Vulnerability management platforms · October 2026 Edition
Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Tenable Nessus
One of fourteen models named Tenable Vulnerability Management first on the direct prompt; zero named Tenable Nessus. Tenable Vulnerability Management was named by fourteen of the fourteen models and Tenable Nessus by eleven and Tenable Vulnerability Management carries 61 labels and Tenable Nessus 23, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in seven categories this edition.
Named in four categories this edition.
First-choice share16%4%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate30%30%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#2#8A position in a field of 10; printed, not drawn.
Labels6123A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Tenable Vulnerability Management reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Rapid7 InsightVM was named alongside these two in twelve of the fourteen direct answers. Rapid7 InsightVM vs Tenable Vulnerability Management · Rapid7 InsightVM vs Tenable Nessus · Tenable Vulnerability Management vs Intruder
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the vulnerability management platforms page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Tenable Vulnerability ManagementFirst choices, of fourteen modelsTenable Nessus
Direct102 against Tenable Vulnerability Management
Paraphrase412 against Tenable Vulnerability Management · 1 against Tenable Nessus
Comparative601 against Tenable Nessus
Budget-constrained112 against Tenable Vulnerability Management · 3 against Tenable Nessus
Scale-constrained302 against Tenable Vulnerability Management
Negative0010 against Tenable Vulnerability Management · 2 against Tenable Nessus
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the October 2026 Edition, Tenable Vulnerability Management and Tenable Nessus were named in the same answer twenty-nine times, of the 171 answers naming Tenable Vulnerability Management and the 83 naming Tenable Nessus. In those answers Tenable Nessus took the first choice three times and Tenable Vulnerability Management seven.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Tenable Vulnerability Management and Tenable Nessus stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | |||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | ||||
| Grok 4.1 Fast | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | | ||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | |||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | | |
| Kimi K2 | | | | |||
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | | |
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | | |
| GPT-6 Luna | | | ||||
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | |
Tenable Vulnerability Management Tenable Nessus first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Tenable Vulnerability Management on the left and Tenable Nessus on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Tenable Vulnerability Management and Tenable Nessus stood in it.
Tenable Vulnerability Management first, Tenable Nessus not the choice
1 of 14 modelsTenable Nessus was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-6 LunaTenable Vulnerability Management alternatives: Qualys VMDR, Rapid7 InsightVM
Neither was the first choice, one was named
6 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Claude Haiku 4.5Rapid7 InsightVM alternatives: ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Tenable Vulnerability Management, Vicarius vRx
GPT-5.4 miniRapid7 InsightVM alternatives: Qualys VMDR, Tenable Vulnerability Management
Grok 4.1 FastRapid7 InsightVM alternatives: Intruder, ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, Qualys VMDR, Tenable Vulnerability Management
DeepSeek V4 FlashRapid7 InsightVM, Vicarius vRx alternatives: Intruder, Tenable Vulnerability Management
Qwen 3.7 FlashRapid7 InsightVM alternatives: Qualys VMDR, Tenable Vulnerability Management
GLM 4.7 FlashXQualys VMDR alternatives: ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, Tenable Vulnerability Management
Neither was named
7 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Gemini 3.5 FlashSecPod SanerNow, Vicarius vRx alternatives: CrowdStrike Falcon Spotlight, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, Nucleus Security, Rapid7 InsightVM
Perplexity SonarRapid7 InsightVM alternatives: ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Qualys VMDR, Vicarius vRx
Mistral SmallRapid7 InsightVM alternatives: Intruder, ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, SureCloud
Llama 4 MaverickIntruder alternatives: ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus, Rapid7's Insight platform
Kimi K2Intruder, Rapid7 InsightVM alternatives: Qualys VMDR
MiniMax M2.5Rapid7 InsightVM alternatives: Intruder, Tenable One
Muse Glimmer 30BRapid7 InsightVM alternatives: Intruder, ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Tenable Nessus leads by two points.
Tenable Nessus5%#3 of 11Tenable Vulnerability Management4%#7 of 11Mid-marketThe figures above
The order flips: Tenable Vulnerability Management leads at mid-market.
Tenable Vulnerability Management16%#2 of 10Tenable Nessus4%#8 of 10Enterprise
Tenable Vulnerability Management leads by thirty-two points.
Tenable Vulnerability Management32%#2 of 9Tenable Nessus0%#– of 9What the models said about Tenable Vulnerability Management
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Full‑featured enterprise tools (Rapid7, Qualys, Tenable.io) without a dedicated security team” GLM 4.7 FlashX · budget prompt · hard negative
“Standard enterprise scanners (like Tenable or Qualys) are incredibly powerful, but their interfaces and configurations are built for dedicated, full-time security operations centers” Gemini 3.5 Flash · paraphrase prompt · soft negative
“Tenable is known for being expensive. It is also highly complex; without a dedicated team to configure the workflows, the platform can become a repository of data” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · soft negative
“Also a Leader in the 2025 Gartner MQ, positioned highest in Ability to Execute and furthest for Completeness of Vision.” Grok 4.1 Fast · comparative prompt · first choice
“If you need the absolute deepest vulnerability coverage across the broadest set of environments ... → Tenable One” DeepSeek V4 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“The best vulnerability management platform for a company with a limited budget is Tenable Vulnerability Management” Llama 4 Maverick · budget prompt · first choice
What the models said about Tenable Nessus
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of six in this category shown.
“Avoid trying to scrape out a "Free" version of Nessus; Tenable discontinued its unlimited community scanner” Qwen 3.7 Flash · budget prompt · hard negative
“Avoid Standalone "Point-in-Time" Scanners for Enterprise VM ... Why to avoid them for enterprise VM” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“scanners like older Nessus/OpenVAS versions criticized for inaccurate Windows scans or signature mismatches” Grok 4.1 Fast · negative prompt · soft negative
“the best starting point is Nessus Essentials (free) + a free vulnerability feed for on‑prem scanning” GLM 4.7 FlashX · budget prompt · first choice
“I'd recommend Tenable Nessus Professional as the starting point” Grok 4.1 Fast · paraphrase prompt · first choice
“useful for getting started with proven scanning technology, with the limitation of scan limits and lack of centralized reporting” Muse Glimmer 30B · budget prompt · alternative
Also compared
Rapid7 InsightVM vs Tenable Vulnerability ManagementRapid7 InsightVM vs Tenable NessusTenable Vulnerability Management vs IntruderTenable Vulnerability Management vs Qualys VMDRTenable Vulnerability Management vs ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager PlusTenable Vulnerability Management vs Microsoft Defender Vulnerability ManagementTenable Vulnerability Management vs Vicarius vRxIntruder vs Tenable NessusQualys VMDR vs Tenable NessusManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus vs Tenable NessusMicrosoft Defender Vulnerability Management vs Tenable NessusVicarius vRx vs Tenable NessusAll twenty-eight head-to-head pages and the full vuln management standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.