No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Nucleus Security vs Rapid7 Metasploit comparison

Sponsored
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 23, 2026

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

Qualys TotalCloud
Sponsored
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (11th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (7th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (8th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (1st), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (6th)
Nucleus Security
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
40th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Application Security Tools (28th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (14th), Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (13th)
Rapid7 Metasploit
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.1%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nucleus Security is 1.0%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rapid7 Metasploit is 2.2%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Qualys TotalCloud1.1%
Rapid7 Metasploit2.2%
Nucleus Security1.0%
Other95.7%
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

RO
IT Security Expert at Alior Bank S.A.
Unified risk scoring has improved our cloud visibility and simplifies remediation priorities
Qualys TotalCloud provides unified vulnerability and threat assessment across both IAS and SaaS. This solution provides a single prioritized view of risk, which helps reduce the work I would have to do. We are no longer based on CVSS; we are based on Qualys risk scoring, which is based on CVSS plus internal findings made by Qualys, and then assigns its own score. The TruRisk insight feature has found a small number of assets with high vulnerability scores, though I am cautious since some information is classified. Qualys TotalCloud has positively impacted our bank's performance, and we have definitely seen benefits after implementing this solution.
VK
manager at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Unified vulnerability workflows have transformed how our teams prioritize and resolve critical risks
While the platform is incredibly powerful, the initial configuration curve of Nucleus Security can be a bit steep. When first setting up complex, multi-layered automation rules and asset groupings, the interface can feel a little overwhelming. Having more intuitive step-by-step visualized wizards or guided templates for building complex triage workflows would make the onboarding process much smoother for new team members. Dashboard customization and reporting would definitely be on my wish list. While the default dashboards are great for a general overview, it can take a bit of manual tweaking when building highly tailored workspace views for different engineering groups. Having a more flexible drag-and-drop widget system where individual teams can prioritize exactly what metrics they see first on their layout would be a huge quality of life update. On the reporting side, the data it generates is solid, but I would like to see more granular control over formatting within the platform itself. Sometimes leadership wants data tailored in very specific ways, and currently, we occasionally have to export the data and clean it up externally to meet those exact visual preferences.
reviewer1247523 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head of Sales Services Department at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
Extensive exploit database and seamless integration enhance penetration testing capabilities
The automated approach in the audits or in the hacking testing with Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved because even the same attack you provide today will go in different ways another day. I prefer when the auditor or pen-tester provides the attack in a non-automated mode. For some, it might be a valuable option, but I'm not sure it's valuable for us, as after the attack has been provided, we should release a report detailing how it transpired and what the customer should improve to block this way of attack. If the attack was provided in an automated mode, you cannot receive sufficient information that helps with this final report for the customer. While you can check the vulnerability, and the system will tell you there is no vulnerability, usually, a human can change one, two, or three parameters and using the same technique and the same scripts can break the system. Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved in areas concerning the experience with finding particular scripts pre-installed in the solution. Customers, administrators, and pen-testers spend considerable time trying to locate the specific component they need by the name of the technique or the name of the attack, so any improvements in making it easier to find those predefined components by name or timeframe would be beneficial. Search filters could be a correct improvement.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I highly recommend Qualys TotalCloud to other users."
"Vulnerability and threat detection and assessment of the criticality of the vulnerabilities exposed are most valuable."
"One of Qualys' best features is its categorization, which allows us to see the types of assets, their security postures, and the AI-powered version of the tool."
"The best part I like is the on-demand scans."
"Qualys TotalCloud provides a single, prioritized view of risk, reducing the workload associated with consolidating multiple sources for risk prioritization."
"The dashboards are particularly valuable as they offer a comprehensive view of the environment, highlighting any misconfigurations."
"The platform's unified view of the organization proves particularly valuable for leadership team meetings."
"The scalability is good as well. I would rate it ten out of ten."
"Nucleus Security has fundamentally changed how we manage our vulnerability lifecycle and made our entire incident response process much more proactive, organized, and reliable."
"The best features that Nucleus Security offers in my experience are the unified integrations with all of the different vulnerability management platforms."
"Rapid7 has a significant advantage in providing a clear picture of my environment."
"The solution is open source and has many small targetted penetration tests that have been written by many people that are useful. You can choose different subjects for the test, such as Oracle databases or Apache servers."
"All of the features are great."
"The most valuable features and capabilities of Rapid7 Metasploit are its tight connection with InsightVM, which searches for potential threats and vulnerabilities and then validates whether we can break the system using those vulnerabilities, serving as a validator component of the InsightVM solution."
"Metasploit is the most favored toolkit for network security professionals and penetration testers."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."
"Overall, it is a very good product for penetration testing."
"The most valuable feature for us is the support for testing Linux-based web server components."
 

