Performance-improving tools such as the Software Updater for Windows and Junk Cleaner for MacOS
Fast, efficient antivirus scans
Cons
No identity theft features and minimal dark web protection for users outside of Germany
VPN majorly reduces internet speeds, even when set to fastest server
Privacy policies leave lots of room for abuse of your data
Customer service is inconsistent
Avira is a cybersecurity company known for its freemium antivirus softeware and safe browsing tools. Its consistently high performance in third-party testing has earned it places on both our best antivirus software and best free antivirus software lists. But how good is it really?
I tested Avira’s Prime license for usability and performance, focusing not just on how Avira’s programs work, but how well they run alongside other common software. I also analyzed Avira’s third-party lab test results for security, evaluated the company’s privacy policies and spoke to its customer service team about Avira’s security protocols. I found that while the antivirus and performance tools were efficient, Avira’s VPN, privacy policies and customer service were disappointing.
Avira antivirus features
Avira’s core antivirus software offers real-time protection, manual scanning and scheduled scans for Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android. The Smart Scan feature also identifies potential security problems with your operating system and programs that need to be updated. However, the software updater and some other performance-enhancing features only work on Windows devices.
Avira offers several other features that are limited to one operating system. The firewall, web protection and email protection tools are Windows-only features, while the Junk Cleaner only works with MacOS.
Other Avira tools include a VPN compatible with all major operating systems, a password manager and a safe browsing extension that works with Chrome and Firefox. You can also use Avira to set up alerts when your accounts are compromised. However, identity theft protection isn’t available for folks outside of Germany, and dark web monitoring is limited to one email address for international users outside of Germany.
Overall features score
With all this considered, I give Avira an 8/10 features ranking. That’s worse than top-ranking antivirus tools like Bitdefender and McAfee, but somewhat better than similarly priced AVG.
Avira antivirus plans and pricing
US
UK
France
Germany
Singapore
Australia
Download (Mbps)
65.58
35.23
34.45
43.97
32.17
16.01
Upload (Mbps)
147.21
31.34
29.19
6.75
10.72
4.11
Ping (ms)
29.6
168.33
181.66
197
488.66
384
Like the initial test using a local server, these results were terrible, even compared to the significant slowdowns I’ve experienced when using other antivirus companies’ VPNs. My tests weren’t as extensive as the testing process for full VPN reviews, but they’re more than enough to show that Avira’s VPN isn’t worth the hard drive space it uses.
I recommend Norton if you want an antivirus software that comes with a better VPN, or purchasing a separate VPN if you want fast internet regardless of your server’s location.
Overall performance score
Avira’s antivirus and performance tools are highly efficient and provide more robust device improvement opportunities than even our top-ranking antivirus, Bitdefender, which has no performance tools to speak of.
However, Avira’s safe browsing tools have limited effectiveness, and its VPN is abysmal, so I can only give it a performance ranking of 8/10.
Avira antivirus security
With a firm grasp of Avira’s surface-level functionality, I moved on to assessing the effectiveness of its security protocols. I started by evaluating Avira’s security test results from AV-Test and AV-Comparatives, the top third-party testing labs in the industry, then researched Avira’s security protocols for its password manager and VPN. I also analyzed its privacy policies and searched for past data breaches to determine how well Avira protects your information.
Antivirus security
Avira has received a six out of six security ranking from AV-Test in every round of tests since fall 2023. This is great, though not the best of any company I’ve tested. Bitdefender’s perfect security ranking from AV-Test goes back to 2022, while McAfee’s goes back to 2020. Norton, meanwhile, has perfect security scores going all the way back to 2014.
Avira has also performed well in recent testing from AV-Comparatives, with a 98.9% online detection rate and a 99.98% online protection rate. Even the offline protection rate — how well it protects you from viruses on things like USB keys — is high, at 95.8%. However, Avira also had 28 false alarms, more than most antiviruses I’ve tested. This is likely why Avira only has one star on its most recent malware protection test results, as opposed to the three stars earned by Bitdefender or the two stars given to McAfee.
Additional tools security
Avira’s password manager uses AES-256, an internationally recognized encryption protocol, to keep your passwords safe. Avira doesn’t store the decryption key in its own cloud, so the only way to access it is with your master password. This means Avira can’t give other people access to your accounts, and it makes it more difficult for malicious users to gain access to your passwords. These protocols are pretty standard among password managers.
Avira’s VPN also uses AES-256 encryption and claims to be a no-logs VPN, which means it’s not supposed to track any information about the web pages you visit. However, the VPN section of Avira’s privacy policy tells a different story. Avira tracks your license identifier and IP address, plus “data to monitor compliance with the terms of use.” These terms are incredibly broad and mean that anything deemed suspicious could, in fact, be logged without breaking Avira’s stated commitment to privacy.
Moreover, Avira doesn’t let its VPN undergo third-party audits or provide transparency reports, which suggests it’s not particularly committed to keeping VPN users’ data safe. If you’re specifically looking for a VPN with excellent privacy protections, consider ExpressVPN instead.
Privacy policies and data breaches
Avira’s website has an extensive privacy section, including a general privacy statement and a page listing privacy policies for individual products. The general privacy statement says that much of the data Avira collects is pseudonymized or anonymized, something I’ve only seen in Bitdefender’s privacy policy. However, it doesn’t specify the protocols it uses for pseudonymization or anonymization or which data it protects this way.
