(Last updated on July 14th, 2019)

Windows Defender or Avast, which antivirus software is a better pick in 2019?

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Avast vs Bitdefender — Offered Products & Pricing Structure Avast Products As we said, Avast security products are available for various platforms such as Windows, Mac, Android and iPhone or iPad. Avast Security (for Mac) delivers effective malware protection along with unusual bonus features. It tanks our antiphishing test, but this free utility is still worth a look. Best free antivirus for Mac: Avast Free Mac Security Many antivirus suites provide a decent level of protection, but a few rise above all others by providing the very best in performance.

In this guide, we’ll compare Windows Defender and Avast in a head-to-head battle. We’ll examine the strengths and weaknesses of both software and show you which software is a better option.

In a rush? Check out the rundown below to find out which software wins in each category.

A Quick Rundown of Winners in Each Category

1. Features
Winner: Avast. Windows Defender comes with all the essential features, but Avast’s security products – especially the high-end ones – have all the advanced features and utilities you can expect to find in modern antivirus suites.

2. Malware Protection
Winner: Tie. Both software are neck and neck in terms of malware protection, as evidenced by two different independent evaluations.

3. System Performance
Winner: Avast. Independent tests show that Avast is exceptional in terms of impact on system performance, whereas Windows Defender failed one key performance test.

4. User-Friendliness
Winner: Avast. Avast’s interface is intuitive and straightforward; everything can be accomplished with just a few clicks. Windows Defender’s interface could be improved.

5. Pricing
Winner: N/A. Since Windows Defender doesn’t have a paid upgrade, so there’s no comparison between both software in this category.

Short Verdict

Avast is the winner as it offers more security-enhancing features and extra utilities in its security suites than Windows Defender. Also, independent tests prove that Avast is better than Windows Defender in terms of both malware detection and the impact on system performance.

Now, let’s go into the details.

1. Features

One of the best ways that we can distinguish antivirus software from each other is by looking at the features and utilities included with each package on offer.

First, let’s see what’s included in Windows Defender.

Windows Defender comes built-in on almost all PCs that run on Windows operating system. You can’t uninstall or remove the software, unfortunately, but it automatically turns off when you install a third-party antivirus program.

The best feature included in Windows Defender is the firewall that keeps your computer secure against malicious traffic. It maintains a watchful eye on all the incoming and outgoing network connections and denies unauthorized access.

Like most antivirus software, the software has a signature-based scanner that regularly checks for all sorts of digital threats. The software’s definitions (or signatures) are routinely updated to provide immediate protection against new and emerging threats — thanks to Microsoft’s cloud-based malware database.

Also, there’s the Find My Device function that lets you track down your computer if it’s been lost or stolen; this is particularly useful for laptops. You can also erase your data or lock your computer if you think that your sensitive data is in danger of being stolen.

Further included with Windows Defender is a suite of parental controls. You can use it to monitor the web activity of your children, restrict screen time with automatic timers, and block your kids from visiting certain sites or apps that are not appropriate for their age.

Now, let’s take a look at what Avast offers.

Avast offers different products for Windows and macOS. We’ll cover the Windows-only products first.

Avast Free Antivirus is the first product offered by the company. This suite protects against different types of digital threats, but you will not find any advanced security-enhancing features or utilities jammed into the suite. The freeware is better than having no protection at all, but Avast’s premium options are far more superior.

Next up is Avast Internet Security, the company’s first premium offering. This suite offers comprehensive anti-malware protection, plus an excellent firewall that is capable of protecting you from all sorts of threats and a junk email filter; this will keep your inbox neat and tidy and help you avoid having to wade through annoying spam and phishing emails.

Another useful addition in the Internet Security package is the Sandbox Mode. This feature allows you to run suspicious files or apps in a secure environment, without putting the health of your computer in jeopardy. The Real Site feature that prevents fake DNS routing from taking place is there as well.

