Bitdefender is one of the best internet security suites in 2024. It has a powerful malware engine that scored 100% in our tests, comes with a great range of additional features, is easy to use, and has some of the most affordable plans on the market.
Avast has good industry-standard security features and is very user-friendly, but it lacks some useful extras like parental controls and a password manager, and its VPN is disappointing. Its plans are also more expensive than Bitdefender’s.
Short on Time? Bitdefender vs. Avast 2024 — Final Verdict:
- 1st place:
- 2nd place:
Bitdefender is better for overall security, provides more extra features, and offers cheaper pricing. If you want one of the best internet security suites in 2024, go with Bitdefender.
Avast has very intuitive apps. If you want an antivirus that’s particularly good for beginners, go with Avast.
Malware Protection
Bitdefender
Bitdefender’s lightweight malware scanner is one of the best on the market. It uses machine learning and a huge directory to detect both known and emerging malware, and because most of the scanning takes place in the cloud, it’s extremely lightweight — meaning it causes no slowdown during scans.
The full disk scan performs really well. To test it, I downloaded hundreds of malware samples onto my computer — including trojans, viruses, spyware, ransomware, and more, and then ran the scan. It took less than an hour, and it found 100% of the malware.
Bitdefender’s real-time protection is also excellent. It blocked every malware sample that I tried to download during my tests, and it also allows for more customization than many other real-time scanners.
Avast
Avast’s malware scanner also has an excellent detection rate. During my tests, I hid hundreds of malware files on my PC. Like Bitdefender, Avast found 100% of them after a full scan, which took just under an hour. And as with Bitdefender, I noticed no major performance drops while the scan was ongoing.
Avast’s real-time protection is also pretty great. It managed to catch every malware file that I attempted to download when I turned it on.
Web Security
Bitdefender
Bitdefender’s anti-phishing tools are excellent. The anti-phishing protection works by comparing any website you visit to a huge, regularly updated database of dangerous sites, immediately blocking access to any matches. In my tests, it successfully blocked every phishing site I tried to access. I also like that it shows you which sites were blocked and why, and it allows you to easily whitelist any false positives.
Bitdefender’s other web protections are good, too. They block access to sites not listed in the database, including those with downloadable malware and fraudulent content, and websites that don’t have SSL encryption.
Avast
Avast’s web protection is very good. It successfully blocked most malicious and phishing sites I attempted to visit during my tests (but not 100% of them like Bitdefender). I didn’t encounter any false positives, but it’s super easy to add a website to the exceptions list if you do.
Avast’s Real Site feature is also very useful. It stops DNS hijacking, which lets hackers redirect you to a fake website designed to steal your personal information or login details, even if you entered a legitimate URL into your browser.
Features
Bitdefender
Bitdefender offers a variety of plans, which cover up to 10 devices and include:
- Advanced malware detection and real-time protection.
- Web protection tools.
- VPN (limited to 200 MB/day/device on most plans).
- Parental controls.
- Wi-Fi network protection.
- Firewall.
- Secure browser.
- Anti-theft protections.
- System optimization tools.
- File shredder.
- Password manager.
- 30-day money-back guarantee.
- And more…
Bitdefender has a great range of extra features, and they all work well, too. I particularly like the parental controls, which are very advanced and allow for a huge amount of customization.
The VPN is limited to 200 MB/day/device on most plans, which isn’t enough for most users, but it is as good as many standalone VPNs — with excellent speeds, top security, and good torrenting and streaming support. You can get the VPN with unlimited data on the top-tier plan Premium Security, which is one of the best value plans on the market.
Avast
Avast has a lot of different plans to choose from, covering up to 30 devices. It provides the following features:
- Anti-malware protection and real-time protection.
- Web protection.
- VPN.
- Rescue Disk (not included with Avast One).
- Wi-Fi network inspector.
- Firewall.
- PC clean-up and optimization tools.
- File shredder (not included with Avast One).
- Sandbox (not included with Avast One).
- 30-day money-back guarantee.
- And more…
Avast provides some useful extra features. I especially like the Rescue Disk, which is something few other antiviruses offer. However, I was let down by the VPN that comes bundled with Avast One and Avast Ultimate Security: Its speeds aren’t great, it only has servers in 30+ countries, and it doesn’t have a no-logs policy. I’d like to see Avast include parental controls and a password manager too.
I also dislike how you lose access to a lot of great features with the Avast One plans, including the Rescue Disk, the data shredder, Do Not Disturb mode, and more.
Ease of Use
Bitdefender
Bitdefender is a very user-friendly internet security suite. Its desktop dashboard is well-designed and every feature is easily accessible. Everything is organized into 3 main categories (Privacy, Protection, and Utilities), and you can also customize your dashboard by adding buttons to the Quick Action option.
Bitdefender’s Android app is also excellent — it’s intuitively designed, feature-rich, and it provides excellent security and useful extras like anti-theft protection. However, unfortunately the iOS app is far more limited, with only a small selection of features.
Avast
Avast’s apps have very intuitive interfaces. All of the basic features also have brief explanations attached to them, which makes it an excellent antivirus for beginners. I like the search function in the settings menu as well, which makes it really easy to find the setting you’re looking for.
Avast’s mobile apps are similarly simple to use. However, many of its features are unavailable on iOS. You also lose access to the anti-theft protections if you choose Avast One.
Customer Support
Bitdefender
Bitdefender offers a very good range of customer support options. There’s email support, live chat, phone support, an extensive knowledge base, and community support.
In my tests, the live chat and phone support were particularly outstanding. Every time, I was swiftly linked with a representative who provided insightful and informative feedback. Both the phone and live chat services are accessible 24/7 in English, and there are 28 phone lines in 18 countries for assistance in other languages during their respective business hours.
The community forum is pretty active, and I was able to get answers to my questions within a few hours there. Plus, Bitdefender’s knowledge base has a huge array of helpful articles and videos that answer most questions.
Avast
Avast offers email, live chat, and phone support. It also has a community forum and a pretty informative support section on the website that should be able to answer most basic questions.
I got connected to Avast’s live chat pretty fast, but the interaction wasn’t very helpful. I was disappointed by the representative’s scripted replies, which fell short of fully addressing my questions about the product.
