Things are always changing in the Internet security and antivirus solution industries, and they change at an ever-accelerating rate.

It’s tough keeping up with all the various providers and knowing whether or not you’re getting a good deal on antivirus protection, or just purchasing a one-year subscription that turns out to be
a lemon.

Main Differences Between McAfee vs Bitdefender

Jul 29, 2020 The Bottom Line. With outstanding antivirus lab results and a collection of features that puts many security suites to shame, Bitdefender Antivirus Plus is an excellent choice for protecting your PC. Can Bitdefender be trusted? If you are using Bitdefender Total Security, rest assured, you are in good hands. Bitdefender by no means a malware and is a legitimate company. In fact, it is one of the top brands. So, if you are already using it, feel free to continue.

The main differences between McAfee vs BitDefender are:

• McAfee offers better bulk discounts for 3+ devices, whereas Bitdefender offers better deals for 2 or less instances
• McAfee offers more features at higher tiers, whereas Bitdefender does not change that much with pricing
• Bitdefender scores slightly higher on independent malware detection rate and malware protection tests, whereas McAfee scores less

To help you make an informed decision, we’re going to compare two of the leading services today – namely Bitdefender and McAfee. However, I want to be very clear about which products we’re reviewing. The problem with both of these providers is that they have a whole range of security products that are conditionally suited for different purposes.

But today we will be comparing their ‘plain vanilla’ antivirus products, which were essentially developed to target, identify, mitigate, and eradicate viruses, online threats and malware from your computers and other devices (endpoint protection). Some of the features in these products are packaged together with other more expensive subscription plans.

But if all you’re looking to buy is antivirus, then you’re looking for the Bitdefender Antivirus Plus and McAfee Antivirus Plus products.

Bottom Line Up Front: To cut right to the chase, I generally much prefer McAfee here as it is the more comprehensive option, better customer support, and with a slightly cleaner user interface (despite being slightly more expensive). That said, if you have multiple devices (5+) the single bulk pricing of McAfee available here makes a lot of sense too. Otherwise, the products are quite similar.

Pricing Considerations

First off, I’d like to point out that both Bitdefender and McAfee offer free trials and free versions of their service. If you opt for the free versions that can be used indefinitely, note that the antivirus software is stripped down, so you won’t have access to the full feature set. Still, it’s completely free, and I always say that an ounce of Internet security is infinitely better than none at all.

I would advise you to at least considering the free versions, though the paid subscription plans have a lot more to offer and could mean the difference between worry-free computing and a complete meltdown. Antivirus is a bit like homeowners’ insurance for computers in that it gives you the peace of mind things are going go apocalyptic if you’re unlucky enough to experience a disaster.

Also, I’d like to point out that Bitdefender VPN is substantially cheaper than the McAfee; in fact, it’s currently priced less than 50% of the cost of McAfee. Right now, Bitdefender’s pricing model is
as follows:

• 1 year 3 devices: $24.99
• 1 year 5 devices: $69.99
• 1 year 10 devices: $79.99

• 2 years 3 devices: $89.99
• 2 years 5 devices: $109.99
• 2 years 10 devices: $129.99

• 3 years 3 devices: $119.99
• 3 years 5 devices: $149.99
• 3 years 10 devices: $179.99

This may look a bit complicated, but just understand that they determine pricing based on the number of devices you wish to secure and the length of the subscription. Naturally, they discount longer subscriptions and plans with more devices. However, if you just want the smallest 1-year plan available, it will only cost $24.99, which is much cheaper than McAfee.

The following outlines McAfee’s payment plan:

• $59.99 per year (For the latest prices and discounts, check here)

And that’s it – there’s no complicated pricing scheme with McAfee. And even though they cost more than what Bitdefender offers, I think their cost is easily justifiable. In fact, I think they’re only slightly above the average cost for quality antivirus software, which seems to be around $40 or $50 dollars, depending on how many devices you want to secure.

Next, let’s take a look at their features.

McAfee Features

The very first thing I should point out about McAfee (full review here!) is that they allow you to secure all of your devices with the same account and protection under McAfee livesafe, too. This will help justify their increase in price, and is likely a better alternative to a lot of Bitdefender’s longer term subscriptions with 5 and 10-device bundles. McAfee clearly states, “Protect all your PCs (Windows), Macs, smartphones (including Android), and tablets† with the same subscription at no extra cost.”

In addition, the security software comes with a file shredder that will permanently delete files in a way that makes them impossible to be recovered. This is a huge plus if you’re throwing away a hard drive, selling a computer, or just want to clean up old files. And naturally, it comes with a module that helps ensure safe payments and secure online transactions.

