Tenable Nessus vs Tenable Security Center comparison

Tenable Nessus and Tenable Security Center are both solutions in the Vulnerability Management category. Tenable Nessus is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.6, while Tenable Security Center is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.7. Tenable Nessus holds a 5.2% mindshare in VM, compared to Tenable Security Center’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Tenable Nessus users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Tenable Security Center users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 2, 2025

Tenable Security Center and Tenable Nessus compete in the vulnerability management software category. Based on features, Tenable Security Center seems to have the upper hand with its comprehensive dashboards and Assurance Report Card for managing large assets.

Features: Tenable Security Center is beneficial with its Assurance Report Card, comprehensive dashboards, and strong vulnerability scanning. It aids in efficiently managing large numbers of assets. Tenable Nessus is recognized for its customizable scanning policies, integration capabilities, and detailed insights in vulnerability scanning with fewer false positives.

Room for Improvement: Tenable Security Center could enhance its flexibility in customized report generation, query engine capabilities, and integration of medical device data. It also struggles with mass risk acceptance processes. Tenable Nessus needs improvements in reporting, integration, handling false positives, and initial setup complexity. Competition for mobile device support and broader integrations is noted.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Tenable Security Center, mainly used in on-premises environments, has robust dashboards but encounters deployment and feature integration challenges. Customer service, while satisfactory, occasionally delays responses. Tenable Nessus supports various deployment environments, including hybrid and public cloud solutions. It offers straightforward setup and responsive technical support, though service quality inconsistencies are noted.

Pricing and ROI: Tenable Security Center tends to be more expensive, particularly compared to competitors like Rapid7, with cost linked to asset or IP counts. It justifies its price by offering significant ROI through enhanced vulnerability management efficiency. Tenable Nessus has competitive pricing, a flexible licensing model advantageous for smaller enterprises, and offers solid ROI through cost avoidance and improved security.

To learn more, read our detailed Tenable Nessus vs. Tenable Security Center Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Tenable Nessus vs. Tenable Security Center

December 2025

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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

Zafran Security

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Zafran Security is 1.1%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Nessus is 5.2%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Security Center is 2.9%, down from 6.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vulnerability Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Tenable Nessus	5.2%
Tenable Security Center	2.9%
Zafran Security	1.1%
Other	90.8%

Vulnerability Management

Featured Reviews

Reviewer6233

Works at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

Has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal

While Zafran Security is already a powerful tool, there are areas where it could be further improved to provide even greater value. One key area for enhancement is the searching capabilities within its vulnerabilities module. By incorporating the ability to create Boolean searches, users would gain the ability to apply more complex filters and customize their search criteria. This would greatly enhance the precision and efficiency with which security teams can identify and prioritize vulnerabilities. Having such tailored search capabilities would save time and resources by narrowing down vast lists of vulnerabilities to those that meet specific parameters relevant to our unique risk environment. Additionally, integrating more robust reporting and visualization tools would be advantageous. Enhanced dashboards that offer customizable visual representations of risk configurations and threat landscapes would facilitate better communication with stakeholders, making it easier to explain vulnerabilities and the rationale behind certain security measures. This would also aid in demonstrating the improvements and value derived from existing security investments to leadership and non-technical team members.

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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.

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OndrejKOVAC

Solution engineer at EXPERTience

Empower clients with risk-based vulnerability management through continuous workflow and valuable insights

Tenable Security Center could improve by implementing more dynamic data displays and translating reports into European languages. This is especially relevant in Central Eastern Europe, where clients often require reports in local languages. Additionally, the licensing model could be more flexible for managed security providers, similar to a pay-as-you-go model.

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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."

"With Zafran Security, it integrates with your security controls, allowing you to take that risk score and reduce it based on the controls in place or increase the risk based on different factors, such as if the issue is internet reachable or if there's an exploit in the wild."

"We are able to see the real risk of a vulnerability on our environment with our security tools."

"Zafran is an excellent tool."

