Nessus Vulnerability Scanner: Network Security Solution (2024)

The first tool in your cybersecurity toolbox

Expose and close weaknesses across your constantly changing attack surface with the industry’s most trusted vulnerability assessment solution.

Try Tenable Nessus free for 7 days

Unlimited vulnerability assessments you can use anywhere

Know your vulnerabilities

Automate point-in-time assessments to identify software flaws, missing patches, malware and misconfigurations across a variety of operating systems, devices and applications.

Expose the threats that matter

Nessus provides a variety of vulnerability scoring systems like CVSS v4, EPSS and Tenable’s VPR to help you implement effective vulnerability prioritization for remediation efforts.

Close knowledge gaps

Get actionable tips and tricks on the next steps to take with a resource center that can guide experienced and non-security staff.

The global gold standard in vulnerability assessment

Nessus Professional
  • Unlimited IT vulnerability assessments
  • Vulnerability scoring with CVSS v4, EPSS and VPR (for Top 10 Vulns)
  • Configuration, compliance and security audits
  • Use anywhere
  • Configurable reports
  • Community support
  • Advanced support (available as an option)
  • On-demand training (available as an option)
  • Web application scans (5 FQDNs with the option to add more)
  • External attack surface scans
  • Cloud infrastructure scans

Try Buy

Learn more
Nessus Expert
  • Unlimited IT vulnerability assessments
  • Vulnerability scoring with CVSS v4, EPSS and VPR (for Top 10 Vulns)
  • Configuration, compliance and security audits
  • Use anywhere
  • Configurable reports
  • Community support
  • Advanced support (available as an option)
  • On-demand training (available as an option)
  • Web application scans (5 FQDNs with the option to add more)
  • External attack surface scans
  • Cloud infrastructure scans

Try Buy

Learn more

Tenable Nessus ranks at the top

#1

in accuracy

Nessus has the industry's lowest false positive rate with six-sigma accuracy.

*.32 defects per 1 million scans

Try now

#1

in coverage

Nessus has the deepest and broadest vulnerability coverage in the industry.

See how

#1

in adoption

Nessus is trusted by tens of thousands of organizations, with 2 million downloads worldwide.

Learn more

#1

in hearts and minds

Don't just take our word for it. Security practitioners around the world put their trust in Nessus.

See more

Nessus is #1 For Vulnerability Assessment

From the beginning, we've worked hand-in-hand with the security community. We continuously optimize Nessus based on community feedback to make it the most accurate and comprehensive vulnerability assessment solution in the market. Twenty-five years later and we're still laser focused on community collaboration and product innovation to provide the most accurate and complete vulnerability data — so you don't miss critical issues which could put your organization at risk.

Today, Nessus is trusted by tens of thousands of organizations worldwide as one of the most widely deployed security technologies on the planet — and the gold standard for vulnerability assessment. See for yourself - explore the product here.

89K+

CVEs

218,000+

plugins

100+

new plugins
released weekly

Tenable’s Zero Day Research provides 24/7 updates into new and emergent vulnerabilities so you’ll always have full situational awareness.

Built by practitioners

Nessus is built from the ground-up with a deep understanding of how security practitioners work. Every feature in Nessus is designed to make vulnerability assessment simple, easy and intuitive. The result: less time and effort to assess, prioritize and remediate issues. Learn more about the features here.

  • Deploy on any platform

    You can deploy Nessus on a variety of platforms, including Raspberry Pi. Nessus is there with you, no matter where you are, where you’re headed or how distributed your environment is.

    Read the press release

  • Efficiency and accuracy

    Our dynamically compiled plugins increase scan performance and efficiency, so you can complete the first scan quickly and improve time to value.

  • Zero in on threats that matter most

    With market-leading coverage, Nessus knows every vulnerability. The power of Nessus lets you triage and address the threats that matter most.

  • Pre-built policies and templates

    With more than 450 pre-configured templates, Nessus helps you quickly understand where you have vulnerabilities.

