Nessus Essentials vs DMitry: Which Network Forensic Analysis Tool tool is Best in 2025?

Nessus Essentials is a free vulnerability scanning tool from Tenable, Inc., designed for students, educators, and small-scale users to perform high-speed, in-depth vulnerability assessments on up to 16 IP addresses per scanner. Part of the renowned Nessus family, it leverages Tenable’s extensive plugin database (over 252,000 plugins) to identify security weaknesses, software flaws, and misconfigurations across networks, devices, and applications. Introduced as a rebranded Nessus Home in 2019, it’s ideal for personal home networks, educational purposes, or small businesses starting in cybersecurity. Nessus Essentials runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, and platforms like Raspberry Pi, offering a web-based interface and NASL scripting for custom plugins.

DMitry is a command-line utility included in Kali Linux for passive information gathering during penetration testing and ethical hacking. Written in C, it collects public data about a target host, including subdomains, email addresses, uptime information, open TCP ports, and whois details for domains and IP addresses. DMitry also retrieves Netcraft data, such as operating system and web server details. Its lightweight design, with a 50 KB installed size, makes it ideal for quick reconnaissance, reducing the need for multiple tools. Key features include customizable TCP port scanning with TTL settings, filtered port reporting, and banner grabbing.