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Rapid7 Metasploit vs Tenable Nessus comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

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

Zafran Security
Sponsored
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
27th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) (6th)
Rapid7 Metasploit
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
20th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Tenable Nessus
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
81
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Featured Reviews

Israel Cavazos Landini - PeerSpot reviewer
Weekly insights and risk analysis facilitate informed security decisions
I appreciate the weekly insights Zafran provides, which include critical topics for networks and IT security, allowing us to evaluate which insights apply to our environment. The organization score feature is valuable to keep the leadership team updated on how our infrastructure fares security-wise. The applicable risk level versus base risk level feature is beneficial because prior to Zafran, we only used the base risk level, but now understand that risk depends on the asset itself. Zafran is an excellent tool.
Mani Bommisetty - PeerSpot reviewer
Comprehensive insights with robust vulnerability detection and streamlined alert management
Rapid7 has a significant advantage in providing a clear picture of my environment. It provides insight and incident detection response capabilities. When deployed with the same agent in servers or endpoints, it identifies vulnerabilities and monitors data transmission to external sources. Rapid7 offers comprehensive features within one platform, eliminating the need to integrate multiple tools to see all alerts in one place.
HarshBhardiya - PeerSpot reviewer
Provided increased visibility across the organization's servers
The user interface of Tenable Nessus feels outdated and could be more user-friendly. Additionally, the documentation is not well-organized, which can be confusing when searching for solutions or specific information related to Tenable Nessus Professional. The reporting feature could be improved by allowing users to create their own templates instead of relying on predefined ones.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Zafran has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."
"Zafran is an excellent tool."
"Technical support has been helpful and responsive."
"Rapid7 offers comprehensive features within one platform, eliminating the need to integrate multiple tools to see all alerts in one place."
"Rapid7 has a significant advantage in providing a clear picture of my environment."
"I use Rapid7 Metasploit for payload generation and Post-Exploitation."
"I don't have any other tools like it, and I always use it when I'm doing a pen test. Metasploit is a great solution for penetration testing,"
"The solution is open source and has many small targetted penetration tests that have been written by many people that are useful. You can choose different subjects for the test, such as Oracle databases or Apache servers."
"It's not possible to do penetration testing without being very proficient in Metasploit."
"The Search Engineering feature is good."
"Tenable Nessus is cheap and flexible."
"With the Tenable Nessus enterprise edition, you have unlimited licenses to scan the device."
"Tenable Nessus is an absolutely stable and fantastic product."
"The most valuable feature of Tenable Nessus is website scanning."
"The results are not that bad, but the key selling point is that it is an affordable tool set."
"The most valuable feature is the breadth of vulnerabilities that it finds. It's able to find across a lot of different platforms and operating systems. It's also able to combine local testing with network-based testing."
"I am impressed with the tool's vulnerability scanning."
"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 equipment, and appliances in our infrastructure."
 

Cons

"Initially, we were somewhat concerned about the scalability of Zafran due to our large asset count and the substantial amount of information we needed to process."
"I think areas with shortcomings that need improvement are more integration and automation."
"If your company's patch is not up to date, but you have other detection or defense solutions such as endpoint detection and response and antivirus software, the product exploit may not work effectively. This is because its exploit database update process is slow and not real-time. For zero-day vulnerabilities or new security threats, relying on Rapid7 Metasploit alone may not be effective."
"The solution should improve the responsiveness of its live technical support."
"Support is another area where improvement is needed, particularly for assisting non-security users."
"While Metasploit excels in vulnerability assessment, it could improve in vulnerability management."
"The reporting feature needs improvement."
"The database is not always updated with the latest vulnerabilities or zero-day exploits."
"Metasploit cannot be installed on a machine with an antivirus."
"The user interface of Tenable Nessus feels outdated and could be more user-friendly."
"The reporting is a bit cumbersome."
"We'd like to see more integration potential within the solution."
"The user interface of Tenable Nessus feels outdated and could be more user-friendly."
"Multiple steps to create an actionable plan will be a great addition to Nessus."
"One area that has room for improvement is the reporting. I'm preparing reports for Windows and Linux machines, etc. Currently, I'm collecting three or four reports and turning them into one report. I don't know if it is possible to combine all of them in one report, but that would be helpful."
"Sometimes, the categorization for clients was tricky at first, however, they eventually got used to it."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The great advantage with Rapid7 Metasploit, of course, is that it's free."
"I have used the free version of Rapid7 Metasploit."
"Rapid7 Metasploit is cheaper than Tenable.io Vulnerability Management."
"It is a reasonably priced solution. I would rate it from five out of ten."
"I use the open-source version of this product. Pricing is not relevant."
"We pay monthly. The pricing is reasonable."
"There are two versions available, one of which is the Pro version, and the other is the free version."
"It is expensive. Our license expired, and our company is not thinking to renew because of our budget."
"The price is high for the solution. There are free tools with similar functionality available. The solution cost approximately $3,500."
"We paid about six thousand dollars per license."
"The solution is worth the cost. It's a good investment."
"Cost-wise, it's an affordable tool."
"The newer tools are quite pricey. There is a case of some fine tuning that can be done in terms of licensing. The IP based licensing that is offered makes the tool very expensive. If they want the IT industry to adopt it, the price should be looked at."
"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 of the solution is reasonable."
"The price is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Retailer
6%
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
7%
Educational Organization
40%
Computer Software Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zafran Security?
Pricing for Zafran Security is not expensive. We have a contract for five years, and the cost is lower than other too...
What needs improvement with Zafran Security?
I would like to see an integration with Check Point firewalls. It's essential for us and they are currently working o...
What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?
We use Zafran Security for threat prioritization. We establish priority to understand which risks should be patched o...
What do you like most about Rapid7 Metasploit?
I use Rapid7 Metasploit for payload generation and Post-Exploitation.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Rapid7 Metasploit?
Metasploit is cheaper than Nessus and offers a more robust community edition that provides a good experience for stud...
What needs improvement with Rapid7 Metasploit?
While Metasploit excels in vulnerability assessment, it could improve in vulnerability management. Nessus currently h...
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. Yo...
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 ...
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 addre...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Metasploit
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
City of Corpus Christi, Diebold, Lumenate, Nebraska Public Power District, Prairie North Regional Health, Apptio, Automation Direct, Bob's Stores, Cardinal Innovations Healthcare Solutions, Carnegie Mellon University
Bitbrains, Tesla, Just Eat, Crosskey Banking Solutions, Covenant Health, Youngstown State University
Find out what your peers are saying about Rapid7 Metasploit vs. Tenable Nessus and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
845,040 professionals have used our research since 2012.