Bitdefender or Kaspersky, which among the two is the best antivirus for 2021?
Both Bitdefender and Kaspersky are global leaders in the cybersecurity realm. Their products are significantly acclaimed for protection, security, and remarkable features. In this comparison, TechNinjaPro will determine the best between the two. Threats are still advancing with their attacks on a system. The pandemic offered a playground, and with the digital shifts, prevalent attacks are on the rise.
According to a survey, security threats in 2021 include vulnerability exploits, ransomware, malware, and blended threats. TechNinjaPro will evaluate them using the following aspects: Malware protection, features, system performance, user interface, pricing, and compatibility.
Bitdefender vs. Kaspersky
Features | Kaspersky | Bitdefender |
|---|---|---|
Rating | 4.3/5 | 4.9/5 |
Pricing | From $29.99 per year | From $17.99 per year |
Free Versions | Yes | Yes |
Platforms | Windows, iOS, Mac, and Android | Windows, iOS, Mac, and Android |
Pros of Bitdefender
- A vast collection of features than Kaspersky
- Family pack covers around 15 devices
- Unlimited VPN in Premium package
Cons of Bitdefender
- Limited VPN except in Premium Package
- No identity theft protection
Pros of Kaspersky
- Inexpensive multiyear subscriptions
- Offers separate Mac solution
- VPN included in all but limited
Cons of Kaspersky
- Unlimited VPN in the premium package
- Limited identity theft protections
- No single device plans
Comparison at a Glance
Bitdefender and Kaspersky products are among the best antivirus suites in the cybersecurity market. They provide unbeatable protection against threats, privacy, security, performance-improving features, and cross-platform products.
If you are in an urgency, here is a brief overview:
1. Features
Bitdefender products pack an exciting list of remarkable features. These features improve your performance, privacy, security, and malware protection. However, Kaspersky products also have great features.
2. Malware Protection
Products from Bitdefender and Kaspersky feature award-winning antivirus tools for outstanding protection. They also use other modern technologies such as AI, adaptive cloud security, and cyber threat intelligence to keep threats at bay.
3. System Performance
Bitdefender products provide adequate protection without compromising your performance. For best performance, they can adapt to your system resources and hardware configuration. Also, Bitdefender background scans use minimum system resources.
4. User Interface
Bitdefender and Kaspersky products sport an intuitive, user-friendly interface. Functionalities and features are well organized, accessibility is simple, and navigation is comfortable.
5. Pricing
Bitdefender provides competitive and affordable pricing plans for its products. The subscription plans cover several devices and offer you outstanding value for your money. Moreover, Bitdefender product pack more features than Kaspersky.
6. Compatibility
Bitdefender and Kaspersky provide cross-platform tools compatible with Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android devices. They also offer platform-specific products for Windows devices.
7. Support
Bitdefender has various forms of support we could ask for. You have many direct contact choices, over chat, email & phone, knowledgebase, how-to videos, and a community forum. Kaspersky has excellent DIY support, but the contact choices are lacking.
1. Features
Bitdefender and Kaspersky pack high-standard features and functionalities in their collection of products. Features from these two antivirus providers improve your privacy, security, and performance. Moreover, with device protection, you get to protect your family. Both Bitdefender and Kaspersky provide outstanding parental control and much more. Let’s have a look at the main features of each product.
Kaspersky provides four premium paid products. These solutions offer you the security that you need. Features in these products provide specialized protection for your devices. Regardless of many features, Kaspersky offers strict protection in all its products. Here are the features of each Kaspersky product:
The main product is the Kaspersky antivirus. This product does not provide much in terms of features. However, you get excellent protection. It is compatible with Windows. Its other features include:
- Excellent antivirus engine
- Network protection
- Anti-phishing
- Performance optimization
Cross-platform is the next Kaspersky product compatible with Mac, Android, Windows, and iOS devices. Kaspersky Internet Security provides you advanced security for all your devices. It has unique features including:
- Two-way firewall
- Encrypted internet browser for payment protection
- Webcam protection
- File shredder
- Secure VPN for Windows only
The outstanding product is Kaspersky Total Security Suite. This product works perfectly on all devices and provides complete security. Kaspersky Total Security Suite has all the features of the previous products with the addition of a password manager, parental control, and data encryption secure vault.