And one additional feature they bundled in with the higher end plans that I really like is their password manager. However, it isn’t included in the Antivirus Plus subscription. It’s called True Key, and will help secure all your usernames and passwords in an encrypted database.

Even if a hacker were able to their hands on the encrypted database file, they would never be able to open it without your master password (so make it long, memorize it, and don’t share it with anyone!).

And that’s really all there is to their Antivirus Plus plan. It lacks additional features like parental control, encryption software, email security and anti-spam, and other similar features. Nevertheless, the Antivirus Plus plan does still have the ability to scan and detect the latest forms of viruses and malware, and to delete them from your computer.

Bitdefender Features

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus (full review here!) seems to be a bit more full-featured, which really surprised me since the 1-year subscription for 3 devices is half the cost of McAfee. It too has virus identification and removal as it’s core feature, but includes anti-phishing (phishing protection) and anti-fraud features as well to prevent online attacks that would steal your payment information, for desktop and mobile devices (PC, Mac, iOS, and Android devices).

And in addition to standard virus and malware protection and removal, they also include a rescue mode and ransomware protection. For those of you who didn’t know, ransomware attacks are a type of virus that makes your computer and files inaccessible unless you first send digital payment to an online account.

And they also include a file shredder and a password manager, which isn’t included in the McAfee standard version. Furthermore, they include real-time protection to actively stop threats and kill malicious background processes before they can damage your system.

Bitdefender VPN also has an extremely small footprint, and won’t eat up system resources to the point that your computer becomes unusable.

There are also three modes of operation, including game, movie, and work that optimizes system resources during a scan to help your computer run more smoothly. Last but not least, there’s even a battery feature that fine-tunes system configuration settings to maximize the life of your battery. All in all, Bitdefender is a lot more feature rich than McAfee.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you are using Bitdefender Total Security, rest assured, you are in good hands. Bitdefender by no means a malware and is a legitimate company. In fact, it is one of the top brands. So, if you are already using it, feel free to continue.

Microsoft’s Windows Defender is great for general practice, especially if you are not using anything else. However, it does cover all of the advanced features that a more sophisticated AntiVirus program might have, and you may still be vulnerable to some forms of viruses.

That’s very likely sometimes. Any type of antivirus program may slow your computer, but, for a great cause, to protect you. However, McAfee, and especially Bitdefender have scored great in terms of breaking down your system’s performance and may be a great pick if you want to keep things smooth while protecting yourself.

Final Thoughts: McAfee or Bitdefender?

Though it’s a bit of a subjective decision as to which service is better, there are some things that can’t be denied.

First of all, it can’t be denied that Bitdefender is cheaper than McAfee, especially with their 1-year subscription special.

If you wanted the same features with a McAfee product, you’d have to opt for the more expensive plans such as McAfee Total Security or the Internet Security plan. The real advantage I can see with McAfee’s Antivirus Plus product is that it can be used on an unlimited number of devices.

Multiple Devices? If you’re trying to secure a lot smartphones and computers at a small business, it would be more economical to opt for McAfee. Likewise, if you’re a tech junkie with a thousand and one different devices or you have a family with a lot of mobile devices (Android and iOS), McAfeecould be the better choice.

But for me, I think that Bitdefender is the all-around superior choice. Both services have comparable customer service and great online documentation with usage and troubleshooting guides, FAQs, and a knowledge-base. So in a nutshell, Bitdefender is cheaper and packed with more features (and a superior malware protection plan).

But don’t misunderstand me – I do think McAfee is a great service. It’s just that your dollar stretches further with Bitdefender. Last but not least, I strongly urge everyone to at least take advantage of their free version of the service if you don’t want full protection. At the very least, you need to have some protection against viruses.

Bottom Line: Go with McAfee here for most users, especially 1-2 devices. That said, if you have multiple devices (5+) the single bulk pricing of McAfee available here ALSO makes a lot of sense.

How do Bitdefender and McAfee compare to other services?

For a VPN service to build a relationship with its users, it needs to offer complete privacy at fast speeds.

This includes a secure network, fast server connection, and top-notch encryption. It needs to give you a reason why browsing the internet with privacy is worth your money.

Bitdefender VPN dresses like a service that can go head-to-head with big-name VPNs since it comes from a big player in the antivirus market.

However, it falls short on speed, customer support, and privacy policies.

In a nutshell, Bitdefender VPN offers a free version with the data capped at 200mb a day and strong tunneling protocols such as OpenVPN instead of PPTP.

The good stops there, however, Let’s start with the pros and then head over to the cons.

