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Developer Tools · head to head

Garden vs Tenable

Garden logo

Garden

Developer Tools

Kubernetes development and testing automation with shared caching, now owned by Incredibuild

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 Garden has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Garden incredibuild acquired Garden in November 2024 and the pricing page now redirects to documentation, so there is no public commercial offer and no published roadmap for a team betting a platform on it.; Tenable pricing starts at $3500/year for Tenable One VM, expensive for small organizations
  • They diverge on capability: Garden covers Action graph, 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 Garden and Tenable actually diverge.

Attributes where Garden and Tenable differ
AttributeGardenTenable
Starting priceFree$3500/year
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, KubernetesCloud, 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 Garden

  • Action graph
  • Shared result caching
  • Remote Kubernetes environments
  • In-cluster builds
  • Same config everywhere
  • Hot reload sync
  • Helm and Kustomize support
  • Templating

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.

Garden

  • A platform team whose integration test suite takes longer than the coffee break and needs caching to cut the loopnot Tenable
  • An organisation with thirty or more services on Kubernetes where docker-compose no longer approximates productionnot Tenable
  • Giving every developer an ephemeral namespace instead of queuing for one shared staging environmentnot Tenable
  • Running the identical build and test definition locally and in CI so failures reproduce on a laptopnot Tenable

Tenable

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

Where each one falls short

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

Garden

  • Incredibuild acquired Garden in November 2024 and the pricing page now redirects to documentation, so there is no public commercial offer and no published roadmap for a team betting a platform on it.
  • It is tightly bound to Kubernetes, so teams running on ECS, Nomad, plain VMs or serverless get little from it and would need a different tool entirely.
  • The YAML action graph is a real configuration surface: a large monorepo needs someone to own and maintain Garden config as a first-class artefact, which is a standing platform-engineering cost.
  • Shared remote environments mean every developer needs cluster access and a cost allocation model, so cloud spend rises and namespace sprawl becomes a thing you have to police.
  • Caching correctness depends on declaring dependencies accurately; an under-declared action will serve a stale cached pass and hide a genuine test failure, which is a hard class of bug to notice.

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

Garden

Free
  • Garden open sourceFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed CLI
    • Full action graph and caching
    • Self-managed clusters
  • Commercial tier$undefined/year
    • Hosted caching and team features
    • Support and onboarding
    • Pricing no longer published since the Incredibuild acquisition

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 Garden if

  • You need action graph.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes.
  • You also want shared result caching.
Garden 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 Garden or Tenable better?
Neither clearly leads. Garden 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, Garden or Tenable?
Garden has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Garden and $3500/year for Tenable.
Does Garden or Tenable run on more platforms?
Garden runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Kubernetes. Tenable runs on Cloud, Web.
Can I use Garden for free?
Yes. Garden has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Tenable starts at $3500/year.
What is Garden best used for?
Garden is most often used for a platform team whose integration test suite takes longer than the coffee break and needs caching to cut the loop, an organisation with thirty or more services on kubernetes where docker-compose no longer approximates production, giving every developer an ephemeral namespace instead of queuing for one shared staging environment, running the identical build and test definition locally and in ci so failures reproduce on a laptop. Of those, a platform team whose integration test suite takes longer than the coffee break and needs caching to cut the loop and an organisation with thirty or more services on kubernetes where docker-compose no longer approximates production are not what Tenable is typically brought in for.
What can Garden do that Tenable cannot?
Garden covers Action graph, Shared result caching, Remote Kubernetes environments, In-cluster builds. Tenable covers Unified attack surface mapping, Exposure intelligence enrichment, Tenable Hexa AI orchestration, Cloud Exposure (CNAPP).

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Garden: Is Garden still maintained?

The open source project remains on GitHub under Incredibuild ownership, but the commercial pricing page redirects to the docs and there is no public paid offer.

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
Garden: Do I need Kubernetes?

Effectively yes. Garden is built around Kubernetes environments and offers little to teams on other runtimes.

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
Garden: Does it replace my CI system?

No. It runs inside GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or similar and speeds up what those pipelines execute.

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
Garden: What is the actual saving?

It comes from skipping builds and tests whose inputs have not changed, so the benefit scales with how many services you have and how often only a few change.

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Related pages

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