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reviewer2295975 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior cybersecurity engineer at a aerospace/defense firm with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
Dec 16, 2023
A scalable and mature solution that has excellent features and provides visibility into vulnerabilities in the environment
Pros and Cons
  • "It is a mature tool."
  • "The product must be more comprehensive."

What is our primary use case?

The solution is used to check vulnerabilities.

What is most valuable?

The product has good features. It gives us a view of the vulnerabilities like open ports and different issues with software. It is a mature tool.

What needs improvement?

The product must be more comprehensive. It must catch all the issues.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for a few years.

Buyer's Guide
Tenable Nessus
December 2025
Learn what your peers think about Tenable Nessus. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the tool’s stability a nine out of ten. The stability could be improved.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The tool is scalable. We have three users. We need a team to maintain the product.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment can be done in-house.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend the solution to others. I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Pathick Kerketta - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager (Information Security) at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Apr 27, 2023
High availability, useful scanning and assessments
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable features of Tenable Nessus are the scanning option. Advanced scanning is highly useful. The offline config audits and application assessments are useful."
  • "The price and scalability of the solution could improve."

What is our primary use case?

Tenable Nessus is used to perform process and network assessments and sometimes for reviews.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable features of Tenable Nessus are the scanning option. Advanced scanning is highly useful. The offline config audits and application assessments are useful.

What needs improvement?

The price and scalability of the solution could improve.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for six years and seven months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the stability of Tenable Nessus a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of Tenable Nessus has been scalable. I am able to scan a large number of IPs.

We have all our three security staff using the solution.

How are customer service and support?

I have not contacted the support.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Tenable Nessus is easy. The deployment took approximately 4 hours for the policies and the setup was not long.

I rate the initial setup of Tenable Nessus a nine out of ten.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of the solution is reasonable.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend others use this solution.

I rate Tenable Nessus a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Tenable Nessus
December 2025
Learn what your peers think about Tenable Nessus. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: December 2025.
879,310 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Gabriel Clement - PeerSpot reviewer
Lead IT Security and Remediation at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 5Leaderboard
Dec 3, 2022
Reasonably priced, reliable, and flexible
Pros and Cons
  • "It gives a holistic view of your entire environment."
  • "They should try to create an all-in-one solution."

What is our primary use case?

I primarily use the solution for network scanning. I can use it when I want to see network scanning involved with the network devices and servers. 

What is most valuable?

I love everything about Nessus. I may be biased in my rating, biased in the sense that I love using Nessus.

The usability is okay. The pricing is okay. The costs are reasonable.

The level they give you is good. It depends on the kind of scan that you want to do. There are different options there. If I want to do a PCI scan, that is available. If I want to do a scan that involves checking to see if the system patching is up to date, that is available. If I want to scan against trending vulnerabilities, I can do that, too. They have so many different options. You can streamline it to what you want, and you do your scan. 

Nessus is flexible. It gives a holistic view of your entire environment. I would go for a Nessus any day, anytime.

They have a good reporting system. I love the reporting system. The references they made in terms of recommendations are great. They can give a recommendation on how to get a particular issue fixed. 

The setup is straightforward. 

It is stable and reliable.

We can scale the product. 

What needs improvement?

They should try to create an all-in-one solution. When I say all in one, I mean something that would be cheap, where I can scan a lot in terms of web applications. Right now, this is available. However, it's a bit expensive. If users want to start scanning applications, networking devices, et cetera, they should also try and work on the pricing for those and have everything together. The web application module should be included in Tenable itself.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used the solution over the past 13 years. I've worked with it for a long time.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is fine. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution can scale as needed. 

How are customer service and support?

I've not escalated anything to technical support. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I'm aware of other solutions. 

What makes Nessus outstanding is the different options. There are so many scanning options. They give you the room to be flexible. You can scan your server how you want. Other options may just allow for a general scan of my system. With Nessus, I can streamline and customize my scan. 

How was the initial setup?

It is an easy solution to set up. The deployment is not lengthy. Within two hours, I had it up and running. 

There is no crazy maintenance needed. Sometimes when there are new updates, it just alerts you the moment you log into your appliance. It just alerts you and gives you room to do the updates. Sometimes it may just set automatically, and it picks the updates. When you log in, it asks for you to reinitialize your system, and you're good to go.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price is not bad. We are comfortable with the cost of the solution right now and with what we are paying for what we get in return. 

We just pay for the license and do not deal with any other additional fees. 

What other advice do I have?

We're using the latest version of the solution. 

When you are doing a spot check, and something rescues you a lot from disaster, you really appreciate that service. The product has really worked for me.

I highly recommend the solution.

I'd suggest new users run a POC and exhaust all the functionality and test other solutions as well. At the end of the day, compare them. Don't forget to consider budgets. Ensure that it matches what your company needs and the budget that they have for that particular solution. 

