McAfee vs Avast: Which Is the Better Antivirus? [Updated 2025]
Reading time: 27 min
First published: Nov 2, 2022
Updated 3 times since publishing
McAfee and Avast both have been around for a while so I wanted to test each antivirus to see which one is the overall better choice. Unfortunately, Avast has recently been caught selling s’ personal data and so even though it performed decently in my tests, I can’t recommend it.
McAfee on the other hand has an airtight . After extensive tests over 15 categories, McAfee also proved to be the better antivirus overall.
McAfee provided perfect detection scores for malware and real-time protection against several cyber threats. You can test all of McAfee’s features risk-free using the 30-day money-back guarantee.
No Time? Here’s a 1-Minute Summary of Category Winners
After comparing Avast and McAfee using several criteria, I found McAfee to be the better antivirus. McAfee detects 100% of threats, even zero-day threats. Avast offers near-perfect malware detection abilities and a few useful extra features.
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| Virus Scanner | Offers a 99.8% detection rate, a near-perfect score. | Detected 100% of malware samples, including zero-day threats. |
| Real-Time Malware Protection | Detected 100% of real-time threats but only 86% of phishing attacks. | Offers 100% detection of real-time threats, including phishing attacks. |
| System Performance | Experienced 24% slow down on PC when launching popular websites. | Consumes fewer system resources with no significant impact on PCs. |
| VPN | Accesses popular streaming platforms and offers fast speeds. | Slower speeds on distant servers and can’t access most streaming services. |
| s | Doesn’t offer features. | Provides standard s app and s unlimited child profiles. |
| Firewall | Offers a customizable firewall that provides robust protection. | Net Guard prevents programs from making risky connections. |
| Manager | Doesn’t include a manager for new subscriptions. | Provides a basic manager with excellent form-filling abilities. |
| Gaming Mode | Do Not Disturb Mode suspends unnecessary background processes. | Doesn’t offer a Gamer Mode feature. |
| Optimization Tools | Offers multiple cleanup tools for removing junk files and trackers. | App boost allocates more system resources to frequently used apps. |
| Other Features | Has useful extras like webcam protection but may sell your data to third parties. | Has multiple security-focused extras, including web protection, vulnerability scanner, and ransomware protection. |
| Device Compatibility | Covers up to 10 devices on all plans. | s unlimited devices on the Ultimate plan. |
| Customer Service | Most channels are only accessible to subscribers. | Provides multiple channels with very helpful and responsive phone . |
| Price | Offers 2 plans with very few features on the basic subscriptions. | Comes with multiple pricing options and features, even on the most basic plans. |
| Free Version | Free version provides decent performance and useful features like ransomware protection and WiFi Inspector. | Doesn’t have a free version but offers a 30-day free trial for plans. |
| Money-Back Guarantee | Provides a 30-day money-back guarantee. | Offers a 30-day money-back guarantee and a quick refund time. |
How I Tested and Compared Avast vs McAfee
- Virus Scanner — I analyzed the malware detection capabilities of both antiviruses and compared the available scanning options to determine the best malware scanner.
- Real-Time Malware Protection — I examined the strength of real-time protection against threats offered by both AVs.
- System Performance — I compared both antiviruses while idle and during scans to determine which consumed more system resources and impacted my PC’s performance the most.
- VPN — I contrasted the speeds, security, streaming capability, and server coverage of the VPNs bundled in each antivirus.
- s — I checked whether the antiviruses offered apps and tested the features to see if they were any good.
- Firewall — I tested both antiviruses’ firewall features to find the most effective at keeping me safe while online.
- Manager — I tested the manager available on the antivirus software, comparing its features with top managers.
- Gaming Mode — I examined the Gamer Mode feature of each antivirus and compared their effectiveness to see which one was better.
- Optimization Tools — I checked the total number of optimization tools and tested them to know which one offers better features.
- Other Features — I tested every additional feature provided by both antivirus software to determine the one with the most useful features.
- Device Compatibility — I compared the number of operating systems and devices each antivirus ed and chose the one with the most coverage.
- Customer Service — I checked the available options and tested them individually to determine the most helpful one.
- Price — I analyzed the different pricing plans provided by each AV and chose the one that offered the best value for money.
- Free Version — I checked whether both antiviruses provided a free version and tested to see how robust these are. I also compared the free trial options of both antiviruses.
- Money-Back Guarantee — I examined and tested the refund policy of both antiviruses.
