What users are saying about
25 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 8.9 out of 100
Based on 25 reviews and ratings
48 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 8.8 out of 100
Based on 48 reviews and ratings
Feature Set Ratings
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
7.8
AlienVault OSSIM
78%
Nessus
Feature Set Not Supported
N/A
AlienVault OSSIM ranks higher in 13/13 features
AlienVault OSSIM ranks higher in 13/13 features
Centralized event and log data collection
9.3
93%
10 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Correlation
7.9
79%
11 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Event and log normalization/management
8.3
83%
18 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Deployment flexibility
8.6
86%
11 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Integration with Identity and Access Management Tools
9.0
90%
6 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Custom dashboards and workspaces
9.3
93%
16 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Host and network-based intrusion detection
9.4
94%
9 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Data integration/API management
5.4
54%
2 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Behavioral analytics and baselining
5.7
57%
2 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Rules-based and algorithmic detection thresholds
6.1
61%
3 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Response orchestration and automation
7.4
74%
2 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Reporting and compliance management
8.0
80%
4 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Incident indexing/searching
7.3
73%
3 Ratings
N/A
0 Ratings
Attribute Ratings
- AlienVault OSSIM is rated higher in 2 areas: Likelihood to Recommend, Support Rating
- Nessus is rated higher in 1 area: Usability
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
AlienVault OSSIM
90%
11 Ratings
8.1
Nessus
81%
6 Ratings
Likelihood to Renew
AlienVault OSSIM
N/A
0 Ratings
9.1
Nessus
91%
1 Rating
Usability
8.0
AlienVault OSSIM
80%
1 Rating
9.7
Nessus
97%
2 Ratings
Support Rating
7.9
AlienVault OSSIM
79%
6 Ratings
6.8
Nessus
68%
8 Ratings
Likelihood to Recommend
AlienVault OSSIM
If this is your first experience with a SIEM, this one can get you started. Take the time to learn the ins and outs of the product and you'll most likely be satisfied with it if your company is an SMB. If you need compliance reports, OSSIM is too small for you, you'll need to go with USM or USM Anywhere.
Technical Services
GB Advisors, Inc.Computer & Network Security, 11-50 employees
Nessus
Nessus is perfectly suitable for performing comprehensive vulnerability assessment scans being a vulnerability scanner. It is less appropriate for performing penetration testing since it is not a penetration testing tool, it does not have the ability and modules to exploit the vulnerabilities of the system.
Associate Security Consultant
SISA Information SecurityInformation Technology and Services, 201-500 employees
Pros
AlienVault OSSIM
- Asset discovery. Once installed in a centric, network-accessible server, OSSIM can poll all your endpoints with common protocols (SSH, SNMP, WMI) to detect and discover site-wide assets to monitor. You only need to group them by your own criteria once added to the product.
- SIEM Event Correlation. You can define quite complex correlation rules to detect possible suspicious or malicious actions or attempts in your network, in order to categorize them as real threats or as false positives, thus streamlining your risk assessment and management.
- Ease of installation. The entire AlienVault OSSIM is self-contained in an ISO file, which can be burned into a DVD or just mounted in your server of choice (physical or virtual) for deployment. The installation process is automated and quote verbosed, with options for static IP, email messaging and others.
- Ease of access. Being AlienVault OSSIM a self-contained appliance, it can be accessed via web by any device that supports a web browser, being that desktops, workstation, mobile devices, etc. The OSSIM dashboard and other features are automatically rearranged to adapt to the particular device being in use.
Support Services Manager
GB Advisors, Inc.Computer Software, 51-200 employees
Nessus
- With Nessus we can find the missing critical patches for a server or workstations.
- Nessus points out any vulnerable or outdated software Technologies used in the system, thus eliminating any chances for security flaws being turned up.
- Nessus typically points any configuration level issues in accordance with the OWASP guidelines. Even the configuration of SSL related which are most of the time handled by some vendors or 3rd parties.
- Nessus not only lists out these Vulnerabilities but describes clearly the vulnerabilities in details with its thousands of plugins updated regularly, the tool also recommends solution with practical details of easy implementation.
Network Security Consultant
Digitalage Strategies Pvt LTDComputer & Network Security, 51-200 employees
Cons
AlienVault OSSIM
- The reports are clunky and a bit tedious to parse through.
- Sometimes there's so much noise it's hard to tell what a true positive is. There are lots of false ones that trigger alerts but are normal behavior in many environments.
Director of Information Security
Memorial Hospital of GulfportMedical Practice, 5001-10,000 employees
Nessus
- Could use an upgrade within reports.
- Scans can take a long time to complete. Have to break them down in small sections.