Make sure that functionality is taken into account. Some people only look at the budget and go for something cheaper and then do not have the functionality they require. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1043379 - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Executive Officer at a outsourcing company with 11-50 employees
Reseller
Nov 6, 2022
User-friendly, easy to install, has good functionality, and technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "The results are not that bad, but the key selling point is that it is an affordable tool set."
  • "They have added a new Tenable Nessus Expert. That is their new product, which caters to the cloud and everything else. I am assuming that the new features and product enhancements are based on that tool set, but we haven't reviewed it yet."

What is our primary use case?

We use Tenable Nessus for vulnerability scanning.

What is most valuable?

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

It is a very easy tool to use.

We are happy with the existing features.

We are happy with the functionality, and what we get from the tool.

What needs improvement?

I am not sure. I see they have released new products that we haven't yet evaluated. I believe the new products are the opportunity for improvement that they are bringing to market. But for the time being,

They have added a new Tenable Nessus Expert. That is their new product, which caters to the cloud and everything else. 

I am assuming that the new features and product enhancements are based on that tool set, but we haven't reviewed it yet.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Tenable Nessus for 10 years.

It's a proper toolkit, it goes a long way with us.

We are working with the latest version.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Tenable Nessus is very stable. 

I would rate the stability of this solution a five out of five.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Tenable Nessus is a scalable solution, I would rate the scalability a five out of five.

It is based on the number of endpoints. We have 1,500 endpoints in our company.

How are customer service and support?

We can contact technical support using their web console. We can log a support ticket as end users, although we seldom use this feature.

I would rate their technical support a five out of five.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We are also working with Rapid7 InsightVM.

It is not as good as Rapid7 from our perspective, but it is part of our toolbox arsenal. As a result, we have it on board and solely use it internally.

How was the initial setup?

It is very easy to deploy.

This solution was deployed in 30 minutes, or less. It is very easy. It is straightforward, and out of the box.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment was completed in-house. We did it ourselves.

We only need one engineer to deploy and maintain this solution.

What was our ROI?

I would rate the return on investment a five out of five.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Cost-wise, it's an affordable tool.

Licensing fees are paid annually.

I would rate the licensing cost a five out of five.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate Tenable Nessus a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Works at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Nov 1, 2022
Easy to deploy, simple to use, and offers great vulnerability assessments
Pros and Cons
  • "It's scalable."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

My company uses Tenable as a vulnerability assessment.

We use it for scanning, for the discovery of vulnerabilities in the components or the software, or on the IT infrastructure of our client.

What is most valuable?

The solution can conduct a full vulnerability assessment and also suggest mitigation of vulnerabilities and has a lot of other features. 

It creates a classification of the vulnerability and the likelihood and the impact on other features.

The solution is easy to deploy and simple to use.

It's scalable. 

The solution is stable. 

What needs improvement?

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.

Right now, it works based on dealing with a vulnerability that is already detected and reported, and it would be great if they have a combination of a vulnerability that existed and another use case to have a more proactive approach to potential new issues. Therefore, doing a simulation of attacks to find a new or zero-day issue or vulnerability would be helpful.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using the solution for more than two years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is very stable and reliable. I'd rate it four or five out of five. The performance is good. There are no bugs or glitches, and it doesn't crash or freeze. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is very scalable. I'd rate it a four or five out of five in terms of the ease of expansion. 

We would use Nessus to conduct a vulnerability assessment. How many people use the solution depends on the client. Maybe five or six people from the engineering side use it in general.

We have a new client coming on, and we will require more users on the product to conduct vulnerability assessments, so we do have plans to increase usage.

How are customer service and support?

I've never had any interaction with customer support. The solution works very well, and we haven't needed help.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward. It's not overly difficult, or complex.

I cannot recall how long the deployment process took. 

What about the implementation team?

Our technical team handled the deployment. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Another department handles the licensing. I can't speak to the exact costs. I do know that we pay a yearly licensing fee. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We would like to discover other solutions and do a comparison to see the better solution for our clients. We've, for example, tried to look into Cyber XM.

What other advice do I have?

We are just end-users and customers. 

I'm not sure which version of the solution we're using. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
ShanakaFernando - PeerSpot reviewer
Consultant at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Consultant
Oct 20, 2022
Simple implementation, beneficial vulnerability assessments, and helpful support
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Tenable Nessus is vulnerability assessments. There are a lot of threats around the world and this solution is the first to come out with detection rules."
  • "Tenable Nessus could improve the reporting by adding some dashboards. The reports are a hassle at this time. Tenable.io has more detailed reports. Having a better dashboard that can show where the vulnerabilities are and be categorized would be helpful. We then could present them to upper management for a deep overview of our network posture which they do not see."

What is our primary use case?

We are using Tenable Nessus for vulnerability management. Not exactly the management, but we perform vulnerability assessments mostly for internal networks. Additionally, we use Acunetix and it comes into play for the web application.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Tenable Nessus is vulnerability assessments. There are a lot of threats around the world and this solution is the first to come out with detection rules.

