McAfee vs Norton Antivirus 2024 [Detailed Comparision]

The electronic device needed to be secured that holds your crucial & personal data. And keeping your device secure with antivirus is the first step towards blocking the breaches. Both McAfee and Norton are well-known and most-used Antivirus brands. Both Norton and McAfee offer some great features for users. Users often get confused between the two, hence in this article, we will do a detailed analysis of McAfee vs Norton antivirus. You can read our latest article Antivirus and VPN both are important for keeping your online activities secure, but they serve different purposes, so it’s important to understand the difference between them.

About McAfee

McAfee was founded in 1987 by John McAfee. It has been securing devices over the last 30 years. The company provides services for protection against viruses, malware file-less attacks, and other threats. Today McAfee runs a global threat intelligence work to collect data on threats from over 500 million threat points.  It was acquired by Intel in 2017.

About Norton

Norton Antivirus has been developed and distributed by Norton life lock since 1991. It has been around for 28 years and making it one of the notable names in the industry. In May 1989, Symantec launched Symantec antivirus for the Macintosh now, this antivirus runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS.

What Are The Features of McAfee?

Both companies provide different features and functions, let’s have a look at their function and see how they are different from each other. With the Macfee you get the best virus protection and you can use it for both purposes.

McAfee Features

Let’s see first what McAfee has on its plate;

• Cloud-native and insight-driven- Its cloud-based platform protects data and stops threats across devices, networks, clouds (laaS, PaaS, and SaaS), and on-premises environments.
• Threat intelligence work- McAfee has built a large and widespread global threat intelligence network through which, they constantly analyze and collect data on threats from over 500 million endpoints across the globe.
• Security Awareness- They use security analytics, cloud security, SIEM, and machine instruction to protect, detect, and correct to happen at the same time from device to cloud.
• Security transformed- They provide leverage security solution purpose that is built with a transformational mind. Simply stating they are evolving their products with the time and you can say a step ahead of the time.
• Risk management is key- with this, you can meet compliance requirements, protect your intellectual property and you can manage financial risk and reputation.
• Threat intelligence and AI- They harness the threat and artificial intelligence to improve potency and minimize false positives and delegate tasks.
• One-stop-shop protection- They provide total protection in one easy-to-use subscription with a variety of antivirus and privacy features to protect you and your family’s PCs, Mac computers, and mobile devices.
• Cloud security- This security enables your business to speed up with total visibility and control in a hybrid cloud environment. Their cloud security solution offers data and workload protection across the cloud spectrum.
• Endpoint security- their endpoint security solution enables you to battle file-less, zero-day, ransomware, and nuisance attack with an advanced increased defense and a unified management experience.

What Are the Features of Norton?

So, if you have seen the McAfee features let’s watch Norton features what they provide.

• Device security- Norton is a powerful antivirus application. It has gained perfect results against the malware attack test. Norton frequently ranks above the top-performing cybersecurity product on the market.
• Cloud Backup- Norton’s cloud backup security feature provides you with secure remote storage for your main files. It’s the cheapest plan 360 standard gives you 10GB of cloud backup space, Norton 360 deluxe offers 50GB, and the most expensive plan Norton premium gives you 75GB of cloud backup storage.
• Parental control- Norton gives you a good quality of parental control which is essential for your kids(not available in McAfee). Norton gives presets for four different age groups. This feature will help you to keep an eye on your kid’s activities.
• Secure VPN (Virtual private network)- Norton’s secure virtual private network gives you a solid “no logs” policy. It does not keep your browsing history. Norton Secure VPN has a server in over 30 countries and it also lets you use unlimited data.
• Password Manager- With this Norton’s password manager you can store the username, passwords, text notes, contact details, and payment card details by applying secure 256-bit-AES coding. You can evaluate the strength of your existing password and generate a new password.

McAfee vs Norton Antivirus Pricing plan

McAfee

Pricing is the most important thing for a consumer. Let’s have a look at what pricing plan packages they have and how you can take the advantage of them.

Norton

Norton offers many different products of antivirus at different prices. Have a look at the below-mentioned price comparison.

Note* Prices may vary according to the company.

So, you have seen both the companies have divided their plans into four categories. You can choose wisely according to your budget or affordability.

Pros and Cons of McAfee vs Norton

Pros of McAfee

• It has a two-way firewall that blocks unauthorized users from entering your PC. McAfee has gained a good malware protection score.
• McAfee gives you improved performance and proactive protection in real-time. It also protects all of your devices like Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices.
• It provides you 30-day money-back guarantee.
• McAfee has a magnified interface and is more user-friendly than its previous versions. It detects quickly malicious and fraudulent websites.
• It has a powerful firewall and gives you a secure promise of virus protection
• McAfee also has a ransom guard, PC Boost, and many bonus features.

