TotalAV is an excellent antivirus program with impressive malware detection rates and a good range of additional features.
Avast also provides good anti-malware protection and its intuitive interface makes it well-suited for people who are new to using antiviruses.
Read on to learn the key differences between these 2 products and decide which is best for you in 2024.
Short on Time? Avast vs. TotalAV — Final Verdict:
- 1st place:
- 2nd place:
TotalAV includes more features than Avast. If you want an antivirus with excellent malware detection rates and good additional features, go with TotalAV.
Avast is slightly better for ease of use. If you want an antivirus that offers good protection against malware and is very beginner-friendly, go with Avast.
Malware Protection
TotalAV
TotalAV features a powerful anti-malware engine that compares files on your computer against a massive malware database. It’s a whitelisted version of Avira’s cloud-based scanner, which is one of the best on the market. TotalAV’s malware engine can detect and remove all kinds of malware, including trojans, rootkits, cryptojackers, adware, spyware, and worms.
The full system scan found and removed most malware samples without any slowdown to my computer. I downloaded an archive containing thousands of malware samples to fully test it.
TotalAV’s real-time protection is also great. When I enabled real-time protection and tried downloading the same archive of malware samples, TotalAV analyzed the download and quarantined it as soon as I tried extracting the samples from the archive.
Avast
Avast offers very good anti-malware protection. It was able to detect 100% of the malware samples I hid on my device, and its scan didn’t slow my system down.
The real-time protection is also excellent — it was able to detect and block all suspicious files that I attempted to download after I turned it on, as well as samples I tried to extract from password-protected folders and archives.
Web Security
TotalAV
TotalAV includes an anti-phishing feature called WebShield. WebShield can recognize and block both websites containing malware and websites that will attempt to steal your data through phishing attacks. When I tried visiting dangerous websites listed on PhishTank, TotalAV blocked most websites.
That said, TotalAV does make it more difficult to whitelist a website than many competitors. However, if you’re happy to rely on TotalAV’s protections fully, WebShield is a good choice, especially because you can download it for free without purchasing a TotalAV plan.
Avast
Avast’s anti-phishing protections are very good. It performed better than the default protections on Firefox and Chrome and slightly outperformed TotalAV in this department. However, like TotalAV, it’s also quite difficult to add false positives to a list of exceptions — though I didn’t encounter any false positives during my tests.
If you download Avast’s free Secure Browser, you also get access to a pretty good ad blocker and advanced anti-tracking functionality. I would have liked to have access to an ad blocker extension that worked with my preferred browser though.
Features
TotalAV
TotalAV offers coverage on up to 8 devices and comes with some really good additional features:
- VPN (virtual private network).
- Password manager.
- Dark web monitoring.
- System optimization tool.
- Identity theft protection (US only).
- 30-day money-back guarantee.
- And more…
TotalAV’s VPN uses 256-bit AES encryption to protect your data. In my tests, I could browse the internet without any slowdown while the VPN was running. The VPN also comes with a kill switch that disconnects you from the internet if the VPN fails, and more than 70+ servers in 30+ countries.
TotalAV provides really good identity theft protection if you’re in the US. Its agents monitor dark web forums, breach databases, and credit reports for any leaks involving your data. TotalAV also offers $1 million in coverage for any losses.
Avast
Avast covers up to 30 devices and its plans include:
- Anti-malware protection and real-time protection.
- Web protection.
- VPN.
- Rescue Disk (not included with Avast One).
- Wi-Fi network protection.
- 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’s Rescue Disk feature is pretty good. It helps you recover from malware infections that make it impossible to even start up your computer.
Most of Avast’s other extra features aren’t as good as TotalAV’s. Its VPN is slower, its data breach monitoring only checks for leaked email addresses, and its system tune-up doesn’t include as many tools. Plus, it doesn’t have a password manager, only a feature to secure the passwords stored on your browser (Chrome, Firefox, or Edge).
Ease of Use
TotalAV
TotalAV can be installed on your device in 5 minutes, and it offers an intuitive dashboard that’s super simple to navigate. You can access all of the main features by clicking on the relevant button in the sidebar, and advanced users can go to the settings menu to find customization options.
It’s straightforward to schedule scans with TotalAV. All you have to do is set the time and date in the settings menu, and TotalAV will scan your computer at the scheduled time.
TotalAV also offers a pretty good mobile app, with each feature accessible through large and clearly labeled buttons.
Avast
Avast can be installed quickly and easily, and it has very user-friendly apps. All of Avast’s features can be accessed with just a few clicks, and I really like that everything has a brief explanation attached to it, so that even users new to antiviruses won’t be lost or confused. The search function in the settings menu is also very helpful to locate exactly what you want to change.
Scanning for malware using Avast is very simple, but you can’t schedule scans for a specific date and time. You can only set up an automatic scan frequency.
Avast’s mobile apps are just as easy to use as its desktop apps. All features are easy to find, and the menus are fast to navigate through.
Customer Support
TotalAV
TotalAV offers 3 customer support options:
- Email.
- Live chat.
- 24/7 phone support.
All three customer support options are helpful, and I never struggled to contact a customer support agent. Each time, the agents were friendly and informative.
I received a response from TotalAV’s email support in approximately 18 hours, which is acceptable. Their live chat is fast, too — however, accessing this chat from certain countries might necessitate using a VPN, which could be inconvenient for some.
TotalAV’s phone support is its most impressive customer support option. It offers country-specific support in 7 different countries (including the United States and the United Kingdom). The phone lines operate 24/7, so you can quickly get hold of an agent for helpful advice no matter where you are.
Avast
Avast offers all the customer support options that TotalAV does, plus additional resources like a knowledge base and a community forum. Nevertheless, it only provides country-specific support for 3 countries: the US, the UK, and Australia.
I was able to quickly connect with a live chat representative who was very helpful when handling my basic questions. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to fully answer the more complex questions I asked.
Avast’s knowledge base is detailed and well-organized, so you should be able to find answers to the most common questions there if you don’t want to chat or call.
