Tenable Nessus Pros and Cons: Top 5 Advantages and Disadvantages

Quick AI Summary Based on G2 Reviews

Generated from real user reviews

Users appreciate the comprehensive and accurate vulnerability detection of Tenable Nessus, enabling efficient management of network security. (21 mentions)

Users value the high accuracy in vulnerability detection provided by Tenable Nessus, enabling effective risk management. (19 mentions)

Users praise the high accuracy of automated scanning in Tenable Nessus, enhancing vulnerability management efficiently. (18 mentions)

Users find the intuitive interface of Tenable Nessus easy to navigate, enhancing their overall user experience. (17 mentions)

Users appreciate the high accuracy and extensive plugin support of Tenable Nessus for effective vulnerability scanning. (15 mentions)

Users find the slow scanning times can disrupt production, often lasting days depending on the environment. (8 mentions)

Users find the cost of Tenable Nessus to be excessively high, impacting both maintenance and accessibility. (6 mentions)

Users note limited features in Tenable Nessus, impacting user experience and requiring additional tools for full functionality. (6 mentions)

Users express concerns about the complexity of Tenable Nessus, noting a steep learning curve and high operational costs. (5 mentions)

Users experience false positives, occasionally identifying incorrect vulnerabilities, including issues with some Windows patch updates. (5 mentions)

5 Pros or Advantages of Tenable Nessus

1. Vulnerability Identification

Users appreciate the comprehensive and accurate vulnerability detection of Tenable Nessus, enabling efficient management of network security.

See 21 mentions

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Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

3.5/5

"It's an excellent vulnerability scanner."

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

We are able to quickly spot PCs that are highly vulnerable.

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

4.5/5

"Comprehensive, Actionable Vulnerability Detection with Flexible Deployment"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Tenable Nessus issues comprehensive and accurate vulnerability detection solution that identifies systems flaws and inefficiencies Tenable offers ac

2. Vulnerability Detection

Users value the high accuracy in vulnerability detection provided by Tenable Nessus, enabling effective risk management.

See 19 mentions

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Ankit J.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Great vulnerability scanning tool, found very useful"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Its accuracy is really high while scanning for vulnerabilities. along with this it has large supported plugins for extend coverage.

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

3.5/5

"It's an excellent vulnerability scanner."

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

We are able to quickly spot PCs that are highly vulnerable.

3. Automated Scanning

Users praise the high accuracy of automated scanning in Tenable Nessus, enhancing vulnerability management efficiently.

See 18 mentions

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Ankit J.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Great vulnerability scanning tool, found very useful"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Its accuracy is really high while scanning for vulnerabilities. along with this it has large supported plugins for extend coverage.

Herman .

4.0/5

"Powerful Vulnerability Scanner, Rapid Learning Curve"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

I think Tenable Nessus is a very popular toolset that stands out because of its usability, allowing me to learn and use it quickly without requiring e

4. Ease of Use

Users find the intuitive interface of Tenable Nessus easy to navigate, enhancing their overall user experience.

See 17 mentions

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Verified User

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Robust and reliable vulnerability scanner for all needs"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

- Ease of Use: Neat and intuitive interface, and I got use to it pretty quickly; - Frequency of use - It is easy and pleasent to use Nessus often w

Raghavendar S.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4.0/5

"User-Friendly IP Scanning with Audit-Friendly Compliance Reports"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

It’s very user-friendly to start a basic scan of IP addresses. As a non-developer, I was able to learn the interface quickly and run the scan without

5. Features

Users appreciate the high accuracy and extensive plugin support of Tenable Nessus for effective vulnerability scanning.

See 15 mentions

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Ankit J.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Great vulnerability scanning tool, found very useful"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Its accuracy is really high while scanning for vulnerabilities. along with this it has large supported plugins for extend coverage.

Verified User

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Robust and reliable vulnerability scanner for all needs"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

- Ease of Use: Neat and intuitive interface, and I got use to it pretty quickly; - Frequency of use - It is easy and pleasent to use Nessus often w

5 Cons or Disadvantages of Tenable Nessus

1. Slow Scanning

Users find the slow scanning times can disrupt production, often lasting days depending on the environment.

See 8 mentions

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Sergio C.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Clean Interface and Simple Use."

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Only Downside can be the scan time, but that is also dependent on equipment and environment.

Jaikishan R.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Reliable & Thorough Vulnerability Scanner – With a Few Quirks"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Costs can scale quickly – Advanced features and larger environments often require premium licensing. UI and reporting could be better – Custom repo

2. Expensive

Users find the cost of Tenable Nessus to be excessively high, impacting both maintenance and accessibility.

See 6 mentions

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Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

4.5/5

"Comprehensive, Actionable Vulnerability Detection with Flexible Deployment"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

The costs of running and maintaining Tenable Nessus is extensively high Beginners finds Tenable very difficult to run and manage, overwhelming their

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Comprehensive Security and Up-to-Date CVE Databases"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

The disadvantages include the cost, the potential effect on system performance, and the requirement to manually apply patches.