Bitdefender VPN Overview

Bitdefender VPN Pros

1. No IP Leaks Found

The biggest reason why you’re getting a VPN service is to browse the internet with privacy. Without that, what’s the use of paying for one in the first place right? Thankfully, Bitdefender VPN is quite secure.

I put the VPN provider through a number of tests by using its United States server:

• https://ipleak.net/ (none found)
• https://www.perfect-privacy.com/check-ip/ (none found)
• https://ipx.ac/run (none found)
• https://www.perfect-privacy.com/dns-leaktest/ (none found)
• http://dnsleak.com/ (none found)

It had Zero DNS leaks, which is good:

The VPN also did a good job hiding my IP address and geolocation:

So far, this product takes its private networks seriously for its users to take advantage of. A secure VPN network means that you can use a public wi-fi with an anonymous profile.

2. Almost Clean Installer Files

It would be a shame and quite ironic that the VPN app of an Antivirus company would come riddled with red flags. This is not the case, however, as the app does not contain a single virus for you to worry about.

I ran the Windows installer through VirusTotal Scan and here are the results:

Note that one scanner flagged the file red but don’t worry about this. Cases in which one scanner found a “suspicious” file while all the others did not is called a false-positive. It simply means that said scanner doesn’t know about the file and flags it as a virus.

The VirusTotal scan for the Mac app came clean as well:

3. Romanian Jurisdiction, No Data Retention Law

Bitdefender VPN is based in Romania (headquarted in Bucharest) which means it’s far from the reaches of the 14 eyes.

The 14 eyes is a coalition of different countries that have the power to take data and information from those under them.

As for Bitdefender VPN, the service is not obligated to hand over information of any kind. Their data protection method remains tightly secured.

Just remember that even Bitdefender VPN will give out specific data to cooperate with ongoing investigations and the like. This can happen to any VPN service regardless of location.

4. Unblocks Netflix

Netflix wants to entertain its users, but it doesn’t like those that use a proxy server or a VPN. Well, not for the case of Bitdefender VPN.

The front page of the product mentions that it “unlocks media all over the world” and it looks like Netflix is part of it.

Is Bitdefender Good Reddit Streams

I tested out six random servers and 3 out of 6 unblocked Netflix.

• Romania
• Indonesia
• Germany
• Hong Kong (blocked)
• United States (blocked)
• Australia (blocked)

3 servers blocked may sound worrying, but do remember that you have the option to change the server location.

This is great news for most users because they don’t have to compromise entertainment for their security needs.

5. Easy To Use App

Installing Bitdefender VPN is a pain in the neck especially if you’re not too tech-savvy.

However, once everything is up and running, the overall usability of the product is pretty simple.

Once opened directly or through the main Bitdefender Dashboard, you’ll notice that the app window is small and the interface takes on a minimalist look. You can click on the “Connect” button and that’s it.

The premium version offers you a number of server locations to choose from. The locations are named by country and not by the city. There is a total of 27 server locations.

The app also offers access to its settings but the functions present are quite bare with options to disable launch on startup and securing your wifi if you’re in public. The “Support” tab will send you directly to the customer support page on their website.

The free version of the VPN will not allow you to pick your location.

6. Allows Torrenting

Bitdefender VPN doesn’t really say much about the important features that a VPN should offer. Instead, it uses terms like “access media” which is a very broad and vague statement. I had to go through their customer support to confirm whether or not they do allow you to torrent and if it limits P2P access.

Their customer support states that:

“It should not block torrenting.”

This is generally good news for most because torrenting plays a big part in a lot of users; the premium version’s unlimited bandwidth also helps reinforce this feature.

Bitdefender VPN Cons

1. Very Slow Speed Performance

A number of VPNs that come from Antivirus companies always fall on their connection speed. Bitdefender VPN shares the same fate. I tested their connection speed on six random servers and all were well below 70%. That’s not very good.

This is my base internet speed without the VPN:

• Ping: 10ms
• Download: 50.51 Mbps
• Upload: 48.79 Mbps

These are the six servers I tested it on:

• United States
• Canada
• Hong Kong
• Japan
• Netherlands
• UK

The fastest that the VPN got to was on its United States server which also happened to be the most optimized:

• Ping: 178ms
• Download: 10.11 Mbps (80% slower)
• Upload: 45.42 Mbps (7% slower)

Japan had the best results in their Asian server, but was still pretty bad:

• Ping: 264ms
• Download: 4.68 Mbps (90.7% slower)
• Upload: 19.82 Mbps (59.4% slower)

The Netherlands server came out on top on their EU servers but it’s nothing to brag about:

• Ping: 476ms
• Download: 3.81 Mbps (92.5% slower)
• Upload: 1.68 Mbps (97% slower)

Overall, Bitdefender VPN failed to even break a connection speed that’s near 50% of my base speed. I tested out a few more random server locations and they couldn’t even beat the ones listed above.