Kaspersky Security Cloud is another excellent product that comes in two packages, personal and family. Using cloud technology, Kaspersky Security Cloud can check for potential vulnerabilities and delivers adaptive security. Its features include:
- Remote account management
- Mic Protection
- Secure VPN
- Home wifi monitor
- Hard drive health Monitor
Bitdefender follows the footsteps of Kaspersky in terms of its offering. For personal and home use, Bitdefender has five paid premium products. Three of Bitdefender’s products are cross-platform, while two are compatible with Windows only. These products pack advanced features for privacy, security, and performance.
The primary product of Bitdefender is Antivirus Plus. This product is compatible with Windows devices. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus packs an impressive list of features that are available in other Bitdefender products. TechNinjaPro will group the elements into three segments: Protection, Performance, and Privacy. Here are the protection features that provide on-device security, such as
- Advanced threat defense
- Anti-phishing and anti-fraud
- Vulnerability assessment
- Website attack prevention
- Network threat prevention
Performance features make sure that Bitdefender does not take a toll on your system resources. These features include:
- Autopilot
- Global network protection
- Bitdefender Photon
- Performance profiles
Privacy features of Bitdefender protect your online data and internet activities. These features include
- File shredder
- Password manager
- Safe online banking
- Anti-tracker
- A secure VPN
- Social network protection
The next product is Bitdefender Internet Security. This product is specially built for Windows with additional features for privacy, such as
- Firewall
- Parental control
- Anti-span
- Webcam protection
- Microphone monitor
The next three products are cross-platform. Bitdefender total security offers a balanced array of features for privacy, performance, and security. It has all the features from the previous products and supports up to 10 devices. Its additional features include:
- Antitheft and anti-loss utilities
- One-click performance optimizer
Bitdefender Family Pack is the next product suitable for a large household or your small home office. It is a bit similar to Bitdefender Total Security and comes with one unique ability:
- Bitdefender Family Pack can support up to a maximum of 15 devices
The final product is Bitdefender Premium Security. It has all the features of Bitdefender products with one addition;
- Unlimited VPN traffic
2. Malware detection and Protection
Both Kaspersky and Bitdefender have means to prevent malware from landing on your system. If you go with the paid version, both tools include real-time monitoring. That means that downloading a malicious file would not be that easy to succeed. Both Bitdefender and Kaspersky products are equipped with real-time detection and multilayered protection to protect against viruses, ransomware, malware, Trojans, and other online threats.
When it comes to device protection, both providers use machine learning to capture zero-day malware. Bitdefender has Shield, and Kaspersky has System Watcher to scan your device logs to detect suspicious activity.
Kaspersky relies on next-generation solutions such as threat detection, AI, and adaptive cloud technology to provide impeccable protection. A mixture of these technologies gives you the security you need and even protects your data against threats. Bitdefender also uses the best technology to provides strong protection against threats and zero-day exploits.
To determine their malware protection abilities, we will rely on evaluations from Independent labs such as AV-Test. These independent labs use samples that emulate real-world scenarios.
Here is the Kaspersky’s latest AV-Test:
3. System Performance
It is a recognized fact that antivirus suites have a heavy system performance impact. But with modern technologies and powerful machines, that is not the case anymore. Currently, most antivirus suites provide protection without compromising on performance.
Kaspersky products use adaptive cloud technology for effective protection. When doing background scans, Kaspersky uses few system resources. Yet, it can be aggressive and resource-hungry for active scans. Depending on your device, complete scans can moderately impact your system performance. On the other side, Bitdefender has a bit of performance impact for both active and background scans. Its products are equipped with Photon technology. This makes them adaptive to your system resources and hardware configurations. Hence, they know when t use the system and when to release resources.
Moreover, Bitdefender performance profiles are a perfect help when you are using your device. Depending on the current situation, Bitdefender can temporarily halt pop-ups, adjust visual settings and pause unimportant background activities. To determine how Bitdefender and Kaspersky impact your system performance, TechNinjaPro will rely on AV-Test results.
System performance evaluation tests how antivirus products affect your daily activities. They test for launching programs, browsing, installing programs, downloads, and other file operations.
In AV-Test results, Kaspersky settled for a 5.5 score while Bitdefender scooped the 6 points for system performance. From these results, TechNinjaPro can conclude that Bitdefender products do not impact your system’s performance while Kaspersky has a clear impact.
