10 BEST Vulnerability Scanning Tools (2025)
Oliver Jones
Vulnerability scanners are automated tools that constantly evaluate the software system’s security risks to identify security vulnerabilities.
After investing over 80 hours into research, I have evaluated 40+ tools and compiled a list of the Best Vulnerability Scanning Tools, featuring both free and paid options. My comprehensive and unbiased article presents credible information on features, pros and cons, and pricing. This ultimate guide may help you navigate the best tools available. Make sure to read the complete article for exclusive insights. Read more…
BEST Web Vulnerability Scanning Tools
| Name | Supported Platform | Free Trial | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
 Vulnerability Manager Plus |
Windows, Mac and Linux | 30-Day Free Trial | Learn More |
 Teramind |
Windows & MacOS | 30-Day Free Trial | Learn More |
 Paessler |
Windows, Mac and Linux | Free Download | Learn More |
 Security Event Manager |
Windows, Mac and Linux | 30-Day Free Trial | Learn More |
 Nessus Professional |
Windows, Mac and Linux | 7-Day Free Trial | Learn More |
1) Vulnerability Manager Plus
ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus provided me with a strong platform to manage security threats. As I evaluated it, I noticed that scheduling scans was easy, with daily, weekly, and monthly options. It checks outdated software, remote sharing, and active network ports. I was able to automate patching for Windows, macOS, and Linux. I recommend this tool, especially since the customer support, available via chat, email, and phone, is responsive. It works well on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Malware Detection: Yes
Threat Detection: Yes
AD Hoc Scans: No
Supported Platforms: Windows, Linux, MacOS
Features:
- Vulnerability management: It can assess and prioritize exploitable and impactful vulnerabilities with a risk-based vulnerability assessment. Additionally, this tool can identify zero-day vulnerabilities and implement workarounds before fixes arrive.
- Security configuration management: It can continually detect vulnerabilities and remediate misconfigurations with security configuration management. You receive security recommendations to set up your servers in a way that’s free from multiple attack variants.
- Integrations: It seamlessly integrates with Zoho, Site24x7, ServiceDesk Plus, ServiceNow, Zendesk, ServiceDesk Plus Cloud, Jira, Freshservice, ADSelfService Plus, PAM360, Syslog, and Splunk.
- Supported compliances: ManageEngine Vulnerability Manager Plus supports compliance standards such as SOX, HIPAA, PCI, GDPR, GLBA, and FISMA.
- Other features: Based on my experience, this tool helps me with vulnerability assessment, network scanning, and essential zero-day mitigation.
Pros
Cons
Pricing:
- Price: Request a Quote from Sales.
- Free Trial: 30 Days Free Trial
30-Days Free Trial
2) Teramind
Teramind is a platform I reviewed that focuses on preventing insider threats and monitoring employees. It helped me improve security with behavior analytics and data loss prevention. I could access insights that ensured compliance and enhanced business efficiency. I particularly appreciate the way it monitors sensitive data loss and provides detailed behavioral analytics. The platform also tracks productivity, security, and compliance across the workforce, which is very helpful.
Malware Detection: Yes
Threat Detection: Yes
AD Hoc Scans: No
Supported Platforms: Windows, Linux
Features:
- Insider Threat Prevention: Detects and prevents user actions that may indicate insider threats to data.
- Business Process Optimization: Utilizes data-driven behavior analytics to redefine operational processes.
- Compliance Management: Helps manage compliance with a single, scalable solution suitable for small businesses, enterprises, and government agencies.
- Incident Forensics: Provides evidence to enrich incident response, investigations, and threat intelligence.
- Customizable Monitoring Settings: I could easily customize monitoring settings, which helped me to apply predefined rules as needed.
- Dashboard Insights: Provides visibility and actionable insights into workforce activities through a comprehensive dashboard.
Pros
Cons
Pricing:
- Price: Plan starts at $14.98 per month.
- Free Trial: 30-day free trial
30-Days Free Trial
3) Paessler
Paessler made it possible for me to assess security vulnerabilities while managing infrastructure efficiently. I discovered that it uses advanced technologies like SNMP and sniffing for real-time monitoring. It supported my infrastructure across multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac, and Linux. I personally recommend this tool for its flexibility.