What needs improvement?

Tenable Nessus could improve the reporting by adding some dashboards. The reports are a hassle at this time. Tenable.io has more detailed reports. Having a better dashboard that can show where the vulnerabilities are and be categorized would be helpful. We then could present them to upper management for a deep overview of our network posture which they do not see.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Tenable Nessus for approximately seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Tenable Nessus is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Tenable Nessus is scalable, it can scale up and down.

We have five or six people using this solution occasionally. We have monthly schedules for scanning, the solution is not used daily.

How are customer service and support?

The support of Tenable Nessus is responsive and helpful.

I rate the support from Tenable Nessus a five out of five.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have previously used Acunetix and they are more focused on web applications instead of vulnerability assessments. Tenable Nessus lacks in this area, they should focus more on the web applications side.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Tenable Nessus is straightforward. There is helpful documentation that is provided.

I rate the setup of Tenable Nessus a five out of five.

What about the implementation team?

We did the implementation of the solution in-house.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

When comparing the price of Tenable Nessus to other similar solutions, such as Acunetix, Tenable Nessus is not as expensive. It is averagely priced in the market. We pay for the solution annually.

What other advice do I have?

My advice to others wanting to implement this solution is they need to understand what will be scanned. For example, if they are using internal servers or something similar, and is it on the cloud, or web applications, this is something they need to know. It's a good idea to evaluate these things on their end before choosing to use the solution. This solution focuses more on the servers or the network security side. Acunetix focuses more on the web application side. This is where the buyer has to evaluate and know their use case.

I rate Tenable Nessus a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
AmardeepSingh - PeerSpot reviewer
Programmer at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Vendor
Aug 14, 2022
Quick new vulnerabilities support, reliable, but security assessment could improve
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of Tenable Nessus is the support it provides for any new vulnerabilities quickly."
  • "Tenable Nessus application device assessment is one of the top tools. However, in the application security assessment, there are other tools that provide better, and more accurate findings."

What is our primary use case?

We use Tenable Nessus internally for our vulnerability scan and dynamic vulnerability assessments.

How has it helped my organization?

Tenable Nessus has helped us with better visibility of the current security posture of our infrastructure and helped us be proactive about remediating those findings.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of Tenable Nessus is the support it provides for any new vulnerabilities quickly.

What needs improvement?

Tenable Nessus application device assessment is one of the top tools. However, in the application security assessment, there are other tools that provide better, and more accurate findings.

In a future release, I would like to see all SC reporting features included in the Professional version.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Tenable Nessus for approximately five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Tenable Nessus is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The stability of Tenable Nessus is good.

We don't have a very big security team. It's four or five people who are using it.

How are customer service and support?

We have used the support from Tenable Nessus. The support was relatively good.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of Tenable Nessus was straightforward, we did not have any issues.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment of Tenable Nessus was done in-house.

The solution is not difficult to maintain at the scale we are working on it.

What was our ROI?

We have seen a return on investment by using Tenable Nessus.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The newer tools are quite pricey. There is a case of some fine tuning that can be done in terms of licensing. The IP based licensing that is offered makes the tool very expensive. If they want the IT industry to adopt it, the price should be looked at.

For the professional the cost is reasonable. However, if you go to an HC or IO platform, then the price is high. Even though the scan engine is the same, the additional features for dashboarding and reporting should not cost more than the solution itself or the intelligence of the tool to identify those findings.

There are not any fees

What other advice do I have?

In terms of the identification of vulnerabilities, this is a good tool. The engine it uses is accurate. However, it depends on which tool out of the stack you would use, and the scale of the infrastructure.

I rate Tenable Nessus a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1785186 - PeerSpot reviewer
CBO at a security firm with 11-50 employees
Reseller
Jun 24, 2022
Scans the network and gives you a report about vulnerability assessment tools and the solution
Pros and Cons
  • "It gives you an unlimited IP scan."
  • "I would like to have a management option after the network scanning."

What is our primary use case?

Our customers are using this solution. They scan their network, and they get a report about vulnerability assessment tools and solutions.

It's deployed on-prem.

What is most valuable?

It gives you an unlimited IP scan. It's a cheap solution compared to Rapid7 or Qualys. It's very user-friendly. Customers can easily scan their network.

What needs improvement?

I would like to have a management option after the network scanning.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The difference between Nessus and Rapid7 is price. Nessus is a very cheap solution compared to Rapid7 and has unlimited IP scanning facilities, but Rapid7 doesn't have this option. It has IP limitations. Rapid7 has some models based on how many IPs the customer wants to scan, and the costs depends on that amount.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The cost is around $4,300 per year. Use is unlimited. You don't pay more if you want to use it for another IP.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Tenable Nessus Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: December 2025
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free Tenable Nessus Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.