Hello there, looking forward to opting an Antivirus software for your new system. Hence find your self in a grasping dilemma of choosing anyone between Bitdefender and Norton? Well, you don’t have to worry or get confused in opting one, since we have researched about the 2 and have carried out a full comparison report between the 2 making it pretty easy for you to understand the difference between the 2 antivirus programs and can choose any one of them which tends to meet your needs with an ease.
So, Let’s get started.
Bitdefender or Norton, Both are very well functioning antiviruses and have established their name in the field of software which strictly focuses on protecting their users from growing online threats. In today’s time, as the world is excelling in technology the threats in regards to the same are also increasing. In this internet-driven world, where more than 90% of the population tends to use it daily. They are prone to get infected by more than 800 million types of different viruses and malware. Therefore, their security come in the action. And hence software responsible for the same is known as Antivirus software.
People while opting for a new antivirus product often find themselves in this perpetual dilemma to decide which one to opt among these 2. Since they pack a lot in them and hence have a lot to offer to their customers. Although they may lack in one thing or 2 and may offer something more than the other has to offer which often tends to be the reason differentiating the two. Hence, the detailed comparison for the same is carried out making it easier for readers to decide between them.
BitDefender vs Norton Antivirus Plans Compared
The list below explains about products offered by the companies for home users.
Bitdefender Antivirus Suites:
- Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition (Windows Only).
- The plus version of the software. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus (Windows Only).
- Bitdefender Internet Security version (Windows Only).
- Total security version. Bitdefender Total Security (Both Windows and Macintosh).
- Bitdefender Family Pack (Both Windows and Macintosh).
- The Virus Scanner version(Macintosh Only).
- And the dedicated Mac version. Bitdefender Antivirus for Macintosh (Macintosh Only).
The Norton Antivirus Suites:
- The Norton Antivirus Basic (Available in Windows only)
- Security standard version. Norton Security Standard (Available for both Windows and Macintosh).
- The Norton Security Deluxe. (Available for both Windows and Macintosh).
- Norton Security Premium Version (Available for both Windows and Macintosh).
Therefore, the above list provides readers with the availability of all antivirus software provided by the 2 companies for home users.
Pre-Comparison Result (Short Verdict):
Note: This section of the article is for those who want to skip the effort of reading an in-depth comparison report of the 2 antiviruses and directly know the result.
As per the research, Bitdefender is the winning contender of the Comparison. Since it offers more security features and provides users with many different types of utility tools than Norton has to offer. Although both Bitdefender and Norton showed similar results in the “Protection” category but Bitdefender excelled from Norton as Norton returned a pretty large number of false positives. Also, as per the Lab test reports Bitdefender excels from Norton in an impact test as well as the “Protection” test.
It is recommended to kindly read the full comparison report for in-depth knowledge of what both the software has to offer before opting for any one of them.
A detailed description of everything included in Bitdefender’s Antivirus Suites:
Bitdefender is a very well-known name in the field of antivirus. It is because of its product quality as well as because of the features it offers to its customers. The company provides its users with many versions to choose from according to their needs. Hence the detailed description of those versions are as follows:
Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition:
This is the first in the line software company provides to the user. It is a free version and hence protects from basic malware. Like ransomware, viruses, worms, etc. But it does not provide users with advanced protection features. Although protection against online threats is induced in the software.
Bitdefender Antivirus Plus:
The next step up is to Bitdefender’s Antivirus Plus software. It comprises of features like WiFi Security Advisor which tends to block threats trying to spread through the network, A Vulnerability Scanner which holds regular checks in for outdated software and security holes in the OS and a file shredding utility which helps you delete your files with complete security and makes it insanely hard for anyone but you to recover them. Also, Advanced multi-layered ransomware protection, A hardened web browser, and a password management utility. They all are present here in this version of the software.
Note: A single subscription of the Plus version lets you protect up to 3 PCs.
Bitdefender Internet Security:
This is the next version up in the list of software provided by the company. It consists of all those features present in the Plus suite. As well as offers a two-way firewall, A spam filter and a file encryption utility which tends to monitor ongoing and outgoing connections and blocks of malicious ware. Also, it Blocks junk emails and messages and protects personal files and documents from hackers respectively. It also features a limited parental control utility which is responsible for blocking age-sensitive content as well as helps in monitoring children usage of internet and a limited VPN.
Note: This version also lets a single subscription of the software protect up to 3 PCs.
Bitdefender Total Security:
This is the full-blown version of the software company has to offer. Meaning it contains all the feature which the company has to offer. In simpler words, it consists of all the features from the previous version and hence adds Anti-theft Module which is responsible for finding lost and stolen devices. Also, it adds up the performance-enhancing tools. Such as OneClick Optimizer, Disk Cleanup, Startup Optimizer.