It seamlessly integrates with ServiceNow and PRTG and supports compliance standards such as GDPR. The tool provides multiple user web interfaces, helps you visualize your network using maps, and has automated failover handling. Furthermore, you can set its scans to run daily, weekly, and hourly.
Features:
- Monitoring: Paessler monitors jFlow, sFlow, IP SLA, Firewall, IP, LAN, Wi-Fi, Jitter, and IPFIX. It can also monitor networks in various locations. You receive numbers, statistics, and graphs for the data you wish to monitor or configure. It provides alerts through email, plays alarm audio files, or triggers HTTP requests.
- Full administrative control: It runs directly in your IT infrastructure on dedicated servers. You get total flexibility for your upgrades, maintenance, and backups, and provides full access to your data and configurations.
- Other features: I found Paessler great for offering flexible alerting, user interfaces, failover solutions, and dashboards with in-depth reporting and customization options.
- Support: It provides customer support through the contact form, email, and phone.
Pros
Cons
Pricing:
- Price: Plan starts at $2149 paid annually
- Free Trial: Free Download
Free Download
4) Security Event Manager
Security Event Manager is a tool I analyzed for its ability to scan vulnerabilities and ensure compliance. I particularly liked the centralized log collection, which made it easier to monitor activities. The file integrity monitoring feature was helpful for tracking file changes in real time. I was able to reach customer support through chat, contact form, phone, and email. It is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux.
You can set scans to run rapidly, receive an automated incident response, and get real-time analysis with its log analyzer. This web application scanner offers an intuitive dashboard and supports internal scan and external scans.
Features:
- Network security monitoring: I checked this vulnerability management solution essential for detecting threats across environments, using up-to-date intelligence to analyze logs and events, which helps you identify suspicious behavior in real-time.
- Security log management: It is one of the web security scanners that let you manage thousands of security audits from a centralized location, respond to threats in real time, and improve compliance. Using security log management, you can set instant alerts to block hackers and stay on track with auditors using in-depth compliance reporting.
- Integrations: This vulnerability scanning tool integrates with Orion, Jira, Zapier, MS Teams, Apache, Cassandra, Consul, and Zendesk. Moreover, the Security Event Manager has integrated tools for compliance reporting.
- Supported compliance: Security Event Manager supports compliance standards such as FISMA, PCI DSS, HIPAA, SOX, and GDPR.
- Other features: It offers user activity monitoring, file integrity monitoring, Microsoft IIS log analysis, network security tools, firewall security management, and snort IDS log analysis.
Pros
Cons
Pricing:
- Price: Request a Quote from Sales.
- Free Trial: 30 Days Free Trial
Link: https://www.solarwinds.com/security-event-manager/
5) Nessus Professional
Nessus Professional is a vulnerability assessment tool for checking compliance, searching sensitive data, and scanning IPs and websites. This website vulnerability scanner tool is designed to make vulnerability assessment simple, easy, and intuitive.
This tool supports internal scans, external scans, cloud scans, and web applications. You can set its scans to run daily, weekly, and monthly.
Features:
- Vulnerability scanning: It offers complete vulnerability scanning with unlimited assessments for website security checks. This website vulnerability scanner tool detects SQL injection attacks. It also includes advanced detection technology for more protection for website security scanning.
- Accurate visibility: It provides accurate visibility into your computer network. Nessus Professional instantly identifies vulnerabilities that need prioritizing and helps you address them as per their severity.
- Integrations: It seamlessly integrates with AWS, BeyondTrust, CyberArk, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), HCL BigFix, IBM Security, Microsoft, ServiceNow, Siemens, and Splunk.
- Supported compliances: This web vulnerability scanner supports compliance standards such as PCI and ISO/IEC 27001.
- Other features: I could rely on Nessus Professional’s cloud security and vulnerability management, which offered me a great way to secure applications and handle ransomware effectively.
Pros
Cons
Pricing:
- Price: Plan starts at $4,708.20 per year.