"We saw benefits from Zafran Security almost immediately after deploying it."

"Overall, we have seen about eighty-seven percent reduction of the number of vulnerabilities that require urgency to remediate, specifically the number of criticals."

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

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

"The reports are pretty nice and easy to understand."

"I have experience with it on my attack stations, and it's pretty good to optimize. Personally, I think Nessus is quite a good product."

"You can then direct your team to create a report on the discovered vulnerabilities."

"The solution is great for scanning servers."

"It also has an executive report where you don't have to provide the client all the detail for them to sift though. But if they wish to dig through the detail they can."

"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."

More Tenable Nessus pros

"Compliance and vulnerability scans are most valuable. Compliance scan helps in validating how our teams are complying, and vulnerability scan helps in future-proofing. Its vulnerability detection is accurate."

"The solution has a lean and easy-to-use interface that is not confusing to first-time users."

"Tenable SC's most valuable features are the low number of false positives and the strong capability of providing prioritization for the vulnerabilities detected."

"This solution has a much lower rate of false positives compared to competing products."

"The most valuable features of Tenable SC are the reports and the dashboards."

"The solution is one of the most, if not the most, stable product available."

"It basically reviews our threat landscape vulnerability."

"Tenable Security Center scans networks and gives reports."

More Tenable Security Center pros

Cons

"The dashboarding and reporting functionality of Zafran Security is an area that definitely could use some improvements."

"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 the ability to have some enhanced reporting capabilities is something they can improve on, as they have good reports but we have asked for some specific reporting enhancements."

"In Nessus Professional, the main drawback was that we could have a single-user login password. So it could be better in terms of security."

"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."

"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."

"One area with room for improvement is instead of there just being a PDF format for output, I'd like the option of an Excel spreadsheet, whereby I could better track remediation efforts and provide reporting off of that."

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

"The reporting could be improved. The reporting in Rapid7 is much better."

"The accuracy of the vulnerability assessment is not up to par yet, as false alarms and false positives occur often."

"Lacks some penetration testing-related services."

More Tenable Nessus cons

"Security can always be improved."

"Tenable's reporting engine needs improvement. It needs to be more efficient and add more features."

"The solution is expensive."

"The dashboard templates are limited."

"Additional costs are associated with using the solution, as additional scanners are required for different endpoints connected to the Tenable Security Center. If Tenable Security Center could extract information from these scanners automatically rather than manually, it would enhance user-friendliness for customers."

"Deploying Tenable.sc is highly complex because it's an on-prem solution, whereas Tenable.io is cloud-based, so you can go live as soon as you log in. Tenable.sc involves significant integration with other on-prem solutions, and the deployment takes about two to three weeks with the help of a system integrator"

"The product should provide risk-based vulnerability management."

"The integration is very good, although it still needs to improve."

More Tenable Security Center cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"The price is reasonable."

"We incurred a single cost for a perpetual license, although I cannot comment on the price as this is above my management level."

"The price of Tenable Nessus could improve, it is expensive."

"Tenable Nessus is affordable."

"The solution has a single price for unlimited assets."

"The cost is around $4,300 per year. Use is unlimited. You don't pay more if you want to use it for another IP."

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

"Its price is high for Libya. The companies here in Libya don't have the awareness of and a good budget for cybersecurity services. If you want them to go for a product, you need to provide something different. This differentiation is related to the price. They should give about 40% to 45% discount per person on the current cost."

More Tenable Nessus pricing and cost advice

"We're happy with the licensing cost and find it affordable."

"The price of Tenable SC is expensive, we pay approximately €70,000 for the license annually. We have to pay for each IP test. The cost of other solutions is far less, such as Nessus Professional, which is €3,000 annually."

"We're able to save because we don't have to employ more staff members to help wit ht he scheduling of the scans, running the reports or sending them out to the systems owners. That alone is a big ROI for us."

"Tenable SC is priced per asset, with the basic solution starting around US$12,000 for 500 assets."

"The tool costs around 15,000 Saudi riyals monthly."

