Avira and Kaspersky are two of the most reputed antivirus agents on the market. These two powerful protection agents will give you different levels of protection and security features, which might confuse you as to which of them to entrust with your information and personal data. This article puts Avira vs Kaspersky to compare the two agents’ features, protection, pricing and customer support methods to help you choose the best antivirus software for you.
What is Avira?
The German cybersecurity company Avira offers users free and paid cybersecurity solutions, including the famed Avira Antivirus, which serves millions of users worldwide. Their free version offers basic protection against harmful software like viruses, worms and trojans, phishing and deceptive attempts to steal your personal information and ransomware, which is a malicious actor that encrypts your data and demands a ransom to unlock it.
Paid Avira plans give you additional features, such as a password manager, to store and manage your login credentials securely. You will get a VPN to encrypt your internet connection for privacy and security and a system optimiser to improve your computer’s performance by cleaning up junk files and optimising settings.
What is Kaspersky?
Kaspersky is a Russian company known for its award-winning antivirus software. Their products deliver top-notch protection against various threats, including malware, viruses, worms, and phishing attempts, as they detect and block websites and emails trying to steal your information and guard your data against software that attempts to encrypt it for ransom. Additional features include parental controls and an anti-banner which blocks unwanted ads and zero-day attacks.
The company’s paid products offer additional protection features, including vulnerability scanning by identifying weaknesses in your software and operating system that attackers could exploit. You will get protection against identity theft, which monitors the internet for your personal information and alerts you if it’s found in a data breach. Kaspersky’s advanced paid plans offer advanced anti-tracking, which protects your privacy online by preventing unauthorised browsing activity tracking. It also offers a secure payment system which ensures safe online transactions by creating a special environment for banking and shopping.
Avira vs Kaspersky: A Heated Antivirus Agent Dual
There are extensive differences between Avira and Kaspersky. The first offers solid protection against malware, while the latter offers excellent protection backed up with high scores in independent test results. We will compare each agent’s impact on system performance, compatibility and pricing.
Features
Avira and Kaspersky offer users an extensive set of features to serve their cybersecurity purposes best. We will closely examine each antivirus agent’s features, both their free and paid versions, to choose a winner at the end.
Avira
Avira’s free version offers numerous helpful protection features, though they aren’t as powerful as those offered through the paid plans. If you install the free version, you will get basic protection that includes protection against malware and viruses, phishing attempts and ransomware. Unfortunately, this version lacks advanced features such as vulnerability scanning to detect weaknesses in your software and OS, identity theft protection to monitor the internet if your personal information is compromised, parental controls and an anti-banner to block unwanted ad pop-ups.
Several other features aren’t available in the Avira antivirus free version, but you get them when purchasing one of its paid plans. Such features include a password manager, a VPN, a system optimiser, file encryption to protect sensitive files with passwords and a game booster to enhance gaming performance by optimising system resources.
Kaspersky
Kaspersky doesn’t offer a free version of its renowned antivirus agent. However, the company offers you a 30-day trial of any of its products and promises a full refund of your money. This trial allows you to try all the features in the packages. These features include beginning with the first package, basic protection against malware, ransomware and phishing. Moreover, you get a firewall, a safe web browser, a performance optimiser, a device space cleaner, an application manager, online payment protection, stalkerware detection and crypto threat protection.
The protection features of the other two packages include a hard drive health monitor, a data leak checker, a password manager, an unlimited VPN and a password safety checker in the Plus: Internet Security package. Kaspersky Premium, the Total Security package, adds an identity protection wallet, remote access detection, a smart home monitor, round-the-clock IT support, an expert PC health checker and an expert virus checker and remover. The Kaspersky parental control feature, Kaspersky Safe Kids, is an independent package you can customise and purchase.
- Winner
Feature-wise, Kaspersky beat Avira.
Installation
The user’s first interaction with the antivirus agent is the installation process. This process’s simplicity, or lack thereof, appeals to different users.
Avira
Avira’s installation process is easy, fast and straightforward. You mostly download the installer, follow the on-screen instructions, and with a few clicks, you’re good to go. The installation process doesn’t consume your system resources, so you shouldn’t experience significant slowdowns or performance issues while running. Once Avira Antivirus is installed, it tends to have a light footprint and launches quicker than Kaspersky, resulting in faster boot times and overall responsiveness.
