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Nessus vs Nuclei: catalog facts
Nessus	Nuclei
Freemium Nessus Essentials is free for up to sixteen IP addresses. Professional is a paid…	Freemium The Nuclei command-line scanner and its templates are free and open source under the MIT…
Windows, macOS, Linux	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Very large and rapidly updated plugin library Configuration and compliance auditing alongside vulnerability scanning	Checks are readable YAML templates, so you can review and write them yourself Community templates cover trending vulnerabilities within days
Free Essentials edition is capped at sixteen IP addresses Closed source, with subscription pricing beyond the free tier	Only legitimate against systems you are authorised to scan Coverage depends on the template library; an untemplated vulnerability is invisible
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License: MIT
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 21, 2026

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