"Tenable is open-source."

"It is a bit expensive. Everything is included in the license."

"The pricing is more than Nexpose."

More Tenable Security Center pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	22
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	27

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zafran Security?

Since we stood Zafran Security up in our private cloud, we handle the maintenance on our side. As we opted not to use...

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What needs improvement with Zafran Security?

In terms of areas for improvement, Zafran Security is doing a really great job as a new and emerging company. Oftenti...

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What is your primary use case for Zafran Security?

My use cases for Zafran Security revolve around two primary areas. One is around vulnerability management and priorit...

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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...

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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 ...

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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...

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What do you like most about Tenable SC?

The tool's dashboard and reporting capabilities match our company's needs since we are able to modify the basic view ...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Tenable SC?

The price of Tenable Security Center is not so high; it's relatively a cheaper solution.

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What needs improvement with Tenable SC?

We did conduct a long implementation which relates to what I think can be improved about Tenable Security Center. In ...

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Comparisons

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Compared 24% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

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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 7% of the time

Amazon Inspector vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 5% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Tenable Nessus

Compared 5% of the time

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Rapid7 InsightVM vs Tenable Security Center

Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 10% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Tenable Security Center

Compared 6% of the time

The NodeZero Platform by Horizon3.ai vs Tenable Security Center

Compared 5% of the time

Tanium vs Tenable Security Center

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Zafran Security

January 2026

Download Zafran Security product report

Buyer's Guide

Tenable Nessus

January 2026

Download Tenable Nessus product report

Buyer's Guide

Tenable Security Center

January 2026

Download Tenable Security Center product report

Also Known As

No data available

Tenable.sc, Tenable Unified Security, Tenable SecurityCenter

Overview

Zafran Security integrates with existing security tools to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities effectively, proving that most critical vulnerabilities are not exploitable, optimizing threat management.

Zafran Security introduces an innovative operating model for managing security threats and vulnerabilities. By leveraging the threat exposure management platform, it pinpoints and prioritizes exploitable vulnerabilities, reducing risk through immediate remediation. This platform enhances your hybrid cloud security by normalizing vulnerability signals and integrating specific IT context data, such as CVE runtime presence and internet asset reachability, into its analysis. No longer reliant on patch windows, Zafran Security allows you to manage risks actively.

What are the key features of Zafran Security?

Threat Exposure Management: Utilizes existing tools to prioritize vulnerabilities and manage threats.
Integrative Analysis: Combines security data with IT context for precise vulnerability management.
Real-time Risk Reduction: Enables immediate risk management without waiting for patches.
Hybrid Cloud Compatibility: Functions across diverse cloud environments for comprehensive security.

What benefits can users expect from Zafran Security?

Improved Security: Enhances protection by efficiently identifying and mitigating risks.
Cost Efficiency: Reduces unnecessary patching expenses by confirming non-exploitable vulnerabilities.
Time Savings: Frees developers to focus on root causes by handling immediate threats.
Comprehensive Insight: Offers a holistic view of security threats and vulnerabilities.

In industries where security is paramount, such as finance and healthcare, Zafran Security provides invaluable protection by ensuring that only exploitable vulnerabilities are addressed. It allows entities to maintain robust security measures while allocating resources efficiently, fitting seamlessly into existing security strategies.

Zafran Security

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

Get a risk-based view of your IT, security and compliance posture so you can quickly identify, investigate and prioritize your most critical assets and vulnerabilities.

Managed on-premises and powered by Nessus technology, the Tenable Security Center (formerly Tenable.sc) suite of products provides the industry’s most comprehensive vulnerability coverage with real-time continuous assessment of your network. It’s your complete end-to-end vulnerability management solution.

Tenable

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

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

IBM, Sempra Energy, Microsoft, Apple, Adidas, Union Pacific

Buyer's Guide

Tenable Nessus vs. Tenable Security Center

December 2025

Free Report: Tenable Nessus vs. Tenable Security Center

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