Amazon Inspector vs Tenable Nessus comparison

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Tenable are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #20 with an average rating of 8.6, while Tenable is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 1.7% mindshare in VM, compared to Tenable’s 5.1% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Tenable users who would recommend it.

Amazon Inspector

Read 9 Amazon Inspector reviews

2,762 Views
2,458 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Tenable Nessus

Read 87 Tenable Nessus reviews

9,719 Views
8,844 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Amazon Inspector

Tenable Nessus

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Tenable Nessus and Amazon Inspector are critical tools in the vulnerability assessment category. Users express higher satisfaction with Tenable Nessus for its robust feature set, whereas Amazon Inspector is favored for its integration capabilities and scalability, especially in AWS environments.

Features: Tenable Nessus offers comprehensive vulnerability scanning, continuous monitoring, and extensive plugin support, catering to various security issues. Amazon Inspector automates vulnerability management for AWS environments and seamlessly integrates with AWS services, making it appealing for cloud operations. Its ability to automatically assess compliance aspects distinguishes it from the more network-centric Nessus.

Room for Improvement: Tenable Nessus could improve in its cloud-specific integration capabilities, as it is more network-focused. The user interface might be simplified for better user experience. Pricing models could be more flexible. Amazon Inspector could enhance its feature set outside AWS environments to appeal to a broader audience. Improvements in user interface design could help users more easily navigate the tool. Enhanced support for hybrid cloud environments would increase its versatility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Tenable Nessus is recognized for its straightforward deployment process, making it suitable for businesses that need minimal disruption. Its customer service is more personalized, benefiting direct user interactions. Amazon Inspector benefits from native AWS integration, which simplifies setup for AWS users, and the broad support infrastructure from AWS enhances customer support.

Pricing and ROI: Tenable Nessus is known for competitive pricing with substantial feature offerings, though it may involve higher initial setup costs. Amazon Inspector's pay-as-you-go model aligns costs with usage, beneficial for dynamic AWS environments. The long-term ROI potential for Inspector is significant due to its integration and automation benefits, especially for businesses heavily relying on AWS.

To learn more, read our detailed Amazon Inspector vs. Tenable Nessus Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Inspector vs. Tenable Nessus

February 2026

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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

Amazon Inspector

Ranking in Vulnerability Management

20th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Vendor Risk Management (6th)

Tenable Nessus

Ranking in Vulnerability Management

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Amazon Inspector is 1.7%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Nessus is 5.1%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Tenable Nessus	5.1%
Amazon Inspector	1.7%
Other	93.2%

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Abdalla Kenawy

AWS DevOps SRE/Infrastructure Engineer at Capgemini

Automated insights streamline data security assessment

For Amazon Inspector, we have many EC2 or virtual machines deployed inside our AWS environment, and the problem is that the existing package deployed inside this EC2 instance has already outdated packages. As we progress with time, this package needs to be updated for security enhancement, which requires us to uninstall the package, install the new version, and then we should be fine. However, the challenge comes with how to scan all our EC2 instances for security vulnerabilities, which is currently managed by Amazon Inspector. Amazon Inspector can scan EC2 instances or ECR, which is the ECR registry where we can save artifacts Docker images. Amazon Inspector can also scan Docker images uploaded to ECR for Elastic Registry service, and it can scan databases and S3 based on the latest updates. I noticed this from a couple of months ago, and it provides huge benefits for security. Regarding the best features of Amazon Inspector, it gives us a list of all existing outdated packages as part of a deployed package on EC2 instances or specific Python packages that are part of the Docker file and the Docker image itself, which are causing security concerns. Amazon Inspector can list these security concerns and offer guidance on how we can remediate it by updating the package to a specific upper version or something similar.

Read full review

MohammedJaffir

Founder at Cipheroot

Has enabled me to reduce false positives and perform deep credential auditing with seamless integrations

I mostly use the configuration audit feature for the audit configuration as a scan policy, and I will use it for credential audit, which helps me scan credentials access such as local administrator or root access, performing a deeper and more accurate check of local configuration settings and file systems, making it a highly recommended feature. Regarding integration capabilities, we can integrate Tenable Nessus with SIM tools such as Splunk, IBM QRadar, and Azure Sentinel, as well as with ticketing systems such as ServiceNow, Jira, and Slack. There is no complexity as it is very easy to integrate everything. In terms of the reporting feature, while vulnerability scanning can throw some false positives, Tenable Nessus has very few, achieving a reduction of 75% to 80% false positives with manual analysis needed. We can generate standard Nessus reports that typically include host summaries and vulnerabilities by host and plugin, alongside solutions and remediation recommendations. The main benefits I get from Tenable Nessus are complete asset inventory and comprehensive attack surface management, allowing us to prioritize vulnerabilities based on risk, focusing on true risk and threat path analysis.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"It operates continuously, so as soon as resources are created, it scans them for vulnerabilities."

