Avast Premium Security Review 2023: Is It Worth It

Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience.

Avast internet security worth it?

Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience.

By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising.

By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform.

For more information, please see our Cookie Notice and our Privacy Policy .

Avast Premium Security Review 2023: Is It Worth It?

Avast is a big name in the antivirus game, but is it still as appealing as it once was in terms of protection and overall security?

Patti Croft , Author
Steph Trejos , Editor
Last updated Jul 10, 2023

Learn More
On Avast’s website

• High antivirus test scores
• Ransomware protection
• No parental controls

If you want an antivirus that won’t break the bank and has good security ratings, Avast is a reputable option that will work for many people who want a security suite that provides great ease of use.

We may receive compensation from the products and services mentioned in this story, but the opinions are the author’s own. Compensation may impact where offers appear. We have not included all available products or offers. Learn more about how we make money and our editorial policies.

Advertiser Disclosure

All About Cookies is an independent, advertising-supported website. Some of the offers that appear on this site are from third-party advertisers from which All About Cookies receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear).

All About Cookies does not include all financial or credit offers that might be available to consumers nor do we include all companies or all available products. Information is accurate as of the publishing date and has not been provided or endorsed by the advertiser.

Editorial Policy

The All About Cookies editorial team strives to provide accurate, in-depth information and reviews to help you, our reader, make online privacy decisions with confidence. Here’s what you can expect from us:

• All About Cookies makes money when you click the links on our site to some of the products and offers that we mention. These partnerships do not influence our opinions or recommendations. Read more about how we make money.
• Partners are not able to review or request changes to our content except for compliance reasons.
• We aim to make sure everything on our site is up-to-date and accurate as of the publishing date, but we cannot guarantee we haven’t missed something. It’s your responsibility to double-check all information before making any decision. If you spot something that looks wrong, please let us know.

When searching for online protection, Avast Premium Security is a good investment. Third-party tester SE Labs gave it an AAA rating, which is the highest possible score. With competitive pricing and a 60-day free trial, we think Avast antivirus is worth checking out.

The Premium Security package includes ransomware, website scanning for safer online shopping and banking, and phishing protection. These features, test results, and a low cost make Avast a good antivirus solution for many security needs. We’ll cover the features in-depth, as well as discuss what we liked and weren’t crazy about with Avast Premium Security.

Learn More
On Avast’s website

• High antivirus test scores
• Ransomware protection
• No parental controls

In this article

Avast Premium Security overview

Price	$50.28-$119.88/first yr
Free plan	Yes
# of devices protected	1-10
Malware scans	Manual and scheduled
Firewall	Yes for PC, no for Mac
Phishing protection	Yes
Parental controls	No
Details	View Avast Plans

Prices as of 5/23/2023.
All About Cookies Rating
Overall Rating:

“Avast is still a good option if you want antivirus protection while shopping or working online, and desire features such as ransomware and phishing protection. This is especially true if you want more straightforward software without some of the bells and whistles other products may offer.”

Who is Avast Premium Security best for?

• Best for the user who wants protection for multiple devices, but who isn’t concerned about family protection features or extras such as parental controls and optimization tools.

Because Avast Premium doesn’t offer parental controls, you won’t get online family protection for children. That means you won’t be able to monitor what your kids do online in most cases, so it may not be the best antivirus software for families. If you’re looking for a password manager, you’ll have to search elsewhere for that, as well — Avast doesn’t offer that option.

There have also been concerns regarding user data being sold by Avast. According to the company, the data was stripped of personally identifiable information. That would make it difficult, but not impossible, for hackers to decrypt.

Avast is still a good option if you want antivirus protection while shopping or working online, and desire features such as ransomware and phishing protection. This is especially true if you want more straightforward software without some of the bells and whistles other products may offer.

Avast Premium Security pros and cons

• High antivirus test scores
• Website scanning for online protection
• Ransomware protection

• No parental controls or data breach monitoring
• Firewall is only offered for PCs

Avast Premium Security features

We like that Avast offers more than fundamental protection when you get a premium subscription. Additional features such as website scanning and ransomware protection are helpful for better cybersecurity. Many people use online banking today, and being concerned about financial data being compromised is a legitimate issue.

Because Avast Premium Security scans websites for legitimacy, avoiding scam websites that closely resemble real ones may make online banking and shopping safer. Because we tested this product using a Macbook Air, we’re not thrilled that the firewall only works for Windows users.

The Webcam Shield, Avast’s webcam protection, is also only available to PC users. That is a valuable feature, so we hope Avast makes it an option for Mac users in the near future.

Malware and antivirus scan

Avast Premium Security offers manual and automatic scans you can schedule for the most convenient times to check your device vulnerabilities. Avast’s quick scan and full scan are named Smart Scan and Deep Scan, respectively.

We ran several scans while reviewing the software and were impressed at how fast even the Deep Scan checked through the files. From start to finish, it took fewer than nine minutes to scan more than 943,000 files. That’s pretty fast considering some scans can take a few hours to run.