2. Lack of Information

I mentioned at the beginning of the review that Bitdefender uses broad words in describing the features that it has. They don’t exactly go into detail on what the product offers.

Here is the list of information not present on the Bitdefender VPN website and their FAQ page:

• The server count and country coverage.
• If the product allows Torrenting.
• If it unblocks Netflix.
• The tunneling protocols that it uses and whether or not you can change them.
• Its logging policy.
• The refund policy (found in the main Bitdefender website)

Most of the information that’s missing is quite important, leaving them blank leaves more questions than answers.

I was forced to ask their customer support for the info listed above. Speaking of their customer support.

3. Disappointing Customer Support

Bitdefender VPN’s customer isn’t entirely bad, it’s just underwhelming and really disappointing. A weak customer support department just further degrades the overall quality of an already bad VPN service.

Let’s start with their Chat Support, which is probably what most users would go straight for.

Slow and Ill-Informed Chat Support

To get to customer chat support, you can access it at the footer of their website.

Click “Support” and you’ll be taken to a separate page that groups home support and businesses support users. Click on the group that you belong to; most of the time it’s as a home support user. Once there, you’ll have access to their chat support.

The first thing you’ll notice is the big “Ask Luna” that pops up when you choose the aforementioned option. Luna is a virtual assistant that can answer basic questions regarding the product e.g. How do you install the VPN, Upgrading your subscription, etc. You can get a live agent if you want to by asking Luna.

Unlike Luna, however, their live agents may take a very long time to get through. It may take a few minutes or nearly an hour before a live rep is finally available.

I asked about their protocols first and the support rep present wasn’t able to answer it. Instead, I was told that my question would be forwarded to their “colleague from the second level of support”. My question would be answered via email a day and a half later:

The same goes for most of the questions I asked about their product.

On the bright side, the questions they failed to answer didn’t require me to ask it again via email. All I had to do was wait.

Average Email Support

Their email support did a lot better than I expected.

Questions usually take a day to be answered. However, I did start to notice that their first reply will always be a link that leads to their FAQ page.

You can reply to the email to get a better and more direct answer to your problem or question.

4. Powered by Hotspot Shield

The first time I opened the VPN app, I noticed that it was powered by Hotspot Shield.

What does this mean exactly? Well, this could mean that the VPN itself uses a lot of the features of Hotspot Shield or it could simply be a reskin of the said VPN.

Why is this bad? It’s bad because Hotspot Shield VPN has a suspicious logging policy and it’s had its fair share of controversy in the past years.

The biggest one being the allegations that Hotspot Shield is abusing user data by redirecting traffic from their free service. In layman’s terms, it’s not following its own logging policy.

Speaking of their logging policy.

Suspicious Logging Policy

CSIRO has conducted a study revealing Hotspot Shield to collect and sell their users’ information to advertisers. The service is free which means it’s already partnered with third-party advertising companies that allow it to remain free.

5. Allows TOR but has Limited Tunneling Protocols and Limited Kill Switch Feature

A lot of VPN providers today use different tunneling protocols. Each protocol is a lot better at doing one thing over another; some favor speed over security and vice versa.

Allowing their users to switch between different protocols provides flexibility that caters to different types of usage. The same cannot be said for this VPN.

The VPN provider only uses two protocols. This information comes straight from their “second level of customer support”:

• OpenVPN for Windows and Android.
• HydraVPN for iOs and macOS.

That’s it. They only have two protocols for encryption available. Granted, OpenVPN is very secure unlike other protocols such as PPTP but having only OpenVPN limits your flexibility.

There is no option to change or switch protocols. You are simply left to rely on their encryption. In the event that it fails, you have no other choice but to be vulnerable.

Limited Kill Switch

There is a kill switch feature in the VPN but it’s quite limited to a few of its devices. A kill switch is essential if you’re trying to protect your privacy, it basically cancels your internet connection if the VPN cuts out thus protecting you from exposing your public IP address.

I asked customer support and all they had to say was “you can always connect and disconnect from the VPN.”

I dug around and found that there is a kill switch in their Windows and Mac versions.

The lack of a kill switch for ALL of its devices is only made worse because they only have two protocols that are not interchangeable.

6. It’s Not A Standalone App

I commended Bitdefender VPN for its overall easy usability. However, getting to that can prove to be a bit difficult because the VPN is not a standalone application. In order for you to install it, Bitdefender Total Security must be installed first.

