Metasploit vs. Tenable Nessus

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Metasploit
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Metasploit is open source network security software described by Rapid7 as the world’s most used penetration testing framework, designed to help security teams do more than just verify vulnerabilities, manage security assessments, and improve security awareness.N/A
Tenable Nessus
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Tenable headquartered in Columbia offers Nessus, a vulnerability scanning and security assessment solution used to analyze an entity's security posture, vulnerability testing, and provide configuration assessments.
$2,790
Pricing
MetasploitTenable Nessus
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
1 Year
$2,790.00
1 Year + Advanced Support
$3,190.00
2 Years
$5,440.00
2 Years + Advanced Support
$6,240.00
3 Years
$7,951.00
3 Years + Advanced Support
$9,151.00
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
MetasploitTenable Nessus
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
MetasploitTenable Nessus
Considered Both Products
Metasploit
Chose Metasploit
Acunetix vulnerability scanner, Netsparker, SQLMap
Chose Metasploit
You can configure and develop your own versions of exploits that are suitable for your business. The free version is very useful and the Rapid7 website has a lot of info to help you understand the exploits. Nessus just lets you identify the vulnerabilities but Metasploit lets …
Chose Metasploit
Metasploit is an all around good suite of tools to test and validate potential vulnerabilites. Other tools have bits and pecies such as NMAP, Nessus, Burp Suite, etc. but Metasploit can function in the same way but more.
Chose Metasploit
Metasploit is the most well-known tool in the average pen tester's toolkit. It's hard to compare to its neighbor's due to its size and following.
Chose Metasploit
They are equal in my mind. It really just depends on a user's preference. Cobalt Strike is essential a graphical user interface (GUI) built on top of Metasploit, so it will feel very familiar to Metasploit users. The Pentestly Framework is also quite similar to Metasploit. …
Tenable Nessus
Chose Tenable Nessus
Comparing other products, Nessus has a lot of plus points. Not only for PCIDSS, Nessus is great for other compliance bodies such as HIPAA, NIST etc.
Chose Tenable Nessus
We looked at AlienVault since it can be a SIEM and scanner all in one. Ultimately, we decided AlienVault didn't stack up well against Nessus so we decided to purchase Nessus. Glad we did.
Chose Tenable Nessus
Sometimes when we identify a vulnerability with Nessus that has an exploit, we made a proof of concept with Metasploit in order to show to the IT managers the importance of the software/hardware hardening.
Chose Tenable Nessus
Tools like Qualys, Rapid7 stack up well against Nessus, but I think Nessus is superior overall when compared to them, given the features it has.
Chose Tenable Nessus
Nessus is much easier to use.
Chose Tenable Nessus
Nessus is standard vulnerabilities assessment tool, i would recommend for mid or higher level organization to have their personalised tool from Nessus for day to day managing of their network security with continuous improvements.
Chose Tenable Nessus
Nessus is the smallest product in the Tenable stable and is also the first vulnerability scanner to be created almost 20 years ago. Great tool for once off scans. But you need the other products if you want real time monitoring etc
Chose Tenable Nessus
Defender provides lots of insight into missing patches and vulnerabilities on Windows devices but doesn't provide much help for other platforms.
Chose Tenable Nessus
Ease of deployment and use even for junior analysts, strong plugin support, and up-to-date CVE coverage, cost-effective licensing, especially for mid-size companies, and seamless integration with the SIEM tool. Overall, Nessus hit the right balance between functionality, …
Features
MetasploitTenable Nessus
Threat Intelligence
Comparison of Threat Intelligence features of Product A and Product B
Metasploit
-
Ratings
Tenable Nessus
5.1
Ratings
43% below category average
Network Analytics00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Threat Recognition00 Ratings4.50 Ratings
Vulnerability Classification00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Automated Alerts and Reporting00 Ratings1.00 Ratings
Threat Analysis00 Ratings5.50 Ratings
Threat Intelligence Reporting00 Ratings7.30 Ratings
Automated Threat Identification00 Ratings1.00 Ratings
Vulnerability Management Tools
Comparison of Vulnerability Management Tools features of Product A and Product B
Metasploit
-
Ratings
Tenable Nessus
8.0
Ratings
1% below category average
IT Asset Realization00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Authentication00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Configuration Monitoring00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Web Scanning00 Ratings4.50 Ratings
Vulnerability Intelligence00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Best Alternatives
MetasploitTenable Nessus
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Enterprises
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Score 8.7 out of 10
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User Ratings
MetasploitTenable Nessus
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.7
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(0 ratings)
7.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
MetasploitTenable Nessus
Likelihood to Recommend
In security of information it's vital to think like a hacker and it's important to know the tools they use for attacks. So this software gives you the exploits that are already in the wild and to the access of everyone. That's very dangerous so you have to be aware of it.
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Nessus is perfectly suitable for performing comprehensive vulnerability assessment scans being a vulnerability scanner. It is less appropriate for performing penetration testing since it is not a penetration testing tool, it does not have the ability and modules to exploit the vulnerabilities of the system.
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Pros
  • Scanning our network for new or existing vulnerable systems.
  • Automation of manual tests and exploits to allow what used to be days of effort to be squeezed into hours.
  • Metasploit has become an integral part in our validation of new systems before their inclusion in our production network.
Read full review
  • Shows you how to fix certain vulnerabilities and the commands to run.
  • Gives you the CVEs that the vulnerabilities are matched to.
  • Easy to understand the vulnerabilities list, giving reasons why the issues need to be patched or fixed.
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Cons
  • If Metasploit could support payloads written in languages other than Ruby, that would be amazing and could help draw in a larger set of contributors.
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  • Could use an upgrade within reports.
  • Scans can take a long time to complete. Have to break them down in small sections.
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
Nessus is best and easy to use application for Vulnerabilities finding and reporting, it has multiple platforms and wide scope covering almost all devices for security improvement so far, thus we are very likely to continue its services.
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Usability
No answers on this topic
Tenable Nessus is a great product and provides a lot of value, but it is difficult to set up and use and the amount of data it generates can be overwhelming. It does help us prioritize based on the severity of the detection, however there are sometimes mitigating factors that we have implemented that Nessus does not account for, which causes lots of noise in the reports.
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Support Rating
We don't use it.
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I haven't needed to contact support yet. But issues are easily solved with a quick internet search which means support and by extension, the larger community are involved and knowledgeable.
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Alternatives Considered
Acunetix vulnerability scanner, Netsparker, SQLMap
Read full review
Ease of deployment and use even for junior analysts, strong plugin support, and up-to-date CVE coverage, cost-effective licensing, especially for mid-size companies, and seamless integration with the SIEM tool. Overall, Nessus hit the right balance between functionality, performance, and total cost of ownership for our needs and usability.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • We have been able to weed out false positives with a more manual vetting of scanned vulnerabilities.
  • Our teams have become more well versed in penetration testing with Metasploit to understand the vulnerabilities potentially present.
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  • It has helped identify security flaws in our infrastructure that has helped better secure our client's data. It did so quickly and efficiently so I was able to move on to other tasks.
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ScreenShots