Avira then states the instances where it will send your data to third parties. These include provisions for sharing with marketing and communications companies, which may include social media platforms and public authorities. Avira gives a few examples of companies it may share data with, but the list is less extensive than the one Norton offers. In short, Avira’s third-party sharing policies are middling, and certainly have fewer exceptions than McAfee’s, but there are gaps that may be concerning for people looking for high-level privacy.
Similarly, most of the information Avira collects is the same information other cybersecurity suites require: personal data you enter directly, payment and subscription data and identity details for dark web monitoring and identity theft protection. However, the product data it collects goes beyond what other companies do and includes your browser activity, URLs you visit, applications you use and your location. Avira says it encrypts, pseudonymizes and anonymizes your data, but its lack of clarity around these processes isn’t encouraging.
The final concern is Avira’s location in Germany. Germany is part of the Fourteen Eyes Alliance, meaning it will share intelligence with several countries, including the US. Avira states that it will share information with public authorities on request, so you may not want to install it if you’re concerned about government surveillance.
As for data breaches, Avira had one confirmable data breach in 2013 during a series of attacks against popular tools. I found some comments in cybersecurity forums suggesting a second breach occurred in 2016, but I couldn’t find anything to confirm this. I also couldn’t find much information about Avira’s response to these attacks. Still, with both attacks occurring well over five years ago and no recent issues to report, I suspect Avira has improved its security protocols since then.
Overall security score
Avira’s antivirus engine consistently receives high marks in third-party testing, but its VPN security protocols and privacy policies leave something to be desired. As a result, Avira earns a 7/10 security ranking, putting it behind other popular antivirus companies like Bitdefender and McAfee.
Avira antivirus customer service
Avira offers self-serve customer service through a knowledge base and phone, email and live chat support. You can also get community support through a forum. These support options are similar to those that top-ranking antivirus companies like Bitdefender and McAfee offer. And, notably, they’re all easy to find.
I tested everything except for the community forum to determine the helpfulness and response times of Avira’s customer service team. The knowledge base and live chat experience were pleasant, but email and phone support were severely lacking.
Knowledge base
Avira’s knowledge base has a prominent search function, links to resources for the various operating systems it protects and category links for things like recent updates and purchase basics. This is similar to other antivirus companies’ help centers and makes it easy to find the tutorials you need.
Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET
Unfortunately, the articles themselves aren’t always great. While most contain step-by-step instructions in beginner-friendly language, they rarely have images or videos for visual learners. They also don’t always answer the questions you’d expect them to. For example, the article about configuring Avira’s Identity Assistant told me what information it could track, but it didn’t tell me how to add that information. This forced me to contact customer service directly to set up the tool.
Direct communication
Avira’s live chat impressed me by connecting me with a person immediately instead of forcing me to request human support from an AI chatbot. The representative took a couple of minutes to pull up my account information, and the chat refused to let me upload a screenshot of my issue, but the representative helped me find a workaround. In total, our conversation lasted 13 minutes, and the agent was able to resolve my issue.
Avira’s phone support page told me the company was experiencing high phone queue times when I first visited. In addition, phone support is only available between 9 a.m. and 11 p.m. CET and is only for users with the Prime subscription. It was almost 11 p.m. CET when I checked this page, so I decided to return another day. Unfortunately, the message about higher-than-average wait times was still displayed, suggesting that the true issue is an understaffed customer support team.
I called anyway and was immediately put on hold — which, to my surprise, only lasted for one minute. However, the agent misheard the spelling of my email account and had to be corrected several times. Once we had established the correct spelling, she still couldn’t find my account. I’m uncertain if this issue was caused by something in Avira’s systems or the representative’s training, but the end result is that we weren’t able to resolve my issue.
Finally, I tested Avira’s support ticket/email support system. The email support page requires you to enter some basic information about your problem so it can direct you to the right team. Once you have, a contact form appears, complete with an attachment option so you can add screenshots of the problem you’re having.
Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET
Screenshot by Dianna Gunn/CNET
I submitted an email through this form at 4 p.m. ET on a Friday and hadn’t received a response when I returned to work on Monday. This was incredibly disappointing and suggests a lack of commitment to customer service on Avira’s part.
Overall customer support score
Avira’s knowledge base and live chat were pleasant, but the email support was unresponsive, and the phone support was unhelpful. This leads to a customer support ranking of 5/10 — only slightly higher than our worst-ranking antivirus software, Malwarebytes, and much lower than our top-ranking antivirus software, Bitdefender.
Avira antivirus value
Finally, I compared Avira’s pricing and plans to other popular cybersecurity suites. Here’s a quick overview of how it stacks up against top performer Bitdefender and AVG, another antivirus suite focused on affordability.
Yes, Avira Antivirus is better than Windows Defender (now Microsoft Defender), receiving more consistent perfect security scores from the third-party lab AV-Test. Avira also gives you more control over things like scan scheduling and provides safe browsing tools. The paid version includes performance-improving tools as well.
Avira costs between $35 and $60 for the first year. Renewal costs range from $71 to $110 per year.
Norton is better than Avira due to its more protective privacy policies, more advanced dark web monitoring and identity theft protection tools. Norton’s also easier to use and provides better customer service.
Yes, Avira has a free version that includes the antivirus, software updater and safe browsing tools.
