Is Nessus worth the price?
Nessus offers a fair entry point with its free tier, but the Professional tier at $2990/year is quite expensive for basic vulnerability scanning compared to some market alternatives.
The Expert tier at $5890/year adds significant value with advanced cloud and IaC scanning. It's best for organizations prioritizing comprehensive, enterprise-grade vulnerability management.
Pricing Plans
Free TrialEssentials (Free)
Free
- Up to 16 IP addresses
- Same scanning engine
- Plugin updates
- Community support
Professional
$2,990/year
- Unlimited assessments
- Standard support
- All vulnerability checks
- Compliance auditing
Expert
$5,890/year
- External attack surface scanning
- Domain monitoring
- IaC scanning
- Cloud scanning
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
Pricing is per year, no monthly option
Support beyond standard may cost extra
Integration with other tools could be complex
Which Plan Do You Need?
Small teams needing basic scanning
Enterprises requiring deep security insights
Organizations with cloud/IaC infrastructure
How Nessus Compares to Competitors
Compared to Qualys, which can start around $2000-$3000 annually for similar features, Nessus Professional is competitive. However, open-source alternatives like OpenVAS offer free scanning, though without the same level of support or advanced features found in Nessus Expert.
