Free vs. Paid Anti-Virus solutions 2017
AV-Comparatives 2017 review of 15 free antivirus solutions
In this 65 page review we compare well known free antivirus with their paid siblings. To help you make an informed decision between free and paid, the differences in functionality and user interface is highlighted and an indication of the advertising in the free version is given.
https://www.av-comparatives.org/free-vs-paid-2017/
In this review we show the difference in functionality and user interface of the following 15 popular free and paid antivirus solutions:
- adaware antivirus free vs adaware antivirus pro
- Avast Free Antivirus vs Avast Pro Antivirus
- AVG AntiVirus Free vs AVG Internet Security
- Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition vs Bitdefender Antivirus Plus
- Comodo Internet Security Free vs Comodo Internet Security Pro
- Fortinet FortiClient
- Kaspersky Free vs Kaspersky Anti-Virus
- McAfee Cloud AV vs McAfee AntiVirus Plus
- Microsoft Security Essentials/Windows Defender (free only)
- Panda Free Antivirus vs Panda Antivirus Pro
- Qihoo 360 Total Security Free vs. 360 Total Security Premium
- Sophos Home Free vs Sophos Home Advanced (beta)
- Tencent PC Manager International Version (free only)
- ZoneAlarm Free vs ZoneAlarm Pro
The price you pay for free
There is always a business model behind free software, otherwise there would be no money to pay the programmers, or for the infrastructure needed to develop the software and update the malware data bases. The presence or absence of advertising in an antivirus program is very much a matter of personal tolerance. Some users will find advertising irritating and frustrating, while others will be able to ignore it. We have given an indication of the advertising found in the free programs.
We hope this review helps you to make a more informed decision on the extra functionality you may miss out and the price you pay in terms of advertising and data collection.
You can find the report here: https://www.av-comparatives.org/single-product-reviews-tests/
