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Tenable Nessus vs Vicarius vRx comparison

 

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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
2.5
Tenable Nessus excels in vulnerability management, boosting security, offering cost-efficiency, and enhancing threat detection and patch deployment.
Sentiment score
8.1
MSPs and clients achieved significant time, cost, and efficiency gains with Vicarius vRx, realizing a 40% ROI.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
3.8
Tenable Nessus support is knowledgeable and efficient but sometimes delayed, with high overall satisfaction despite occasional response speed issues.
Sentiment score
8.0
Vicarius vRx customer service is praised for responsiveness, professionalism, and effectiveness, with high ratings and efficient communication.
We received support within one to three hours.
CIO at a insurance company with 201-500 employees
Whenever any issue arises, we contact the support, and they are always there for us.
Information security engineer at Cyberisk
The technical support is good yet could improve in terms of response time.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
Their support is very good, and they respond quickly.
Network & Security Manager at a government with 201-500 employees
During the POC and the implementation, they were very available and made their best efforts to help us.
DevOps Tech Lead at Earnix Ltd.
Whenever I've contacted them, they respond promptly with a callback or by email.
Systems Admin at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.6
Tenable Nessus is scalable, adaptable, and well-regarded, though larger environments may face server and cloud storage challenges.
Sentiment score
7.8
Vicarius vRx scales well, featuring easy deployment across endpoints, but some face challenges during large system updates.
Whether managing 50 servers today or 500 tomorrow, performance or capacity are not hindered.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
Tenable Nessus is definitely scalable, especially for license formats designed for scalability.
Security Center Coordinator at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
It is very simple; you just script it, and then the computers connect themselves.
Information Systems Supervisor at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
When we attempted to scale this and update 200 systems, that just locked it.
Works at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
We have some clients with up to a thousand agents.
Network & Security Manager at a government with 201-500 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
5.7
Tenable Nessus is stable with reliable performance, minor update issues, occasional false positives, and rare network interference.
Sentiment score
7.3
Users generally find Vicarius vRx stable and efficient, despite occasional deployment challenges and update-related high CPU usage.
We have not encountered any issues with missing network items or errors in API and webhook interactions.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
The stability of Tenable Nessus is extraordinary.
Founder at Cipheroot
There are some issues that they do not even know how to fix at this point.
Works at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
I would rate the stability of Vicarius vRx ten out of ten.
Information Security Manager at Pango
There are some issues like high CPU usage during updates, but these were fixed.
IT Manager & Sys Admin at a non-tech company with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Tenable Nessus needs improved reporting, integration, and user interface, along with expanded capabilities, flexible pricing, and better documentation.
Vicarius vRx needs improved automation, simplified login, better integration, UI, and advanced management features for enhanced user experience.
This is Tenable's property. They want to sell Tenable Security Center, and they closed all the API capability for Tenable Nessus Professional.
Co-Founder at RSU Consultancy
The documentation is not well-organized, which can be confusing when searching for solutions or specific information related to Tenable Nessus Professional.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
The product's pricing has roughly tripled within the last couple of years, making us reconsider renewing the license for the scanner.
Security Center Coordinator at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
I am pretty sure that the tool works great when it comes to Windows, but when you are in an environment that has different flavors of Linux at different version levels, that may pose an issue.
Works at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
We have the ability to search across the network for all switches, routers, and printers, but some devices might be outdated and have vulnerabilities.
Network & Security Manager at a government with 201-500 employees
Enhancing Vicarius vRx with improved third-party integrations, like notifications for external systems, and increased cloud integration for richer instance information, would be valuable improvements.
DevOps Tech Lead at Earnix Ltd.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise evaluations praise Tenable Nessus for competitive pricing, though licensing flexibility issues may increase costs for larger networks.
Vicarius vRx offers scalable per-asset pricing, competitive yet costly, with negotiable rates appealing to resellers but challenging for smaller entities.
The pricing for Tenable Nessus has increased significantly, tripling over the last few years.
Security Center Coordinator at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
Tenable Nessus's pricing is adequate if it is fully utilized.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
My experience with the pricing, setup cost, and licensing of Tenable Nessus is that the installation is somewhat easier, but preparing the product, such as the SKU and license options, is quite tricky.
Senior Security Consultant at ITSEC Asia
It was very cheap.
Works at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
In the past, Vicarius vRx was cheap, but now they have adjusted their pricing policy, resulting in higher renewal costs.
Network & Security Manager at a government with 201-500 employees
From a pricing perspective, Vicarius was cheaper compared to other competitors.
DevOps Tech Lead at Earnix Ltd.
 

Valuable Features

Tenable Nessus offers comprehensive vulnerability coverage, flexible scanning, ease of use, affordable pricing, and effective integration, enhancing security management.
Vicarius vRx offers automated patching, vulnerability management, and a user-friendly interface, greatly reducing manual tasks for IT teams.
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.
Founder at Cipheroot
The scanning and reporting features are the most valuable aspects of Tenable Nessus.
SOC Engineer at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees
The most valuable features of Tenable Nessus include its ease of access and quick usability.
Security Center Coordinator at a comms service provider with 1-10 employees
It's a valuable tool that reduces tension between IT and security teams by providing time to properly install patches.
Information Security Manager at Pango
The system prioritizes vulnerabilities, identifying high, medium, and low risks, allowing us to focus on high-risk applications.
Information Systems Supervisor at a manufacturing company with 11-50 employees
The most valuable feature is the system's ability to provide information about open CVEs and how it compares the local version with available updates.
IT Manager & Sys Admin at a non-tech company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Tenable Nessus
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
87
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Vicarius vRx
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
16th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
21
Ranking in other categories
Patch Management (5th), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Tenable Nessus is 5.1%, down from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Vicarius vRx is 0.9%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Tenable Nessus5.1%
Vicarius vRx0.9%
Other94.0%
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

MohammedJaffir - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
reviewer2514510 - PeerSpot reviewer
Works at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Has a lot of backend issues and doesn't work the way we thought it would
We did some automation. We kicked off scheduled updates to update our systems, but it did not work. When we attempted to scale the product and update multiple systems, we ran into a lot of issues. We also ran into the issue of it creating double assets. I am not sure how that happened, but it was a mess and still is a mess. That is where we are. They should probably go back to the drawing board and make sure that they can patch Linux. In our environment, we are 99% Linux. They may need to build their own lab and have a lot of Linux devices. They can have old different Linux systems and 50 or 60 of them and attempt to do an update in their own lab and see what happens. I am still not sure if that would give them a true test because we have systems here with Docker containerization and all kinds of things on it. They will have to mimic what some of these environments will look like. I am pretty sure that the tool works great when it comes to Windows, but when you are in an environment that has different flavors of Linux at different version levels, that may pose an issue.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
10%
Computer Software Company
13%
Media Company
9%
Non Profit
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business39
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise35
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise3
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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...
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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Vicarius vRx?
I do not use other solutions, so I cannot compare its pricing to others, but its price seems okay.
What needs improvement with Vicarius vRx?
I would be happy if the patch update could be downloaded to the Vicarius server and then implemented on the client. Currently, they just send a link to the software. For example, if I want to updat...
What is your primary use case for Vicarius vRx?
We use Vicarius vRx to manage all third-party software updates. Previously, we could manage Windows updates, but third-party updates were an issue. It was difficult for us to manage the updates of ...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bitbrains, Tesla, Just Eat, Crosskey Banking Solutions, Covenant Health, Youngstown State University
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Tenable Nessus vs. Vicarius vRx and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,665 professionals have used our research since 2012.