Read this comprehensive Avira vs Avast guide that will help you make an informed decision about which product to choose for your computer’s security.

In today’s world, you need to be extra vigilant about protecting your personal computer against various kinds of malware threats (like viruses, Trojans, rootkits, spyware, etc.) because – needless to say – hackers have gotten a lot smarter with time, and are constantly in search of new ways to sneak into your computer.

Once these infected programs get into your computer, they can do a lot of terrible things like these: steal your sensitive data (like credit card information and passwords), cause your computer to crash or slow down, delete your personal data or photographs, or destroy your online business.

Luckily, there are several free and paid-for antivirus Software that you can use to protect your computer against these malware attacks. Avira and Avast are two of the respected security software in the market that will get the job done without any fuss.

In this Avira vs Avast comparison, I will be taking an in-depth look at the antivirus solutions offered by two of the most reputable security firms in the market to help you make an informed decision about which product to choose and why.

Before delving into details it is important that you get a quick overview of how an antivirus software detects and eliminates malware threats to keep your computer safe and secure.

How Does Antivirus Software Work?

The core of any antivirus software’s operation is its detection mechanism. It basically employs different methods of detection to check and compare your program files against a huge, robust library of virus definition files, which contain data on all the sorts of known/unknown malware threats and even potentially hazardous files. 

Any file that matches an existing definition file from the library is either removed by the software without any delay or flagged as suspicious, urging the user to take an appropriate action.

Most of the advanced antivirus programs continuously run in the background, checking every file you open or download from the internet, providing real-time protection in the process.

Now that you are aware of how antivirus software function, first see this summary infographic below and then continue reading this Avira vs Avast guide to find out which software you should be using to protect your computer.

Avira vs Avast: Which Product Packs More Features?

While you can rest assured that both of these software will do an excellent job at protecting your computer, it has to be said that Avast definitely packs a lot more features in its free version when compared to Avira, such as Wi-Fi inspector, email client protection, silent/gaming mode, and browser clean-up option.

But one handy tool which only Avira has in its free version is its firewall management. It’s a front-end management feature which will you help manage firewall setting directly in its software.

Both free software will allow you to create a bootable rescue disk, run quick and full scans at will, update other out-of-date software (Avira now has this feature too), enable web browsing protection, and clean/speedup you system (Avast’s cleanup tool is only free for 30 days).

However, you only get limited features and security with both the free versions. You should consider upgrading to a premium version if you want to take your protection game to the next level and be secure at all times.

With Avira Pro Antivirus 2018 which they just rolled out, you get advance real-time cloud protection, web guard against malicious sites, intelligent repair system, ad blocking functionality, and premium customer support – all at 44.9$ per annum.

You will get a similar set of features with Avast Pro Antivirus 2017: sandbox technology to run suspicious files in an environment separate from your computer, real site feature to keep hackers at bay, ransomware shield that protects folders on your computer, firewall, and premium in-product assistance. It will cost you 49.99$ a year.

Avira vs Avast: Which Software Uses Less System Resources?

Both Avira and Avast are extremely lightweight software and account for minimal system resources.

Previously, Avast used to be bigger in size and used much more system resources when compared to its competitors. But that’s not the case anymore with the implementation of a stub installer (which Avira uses too) that significantly reduced its size.

Having said that, recent independent studies conducted by AV-Comparatives have shown that Avira still holds a slight edge over Avast in this category.

Getavast.net also conducted a test to find out how long it takes for a computer to boot into the operating system with Avast or Avira installed, and they concluded that Avast inserted a small delay in startup time as compared to Avira, which had no impact on Windows loading time.

In another test, they tested the overall computer performance with Avira or Avast installed to see what impact both of these software put on different essential computer operations. Avira maintained its slight lead over its competitor in that experiment too.

So, Avira is the winner in this category, but Avast is pretty close too. Needless to say, neither of them will greatly slow down your computer, even if your hardware is a little bit behind the times.

Avira vs Avast: Which Software Provides Better Protection?

Both Avira and Avast free antivirus software are incredibly good at identifying and crushing malware, and employ more or less the same signature-matching detection technology that is based on heuristic monitoring principle.

However, Avast came out as a winner in the recent independent tests carried out by Germany’s respected AV-TEST in May and June 2017.

It successfully detected 100% of previously unknown real-world malware in both tests on Windows 10, and blocked 99.8% and 99.9% of widespread viruses in May and June respectively, returning only three false positives.

On Windows 7, it’s protection scores were pretty much the same as it blocked 100 percent of zero-day malware, and 100% and 99.9% of widespread malware.

Avira’s detection rate when tested on Windows 10 dropped to 99.9% in June 2017 as opposed to 100% in the previous month. But it’s widespread virus detection rate was recorded at an excellent 100% in both tests.

However, its performance in Windows 7 results was not as good as Avast’s, as it only stopped 98.9% and 98.1% of previously unseen malware in both tests respectively. Its widespread malware detection rate was recorded at 99.8% and 99.9%.

So, Avast is better in terms of protection and offers a slightly advanced malware-scanner that will is more than capable of identifying all the known and unknown threats.

Avira vs Avast: Which Offers Cleaner User Interface?

An attractive visual appearance and a clean navigation is something everyone loves, and both Avira and Avira won’t disappoint you if that is what you prefer too.

Avast’s modern-style dark interface sits nicely on just about any operating system, and has a vertical menu on the left that comprises of four tabs – status, protection, privacy and performance – that contain all its features. At the bottom, there is an unobtrusive banner that asks you to upgrade to the premium version for added protection.

The green color indicates that everything is fine and no further action is needed on your part, while red signals a problem.

Avira, which previously used to be slightly outdated, has significantly improved its user experience in its latest version (they like to call it 2018 version) but is still a bit overwhelming.

From Avira Connect dashboard, you have the option to access any tool with just one click.

Its Antivirus interface looks like a typical Windows application, with five tabs (status, scan, modules, quarantine, and activity) on the left that is arranged in a vertical menu. You can access to settings using the button that is placed at the bottom left.

The color scheme is bright, with green representing that your device is up-to-date and orange for premium options.

So, Avast clearly leads the way in this Avira vs Avast competition category.

Avira vs Avast: Which Is The Most Popular Solution?

To figure out which of the two products is the most popular choice all over the world is not an easy task. Both Avira and Avast claim that their product is the most downloaded free antivirus solution on the internet. However, if you take a deep look at the numbers you’ll see that one is clearly ahead of the other.

OPSWAT, which releases reports about the market share captured by different antivirus companies, says in its latest report that Avast is leading the overall market with 19.11%, followed by ESET (14.49%) and McAfee (9.57%). Avira is fifth on the list with only 7.32 percent market share. 

On CNET’s download.com, which is the World’s most popular software download portal, Avast has a total of 406 million downloads as opposed to Avira’s only 147 million. It also boasts a better average user rating of 4.5 stars out of 5, and has also received over 27,000 votes – nearly six times the votes Avira has accumulated.

Avast also has a bigger following on social media to this date, where it boasts over 4 million Facebook fans and 181k Twitter followers. On the other hand, Avira’s Facebook tally is just over 1.5 million and Twitter’s nearly 19k.

Overall, it can be safely said that Avast is the most downloaded (and popular) antivirus solution, and it massively beats Avira in the ‘popularity’ category of this Avira vs Avast comparison.

Final Thoughts

While it is true that Avira’s lightweight free antivirus product packs a punch (and also includes several extra utility tools that are pretty handy too), Avast’s solution is much more comprehensive in terms of protection and also offers great features on the side that are usually found in the premium plans.

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