Softwr
Tenable logo

Tenable

AI-powered exposure management platform for unified security visibility

Overview

What Tenable does

Tenable One is an AI-powered exposure management platform that unifies security visibility across infrastructure, cloud, identity, operational technology, third-party applications, and AI systems. The platform maps an organization's complete attack surface and continuously enriches exposure intelligence to connect potential risks with exploitation pathways and business impact. Tenable Hexa AI provides agentic orchestration to accelerate remediation workflows, shortening detection-to-resolution timeframes. The product portfolio includes specialized modules: Cloud Exposure for cloud-native application protection, OT Exposure for operational technology security, Identity Exposure for access controls, plus dedicated tools for Vulnerability Management, Attack Surface Management, Web App Scanning, and Patch Management. Nessus Professional and Nessus Expert are standalone vulnerability scanning tools available separately.

What people use it for

  • Comprehensive vulnerability scanning for enterprise networks
  • Cloud security monitoring and compliance for AWS, Azure, GCP
  • Identity and access management risk assessment
  • Operational technology security for industrial systems
  • Attack surface management for third-party risk

The honest half

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Tenable.

  • Pricing starts at $3500/year for Tenable One VM, expensive for small organizations
  • Many enterprise features require custom quote and sales engagement
  • Cloud Exposure, OT Exposure, and other modules have no published pricing
  • Multi-year contracts common, limiting flexibility
  • Setup and configuration complexity for enterprise deployments

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of Tenable

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

Pricing

What Tenable costs

Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.

Tenable One Vulnerability Management

$3,500 /yr

  • Per 100 assets
  • Multi-year discounts available

Tenable One Web App Scanning

$3,578 /yr

  • Per 5 FQDNs
  • Annual subscription

Nessus Professional

$4,790 /yr

  • Vulnerability scanning
  • Multi-year discounts available
  • Optional advanced support: $400/year

Nessus Expert

$6,790 /yr

  • Advanced vulnerability scanning
  • Multi-year discounts available
  • Optional advanced support: $400/year
  • Optional training: $275-$385/year

Enterprise

On request

  • Cloud Security (custom pricing)
  • OT Exposure (custom pricing)
  • Identity Exposure (custom pricing)
  • Attack Surface Management (custom pricing)
  • AI Exposure (custom pricing)
  • Custom credit volume

Capabilities

Features

  • Unified attack surface mapping

    Map complete attack surface across infrastructure, cloud, identity, OT, and applications

  • Exposure intelligence enrichment

    Continuous intelligence gathering on exposures and exploitation pathways

  • Tenable Hexa AI orchestration

    Agentic orchestration for automated remediation workflows

  • Cloud Exposure (CNAPP)

    Cloud-native application protection platform capabilities

  • OT Exposure

    Operational technology security and visibility

  • Identity Exposure

    Identity and access management security

  • Vulnerability Management

    Scan and manage vulnerabilities

  • Attack Surface Management

    Continuous monitoring and management of attack surface

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

How is Tenable One pricing structured?

Tenable One Vulnerability Management costs $3500/year per 100 assets. Web App Scanning is $3578/year per 5 FQDNs. Multi-year discounts are available.

Source
What is the difference between Nessus Professional and Nessus Expert?

Nessus Professional costs $4790/year and provides core vulnerability scanning. Nessus Expert costs $6790/year and offers advanced scanning capabilities.

Source
Are custom support and training available for Tenable?

Yes. Optional advanced support is available for $400/year. Training courses range from $275-$385/year.

Source
Share

Keep looking

Where to go from Tenable

Best Cybersecurity software for

Compare Tenable with

Other Cybersecurity software

  • The world's most-loved password manager

  • Powerful protection against evolving threats

  • Simplify online life with LastPass password manager

  • Developer-first security platform

  • Open source password management for everyone

  • Drop-in user authentication and management for developers

  • Privacy-first VPN with one flat price and no email required to sign up

  • Enterprise AI governance and data compliance platform.

  • Secure, green and ad-free. Email to feel good about.

  • Runtime identity security at agentic scale

  • Secrets management for humans and AI agents

  • Customer identity and access management platform for SaaS applications

Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Tenable, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

More on Tenable

Best Cybersecurity software alternatives

Open-source authentication and two-factor portal for reverse proxies

Vulnerability scanner for container images and filesystems

Headless identity and user management API

Open-source identity provider with flexible authentication flows

Open-source vulnerability and misconfiguration scanner

Secrets management for humans and AI agents

Security and AI agent governance for code and supply chain

Unified security platform automating vulnerability detection and fixing across development

Compare Tenable with alternatives