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Tenable Nessus vs Vulcan Cyber 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
5.5
Qualys TotalCloud boosts efficiency, reduces manual effort, decreases risk, and offers significant cost savings with a notable ROI.
Sentiment score
3.0
Tenable Nessus boosts security by enhancing threat visibility, reducing vulnerabilities, saving costs, and achieving high user satisfaction.
Sentiment score
8.8
Vulcan Cyber boosts efficiency by prioritizing high-risk vulnerabilities, reducing task duration and notification times, saving time and resources.
It has saved about 90% of our time.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
TotalCloud has generated overall savings of 30 to 40 percent across various departments.
Security Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
CallStream helps us integrate and automate tasks.
Senior Security Consultant at CyberNxt Solutions LLP
With our vulnerability management platform, I used to get reports weekly, but with Vulcan Cyber, I get them daily.
Senior Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Our security team probably spends 15 minutes instead of two hours daily notifying the teams.
Technical Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
The biggest return on investment with Vulcan Cyber is in time savings and prioritization efficiency, as teams can focus quickly on high-risk vulnerabilities instead of manually reviewing thousands of findings.
Cyber Security Engineer II (Vulnerability & Threat Management) at FICO
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Qualys TotalCloud support is praised for efficiency and staff knowledge but criticized for delays and inconsistent quality.
Sentiment score
3.9
Tenable Nessus support is praised for responsiveness and efficiency, with mixed feedback on response times and depth for advanced queries.
Sentiment score
6.7
Vulcan Cyber offers efficient service but faces communication issues and delays, though staff remains knowledgeable and cooperative.
They are helpful, respond to my queries, and can answer any question.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys's tech support is highly responsive, providing multiple ways to interact with them.
Service Manager, Security Operations at CDA IT SOLUTIONS
Qualys' customer service provides quality answers, but the response time is long, even though it is within the SLA.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
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
We do not necessarily have visibility of when those feature requests are going into the development pipeline.
Head of Cybersecurity at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It would enhance my experience if Vulcan informed customers of forthcoming maintenance or changes that might cause website downtime.
IT Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Their technical support team is very good, knowledgeable, and helpful.
Works at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Qualys TotalCloud excels in scalability, efficiently supporting diverse environments and business sizes, though it may require skilled management.
Sentiment score
5.2
Tenable Nessus is scalable and flexible for most organizations but may face limitations with very large enterprises.
Sentiment score
7.6
Vulcan Cyber is scalable, efficiently managing large data volumes and multi-location operations, though some report performance issues.
We started our organization about nine months back. We started with about 30 users, and we now have more than 100 users.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Our organization currently uses it to manage over 1200 web applications.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It is absolutely scalable, and I would rate its scalability as nine out of ten.
retired at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
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
We have a lot of assets under management, and it effectively scales up to accommodate hundreds or even thousands of assets.
IT Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
I'd rate the scalability ten out of ten.
IT Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I would rate it ten out of ten for scalability, as integration with multiple connectors is possible without exceeding licensing limits.
Technical Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.3
Qualys TotalCloud is highly stable with reliable support, 99.9% uptime, minimal bugs, and effective maintenance communication.
Sentiment score
5.8
Tenable Nessus is praised for stability and reliability, with high user satisfaction despite minor setup and update issues.
Sentiment score
7.2
Vulcan Cyber is stable with minor UI bugs; users appreciate responsiveness but desire faster data processing enhancements.
Overall, the support provided has been excellent.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
It is a stable solution, which is why we chose it.
CIO at a venture capital & private equity firm with 11-50 employees
Continuous monitoring is crucial to ensure system stability and avoid vulnerabilities or threats.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
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
It would be better if Vulcan notified me, the customer, about upcoming maintenance or changes, indicating when the website might be down.
IT Consultant at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The product's stability is commendable, with no noticeable lags or slowness.
Technical Architect at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees
I would rate it a nine out of ten in terms of stability.
IT Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
 

Room For Improvement

Users suggest enhancing Qualys TotalCloud with clearer reports, better integration, intuitive UI, AI risk assessments, and improved documentation.
Tenable Nessus requires enhanced reporting, better integration, modern UI, faster scans, accurate detection, and comprehensive IT asset coverage.
Vulcan Cyber users face dashboard and integration issues, needing better customization, support, and training for improved performance and navigation.
Ideally, the scanner should automatically detect and scan all subdomains, even if not explicitly defined, ensuring comprehensive vulnerability assessment.
Analyst, Information Security at Infosys
Ideally, updates should be more immediate, enabling quicker implementation of solutions.
Project Lead at Persistent Systems
Our goal is to integrate all these functions into Qualys, creating a single dashboard for comprehensive security monitoring and management.
Senior Information Security Engineer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
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
An AI feature that helps them discover options without requiring them to deep dive into all features or guides them through advisory functions would be beneficial.
Freelancer And CEO at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
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
It would be beneficial if the platform allowed remote access to devices for immediate remedies.
IT Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Providing real-world examples of how to construct a ticket format for Jira, Azure DevOps, or ServiceNow with specific examples would help us understand how it might work in our environment.
Head of Cybersecurity at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Having it more customized or providing more customization options for me would be beneficial.
IT Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Setup Cost

Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is high yet justified by comprehensive features and flexibility, benefiting larger enterprises seeking robust security.
Tenable Nessus is valued for affordability and flexibility, though costs vary by organization size, IP count, and region.
Vulcan Cyber offers competitive SaaS platform pricing based on asset scale and remediation efficiencies, with cost-effectiveness varying by user.
Qualys TotalCloud's pricing is currently acceptable, it is becoming increasingly expensive.
Senior Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Pricing is managed by our finance team; however, Qualys TotalCloud offers cost-effective licensing flexibility.
IT Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Qualys TotalCloud is expensive, but it offers a premier solution with no headaches.
Vice President at Inspira Enterprise
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
When we compare it to other solutions, it is more difficult for us to negotiate the price for Tenable Nessus than to negotiate the price with Rapid7.
Freelancer And CEO at a tech vendor with 1-10 employees
For our use case, the solution is lacking some features, and the cost savings don't make it worth it.
Head of Cybersecurity at a healthcare company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Pricing typically depends on the scale of integrated assets.
Cyber Security Engineer II (Vulnerability & Threat Management) at FICO
 

Valuable Features

Qualys TotalCloud offers comprehensive vulnerability detection, cloud security management, and automation with insightful dashboards for efficient threat management.
Tenable Nessus excels in vulnerability detection, user-friendliness, scalability, real-time monitoring, integration, compliance reporting, and remediation advice.
Vulcan Cyber streamlines vulnerability management with risk prioritization, automation, integration, and compliance support, enhancing remediation and collaboration.
This view of risk helps reduce the work we would have to do to combine multiple sources to prioritize risk.
Works at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
It will help cybersecurity professionals monitor the cloud and find vulnerabilities.
Developer at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
We are enjoying the new feature, FlexScan, which is valuable for Internet-facing VMs.
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
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 offers a comprehensive view of the assets and their associated vulnerabilities, which aids in assessing and mitigating threats.
IT Engineer at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
The automation capabilities using the Vulcan API platform or the API feature allow me to easily automate scripts and reports and schedule them.
Senior Analyst at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Instead of having 100 vulnerabilities and not knowing how to prioritize and assign all your FTEs there, you now have only ten that you know you need to fix, and you're assigning the right number of FTEs.
IT Engineer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Qualys TotalCloud
Sponsored
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Container Security (11th), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (8th), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (8th), SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) (1st), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (6th)
Tenable Nessus
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Vulcan Cyber
Ranking in Vulnerability Management
27th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (9th), Cloud Security Remediation (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Vulnerability Management category, the mindshare of Qualys TotalCloud is 1.0%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tenable Nessus is 3.8%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Vulcan Cyber is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Vulnerability Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Tenable Nessus3.8%
Qualys TotalCloud1.0%
Vulcan Cyber0.7%
Other94.5%
Vulnerability Management
 

Featured Reviews

RO
IT Security Expert at Alior Bank S.A.
Unified risk scoring has improved our cloud visibility and simplifies remediation priorities
Qualys TotalCloud provides unified vulnerability and threat assessment across both IAS and SaaS. This solution provides a single prioritized view of risk, which helps reduce the work I would have to do. We are no longer based on CVSS; we are based on Qualys risk scoring, which is based on CVSS plus internal findings made by Qualys, and then assigns its own score. The TruRisk insight feature has found a small number of assets with high vulnerability scores, though I am cautious since some information is classified. Qualys TotalCloud has positively impacted our bank's performance, and we have definitely seen benefits after implementing this solution.
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.
Vikram Chakravarthy - PeerSpot reviewer
Cyber Security Engineer II (Vulnerability & Threat Management) at FICO
Risk-based workflows have transformed how our teams prioritize and track critical vulnerabilities
One important area for improvement could be reporting flexibility and dashboard customization, as this would need to align with specific organizational requirements. I believe it could be better. Additionally, UI simplification and more customization around workflows and reporting would further enhance the analyst experience. Improvements in executive reporting, more customizable dashboards, and deeper workflow flexibility would enhance operational usability further. Vulcan Cyber handles scalability well in our organization. It maintains stability for visibility and remediation tracking, avoiding the need for additional storage, as it is cloud-based. It scales well in our environment, even as vulnerability data and assets grow significantly.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
Computer Software Company
24%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise29
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business40
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise35
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business1
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Qualys TotalCloud?
Areas that need improvement in every solution include the remediation part. The remediation steps should be simple en...
What is your primary use case for Qualys TotalCloud?
Our use case involves the assets that we have under cloud, the assets exposed to the internet, and the internal appli...
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 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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Vulcan Cyber?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Vulcan Cyber indicates that pricing typically depends on th...
What needs improvement with Vulcan Cyber?
One important area for improvement could be reporting flexibility and dashboard customization, as this would need to ...
What is your primary use case for Vulcan Cyber?
My main use case for Vulcan Cyber involves vulnerability prioritization and tracking remediation, including exposure ...
 

Also Known As

Qualys TotalCloud with FlexScan
No data available
No data available
 

Interactive Demo

Demo not available
Demo not available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Bitbrains, Tesla, Just Eat, Crosskey Banking Solutions, Covenant Health, Youngstown State University
Stitch Fix, Mandiant, Wealthsimple, Entrust, Anaplan, Deloitte, Origami Risk, Verana Health
Find out what your peers are saying about Tenable Nessus vs. Vulcan Cyber and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,747 professionals have used our research since 2012.