Verified User
Engineer in Information Technology
Hospital & Health Care Company, 1001-5000 employeesPricing Details
AlienVault OSSIM
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
—AlienVault OSSIM Editions & Modules
—
Additional Pricing Details
—Nessus
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
$0
Nessus Editions & Modules
Edition
1 Year | $2,790.00 |
---|---|
1 Year + Advanced Support | $3,190.00 |
2 Years | $5,440.00 |
2 Years + Advanced Support | $6,240.00 |
3 Years + Advanced Support | $9,151.00 |
3 Years | $7,951.00 |
- none
Additional Pricing Details
—Likelihood to Renew
AlienVault OSSIM
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
Nessus
Nessus 9.1
Based on 1 answer
Nessus is best and easy to use application for Vulnerabilities finding and reporting, it has multiple platforms and wide scope covering almost all devices for security improvement so far, thus we are very likely to continue its services.
Network Security Consultant
Digitalage Strategies Pvt LTDComputer & Network Security, 51-200 employees
Usability
AlienVault OSSIM
AlienVault OSSIM 8.0
Based on 1 answer
AlienVault OSSIM is far easy to use and manage - provided you know what you're doing. As any SIEM application, there is some background knowledge required in order to take advantage of the product's functionalities, such as the log correlation and analysis. Other than that, the application is quite usable and robust.
Support Services Manager
GB Advisors, Inc.Computer Software, 51-200 employees
Nessus
Nessus 9.7
Based on 2 answers
It's very much a plug and play application that the user can go into with limited knowledge and set-up scans in minutes.

Verified User
Technician in Information Technology
Mental Health Care Company, 201-500 employeesSupport Rating
AlienVault OSSIM
AlienVault OSSIM 7.9
Based on 6 answers
AlienVault OSSIM support has been very good. I have not had an issue that they were not able to quickly identify and provide a fix for. They are very quick to respond to open cases and are very knowledgeable in the product, which makes troubleshooting issues fast and solutions are provided quickly.
Help Desk Manager
Black Hills Federal Credit UnionBanking, 201-500 employees
Nessus
Nessus 6.8
Based on 8 answers
I haven't needed to contact support yet. But issues are easily solved with a quick internet search which means support and by extension, the larger community are involved and knowledgeable.

Verified User
Technician in Information Technology
Mental Health Care Company, 201-500 employeesAlternatives Considered
AlienVault OSSIM
Originally my organization leveraged alien value due to the lower cost of entry and ability to manage it as a service provider. Unfortunately, after several years of working with this tool, it became unwieldy to use as it felt that almost every useful report had to be created by hand. As other tools have come out with the ability to do automated responses such as Stellar Data processor, we have begun to evaluate alternatives.

Verified User
Executive in Engineering
Computer & Network Security Company, 51-200 employeesNessus
Sometimes when we identify a vulnerability with Nessus that has an exploit, we made a proof of concept with Metasploit in order to show to the IT managers the importance of the software/hardware hardening.
Auditor de Seguridad de la Información
PeñolesMining & Metals, 5001-10,000 employees
Return on Investment
AlienVault OSSIM
- It's difficult to put a monetary value on security, but with proper monitoring and alerting, incidents will be easier to avoid.
- Helps with your compliancy, as it automatically alerts you for critical events.
- Collects logs in the cloud, so protected from local issues, like SAN failures.

Verified User
Manager in Information Technology
Retail Company, 501-1000 employeesNessus
- Nessus certainly has a positive impact while me while performing my job, either as security research, or performing vulnerability assessments for clients. It gives a lot of information about the system/application after performing scans. The number of false positives is also less compared to other vulnerability scanners.
- The professional edition is very useful as policy templates available in this edition are very handy and useful even to perform compliance scan like PCI DSS scan.
- Also, the ability to export the scan results into reports in formats like HTML, PDF is very useful which could be for performing system/application reviews.
Associate Security Consultant
SISA Information SecurityInformation Technology and Services, 201-500 employees