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Tenable Nessus Pros and Cons: Top Advantages and Disadvantages

Quick AI Summary Based on G2 Reviews

Generated from real user reviews

Users value the accurate vulnerability detection of Tenable Nessus, enhancing their security management and remediation efforts. (18 mentions)
Users value the automated scanning capabilities of Nessus, optimizing vulnerability detection and streamlining security management. (15 mentions)
Users value the accurate vulnerability detection of Tenable Nessus, enhancing security management and risk assessment processes. (14 mentions)
Users appreciate the user-friendly interface of Tenable Nessus, enabling quick navigation and efficient usage. (13 mentions)
Users appreciate the comprehensive scanning and reporting features of Tenable Nessus, ensuring effective vulnerability management. (13 mentions)
Users experience slow scanning times, particularly in large environments, causing delays and potential production interruptions. (8 mentions)
Users find Tenable Nessus has limited features in the free version, restricting capabilities and increasing costs for advanced use. (6 mentions)
Users face challenges with false positives in Tenable Nessus, resulting in extra workload and confusion for security teams. (5 mentions)
Users find the complexity of initial setup and advanced features challenging, especially for beginners and large environments. (4 mentions)
Users experience slow performance during scans, often requiring extended downtime and affecting operational efficiency. (4 mentions)
Users find the inaccuracy in scan results of Tenable Nessus frustrating, affecting overall reliability and consistency. (3 mentions)
Users find the lack of automation in Tenable Nessus hampers efficiency and complicates asset management processes. (3 mentions)
Users experience update delays that lead to falling behind on crucial product updates and notifications. (3 mentions)
Users find the complex UI of Tenable Nessus challenging, making feature navigation and use case development difficult. (2 mentions)
Users find limited automation in Nessus, making it challenging to manage past scans and overall efficiency. (2 mentions)
Users find the time-consuming nature of vulnerability scanning and remediation a significant drawback of Tenable Nessus. (2 mentions)

Top Pros or Advantages of Tenable Nessus

1. Vulnerability Identification
Users value the accurate vulnerability detection of Tenable Nessus, enhancing their security management and remediation efforts.
See 18 mentions

See Related User Reviews

RISHAV K.
RK

RISHAV K.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"How Nessus helps in security audits"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus helps organizations during the auditing process by providing clear reports of the vulnerabilities as they are found during the scanning. The ag

Verified User
A

Verified User

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Essential Tool for Network Security Assessments"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus is easy to use, fast, and highly accurate. I like its wide vulnerability coverage, regular updates, and clear, detailed reports.

2. Automated Scanning
Users value the automated scanning capabilities of Nessus, optimizing vulnerability detection and streamlining security management.
See 15 mentions

See Related User Reviews

RISHAV K.
RK

RISHAV K.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"How Nessus helps in security audits"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus helps organizations during the auditing process by providing clear reports of the vulnerabilities as they are found during the scanning. The ag

JT

John T.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Tenable Nessus"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Tenable Nessus has been the industry standard for many years. This is because it will do everything that you need it to do while scanning your infras

3. Vulnerability Detection
Users value the accurate vulnerability detection of Tenable Nessus, enhancing security management and risk assessment processes.
See 14 mentions

See Related User Reviews

RISHAV K.
RK

RISHAV K.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"How Nessus helps in security audits"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus helps organizations during the auditing process by providing clear reports of the vulnerabilities as they are found during the scanning. The ag

Verified User
A

Verified User

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Essential Tool for Network Security Assessments"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus is easy to use, fast, and highly accurate. I like its wide vulnerability coverage, regular updates, and clear, detailed reports.

4. Ease of Use
Users appreciate the user-friendly interface of Tenable Nessus, enabling quick navigation and efficient usage.
See 13 mentions

See Related User Reviews

DN

Divi N.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.0/5

"Best free to use vulnerability scanner"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

-Free to use -Has community version where you can use Nessus for free to some extent -Great user interface -It also identifies miscofinguration in

DV

Deepsan V.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4.0/5

"Tenable Nessus professional"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus has one of the largest libraries of vulnerability and configuration checks, covering a wide range of systems, devices, and applications. Despi

5. Features
Users appreciate the comprehensive scanning and reporting features of Tenable Nessus, ensuring effective vulnerability management.
See 13 mentions

See Related User Reviews

RISHAV K.
RK

RISHAV K.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"How Nessus helps in security audits"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus helps organizations during the auditing process by providing clear reports of the vulnerabilities as they are found during the scanning. The ag

JT

John T.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Tenable Nessus"

What do you like about Tenable Nessus?

Tenable Nessus has been the industry standard for many years. This is because it will do everything that you need it to do while scanning your infras

Top Cons or Disadvantages of Tenable Nessus

1. Slow Scanning
Users experience slow scanning times, particularly in large environments, causing delays and potential production interruptions.
See 8 mentions

See Related User Reviews

SC

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.

