I tried a new antivirus software, but it was more expensive than it was worth

In 2024, you need better antivirus protection than your operating system provides for free. That doesn’t mean you have to pay a high fee or sign up for a long-term subscription.

The best antivirus software is affordable and offers reliable protection and good customer service. I recently researched Avira’s antivirus solutions and reviewed Avira Prime to find out how easy it is to use and whether it offers good value for the money.

Tiers and pricing

Avira offers a monthly subscription plan, which is quite rare for antivirus software. Most require an annual subscription. As you might expect, a one-year plan is a much better deal.

Avira Internet Security for one computer starts at $7 per month, $35 for the first year (renewing at $71), or $126 for two years. That increases to $10, $97, and $172, respectively, if you need to protect five Windows PCs or Mac computers. You get real-time malware prevention and protection, a free password manager, a VPN with a 500MB per month cap, and a software and driver update manager.

The free version has many of the same features, but lacks browser protection and customer support. That means you won’t get alerted about infected file downloads. Preventing a virus is clearly better than cleaning it up after your computer has already been compromised. There are better free antivirus apps if you don’t have room in the budget for malware protection.

I tested Avira Prime, the premium version that supports mobile devices, includes an unlimited VPN, and has device optimization utilities. The price starts at $10 monthly for five devices, $60 for the first year (renewing at $110), or $205 for a two-year subscription. For families, there’s a 25-device plan for $13 per month, $135 annually, or $260 for two years.

Avira has a generous 60-day money-back guarantee for all paid plans, so you can try any plan risk-free to find out if it meets your needs.

Design

Avira’s Windows app installed in under a minute and immediately offered a complete system scan. It quickly checked for privacy concerns, performance issues, and viruses.

After Avira began scanning for outdated apps, progress slowed and stopped for about a minute at 78%. I started to worry that something went wrong, but it ticked ahead to 79 and 80%, then wrapped up with a network check in a few seconds.

Avira found two outdated apps, 22 privacy settings to update, and flagged 520 registry entries in the performance review. I’d recently installed Windows 11 on this test computer, so I was surprised to see so many issues.

Still, I chose the big blue Fix issues button. Windows updates accounted for the outdated apps and most of the other issues were related to default Microsoft settings as well.

With my computer secure, I started to explore the app. The default status tab shows the green checkmark indicating my computer is protected. On the security tab, I can start a virus scan, change protection options, see quarantined files, and check the firewall. That was all in good shape.

The privacy tab proved more interesting. That’s where I found settings for the bundled VPN, password manager, and more. The performance tab has PC cleanup and optimization utilities, but the initial system scan already took care of those.

I found the app to be simple and setup was fast, so I moved on to testing the features.

Features

The number one job of antivirus software is to protect your computer from malware. There are third-party cybersecurity labs that continuously evaluate the leading antivirus solutions so we can check up on how well Avira performs.

According to AV-Test results, Avira has a good record, but it’s not as good as many other antivirus solutions. While Norton has earned a perfect protection score since 2015, Avira missed some zero-day threats in tests performed in July and August 2023 and had ongoing issues from 2016 to 2021.

Avira’s malware protection has been more reliable recently, so I decided to spot-check it for myself. I visited Wicar.org, a website that hosts harmless files that you can use to test antivirus software. Avira’s Safe Shopping browser extension identified the threats and blocked downloads.

I also tested the VPN by choosing a server in London and opening the BBC’s iPlayer website. Unfortunately, it told me I have to be in the U.K. to use iPlayer, suggesting the VPN wasn’t working. Avira Phantom VPN Pro also has a server in Manchester, so I tried that one and it worked. Sometimes you have to play around with settings in a VPN to find a connection that unlocks geo-blocking. However, the best VPNs handle streaming better.

Like Norton and Bitdefender, Avira Prime includes a password manager. I tested it out and autofill worked as expected. I also created a secure note that syncs across devices.

Support

Avira’s support center has a chat option, so I tried it late in the evening and an AI assistant named Mark immediately responded. It suggested a few support documents, but none addressed my question. Mark offered to create a support ticket since no live agents were online, adding that a response might take longer than usual due to a high volume of requests.

I tried again the next day during normal business hours. AI Mark answered, but when I needed more help, a human came on and quickly solved the issue.

Overall, Avira support is good, but many other antivirus solutions offer 24/7 support, which can make a difference when you’re facing a serious computer problem.

Privacy and security

Avira states that it won’t sell or share your personal data. I didn’t even have to dig through the privacy policy to find that out, because it’s on the Avira Free home page. It’s also in the privacy policy.

I couldn’t find any records of Avira security breaches or privacy concerns. The company was founded in 1986, so that’s a long record of treating customers with care.

Is Avira antivirus right for you?

Avira Internet Security and Avira Prime offer good malware protection, but can’t compete with the best antivirus software on pricing or performance. McAfee and Norton have cheaper annual plans and better antivirus records.

The monthly plans are unique, but expensive. If you knew you needed extra protection for a brief period of time, it might make sense to get Avira for a month or two. However, AVG Antivirus Free might be all you need.

There’s not anything terribly wrong with Avira Internet Security or Avira Prime, but there are better and lower-cost options.