Another level up is Avast Premier. This package includes everything that’s jammed into the Internet Security suite, plus you get a file shredder utility; this allows you to permanently delete any sensitive files that you don’t want to risk being taken by a hacker. Webcam protection software that stops people from spying on you through your webcam is also part of this suite.

Finally, there’s Avast Ultimate – the all-inclusive premium offering from the company. This comes with everything found in the previous suites, plus a full-blown password manager that allows you to store all your passwords in a digital vault, a VPN utility that lets you anonymously access content that is restricted in your geographic area.

The Ultimate suite also comes with the useful Cleanup Premium utility that cleans junk files, optimizes the performance of your PC, and fix annoying problems.

For macOS, the company offers Avast Security for Mac. It comes in two versions: Free and Premium. The freeware provides anti-malware protection, along with web and email protection and WiFi network protection, while the Premium version takes things to another level by adding several advanced features and tools, such as multi-layered ransomware protection and the WiFi intruder alert feature.

If you’re interested in Avast’s business-specific products, click here for more information.

Winner: Avast. Avast offers more security-enhancing features and utilities than Windows Defender.

2. Malware Protection

Malware defense is critical when it comes to antivirus software. After all, it’s the reason why antivirus software exists!

Let’s examine the recent lab evaluations conducted by AV-Test and AV-Comparatives to see which software has better anti-malware capabilities.

AV-Test’s recent evaluations were held in April 2019. During the evaluations, all antivirus software were tested in three different categories: Protection, Performance, and Usability.

In the Protection test, Windows Defender scored a perfect 6 out of 6, showing excellent anti-malware capabilities.

Avast scored a 5.5 out of 6 in the test, which is still a good score.

AV-Comparatives is another independent organization that regularly run several excellent tests to evaluate the performance of different antivirus software. In their recent Real-World tests, both Windows Defender and Avast earned the second-best ADVANCED award, which represents good overall performance against all sorts of malware. Bitdefender and Kaspersky were among the products that got the highest ADVANCED+ award in the test.

Winner: Tie. It’s a tie in this category as both software have comparable results from two independent sources.

3. System Performance

Any antivirus software that slows your computer down isn’t worth your money. Good antivirus software provide excellent malware protection without putting a significant impact on system performance.

Again, we’ll examine the recent lab tests conducted by independent labs to see how much impact both Windows Defender and Avast put on system performance.

In the AV-Test’s April 2019 evaluations, Windows Defender scored a 5.5 out of 6 in the Performance category.

Avast scored a perfect 6 out of 6 score in the same evaluation.

In the recent performance evaluation conducted by AV-Comparatives, Avast earned the highest ADVANCED+ award, due to its exceptional impact score. On the other hand, Windows Defender’s performance was extremely disappointing; it came last among the 16 products that participated in the test and received the STANDARD award, which is the lowest possible award offered by the company.

Winner: Avast. Independent evaluations confirm that Avast is better than Windows Defender in terms of the impact on system performance.

4. User-Friendliness

Another important aspect that we can look at is user-friendliness. Let’s directly compare both software’s user interfaces and see which one is better.

Windows Defender has a simple, minimalistic visual aesthetic. Opening the software requires several clicks; you have to jump through several hoops before you can reach the Windows Security Center, which is the primary dashboard for controlling the software’s features and operations.

The interface is neat and clean, and everything is laid out well. The left-hand grouping allows you to reach various modules and operations.

There’s no option to schedule scans, which may be frustrating for some people, but you can run different types of scans.

Avast’s interface is simple and intuitive, dominated by dark colors. Even those who aren’t computer literate will be able to effectively utilize everything that Avast has to offer.

When you open the software, you’ll probably see a large green checkmark in the center, which indicates that everything is okay. The checkmark will change to a red exclamation point if there’s something wrong. Beneath the indicator icon is a quick scan button that allows you to immediately begin a smart scan of your computer.

The left-hand rail organizes all the major features and into four self-explanatory categories: Status, Privacy, Protection, and Performance. All the major features of the software are just a few clicks away from the main screen.

