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

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

"Zafran is an excellent tool."

"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."

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

"Zafran has become an indispensable tool in our cybersecurity arsenal."

"Tenable Nessus streamlines the process of scanning for our organization."

"The most valuable feature of Tenable Nessus is vulnerability detection."

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

"A valuable feature of the solution is that it is easy to understand."

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

"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."

"Tenable Nessus has a good performance, is very user-friendly, and is easy to use."

"Tenable Nessus has provided increased visibility across the organization's servers."

More Tenable Nessus pros

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

"The solution is completely stable and operation is user-friendly."

"It is a very good and user-friendly product."

"The most valuable feature is the automatic and periodic management of security scans, along with the ability to consolidate all information into a single dashboard."

"The tool provides us insight into the happens of the network and its hosts. It provides me with a list of hosts."

"Feature-wise, Tenable Security Center is a very fast tool with many dashboards and reports, and it covers all our systems."

"Tenable Security Center scans networks and gives reports."

"This product has the best results in terms of the lowest number of false-positives and false-negatives."

More Tenable Security Center pros

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."

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

"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."

"It would be better if they had application-level support for mobile devices. They don't have anything to scan mobile devices. Tenable Nessus doesn't have a mobile application vulnerability assessment. I also have issues with the false positive rates. The product has limited features."

"The price and scalability of the solution could improve."

"The reporting is a bit cumbersome."

"I think the reporting templates could be improved with Tenable Nessus."

"Tenable Nessus application device assessment is one of the top tools. However, in the application security assessment, there are other tools that provide better, and more accurate findings."

"The solution could improve security updates."

"Nessus' reporting could be more user-friendly."

"The user interface of Tenable Nessus feels outdated and could be more user-friendly."

More Tenable Nessus cons

"Tenable has some problems with agents going offline during scanning and lag between agents and the security center."

"It's important for Tenable to catch up on testing capabilities that are present in solutions like Qualys."

"Tenable SC could be improved with additional connectivity to external company postures and the capability of managing and sustaining agents in the systems directly without additional platforms in the middle."

"The solution is expensive."

"The reporting needs a lot of work on the template."

"We would like to see the inclusion of external IPs and simplified reporting that's easier to deal with"

"The web application is not very functional."

"The tool's initial configuration is not so easy."

More Tenable Security Center cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

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

"Nessus Manager is not an expensive product. It has its limitations, but the pricing reflects that. We have a yearly subscription."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

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

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

"The solution has free options."

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

"I rate the product's price seven or eight on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price and ten is high price."

More Tenable Nessus pricing and cost advice

"The tool provides competitive pricing."

"Compared to other companies or other products it could maybe be a little bit less, but the price is okay. I would say it's not very expensive."

"Tenable.sc is more expensive than its competitors."

"The price can start at €10,000 ($13,000 USD) for between 500 and 1,000 assets, and the price can climb into the millions as more assets are added."

"It is slightly more expensive than other solutions in the same sphere."

"Costing is pretty reasonable compared to the competition."

"Tenable is open-source."

"The pricing depends upon the number of IPs."

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.

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Wiz Code vs Zafran Security

Compared 24% of the time

Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Zafran Security

Compared 10% of the time

Vulcan Cyber vs Zafran Security

Compared 10% of the time

Nucleus vs Zafran Security

Compared 8% of the time

Wiz vs Zafran Security

Compared 4% 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

More Tenable Nessus Competitors

Rapid7 InsightVM vs Tenable Security Center

Compared 12% of the time

Qualys VMDR vs Tenable Security Center

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

More Tenable Security Center Competitors

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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