Alternatives to OpenVAS
Full-featured open-source vulnerability scanner. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
OpenVAS
Full-featured open-source vulnerability scanner.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as OpenVAS.
Nessus
Widely used commercial vulnerability scanner.
Nessus is closed-source and commercial with a rapidly updated plugin library and compliance auditing; its free Essentials edition is capped at sixteen IP addresses.
Qualys Community Edition
Free, cloud-based edition of the Qualys security platform for asset discovery and vulnerability assessment.
Qualys Community Edition is a hosted cloud console with asset discovery, so nothing to install, but scan data stays with Qualys and the free tier covers few IPs.
Nuclei
A fast vulnerability scanner driven by YAML templates contributed by thousands of security researchers.
Nuclei is a command-line scanner using readable YAML templates that fit into CI, with lower setup effort but coverage limited to the template library.
Vuls
Assess known vulnerabilities on Linux and FreeBSD systems.
Vuls assesses known package vulnerabilities on Linux and FreeBSD hosts without an endpoint agent, rather than scanning the network like OpenVAS.
Pentest-Tools.com
An online toolkit of vulnerability scanners and penetration testing tools that produces customizable reports.
Pentest-Tools.com runs scans from the browser on vendor infrastructure, validates findings with exploits and generates reports, with the full feature set behind paid plans.
Nikto
Web server scanner for risky files, outdated software and misconfigurations.
Nikto is a lighter GPL-3.0 command-line scanner limited to web servers, checking known-dangerous paths and misconfigurations with signature-based, noisy checks.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
DefectDojo
An open source, self-hosted vulnerability management platform that collects and tracks findings from security scanners.
Metasploit Framework
The standard open-source exploitation framework for authorised penetration testing and verifying that a vulnerability is real.
Trivy
Scan software and infrastructure for known security issues.
Wazuh Agent
Endpoint agent that feeds a Wazuh server with security and compliance data.
Zenmap
The official cross-platform graphical interface for the Nmap network scanner.
ZMap
A fast single-packet network scanner designed for surveys across very large address ranges.
