Rapid7 Metasploit vs Tenable Security Center comparison

Rapid7 and Tenable are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Rapid7 is ranked #20 with an average rating of 8.2, while Tenable is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.5. Rapid7 holds a 1.5% mindshare in VM, compared to Tenable’s 5.3% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Rapid7 users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Tenable users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Tenable Security Center and Rapid7 Metasploit both compete in the cybersecurity domain focusing on vulnerability management and penetration testing respectively. Tenable Security Center appears to have an upper hand with its comprehensive vulnerability management capabilities, whereas Rapid7 Metasploit is recognized for its effective penetration testing features.

Features: Tenable Security Center provides comprehensive vulnerability scanning, an intuitive dashboard, and flexible policy creation. It handles large asset volumes efficiently and offers an Assurance Report Card. Rapid7 Metasploit offers automatic vulnerability discovery, script-based exploitation, and extensive penetration testing capabilities that are especially useful for educational purposes.

Room for Improvement: Tenable Security Center could improve its integration with exploit tools and offer more flexible reporting configurations. Additionally, enhancing integration with other tools would be beneficial. Rapid7 Metasploit would benefit from improved GUI functionality, broader exploit coverage, and enhanced automation capabilities to better integrate into CI/CD pipelines.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Tenable Security Center can be deployed in on-premises and hybrid environments; however, it has variable feedback regarding customer service responsiveness. Rapid7 Metasploit supports multiple deployment options and generally receives positive reviews for its support services.

Pricing and ROI: Tenable Security Center is generally more expensive with comprehensive asset-based pricing models, providing ROI through reduced manual workload and increased security efficiency. In contrast, Rapid7 Metasploit offers more affordable pricing with options for open-source use, appealing to users with budget constraints seeking effective penetration testing solutions.

To learn more, read our detailed Rapid7 Metasploit vs. Tenable Security Center Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 Metasploit vs. Tenable Security Center

April 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 May 2025, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Zafran Security is 0.6%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rapid7 Metasploit is 1.5%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Security Center is 5.3%, down from 11.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Israel Cavazos Landini

Associate Director IT Security Operations at Novartis

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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Mani Bommisetty

Infrastructure patching Manager at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Comprehensive insights with robust vulnerability detection and streamlined alert management

Rapid7 has a significant advantage in providing a clear picture of my environment. It provides insight and incident detection response capabilities. When deployed with the same agent in servers or endpoints, it identifies vulnerabilities and monitors data transmission to external sources. Rapid7 offers comprehensive features within one platform, eliminating the need to integrate multiple tools to see all alerts in one place.

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OndrejKOVAC

Solution engineer at EXPERTience

Empower clients with risk-based vulnerability management through continuous workflow and valuable insights

Tenable Security Center could improve by implementing more dynamic data displays and translating reports into European languages. This is especially relevant in Central Eastern Europe, where clients often require reports in local languages. Additionally, the licensing model could be more flexible for managed security providers, similar to a pay-as-you-go model.

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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 has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."

"Zafran is an excellent tool."

"I use Rapid7 Metasploit for payload generation and Post-Exploitation."

"The option to generate phishing emails has proven to be very valuable in understanding the behavior of users."

"Rapid7 Metasploit is a useful product."

"The reporting on the solution is good."

"The most valuable feature for us is the support for testing Linux-based web server components."

"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten."

"All of the features are great."

"It contains almost all the available exploits and payloads."

More Rapid7 Metasploit pros

"The solution has a lean and easy-to-use interface that is not confusing to first-time users."

"Tenable SC's most valuable features are the low number of false positives and the strong capability of providing prioritization for the vulnerabilities detected."

"The usability is really good. It's very easy to use and a good platform. It is scalable and very stable. The technical support is fine and the setup is super easy."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the vulnerability assessment."

"The most valuable features of Tenable SC are the reports and the dashboards."

"The most valuable feature is the automatic and periodic management of security scans, along with the ability to consolidate all information into a single dashboard."

"I think that this is a good solution for evaluating vulnerability in the network."

"The predictive prioritization features are pretty good. They do a lot of research and we trust the research that they do internally. They have knowledge of what's going on with many companies, where we only get a view into what's going on here. So the ability to get best practices out of them as part of this solution, is valuable to us."

More Tenable Security Center pros

Cons

"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."

"While Metasploit excels in vulnerability assessment, it could improve in vulnerability management."

"Advanced Infrastructure should be implemented in the next release for better orchestration."

"The database is not always updated with the latest vulnerabilities or zero-day exploits."

"I think areas with shortcomings that need improvement are more integration and automation."

"Support is another area where improvement is needed, particularly for assisting non-security users."

"Better automation capabilities would be an improvement."

"Rapid7 Metasploit can add a GUI feature because it is only available online."

"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."

More Rapid7 Metasploit cons

"Tenable has some problems with agents going offline during scanning and lag between agents and the security center."