"The assessment reports provided by Amazon Inspector have helped me in identifying security vulnerabilities in my cloud applications by giving us a nicely designed dashboard that provides all the security information we need to work on remediation."

"The integration of Amazon Inspector with other AWS services has enhanced our security. Security Hub is a major asset because it allows us to centralize data from various AWS services. We can integrate third-party tools as well. It is just a single-click option."

"The findings dashboards are neat and easy to understand, offering clear demarcations for different types of findings and detailed insights into specific vulnerabilities and their associated instances. It is not a place where everything is dumped together. It offers an easy-to-understand layout."

"The scalability of the solution itself is unparalleled."

"The automated vulnerability detection aspect is most valuable."

"Amazon Inspector is highly stable, rated ten out of ten, and this stability impacts business security and administration positively."

"The vulnerability discovery is valuable, and they also rank those vulnerabilities for you. So, you could rapidly attack some of the higher, severe vulnerabilities as they pop up, if they do pop up."

More Amazon Inspector pros

"Out of the box, the product works well for us, so it's not a tool that we need to customize very much."

"Vulnerability assessment is the most valuable feature in Tenable Nessus, as it provides brief details regarding the vulnerability issues we have in our network."

"Nessus gives me a good preview of vulnerabilities and good suggestions for remediation. It's easy to find a description of a given vulnerability and solutions for it."

"The most valuable feature of Tenable Nessus is the dashboard. They are convenient to use."

"The most valuable features of Tenable Nessus include its ease of access and quick usability."

"The initial setup is very straightforward."

"I like this solution because it is complete. It can scan and check many types of vulnerabilities. It can also check for compliance."

"It allows me to prioritize efforts and utilize effective technical resources."

More Tenable Nessus pros

Cons

"It has automated vulnerability assessment, yet I seek more flexibility in defining custom vulnerability checks tailored to my needs, which is more difficult."

"There is room for improvement in the scanning capabilities. I'd like to see broader coverage in terms of the vulnerabilities detected."

"The false positive rate of Amazon Inspector is a little high, and it is not covering all different applications and scanning."

"The most challenging aspect I faced with Amazon Inspector during integration was automating the remediation process."

"The other point is that the reporting features of Inspector need improvement. For example, I am in an organization with millions of CVEs, and getting an overview of all this is challenging."

"There isn't too much to improve right now. Scanning on demand or as a part of the pipeline versus a post pipeline solution would be good, but it is not a deal breaker by any means."

"It has a limited scope. So, AWS Inspector primarily focuses on the security of the EC2 instance. So, if your architecture includes other AWS services, then you may need to use additional tools for your comprehensive security assessment. So that is one con. Another is, like, we have a dependency on agents."

"One area for improvement in Amazon Inspector is the automation aspect."

More Amazon Inspector cons

"The problems I faced with Tenable Nessus were related to its dashboard's customization capabilities and its ability to provide data to third-party sources."

"The tool needs to upgrade asset tracking."

"The integration part is not good because five years ago, Tenable Nessus had more integration capability. After that, Tenable changed their policies and strategy."

"Scans aren't done properly and some devices aren't pinged."

"They could make their reporting a little better."

"From my point of view the solution basically is not for the big enterprise."

"The reports are okay, but the interface is a bit difficult to navigate in some cases."

"The inventory management function in this solution needs improvement."

More Tenable Nessus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The lowest cost would be around $10 for a few small accounts, however, for thousands of accounts, it could be around $5000 to $6000 dollars per month."

"It's priced according to market standards for its services."

"The pricing is very transparent and clear."

"It is scaled as you go. There are probably a certain number of scans per month, and there are tiers. If you're under a certain tier, it is free. The second level is pennies, and then all the way up to like a million. So, it has a tiered pricing program. They're pretty good with your initial scanning, and there is room to scale based on being affordable, but it is fairly cheap. There are no additional costs. They pretty much think about it as a pay-per-scan type model."

"The pricing is much more manageable versus other products."

"The price of Tenable Nessus is too expensive for each service center."

"This solution is affordable."

"The price is reasonable."

"The price is high for the solution. There are free tools with similar functionality available. The solution cost approximately $3,500."

"The product is free."

