Speaking of third-party antivirus software, Avast Antivirus and Avira Antivirus are currently the best ones available to choose from. Although both the antivirus software offers a lot of beneficial features and have a lot in common. An individual can get easily confused while choosing the best one between these two top antivirus software. Keeping your computer protected is a must, especially if you spend most of your time online. Hence, we will be discussing which of these two top antivirus software works better, so that you can easily get it for your PC and make it secure as soon as possible. Hence, if you are interested to know what both these antivirus software offers, and want to see a brief comparison between the two, sit back and read this article until the end carefully.
Overview of Features: Avast Vs. Avira
While Avast has been around for quite a long time now, it’s one of the most trusted antivirus software you will find out there. In fact, it’s been so improved over the years that it is available for almost all platforms such as Windows, Linux, Mac, iOS, and even Android. Moreover, if you want to test it out, Avast also allows you to download a free version of it which has limited features, but definitely worth trying out. On the other hand, Avira is comparatively a newer antivirus that does not have that huge user base like Avast, but it features quite a lot of useful features that made it come to the top in the competition. So, that’s also a great option to try out and you can also download its free version to try out its basic functions and features. Here’s a quick comparison table for you that will help you know about the features offered by both these top antivirus software:
Feature comparison: Avast and Avira
As you can clearly see in the features overview given above, both the antivirus software are giving quite a nice competition to each other in terms of features. However, if you look closely, the features offered by Avira are much more useful as compared to what Avast offers. The features like Wi-Fi Protection, Sandbox Mode, Firewall, Webcam Protection are surely not included in Avira’s package, but they are not as important as compared to what Avast is missing out on. In Avast’s package of features, there are a few highly important features such as AI-powered Malware Detection, Secure Banking, Password Manager, File Encryption which are quite useful in many ways. However, in the cases of both the antivirus software, you will be missing out on some features, so you have to decide what features are more important for you and then choose a wise option for your PC. That is only the case if you are considering going with the free version of this antivirus software. In the premium and paid packages, you can certainly enjoy having all the features and protecting your PC completely. So, as far as features offered in the free plans are concerned, both Avast and Avira are providing real-time protection and ransomware protection along with Web Filters and VPN services. Thus, if you are fine with it, you can continue using the free versions as long as you want. Otherwise, you can consider looking at the paid plans and choose on the basis of their pricing where the value-for-money factor has a huge significance.
Avira vs. Avast security: Which one offers better Security?
Since there are several popular organizations out there that typically test how secure an antivirus software is, both Avira and Avast have been also tested by some of these popular organizations such as SE Labs, AV-Comparatives, and even AV-Test also. Since both the software are top-notch, AV-Test concluded that Avira is a better choice to consider for Mac users as it performs exceptionally well on that platform. Avast, on the other hand, is a great pick for those who want to secure their Windows PC or an Android Smartphone. Although both the software are ranked as Top Product in AV-Test results. Similarly, AV-Comparatives concluded that offline malware detection is better served by Avast. Yet no flaws were found on Avira’s package either, so both are rated the same as Advanced+. Well, even SE Labs confirmed that both the software are equally great and offer excellent protection to computers and other platforms as well, so they even earned the AAA rating from SE Labs.
1. Real-time Protection
Speaking of real-time protection, Avast and Avira do that job quite magnificently and are capable enough to remove all the potentially harmful files from your PC right away. No matter what software you choose for yourself, you will need to run a complete PC scan right after installation so that you can be sure there are no harmful elements present on your PC from the past. Later on, Avast and Avira are both good enough to keep your PC safe from any upcoming threats. There’s one thing that is interesting about Avira, its real-time protection is totally cloud-based, so the overall load of running the full PC scan doesn’t come on your PC’s shoulders. Thus, even if you are using a low-end PC, you can still manage to do all other tasks as the performance of the PC won’t be affected much when the full system scan is going on. Avast, on the other hand, uses chunky software, and sometimes slows down the PC by running background scans, and triggers false alarms more than Avira does. Although Avast offers a lot of decent features and is highly secure as well, it lacks the AI-powered malware detection features which give an advantage to Avira to stay ahead in the competition.