In addition, there are customization options available if you like to fine-tune your experience. For instance, you can schedule scans to work around your schedule or lower the number of automatic scans to free up processing speed for other tasks.

Winner: Avast. Overall, Avast’s interface provides a better user experience than Windows Defender’s.

5. Pricing

Avast offers a full suite of antivirus products, including a limited freemium option, while Windows Defender is a free program with no paid-for upgrades. So, there’s no real comparison between both software in this category.

Avast Free antivirus is just like Windows Defender in that it doesn’t cost you a penny. However, this freemium software offers minimal value. Avast Internet Security, the company’s first premium offering, costs $59.99 per year for one PC. Avast Premium, the next step up, costs $69.99 per year for one PC license. Avast Ultimate, the highest tier of protection from Avast, also gives you one PC license for $119.99 per year.

Winner: N/A. There’s no comparison between both Avast and Windows Defender in this category.

Final Thoughts

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Today's best Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac deals

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac combines excellent malware protection with a new ransomware-protection tool that's easy to use. The software's sole downside is the largest system impact in passive mode among the eight products we tested.

Still, the system impact is small compared with Windows antivirus software. While Bitdefender Antivirus is not the best antivirus for Mac (that's Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac), its sleek design makes it one of our favorites.

MORE: Best Mac Antivirus Software

Costs and What's Covered

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac costs $39.99 per year to protect one Mac, and $59.99 per year to protect three.

It supports macOS 10.12 Sierra, OS X 10.11 El Capitan, 10.10 Yosemite and 10.9 Mavericks, and requires 1GB of RAM, 400MB of available disk space and an Intel CPU.

Antivirus Protection

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac uses signature-based malware detection, behavioral-pattern recognition and cloud-based data collection to detect Mac viruses and adware.

The company has added a new ransomware-defense feature called Safe Files, which lets you designate folders to be constantly monitored to prevent hijacking. Bitdefender also protects Time Machine backups, as ransomware often locks down your backup drives.

To stop the network-based spreading of viruses and other dangers, Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac also stops malware made for Windows machines. Some rivals, including Sophos Home, Avira Free Antivirus for Mac and Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac, also do this.

Bitdefender's free TrafficLight browser extension (which downloads upon installation of Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac) adds advanced phishing detection to Chrome, Firefox and Safari. It also warns you if a search result points to a dangerous page, and acts as an additional, browser-based malware filter.

Antivirus Performance

Independent third-party security labs tested seven of the eight Mac antivirus suites we evaluated, and Bitdefender earned the best scores possible, though it's not the only one to have done so.

According to AV-Test, Bitdefender turned in a score of 100 percent in the lab's May 2017 Mac-malware detection tests. AV-Comparatives, located in Austria, also recorded 100percent from Bitdefender during tests performed in July 2017. No false positives -- benign files mistakenly tagged as malicious -- were found during AV Comparatives' testing for Bitdefender or any other Mac antivirus solutions.

Both Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac and Norton Security Deluxe also turned in results of 100 percent during the AV-Test survey. Kaspersky is the only Mac AV software other than Bitdefender to net a 100 in AV-Comparatives' testing. (AV-Comparatives didn't look at Norton Security.)

Avast Free Mac Security and AVG AntiVirus for Mac (which now share ownership) each scored 99.9 percent and Avira Free Antivirus for Mac netted 99.1 percent. Sophos Home scored lower in AV-Test's detection tests, with 98.4 percent.

Security and Privacy Features

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac recently added dedicated ransomware protection. Not only will this new function keep Time Machine backups safe and sound, but its Safe Files feature allows you to protect specific folders and files from being accessed by unauthorized programs.

Performance and System Impact

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac created a moderate impact on system performance. We assessed this by running our custom OpenOffice benchmark test, which matches 20,000 names and addresses on a spreadsheet. Our test machine was a Late 2013 MacBook Pro with Retina Display and a 2.6 GHz Core i7 CPU, 8GB RAM and 70GB of data stored on a 512GB SSD.