Here are Kaspersky performance results from AV-Test:
4. User Interface
Both products have a user-friendly interface with easy accessibility and hassle-free navigation. Bitdefender and Kaspersky share similar installation processes, but they disagree in their interface designs. If you download the antivirus and pay online with a credit card, either one will sign you up for automatic renewal, charging your credit card again when your paid subscription expires. Depending on your perspective, this function is either easy or irritating, but it can be disabled after installation.
Kaspersky products have a sensitive minimalistic interface. The main dashboard has a status and information module at the top, feature modules are in the central area, and the bottom area hosts a toolbar. The dashboard features modules that include the scan functionality, updates, safe money, privacy protection, backup & restore, password manager, parental control, and my Kaspersky.
The bottom toolbar provides access to settings, messages, support, other products, and your license details. You would not miss noticing the Kaspersky signature color highlights.
Bitdefender also packs a sensitive decluttered interface. The main window is divided into two boards, right and left. The left panel hosts Bitdefender modules, including the protection, Dashboard, privacy, utilities, notifications, and settings. The right panel offers the space where the functionalities of the module open when clicked.
Both programs provide status updates on their home screen panel, including the capability to start scans right away manually. Bitdefender also placed a useful status widget in the bottom right of the desktop that can run all the time.
5. Pricing
Devices | Price | |
|---|---|---|
Kaspersky Antivirus | 3 | $29.99/year |
Kaspersky Internet Security | 3 | $39.99/year |
Kaspersky Total Security | 5 | $44.99/year |
Kaspersky Security Cloud Personal | 3 | $53.99/year |
Kaspersky Security Cloud Family | 10 | $89.99/year |
Product | Devices | Subscription |
|---|---|---|
Bitdefender Antivirus Plus | 3 | $29.99/year |
Bitdefender Internet Security | 3 | $34.99/year |
Bitdefender Total Security | 5 | $39.98/year |
Bitdefender Family Pack | 15 | $49.99/year |
Bitdefender Premium Security | 10 | $64.99/year |
Regarding the pricing plans, Both Bitdefender and Kaspersky provide competitive prices. Yet, Bitdefender is a bit cheaper than Kaspersky, covers more devices, and has more features. Ultimately, Bitdefender gives you excellent value for your money.
6. Compatibility
Bitdefender and Kaspersky offer both cross-platform and platform-specific products. The latter is compatible with Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS devices. The Windows device gets more features as compared to the Mac device. The same is also seen in the mobile landscape; Android has more features than iOS. iOS and Mac products have fewer features because their OS are closed and provide excellent protection than their counterparts.
7. Support
Support is essential for antiviruses, especially the security packages providers offer are becoming more complex. TechNinjaPro is going to look at the forms of DIY and direct support that Bitdefender and Kaspersky offer.
Bitdefender offers a broad range of customer support, from DIY support to direct support. The DIY support choices are split between business and home products, so you do not need to worry about the two minglings.
There are various forums, including business protection, home protection, and malware submission. The community forums are available in five languages, including French, German, and English. Obviously, most of the discussion happens in the home protection forum. Bitdefender also offers live chat and phone support options. Their phone support is available 24/7 in 16 countries.
If you are not in one of those countries, Bitdefender has a worldwide English support line that runs around the clock. The live chat tries to solve your issues in the knowledge base. It is an artificial intelligence agent that directs you to articles based on your question.
On the other hand, Kaspersky has excellent DIY support, but the contact options are lacking. You are mostly stuck with a knowledge base and community forum. Paying users can request customer support, but there is not clear contact method outside of that. Bitdefender has an efficient support system, whether you need to do it alone or get help from someone. Kaspersky’s system is decent, but the lack of direct support makes it look average.
Kaspersky provides chat, email, phone, and remote assistance if you want to reach out to a human. All of their customer support services are available 24/7. Bitdefender also uses the same channels for support. Yet, the bonus is that they offer Bitdefender’s expert community. There is a remote assistance option available, but it is reserved for complicated tasks.
Conclusion
Both Bitdefender and Kaspersky are perfect options for protection against viruses, malware, and other online threats. Both providers have cross-platform products, multi-device subscriptions, and malware protection.
While Kaspersky has a slight edge on malware detection and somewhat a significant advantage on system impact, those are overweighed by Bitdefender’s overall user-friendliness. Bitdefender has a top list of features; it’s light on your system resources and has a lower price. In this comparison, TechNinjaPro has found Bitdefender as the best antivirus suite for 2021.
