Microsoft Defender XDR vs. Tenable Nessus

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Microsoft Defender XDR
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft 365 Defender combines SIEM and XDR capabilities for Microsoft 365 environments, encompassing threat detection, post-breach detection, automated investigation, and response for endpoints. Additionally, it protects cloud apps, emails and documents, and employee identities.N/A
Tenable Nessus
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Tenable headquartered in Columbia offers Nessus, a vulnerability scanning and security assessment solution used to analyze an entity's security posture, vulnerability testing, and provide configuration assessments.
$2,790
Pricing
Microsoft Defender XDRTenable Nessus
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
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
$7,951.00
3 Years + Advanced Support
$9,151.00
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Microsoft Defender XDRTenable Nessus
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Microsoft Defender XDRTenable Nessus
Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons

No answers on this topic

Features
Microsoft Defender XDRTenable Nessus
Threat Intelligence
Comparison of Threat Intelligence features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Defender XDR
-
Ratings
Tenable Nessus
5.1
1 Ratings
44% below category average
Network Analytics00 Ratings8.21 Ratings
Threat Recognition00 Ratings4.51 Ratings
Vulnerability Classification00 Ratings8.21 Ratings
Automated Alerts and Reporting00 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Threat Analysis00 Ratings5.51 Ratings
Threat Intelligence Reporting00 Ratings7.31 Ratings
Automated Threat Identification00 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Vulnerability Management Tools
Comparison of Vulnerability Management Tools features of Product A and Product B
Microsoft Defender XDR
-
Ratings
Tenable Nessus
8.0
1 Ratings
2% below category average
IT Asset Realization00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
Authentication00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
Configuration Monitoring00 Ratings9.11 Ratings
Web Scanning00 Ratings4.51 Ratings
Vulnerability Intelligence00 Ratings8.21 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Microsoft Defender XDRTenable Nessus
Small Businesses
SentinelOne Singularity
SentinelOne Singularity
Score 9.1 out of 10
ThreatDown, powered by Malwarebytes
ThreatDown, powered by Malwarebytes
Score 8.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.2 out of 10
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.2 out of 10
Enterprises
SentinelOne Singularity
SentinelOne Singularity
Score 9.1 out of 10
CrowdStrike Falcon
CrowdStrike Falcon
Score 9.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Microsoft Defender XDRTenable Nessus
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(59 ratings)
8.6
(7 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(3 ratings)
9.7
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(1 ratings)
7.1
(4 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.1
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Microsoft Defender XDRTenable Nessus
Likelihood to Recommend
Microsoft
**Well Suited:**- **Enterprise Environments:** - Ideal for large-scale enterprise environments with a diverse IT infrastructure, offering comprehensive coverage across endpoints, networks, and cloud services.- **Integrated Microsoft Ecosystem:** - Excellently suited for organizations heavily invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, providing seamless integration with other Microsoft security tools and services.- **Proactive Threat Detection:** - Well-suited for organizations that prioritize proactive threat detection and response, leveraging advanced analytics and machine learning for early anomaly identification.- **Regulated Industries:** - Particularly beneficial for businesses in regulated industries, such as finance or healthcare, where compliance with stringent data protection regulations is crucial.**Less Appropriate:**- **Small Businesses with Limited Resources:** - Might be less appropriate for small businesses with limited resources or those with a simpler IT infrastructure, as the comprehensive features may exceed their specific needs.- **Highly Specialized Security Requirements:** - In scenarios where a business has highly specialized security requirements that necessitate specific, niche solutions, Microsoft Defender XDR might be less flexible compared to specialized security tools.- **Non-Windows Environments:** - Less appropriate for organizations predominantly using non-Windows operating systems, as it is optimized for integration within the Microsoft ecosystem.- **Organizations with Strict Bandwidth Constraints:** - In environments with strict bandwidth constraints, continuous monitoring and analysis by Defender XDR could potentially impact network performance.
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Tenable
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.
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Pros
Microsoft
  • I am a huge fan of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint within Microsoft 365 Defender. It is one of the most professional and reliable EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) tool out there providing excellent features like vulnerability management, baseline assessments, device discovery etc.
  • Microsoft Defender for Office365 (Email Security) is yet another class apart product in this Microsoft 365 Defenderr stack. It is one of the easiest to use tools among all the other Microsoft security products yet at the same time offers such a wide variety of features like threat policies (anti-spam, anti-malware, anti-phishing etc.), attack simulation, message trace etc.
  • Incident Management is the main USP of Microsoft 365 Defender due to which it can actually be considered as a true XDR. The intuitive and user-friendly UI, the very useful attack story view, broad classifications, automated investigation etc. etc. etc.; the list of awesome features just goes on.
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Tenable
  • 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.
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Cons
Microsoft
  • Setting up Microsoft 365 Defender integration with other tools or platforms might be challenging and require technical know-how.
  • Improving its third-party security tools integration and simplifying the setup process would offer a smoother experience for security teams.
  • A simpler way to improve security operations is by having a more cohesive way of detecting and responding to threats across different security solutions.
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Tenable
  • Could use an upgrade within reports.
  • Scans can take a long time to complete. Have to break them down in small sections.
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Likelihood to Renew
Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Tenable
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.
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Usability
Microsoft
Too complicated sometimes, doesn't explain the meaning of certain features or problems encountered.
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Tenable
It's very much a plug and play application that the user can go into with limited knowledge and set-up scans in minutes.
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Support Rating
Microsoft
Microsoft Support is really good in calls and uptime availability and they are helpful in understanding and fixing issues and reporting the bugs, also the first line support is amazing in fixing bugs and releasing the new patches.
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Tenable
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.
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In-Person Training
Microsoft
Good and hard to find someonme who can explain everything for you beside Microsoft they provide you everything you need.
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Tenable
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Microsoft
Microsoft Provides a good training for the Microsoft 365 Defender and has a good learning paths to learn and take the exams and get your Certifications.
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Tenable
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Microsoft
We used the MS XDR as this is a bundle that we bought when we subscribed to the M365 platform, so having it was a bonus as we stated earlier, but due to limitation on licenses in Sentinelone, having this is just a blessing for us, so we can reduce around 200 licenses and can utilize it for other users
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Tenable
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.
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Return on Investment
Microsoft
  • Depending on the licensing you pay for, Defender is included and a great ROI cost wise
  • In terms of time spent, Defender can be a large time suck but yield positive results for end users
  • Generally, it pays to learn and train in Defender BEFORE there is a problem and you need to really use it.
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Tenable
  • 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.
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ScreenShots

Microsoft Defender XDR Screenshots

Screenshot of AH Advanced ModeScreenshot of AH Guided modeScreenshot of CD exampleScreenshot of CD Supported actions