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Cybersecurity · head to head

SentinelOne Singularity vs Tenable Nessus

SentinelOne Singularity logo

SentinelOne Singularity

Cybersecurity

Autonomous AI-powered endpoint security

From
$5.83/month
Rated
-
Tenable Nessus logo

Tenable Nessus

Cybersecurity

Network vulnerability scanner

From
Free
Rated
-

The short version

  • Only Tenable Nessus has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: SentinelOne Singularity deployment and configuration requires professional services ($5,000 to $25,000); 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: SentinelOne Singularity covers Behavioral AI, Tenable Nessus covers Network scanning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which SentinelOne Singularity and Tenable Nessus actually diverge.

Attributes where SentinelOne Singularity and Tenable Nessus differ
AttributeSentinelOne SingularityTenable Nessus
Starting price$5.83/monthFree
Pricing modelUnknownsubscription
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux, Cloud, MobileWindows, Linux, Macos, Cloud
Founded20132002

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 SentinelOne Singularity

  • Behavioral AI
  • Autonomous response
  • ActiveEDR
  • Storyline technology
  • Rollback remediation
  • Ranger IoT
  • Cloud workload protection
  • Identity security

Only in Tenable Nessus

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

Both cover

  • Splunk
  • ServiceNow
  • AWS
  • Azure
  • Google Cloud
  • SOC2 Type 2

What people use each for

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

SentinelOne Singularity

  • Endpoint Securitynot Tenable Nessus
  • Edrnot Tenable Nessus
  • Xdrnot Tenable Nessus

Tenable Nessus

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

Where each one falls short

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

SentinelOne Singularity

  • Deployment and configuration requires professional services ($5,000 to $25,000)
  • Optional modules like Ranger and Vigilance add to total cost of ownership
  • Complex pricing tiers make budgeting difficult for large deployments

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

SentinelOne Singularity

$5.83/month
  • Singularity Core$5.83/month per endpoint
    • Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP)
    • Malware prevention
    • Threat isolation
  • Singularity Control$6.67/month per endpoint
    • All Core features
    • Device control
    • Firewall control
  • Singularity Complete$8.25/month per endpoint
    • All Control features
    • Endpoint Detection and Response
    • XDR capabilities
  • Singularity Commercial$17.5/month per endpoint
    • All Complete features
    • Identity protection
    • Cloud protection

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 SentinelOne Singularity if

  • You need behavioral ai.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux, Cloud, Mobile.
  • You also want autonomous response.

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.

Questions people ask

Is SentinelOne Singularity or Tenable Nessus better?
Neither clearly leads. SentinelOne Singularity starts at $5.83/month and Tenable Nessus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, SentinelOne Singularity or Tenable Nessus?
Tenable Nessus has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $5.83/month for SentinelOne Singularity and Free for Tenable Nessus.
Does SentinelOne Singularity or Tenable Nessus run on more platforms?
SentinelOne Singularity runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Cloud, Mobile. 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. SentinelOne Singularity starts at $5.83/month.
What is SentinelOne Singularity best used for?
SentinelOne Singularity is most often used for endpoint security, edr, xdr. Of those, endpoint security and edr are not what Tenable Nessus is typically brought in for.
What can SentinelOne Singularity do that Tenable Nessus cannot?
SentinelOne Singularity covers Behavioral AI, Autonomous response, ActiveEDR, Storyline technology. Tenable Nessus covers Network scanning, Vulnerability detection, Configuration assessment, Malware detection. Both handle Splunk, ServiceNow, AWS, Azure.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

SentinelOne Singularity: What does SentinelOne Singularity XDR cover?

Singularity XDR unifies detection and response across endpoints, cloud, identity, network, and mobile, providing centralized visibility and automated response across all attack surfaces.

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
SentinelOne Singularity: How does SentinelOne correlate data across security tools?

Singularity normalizes data from endpoints, identity, cloud, and third-party security tools into a unified data layer, enabling automatic correlation of signals without manual integration.

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
SentinelOne Singularity: Can SentinelOne integrate with existing security tools?

Yes, Singularity Marketplace provides pre-built, one-click integrations with email, network, firewall, and SaaS security tools, avoiding vendor lock-in while extending detection capabilities.

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
SentinelOne Singularity: What is the pricing model for SentinelOne Singularity?

SentinelOne pricing ranges from $5.83 to $17.50 per endpoint per month across five tiers, with optional add-on modules and enterprise pricing available on request.

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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