"The pricing is reasonable, but this could be brought down more aggressively, such as we see with Rapid7, Tenable SC's main competitor."

"Tenable SC can improve by adding more integrations with HCI-type tools and more accurate vulnerability detection."

"Current web page needs improvement, slows down processes."

"The solution is expensive."

"If I want to have a very low-managed scan policy, it's a lot of work to create something which is very basic. If I use a tool like Nmap, all I have to do is download it, install it, type in the command, and it's good to go. In Security Center, I have to go through a lot of work to create a policy that's very basic."

"Tenable SC can improve by making it easier to create complicated reports and have more effectiveness in the remediation area for comparison between the scans."

"Though the solution's technical support is responsive, they do take a lot of time, making it one of the solution's shortcomings that needs improvement."

More Tenable Security Center cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"We pay monthly. The pricing is reasonable."

"There are two versions available, one of which is the Pro version, and the other is the free version."

"The cost is approximately $15 per device."

"Rapid7 Metasploit is cheaper than Tenable.io Vulnerability Management."

"The pricing structure involves a one-time purchase cost of approximately twenty thousand dollars or euros for all customers."

"It is expensive. Our license expired, and our company is not thinking to renew because of our budget."

"I use the open-source version of this product. Pricing is not relevant."

"I have used the free version of Rapid7 Metasploit."

More Rapid7 Metasploit pricing and cost advice

"Though reasonable, the main competitor of Tenable SC, Rapid7, offers a more aggressive and better priced product."

"It is slightly more expensive than other solutions in the same sphere."

"This solution's price is quite high."

"The licensing costs for this solution are approximately $100,000 US, and I think that covers everything."

"The tool costs around 15,000 Saudi riyals monthly."

"The pricing is more than Nexpose."

"The tool provides competitive pricing."

"Compared to other companies or other products it could maybe be a little bit less, but the price is okay. I would say it's not very expensive."

More Tenable Security Center pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Computer Software Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Educational Organization

14%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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

I find that the pricing for Zafran aligns well with the comprehensive features it offers. The asset and user-based li...

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What needs improvement with Zafran Security?

Zafran is a new startup. Features are continuously being added or improved. 1) Continued integrations with existing (...

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What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?

We connect this to our vulnerability scanner as input, our security tools to better determine risk, and our change ma...

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What do you like most about Rapid7 Metasploit?

I use Rapid7 Metasploit for payload generation and Post-Exploitation.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rapid7 Metasploit?

Metasploit is cheaper than Nessus and offers a more robust community edition that provides a good experience for stud...

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What needs improvement with Rapid7 Metasploit?

While Metasploit excels in vulnerability assessment, it could improve in vulnerability management. Nessus currently h...

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What do you like most about Tenable SC?

The tool's dashboard and reporting capabilities match our company's needs since we are able to modify the basic view ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Tenable SC?

Tenable Security Center is quite expensive, particularly for the CEE region, causing us to lose cases due to its pric...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Tenable SC?

Tenable Security Center could improve by implementing more dynamic data displays and translating reports into Europea...

See all answers

Comparisons

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ServiceNow Security Operations vs Zafran Security

Compared 14% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Zafran Security

Compared 9% of the time

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Compared 18% of the time

Acunetix vs Rapid7 Metasploit

Compared 13% of the time

Pentera vs Rapid7 Metasploit

Compared 11% of the time

Amazon Inspector vs Rapid7 Metasploit

Compared 9% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs Rapid7 Metasploit

Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 14% of the time

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Compared 12% of the time

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Tenable Security Center

Compared 11% of the time

Tenable Nessus vs Tenable Security Center

Compared 10% of the time

The NodeZero Platform vs Tenable Security Center

Compared 7% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM)

March 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 Metasploit

April 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Tenable Security Center

April 2025

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Also Known As

No data available

Metasploit

Tenable.sc, Tenable Unified Security, Tenable SecurityCenter

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

Attackers are always developing new exploits and attack methods—Metasploit penetration testing software helps you use their own weapons against them. Utilizing an ever-growing database of exploits, you can safely simulate real-world attacks on your network to train your security team to spot and stop the real thing.

Rapid7

Get a risk-based view of your IT, security and compliance posture so you can quickly identify, investigate and prioritize your most critical assets and vulnerabilities.

Managed on-premises and powered by Nessus technology, the Tenable Security Center (formerly Tenable.sc) suite of products provides the industry’s most comprehensive vulnerability coverage with real-time continuous assessment of your network. It’s your complete end-to-end vulnerability management solution.

Tenable

Sample Customers

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

IBM, Sempra Energy, Microsoft, Apple, Adidas, Union Pacific

Buyer's Guide

Rapid7 Metasploit vs. Tenable Security Center

April 2025

Free Report: Rapid7 Metasploit vs. Tenable Security Center

Find out what your peers are saying about Rapid7 Metasploit vs. Tenable Security Center and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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