Avast Free Antivirus vs McAfee Total Protection Comparison

• Free Antivirus: Free; the mobile apps show third-party ads
• Premium Security for 1 computer and 1 phone, renewal: $77.99 a year, the price the store calls the renewal price
• Premium Security for 1 computer and 1 phone, first year: Intro: $49.08 for the first year
• Premium Security for 10 devices, renewal: $99.99 a year, the price the store calls the renewal price
• Premium Security for 10 devices, first year: Intro: $69.48 for the first year
• Ultimate for 10 devices, renewal: $139.99 a year, the price the store calls the renewal price; $69.48 for the first year

• Total Protection Essential for 5 devices, renewal: $119.99 a year after the first year; the checkout gives this as the current renewal price
• Total Protection Essential for 5 devices, first year: Intro: $39.99 for the first year, for new customers
• McAfee+ Premium Individual, renewal: $149.99 a year after the first year ($49.99 in the first year); from the plan page, not checked in the cart

The product privacy notice says the desktop app sends samples of suspicious files and detection metadata to Avast's servers through CommunityIQ, and that it may 'directly analyze and maintain these artifacts in our safe environment'. It also lists the URLs of websites visited, 'malicious and non-malicious', and referrers, kept for 36 months for service provision. The support article says file-sample sharing (CommunityIQ) can be unticked in Settings ▸ General ▸ Personal Privacy. On phones, SMS Guard keeps texts that contain links or come from senders not in your contacts, with personal identifiers removed, for up to five years.

The McAfee License Agreement says the antivirus protection may automatically send McAfee reports about suspected malware and unwanted software, that 'the reports may include files that contain suspected malware', that McAfee will ask permission first if it thinks a suspicious file is likely to contain personal data, and that 'You can turn off this automatic reporting from your antivirus protection in your product.' The privacy notice adds that the software collects device ID, telemetry, McAfee ID, IP address, web domains visited and web traffic data, and that the WebAdvisor browser extension collects URLs, search information and the name and size of downloaded files.

The Gen Digital privacy notice says 'We do not sell your personal data to third parties', but also that 'Where permitted by applicable law, we may share personal data with third parties for advertising purposes' and that data is used 'to serve you with relevant advertising and content, both on our properties and on third-party properties'. The consent policy says free mobile apps show third-party ads from partners such as AdMob, Amazon, Facebook Audience Network and InMobi, with consent asked at installation and a paid ad-free version. The desktop app uses Google Analytics; the phone apps use Google Firebase, AppsFlyer and Singular. In the free desktop version, sharing app-usage data for Avast's own offers is on by default and cannot be switched off.

The privacy notice says McAfee does not 'sell' personal information under U.S. state law, but may share information with third-party advertising partners for cross-context behavioral and targeted advertising, that it collects mobile advertising identifiers, that mobile advertising partners may use location to target ads where location access is granted, and that it uses Meta's business tools to target ads. Opt-out is through the Individual Data Request form or Global Privacy Control. The Cookie Notice adds that free McAfee products may share device and advertising identifiers with web browsing or app usage with select partners for targeted ads, with an opt-out in the product settings.

For users in the European Economic Area the controller of personal data is Avast Software s.r.o., Pikrtova 1737/1A, Prague 4, Czech Republic, so EU data protection law applies to it. Avast's parent, Gen Digital Inc., has its privacy team in Tempe, Arizona, and the group's general privacy notice says it may disclose data to public authorities and in legal proceedings. In the US case of 2024 the FTC named Avast Limited, a UK company, and its Czech subsidiary.

McAfee, LLC is registered in California and has its headquarters at 6220 America Center Drive, San Jose. The privacy notice names McAfee Ireland Limited as the controller for consumers in the EEA and says McAfee may disclose data to law enforcement and government authorities, including for national security purposes and in response to subpoenas.

Avast was founded in Prague in 1988 as Alwil Software. On 12 September 2022 the US company now called Gen Digital, listed on NASDAQ, completed its acquisition of Avast; the Avast website and policies now carry Gen Digital's name.

On 1 March 2022 McAfee Corp. announced the completion of its acquisition by an investor group led by Advent International and funds advised by Permira, with Crosspoint Capital Partners, CPP Investments, GIC and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority; the deal was valued at over $14 billion and McAfee left the stock exchange.