Cons

"TotalCloud could improve its scanning of niche devices like Wi-Fi dongles and USB modems because they are often untested. It covers everything else, like laptops, mobile devices, and Bluetooth IoT devices. They can improve on the small IoT devices because hackers and testers use these."
"We encountered challenges identifying the correct resource category for certain items, such as those in containers or storage."
"There should be improvement from a dashboard perspective when collecting and showcasing data to lead management."
"TotalCloud could improve the classification of vulnerabilities. Specifically, it could enhance the categorization of what aspects fall under patches resolved by OS or software updates and what pertains to configuration adjustments."
"It is already perfect, but they can bring some newer dashboards and customization options for the dashboard. It would be great to be able to include on-prem assets on the dashboard."
"Their customer support needs improvement."
"Qualys TotalCloud's increasing complexity, due to the development and deployment of multiple solutions, is making the GUI difficult to navigate."
"In my opinion, what can be improved in Qualys TotalCloud includes pricing and container scanning."
"While the platform is incredibly powerful, the initial configuration curve of Nucleus Security can be a bit steep."
"Nucleus Security needs a better view into exposure management, as exposure management and attack path management are missing."
"I think areas with shortcomings that need improvement are more integration and automation."
"It is necessary to add some training materials and a tutorial for beginners."
"Integration with popular vulnerability scanners would be a useful feature."
"The database is not always updated with the latest vulnerabilities or zero-day exploits. If a vulnerability arises a month or two ago, it might not be included in the database, which is something I would like to see improved."
"The solution should improve the responsiveness of its live technical support."
"Better automation capabilities would be an improvement."
"The open-source version has reporting limitations. You need to develop these capabilities yourself. Built-in reporting is an excellent feature for penetration testing, but it isn't a must-have. The solution could also cover more vulnerabilities. Metasploit has around 10,000 exploits in its library, but more is always better."
"The automated approach in the audits or in the hacking testing with Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved because even the same attack you provide today will go in different ways another day."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am not sure about the pricing. From what I understand, it is a bit on the higher side, but I do not have the exact numbers."
"TotalCloud's price is about right where I would expect it to be."
"The pricing is comparable. It is built into our other product, so I cannot piecemeal it. It is a part of our subscription."
"Its price seems higher compared to other tools, but it is worth it. If they could adjust the pricing and make it comparable with other tools, that would be great."
"The cost is high, but it meets our organizational needs."
"It isn't cheap, but it's reasonable. It helps us to manage things with very few resources."
"Qualys TotalCloud is cost-efficient and was selected for its value compared to other products."
"Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility."
Information not available
"I use the open-source version of this product. Pricing is not relevant."
"Rapid7 Metasploit is an open-source solution."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the product's pricing a six. So it's fairly priced."
"The pricing structure involves a one-time purchase cost of approximately twenty thousand dollars or euros for all customers."
"There are two versions available, one of which is the Pro version, and the other is the free version."
"Rapid7 Metasploit is cheaper than Tenable.io Vulnerability Management."
"The great advantage with Rapid7 Metasploit, of course, is that it's free."
"It is expensive. Our license expired, and our company is not thinking to renew because of our budget."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Vulnerability Management solutions are best for your needs.
903,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Construction Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise29
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
Areas that need improvement in every solution include the remediation part. The remediation steps should be simple en...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
Our use case involves the assets that we have under cloud, the assets exposed to the internet, and the internal appli...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nucleus Security?
I have a good experience with that, so we don't have much problem dealing with pricing, setup, and licensing.
What needs improvement with Nucleus Security?
Nucleus Security needs a better view into exposure management, as exposure management and attack path management are ...
What is your primary use case for Nucleus Security?
My main use case for Nucleus Security is unifying the vulnerability management landscape, providing a single source o...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rapid7 Metasploit?
The pricing of Rapid7 Metasploit is quite affordable. It has a free version that many customers start with, and after...
What needs improvement with Rapid7 Metasploit?
The automated approach in the audits or in the hacking testing with Rapid7 Metasploit could be improved because even ...
What is your primary use case for Rapid7 Metasploit?
I use Rapid7 Metasploit as a distributor, as an integrator, and as a user. I use Rapid7 Metasploit in my company inte...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
No data available
Metasploit
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Information Not Available
City of Corpus Christi, Diebold, Lumenate, Nebraska Public Power District, Prairie North Regional Health, Apptio, Automation Direct, Bob's Stores, Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions, Carnegie Mellon University
Find out what your peers are saying about Wiz, Qualys, Tenable and others in Vulnerability Management. Updated: June 2026.
903,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.