My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Tenable Nessus is that the installation is somewhat easier, but preparing the product, such as the SKU and license options, is quite tricky. They have different options such as Tenable Base and other Tenable products, which must be chosen, and it can be complex, but the installation is easier than Rapid7.
Security Center Coordinator at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 20
Mar 27, 2025
The pricing for Tenable Nessus has increased significantly, tripling over the last few years. We have not renewed the separate scanner due to the high cost.
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.
Manager II at a insurance company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Oct 13, 2022
Our organization is huge so our license costs $30,000. We are one of the biggest financial sector groups in India, so are charged appropriately. Pricing is rated a seven out of ten because it is reasonable but always could be cheaper.
The global situation is very unstable and the dollar price has already increased significantly in our country in the last three or four months so everything has become expensive. Licensing is very competitive in our local markets and there's a lot of haggling that goes on. The option of a three-year license would be most beneficial for us because of the huge variations in the dollar.
Chief Commercial Officer at Yamamah Information Technology & Communication Systems LLC
Real User
Jul 14, 2022
Its price is high for Libya. The companies here in Libya don't have the awareness of and a good budget for cybersecurity services. If you want them to go for a product, you need to provide something different. This differentiation is related to the price. They should give about 40% to 45% discount per person on the current cost. From our side, we provide the demo and show it as a very good and valuable solution, but when it comes to the price, some companies don't want to own the tool. They prefer to go for it as a service. There are a few companies that are providing it as a service where they own the tool, but they provide it as a service, which is cheaper than a customer owning the product. We strongly recommended that customers own the product and use it. I strongly recommend to customers to go for a three-year license to use it, benefit from it, and be comfortable with it. In Libya, we are facing a problem related to the timelines and delays of projects. If they go for just a one-year license and the project gets delayed by six months, they will have only six months to use it.
Tenable Nessus needs to be licensed. We own a license for the security center and that license is charged by the number of IP addresses that you can scan. You're allowed to have as many scanners as you want and there's no license for the number of scanners. We have a bunch of Nessus scanners out there, and as long as we're comfortable with staying under that IP address limit, that's really all we have to be concerned about. We pay a monthly maintenance fee, which is reoccurring.
Senior Consultant - Cyber Security Services at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Dec 21, 2021
We have a yearly subscription license. We have a partnership for filling Tenable Nessus as a manager product for our customers. Though it is a good enterprise solution, it is likely too highly priced for smaller organizations. We feel the licensing cost to be too high for our customers and us.
Information Technology Security Specialist at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Oct 6, 2021
One problem with Tenable is its pricing policy. Optimal results can be achieved with Greenbone Solutions which has much more friendly pricing policies.
Senior Cyber Security Expert at a security firm with 11-50 employees
Real User
Sep 9, 2021
In general, it is extremely expensive. If they have a higher price, that's fine, but if there were one or two solutions where you can buy something for a cheaper price then that would make sense for many users. I understand why it's expensive, but it would be good to have a limited solution with cheaper prices. There are different solutions for purchasing Nessus, which is not possible with Datadog.
Owner at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Dec 7, 2020
Nowadays, your vulnerability applications are going to be kind of pricey because lots of them, including Rapid7, are based upon a base price, but then they add in the nodes. That's where they get you. If you're a big network, obviously, you need to scan everything. Therefore, it's going to be costly. The risk and insurance money associated with having ransomware on my networks is going to cost me more money, time, and marketing than the price of the tool. That's why I'm speaking only as an information security officer to security operations. This is the tool that is there in my toolbox to say whether we vulnerable or not. At this point, I don't care about how much it costs my company to have it because if I wasn't able to report it and we got ransomware, then who cares? I'm probably going to be out of business because it happened. That's why I don't care about the price. I have it, and I could use it effectively and do my report. At the end of the day, even if we get ransomware, as long as I reported it, followed my protocol, and put in the change, irrespective of whether it was ignored or denied, I did my job.
Vulnerability Management Analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Oct 4, 2020
I don't have any information when it comes to the cost of the solution. It's not part of my job to deal with billing or payments, so I don't have any visibility on the cost structure.
CISO at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Real User
Nov 27, 2019
We bought a one-year license. We are now preparing a new budget for next year and, given our experience with Nessus, we plan to continue with it for next year. We are satisfied with it. It's the best option for small banks. For us, here in Bosnia, a small bank would have about 150 to 250 employees, with 20 to 30 branches throughout the country. The biggest bank here has more than 2,000 and maybe as many as 3,000 employees.
Security Architect at a logistics company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Nov 13, 2019
Our licensing is on a yearly basis but we did a three-year deal. It is a fixed cost to cover a certain number of hosts or assets. There are no additional costs to the standard licensing fees.
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...
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Tenable Nessus is that the installation is somewhat easier, but preparing the product, such as the SKU and license options, is quite tricky. They have different options such as Tenable Base and other Tenable products, which must be chosen, and it can be complex, but the installation is easier than Rapid7.
The pricing for Tenable Nessus has increased significantly, tripling over the last few years. We have not renewed the separate scanner due to the high cost.
Tenable Nessus's pricing is adequate if it is fully utilized. The cost is justified by the value it brings in terms of features and performance.
It is expensive. I rate the product’s pricing an eight out of ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive.
We have one user license at present. The price is okay. I would give it a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive.