  • Customizable reporting & troubleshooting

    Nessus helps you optimize reports to meet your needs. Plus, you can export them in formats that work for your security process.

  • Live results

    Nessus Live Results automatically performs offline vulnerability assessments with every plugin update. You’ll see where your vulnerabilities are based on your scan history.

  • Ease of use

    Nessus takes an intuitive approach to navigation and user experience. And with our resource center, you’ll be armed with actionable tips and guidance on the next steps to take.

  • Grouped view

    Nessus groups similar issues and vulnerability categories together and presents them in one thread, which simplifies researching and prioritizing issues for remediation.

Key use cases for Nessus

Nessus is the world’s No. 1 vulnerability scanning solution. Learn how Tenable customers put it to work in a range of critical situations.

Network pen tester
Cybersecurity education programs faculty and students
Consultant
SMB Security admin

Network pen testers

Nessus Vulnerability Scanner: Network Security Solution (9)

Network pen testers play a unique role in the IT security ecosystem.

Before executing full breach simulations, pen testers use Nessus first to find where those major vulnerabilities are hiding.

Read more

Cybersecurity faculty and students

Nessus Vulnerability Scanner: Network Security Solution (10)

Cybersecurity students are invaluable to this highly specialized field.

Professors use Nessus with cybersecurity students in vulnerability assessment and management courses as a foundational tool to get them up to speed on the essentials of uncovering vulnerabilities.

Read more

Consultants

Nessus Vulnerability Scanner: Network Security Solution (11)

Cybersecurity consultants play pivotal roles in a constantly shifting threat and vulnerability landscape.

Cybersecurity consultants use Nessus to scour clients’ networks for vulnerabilities and create comprehensive reports that summarize security posture and contain key suggestions for remediation.

Read more

SMB security admins

Nessus Vulnerability Scanner: Network Security Solution (12)

In years past, small and medium-sized businesses might have considered themselves effectively immune to cyberattacks.

With Nessus, even small companies that lack full-time cybersecurity staff can stay on top of vulnerabilities, customizing comprehensive scans to meet unique business needs.

Read more

To learn more about Nessus features and functionality, visit our Nessus documentation page.
To learn more about purchasing options, please contact your preferred reseller or visit our online store.

Nessus Expert—
Built for security professionals like you

Get the world’s most widely deployed vulnerability assessment solution.

Buy Nessus Expert

Try Nessus Expert

Try Nessus free for 7 days

Try now

Renew an existing license Find a reseller

With Advanced Support for Nessus Pro, your teams will have access to phone, Community, and chat support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This advanced level of technical support helps to ensure faster response times and resolution to your questions and issues.

Advanced Support Plan Features

Phone Support

Phone support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, available for up to ten (10) named support contacts.

Chat Support

Chat support available to named support contacts, accessible via the Tenable Community is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Tenable Community Support Portal

All named support contacts can open support cases within the Tenable Community. Users can also access the Knowledge Base, documentation, license information, technical support numbers, etc.; utilize live chat, ask questions to the Community, and learn about tips and tricks from other Community members.

Initial Response Time

P1-Critical: < 2 hr
P2-High: < 4 hr
P3-Medium: < 12 hr
P4-Informational: < 24 hr

Support Contacts

Support contacts must be reasonably proficient in the use of information technology, the software they have purchased from Tenable, and familiar with the customer resources that are monitored by means of the software. Support contacts must speak English and conduct support requests in English. Support contacts must provide information reasonably requested by Tenable for the purpose of reproducing any Error or otherwise resolving a support request.

Customers rely on Nessus to stay safe

  • American Eagle Outfitters

  • Virtustream

  • World Wide Technology

Learn more

Nessus Professional data sheet Download the data sheet
6 ways to optimize your Nessus scans ebook Download the ebook
Nessus Expert data sheet Download the data sheet

Related products

Nessus Vulnerability Scanner: Network Security Solution (16)

Tenable One Exposure Management Platform

Improve attack prevention with less effort.

