Open Source Nessus AlternativesTop Vulnerability Scanners and other similar apps like Nessus

The best open source alternative to Nessus is SiteOne Crawler. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to Nessus and 13 is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to Nessus are Metasploit, OpenVAS, PhoneSploit Pro and OpenSCAP.

Nessus iconNessus
  28
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Identify system vulnerabilities with automated assessments and prioritize remediation through a scoring system, offering...

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Nessus alternatives page was last updated Feb 24, 2025
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  1. SiteOne Crawler icon
     16 likes
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    A free in-depth website analyzer providing audits of security, performance, SEO, accessibility and other technical aspects. Available as a desktop application for Windows/macOS/Linux and as a CLI tool for advanced users and CI/CD processes. It also includes an offline web page exporter.

    26 SiteOne Crawler alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • CZ flagCzechia
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    Top SiteOne Crawler Features

    1.  Performance analysis
    2.  Graphical User Interface
    3.  Save web page for offline use
    4.  Daily Website Analysis
    5.  Ad-free
    6.  Command line interface
    7.  No Coding Required
    8.  Dark Mode
    9.  Multiplatform
    10.  Accessibility Testing
    11.  Security Testing
    12.  Electron based

    SiteOne Crawler VS Nessus

     
    • SiteOne Crawler is the most popular Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Nessus.

    • SiteOne Crawler is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Nessus.

    • SiteOne Crawler is Free and Open SourceNessus is Paid and Proprietary
  2. Metasploit icon
     44 likes
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    Metasploit Community Edition simplifies network discovery and vulnerability verification for specific exploits, increasing the effectiveness of vulnerability scanners such as Nexpose - for free. This helps prioritize remediation and eliminate false positives, providing true...

    20 Metasploit alternatives

    License model

    • Free PersonalOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD

    Metasploit Features

    1.  Security Testing

    Metasploit VS Nessus

     
  3. OpenVAS icon
     23 likes
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    The Open Vulnerability Assessment System (OpenVAS) is a framework of several services and tools offering a comprehensive and powerful vulnerability scanning and vulnerability management solution.

    28 OpenVAS alternatives

    License model

    • FreemiumOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux

    OpenVAS Features

    1.  Vulnerability management

    OpenVAS VS Nessus

     
  4. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    An all-in-one hacking tool to remotely exploit Android devices using ADB and Metasploit-Framework to get a Meterpreter session.

    19 PhoneSploit Pro alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • IN flagIndia

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    PhoneSploit Pro Features

    1.  Command line interface

    PhoneSploit Pro VS Nessus

     
  5. OpenSCAP icon
     4 likes
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    SCAP is a line of standards managed by NIST. It was created to provide a standardized approach to maintaining the security of enterprise systems, such as automatically verifying the presence of patches, checking system security configuration settings, and examining systems for...

    13 OpenSCAP alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux

    OpenSCAP VS Nessus

     
  6. nuclei icon
     1 like
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    Nuclei is used to send requests across targets based on a template, leading to zero false positives and providing fast scanning on a large number of hosts. Nuclei offers scanning for a variety of protocols, including TCP, DNS, HTTP, SSL, File, Whois, Websocket, Headless etc.

    21 nuclei alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    nuclei Features

    1.  Vulnerability Assessment

    nuclei VS Nessus

     
  7. skipfish icon
     13 likes
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    A fully automated, active web application security reconnaissance tool. Key features: High speed: pure C code, highly optimized HTTP handling, minimal CPU footprint - easily achieving 2000 requests per second with responsive targets.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    Discontinued

    Skipfish is no longer maintained. Last version, 2.10 beta, released in December 2012, can be still downloaded from Google Code Archive

    skipfish Features

    1.  Command line interface
    2.  Heuristic Detection

    skipfish VS Nessus

     
  8. Tsunami icon
     2 likes
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    A general purpose network security scanner with an extensible plugin system for detecting high severity vulnerabilities with high confidence.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted

    Tsunami Features

    1.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
    2.  Vulnerability Assessment

    Tsunami VS Nessus

     
  9. RedEye icon
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    RedEye is an open-source analytic tool developed by CISA and DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to assist Red Teams with visualizing and reporting command and control activities. This tool, released in October 2022 on GitHub, allows an operator to assess and display...

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    RedEye Features

    1.  Log parsing

    RedEye VS Nessus

     
  10. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    BabySploit is a penetration testing toolkit aimed at making it easy to learn how to use bigger, more complicated frameworks like Metasploit. With a very easy to use UI and toolkit, anybody from any experience level will find...

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Python

    BabySploit VS Nessus

     
  11. Strobes icon
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    Strobes is an integrated cybersecurity platform that combines Attack Surface Management, Penetration Testing-as-a-service, and Risk-Based Vulnerability Management to continuously manage your threat exposure.

    License model

    • FreemiumOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Software as a Service (SaaS)

    Strobes Features

    1.  Real time collaboration
    2.  Vulnerability Assessment
    3.  Vulnerability management
    4.  Risk management
    5.  IT Asset Management

    Strobes VS Nessus

     
  12. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    kube-hunter hunts for security weaknesses in Kubernetes clusters. The tool was developed to increase awareness and visibility for security issues in Kubernetes environments. You should NOT run kube-hunter on a Kubernetes cluster that you don't own!

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • IL flagIsrael

    Platforms

    • Linux

    kube-hunter VS Nessus

     
12 of 13 Nessus alternatives