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1. Virus Scanner — McAfee Provides Perfect Malware Detection Scores
After testing both antiviruses, I found that
McAfee s the following types of scans: Avast offers more scanning options than McAfee:
McAfee’s Quick scan checked 10,200 items on my PC in under 5 minutes. Avast’s Quick scan was much faster as it took only 2 minutes to check 81,000 files. Similarly, McAfee’s Full scan took about 53 minutes to check 590,000 files, while Avast’s Full scan took only 23 minutes to scan 980,000 items. Avast beat out McAfee in scan speed, but ultimately McAfee won as it detected more threats overall and didn’t let any malware slip past. McAfee offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to risk-free test it yourself. Norton also has a 100% rate, but its full scan took 12 minutes for 778,000 items. Virus Scanner Winner: McAfee Avast and McAfee offer real-time protection, with 100% detection of real-time threats, including malware, phishing links, malicious URLs in scam emails, and other web threats. I tested the real-time protection of both antiviruses by opening hundreds of malicious websites and emails. Avast and McAfee blocked all the threats, both having 0 false positives. I was pretty impressed with these results. So I decided to test more malicious sites, especially phishing links. In my tests, McAfee detected 100% of the phishing links. However, Avast could only detect 93% of the phishing sites I tested. After testing both antiviruses, McAfee was more efficient because of its cloud-based “Global Threat Intelligence” software, which can predict new and emerging threats. Real-Time Malware Protection Winner: McAfee McAfee had the least impact on my PC, consuming fewer system resources than Avast. I found that Avast isn’t the best for optimal system performance. It consistently runs in the background, using significant U and memory resources. To see exactly how much system resources each AV consumes, I recorded my U, Disk, and Memory utilization before and during a scan. I compared the values, which helped me determine the antivirus that had more impact on my system. During my tests, I found that McAfee increased my U utilization from 7% to 28% and my memory utilization from 80% to 84%. In contrast, Avast increased my U utilization from 12% to 75%, which slowed down my PC. Overall, McAfee’s impact on my PC was less significant than Avast’s. Try McAfee risk-free on your devices Avast’s VPN accessed more streaming sites than McAfee’s. I compared the speeds, streaming abilities, server coverage, security, and privacy features to determine the better VPN service. Avast uses military-grade security features and offers a decent server network (700 servers in 30+ countries). While this is decent for a built-in VPN, Norton’s offers nearly 5 times more server locations. I was impressed with Avast’s streaming abilities. During my tests, Avast’s SecureLine VPN accessed popular streaming sites, including Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Prime Video, and Disney+, allowing me to stream my favorite shows in HD. My colleague in the UK could also access her BBC iPlayer lag-free.
McAfee also provided top-grade security features. However, McAfee offered a fewer number of servers in 50+ countries. It also couldn’t access streaming platforms like Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO Max, and BBC iPlayer. I had some luck accessing Netflix, but the results weren’t consistent. McAfee’s VPN Safe Connect was also much slower than Avast’s. I experienced a 35% drop in speeds on local servers and a 37% drop with distant servers with McAfee. In contrast, Avast’s VPN maintained consistent speeds across all servers, achieving an average of 100Mbps on all the servers I tested. Although Avast’s VPN outperformed McAfee’s, I wouldn’t recommend it because Avast has been caught selling its ’s browsing data to third parties. If you need a reliable VPN at par with Avast’s performance, you can check the best VPNs bundled in an antivirus suite. VPN Winner: Avast McAfee has s, but Avast does not.
To use McAfee’s s, you have to the standalone app (McAfee Safe Family) onto your children’s devices and yours to help you manage their activities. McAfee Safe Family is compatible with popular operating systems such as Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. Once you’ve installed it on both devices, you can set up multiple child profiles and restrictions. McAfee’s s app is easy to use, even for non-tech-savvy parents. I quickly installed it on my child’s phone and set up all the necessary rules within a few minutes. I like how McAfee Safe Family notifies me whenever my daughter leaves or arrives at designated locations, helping me to ensure that she’s at the right place at the right time. Overall, I find McAfee’s features very useful. You can get McAfee’s features when you subscribe to the Total Security plan or by trying the standalone McAfee Safe Family app. s Winner: McAfee Both contenders offer robust firewall features. I consider a firewall a crucial feature for every antivirus. I also expect an antivirus firewall to provide more functions than the integrated Windows Defender Firewall.
Avast also provides customizable firewall functions. One thing I like about Avast’s firewall is that it auto-configures itself, requiring no input from you. You’ll find many tools to work with if you prefer to customize it. My favorite feature is the “Stealth Mode” function which allows you to connect with public WiFi networks without exposing your device information. This helped me stay anonymous and away from the reach of hackers.