If you’re installing it on your desktop computer or laptop, you are required to uninstall your current antivirus software. Depending on what it is, you might have to do a few digging on how to properly uninstall it in the first place.

After it’s set up, you’ll have to activate your Bitdefender VPN subscription separately.

Having to install another app is quite cumbersome to people who just want to use the service immediately after purchasing it.

Pricing, Payment Plans, Payment Methods

Bitdefender Premium VPN offers two types of payment plans:

• Monthly: $6.99
• Yearly: $39.99

If you want to buy but you’re unsure, there is a free version of the VPN. It has a data cap of 200mb a day and it doesn’t allow you to pick a server location.

The VPN is available for the following devices:

• Windows
• Mac
• iOS
• Android

Take note that you will see the option to buy the product on the front page of the website. However, this option covers the purchase of Bitdefender Total Security as well, the number of devices you want it to be available in, and the type of subscription. You can go up to 10 simultaneous connections.

There is a detailed comparison of each payment plan below it.

Bitdefender Premium VPN offers different payment methods:

• Credit Card
• PayPal
• Wire Transfer

As for their refund policy, the product has a 30-day money back guarantee. You can get the refund through their customer support.

Do I Recommend Bitdefender VPN?

No, I do not.

There are just too many drawbacks from using the product. It’s quite clear that its ties to Bitdefender Total Security make it more of a supplemental service. If you’re looking for the right VPN, then this ain’t it, sadly.

Yes, it’s cheap, secure, and even easy to use, but it’s also slow, lacks a lot of essential features, and it’s powered by a different VPN that has a shady history. Furthermore, it’s not a standalone app, you’re buying something else alongside it.

My advice? Save up for a more high-quality VPN service like ExpressVPN, NordVPN, or Private Internet Access. If you can’t afford those, then know that there are a lot more VPN providers that are better than Bitdefender VPN in almost every way.

P.S. I’m always interested in hearing your own opinions on the product. If you are or have used AVG Secure VPN, then leave a review! Let us know how your experienced differed.

Add your own review:

Byron 10/10

VPN

I've been using Bitdefender forever and it's simply the best. The above article by Rob Mardisalu was very very good, except for the customer support segment on BD. I've had a few occasions over many years to speak with BD support and 95% of the time, I spoke to a live customer support agent within 5 minutes, no shit. I have never tried the online support, but I agree that the email support sucks. But why email when you can speak live in 5 minutes? That's why I prefer speaking with BD on the phone. Even if it's just to ask a question, like the other day, to ask about the new 2020 version of BD. I was speaking to an agent within 3 minutes.

Is Bitdefender Good Reddit 2017

When their VPN came out, I looked into it but, again, in contrast to Rob Mardisalu, I found IP leaks for the duration of their free trial. I told them and they told me that they would correct it. I never checked back and they never emailed back to tell me what they did, but the original price of $50.00 ish was too much. Way too much compared to PIA & NORD. I sort of disagree with Rob Mardisalu on PIA for a VPN. It was my first step into VPN's and it was really really good until I knew more about VPN's. My reason for switching to NORD was twofold. PIA stopped their live chat support, and that's just HUGE when you need an answer at 3:00 a.m. and PIA dropped their 24/7 chat support. I don't know what PIA does for chat. To me, customer support is priority 1. If PIA had 24/7/365 chat support as NORD does, I would probably still be with PIA. I'd rather pay a couple of bucks more for customer support. It's that important to me. The 2nd issued is that PIA's 'kill switch' was not to my liking, if I remember. I think that PIA's kill switch had something to do with rearranging settings in my Windows settings. That turned me off. The reason I chose NORD was everything that they offer is better than any other VPN. It's probably the cheapest, like I renewed for 3 yrs, at less than $2.50 per. PIA was also good in pricing, but the other big VPN's are out of this world in price, in the $10-12/month range. That's a killer for 36 months. Some of the other biggies have privacy issues, like logging. The other important aspect of NORD is their 'kill switch'. I just go into settings and instruct NORD on what program to use for my 'kill switch'. I have the options of anything on my computer. I believe that, at the time, PIA was just 'kill' or not. No options as to programs, like P2P. I have my 'kill switch' set for Qbittorrent and it's perfect. Zero worries. Sorry for getting carried away, but I thought that I would share some information that I hope somebody finds useful.

Bill 5/10

Multiple issues

So far it's been fairly useless as a VPN since it always fails to connect when using a public hotspot. It works at home on my secure network and fails pretty well everywhere else.

Is Bitdefender Safe Reddit

Another problem, iCloud SMTP servers don't like it and shut down my outgoing email for hours until iCloud's lockout drops.