessus

September 2025

Free Report: Fortra's Alert Logic MDR vs. Tenable Nessus

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra's Alert Logic MDR vs. Tenable Nessus and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.

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