Built for compliance. Not bolted on.
31 features, six tools, one honest table. We built CISGuard to fill the gaps we kept running into, and this is exactly where it differs.
- CISGuard31of 31
- Full
- 31
- Partial
- 0
- Missing
- 0
- Tenable Nessus12of 31
- Full
- 12
- Partial
- 10
- Missing
- 9
- Qualys Policy Compliance12of 30
- Full
- 12
- Partial
- 11
- Missing
- 7
- Rapid7 InsightVM11of 31
- Full
- 11
- Partial
- 8
- Missing
- 12
- CrowdStrike Falcon13of 31
- Full
- 13
- Partial
- 3
- Missing
- 15
- OpenSCAP10of 31
- Full
- 10
- Partial
- 2
- Missing
- 19
- Category
- Security configuration management: CIS benchmark compliance automation, built for compliance rather than vulnerability scanning
- Compared against
- Tenable Nessus, Qualys Policy Compliance, Rapid7 InsightVM, CrowdStrike Falcon, OpenSCAP
- Key differentiators
- On-premises and air-gapped deployment, continuous drift detection, signed reversible remediation, three frameworks from one scan
- Frameworks from one scan
- NIST 800-53 Rev. 5, ISO 27001:2022 and SOC 2, on a CIS Controls v8 base
- Licensing
- Per-deployment; no per-endpoint fees, no metered scans, no module unlocks
Feature by feature.
Yes Partial or limited No Not applicable
| Feature | CISGuardCISGuard | Tenable NessusTenable | Qualys Policy ComplianceQualys | Rapid7 InsightVMRapid7 | CrowdStrike FalconCrowdStrike | OpenSCAPOpenSCAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compliance Automation7 features | ||||||
| CIS Benchmark Scanning | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| Continuous Monitoring | Yes | Limited | Limited | Limited | Yes | No |
| Drift Detection | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Multi-Framework Mapping (NIST, ISO, SOC 2) | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial | No | No |
| Signed, Reversible Remediation | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial | Limited | No |
| Exception / Waiver Management | Yes | No | Limited | No | No | No |
| Scheduled Scanning with Blackout Windows | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Deployment4 features | ||||||
| On-Premises Deployment | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | No | Yes |
| Air-Gapped Support | Yes | Partial | Limited | No | No | Yes |
| SaaS Dependency | None | Optional | Required | Required | Required | None |
| Single Installer Deployment | Yes | No | N/A | No | No | No |
| Integration5 features | ||||||
| SIEM Integration (Syslog, CEF) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| SSO (SAML 2.0 + Microsoft Entra ID) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| LDAP / Active Directory | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited | No |
| Email and Webhook Alerts | Yes | Limited | Limited | Yes | Yes | No |
| Ticketing via Webhook (ServiceNow, Jira) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Platform Coverage7 features | ||||||
| Windows Server / Desktop | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| Linux (RHEL, Ubuntu) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Azure / AWS Cloud | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Microsoft 365 | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Kubernetes / AKS / EKS | Yes | Limited | Limited | Limited | Yes | No |
| Docker | Yes | Limited | Limited | Limited | Yes | No |
| Browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Enterprise4 features | ||||||
| Dedicated Single-Tenant Deployment | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial | No | Yes |
| Role-Based Access Control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Audit Trail / Logging | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Data Sovereignty (your data stays local) | Yes | Partial | Partial | No | No | Yes |
| Pricing & Licensing4 features | ||||||
| Per-Deployment Licensing (no per-asset fees) | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| All Features in Base License | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Managed Onboarding Included | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| No Hidden Module Fees | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Where the difference shows.
Continuous, not point-in-time
Most tools scan and hand you a report. CISGuard watches the estate continuously and surfaces the moment a setting drifts.
True on-premises
No SaaS dependency and no data leaving your network, with air-gapped operation as a first-class configuration for isolated environments.
Three frameworks from one scan
Every result maps to NIST 800-53, ISO 27001 and SOC 2 on a CIS Controls v8 base. No duplicate scanning, no spreadsheet translation.
Drift detection built in
Regression tracking, improvement categorization and automated alerting are part of the product, not a module you buy later.
Managed onboarding
Our compliance engineers deploy, configure, integrate identity and train your team. Deployment is seamless from day one.
Transparent pricing
Per-deployment licensing. No per-asset fees, no metered scans, no module unlocks. Everything in the base license.
One tool at a time.
The full breakdown, the awkward questions and a decision guide for each.
- Head to headCISGuard vs Tenable Nessus
Vulnerability management with CIS as a feature, against a platform built for CIS compliance.
Read the comparison - Head to headCISGuard vs Qualys Policy Compliance
A cloud-first platform with an appliance option, against on-premises and air-gapped by design.
Read the comparison - Head to headCISGuard vs CIS-CAT Pro
The official CIS assessment tool, against the operations layer around it.
Read the comparison
See it run against your own estate, side by side with what you use today.
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