The Smart Scan ran in about two minutes and checked more than 160,000 files. After it finished scanning, we received a notification in Scan Central that the premium features were maximizing our security. These features are Ransomware Shield, Network Inspector scanning, and Real Site protection for fake websites.

Using the scanning features was easy, and there were no issues with either Deep Scan or Smart Scan. For more specific scanning, Avast offers a Targeted Scan where you can select only the files or folders you want to check. If you use external devices, the antivirus also includes External Storage Scan.

Phishing protection

One of the most common methods of phishing is through email. In an email, a scammer will send links or attachments that lead you to malicious websites and attempt to steal your information. Avast Premium Security includes the Email Guardian feature that scans your direct emails and flags anything suspicious.

Avast also scans websites to verify you’re visiting legitimate sites and not fake phishing sites meant to look genuine. That makes using your financial credentials safer when shopping and banking online, often working better than the default protections offered by Chrome and Firefox.

Firewall

Avast Premium Security offers a firewall, but only for devices using Microsoft Windows. It monitors network traffic between your device and outside networks to keep unauthorized users from invading your security.

According to the support information page on Avast’s website, you don’t have to do much to use the firewall except keep the option enabled. With Avast Premium Security, you’ll also get alerts if someone attempts to scan your network port or intercept your network traffic. These features are called Port Scan Alerts and ARP Spoofing Alerts.

Real-time protection

The real-time protection feature runs in the background while you’re online. The software blocks malicious threats without being intrusive. It also blocks unsafe downloads, which helps reduce the chance of malware on your device.

There is nothing to set up with Avast’s real-time protection. You get the Core Shields feature that includes the File Shield, Web Shield, and Real Site options toggled on by default. These all help protect you while online, providing you with malware protection and keeping your device free of computer viruses.

Ransomware protection

Avast Premium Security offers ransomware protection options for various file types, including videos, photos, and documents. You can tailor these preferences as you like, but all are turned on by default, except for the System option.

Avast also protects against hackers gaining remote control of your device. The Ransomware Shield is on by default, so there’s nothing to do to set up the feature. It protects documents and pictures, and you can add a new folder for protection if needed. You can also stop protecting a folder at any time by selecting the box beside it.

Anti-fraud protection

Although you get the safer online website scanning feature, Avast Premium Security doesn’t offer anti-fraud protection. If that’s an important feature you’re looking for, you’ll have to seek an antivirus product elsewhere.

Bonus features

You will get a few add-ons with this software. One is the Stay Safe Virus Guarantee if you auto-renew your subscription. That’s handy if you get infected with a virus that Avast can’t remove. With this bonus feature, you get your money back.

With Avast Premium Security, you also get help remotely for malware or other malicious programs. That could help if your device is infected with a nasty virus, and you can’t remove it just by using the software.

Instant alerts for Wi-Fi weaknesses and intruders can also be beneficial. If you know how antivirus software works, you’ll know they don’t all offer this protection. The pop-up notifications can be adjusted to control how frequently the issues get displayed. Users who are working online and don’t want to be disturbed will appreciate this.

The Network Inspector is helpful for reminding users to run a scan when joining a network for the first time. That could prevent users from downloading malware from an unsecured network.

Finally, Avast Secure Browser is a free download that aims to protect users when online. It blocks malicious websites and downloads, hides what you type online so others cannot intercept your communications, and comes with a virtual banking mode, designed to keep your financial data safe.

Avast Premium Security test results

When looking at how Avast Premium Security performed in independent testing, we viewed the results from SE Labs for its December 2022 period. SE Labs tests various antivirus programs by exposing them to real-world, online threat scenarios for effectiveness. Although Avast scored only three points below a perfect rating, it was still lower than the others, with the exception of Webroot Antivirus.

When digging into the data, Avast missed some points on the Legitimate Accuracy Rating. We should note that the version of Avast tested by SE Labs is the free version, but it should be similar to the Premium product. Avast also won the SE Labs AAA security award, so it’s not inferior security software.

Avast Premium Security SE Labs results December 2022

Test type	Score (%)
Total accuracy rating	97%

Test results from Oct-Dec 2022

Our Avast Premium Security experience

We had a positive experience testing Avast Premium Security. Everything worked seamlessly, and the antivirus was easy and quick to install. We tested the software on a Macbook Air using Big Sur 11.3.

The features we found to be the most remarkable were the Smart Scan and Deep Scan. Neither of these showed issues with lag time while having multiple browser tabs opened. The scans were simple and straightforward to perform. None of the scans we ran showed any malware threats.

Other features, such as the Network Inspector and Ransomware Shield, were equally easy to use because there was no setup for the operation. These options are already on when the product gets installed, so there’s nothing extra to do, which is good for users who don’t want to troubleshoot issues with complicated installations.

