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

Pentera vs Tenable Nessus comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

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
4.8
Pentera enhances security and reduces testing time, but licensing costs pose challenges despite potential greater benefits in larger setups.
Sentiment score
3.5
Tenable Nessus boosts security by enhancing threat visibility, reducing vulnerabilities, saving costs, and achieving high user satisfaction.
Pentera has significantly affected our organization by dropping our mean time to remediate critical vulnerabilities because the remediation team can clearly evidence the exploit instead of debating CVSS scores, and our security posture has improved.
Ai Expert at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Some customers consider the ROI favorable, but facing difficulties now due to changes in the licensing model, which has made it more expensive compared to last year.
Director at Infosonik Systems Ltd
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.2
Pentera's technical support is praised for efficiency and value, despite occasional slow updates, with high customer satisfaction ratings.
Sentiment score
4.3
Tenable Nessus support is praised for responsiveness and efficiency, with mixed feedback on response times and depth for advanced queries.
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
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
4.8
Pentera is highly rated for scalability, efficiently supporting enterprise clients with minimal staff despite some password assessment challenges.
Sentiment score
5.5
Tenable Nessus is scalable and flexible for most organizations but may face limitations with very large enterprises.
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
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.2
Pentera is generally rated high for stability, functions seamlessly in networks, though some users note occasional issues.
Sentiment score
6.1
Tenable Nessus is praised for stability and reliability, with high user satisfaction despite minor setup and update issues.
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 Cybersecurity Solutions
 

Room For Improvement

Pentera requires UI enhancements, better cloud and virtualization capabilities, licensing flexibility, and affordability to attract more non-specialist users.
Tenable Nessus requires enhanced reporting, better integration, modern UI, faster scans, accurate detection, and comprehensive IT asset coverage.
When the IP is imported into a system, we cannot withdraw or revoke the license.
Pre-sale manager at Nam Truong Son
While Pentera excels in on-premises and hybrid setups, its AWS and Azure attack path simulation is not as deep compared to others.
Ai Expert at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
If I could change one thing about Pentera, I would definitely want faster navigation, which would improve my workflow.
Network Engineer at inniti network solution
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
An AI feature that helps them discover options without requiring them to deep dive into all features or guides them through advisory functions would be beneficial.
Freelancer And CEO at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
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
 

Setup Cost

Pentera's pricing divides users; some see it as valuable, others find the $120,000 fee substantial yet noteworthy.
Tenable Nessus is valued for affordability and flexibility, though costs vary by organization size, IP count, and region.
The enterprise pricing is a big investment.
Works at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
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
When we compare it to other solutions, it is more difficult for us to negotiate the price for Tenable Nessus than to negotiate the price with Rapid7.
Freelancer And CEO at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
 

Valuable Features

Pentera enhances cybersecurity through automated vulnerability scanning, remediation, and AI-based reporting, improving efficiency and security posture.
Tenable Nessus excels in vulnerability detection, user-friendliness, scalability, real-time monitoring, integration, compliance reporting, and remediation advice.
I can show them a complete kill chain and how an attacker gets from the initial foothold to domain admin in our environment, step by step, with evidence.
Works at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
Pentera has significantly affected our organization by dropping our mean time to remediate critical vulnerabilities because the remediation team can clearly evidence the exploit instead of debating CVSS scores, and our security posture has improved.
Ai Expert at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
The best features of Pentera for me are the dashboard. The dashboard is excellent. I can see everything at a glance.
Network Engineer at inniti network solution
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 Cybersecurity Solutions
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
 

Categories and Ranking

Pentera
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.1
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Penetration Testing Services (4th), Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) (2nd), Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (1st), AI-Powered Penetration Testing (2nd)
Tenable Nessus
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
Vulnerability Management (3rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Security Software solutions, they serve different purposes. Pentera is designed for AI-Powered Penetration Testing and holds a mindshare of 49.3%, up 49.6% compared to last year.
Tenable Nessus, on the other hand, focuses on Vulnerability Management, holds 3.7% mindshare, down 8.2% since last year.
AI-Powered Penetration Testing Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Pentera49.3%
The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai47.3%
Intruder3.2%
Other0.20000000000000284%
AI-Powered Penetration Testing
Vulnerability Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Tenable Nessus3.7%
Wiz4.2%
Qualys Exposure Management3.8%
Other88.3%
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer1460223 - PeerSpot reviewer
Ai Expert at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Automated testing has reduced manual effort and improves remediation of critical vulnerabilities
The biggest friction point with Pentera is the need for more granular control or the ability to exclude specific sensitive systems, as well as the necessity for the cloud environment to mature. While Pentera excels in on-premises and hybrid setups, its AWS and Azure attack path simulation is not as deep compared to others.If I could change one thing in Pentera to improve my workflow the most, it would be the platform UI because some security team members are not penetration testing specialists, making it difficult for them to navigate. I would make it easier with more guided workflows.
MohammedJaffir - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder at Cipheroot Cybersecurity Solutions
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.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which AI-Powered Penetration Testing solutions are best for your needs.
910,956 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business41
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise35
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Pentera?
Cloud testing capabilities need enhancement. The core product was built for on-premises internal network validation.
What is your primary use case for Pentera?
Continuous automated security validation across our internal network and external attack surface was necessary. The problem we were solving was that our manual penetration testing program, as good ...
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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Tenable Nessus?
Based on my experience, the pricing for Tenable Nessus is somewhat higher, but customers still want to pay for it, so it remains acceptable. The annual price increase of six to seven percent could ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blackstone Group Caterpillar Apria Healthcare Taylor Vinters Sandler Capital Management Drawbridge BNP Paribas British Red Cross
Bitbrains, Tesla, Just Eat, Crosskey Banking Solutions, Covenant Health, Youngstown State University
Find out what your peers are saying about Pentera vs. The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai and other solutions. Updated: July 2026.
910,956 professionals have used our research since 2012.