Cons of McAfee

• McAfee missed some modified ransomware samples.
• Some lab has shown poor test result.
• Its PC boost Web speed up still works with chrome.
• McAfee mac edition has fewer features.
• Its setting controls are spread to a different locations through the interface making it hard to locate specific control.
• Their paid tech support is expensive.
• The potential to remove viruses from the PC that has been already infected is average.

Pros of Norton Antivirus

• Efficient malware protection– Norton gives you strong protection against malware attacks it detects and blocks most of malware attacks. Norton provides you with three-layer protection against all threats by applying heuristic analysis. It manages the behavior of the software and checks the misleading activities that affect your site.
• Advanced firewall protection- Norton’s software detects suspicious links and files before they damage the user’s computer and compromise all personal information. It is essential to protect your computer device from unauthorized internet users.
• Easy user interface- it has a very simple and easy installation process a consumer will get the user-friendly Norton’s interface.
• Security and privacy- Norton provides you with the best security and privacy from AV testing it has proved that it blocks all major threats from zero-day malware attacks.

Cons of Norton Antivirus

• Demanding on resources– Norton’s software requires considerable memory to function it affects your computer’s performance. Norton has said to improve this issue in the 2010 version so, that those who have old copies may have to deal with resource problems.
• Cost- Their plan and packages are so expensive consumers may not opt for or look forward to the other alternatives.
• Slow first scan- In the 2010 Norton antivirus application, you have to experience a slowness problem while scanning malware. This does not occur regularly but occasionally. A consumer must run a scan of the computer after installing the software.
• Uninstallation Problem- if you want to remove the Norton antivirus. The uninstallation process is very difficult.

Also read,

Norton 360 vs Norton Security Premium 

McAfee vs Norton: Customer Support

McAfee Antivirus

It gives you support on both live chat and phone, & phone and live chat are available 24/7 for English speakers. Live chat may not be a great option as it is available for just English speakers and the hours for the operation for phone support will fluctuate.

Their customer care representatives will get to you in just a few minutes, but it may be longer depending on the time of the day. In this case, they notify on the page of McAfee’s support that users expect longer wait times. They also provide you with detailed information on the knowledge base answer for a typical technical support issue. McAfee provides detailed support articles but that is lack of images or videos.

Its community forum is pretty active. You can ask the question and the other person will give you the answer. The best part of this forum is that it is available in different languages including Arabic, Italian, and Spanish.

McAfee also has a virtual technician to correct and fix the technical issue you can use it. It is not perfect but can answer some of your questions. If you are not near to your computer you can use the tech master – and advanced paid services to help troubleshoot the issues. If McAfee VPN not working on your devices then to fix this you can reinstall the VPN app or refresh your device.

Norton Antivirus

Norton Antivirus provides two levels of customer services premium and standard that give you quicker and more accessible customer service. This involves a variety of IT services that are not accessible through standard customer support. You can choose premium customer services by paying some additional charges. It has both its premium line as well as its standard customer service number both are different from each other.

Their customer representative resolves almost all of your problems over the phone like billing issues, subscription changes, order problems, installation difficulties, technical support, and troubleshooting.

Norton gives you support through phone live chat and community forums their phone support is available 24/7. They give you detailed FAQs that answer your queries. It does not provide e-mail support however when you take the support from live chat their agent will help you within a few minutes. Norton’s call handlers are helpful and polite and they easily answer all questions.

Which is better Norton vs McAfee?

McAfee and Norton are well-known antivirus software in the market. Both companies provide great antimalware protection without affecting your system performance. But after comparing the two antiviruses, the top products of Norton antivirus provide slightly more security features than McAfee. However, the price of McAfee is a bit cheaper than Norton with good security. You can compare both of these antiviruses as we have compared both of the main points.

Which internal security and antivirus are the best?

There are many antivirus software out there that provide you with the best features and functions. Some of them are:
Kaspersky total security
Bitdefender
Norton 360 deluxe
Trend micro maximum security
Sophos home premium
McAfee internet security
You can choose any of them according to your requirement and budget.

Final Verdict

Well after observing all the aspects, Norton and McAfee both are good antivirus products and are rich in features and functions. When it comes to price McAfee is a bit cheaper than Norton however Norton gives you better protection that is more useful such as a virtual private network (VPN), Webcam protection, Ransomware protection, etc.

But, when it comes to speed McAfee is much better than Norton. Both the software are best at their places. A consumer can buy any of it according to its needs and requirements.