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Cybersecurity · head to head

Quantexa vs Tenable Nessus

Quantexa logo

Quantexa

Cybersecurity

Entity resolution and network analytics for financial crime investigation

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: Quantexa pricing is never published and lands in the seven figure range annually for a tier one deployment, so it is out of reach for mid-sized institutions no matter how well the analytics would fit.; 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: Quantexa covers Entity resolution, Tenable Nessus covers Network scanning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Quantexa and Tenable Nessus differ
AttributeQuantexaTenable Nessus
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotesubscription
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, LinuxWindows, 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 Quantexa

  • Entity resolution
  • Network generation
  • Contextual monitoring
  • Investigation workspace
  • Data fusion
  • Deployment on customer cloud

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.

Quantexa

  • A bank whose AML alert backlog is dominated by false positives and wants network context to close them fasternot Tenable Nessus
  • Sanctions investigation where the sanctioned party is not the account holder but a connected director or shareholdernot Tenable Nessus
  • Merging customer records across retail, commercial and wealth divisions after an acquisition to see total exposurenot Tenable Nessus
  • A tax or benefits agency looking for organised fraud rings rather than individual claimantsnot Tenable Nessus

Tenable Nessus

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

Where each one falls short

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

Quantexa

  • Pricing is never published and lands in the seven figure range annually for a tier one deployment, so it is out of reach for mid-sized institutions no matter how well the analytics would fit.
  • Output quality is bounded by input data quality, and organisations without governed customer data spend the first phase of the programme fixing feeds rather than catching criminals.
  • Implementation typically requires a systems integrator and runs into quarters rather than weeks, so the business case has to survive a long period with no operational benefit.
  • The platform augments rather than replaces existing transaction monitoring, so you keep paying for the incumbent system alongside it and total compliance technology spend rises before it falls.
  • Skills are scarce; the platform needs people who understand both Spark scale data engineering and financial crime typologies, and those people are hard to recruit and easy to lose.

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

Quantexa

On request
  • Quantexa Platform$undefined/year
    • Entity resolution and network generation
    • Deployed in customer cloud tenancy
    • Priced by data volume and use case count

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 Quantexa if

  • You need entity resolution.
  • You work on Web, Linux.
  • You also want network generation.
Quantexa 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 Quantexa or Tenable Nessus better?
Neither clearly leads. Quantexa 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, Quantexa or Tenable Nessus?
Tenable Nessus has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Quantexa and Free for Tenable Nessus.
Does Quantexa or Tenable Nessus run on more platforms?
Quantexa runs on Web, Linux. 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. Quantexa starts at On request.
What is Quantexa best used for?
Quantexa is most often used for a bank whose aml alert backlog is dominated by false positives and wants network context to close them faster, sanctions investigation where the sanctioned party is not the account holder but a connected director or shareholder, merging customer records across retail, commercial and wealth divisions after an acquisition to see total exposure, a tax or benefits agency looking for organised fraud rings rather than individual claimants. Of those, a bank whose aml alert backlog is dominated by false positives and wants network context to close them faster and sanctions investigation where the sanctioned party is not the account holder but a connected director or shareholder are not what Tenable Nessus is typically brought in for.
What can Quantexa do that Tenable Nessus cannot?
Quantexa covers Entity resolution, Network generation, Contextual monitoring, Investigation workspace. Tenable Nessus covers Network scanning, Vulnerability detection, Configuration assessment, Malware detection.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Quantexa: Does Quantexa replace our transaction monitoring system?

No. It usually sits alongside it, adding network context to the alerts that system generates and to investigations.

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
Quantexa: Where does our data go?

Into your own cloud tenancy in the normal deployment model. Quantexa does not require you to send customer data to a shared multi-tenant service.

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
Quantexa: How is it priced?

Not publicly. Expect an annual subscription scaled by data volume and number of use cases, plus separate implementation cost.

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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