Kaspersky
When you finish your Kaspersky purchase, it signs you up for automatic renewal, which is best to switch off if you don’t intend to purchase additional licenses. You will finalise your purchase with the number of devices to protect and complete the payment, then download the installation file. There are several additional features to choose from during the installation process, which means it takes a bit longer than Avira Antivirus to set up.
Kaspersky’s complex installation process means it is more resource-intensive than Avira Antivirus, which could temporarily slow down your computer while it’s running. After installation, Kaspersky might take slightly longer to launch compared to Avira Antivirus due to its more comprehensive features and background processes.
- Winner
Avira Antivirus wins for its lightweight and easy installation process.
User-friendly Interface
Our two contenders boast easy-to-navigate user interfaces that draw in beginner users and experienced technicians.
Avira
Avira Antivirus has a multi-grey-coloured user interface with a white font. The simple and intuitive interface has easy-to-navigate menus on the left-hand side, which have Status, Security, Privacy and Performance. If you click on any menu, it will display its contents in the heart of the dashboard in large and clear icons. The suggestion to run a scan is at the bottom of the dashboard’s heart. Avira Antivirus prioritised intuitiveness over overwhelming options, making basic tasks just a few clicks away.
Kaspersky
Kaspersky’s dashboard isn’t far from Avira Antivirus’ clean and straightforward interface. It has a clean white interface with green markers and font. Your device’s security status appears in green or red on the top of the dashboard, while the middle and bottom parts are divided into basic tasks for you to choose from. These tasks include Scans, Data Updates, Safe Money, Privacy Protection, Backup and Restore and Protection for Kids if you’ve purchased the separate parental controls package. While offering more options than Avira Antivirus, Kaspersky still maintains a logical layout and helpful tooltips
- Winner
Both antivirus agents give users an easy and intuitive user interface; we call it a tie!
Protection
As we compare the protection level of both antivirus agents, we will also compare their scores in independent test results, which verify what each antivirus company alleges about their products.
Avira
Avira Antivirus ranks in the middle of the pack regarding malware detection, providing decent protection against common threats like viruses, worms, and phishing scams. Its real-time protection monitors your system activity and blocks suspicious behaviour to provide a solid shield against most everyday threats. When we examined the latest independent test results, we found Avira Antivirus to have achieved good scores. In the September/October 2023 AV-Tests, it scored a perfect 6.0 in Protection, while in the July – October 2023 AV-Comparatives Test, Avira Antivirus blocked 99.4% of threats.
Kaspersky
Kaspersky consistently ranks among the top performers in independent tests for its excellent protection against various threats. Like its contender, Kaspersky achieved a complete score 6.0 in the AV-Test results but blocked a slightly higher number of threats as it achieved 99.6% in the Av-Comparatives tests. The antivirus software excelled in repelling advanced threats such as zero-day attacks and ransomware. Its multi-layered security approach combines real-time scanning, behaviour analysis and cloud-based threat intelligence to help identify and neutralise emerging threats.
- Winner
Kaspersky wins this round with a slight margin.
Impact on System Performance
Between Avira Antivirus and Kaspersky, the latter is considered to have the most impact on system performance. It’s vital to indicate that several factors can mitigate or increase the antivirus agent’s impact on your system’s performance, such as the version of your operating system and your device’s capabilities. The older the device, the higher the agent’s impact on its performance.
Avira
Avira Antivirus prides itself on being a lightweight antivirus solution and is ideal for older or low-powered machines. To verify these claims, we checked the latest AV-Test results from October 2023, which tests an antivirus agent’s impact on your system’s performance during everyday tasks. The lightweight champ scored 6.0 in the Performance category, which showed the slowest percentage of 29% when launching popular websites as Avira ran in the background, and it only slowed the system by 1% while copying files. Avira Antivirus utilised only 39% of CPU resources during a full system scan.
Kaspersky
While Kaspersky is normally viewed as more resource-extensive than Avira Antivirus, the AV-Test results showed they nearly achieved the same scores in the Performance category. In October 2023, Kaspersky affected system performance during the launching of popular websites by 29% and by 1% when copying files. However, Kaspersky utilised 100% of CPU resources during a full system scan. The antivirus software offers a Game Mode and a Performance Mode, temporarily allocating resources for smoother gaming or general computing to mitigate Kaspersky’s performance impact.