"Its pricing is great and can't be improved. It is very cheap. It is less than 2,000 pounds a license, and you can't really ask for more. It has unlimited IPs and unlimited scans. There are no particular pricing constraints. The only additional cost is the inherent cost of the people to actually review the actual scans."

"We pay approximately $2,500 on a yearly basis."

More Tenable Nessus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	39
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	35

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon Inspector?

The integration of Amazon Inspector with other AWS services has enhanced our security. Security Hub is a major asset because it allows us to centralize data from various AWS services. We can integ...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon Inspector?

I am not honestly sure about the pricing side of Amazon Inspector, but that is taken care of by a separate team. I believe it's cheaper than the other third-party solutions.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon Inspector?

They might launch support for third-party environments in the next version regarding the best features in Amazon Inspector from my perspective. The false positive rate of Amazon Inspector is a litt...

See all answers

How would you choose between Rapid7 InsightVM and Tenable Nessus?

You have full visibility across cloud, network, virtual, and containerized infrastructures with Rapid7 Insight VM. You can easily prioritize vulnerabilities using attacker analytics. Overall, Rapid...

See all answers

What's the difference between Tenable Nessus and Tenable.io Vulnerability Management?

Tenable Nessus is a vulnerability assessment solution that is both easy to deploy and easy to manage. The design of the program is such that if a company should desire to handle the installation t...

See all answers

What do you like most about Tenable Nessus?

We have around 500 virtual machines. Therefore, we conduct monthly scans and open tickets for our developers to address identified vulnerabilities. These scans cover the servers, other network equi...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 11% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 9% of the time

Qualys CyberSecurity Asset Management vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 6% of the time

Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 6% of the time

Wiz vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 5% of the time

More Amazon Inspector Competitors

Qualys VMDR vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 11% of the time

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 10% of the time

Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 6% of the time

Tenable Security Center vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 6% of the time

Pentera vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 4% of the time

More Tenable Nessus Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Inspector

February 2026

Download Amazon Inspector product report

Buyer's Guide

Tenable Nessus

January 2026

Download Tenable Nessus product report

Overview

Amazon Inspector is an automated security assessment service that helps improve the security and compliance of applications deployed on AWS. Amazon Inspector automatically assesses applications for exposure, vulnerabilities, and deviations from best practices. After performing an assessment, Amazon Inspector produces a detailed list of security findings prioritized by level of severity. These findings can be reviewed directly or as part of detailed assessment reports which are available via the Amazon Inspector console or API.

Amazon Inspector security assessments help you check for unintended network accessibility of your Amazon EC2 instances and for vulnerabilities on those EC2 instances. Amazon Inspector assessments are offered to you as pre-defined rules packages mapped to common security best practices and vulnerability definitions. Examples of built-in rules include checking for access to your EC2 instances from the internet, remote root login being enabled, or vulnerable software versions installed. These rules are regularly updated by AWS security researchers.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

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 customizable scanning options. Its broad asset coverage, including network devices and applications, coupled with ease of deployment, positions it as a go-to option for risk assessment and compliance. Organizations value its extensive reporting features and database, although they suggest enhancements in reporting formats and false positive detection. A more intuitive interface, improved cloud support, and competitive pricing models are sought after to cater to evolving enterprise needs.

What are the key features of Tenable Nessus?

Comprehensive Vulnerability Detection: Identifies security gaps across systems and platforms.
Remedy Recommendations: Provides actionable insights for vulnerability fixes.
Predictive Prioritization: Helps in focusing on critical vulnerabilities first.
Seamless Integration: Compatible with diverse platforms for cohesive threat management.
Automation Capabilities: Streamlines routine scans and reports.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Fast Setup: Quick deployment that saves time and resources.
Cost-Effective: Affordable pricing supports budget-conscious cyber strategies.
Real-Time Monitoring: Offers continuous oversight of system health.
Extensive Reports: Detailed insights enhance decision-making processes.

In industries such as finance, healthcare, and tech, Tenable Nessus is implemented for scanning internal and external networks, identifying risks, and ensuring data protection compliance. Organizations conduct regular scans to detect security vulnerabilities in servers and databases, leveraging its capabilities to strengthen their security frameworks while managing cloud infrastructures and enterprise networks efficiently.

Tenable

Sample Customers

betterment, caplinked, flatiron, university of nutri dame

Bitbrains, Tesla, Just Eat, Crosskey Banking Solutions, Covenant Health, Youngstown State University

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Inspector vs. Tenable Nessus

February 2026

Free Report: Amazon Inspector vs. Tenable Nessus

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Inspector vs. Tenable Nessus and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.

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