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Nessus vs Nikto: catalog facts
Nessus	Nikto
Freemium Nessus Essentials is free for up to sixteen IP addresses. Professional is a paid…	Free The software is free under its open-source licence. Hosting, hardware and external…
Windows, macOS, Linux	macOS, Linux, Command line
Very large and rapidly updated plugin library Configuration and compliance auditing alongside vulnerability scanning	It checks thousands of known-dangerous paths and server configuration issues out of the box, and runs cleanly from…
Free Essentials edition is capped at sixteen IP addresses Closed source, with subscription pricing beyond the free tier	The scan is noisy and easily detected, and its checks are signature-based rather than intelligent.
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License: GPL-3.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.