- Winner
Avira wins this round for its lightweight impact.
Scanning
Antivirus agents offer different types of scans and different approaches to implement these scans. These types and approaches are our next point of discussion.
Avira
Avira Antivirus offers users the main three scan types. The Quick Scan checks crucial areas for immediate threats and is ideal for a rapid security check. The Full Scan thoroughly scans your entire system for hidden malware, which takes longer but provides comprehensive protection. The Custom Scan targets specific files, folders or drives for a focused search.
Kaspersky
Kaspersky provides the same scan types as its competitors but adds more integral scans. The Scheduled Scan sets scans to run automatically at specific times to ensure regular system protection. A Vulnerability Scan to identify outdated software and operating system vulnerabilities to patch them proactively. The Custom Areas Scan allows you to exclude or include specific files, folders or drives from scans based on your needs and the Removable Device Scan for more comprehensive protection for your removable drives.
- Winner
Kaspersky wins!
Pricing
We’ve learned that Avira Antivirus offers a free but feature-limited antivirus version, while Kaspersky doesn’t. In this category, we compare their paid packages to determine which of them offers better value for money.
Avira
Avira Antivirus offers three paid packages besides its free version. When you check its website, you will find the Avira Antivirus Pro package costs $26.99 for the first year to protect one device, but this is a reduced price which renews with the original price of $44.99 after the first year. Likewise, the Avira Internet Security costs $34.99 to protect one device for a year and renews at the original price of $57.99. The third package is Avira Prime, which protects five devices for one year for $59.99 but renews at $104.99.
Kaspersky
Even though Kaspersky doesn’t offer a free version, its three packages offer good value for money. The Kaspersky Antivirus costs $22.99 for the first year to protect one device, which renews at the original price of $29.99. The Kaspersky Plus Internet Security package costs $33.99 to protect one device for the first year and renews at $42.99. The Kaspersky Premium Total Security package costs $35.99 to protect one device for a year and renews at $45.99. It’s worth noting that in all three packages, you can purchase a license for up to ten devices for a year or up to five for two years.
- Winner
Kaspersky wins for the variety of its packages.
Compatible Operating Systems
What versions of the popular operating systems are our antivirus contenders compatible with? We detail the operating systems and their versions here.
Avira
Avira Antivirus is compatible with Windows 7 service pack 1 or above. It runs smoothly on macOS 10.15 Catalina version or higher, runs smoothly on Android 6.0 or higher smartphones, and supports iOS 11 and newer versions.
Kaspersky
Like its contender, Kaspersky supports all Windows versions from 7 SP1+ and above and macOS versions 11 to 13. Regarding smartphones, Kaspersky works flawlessly with Android 8 and higher versions and iOS versions 15 to 17.
- Winner
Avira Antivirus supports more operating systems than Kaspersky and wins this round.
Customer Support
Our final comparison category is the customer support methods each antivirus software offers its clients to complete the circle and win this antivirus showdown.
Avira
Avira Antivirus offers its users a comprehensive knowledge base with FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and video tutorials. You can also submit support tickets for further assistance. You may contact support via email, phone or chat when you purchase one of Avira’s Antivirus packages.
Kaspersky
Kaspersky offers its customers more customer support methods. You can check its massive online community for peer help and experience and read through its resource centre for the latest news on cybersecurity. Their knowledge base, how-to-videos and FAQs answer many of your questions; you can fill out a contact form for direct help, use the chatbot or contact them via email or direct support, which is available round-the-clock.
- Winner
Kaspersky.
We end our antivirus showdown here, so let’s recap all our categories and remember the winner:
| Category | Avira | Kaspersky |
| Features | √ | |
| Installation | √ | |
| User-friendly Interface | √ | √ |
| Protection | √ | |
| Impact on System Performance | √ | |
| Scanning | √ | |
| Pricing | √ | |
| Compatible Operating Systems | √ | |
| Customer Support | √ | |
| Winner | Kaspersky | |
Kaspersky might’ve won this antivirus showdown, but we found it needed improvements in a few categories. This showdown also proved that Avira is a worthy competitor.