- Free Trial: 7 Days free trial
Link: https://www.tenable.com/products/nessus/nessus-professional
6) SiteLock
SiteLock is a cybersecurity tool that I found impressive for its ability to protect websites and visitors. I could access its secure VPN, which safeguarded my organization’s sensitive data. I particularly appreciate that it supports internal, external, and cloud scans, among others. Scheduling scans to run weekly was effortless, and the SSL integration was seamless. SiteLock provides excellent customer support through chat, email, and phone, making it easy to resolve issues. It works well on both Windows and Mac platforms.
Features:
- Website scanning: SiteLock’s website malware scanner runs continuously in the background. Once an issue is identified, SiteLock works towards removing the malware. Apart from malware, it can also perform spam scans, application scans, SSL scans, XSS scans, and SQL injection scans.
- Vulnerability patching: Its patch management helps in removing and fixing vulnerabilities. SiteLock patching capabilities include data remediation from database-driven websites, CMS patching, and e-commerce patching.
- Supported compliance: This tool offered me the solution I needed to comply with PCI and GDPR standards, making it perfect for regulatory needs.
- Other features: SiteLock offers malware removal, website backup, a web application firewall (WAF), and a content delivery network.
Pros
Cons
Pricing:
- Price: Plan starts at $14.99 per month.
- Free Trial: 30 Days Free Trial
Link: https://www.sitelock.com/
7) Tripwire IP360
Tripwire IP360 is one of the best vulnerability scanning tools I checked, and I particularly liked how it protects critical systems in cloud, virtual, and physical environments. During my research, I noticed its strong configuration management and asset discovery features. Tripwire IP360 offers support through phone, chat, and contact forms, which is great for resolving issues quickly. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Using Tripwire IP360, you can set vulnerability scan to run daily, weekly, and monthly for continuous checks. Moreover, it helps you to maximize your organization’s productivity through integrations with various existing tools in your organization.
Features:
- Discover everything: According to my experience, this tool allows you to discover hidden assets across your network with its agent-based and agentless scans, covering both cloud and on-premises environments.
- Vulnerability risk scoring: Tripwire IP360 offers a vulnerability management feature that passes through noise and provides actionable results. It ranks the vulnerabilities using numbers based on the threat they pose or the severity of impact, age, and ease of exploit.
- Integrations: It seamlessly integrates with Remedy, Service Now, Jira, Cherwell, CA ServiceDesk, and Express
- Supported compliance: Tripwire IP360 supports compliance standards such as PCI DSS, NIST 800-53, and ISO/IEC 2701.
- Other features: Tripwire IP360 offers internal scans, external scans, cloud scans, SSL scans, malware scans, spam scans, SQL injection scans, and cross-site scripting scans.
Pros
Cons
Pricing:
- Price: Request a Quote from Sales.
- Free Trial: 30 Days Free Trial (No Credit Card Required)
Link: https://www.tripwire.com/products/tripwire-ip360
8) OpenVAS
OpenVAS is one of the best web vulnerability scanning tools I tested, offering strong support for vulnerability and security testing. It allowed me to perform both high and low-level protocol testing with ease. I was able to set up scans to run hourly, monthly, and yearly, depending on the need. OpenVAS runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms, providing excellent compatibility.
Features:
- Vulnerability management: This free vulnerability scanner tool includes more than 50,000 vulnerability tests. You can perform vulnerability tests with a long history and daily updates. It provides performance tuning and internal programming code to implement any type of vulnerability test you want to perform.
- Pentesting: OpenVas offers a detailed report on your security situation, helps you meet legal requirements, and provides state-of-the-art technology for optimal protection.
- Integrations: I could rely on its seamless integration with IBM, Openvas, and GSM, which helped me ensure compatibility across all systems.
- Supported compliances: OpenVAS supports compliance standards such as ISO 9001, ISO27001 and GDPR.
- Support: This web vulnerability scanning tool provides customer support through email, phone, and contact forms. OpenVas also includes self-learning courses and documents to assist you.
Pros
Cons
Pricing:
- Price: open source software
Link: http://www.openvas.org/
9) Aircrack
Aircrack is a free web vulnerability scanner I went through, and I discovered that it works efficiently to secure Wi-Fi using various encryption keys. It offered me WEP dictionary attacks and supported different operating systems. According to my review, the PTW attack is a faster option for WEP attacks. Aircrack support is available via email, and it runs mainly on Windows.
