Tenable Nessus Essentials
Nessus® Essentials provides you with hands-on experience with the industry-leading vulnerability assessment tool.
Start your journey with a 30-day Nessus Essentials free license.
This is ideal for short-term evaluations, proof-of-concept (PoC) testing, or securing a very small home or lab network. With this license, you can scan up to 5 IPs and get insightful vulnerability scoring and remediation guidance.
Register for your 30-day free license
Need more? Upgrade to Nessus Essentials Plus.
Nessus Essentials Plus is ideal for hobbyists who need more comprehensive, ongoing protection. For a low annual cost, you get real-time plugin updates, a 20-IP scan limit, basic PDF/HTML reporting, and year-long data retention.
For students and educators
Tenable is committed to supporting the next generation of cybersecurity professionals. Verified students and instructors can get a free, one-year license to Nessus Essentials Plus to use for coursework. Register through the Tenable Nessus for Education program to get started.
Tenable Nessus offerings
Nessus Essentials is ideal for short-term evaluations or securing a very small home or lab network, while Nessus Essentials Plus is designed for hobbyists, students, and educators who need more ongoing, comprehensive protection. Nessus Professional is the Tenable commercial vulnerability assessment tool built for consultants, pentesters, and security professionals who conduct point-in-time vulnerability assessments.
Unlimited vulnerability scanning
Plugin updates
Pre-built discovery and vulnerability scan templates
Compliance and configuration checks
Reporting
Access to Tenable Connect (Tenable community)
Data export
Live results
Offline mode
Option to add advanced support (add-on)
Price
Important limitations: Nessus Essentials and Nessus Essentials Plus do not support unlimited IPs for network scanning, compliance checks, content audits, data exports, Live Results, expanded report options, technical support, or the Nessus virtual appliance. For access to these features and more, upgrade to Nessus Professional.
FAQs
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What is Nessus Essentials?
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Nessus Essentials is a free product from Tenable that provides industry-leading vulnerability assessment through a 30-day license.
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Is Nessus Essentials free to use?
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Yes, Nessus Essentials is free to use.
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How do I install Nessus Essentials?
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Complete the registration form at the top of this page and follow the prompted steps for Nessus download and installation. If you need help, see our help documentation.
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What's the difference between Nessus Essentials and Nessus Essentials Plus?
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Nessus Essentials offers a 30-day free license, ideal for short-term evaluations or securing a very small home or lab network. The 30-day Nessus Essentials license includes unlimited vulnerability scanning for up to 5 IPs, vulnerability scoring for prioritization, basic pre-built scan templates, remediation guidance, and flexible deployment. Please note, this version does not include real-time plugin updates, reporting, or data export. After the license expires, the system does not retain your scan data.
For those with ongoing, evolving security needs on a small scale, Nessus Essentials Plus is a new low-cost annual license. Nessus Essentials Plus provides real-time updates, the ability to scan up to 20 IPs, and basic PDF/HTML reporting, so you can stay ahead of new threats. Verified students and instructors can use Nessus Essentials Plus at no cost, as part of the Tenable commitment to supporting the next generation of security professionals.
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Is Nessus Essentials Plus free for students and instructors?
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Yes. Verified students and instructors can use Nessus Essentials Plus at no cost. This is part of the Tenable commitment to supporting the next generation of security professionals.
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How does Nessus Essentials Plus compare to Nessus Professional?
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Nessus Professional offers unlimited IP scanning, customizable reporting and data export, compliance and configuration checks, and license transferability. It's designed for organizations with more extensive scanning needs, while Nessus Essentials Plus is for hobbyists, students, and educators.
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Which training options are available to me?
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The Tenable on-demand Nessus Fundamentals course covers everything from asset discovery to compliance, so you can master Nessus for effective vulnerability assessment in various business use cases.
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I'm a current free Nessus Essentials user. What are my options?
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To continue scanning after your 30-day license expires, you can either re-download the free version (the system will not retain your scan data) or upgrade to a Nessus Essentials Plus license.
If you are a verified student or educator, you can register for Nessus Essentials Plus for free by visiting the Tenable Nessus for Education page.
- Tenable Nessus
Tenable Vulnerability Management
Enjoy full access to a modern, cloud-based vulnerability management platform that enables you to see and track all of your assets with unmatched accuracy.
Your Tenable Vulnerability Management trial also includes Tenable Web App Scanning.
Tenable Vulnerability Management
Enjoy full access to a modern, cloud-based vulnerability management platform that enables you to see and track all of your assets with unmatched accuracy. Purchase your annual subscription today.
Choose your subscription option:
Tenable Vulnerability Management
Enjoy full access to a modern, cloud-based vulnerability management platform that enables you to see and track all of your assets with unmatched accuracy.
Your Tenable Vulnerability Management trial also includes Tenable Web App Scanning.
Tenable Vulnerability Management
Enjoy full access to a modern, cloud-based vulnerability management platform that enables you to see and track all of your assets with unmatched accuracy. Purchase your annual subscription today.
Tenable Vulnerability Management
Enjoy full access to a modern, cloud-based vulnerability management platform that enables you to see and track all of your assets with unmatched accuracy.
Your Tenable Vulnerability Management trial also includes Tenable Web App Scanning.
Tenable Vulnerability Management
Enjoy full access to a modern, cloud-based vulnerability management platform that enables you to see and track all of your assets with unmatched accuracy. Purchase your annual subscription today.