Request a demo
Data sheet

Nessus Vulnerability Scanner: Network Security Solution (17)

Tenable Vulnerability Management

Close vulnerability exposure with the world’s #1 Vulnerability Management solution.

Try for free
Data sheet

Nessus Vulnerability Scanner: Network Security Solution (18)

Tenable Security Center

Identify and prioritize vulnerabilities based on risk to your business. Managed on premises.

Request a demo Data sheet

Try Tenable Web App Scanning

Enjoy full access to our latest web application scanning offering designed for modern applications as part of the Tenable One Exposure Management platform. Safely scan your entire online portfolio for vulnerabilities with a high degree of accuracy without heavy manual effort or disruption to critical web applications. Sign up now.

Your Tenable Web App Scanning trial also includes Tenable Vulnerability Management and Tenable Lumin.

Buy Tenable Web App Scanning

Enjoy full access to a modern, cloud-based vulnerability management platform that enables you to see and track all of your assets with unmatched accuracy. Purchase your annual subscription today.

5 FQDNs

$3,578

Buy Now

Please contact us or a Tenable partner.

Thank you

Thank you for your interest in Tenable Web App Scanning. A representative will be in touch soon.

Try Tenable Lumin

Visualize and explore your exposure management, track risk reduction over time and benchmark against your peers with Tenable Lumin.

Your Tenable Lumin trial also includes Tenable Vulnerability Management and Tenable Web App Scanning.

Buy Tenable Lumin

Contact a sales representative to see how Tenable Lumin can help you gain insight across your entire organization and manage cyber risk.

Thank you

Thank you for your interest in Tenable Lumin. A representative will be in touch soon.

Try Tenable Nessus Professional free

Free for 7 days

Tenable Nessus is the most comprehensive vulnerability scanner on the market today.

NEW - Tenable Nessus Expert
now available

Nessus Expert adds even more features, including external attack surface scanning, and the ability to add domains and scan cloud infrastructure. Click here to Try Nessus Expert.

Fill out the form below to continue with a Nessus Pro trial.

Buy Tenable Nessus Professional

Tenable Nessus is the most comprehensive vulnerability scanner on the market today. Tenable Nessus Professional will help automate the vulnerability scanning process, save time in your compliance cycles and allow you to engage your IT team.

Buy a multi-year license and save. Add Advanced Support for access to phone, community and chat support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Try Tenable Nessus Expert free

Free for 7 days.

Built for the modern attack surface, Nessus Expert enables you to see more and protect your organization from vulnerabilities from IT to the cloud.

Already have Tenable Nessus Professional? Upgrade to Nessus Expert free for 7 days.

Buy Tenable Nessus Expert

Built for the modern attack surface, Nessus Expert enables you to see more and protect your organization from vulnerabilities from IT to the cloud.

Renew an existing license | Find a reseller

Nessus Vulnerability Scanner: Network Security Solution (2024)

FAQs

What is Nessus tool to scan the network for vulnerabilities? ›

Nessus is a remote security scanning tool, which scans a computer and raises an alert if it discovers any vulnerabilities that malicious hackers could use to gain access to any computer you have connected to a network.

Why did the Nessus scan fail? ›

This could be for a number of reasons: Nessus is unable to connect due to network issues. A network or host- based firewall is blocking the connection attempts. Due to network latency, a timeout is reached before the connection occurs.

What are the disadvantages of Nessus vulnerability scanner? ›

It sets Nessus apart from other vulnerability scanners that may not offer this level of categorization. Restrictions in Free Version: Some users have mentioned that the free version of Nessus has limitations, such as not allowing internal/external PCI scan policies and config audits.

Is there still a free version of Nessus? ›

Nessus® Essentials is free to use to scan any environment, but it is limited to 16 IP addresses per scanner.

Is Nessus the best vulnerability scanner? ›

Nessus is #1 For Vulnerability Assessment.

How does a network vulnerability scanner work? ›

A vulnerability scan is a specialized software that an organization can deploy to inspect the target attack surface. The vulnerability scanner then compares the target network's details with a database of known vulnerabilities, which is regularly updated to include newly discovered issues.