Unlike other Antivirus suites, this particular version is compatible with Macintosh Systems as well.
Note: This particular version lets you protect up to five PCs, Macs, Android, and iOS devices. With a single Total Security Subscription.
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Bitdefender Family Pack:
If you are looking for a family subscription. Then there is no better option available other than this. As this particular subscription lets, you protect unlimited no. of PCs, Macs, Androids and iOS devices. That too with “Total Security” Subscription.
Bitdefender Antivirus For Mac:
This is a specialized premium version of the software created for Mac OS. It is incorporated with all the features and is capable of blocking every type of Mac-related malware and dangerous files. Also, is equipped with a VPN and an encryption utility. Therefore, on the upper hand, it is also incorporated with protection against annoying adware and dangerous phishing attacks.
Note: Both Bitdefender Family pack and Bitdefender Total Security are compatible with Macintosh OS.
A detailed description of everything included in Norton’s Antivirus Suites:
Norton is a well-known name in the field of antivirus. It is because of its product quality as well as because of the features it offers to its customers. The company provides its users with many versions to choose from according to their needs. Hence the detailed description of those versions are as follows:
Norton Antivirus Basic:
Regardless of Avast offering freeware, Norton doesn’t provide users with a free version. Instead, it provides a base version known as Norton Antivirus Basic. This, in particular, is responsible for the protection of users from potential threats. Such as spyware, viruses, identity theft, and other online threats. It also removes hard to remove malicious ware and tends to keep you protected on social media.
Note: Keep in mind that this particular version is only available in Windows Operating Systems.
Norton Security Standard:
This is the next level of version Norton provides to its users. This particular Antivirus software consists of a firewall to police the home network, Whereas it comes with premium support and a 100% refund guarantee if the experts failed to keep your system safe and, of course, it consists of all the features available in the Basic version of the software. a single subscription covers off one Windows, Mac and a smartphone.
Norton Security Deluxe:
This particular version consists of all the features available in the Standard edition. Also, it adds up a web portal to manage all of your devices in one place and protects up to 5 devices which can be any device regardless of their OS. Additional features added to this software are of disk optimizer, a file cleanup tool, and a startup manager. The startup Manager lets you manage the files which will run during the startup.
Norton Security Premium:
This version adds up features of “The Family premiere” which tends to provide you with the ability to set parental control features for your children. Also, the software consists of an automatic backup of selected files from up to 5 family devices and a 25 GB cloud storage.
Norton vs Bitdefender in terms of providing better protection
As of the 2 software, both of them are considered to be pretty accurate and good Antivirus in terms of protection and providing features. It is all because of the protection, features, and utility tools the two ware provides to their customers. In today’s date, there is a growing number of internet users day by day, therefore threats are also increasing at a faster rate. Hence, both the software provides nominal features for the protection of an individual from such threats.
Therefore, the tests were held by AV-Test and AV-Comparatives. To check how well an Antivirus is against such increasing threats. Since these are the software responsible for an individual’s internet security and safety.
Note: The tests were carried out on a standard PC as well as a High-end PC.
AV-Test (Tests):
There were 2 different tests conducted against 196 zero-day malware and 5,484 widespread malware in May and June 2018. As of result of the test, Bitdefender, as expected, came out with a remarkably perfect threat detection rate of 100% against both types of malware in both the months attaining the perfect score of 6/6 by AV experts in the “Protection Category”.
Whereas Norton also showed pretty impressive results as it also managed to block 100% of both the malware types in both the month respectively attaining a perfect score of 6/6 by the AV experts in the “Protection” category.
AV-Comparatives (Tests):
The AV-Comparatives held a study in the period of February-June 2018. In which both of them were tested against real-world malware conditions in the “Real-World Protection Test” and simple malware conditions in the “Malware Protection Test”.
As for the “Real-World” protection test, Both Bitdefender and Norton showed near-perfect results with a detection rate of 99.8% and 99.8% as well, respectively. But as for award, Bitdefender was awarded the highest “ADVANCED+” award since it also managed to only return 2 false positives. Whereas Norton was rewarded with the second-best “ADVANCED” award and was brought down to it because it returned a whopping 32 false positives.
And as per the result of the “Malware Protection Test”, Bitdefender again bagged a perfect and topmost “ADVANCED+” award due to its perfect protection rate of 100%. Whereas Norton, on the other hand, received a third positioned “STANDARD” award from the expert due to its near-perfect protection rate of 99.9% but was brought down to lower rank or award because of its pretty high score of 90 false positives.
Hence, for the protection test on two software, It is clear that Bitdefender and Norton are pretty capable of providing with the best protection to their customers, but as of the result they both proved to be very competitive in this category as they came up with almost the similar score in the “Protection” category. But as per the Lab test evaluations, Bitdefender excels from Norton, as Norton returned pretty high scores of false positives making Bitdefender the winner of this particular category.