3. Limited Features

Users note limited features in Tenable Nessus, impacting user experience and requiring additional tools for full functionality.

See 6 mentions

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Verified User

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4.5/5

"Simple and Effective, But Limited to One User in Pro Version"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

I dislike the fact that the professional version only allows one user

Jaikishan R.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Reliable & Thorough Vulnerability Scanner – With a Few Quirks"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Costs can scale quickly – Advanced features and larger environments often require premium licensing. UI and reporting could be better – Custom repo

4. Complexity

Users express concerns about the complexity of Tenable Nessus, noting a steep learning curve and high operational costs.

See 5 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

4.5/5

"Comprehensive, Actionable Vulnerability Detection with Flexible Deployment"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

The costs of running and maintaining Tenable Nessus is extensively high Beginners finds Tenable very difficult to run and manage, overwhelming their

Jaikishan R.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Reliable & Thorough Vulnerability Scanner – With a Few Quirks"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Costs can scale quickly – Advanced features and larger environments often require premium licensing. UI and reporting could be better – Custom repo

5. False Positives

Users experience false positives, occasionally identifying incorrect vulnerabilities, including issues with some Windows patch updates.

See 5 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Ankamgari G.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Wonderful, smooth user experience and identify the known and unknown gaps in network proactively."

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

This was addressed, now we have more detection capabilities and able to identify more active vulnerabilities with less false positives alert rate.

Hemang D.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Feedback regarding tenable support"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

ensure to have exhaustive scan so that one doesnt miss any true negative and also focus on minimizing false positives

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Qazi A.

Security Consultant

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

8/10/2022

"Nessus Automated Vulnerability Scanner"

5/5

What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus is the automated network or Infrastructure vulnerability scanner helpful for small and big organisations. The Nessus also provide various types of compliance check and Secure Configuration assessment with details informmation about vulnerability without false positive Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

The tools does not has customisation option for vulnerability signature and reporting Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Mark A.

Managing Member

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

6/7/2022

"Over 15 years experience with Tenable Nessus"

5/5

What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

I love the fact that the Nessus product tells you if the discovered vulnerability is exploitable, and if so by what tool. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

I wish the reporting tool was more robust. As it stands, now I export the Nessus scan database and use a Perl script to parse the data into a custom CSV file. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Tenable Nessus:

Nessus Professional is great for consulting as they do not charge by IP Address like with their IO product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Tenable Nessus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Tenable cuts down the time it takes to evaluate a network for vulnerability and potential attack paths Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Samir D.

It admonistrator

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

6/2/2022

"Almost perfect"

4.5/5

What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

The fact that you can set diferentes scans at the same time, and the database for vulnerability updates fast. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

I have to change to classic layout a lot some options are not easy to find in the new layout, PCI ASV in particular Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Dhurgaprasad P.

Consultant

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

9/6/2022

"VA experience was excellent, Configuration review etc"

5/5

What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

I have used nessus for client VA, configuration review, server hardening, compliance check Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Couldn't pause the scans. That was one thing Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Sidh B.

Information Security Consultant

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

8/23/2022

"Nessus is a handy tool to perform Vulnerability Assessments"

4.5/5

What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

Easily discovers host and helps in performing va scan as well as congratulation scans with appropriate results. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Only the false positives side but being automated it is bearable Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Computer & Network Security

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

6/7/2022

"Nessus is one of the mandatory tools for security assessments of all types"

5/5

What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus is a quick and easy way to find known vulnerabilities in platforms. It is also excellent for spot-checking for specific vulnerabilities, such as Log4J, MSDT, etc. The audit capability is also excellent, allowing for configuration checks and compliance checks to be accomplished. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Coverage of databases, web applications and IoT could be stronger. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Recommendations to others considering Tenable Nessus:

Nessus should be part of any standard security toolkit. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What problems is Tenable Nessus solving and how is that benefiting you?

Nessus provides insight into vulnerabilities and version information across the enterprise. There are also numerous useful informational items, such as administrative user lists, lists of running processes, attached devices, etc. that make determining the security posture of a device easier. These same checks can also be useful in incident response. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Forrest W.

Sr. Manager IT

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

6/2/2022

"Comprehensive tool to manage the vulnerabilities"

5/5

What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

Scan the OS patches and also the installed apps. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Reports should have more intuitive format Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Bharath Kumar R.

SOC Manager

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

8/18/2022

"Improved UI and easy templates to launch the scan"

4/5

What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

Custom templates to launch scan instantly. Use case based templates like log4shell are handy Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Report customization is limited. Allowing custom XSLT templates to customize reports will be useful Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Computer & Network Security

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

10/11/2022

"Top three products in the Network Penetration Testing industry."

4/5

What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

Ease of use and deployment within engagements. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Lack of reliability for some findings. A ton of false positives in some testing environments. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Education Management

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

6/9/2022

"Nessus Professional"

5/5

What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

The plugins are updated daily. Once a Scan Policy is created it can be used on multiple scans using different schedules and notifications. Very fast response to log4j Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

It is not straightforward when it comes to ignoring certain IPs in a CIDR range. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.