Jatin .
J

Jatin .

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4.0/5

"One stop solution for Vulnerability Detection and Management"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

1. Nothing as such to complain of, as the major purpose is being handled in very efficient way, though scan time and results sometimes remain inconsis

2. Limited Features
Users find Tenable Nessus has limited features in the free version, restricting capabilities and increasing costs for advanced use.
See 6 mentions

See Related User Reviews

VK

Vivek K.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4.0/5

"Tenable Nessus Review"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Most of its features will be locked for normal public and it doesnot even comes with a professional suite .

DN

Divi N.

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.0/5

"Best free to use vulnerability scanner"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

-I have only used free community version and it has quite a few limitation with number of hosts and scans etc.

3. False Positives
Users face challenges with false positives in Tenable Nessus, resulting in extra workload and confusion for security teams.
See 5 mentions

See Related User Reviews

DV

Deepsan V.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4.0/5

"Tenable Nessus professional"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

While Nessus is known for its comprehensive vulnerability scanning capabilities, it can sometimes produce false positives, which can lead to unnecessa

Hemang D.
HD

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

4. Complexity
Users find the complexity of initial setup and advanced features challenging, especially for beginners and large environments.
See 4 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Verified User
U

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Nessus Professional has the best price/coverage ratio of the industry"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus Professional need some good process OR automation to get the most of it as you dont have any 'quality of life' feature like dashboard, tracking

Verified User
A

Verified User

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Essential Tool for Network Security Assessments"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

The user interface can feel a bit outdated, and initial setup or scan tuning may be complex for beginners. Also, advanced features require a paid lice

5. Slow Performance
Users experience slow performance during scans, often requiring extended downtime and affecting operational efficiency.
See 4 mentions

See Related User Reviews

SC

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.

RISHAV K.
RK

RISHAV K.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"How Nessus helps in security audits"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Sometimes when we are scanning the vulnerabilities in a large environment it takes time like 2-3 days to find all the vulnerabilities of the whole env

6. Inaccuracy
Users find the inaccuracy in scan results of Tenable Nessus frustrating, affecting overall reliability and consistency.
See 3 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Verified User
U

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Good Product"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Not as thorough as we would have liked.

Jatin .
J

Jatin .

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4.0/5

"One stop solution for Vulnerability Detection and Management"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

1. Nothing as such to complain of, as the major purpose is being handled in very efficient way, though scan time and results sometimes remain inconsis

7. Lack of Automation
Users find the lack of automation in Tenable Nessus hampers efficiency and complicates asset management processes.
See 3 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Verified User
U

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Nessus Professional has the best price/coverage ratio of the industry"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus Professional need some good process OR automation to get the most of it as you dont have any 'quality of life' feature like dashboard, tracking

Verified User
A

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Great Tool"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

The past scans can take up disk space. I haven't found a good way to automatically remove the old ones.

8. Update Delays
Users experience update delays that lead to falling behind on crucial product updates and notifications.
See 3 mentions

See Related User Reviews

PW

Paul W.

Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)

4.5/5

"Tenable Nessus - great and flexible vulnerability assessment tool"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Sometimes we don't get notifications of updates to the prduct and therefore we fall behind latest updates.

GM

Gabe M.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

4.5/5

"as an industry standard software when it comes to vulnerability scanning."

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

offline updates can be difficult and can be troublesome.

9. Complex UI
Users find the complex UI of Tenable Nessus challenging, making feature navigation and use case development difficult.
See 2 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Verified User
U

Verified User

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

5.0/5

"Smooth Experience"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

There is nothing to like about it. Although the UI can be modernise

Verified User
A

Verified User

Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)

4.5/5

"Essential Tool for Network Security Assessments"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

The user interface can feel a bit outdated, and initial setup or scan tuning may be complex for beginners. Also, advanced features require a paid lice

10. Limited Automation
Users find limited automation in Nessus, making it challenging to manage past scans and overall efficiency.
See 2 mentions

See Related User Reviews

Verified User
U

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Nessus Professional has the best price/coverage ratio of the industry"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus Professional need some good process OR automation to get the most of it as you dont have any 'quality of life' feature like dashboard, tracking

Verified User
A

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"Great Tool"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

The past scans can take up disk space. I haven't found a good way to automatically remove the old ones.

11. Time-Consuming
Users find the time-consuming nature of vulnerability scanning and remediation a significant drawback of Tenable Nessus.
See 2 mentions

See Related User Reviews

RISHAV K.
RK

RISHAV K.

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

5.0/5

"How Nessus helps in security audits"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Sometimes when we are scanning the vulnerabilities in a large environment it takes time like 2-3 days to find all the vulnerabilities of the whole env

Verified User
U

Verified User

Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)

4.0/5

"One of the best vulnerability scanners on the market"

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

I wish Nessus had a vulnerability remediation option. Finding all the detailed vulnerabilities is only half the battle, researching the vulnerability

Tenable Nessus Reviews (295)

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Tenable Nessus Reviews (295)

View 1 Video Reviews
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295 reviews
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Jaikishan R.
JR
Senior Technology Specialist
Information Services
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Reliable & Thorough Vulnerability Scanner – With a Few Quirks"
What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

Comprehensive vulnerability detection – Covers a wide range of known CVEs, misconfigurations, and compliance issues.

