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Cybersecurity · head to head

NICE Actimize vs Tenable Nessus

NICE Actimize logo

NICE Actimize

Cybersecurity

Financial crime, risk and compliance suite for regulated institutions

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Tenable Nessus logo

Tenable Nessus

Cybersecurity

Network vulnerability scanner

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Tenable Nessus has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: NICE Actimize modules are licensed separately, so a bank that starts with AML and later needs fraud and surveillance faces three negotiations and a bill that compounds rather than a suite price.; 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: NICE Actimize covers Suspicious activity monitoring, Tenable Nessus covers Network scanning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which NICE Actimize and Tenable Nessus actually diverge.

Attributes where NICE Actimize and Tenable Nessus differ
AttributeNICE ActimizeTenable Nessus
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotesubscription
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Linux, WindowsWindows, Linux, Macos, Cloud
FoundedUnknown2002

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).

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 NICE Actimize

  • Suspicious activity monitoring
  • Watchlist filtering
  • Customer due diligence
  • Payment fraud detection
  • Markets surveillance
  • Case management
  • X-Sight marketplace

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.

NICE Actimize

  • A bank under a regulatory consent order that needs a monitoring system with an audit trail examiners already recognisenot Tenable Nessus
  • A broker dealer required to implement trade surveillance covering both orders and trader communicationsnot Tenable Nessus
  • A regional bank outgrowing spreadsheet-based sanctions screening and needing documented model governancenot Tenable Nessus
  • A payments firm needing real time fraud scoring on faster payments alongside batch AML monitoringnot Tenable Nessus

Tenable Nessus

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

Where each one falls short

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

NICE Actimize

  • Modules are licensed separately, so a bank that starts with AML and later needs fraud and surveillance faces three negotiations and a bill that compounds rather than a suite price.
  • Tuning and model validation are consultant-heavy, and the services spend over a deployment often exceeds the first year licence cost.
  • The older on premises deployments carry batch-oriented architecture that makes true real time decisioning harder than in newer cloud native rivals.
  • Rule and model changes go through a controlled release process, so a bank reacting to a new fraud typology may wait weeks for a change that a modern platform would ship in days.
  • Because it is the incumbent at so many institutions, criminals have a good working understanding of what the standard rule sets detect, and undifferentiated out of the box configurations catch predictable behaviour.

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

NICE Actimize

On request
  • NICE Actimize$undefined/year
    • Licensed per module, not as one suite
    • Scaled by institution asset size or transaction volume
    • On premises or Actimize cloud deployment

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 NICE Actimize if

  • You need suspicious activity monitoring.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Windows.
  • You also want watchlist filtering.
NICE Actimize 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 NICE Actimize or Tenable Nessus better?
Neither clearly leads. NICE Actimize starts at On request and Tenable Nessus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, NICE Actimize or Tenable Nessus?
Tenable Nessus has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for NICE Actimize and Free for Tenable Nessus.
Does NICE Actimize or Tenable Nessus run on more platforms?
NICE Actimize runs on Web, Linux, Windows. 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. NICE Actimize starts at On request.
What is NICE Actimize best used for?
NICE Actimize is most often used for a bank under a regulatory consent order that needs a monitoring system with an audit trail examiners already recognise, a broker dealer required to implement trade surveillance covering both orders and trader communications, a regional bank outgrowing spreadsheet-based sanctions screening and needing documented model governance, a payments firm needing real time fraud scoring on faster payments alongside batch aml monitoring. Of those, a bank under a regulatory consent order that needs a monitoring system with an audit trail examiners already recognise and a broker dealer required to implement trade surveillance covering both orders and trader communications are not what Tenable Nessus is typically brought in for.
What can NICE Actimize do that Tenable Nessus cannot?
NICE Actimize covers Suspicious activity monitoring, Watchlist filtering, Customer due diligence, Payment fraud detection. Tenable Nessus covers Network scanning, Vulnerability detection, Configuration assessment, Malware detection.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

NICE Actimize: Is Actimize one product?

No. It is a family of separately licensed modules covering AML, fraud, due diligence and surveillance. You buy what you need and each has its own price.

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
NICE Actimize: Can it run in the cloud?

Yes, Actimize offers cloud deployment, though a large share of the installed base still runs on premises for data residency reasons.

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
NICE Actimize: Who owns it?

NICE Ltd, an Israeli company listed on Nasdaq. Actimize is its financial crime division.

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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