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 #22 with an average rating of 8.6, while Tenable is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.5. Amazon Web Services (AWS) holds a 1.3% mindshare in VM, compared to Tenable’s 4.1% 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

3,337 Views
2,903 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Tenable Nessus

Read 88 Tenable Nessus reviews

11,484 Views
10,565 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Amazon Inspector

Tenable Nessus

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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: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Inspector vs. Tenable Nessus

April 2026

Download the complete report

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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

22nd

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 May 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Amazon Inspector is 1.3%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Nessus is 4.1%, down from 9.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Tenable Nessus	4.1%
Amazon Inspector	1.3%
Other	94.6%

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

"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."

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

"The automated vulnerability detection aspect is most valuable."

"My experience with AWS technical support is very good, I didn't face any specific challenges, and even the documentation of AWS is good for both Microsoft, which is Azure, and AWS."

"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."

"I recommend Amazon Inspector because it allows the automation of processes and requires less manual monitoring."

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

"The scalability of the solution itself is unparalleled."

More Amazon Inspector pros

"The solution provides time saving and cost saving benefits."

"The plug-in text information is quite useful."

"It gives a holistic view of your entire environment."

"The trial version is very good for testing whether it will suit your needs."

"It is a very easy tool to use."

"The product's most valuable features are vulnerability and asset management. It can define the rules and validate the configuration."

"Among the most valuable features are scanning for vulnerabilities and the reporting. The reporting templates are okay. I like that I can see all the hosts with different vulnerabilities."

"The most valuable features are that it's fast, it's easy to use, and it provides good reports."

More Tenable Nessus pros

Cons

"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."

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

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

"One major area for improvement is remediation. My team works on remediating findings over time, likely using available patches. However, easier integration with Amazon's patching services would be very helpful."

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

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

"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."

More Amazon Inspector cons

"The pricing point has increased significantly in recent years. The product's pricing has roughly tripled within the last couple of years, making us reconsider renewing the license for the scanner."

"Remediation needs improvement."

"Multiple steps to create an actionable plan will be a great addition to Nessus."

"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."

"They should improve the I/O reporting and the customized spreadsheet export feature."

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

"EQA's and dashboards should be addressed in the next release."

"Tenable Nessus could include a broader range of IT assets."

More Tenable Nessus cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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 very transparent and clear."

"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."

"The product pricing is dynamic and varies based on the specific needs of each project and customer."

"We have a subscription, the licensing fees are paid yearly, and I am using the latest version."

"Our organization is huge so our license costs $30,000."

"One problem with Tenable is its pricing policy. Optimal results can be achieved with Greenbone Solutions which has much more friendly pricing policies."

"The price is okay. I would give it a seven out of ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive."

"The is a free version of Tenable Nessus available."

"It has a fair cost and very good cost-benefit ratio."

"The solution has free options."

More Tenable Nessus pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

Government

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

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	40
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	35

Questions from the Community

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

What is your primary use case for Amazon Inspector?

I mostly use Amazon Inspector for vulnerability scanning on AWS native applications. For hybrid applications, we have different security scanners.

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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Tenable Nessus?

Based on my experience, the pricing for Tenable Nessus is somewhat higher, but customers still want to pay for it, so it remains acceptable. The annual price increase of six to seven percent could ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 8% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 8% of the time

Rapid7 Metasploit vs Amazon Inspector

Compared 7% 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 4% of the time

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Qualys VMDR vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 8% of the time

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 8% of the time

Tenable Security Center vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 5% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 4% of the time

Acunetix vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 3% of the time

More Tenable Nessus Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon Inspector

May 2026

Download Amazon Inspector product report

Buyer's Guide

Tenable Nessus

April 2026

Download Tenable Nessus product report

Overview

Amazon Inspector offers automated vulnerability detection, scanning AWS workloads and recommending remediation, ensuring enhanced security without constant supervision.

Amazon Inspector provides advanced automated vulnerability assessments, specifically designed for AWS environments. It scans EC2 instances, ECR, and container images for vulnerabilities, ranking them by priority. With capabilities like integration with CloudTrail and CloudWatch, adherence to compliance benchmarks, and a comprehensive view for diverse resources, it supports continuous detection and detailed reporting. Users can schedule regular scans, maintaining strong security oversight. Current feedback highlights a need for improved scanning of EBS, S3, and EFS, as well as expanded databases and better patch integration.

What features make Amazon Inspector stand out?

Automated Vulnerability Assessments: Detects and prioritizes vulnerabilities in AWS workloads.
Continuous Detection: Keeps an eye on EC2, ECR, and container images for ongoing risk management.
Integration Capabilities: Works with CloudTrail and CloudWatch to centralize oversight and alerts.
Compliance Adherence: Aligns with industry benchmarks for strengthened regulatory compliance.
Detailed Reporting: Provides comprehensive reports with findings and CVEs.

What benefits do users gain from Amazon Inspector?

Enhanced Security: Automates vulnerability detection, reducing manual efforts.
Efficiency: Identifies and prioritizes threats, streamlining resource allocation.
Comprehensive Oversight: Detailed reports improve understanding and response strategies.
Regulatory Compliance: Aligns with compliance standards, aiding legal adherence.

Amazon Inspector is utilized across industries, including finance, healthcare, and tech, assisting with robust security management in cloud-native environments. By integrating with services like Security Hub and SIEM, businesses maintain compliance and streamline alert management. This solution supports broader security frameworks, often paired with third-party tools to enhance protection strategies.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Tenable Nessus enhances cybersecurity by detecting vulnerabilities with comprehensive scanning, user-friendly dashboards, and automated reporting, providing value in asset management, configuration audits, and compliance.

Providing real-time monitoring and ease of use, Nessus stands out with its integration capabilities, predictive prioritization, extensive plugin system, and cost-effectiveness. It supports vulnerability assessments for networks, applications, and devices, offering detailed reports for continuous security improvement. Nessus' capabilities extend across on-premise and cloud deployments, aiding compliance and remediation processes while aligning with security standards. While robust, it could benefit from enhanced cloud capabilities, improved scanning accuracy, and more flexible licensing options.

What are the standout features of Tenable Nessus?

Comprehensive Scanning: Covers platforms for in-depth vulnerability detection.
User-Friendly Dashboards: Simplifies monitoring with intuitive interfaces.
Automated Reporting: Streamlines data presentation and dissemination.
Integration Capabilities: Connects seamlessly with other tools for enhanced functionality.
Predictive Prioritization: Focuses on vulnerabilities with the greatest impact potential.

What benefits and ROI should users expect when evaluating Tenable Nessus in reviews?

Cost-Effectiveness: Provides strong value for investment in anomaly detection.
Real-Time Monitoring: Keeps security threats in check continuously.
Asset Management: Aids in tracking and securing organization-wide assets.
Detailed Reporting: Offers clear insights into compliance and security posture.

Tenable Nessus is implemented widely across industries for internal and external vulnerability assessments and management, aiding organizations in scanning servers, workstations, and network devices. Benefiting sectors prioritize security within their unique environments, leveraging Nessus for its thorough reports and compliance assurance.

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

April 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: April 2026.

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