OpenVAS vs Greenbone OPENVAS SCAN: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
OpenVAS is a free vulnerability assessment tool. Greenbone OPENVAS SCAN is a commercial vulnerability assessment tool by Greenbone AG. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best vulnerability assessment fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, company size fit, deployment model, here is our conclusion:
Security teams with limited budgets who can tolerate manual tuning will find OpenVAS valuable for network-wide vulnerability discovery at zero cost. It runs on commodity hardware, covers CVSS scoring across 200,000+ known vulnerabilities, and integrates with Greenbone's commercial support if you need it later. Skip this if your organization lacks Linux administration depth or expects a polished UI and hands-off updates; OpenVAS demands configuration discipline and prioritizes breadth of scanning over ease of operation.
SMB and mid-market security teams with limited budgets and segmented networks will get the most from Greenbone OPENVAS SCAN because the hardware and virtual appliance options let you deploy scanning where your infrastructure actually lives, not where a cloud vendor prefers. The master sensor architecture and airgap technology mean you can run continuous vulnerability assessment in isolated environments without fighting API integrations or cloud connectivity, and daily feed updates keep detection current without vendor lock-in. Skip this if you need a single platform handling risk quantification, threat intelligence correlation, or remediation orchestration across multiple tools; OPENVAS SCAN is a scanner that does scanning well, not a risk aggregator.
