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Developer Tools · head to head

Atlantis vs Tenable

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
Tenable logo

Tenable

Cybersecurity

AI-powered exposure management platform for unified security visibility

From
$3500/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.; Tenable pricing starts at $3500/year for Tenable One VM, expensive for small organizations
  • They diverge on capability: Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Tenable covers Unified attack surface mapping.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Atlantis and Tenable actually diverge.

Attributes where Atlantis and Tenable differ
AttributeAtlantisTenable
Starting priceFree$3500/year
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hostedCloud, Web
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

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 Tenable

  • Unified attack surface mapping
  • Exposure intelligence enrichment
  • Tenable Hexa AI orchestration
  • Cloud Exposure (CNAPP)
  • OT Exposure
  • Identity Exposure
  • Vulnerability Management
  • Attack Surface Management

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 Tenable
  • Removing local applies and the credential sprawl that comes with every engineer holding production keysnot Tenable
  • Getting pull request driven infrastructure without paying a per-user subscription for a hosted platformnot Tenable
  • Enforcing Conftest policies as a blocking check before an apply can runnot Tenable

Tenable

  • Comprehensive vulnerability scanning for enterprise networksnot Atlantis
  • Cloud security monitoring and compliance for AWS, Azure, GCPnot Atlantis
  • Identity and access management risk assessmentnot Atlantis
  • Operational technology security for industrial systemsnot Atlantis
  • Attack surface management for third-party risknot 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.

Tenable

  • Pricing starts at $3500/year for Tenable One VM, expensive for small organizations
  • Many enterprise features require custom quote and sales engagement
  • Cloud Exposure, OT Exposure, and other modules have no published pricing
  • Multi-year contracts common, limiting flexibility
  • Setup and configuration complexity for enterprise deployments

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

Tenable

$3500/year
  • Tenable One Vulnerability Management$3500/year
    • Per 100 assets
    • Multi-year discounts available
  • Tenable One Web App Scanning$3578/year
    • Per 5 FQDNs
    • Annual subscription
  • Nessus Professional$4790/year
    • Vulnerability scanning
    • Multi-year discounts available
    • Optional advanced support: $400/year
  • Nessus Expert$6790/year
    • Advanced vulnerability scanning
    • Multi-year discounts available
    • Optional advanced support: $400/year

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 Tenable if

  • You need unified attack surface mapping.
  • You work on Cloud, Web.
  • You also want exposure intelligence enrichment.
Tenable review

Questions people ask

Is Atlantis or Tenable better?
Neither clearly leads. Atlantis starts at Free and Tenable at $3500/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Atlantis or Tenable?
Atlantis has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Atlantis and $3500/year for Tenable.
Does Atlantis or Tenable run on more platforms?
Atlantis runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted. Tenable runs on Cloud, Web.
Can I use Atlantis for free?
Yes. Atlantis has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Tenable starts at $3500/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 Tenable is typically brought in for.
What can Atlantis do that Tenable cannot?
Atlantis covers Pull request plans, Comment driven apply, Workspace locking, Policy checking. Tenable covers Unified attack surface mapping, Exposure intelligence enrichment, Tenable Hexa AI orchestration, Cloud Exposure (CNAPP).

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.

Tenable: How is Tenable One pricing structured?

Tenable One Vulnerability Management costs $3500/year per 100 assets. Web App Scanning is $3578/year per 5 FQDNs. Multi-year discounts are available.

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.

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

Nessus Professional costs $4790/year and provides core vulnerability scanning. Nessus Expert costs $6790/year and offers advanced scanning capabilities.

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.

Tenable: Are custom support and training available for Tenable?

Yes. Optional advanced support is available for $400/year. Training courses range from $275-$385/year.

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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