2. Scanning
As we said earlier, full PC scans and background scans make Avast a little less efficient since it consumes a lot of your computer’s resources, as compared with the latter. In fact, a single full PC scan done by Avast takes about 45-50 minutes on average which is quite a long time. In comparison, running full system scans using Avira is much more simple, and fast also. The average time that Avira takes for a full PC scan is just about 30 minutes which makes it far better than Avast in terms of efficiency. No matter what, you can schedule the full PC scans in both the antivirus software to run at night time. But, if you want to scan the PC right away, Avira is surely a better option since it finishes its job way quicker.
3. Firewall protection
Firewall protection is quite an essential feature to have, especially when you are paying a third-party antivirus to get the protection. Although, the free version of Avira doesn’t provide you with its own firewall. Instead, it manages the already in-built firewall on your PC that is offered by Windows Defender. However, if you decide to get the paid version of Avira, you will be rewarded with lots of useful features. The paid versions of Avira even allow you to choose how aggressively the firewall should work. It can be either very lenient or completely strict as well. In this aspect, even Avast does not have enough features to make it outshine the competition either. However, if you want decent firewall protection, you will have to pay for the premium or ultimate packages which are quite expensive. However, the firewall protection is much better in paid versions, and you even get to select several websites to put them in the whitelist so that the firewall does not interfere with them. With that said, both Avast and Avira offer good firewall protection for as long as you are paying them.
4. Impact on PC performance
Although both Avira and Avast are top-of-the-line antivirus software, thanks to their large feature set. But, you can not choose the best one until you test them out on your PC. It’s important for antivirus software to be as lightweight as possible because viruses and other threats do consume a lot of PC resources, and if the antivirus also begins to behave the same, you will see your PC slowing down to a huge extent. With that said, Avira is exceptionally good as it has an almost negligible impact on your PC’s performance. And, even if there is a stubborn threat present on your PC, Avira won’t halt your workflow by hogging your computer’s resources. On the other hand, the software of Avast is a bit too compelling and is always hungry to eat the resources of your computer. So, unless you have a high-end PC, you will have a bad time using Avast. Thus, in our opinion, Avira is a clear winner here and is much better performing than Avast.
Pricing
So far, we have discussed both Avast and Avira on the basis of what features they offer! Well, both the antivirus software do have free versions available to use, they don’t offer all the useful features in the free package. That is why buying the paid versions is a much better choice for the customers. That said, checking their pricing and judging the product’s quality on that basis is a big concern. If we compare the free versions of both Avast and Avira, we can say that Avast has a little edge over the other and offers better features than Avira. However, if you are willing to pay, then investing in Avira’s package will be a much better option for you. So, let’s quickly take a look at what plans do both antivirus software offer!
Avira plans
Avira Antivirus Pro – $44.99/year, for 1 device only (PC) Avira Internet Security – $57.99/year, for 1 device only (PC) Avira Prime – $99.99/yr, for up to 5 devices (Windows, Android, macOS, iOS)
When compared to other antivirus services available out there, Avira is comparatively cheaper than most. Avira Antivirus Pro plan comes for just $44.99/year, but that can be used on a single PC only. If you have multiple PCs, you can upgrade the plan that will cost you $57.99/year for three devices, and $70.99/year for five devices. On the other hand, you can even get Avira Internet Security relatively cheaper than the competition. For a single device, the Avira Internet Security plan comes for $57.99/year. Similarly, you can even upgrade this plan for three and five devices that will cost you $70.99/year and $83.99/year respectively. Meanwhile, the most expensive plan offered by Avira is the Prime plan, which comes for $99.99/year which is not limited to a single or three devices. The basic Prime plan can be used on a total of five devices. However, if you want to remove this cap, there’s also a plan available that allows you to use it on unlimited devices which comes for about $129.99/year.