What replaced Nessus? ›

Top Alternatives to Tenable Nessus
VendorRatingFree Trial
Invicti4.6 based on 72 reviews
PortSwigger Burp Suite4.8 based on 136 reviews
Tenable Nessus4.6 based on 357 reviews✅ (7-day)
AlienVault USM (From AT&T Cybersecurity)4.5 based on 126 reviews✅ (14-day)
2 more rows

How long does a Nessus network scan take? ›

Average Scan per host is normally 10-20 minutes to scan, although sometimes will take longer if longer if the target is busy performing a computational process or the network is busy, since Nessus will slow down a scan in those cases.

Is Nessus hard to use? ›

"Great product and easy to set up and use." Cons: Lacked reporting module that helped show more of the picture for non technical people and pretty graphs. To get those you needed to move to Tenable.io or SecurityCenter.

What do vulnerability scanners miss? ›

SINCE VULNERABILITY SCANNERS AND SCA TOOLS RELY ON PACKAGE MANAGER METADATA in order to determine what packages are installed on the scanned compute if a software component exists in the container without being installed by a package manager the scanner will not be aware of its existence and consequently fail to report ...

What type of vulnerability will not be found by a vulnerability scanner? ›

Vulnerability scanners cannot detect vulnerabilities for which they do not have a test, plug-in, or signature. Signatures often include version numbers, service fingerprints, or configuration data.

Can Nessus scan itself? ›

Nessus Scanner can scan everything on LAN fine except itself.

Can Nessus be used by hackers? ›

Choosing your security tools is important and it is up to you to find the tools that fit your purpose. Used by hackers, system administrators, and information security engineers, Nessus is a great all-around scanner and in the following pages you will find out how to install and use Nessus.

How much does Nessus scanner cost? ›

Pricing details

Nessus Essentials is available as a free download for students and educators to scan up to 16 IPs. Nessus Pro: $2,390 for one year, or $2,790 for one year with Advanced Support. $4,660 for two years, or $5,460 for two years with Advanced Support.

Why is Nessus so popular? ›

Benefits of Nessus vulnerability scanner

Organizations need to be aware of these vulnerabilities and act proactively to prevent them from harming their assets. Nessus provides a fast, user-friendly way to find and fix vulnerabilities in many kinds of IT assets, including cloud-based and virtualized resources.

What tool is often used to scan a network to identify vulnerabilities? ›

Tenable Nessus

It is widely used to identify and fix vulnerabilities including software flaws, missing security patches, and misconfigurations. It supports a wide range of operating systems and applications, making it a flexible tool for many different use cases.

Which tool is used for vulnerability scanning? ›

Vulnerability scanning tools are software applications designed to identify, assess, and report on security vulnerabilities within a company's IT infrastructure. Top vulnerability scanning tools are Invicti, Manage Engine, Intruder.Io, Synk, PingSafe, Burp Suite, Detectify, Beagle Security, and OpenVas.

What does Nessus network monitor do? ›

Tenable Nessus Network Monitor can: Detect when systems are compromised with application intrusion detection. Highlight all interactive and encrypted network sessions. Detect when new hosts are added to a network.

What is the difference between NMAP and Nessus? ›

As Nmap is a port scanner that discovers the active host by network scanning once it is done Nmap gathers information about the open ports. Whereas, Nessus is known for a vulnerability scanner which scans ports like Nmap and looks only for the specific weakness of the system against a known host.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Velia Krajcik

Last Updated:

Views: 5653

Rating: 4.3 / 5 (54 voted)

Reviews: 85% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Velia Krajcik

Birthday: 1996-07-27

Address: 520 Balistreri Mount, South Armand, OR 60528

Phone: +466880739437

Job: Future Retail Associate

Hobby: Polo, Scouting, Worldbuilding, Cosplaying, Photography, Rowing, Nordic skating

Introduction: My name is Velia Krajcik, I am a handsome, clean, lucky, gleaming, magnificent, proud, glorious person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.