Choose your subscription option:
Try Tenable Web App Scanning
Enjoy full access to our latest web application scanning offering designed for modern applications as part of the Tenable One Exposure Management platform. Safely scan your entire online portfolio for vulnerabilities with a high degree of accuracy without heavy manual effort or disruption to critical web applications. Sign up now.
Your Tenable Web App Scanning trial also includes Tenable Vulnerability Management.
Buy Tenable Web App Scanning
Enjoy full access to a modern, cloud-based vulnerability management platform that enables you to see and track all of your assets with unmatched accuracy. Purchase your annual subscription today.
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Tenable Security Center
Identify and prioritize vulnerabilities based on risk to your business. Managed on premises.
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Close OT exposure with the unified security solution for converged OT/IT environments.
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Close identity exposure with the essential solution for the identity-intelligent enterprise.
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Close cloud exposure with the actionable cloud security platform.
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The world’s leading AI-powered exposure management platform.
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Gain visibility into your internet-connected assets to eliminate blind spots and unknown sources of risk.
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Know, expose and close IT and container vulnerabilities.
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Tenable Nessus is the most comprehensive vulnerability scanner on the market today.
Fill out the form below to continue with a Nessus Pro trial.
Buy Tenable Nessus Professional
Tenable Nessus is the most comprehensive vulnerability scanner on the market today. Tenable Nessus Professional will help automate the vulnerability scanning process, save time in your compliance cycles and allow you to engage your IT team.
Buy a multi-year license and save. Add Advanced Support for access to phone, community and chat support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Try Tenable Nessus Professional free
Tenable Nessus is the most comprehensive vulnerability scanner on the market today.
Fill out the form below to continue with a Nessus Pro trial.
Buy Nessus Pro
Adopt the gold standard in vulnerability assessment to find and fix security gaps across your IT environment.
per month
- Real-time vulnerability updates
- Unlimited vulnerability scanning
- Pre-built policies for configuration & compliance audits
- Vulnerability scoring for prioritization
- Configurable reports
- Flexible deployment
With Advanced Support for Nessus Pro, your teams will have access to phone, Community, and chat support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This advanced level of technical support helps to ensure faster response times and resolution to your questions and issues.
Advanced Support Plan Features
Phone Support
Phone support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, available for up to ten (10) named support contacts.
Chat Support
Chat support available to named support contacts, accessible via the Tenable Community is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Tenable Community Support Portal
All named support contacts can open support cases within the Tenable Community. Users can also access the Knowledge Base, documentation, license information, technical support numbers, etc.; utilize live chat, ask questions to the Community, and learn about tips and tricks from other Community members.
Initial Response Time
P1-Critical: < 2 hr
P2-High: < 4 hr
P3-Medium: < 12 hr
P4-Informational:
< 24 hr
Support Contacts
Support contacts must be reasonably proficient in the use of information technology, the software they have purchased from Tenable, and familiar with the customer resources that are monitored by means of the software. Support contacts must speak English and conduct support requests in English. Support contacts must provide information reasonably requested by Tenable for the purpose of reproducing any Error or otherwise resolving a support request.
Try Tenable Nessus Expert free
Built for the modern attack surface, Nessus Expert enables you to see more and protect your organization from vulnerabilities from IT to the cloud.
Already have Tenable Nessus Professional?
Upgrade to Nessus Expert free for 7 days.
Buy Tenable Nessus Expert
Built for the modern attack surface, Nessus Expert enables you to see more and protect your organization from vulnerabilities from IT to the cloud.
Try Tenable Nessus Expert free
Built for the modern attack surface, Nessus Expert enables you to see more and protect your organization from vulnerabilities from IT to the cloud.
Already have Tenable Nessus Professional?
Upgrade to Nessus Expert free for 7 days.
Buy Nessus Expert
Expand your vulnerability assessment with advanced functionality that includes web app scanning and external attack surface discovery scanning.
per month
- Real-time vulnerability updates
- Unlimited vulnerability scanning
- Web app scanning (5 FQDNs)
- External attack surface discovery scanning (5 domains)
- Pre-built policies for configuration & compliance audits
- Vulnerability scoring for prioritization
- Configurable reports
- Flexible deployment
With Advanced Support for Nessus Pro, your teams will have access to phone, Community, and chat support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This advanced level of technical support helps to ensure faster response times and resolution to your questions and issues.
Advanced Support Plan Features
Phone Support
Phone support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, available for up to ten (10) named support contacts.
Chat Support
Chat support available to named support contacts, accessible via the Tenable Community is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Tenable Community Support Portal
All named support contacts can open support cases within the Tenable Community. Users can also access the Knowledge Base, documentation, license information, technical support numbers, etc.; utilize live chat, ask questions to the Community, and learn about tips and tricks from other Community members.
Initial Response Time
P1-Critical: < 2 hr
P2-High: < 4 hr
P3-Medium: < 12 hr
P4-Informational:
< 24 hr
Support Contacts
Support contacts must be reasonably proficient in the use of information technology, the software they have purchased from Tenable, and familiar with the customer resources that are monitored by means of the software. Support contacts must speak English and conduct support requests in English. Support contacts must provide information reasonably requested by Tenable for the purpose of reproducing any Error or otherwise resolving a support request.
Learn How Tenable Helps Achieve SLCGP Cybersecurity Plan Requirements
Tenable solutions help fulfill all SLCGP requirements. Connect with a Tenable representative to learn more.
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