Bitdefender vs Norton (in terms of impact on system):
Background performing of Antivirus. It has been a concern of people for quite some time now since they tend to eat up most of the CPU performance. But is important for the sake of safety and security against online threats as real-time scanning tends to perform to detect such threats.
Therefore, for antivirus to be good in maintaining the system stability it should imply less strain on PC because the heavy strain can be a precise reason for unexpected pauses and hang in a system that can be pretty annoying sometimes.
Therefore, tests were conducted by independent labs to carry out the result of how the 2 software fared in a particular category. By carrying out a couple of activities like launching popular websites, downloading and installing, commonly used applications, copying of files, and more.
Note: The tests were carried out on a standard PC as well as a High-end PC.
Bitdefender’s impact Test:
As for the test which was carried out on Bitdefender. The Antivirus once again got a 6/6 rating in AV-Test.
Below are the test results of Bitdefender’s Impact test held by AV-Test.
Whereas, it also received an “ADVANCED+” award in the AV-Comparatives Test with a rating of 6.9 in the “Performance” category.
Below are the test results of Bitdefender’s Impact test held by AV-Comparatives.
Norton’s Impact Test:
Norton on the other hand also attained a perfect 6/6 score by AV experts as it also showed the same results as that of Bitdefender in the AV-Test.
Below are the test results of Norton’s Impact test held by AV-Test.
And for the AV-Comparatives test, Norton was able to bag the second-best “ADVANCED” award due to its slightly high impact score of 16.1.
Below are the test results of Norton’s Impact test held by AV-Comparatives.
Note:
The lower the impact score the better the antivirus.
As for this test conclusion, it is clear that both of the software is pretty stable and tend to provide minimal impact on the system. Whereas, if we go for the stats, Bitdefender tends to dominate this section of the comparison making it better than Norton in terms of impact on the system.
Bitdefender vs Norton Price Comparison
Almost both companies resulted in attaining a good score and almost contains similar features. But as for the price tags, it might not be the same case. As in this section, we’ll be stating the allotted price of each software version provided by both companies. Hence making it easier for readers to decide which one falls in their budget range.
Bitdefender’s Antivirus Software Pricing:
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Bitdefender Antivirus Plus:
The Antivirus Plus subscription is available in 29.99 dollars for a 1-year plan.
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Bitdefender Internet Security:
The Bitdefender Internet Security is available for 34.99 dollars for a 1-year subscription.
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Bitdefender Total Security:
The total security version of Bitdefender Antivirus is available at 38.99 dollars for a year subscription.
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Bitdefender Family Pack:
One can get a 1-year subscription of this version at 54.99 dollars.
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Bitdefender Antivirus For Mac:
This Mac dedicated Antivirus software can be purchased for 34.99 dollars a year.
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Bitdefender Small Office Security:
One can purchase this for 99.98 dollars. And it includes a 1-year subscription for 10 devices.
Therefore, the context stated above tells the readers about the prices available for all different type of Bitdefender software.
Norton Antivirus Software Pricing:
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Norton Antivirus Basic:
The Norton Antivirus Basic is priced at rupees 899 for a year subscription.
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Norton Security Standard:
This version of the software is set at a price of rupees 1,099 for a year subscription.
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Norton Security Deluxe:
The price of this version of the software is set to be rupees 2,999 for 1- year subscription.
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Norton Security Premium:
This particular version is set to price at rupees 3,999 for a year subscription.
Therefore, the context stated above tells the readers about the prices available for all different types of Norton software.
Final Thoughts: Winner?
As in today’s date, everyone needs to own a premium antivirus software. Since they tend to provide individuals with the basic need of security and safety from online threats. As of both the antiviruses discussed in this article. Both Bitdefender and Norton proved to meet the basic as well as advanced needs of an individual. Although, the comparison is strictly carried out for people to understand what 2 programs have to offer and the difference between and hence also make it easy for them to opt the one which suits best for their needs.
Hence, the conclusion is that both of the Antivirus software are very well functioning and, are pretty successful in protecting the individual from online threats and malicious ware. But as of the result of the comparison between the 2. Bitdefender excels, Because of its streamlined features as well as prices and options available for all the customers. Also, it highly excels in terms of giving out false positives. Meaning that it tend to report very few safe files as a threat in comparison to that of Norton Antivirus. Although they almost turned out to provide similar results in almost every test. But for the results, Bitdefender excelled with minute rates and pretty impressive false positive score.
Therefore, it is clear that Bitdefender is the winning contender of this head to head comparison between Bitdefender and Norton.
Note:
Both Bitdefender and Norton tend to have similar scores but Bitdefender excels in giving out false positives making it the winner of the head to head comparison.