After we installed Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac on our MacBook, the OpenOffice test finished in an average of 2 minutes and 26.6 seconds, 4 seconds longer than it took the same system before the installation. That's a passive system hit of 2.8 percent, the highest we found among the eight Mac antivirus products we tried.

By contrast, AVG AntiVirus for Mac rated 2.6 percent, whereas McAfee AntiVirus Plus’ impact was 1.9 percent. Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac registered an unbeatable zero percent.

During a Bitdefender full-system scan, the OpenOffice test finished in 2 minutes and 33 seconds, signifying a performance dip of 7.9 percent. That's in the middle of the pack, between Avira Free Antivirus for Mac's 12.7 percent (the highest we recorded) and Kaspersky's 4.4 percent (the lowest).

MORE: 10 Worst Data Breaches of All Time

During Bitdefender's quick scans, the OpenOffice test finished in an average of 2 minutes and 31.75 seconds, for an impact of 6.4 percent. That's on the lower end, below Norton Security Deluxe's 11.2 percent (the highest we found) and just shy of Kaspersky's 6.2 percent (the lowest we found). All of these performance-impact scores are much less than what you'd see on Windows.

Bitdefender's full scans completed in an average of 1 minute and 24.6 seconds, by far the shortest time among the products we evaluated. The next shortest full-scan time was 5:04 (Norton) and the longest was 72:45 (Kaspersky). The average for all eight products was 36:30.

Interface

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac's sleek, modern interface still owns the title of most attractive option among Mac antivirus products. Its main screen presents your system's status ('Your Mac is safe,' hopefully) in a clear, large font, and big scan buttons (quick, system and custom) sit underneath that. Unlike competitors such as Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac, which require two or more steps to start a scan, Bitdefender requires only a single click for each scan.

The main Bitdefender window also tells you which web browsers its Web Protection extension is installed on, along with a link if any don't have it. (Chrome, Firefox and Safari are supported.) A switch to disable its autopilot scanning, in case you need to, sits in the right.

Bitdefender Or Avast For Free Mac Antivirus

To use Bitdefender's new anti-ransomware tool, click Command + to open the preferences menu. Under Safe Files, you'll find the option to protect files, folders and disks from being accessed by unwanted applications. Click the Manage Applications button to grant permissions to programs (such as Safari or iTunes) that will need to access your important files.

Bitdefender For Mac Free Download

The preferences window also houses the directory of quarantined files and settings for excluding directories from scanning. You can also learn about your account status and scan history from this screen.

Bitdefender Antivirus For Mac Free

Further settings can be accessed by clicking on the 'Go to your account' link in the bottom right corner. There, you'll be able to check the status of your license, as well as adjust parental-control preferences. While specific websites can be blocked, Bitdefender Central also offers category blocking to keep kids away from web content related to gambling, drugs and the big bad Mature Content.

Installation and Support

After you buy Bitdefender, you install it on your Mac by navigating to Bitdefender Central, creating an account, using the activation code given during purchase and downloading a .pkg installer file. That file application downloads the rest of the installation files and finishes the process. All steps included, it took approximately 8 minutes, about average among the eight products we reviewed.

To get technical support, navigate to https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/, scroll down to Contact Bitdefender Support and click the email, phone call, live chat or forum options. Bitdefender provides free technical support 24 hours a day, seven days a week for paying customers in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Bottom Line

Bitdefender's malware detection is perfect, and we really like the clean and sleek interface. We also appreciate the new ransomware protection and built-in parental controls. However, it’s not quite our top pick.

Bitdefender’s small but measurable impact on system performance in passive mode -- which is how you'll use it for the most part -- trails Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac, which created zero slowdown when no scans were running. For that reason, we give the edge to Kaspersky.

Which Is Better Avast Or Bitdefender

However, Bitdefender's slick design, one-click scanning and strong performance make it a very strong contender.

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