The product is free.
I rate the product's price seven or eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price.
The price of the solution is reasonable.
Tenable Nessus is affordable. On a scale from one to ten, I would give pricing a ten.
The solution is expensive. We lost bids to competing companies due to the pricing; there are cheaper alternatives to Tenable such as Rapid7 InsightVM.
The price of Tenable Nessus is too expensive for each service center.
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.
Another department handles the licensing. I can't speak to the exact costs. I do know that we pay a yearly licensing fee.
Our organization is huge so our license costs $30,000. We are one of the biggest financial sector groups in India, so are charged appropriately. Pricing is rated a seven out of ten because it is reasonable but always could be cheaper.
Nessus Manager is not an expensive product. It has its limitations, but the pricing reflects that. We have a yearly subscription.
The solution is worth the cost. It's a good investment.
Nessus is affordable, but its licensing model could be improved with more flexibility for adding assets.
The is a free version of Tenable Nessus available. In Brazil, it is about $3,500 per year.
The global situation is very unstable and the dollar price has already increased significantly in our country in the last three or four months so everything has become expensive. Licensing is very competitive in our local markets and there's a lot of haggling that goes on. The option of a three-year license would be most beneficial for us because of the huge variations in the dollar.
Its price is high for Libya. The companies here in Libya don't have the awareness of and a good budget for cybersecurity services. If you want them to go for a product, you need to provide something different. This differentiation is related to the price. They should give about 40% to 45% discount per person on the current cost. From our side, we provide the demo and show it as a very good and valuable solution, but when it comes to the price, some companies don't want to own the tool. They prefer to go for it as a service. There are a few companies that are providing it as a service where they own the tool, but they provide it as a service, which is cheaper than a customer owning the product. We strongly recommended that customers own the product and use it. I strongly recommend to customers to go for a three-year license to use it, benefit from it, and be comfortable with it. In Libya, we are facing a problem related to the timelines and delays of projects. If they go for just a one-year license and the project gets delayed by six months, they will have only six months to use it.
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.
Tenable Nessus needs to be licensed. We own a license for the security center and that license is charged by the number of IP addresses that you can scan. You're allowed to have as many scanners as you want and there's no license for the number of scanners. We have a bunch of Nessus scanners out there, and as long as we're comfortable with staying under that IP address limit, that's really all we have to be concerned about. We pay a monthly maintenance fee, which is reoccurring.
Pricing is one of the most important features, and it is something that they can improve on.
This solution is affordable. We pay a standard fee. We pay for the license yearly.
We have a yearly subscription license. We have a partnership for filling Tenable Nessus as a manager product for our customers. Though it is a good enterprise solution, it is likely too highly priced for smaller organizations. We feel the licensing cost to be too high for our customers and us.
We have an annual subscription.
One problem with Tenable is its pricing policy. Optimal results can be achieved with Greenbone Solutions which has much more friendly pricing policies.
In general, it is extremely expensive. If they have a higher price, that's fine, but if there were one or two solutions where you can buy something for a cheaper price then that would make sense for many users. I understand why it's expensive, but it would be good to have a limited solution with cheaper prices. There are different solutions for purchasing Nessus, which is not possible with Datadog.
The price is reasonable.
We incurred a single cost for a perpetual license, although I cannot comment on the price as this is above my management level.
We have a subscription, the licensing fees are paid yearly, and I am using the latest version. The pricing is fine, but it could be cheaper.
We pay approximately $2,500 on a yearly basis. We do not pay any fees in addition to the standard licensing costs.
Nowadays, your vulnerability applications are going to be kind of pricey because lots of them, including Rapid7, are based upon a base price, but then they add in the nodes. That's where they get you. If you're a big network, obviously, you need to scan everything. Therefore, it's going to be costly. The risk and insurance money associated with having ransomware on my networks is going to cost me more money, time, and marketing than the price of the tool. That's why I'm speaking only as an information security officer to security operations. This is the tool that is there in my toolbox to say whether we vulnerable or not. At this point, I don't care about how much it costs my company to have it because if I wasn't able to report it and we got ransomware, then who cares? I'm probably going to be out of business because it happened. That's why I don't care about the price. I have it, and I could use it effectively and do my report. At the end of the day, even if we get ransomware, as long as I reported it, followed my protocol, and put in the change, irrespective of whether it was ignored or denied, I did my job.
I don't have any information when it comes to the cost of the solution. It's not part of my job to deal with billing or payments, so I don't have any visibility on the cost structure.
Start small, learn about your problems/fixing time and grow up gradually.
We bought a one-year license. We are now preparing a new budget for next year and, given our experience with Nessus, we plan to continue with it for next year. We are satisfied with it. It's the best option for small banks. For us, here in Bosnia, a small bank would have about 150 to 250 employees, with 20 to 30 branches throughout the country. The biggest bank here has more than 2,000 and maybe as many as 3,000 employees.
Our licensing is on a yearly basis but we did a three-year deal. It is a fixed cost to cover a certain number of hosts or assets. There are no additional costs to the standard licensing fees.
The costs are not high, considering all the support and service offered by Tenable.
I think the price is fairly affordable. It provides a license that is fair.
The price of Tenable Nessus is much more competitive versus other solutions on the market.
My advice when choosing a vendor is to always consider: * Trustworthiness * Quality * Price