Features:
- Monitoring: Its monitoring feature offers packet capture and export of data to text files to process them further with the help of third-party tools.
- Attacking: This tool offered me the most effective way to replay attacks, repeat fake access points, and perform deauthentication through its helpful packet injection feature.
- Testing and cracking: It helps you inspect WiFi cards and driver capabilities. You can crack WEP and WAP PSK (WAP 1 and 2). This tool also protects you from fragmentation attacks and improves tracking speed.
- Supported compliance: Aircrack supports compliance standards such as PCI, RSN, and SSE2.
Pros
Cons
Pricing:
- Price: Free Download
Link: https://www.aircrack-ng.org/
10) Nexpose Community
Nexpose is a vulnerability management software I tested to manage real-time exposure. I found that it adapts to new threats using fresh data, and I was able to set up daily and weekly scans without hassle. Nexpose provides internal, external, and web application scans, along with customer support, through multiple channels. It runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Features:
- Real risk score: Its vulnerability scanner offers actionable results more than the standard 1-10 CVSS score. Nexpose’s 1-1000 scale identifies vulnerabilities on a severity basis and helps you prioritize the risks that need the most attention.
- Remediation report: Nexpose shows 25 actions that your team can act on immediately to mitigate risks. You can easily distribute its data and assign it to the right unit or individuals.
- Integrations: It seamlessly integrates with Metasploit, InsightVM, and Nexpose.
- Supported compliances: Nexpose Community supports compliance standards such as ISO 27001, ISO 27002, PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOX, and OWASP.
- Other features: I found it great for providing real risk scores, adaptive security, and helpful policy assessment with detailed remediation reporting.
Pros
Cons
Pricing:
- Price: Plans start at $1.93 a month.
- Free Trial: 30 Days Free Trial (No Credit Card Required)
Link: https://www.rapid7.com/products/nexpose/
What is Vulnerability?
A vulnerability is a cybersecurity term which describes the weakness in the system security design, process, implementation, or any internal control that may result in the violation of the system’s security policy. In other words, the chance for intruders (hackers) to get unauthorized access.
What is Vulnerability Assessment?
Vulnerability assessment is a software testing type performed to evaluate the security risks in the software system in order to reduce the probability of a threat.
How Did We Choose BEST Vulnerability Scanning Tools?
At Guru99, we are dedicated to providing accurate, relevant, and objective information through rigorous content creation and review processes. After investing over 80 hours into research, I evaluated 40+ tools and compiled a comprehensive list of the Best Vulnerability Scanning Tools, including both free and paid options. My unbiased article presents credible insights into features, pros, cons, and pricing. This ultimate guide may help you choose the best tools for individual and enterprise needs.
- Performance: We considered tools that provide fast and accurate scans with minimal false positives.
- User Experience: It is important that the interface is easy to navigate and allows you to quickly access all features.
- Compatibility: We aim to find tools that work across various systems and environments.
- Reporting: According to our assessment, detailed and customizable reporting features are essential for tracking vulnerabilities effectively.
- Support: Make sure you choose tools with responsive customer support and clear documentation.
- Price: We paid attention to cost-effective solutions that provide the best value for money.
What is the importance of Vulnerability Assessment in the company?
- Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) helps you to detect security exposures before attackers find them.
- You can create an inventory of network devices, including system information and purpose.
- It defines the risk level, which exists on the network.
- Establish a benefit curve and optimize security investments.
Verdict
When I explored vulnerability scanning tools, I was impressed with the range of solutions available for securing web applications. Whether you need customizable or automated scans, these tools help mitigate risks by identifying vulnerabilities in real time. Check my verdict for detailed insights.
- Vulnerability Manager Plus offers a comprehensive approach, focusing on risk prioritization and built-in patch management.
- Teramind platform also tracks productivity, security, and compliance across the workforce, which is very helpful.
- Paessler made it possible to assess security vulnerabilities while managing infrastructure efficiently. It uses advanced technologies like SNMP and sniffing for real-time monitoring.
