Software · head to head
Mimecast vs Nessus
The short version
- Only Nessus has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Mimecast no pricing is published for any product or plan, and every route ends at a quote or demo request; Nessus nessus Professional is $4,790 for one year, with no free or low cost commercial tier
- They diverge on capability: Mimecast covers Advanced threat detection, Nessus covers Vulnerability scanning.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Mimecast and Nessus actually diverge.
Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
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 Mimecast
- Advanced threat detection
- Secure sharing
- Email encryption
- Message tracking
- Email archiving
- Legal hold
- eDiscovery
- Backup and recovery
Only in Nessus
- Vulnerability scanning
- Configuration auditing
- Malware detection
- Web application scanning
- Cloud scanning
- Compliance checks
- Patch auditing
- Pre-built policies
Both cover
- ServiceNow
- Cloud deployment
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Mimecast
- Email security filtering against phishing and targeted attacksnot Nessus
- Email archiving, continuity and compliance for organisationsnot Nessus
Nessus
- Scanning hosts and applications for known vulnerabilities and misconfigurationsnot Mimecast
- Running compliance and configuration audits against a defined scopenot Mimecast
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Mimecast
- No pricing is published for any product or plan, and every route ends at a quote or demo request
- The platform is split into separately sold products for email security, awareness training, data protection and governance
- Collaboration threat protection, DMARC analysis, incident response and email archiving are all further add ons on top of those
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
Mimecast
$4/month- Defender$4/month
- Per user
- Threat protection
- Impersonation prevention
- Archive$3/month
- Email archiving
- Legal hold
- Search & recall
- Unified$6/month
- All Defender features
- All Archive features
- Backup
Nessus
Free- Nessus Essentials (Free)Free
- 16 IP addresses
- Vulnerability scanning
- Configuration auditing
- Nessus Professional$2990/year
- Unlimited IPs
- Compliance checks
- Live results
- Nessus Expert$5290/year
- All Pro features
- External attack surface
- Cloud infrastructure scanning
Which should you pick?
Choose Mimecast if
- You need advanced threat detection.
- You work on Email, Cloud, Collaboration.
- You also want secure sharing.
Choose Nessus if
- You need vulnerability scanning.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Desktop, Api.
- You also want configuration auditing.
Questions people ask
- Is Mimecast or Nessus better?
- Neither clearly leads. Mimecast starts at $4/month and Nessus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Mimecast or Nessus?
- Nessus has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $4/month for Mimecast and Free for Nessus.
- Does Mimecast or Nessus run on more platforms?
- Mimecast runs on Email, Cloud, Collaboration. Nessus runs on Desktop, Api.
- Can I use Nessus for free?
- Yes. Nessus has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Mimecast starts at $4/month.
- What is Mimecast best used for?
- Mimecast is most often used for email security filtering against phishing and targeted attacks, email archiving, continuity and compliance for organisations. Of those, email security filtering against phishing and targeted attacks and email archiving, continuity and compliance for organisations are not what Nessus is typically brought in for.
- What can Mimecast do that Nessus cannot?
- Mimecast covers Advanced threat detection, Secure sharing, Email encryption, Message tracking. Nessus covers Vulnerability scanning, Configuration auditing, Malware detection, Web application scanning. Both handle ServiceNow, Cloud deployment.