PH vs NE

Metric Tower vs Nessus

Both scan for vulnerabilities. Here is where they differ, and where each one fits best.

Last updated April 2026. Competitor details reflect publicly documented features; check Tenable's site for the latest.

At a glance

Dimension Metric Tower Nessus
Pricing model Credit-based with a free tier License-based, quote required
Deployment Cloud-hosted (K8s roadmap) On-prem, cloud, and agent-based
Built-in phishing simulation Yes Not in the scanner product
AI finding correlation Yes, built in Add-on / limited in base tier
Free public tools (no signup) 12+ (port, CSP, headers, DNS, etc.) None

When each one fits

The honest case for both tools. Pick the one that matches your team, not the one with the bigger sales team.

NE

Pick Nessus when…

  • You need air-gapped deployment for sensitive networks.
  • You rely on Nessus for endpoint / host vulnerability scanning at scale, including authenticated OS-level checks.
  • Your compliance auditor specifically asks for Nessus scan results.
  • You already have Tenable contracts and the switching cost outweighs the benefit.
PH

Pick Metric Tower when…

  • You want modular scanning (74 modules covering recon, DAST, SSL, email security, credential intel, and more) from one platform.
  • You want transparent credit pricing with a free tier, no per-seat lock-in, and no sales call to get started.
  • You want built-in phishing simulation, credential intelligence, and AI finding correlation without add-ons.
  • You want a modern real-time UI (WebSocket progress, live module updates) instead of a legacy dashboard.
  • You run a small or mid-size team and need team-scoped multi-tenant RBAC built into the data model.

Feature-by-feature

Specifics where the two platforms differ.

Feature Metric Tower Nessus
Scanner modules 74 modules across 8 categories, dependency-aware reactive execution. Large plugin library focused on CVE / vulnerability detection.
Web app scanning (DAST) ZAP, Wapiti, Nuclei, Dalfox, Sqlmap, Commix, and more, each sandboxed per scanner. Web app checks included; dedicated web scanning via Tenable Web App Scanning (separate product).
Phishing simulation Built-in campaigns, templates, merge tags, tracking pixels. Not included in the scanner product.
Credential intelligence Built-in leaked credential detection, masked results. Not a core feature.
Uptime / DNS / SSL monitoring Built-in with alert routing to 12 notification channels. Focus is vulnerability management, not availability monitoring.
Pricing transparency Public per-module credit cost. Free tier. Credits never expire. Public pricing for Essentials / Professional; enterprise via quote.
Team-scoped multi-tenant Built into every model from day one. UUID PKs, team_id on everything. Multi-user with role permissions; varies by product tier.
Modern real-time UI Laravel + Livewire, persistent WebSocket, real-time module updates. Web UI; generally considered mature rather than modern.
CI/CD exports PDF, JSON, CSV, SARIF, Markdown. Multiple export formats including SARIF, CSV, XML.

Thinking about switching?

Teams moving from Nessus to MetricTower usually keep Nessus for deep host scanning or compliance artifacts and use MetricTower for everything surface-facing: DAST, recon, SSL, email security, phishing, and continuous monitoring. Both tools can coexist. Export MetricTower findings to SARIF or JSON and feed them into your existing ticketing or SIEM. Start with a free account, scan one public-facing target, and see how the coverage compares.

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Free plan, no credit card, no sales call. Point Metric Tower at a domain and see what it finds.

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