In summary, both antiviruses provide smart firewall features. I found them helpful in protecting me from network attacks. With advanced functions and customizable features, Avast and McAfee’s firewalls offer the right tools to keep you safe online. Firewall Winner: Tie After checking both AVs, I found that
McAfee’s manager (True Key) is pretty basic compared to top managers. While it provides industry-standard AES-256-bit encryption and allows you to store unlimited s, secure notes, and credit card information, it lacks other essential features. It doesn’t sharing, auditing, or dark web monitoring. Despite that, I found McAfee’s manager pretty easy to use. Its autofill feature works excellently, allowing me to fill out complex online forms. I also like how the generator helped me to create and store secure s. True Key is compatible with most operating systems like Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. It also works with popular browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. The free version of McAfee’s True Key only s 15 s. You’ll have to subscribe to the full package to get unlimited s. I didn’t like that True Key employs security options. If you forget your master , you can reset your through a link sent to your email. While convenient, if your email gets compromised, you can lose sensitive data to hackers. Top managers treat your master s more securely. For example, Norton’s Manager doesn’t provide email recovery, only allowing you to sign in with your device’s biometric if you couldn’t use your master . Overall, McAfee’s True Key offers a decent manager that allows you to store and use s and other items securely. Manager Winner: McAfee Avast offers a decent gaming mode feature, but McAfee doesn’t provide any. Gamer mode optimizes U utilization and prevents interrupting notifications, scans, and updates during a full-screen activity. Avast has rebranded its Gamer Mode function to “Do Not Disturb Mode,” which still performs the same functions. However, you will have to manually add the programs you want to exempt from interruptions. To do that, you must launch the Avast app, navigate to Performance > Do Not Disturb Mode, and add as many programs as you want. I prefer a more intelligent Gamer Mode feature. For instance, Bitdefender’s “Gaming Profile” suspends all background processes during a fullscreen activity without having to do any manual configurations. That said, Avast’s “Do Not Disturb Mode” worked effectively once enabled, allowing me to play my favorite games interruption-free. Gaming Mode Winner: Avast Avast and McAfee both offer basic optimization tools, but Avast provides the more worthwhile option. Avast doesn’t have PC optimization tools for low-tier plans. Instead, it offers the Avast Cleanup tool on its Ultimate plan or as a standalone subscription. Avast’s Cleanup offers a wide range of features like the Registry Cleaner, Shortcut Cleaner, Disk Cleaner, Browser Cleaner, Bloatware Remover, and Disk Doctor. I tested Avast’s PC optimizer and was impressed to see it removed over 5GB of junk files, trackers, and browser cookies from my system.
Given that Avast offers more cleanup tools for freeing up space and optimizing performance, I found it more valuable than McAfee’s. However, both contenders are still lacking when it comes to PC optimization. TotalAV’s optimization tools include an App Uninstaller and a Startup Manager which allowed me to control which apps load when my PC starts. Optimization Tools Winner: Avast Both antiviruses offer helpful extra features. However, I found that McAfee provided more valuable additional security features. I like that McAfee offers more security-focused features (which were more useful to me) than optimization features. Avast offers a wide range of useful extras. These features provide additional protection across all your devices. In summary, McAfee provided more useful extras and security features, including some overlapping features with Avast, such as ransomware and web protection. Still, McAfee offered unique extra features with compelling use cases. Other Features Winner: McAfee Avast and McAfee work on popular operating systems including Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. They can both be installed on up to 10 devices simultaneously. However, Avast is ed on older versions of the operating systems. Avast works on the following operating systems: McAfee is compatible with the following operating systems:
McAfee’s iOS and Android apps are equally intuitive, even though the Android app packs more features. For instance, optimization tools, anti-theft, and WiFi protection features are present on the Android app but absent on the iOS app. This is the case for most iOS antiviruses except for the iOS-focused antivirus apps. Avast’s desktop apps are also easy to use. The features are neatly arranged in 4 menus, with the most features under the “Protection” tab. Avast’s Mac interface is almost the same as Windows, even though a few features are missing in the Mac app, like the local network scanner that displays IP addresses and other details. If you’re looking for a more feature-pack antivirus for your Mac, I recommend you take a look at the Mac-friendly antiviruses.
