Nessus vs OpenVAS: Pricing, Features and Admin Effort

This page contains affiliate links. East Bay Cyber may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. That never changes how we rank products.

Nessus and OpenVAS, from Greenbone, are vulnerability management options with different published licensing details and administration models. This comparison uses the capabilities, prices and deployment information available from Tenable and Greenbone.

Verdict#

Pick Nessus if your team wants a commercially licensed tool with flexible deployment, unlimited vulnerability scanning and configurable reports. Pick OpenVAS if your organization fits Greenbone Basic’s fewer-than-150-asset target and prefers its automated scans, browser-based interface and published annual appliance price.

Feature comparison#

Area	Nessus	OpenVAS, Greenbone
Core scanning	Nessus Professional includes real-time vulnerability updates, unlimited vulnerability scanning, pre-built policies for configuration and compliance audits, vulnerability scoring, configurable reports and flexible deployment. Tenable lists these features.	OPENVAS BASIC includes automated vulnerability scans, daily up-to-date checks, clear reports and automatic scan initialization. Greenbone describes these capabilities.
Additional functionality	Nessus Expert adds web app scanning and external attack surface discovery scanning to the Professional features. Tenable details the additions.	Greenbone Basic includes scan coverage for consumer-grade software, automatic alerts, LDAP or RADIUS authentication, HTTPS certificate management and timeserver integration. Greenbone lists the product functions.
Reporting and management	Nessus includes configurable reports and vulnerability scoring for prioritization.	Greenbone Basic provides a browser-based interface for managing and initiating scans, with filters, sorting, notes and risk assessment. Reports are available in PDF, HTML, text and XML formats. Greenbone describes the interface and reports.
Updates and change control	Tenable says customers can control when or whether the Nessus Agent and its plugins are updated. Its plugin version control supports validating plugins before enterprise deployment. Tenable explains the update process.	Greenbone says Basic uses continuously updated CVE tests and that its system detects a newly published vulnerability within a single day. Greenbone describes its checks.
Enterprise scope	Nessus Professional is listed as a 1 year license. Nessus Expert adds web application and external attack surface scanning.	OPENVAS BASIC is optimized for networks with fewer than 150 assets. Greenbone directs organizations with more than 150 assets to enterprise solutions. Greenbone gives the asset guidance.

Pricing at 3 team sizes#

For small, midsize and larger teams, Nessus Professional is published as a 1 year license rather than a per-user price. The published list price is $4,790 for one year, and the source does not publish separate headcount tiers. Check Tenable Nessus pricing

For small, midsize and larger teams, OPENVAS BASIC is sold as an annual license for an appliance serving fewer than 150 assets, rather than as a per-user license. The Greenbone order page lists €2,524.00 per year. Greenbone’s order page also gives the fewer-than-150-asset scope.

Greenbone’s product blog states €2,450 per year, while its order page lists €2,524.00 per year. Both prices are copied from Greenbone pages, so the applicable amount should be confirmed before purchase. Greenbone’s product blog

Deployment and admin effort#

Nessus lists flexible deployment, pre-built policies and configurable reports as part of Professional. Tenable also says the Nessus Agent runs in user space and does not require Tenable-developed components inside the operating system kernel. Administrators can control agent and plugin update timing, including validation before broader deployment. Tenable describes agent administration.

Greenbone describes OPENVAS BASIC as having simple commissioning and operability, with automated scans and a browser-based interface. Greenbone Basic can be deployed on platforms supporting Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware or Oracle VirtualBox, with integration covering mandatory regular backups. Greenbone describes deployment.

Tenable’s Standard Support plan is included with the subscription or purchase of Nessus. It provides 12x5 support hours, a next-business-day initial response objective, portal support and chat support. Tenable publishes the support details. Greenbone Basic’s product page lists Greenbone Support as a feature, but additional support terms are not published in the sources we checked.

Migration notes#

The sources we checked do not publish a Nessus-to-OpenVAS migration procedure, an OpenVAS-to-Nessus migration procedure or compatibility details for moving scan histories, policies or reports between the products.

Before changing tools, document current scan schedules, authentication settings, report requirements, monitored assets and remediation workflows. This is a planning checklist rather than a vendor-published migration process.

Greenbone publishes report output in PDF, HTML, text and XML formats, while Nessus publishes configurable reports. The sources do not state whether reports or configurations can be imported directly between the products. Greenbone lists its report formats.

FAQ#

Is Nessus priced per user?

The Nessus pricing page presents Nessus Professional as a 1 year license and does not publish a per-user price or headcount tier. The published Professional price is $4,790 for one year. Tenable lists the license.

Is OpenVAS priced per user?

OPENVAS BASIC is presented as an annual license for an appliance supporting networks with fewer than 150 assets. The sources we checked do not present it as a per-user license. Greenbone states the asset scope.

Does Nessus include support?

The Standard Support plan is included with the subscription or purchase of Nessus. Tenable lists 12x5 support hours, a next-business-day response objective, portal support and chat support. Tenable describes Standard Support.

Can OpenVAS Basic support more than 150 assets?

Greenbone says OPENVAS BASIC is optimized for fewer than 150 assets and directs organizations with more than 150 assets to enterprise solutions. Greenbone gives this guidance.

Which product includes web application scanning?

Nessus Expert includes web app scanning, according to Tenable. The OpenVAS Basic features listed in the sources we checked do not identify web application scanning. Tenable describes Nessus Expert.