Low false positive rate – Findings are generally accurate, saving time on unnecessary triage.

Regular plugin updates – Constantly updated with new vulnerabilities and checks.

Flexible scan options – Supports credentialed, uncredentialed, web app, compliance, and custom scan policies.

Actionable remediation guidance – Reports often include step-by-step fixes and CVSS scoring.

Easy setup for standard scans – Basic scans are quick to configure and run.

Widely used and trusted – Well-established reputation in cybersecurity and vulnerability management.

Nessus supports / enables a variety of integrations, mostly via its APIs, export features, and plugins. Key categories include: Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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 reports and dashboard features are somewhat limited.

Steep learning curve for advanced use – Complex scans (e.g., with credentials or web app auth) require deeper technical knowledge.

Authenticated and web app scanning can be finicky – May need fine-tuning to work correctly with complex login flows.

Not ideal for full lifecycle VM – Lacks built-in asset management or long-term trend analysis unless integrated with Tenable.io or Tenable.sc.

Performance overhead on large networks – Can slow down scanning or miss things if not properly resourced. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

JG
Cybersecurity Analyst
Computer & Network Security
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Customization and Ease of Integration that Surprise"
What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

The customization of each scan that I can perform in the tool. With daily use, it is possible to learn and see how the tool is easy to configure and integrate with some systems. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

The visibility is excellent and the customer support provided is very quick and completely helpful. As I use it every day, contacting support becomes increasingly simple. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Computer Software
UC
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Reliable Scans and Effortless Navigation Make This Platform Stand Out"
What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

It's an amazing platform and the thing which i liked about is that how thorough reliable its scans are. I would like to say that there is no need to fight with interface to find what you need, and the scan results are laid out in a way that make sense if you are also not deep into security work everyday. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Nothing for now, everything going smoothly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

SC
Sr. Information Security Analyst
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Clean Interface and Simple Use."
What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus is Simple and forward. The set up is easy enough for most people to complete. The user interface is clean and not bombarded with tons of bells and whistles that can sometimes be overwhelming. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Only Downside can be the scan time, but that is also dependent on equipment and environment. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

AB
Analyst || Information Security
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores.
"Tenable Nessus Professional"
What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

Its easy to setup and config for first time and tenable support is very good. we are using it every quaterly for the infra scan to make sure our infra is safe from vulnrabilities. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

in reporting for the same vulnerability it will show mutliple cve in differnt rows while exporting which is creating manual effort to clean Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Paul C.
PC
Senior Network Engineer
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"excellent product it identifies misconfigs and missing patches"
What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

i love the scheduled scans feature along with the customizable templates. we use it mostly to identify configuration mishaps and devices needing additional patching. they have an extensible coverage of plugins Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

The licensing complexity is the biggest issue for me. there is no central management in the base product you have to upgrade to tenable sc. There also a few false positives. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Financial Services
AF
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Essential Tool for Network Security Assessments"
What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus is easy to use, fast, and highly accurate. I like its wide vulnerability coverage, regular updates, and clear, detailed reports. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

The user interface can feel a bit outdated, and initial setup or scan tuning may be complex for beginners. Also, advanced features require a paid license. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

RISHAV K.
RK
Sr. Cyber Security Analyst
Information Technology and Services
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"How Nessus helps in security audits"
What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

Nessus helps organizations during the auditing process by providing clear reports of the vulnerabilities as they are found during the scanning. The agent helps detect vulnerable software, misconfigured settings and other security-related issues like patches. It provides the alert along with a CVE score which helps to identify the criticality and impact of the vulnerability on the organization's security. It shows the vulnerability which really needs the attention of the security team and gives accurate scanning and provides the view that which vulnerabilities should be patched first. Nessus plugin contains the vulnerability information with the remediation action which brings easy for the security team to remediate the vulnerability easily. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

Sometimes when we are scanning the vulnerabilities in a large environment it takes time like 2-3 days to find all the vulnerabilities of the whole environment. The scanning requires downtime from the organization so that it does not affect the production environment as sometimes it brings high traffic which interrupts the production environment. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Financial Services
AF
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Simple and Effective, But Limited to One User in Pro Version"
What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

I love the simplicity of Nessus and the ease of use for securing the environment Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

I dislike the fact that the professional version only allows one user Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

fenil r.
FR
Security analyst
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"User-Friendly and Simple, But Support Scheduling Could Be Faster"
What do you like best about Tenable Nessus?

Like how simple it is to use, also user friendly Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Tenable Nessus?

One thing that I dislike that they takes time to schedule call for support Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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