Avast’s Android and iOS apps are easy to use with many mobile-friendly features. It has an anti-malware scanner, WiFi scanner, remote control access, encrypted photo vault, and device optimization tools. McAfee and Avast are compatible with major devices with a wide range of features. However, McAfee’s apps are the most intuitive and -friendly. Device Compatibility Winner: McAfee Avast and McAfee offer multiple options, but McAfee offers more helpful options. For every channel I tested, I was very impressed with the responsiveness of the McAfee representatives, except for the live chat channel. McAfee offers via the following channels: Avast, on the other hand, offers different options depending on your subscription. For Avast and Ultimate subscribers, you get access to 24/7 tech which includes: If you’re on the Avast Free plan, you only get access to the Avast community forums and a few FAQs. The online forums are, however, information-rich, and you’d get fast responses from the community in a short time. Overall, McAfee provides more options and I found the phone very helpful. Customer Service Winner: McAfee I compared the pricing plans and features of both contenders and found that McAfee offered more value for money. However, Avast also offers competitive pricing options. McAfee offers 2 categories of plans — Total Protection and Advanced protection. McAfee’s Total Protection offers 4 main price plans with the following features: Advanced The Basic plan offers good value, giving you a discount for the first year. However, if you need to cover more than 1 device, I think the Plus and plans offer the best value. In comparison, Avast offers only 2 plans — Security and Ultimate. The Security plan is the best value. It provides antivirus protection, WiFi scanning, firewall, and web protection for up to 10 devices. McAfee offers way more features for its similar plan. Ultimate Security (Avast’s top-tier plan) doesn’t equally offer as many features as McAfee. Price Winner: McAfee Try McAfee risk-free for 30 days Avast offers a free version, but McAfee doesn’t. Avast’s free version is limited to a few features, but it still offers decent performance. It features a malware scanner, ransomware protection, and a Wi-Fi protector. You can also try Avast’s security plan for 30-days using its free trial. McAfee doesn’t have a free plan. However, you can try McAfee’s plans risk-free using the 30 days free trial. It requires linking your payment method, and you’d be charged 7 days before the trial expiration date. In conclusion, Avast provides a free version, and its free trial can be used without adding a payment method, making it the better choice. Unfortunately, Avast has been caught selling its customers’ browsing data. So, you could risk your data being sold. Free Version Winner: Avast Both antiviruses offer money-back guarantees, but I found that McAfee offers more refund options and a more straightforward refund process. You can request a refund from McAfee: It didn’t take much time to request a refund from McAfee. I simply reached out via phone and got my refund processed immediately. Within 5 days, I got my money back into my . For Avast, the request process is equally straightforward. You will have to fill out a form on its website with your name, order ID, address, and reason for the refund from a predetermined list. Once I submitted the form, I received a refund confirmation email just 1 minute later. After that, I got my money back 7 days later. McAfee’s refund policy was a little faster and more straight forward than Avast’s so they win this round. Money-Back Guarantee Winner: McAfee Try McAfee risk-free for 30 days After testing Avast and McAfee using 15 different areas, I concluded that McAfee is the clear winner. McAfee outperformed Avast in malware detection and real-time protection, providing perfect detection scores. It also offers a wide range of additional security features, which proved very useful. Avast won in a few areas. Its gaming mode feature (Do Not Disturb Mode) allowed me to play my favorite games without interruptions. I like how Avast’s PC optimization tools make removing junk files and trackers from your system easy. Avast excelled most with its VPN, which provides superior streaming abilities and fast speeds for surfing the web securely. However, Avast has been caught selling its s’ data to rs. It’s not worth having your private data collected and sold to unknown third parties. So, I don’t recommend using Avast. Overall, McAfee proved to be the better antivirus solution in performance and features. McAfee provides different subscription plans for all budgets. You can try McAfee’s plans risk-free using the 30-day free trial. I suggest trying the McAfee plan as it offers many useful security features to cover all your devices. Overall Winner: McAfee Try McAfee risk-free for 30 days
2. Real-Time Malware Protection — McAfee Is More Effective at Detecting Phishing Links
3. System Performance — McAfee Consumes Fewer System Resources
Test Type
U Utilization % (no scan)
Memory Utilization % (no scan)
Disk Utilization (MB/s)(no scan)
Full Scan U Utilization %
Full Scan Memory Utilization %
Full Scan Disk Utilization (MB/s)
Avast
12
85
86
75
99
100
McAfee
7
80
70
28
84
85
4. VPN — Avast’s VPN Outperformed McAfee’s in Every Area
5. s — Only McAfee Has s Features
6. Firewall — Both Antiviruses Offer Robust Firewall Functions
7. Manager — McAfee Provides a Basic Manager
8. Gaming Mode — Avast’s “Do Not Disturb Mode” s Uninterrupted Gaming
9. Optimization Tools — Both Antiviruses Offer System Optimization Tools
10. Other Features — McAfee Provides More Security-Focused Extra Features
11. Device Compatibility — McAfee Is More -Friendly
12. Customer Service — McAfee Offers More Options
13. Price — McAfee Provides More Feature-Packed Plans
Basic
Plus
14. Free Version — Avast Features a Decent Free Version
15. Money-Back Guarantee — McAfee Offers More Refund Options
And the Winner Is… McAfee
How To McAfee on Your Device
FAQs About Avast And McAfee
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