Tenable Nessus and Vulnerability Management vs Qualys VMDR
Tenable's Nessus is the infrastructure scanner most others are measured against, and a licence has a published price. Qualys VMDR is a quoted, module-based platform built around agents across large distributed estates. Small and mid-size teams land on Tenable; very large regulated estates land on Qualys.
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Choose Tenable Nessus and Vulnerability Management ifyou want the widest check coverage for network and host scanning, would like a published price to start from, and can spend a quarter tuning the output.
Choose Qualys VMDR ifyou run tens of thousands of assets across sites and clouds, need agents everywhere and compliance reports, and accept a negotiation over modules.
Tenable Nessus and Vulnerability Management and Qualys VMDR side by side
| Tenable Nessus and Vulnerability Management | Qualys VMDR | |
|---|---|---|
| Our vulnerability scanning rank | #7 of 20 | #20 of 20 |
| Established in | United States | United States |
| Pricing | Nessus Professional 4,790 dollars per licence per year, published; platform per asset, published up to 250 assets | Per asset per year, quoted; modules priced separately |
| Free tier | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Built for | Infrastructure teams that want the widest check coverage available | Large distributed estates that need agents everywhere and compliance reports |
| Not for | Buyers wanting one tool to cover apps and dependencies | Small organisations wanting a scanner without a project |
Both are reviewed in full in our vulnerability scanning ranking: Tenable Nessus and Vulnerability Management and Qualys VMDR.
Where they differ
Tenable Nessus and Vulnerability Management 2 · Qualys VMDR 1 · open 1- 01
Knowing the price before the call
Tenable's Nessus page publishes Nessus Professional at $4,790 for one year and Nessus Expert at $6,790. Qualys states that pricing depends on the apps chosen, the number of IPs, web applications and user licences, and offers a quote and a free trial. Only Tenable lets you budget without talking to sales.
Edge: Tenable Nessus and Vulnerability Management
- 02
Scale of the estate
Our assessment is that Qualys is built for tens of thousands of assets, with agents that report from anywhere and scanning appliances per site. Tenable's managed platform moves to per-asset counting, which our data says gets awkward with short-lived cloud instances. At very large scale, Qualys is hard to displace.
Edge: Qualys VMDR
- 03
Noise and tuning
Tenable's check feed is the broadest in our data, and so is its default output; plan for a quarter of tuning and ownership mapping. Qualys brings its own cost in the form of a console our data describes as accumulated interface generations and a rollout that is a programme. Neither is quick to make trustworthy.
Depends on the buyer
- 04
Web applications and modules
Web application scanning on Tenable needs Nessus Expert or a separate product; the Nessus page lists web app scans for five FQDNs on both editions, so check the limits against your estate. Qualys prices every capability as a separately licensed module, which makes the total harder to forecast than a Nessus licence.
Edge: Tenable Nessus and Vulnerability Management
When neither fits
If the estate is small or the aim is a scanner without a project, both are heavy. Greenbone offers open source network scanning you run yourself, Intruder does continuous external scanning with published pricing and a free plan, and Rapid7 InsightVM sits between the two in size.
Tenable Nessus and Vulnerability Management or Qualys VMDR: questions
4 answersIs Nessus cheaper than Qualys VMDR?
Nessus Professional is published at $4,790 a year, so it is the easier one to price. Qualys is quoted by assets, apps and licences, so no fair comparison exists without a quote for your estate.
Does Qualys have a free trial?
Its subscriptions page offers a free trial and a sales contact form.
Which one is better for compliance reporting?
Our assessment is that Qualys is the stronger fit for large regulated estates that need compliance evidence in the format auditors expect. Nessus lists compliance audits among its features.
Are either of them European?
No. Both are listed as United States vendors in our ranking.
Sources
Checked 8 October 2026- Tenable Nessus product page: Professional and Expert prices, add-ons, web app scan limits, free trial.
- Qualys subscriptions page: pricing factors, free trial, quote contact.