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Developer Tools · head to head

Atlantis vs Nessus

Atlantis logo

Atlantis

Developer Tools

Runs Terraform plan and apply from pull request comments, self-hosted and free

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Nessus logo

Nessus

Cybersecurity

The most trusted vulnerability assessment solution

From
$4790/year
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Atlantis has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Atlantis there is no company, no service level agreement and no paid support at any price, and the six maintainers are volunteers with day jobs, which some risk committees will not accept for a component holding production cloud credentials.; Nessus nessus Professional is $4,790 for one year, with no free or low cost commercial tier
  • They diverge on capability: Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Nessus covers Vulnerability scanning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Atlantis and Nessus actually diverge.

Attributes where Atlantis and Nessus differ
AttributeAtlantisNessus
Starting priceFree$4790/year
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hostedDesktop, Api
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
FoundedUnknown2002

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Atlantis

  • Pull request plans
  • Comment driven apply
  • Workspace locking
  • Policy checking
  • Multi-platform webhooks
  • Custom workflows

Only in Nessus

  • Vulnerability scanning
  • Configuration auditing
  • Malware detection
  • Web application scanning
  • Cloud scanning
  • Compliance checks
  • Patch auditing
  • Pre-built policies

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Atlantis

  • Making Terraform review meaningful by putting the actual plan output in front of the approvernot Nessus
  • Removing local applies and the credential sprawl that comes with every engineer holding production keysnot Nessus
  • Getting pull request driven infrastructure without paying a per-user subscription for a hosted platformnot Nessus
  • Enforcing Conftest policies as a blocking check before an apply can runnot Nessus

Nessus

  • Vulnerability scanning for individual practitionersnot Atlantis
  • Enterprise vulnerability managementnot Atlantis
  • Web application security assessmentsnot Atlantis

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Atlantis

  • There is no company, no service level agreement and no paid support at any price, and the six maintainers are volunteers with day jobs, which some risk committees will not accept for a component holding production cloud credentials.
  • The security surface is inherently sharp, because it is an internet-reachable webhook endpoint that executes applies with privileged credentials, gated by pull request comment authorisation that is coarse next to a real policy engine.
  • It is stateful, holding a working directory and lock database on local disk, so high availability and horizontal scaling are awkward and you own upgrades, webhook plumbing, secret rotation and the host itself.
  • It lacks the features that distinguish the commercial alternatives, with no native drift detection, no cost estimation, no managed state interface and no policy engine beyond the Conftest integration.
  • Terragrunt and monorepo layouts are not first-class, requiring hand-written custom workflows and repository configuration that becomes a growing maintenance burden as the number of repositories increases.

Nessus

  • Nessus Professional is $4,790 for one year, with no free or low cost commercial tier
  • Multi year terms are the only discount route, at $9,330.95 for two years and $13,637.54 for three
  • It is a single user scanner, so team workflows mean migrating to another Tenable product
  • Tenable One vulnerability management is priced separately, starting at $3,500 a year for 100 assets

Pricing, plan by plan

Atlantis

Free
  • AtlantisFree
    • Apache-2.0, no usage limits and no seat count
    • No commercial edition and no paid support tier
    • Community support through GitHub and the CNCF Slack channel

Nessus

$4790/year
  • Nessus Professional$4790/year
    • 1 year license
    • Best for individual security professionals
  • Nessus Professional 2-Year$9330.95/2 years
    • 2 year license with discounted rate vs. annual
  • Nessus Professional 3-Year$13637.54/3 years
    • 3 year license with discounted rate vs. annual
  • Nessus Expert$6790/year
    • 1 year license
    • Enhanced capabilities vs. Professional

Which should you pick?

Choose Atlantis if

  • You need pull request plans.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
  • You also want comment driven apply.
Atlantis review

Choose Nessus if

  • You need vulnerability scanning.
  • You work on Desktop, Api.
  • You also want configuration auditing.
Nessus review

Questions people ask

Is Atlantis or Nessus better?
Neither clearly leads. Atlantis starts at Free and Nessus at $4790/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Atlantis or Nessus?
Atlantis has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Atlantis and $4790/year for Nessus.
Does Atlantis or Nessus run on more platforms?
Atlantis runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted. Nessus runs on Desktop, Api.
Can I use Atlantis for free?
Yes. Atlantis has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Nessus starts at $4790/year.
What is Atlantis best used for?
Atlantis is most often used for making terraform review meaningful by putting the actual plan output in front of the approver, removing local applies and the credential sprawl that comes with every engineer holding production keys, getting pull request driven infrastructure without paying a per-user subscription for a hosted platform, enforcing conftest policies as a blocking check before an apply can run. Of those, making terraform review meaningful by putting the actual plan output in front of the approver and removing local applies and the credential sprawl that comes with every engineer holding production keys are not what Nessus is typically brought in for.
What can Atlantis do that Nessus cannot?
Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Comment driven apply, Workspace locking, Policy checking. Nessus covers Vulnerability scanning, Configuration auditing, Malware detection, Web application scanning.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Atlantis: Is there a company behind Atlantis?

No. It runs as a series of LF Projects under the Linux Foundation and is maintained by volunteers. There is no vendor to buy support from and no service level agreement.

Nessus: What is the cheapest Nessus option?

Nessus Professional starts at $4,790 per year for a 1-year license. Multi-year commitments offer discounts, with 2-year licenses at $9,330.95 and 3-year licenses at $13,637.54.

Source
Atlantis: Is it a CNCF project?

No. It uses a channel in the CNCF Slack, which is often misread as membership, but the project sits under LF Projects rather than the CNCF.

Nessus: What is the difference between Nessus Professional and Expert?

Nessus Expert costs $6,790 per year for a 1-year license (compared to $4,790 for Professional) and includes enhanced capabilities. Multi-year rates are available at discounted prices.

Source
Atlantis: Does it work with OpenTofu?

Yes, there is a dedicated integration guide alongside Terraform, and it also has configuration for working with hosted Terraform backends.

Nessus: Does Nessus offer optional support or training?

Yes, Nessus offers add-on services: Advanced Support at $400/year provides 24x365 access to phone, email, community, and chat support. On-Demand Training costs $275/year for Fundamentals course access or $385/year for both Fundamentals and Advanced courses.

Source
Atlantis: What does it not do that a paid platform does?

Drift detection, cost estimation, a managed state and run interface, and a real policy engine. Atlantis does pull request plan and apply well and stops there.

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