ESET HOME Security Essential vs Surfshark Antivirus 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

• Surfshark One, renewal: $99 a year after the first term, whether that term was 1 or 2 years
• Surfshark One, month to month: $19.95 billed every month, no discount
• Surfshark One, first 2 years: Intro: $67.23 for the first 27 months (24 plus 3 bonus months), then $99 a year
• Surfshark One, first year: Intro: $44.85 for the first 15 months (12 plus 3 bonus months), then $99 a year
• Surfshark One+, renewal: $119 a year after the first term

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.

Surfshark says Cloud Protect checks suspicious files against its cloud database in real time 'without ever seeing your personal data', but neither the product pages, the help center nor the privacy policy say whether a file's fingerprint or the file itself is sent.

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's antivirus section uses device information to enforce the device limit and processes the malware name and type, country, OS and user ID for statistics. Separately, with your consent, the apps send device and engagement data to analytics and attribution providers, and the policy says advertising partners help attribute sales and show interest-based ads. The policy says Surfshark does not sell personal data.

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.

The contract is with Surfshark B.V., registered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The terms of service are governed by the law of the British Virgin Islands.

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.

Surfshark B.V. sells the antivirus as part of its own subscription. The privacy policy says it shares data with its group companies in the EEA, the United States and the United Kingdom, without naming them.