Avast plans
Avast Premium Security – $69.99/year, for 1 device only (PC) Avast Ultimate – $99.99/year, for 1 device only (PC)
Although Avast offers a decent set of features in its free package, you can get a lot more out of it using the paid versions. However, the pricing of the paid versions is not as cheap as other antivirus services that are available in the market right now. Starting with the Avast Security Plan comes for a whopping price of $69.99/year, yet you are only allowed to use it on a single device only. However, if you want to run it on multiple devices, you will have to pay for the much more expensive package that costs $89.99/year and can be used on up to 10 devices. So, unlike other antivirus services, you don’t get plans for three or five devices here. Apart from that, Avast doesn’t offer you any packages for internet security, like Avira does, so that’s a big disappointment. Moreover, if you want to have all the benefits that Avast offers, you will have to upgrade your plan to Avast Ultimate, which will cost you around $99.99/year but only for a single device. Similarly, you also get a 10 devices version of it for $119.99/year that only adds the Cleanup Premium and SecureLine VPN to the package. The rest of the features are already included in the Premium Security package already.
Application and Interface
As we said earlier, Avast and Avira are the top two antivirus software that is recommended by most people. Being top-of-the-line also suggests that both the software come with decent software with an engaging and easy-to-use user interface. However, whichever software you choose to install on your PC, make sure the installation package isn’t installing any other unnecessary software on your computer. For instance, Avast has its own Secure Browser which is usually selected for installation in the installer by default. So, if you install Avast on your PC casually, and don’t pay much attention while installing, you will end up having bloatware on your PC. On the other hand, we feel that Avira is much more forgiving as it does not ask to install any other unnecessary software. Although it usually pops up notifications that you should upgrade to a paid plan if you are using the free version. But, that is quite understandable and can be managed easily. That’s why we believe that Avira is a much better antivirus software and it doesn’t force you to install any add-ons.
Desktop Application
Since we have personally tried and tested out both Avast and Avira antivirus, we can say that you will find no issues during the installation phase as the installer is super easy to use. Apart from that, the installation process of both software is quite similar too. Thus, if you are currently using any of the antiviruses, you can install the other one pretty easily too. Moreover, if you compare the user interface of both the desktop software, you will notice that the basic layout of these two antivirus applications is very much similar. So, if you are shifting from one to another, you won’t have to learn anything new as they both are almost identical.
Mobile Application
When it comes to mobile applications, again, both the antivirus applications nail it! The applications do have an intuitive UI, which is pretty simple and easy to use. However, as you might already know, Android and iOS are both very secure platforms, so the main purpose of Avast and Avira mobile applications is not to provide security. Instead, both the applications focus more on providing VPN services. While Avira’s VPN service is a paid one, Avast offers VPN services on mobile devices for absolutely free. Although Avira does offer a photo cleaner feature in its mobile application that can detect duplicate images and delete them from your mobile phone to make some extra room. On the other hand, the Avast mobile security application features a secure photo vault that you can use to keep important images stored securely.
Customer Support
Speaking of Avast, it also offers you a helpline number, email support, and even remote assistance if you are a paid plan user. Except for the remote assistance service, Avira also offers email support, but they take too much time to get back to you, so using it seems pretty useless after all. Avast, on the other hand, has decent customer support as they have been around this industry for a long time now, and know well how to handle their customers.
Conclusion:
On the basis of all the factors that we have discussed so far in this article, we can conclude that if you want free antivirus software, you should go with Avast. However, for those of you who are willing to spend your money, Avira would be a much better choice to trust. It’s because the software offered by Avira is much more lightweight, and has no bad impact on PCs performance. On top of it, the paid plans of Avira are much cheaper as compared to other antivirus software in the market, so it’s a fair and square deal to make. Except for the customer support, you will barely find any flaws in Avira Antivirus. So, overall it’s a better choice to pick if you are comparing it with Avast. That is it from our side, if you still have any other questions evolving in your mind, feel free to ask us in the comments section below. Comment * Name * Email * Website
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