ESET HOME Security Essential vs Kaspersky Premium Comparison

• Essential for 1 year: $59.99 for the first year; renewal price not published
• Premium for 1 year: $89.99 for the first year; renewal price not published
• Ultimate for 1 year: $179.99 for the first year; renewal price not published
• NOD32 Antivirus for 1 year: $39.99 for the first year; renewal price not published

• Standard for 3 devices, renewal: $34.99 a year, the renewal price the store states
• Standard for 3 devices, first year: Intro: $30.99 for the first year
• Plus for 3 devices, renewal: $46.99 a year, the renewal price the store states
• Plus for 3 devices, first year: Intro: $40.99 for the first year
• Premium for 3 devices, renewal: $54.99 a year, the renewal price the store states
• Premium for 3 devices, first year: Intro: $42.99 for the first year

The privacy policy says the LiveGrid reputation system compares one-way hashes of scanned files with a cloud list of safe and unsafe files. The separate LiveGrid feedback system, offered at installation, submits suspicious files to ESET's lab by default once it is on, along with the file path, name, date and process; office documents and PDFs are excluded by default. The privacy policy adds that feedback can include IP addresses, website addresses and crash dumps.

The products and services privacy policy lists what the software can send to Kaspersky: threats detected, information on installed applications, the addresses of websites visited (logins and passwords removed up to the host name), operating system events, Wi-Fi connection data and, in its words, suspicious files that 'can be automatically sent for a more thorough analysis by machine learning-based technologies and, in rare cases, by a malware analyst'. The files are mainly executables; harmless files or parts of them may be sent too, to reduce false positives. The policy says the Kaspersky Security Network Statement and the Marketing Statement list data that users decide to provide by ticking a box in the product settings. Kaspersky says files shared by users in Europe, North and Latin America, the Middle East and several Asia-Pacific countries are processed in two data centres in Zurich, Switzerland.

The privacy policy for ESET HOME subscriptions says ESET may process 'aggregated statistical data relating to usage of our Services to improve them' and use the account email to advertise similar ESET products unless you opt out. It says 'We do not share your data with third parties', apart from ESET's own affiliates, partners for licensing and support, and cloud and billing processors. Billing records are kept 10 years; licensing data is anonymised within 12 months after the licence expires.

The privacy policy says data is used to protect users, to update the antivirus databases, to analyse threats, and to improve products through 'statistical research and analyses' on de-identified data. It also lists 'personalized information and offers from Kaspersky, including ... Kaspersky and third-party products and services, marketing offers, discounts'. Kaspersky may share data within its group and with service providers that supply 'web analytics, data processing, advertising, e-mail distribution, payment processing, order fulfillment'. On Android it processes a hash of a device identifier. The policy version opened is dated 28 February 2022. It states that data can be processed in Russia, China and Belarus among other countries, and that data from users in the EU is processed 'on servers located in the EU and Russia'.

Controls over how Kaspersky develops, tests and releases the antivirus databases for Windows and Unix systems, August 2025 to July 2026

ESET, spol. s r.o. is registered in Bratislava, Slovak Republic, and is the data controller for ESET HOME subscriptions under the EU GDPR. In the United States the plans are sold by ESET North America in San Diego, whose own privacy policy covers the website and purchases.

Kaspersky calls itself a private international company with its holding company, Kaspersky Labs Limited, in the United Kingdom, and its operating company, AO Kaspersky Lab, in Russia. The privacy policy is issued by AO Kaspersky Lab, Moscow, and names Kaspersky Labs GmbH in Ingolstadt, Germany, as the group's representative for EU data protection law. The US Commerce Department's 2024 entity listing names AO Kaspersky Lab and OOO Kaspersky Group in Russia and Kaspersky Labs Limited in the United Kingdom. Kaspersky says it has no ties to the Russian government and is not obliged to hand over user information under Russian surveillance laws; the Commerce Department found that it 'is subject to the jurisdiction of the Russian Government and must comply with requests for information'.

Established in 1992 by Miroslav Trnka, Peter Paško and Rudolf Hrubý as a privately owned limited liability company. ESET's press kit lists Peter Paško as chairman of the board and Miroslav Trnka as a board member; Richard Marko is CEO.

Kaspersky was founded in 1997 and has its headquarters in Moscow. It describes itself as privately held; neither its privacy policy nor its FAQ names the owners of the UK holding company. The US Treasury sanctioned twelve board members and senior executives of AO Kaspersky Lab in June 2024; Kaspersky states that neither the company, its subsidiaries nor its chief executive was designated.