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Developer Tools · head to head

Dagger vs Nessus

Dagger logo

Dagger

Developer Tools

Programmable CI/CD engine that runs your pipeline as containers on any runner

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 Dagger has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Dagger dagger is not a CI provider, so you keep paying for GitHub Actions or GitLab runners underneath it; the Dagger Cloud subscription is an addition to your CI bill, not a replacement for it.; Nessus nessus Professional is $4,790 for one year, with no free or low cost commercial tier
  • They diverge on capability: Dagger covers Pipelines as code, Nessus covers Vulnerability scanning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dagger and Nessus actually diverge.

Attributes where Dagger and Nessus differ
AttributeDaggerNessus
Starting priceFree$4790/year
Pricing modelPer month per team for Dagger Cloudsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, 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 Dagger

  • Pipelines as code
  • Local and CI parity
  • Content-addressed caching
  • Dagger Functions and modules
  • CI-provider agnostic
  • Dagger Cloud traces
  • GitHub Checks integration
  • Container-native execution

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.

Dagger

  • A platform team maintaining near-identical build YAML across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls insteadnot Nessus
  • An engineering organisation migrating off a CI provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migrationnot Nessus
  • A team whose engineers waste hours pushing commits to debug CI-only failures and needs to reproduce the exact run locallynot Nessus
  • A monorepo where most commits touch a small subset of services and cache-accurate step skipping cuts build minutes materiallynot Nessus

Nessus

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

Where each one falls short

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

Dagger

  • Dagger is not a CI provider, so you keep paying for GitHub Actions or GitLab runners underneath it; the Dagger Cloud subscription is an addition to your CI bill, not a replacement for it.
  • Writing pipelines in Go or TypeScript raises the barrier to entry: a release engineer who could edit a YAML step now needs to read code, and the people who can fix a broken build shrink to those comfortable with the SDK.
  • The engine runs as a container on the runner and needs a persistent cache volume to deliver its main benefit, so ephemeral CI runners give you correctness without the speed, and provisioning durable cache storage is extra platform work.
  • The Team plan caps at ten users and ten million events per month; an organisation of any size crosses that quickly and moves to Enterprise pricing that is not published, so cost at scale is unknowable up front.
  • The module ecosystem is young and thinly maintained relative to the marketplace of a mature CI provider, so integrations that exist as a one-line Action often have to be written yourself as a Dagger function.

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

Dagger

Free
  • IndividualFree
    • One user
    • One million events per month
    • Workflow logs and function call traces
  • Team$50/month
    • Up to ten users
    • Ten million events per month
    • Module insights and module catalogue
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom user and event limits
    • SSO
    • Managed single-tenant deployment

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 Dagger if

  • You need pipelines as code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted.
  • You also want local and ci parity.
Dagger review

Choose Nessus if

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

Questions people ask

Is Dagger or Nessus better?
Neither clearly leads. Dagger 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, Dagger or Nessus?
Dagger has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Dagger and $4790/year for Nessus.
Does Dagger or Nessus run on more platforms?
Dagger runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Self-hosted. Nessus runs on Desktop, Api.
Can I use Dagger for free?
Yes. Dagger has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Nessus starts at $4790/year.
What is Dagger best used for?
Dagger is most often used for a platform team maintaining near-identical build yaml across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls instead, an engineering organisation migrating off a ci provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migration, a team whose engineers waste hours pushing commits to debug ci-only failures and needs to reproduce the exact run locally, a monorepo where most commits touch a small subset of services and cache-accurate step skipping cuts build minutes materially. Of those, a platform team maintaining near-identical build yaml across forty repositories that wants one versioned module every repository calls instead and an engineering organisation migrating off a ci provider that does not want to rewrite every pipeline as part of the migration are not what Nessus is typically brought in for.
What can Dagger do that Nessus cannot?
Dagger covers Pipelines as code, Local and CI parity, Content-addressed caching, Dagger Functions and modules. Nessus covers Vulnerability scanning, Configuration auditing, Malware detection, Web application scanning.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Dagger: Does Dagger replace GitHub Actions?

No. Dagger runs inside GitHub Actions or any other CI. It replaces the YAML that describes your pipeline steps, not the trigger and runner layer.

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
Dagger: Is the engine open source?

Yes, the Dagger engine and SDKs are open source and free. Dagger Cloud, the observability product, is what costs money.

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
Dagger: What is an event in the pricing?

Dagger Cloud meters pipeline telemetry events. One million per month is free; the Team plan at 50 USD per month allows ten million.

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
Dagger: Can I run the same pipeline on my laptop?

Yes, that is the main reason teams adopt it. The dagger CLI executes the identical graph locally, so CI-only failures become reproducible.

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