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Government · head to head

GovQA vs Tenable Nessus

GovQA logo

GovQA

Government

Government Request Management

From
$400/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Tenable Nessus logo

Tenable Nessus

Cybersecurity

Network vulnerability scanner

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Tenable Nessus has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: GovQA pricing not published on vendor website; government contracting and custom quote model obscures list pricing; Tenable Nessus nessus Professional is $4,790 for one year, sold as an annual licence rather than a per scan or usage based fee
  • They diverge on capability: GovQA covers FOIA Management, Tenable Nessus covers Network scanning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which GovQA and Tenable Nessus actually diverge.

Attributes where GovQA and Tenable Nessus differ
AttributeGovQATenable Nessus
Starting price$400/monthFree
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebWindows, Linux, Macos, Cloud
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity
Founded19992002

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), 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 GovQA

  • FOIA Management
  • Subpoena Processing
  • e-Discovery
  • Constituent Portal
  • Reporting
  • Document Management
  • Email
  • Court Systems

Only in Tenable Nessus

  • Network scanning
  • Vulnerability detection
  • Configuration assessment
  • Malware detection
  • Compliance checking
  • Cloud security assessment
  • Mobile scanning
  • API access

What people use each for

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

GovQA

  • Public records request management and legal compliance automationnot Tenable Nessus
  • Digital communication delivery to residents and constituentsnot Tenable Nessus
  • Service request management for government agencies and local departmentsnot Tenable Nessus
  • Agenda and meeting management for city councils and boardsnot Tenable Nessus
  • Business licensing and permitting workflow automationnot Tenable Nessus

Tenable Nessus

  • Vulnerability scanning of servers, network devices and web applicationsnot GovQA
  • Configuration and compliance auditing against hardening benchmarksnot GovQA
  • Point in time assessments by consultants and penetration testersnot GovQA

Where each one falls short

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

GovQA

  • Pricing not published on vendor website; government contracting and custom quote model obscures list pricing
  • Requires booking a demo to learn pricing and deployment options

Tenable Nessus

  • Nessus Professional is $4,790 for one year, sold as an annual licence rather than a per scan or usage based fee
  • Support beyond the base entitlement costs an extra $400 per year for Advanced Support with 24x365 phone and chat access
  • The on demand training course is a separate $275 purchase for a single person for one year
  • Multi year discounts require paying for two or three years up front

Pricing, plan by plan

GovQA

$400/month
  • Request Management$400/month
    • FOIA Management
    • e-Discovery
    • Constituent Portal

Tenable Nessus

Free
  • Nessus EssentialsFree
    • Up to 16 ips
    • Network scanning
    • Vulnerability assessment
  • Nessus Professional$2600/year
    • Unlimited targets
    • Enterprise features
    • Advanced analytics
  • Nessus Expert$5200/year
    • All Professional features
    • Cloud integration
    • Advanced reporting

Which should you pick?

Choose GovQA if

  • You need foia management.
  • You also want subpoena processing.
GovQA review

Choose Tenable Nessus if

  • You need network scanning.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, Linux, Macos, Cloud.
  • You also want vulnerability detection.
Tenable Nessus review

Questions people ask

Is GovQA or Tenable Nessus better?
Neither clearly leads. GovQA starts at $400/month and Tenable Nessus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, GovQA or Tenable Nessus?
Tenable Nessus has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $400/month for GovQA and Free for Tenable Nessus.
Does GovQA or Tenable Nessus run on more platforms?
GovQA runs on Web. Tenable Nessus runs on Windows, Linux, Macos, Cloud.
Can I use Tenable Nessus for free?
Yes. Tenable Nessus has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. GovQA starts at $400/month.
What is GovQA best used for?
GovQA is most often used for public records request management and legal compliance automation, digital communication delivery to residents and constituents, service request management for government agencies and local departments, agenda and meeting management for city councils and boards. Of those, public records request management and legal compliance automation and digital communication delivery to residents and constituents are not what Tenable Nessus is typically brought in for.
What can GovQA do that Tenable Nessus cannot?
GovQA covers FOIA Management, Subpoena Processing, e-Discovery, Constituent Portal. Tenable Nessus covers Network scanning, Vulnerability detection, Configuration assessment, Malware detection.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

GovQA: What does GovQA (formerly Granicus) cost?

Granicus does not display pricing on its website. The vendor requires customers to schedule a demo or contact sales to receive cost estimates.

Source
Tenable Nessus: What are the three Nessus offerings?

Nessus Essentials is a free introductory offering for educators, students, and career starters, limited to 16 IPs for scanning. Nessus Professional is designed for consultants and SMBs, providing unlimited IT scans across any location. Nessus Expert is the premium offering extending Professional with web application scanning, infrastructure-as-code scanning, and external attack surface assessment up to 5 domains.

Source
GovQA: Does Granicus offer Government Experience Agent (GXA) pricing separately?

Granicus lists Government Experience Agent as a feature of its Government Experience Cloud platform, but separate licensing costs are not published.

Source
Tenable Nessus: What OS platforms does Nessus support?

Nessus runs on Debian/Kali Linux, Fedora, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Red Hat/CentOS, SUSE Linux, Ubuntu, and various Windows versions including Server 2008, 2012, and Windows 7-10.

Source
GovQA: How many users can access Granicus services under one license?

Granicus does not specify user seat counts, unlimited user models, or per-agency pricing on its website. Licensing terms vary by government size and jurisdiction.

Source
Tenable Nessus: Can I use Nessus to scan third-party networks as a consultant?

Yes, Tenable permits you to use Nessus to scan third-party networks. Nessus Professional is ideal for consultants.

Source
Tenable Nessus: Can Nessus perform PCI external scanning?

Yes, you can use Nessus Professional to perform external network scans as required by the PCI DSS 11.2.2 requirement.

Source
Tenable Nessus: What additional features does Nessus Expert provide?

Web application scanning, which is dynamic application security testing (DAST) providing comprehensive visibility and insight into web application security issues; scanning code repositories for vulnerabilities; and assessing external attack surface with subdomain discovery.

Source
Tenable Nessus: What support options exist for Nessus Professional?

Standard Support includes software upgrades, patches, plugin access, and 24x7 support via chat and community portal. Advanced Support adds 24x7 phone access and committed SLAs: P1 less than 2 hours, P2 less than 4 hours, P3 less than 12 hours, P4 less than 24 hours.

Source
Tenable Nessus: How frequently are Nessus plugins updated?

Nessus plugins are updated daily, based on when vendors and security research sites publish new vulnerabilities.

Source
Tenable Nessus: How does licensing work in virtual machine environments?

Whether you are using Nessus in a physical or a virtual environment, the IP addresses or hosts that you are scanning from must be licensed.

Source
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