The Personal Privacy section lets you decide how or if you want your data shared. This is shown as a way to make improvements for security threats. If you don’t want to help with Avast’s analytics usage, you can simply uncheck those boxes.

We mentioned previously that to get the extra benefit of the Stay Safe Virus Guarantee, you must set up auto-renew for your subscription. However, some users may not be comfortable doing this.

Avast Premium Security compatibility

With any software, you want to know if it’s compatible with your device before you buy it. You should also remember that even if it’s compatible, some features may not work with every system. Avast Premium works with the following operating systems and devices:

• Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, and 7 (both the 32 and 64-bit versions)
• macOS 10.12 or later
• Android phones or tablets with OS Google Android 6.0 or higher (Marshmallow)
• iPhones or iPads with iOS 12.0 or higher

Avast Premium Security customer support

Avast Premium Security has an impressive customer support system in place. Still, we decided to call and ask why the firewall feature was not available for Mac users. After a lengthy discussion and remote access was granted to the rep, we were not given a reason. The support rep told us that he thought it should work, but he was unable to find access to the firewall either.

There’s a toll-free number (1-844-973-3072) to call, where a representative is available 24/7 to give quotes for Avast tech to fix non-antivirus issues and help with printer installs or internet problems. That is all done remotely.

There’s also a knowledge base that offers help for technical and nontechnical Avast issues. If you’d rather contact someone directly, you can use the contact page.

Avast Premium Security cost

Avast has different plans, no matter the budget. There is a free plan if you choose not to pay for a subscription. We’ll show the different features that come with each one in the table below.

Avast is a straightforward antivirus for people who want good security without a ton of extras. For software with good overall security scores and additional features such as Email Guardian and Ransomware Shield, the prices are reasonable. Other antivirus products cost two and three times that, though they may offer more features for the money.

Avast Premium Security plans and prices

Avast One Essential	Avast Premium Security	Avast One Individual	Avast One Platinum
Price for first year	Free	Starts at $69.48/first yr	Starts at $50.28/first yr	Starts at $119.88/first yr
# devices supported	1	1–10	5–10	30
Compatible with	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
Manual and auto scan
Phishing protection
Firewall	Yes for Windows	Yes for Windows	Yes for Windows
Real-time protection
Ransomware protection
Parental controls
Performance optimization tools
VPN
Data breach alerts
Identity theft protection features
Details	Learn More	Learn More	Learn More	Learn More

Prices as of 5/23/2023.

Avast products offer 30-to 60-day free trials, so you can try them out without risk and not spend your money if you decide you don’t like them.

Avast One review: Well-priced PC security with excellent protection

At a glance

Expert’s Rating

Pros

• Good new design
• Well priced
• Excellent performance

Cons

• Smart scan requires too much user intervention
• Avast asks to install Google Chrome

Our Verdict

Avast One is a much needed improvement with excellent pricing, and all the features you’ve come to expect from this premium suite. Both the Individual and Family plans are well worth a look for anyone looking for a solid third-party security suite.

Editor’s note: This review was updated on 3/3/23 to update pricing and plan details, as well as third-party test results.

There are two things Avast’s paid security suites have been known for besides solid protection: good design and high prices. That’s changing a little bit, and for the better, with Avast One, the company’s new top-tier product. Avast still offers a free version, Avast One Essential, as well as a Premium Security product that has fewer features but covers double the number of devices (10 instead of 5) but Avast One is the sweet (suite?) spot, with solid antivirus, some useful extra features, and multi-device coverage. Plus the pricing has improved over the years.

Avast One includes an entirely new desktop app. Gone are the blue and purple tones, and the orange splotch logo. In place of all that, you get a more subdued aesthetic, with a lot of whites and lightly shaded colors, accented by a bolder, and easily spotted blue for the interface buttons.

The left rail has four simple menu items: Home, Explore, Messages, and Account. This makes Avast One look deceivingly simple, but there are a ton of features once you start digging in.

The first time you fire up Avast One it asks to run a smart scan, a common feature in a number of antivirus suites. Smart Scans combine a security scan with scans for other problems such as browser trackers and an excess of temporary files. The basic idea is to clean up your PC and keep it running smoothly, as opposed to just scanning for malware.

This is a good idea since many top suites come with PC cleaning and maintenance utilities, but often require you to activate them. A smart scan gets you to use at least some of these capabilities, which is important considering some of them used to cost extra and now are just included in the suite. The one issue with Avast’s approach is that it does the scan in three stages: browser threats, viruses & malware, and PC cleaning. That’s fine, but it requires user intervention to initiate each phase instead of just plowing through the entire scan and delivering a report at the end. The constant requirement to continue at the end of each phase gets a little annoying. Not a deal breaker, but this could be handled better.

While the smart scan is the primary scan Avast asks you to do, scroll down Avast One’s Home page and you get shortcuts to run a deep scan, a targeted scan on a specific folder or set of folders, initiate a VPN scan, or use the PC optimization tools.

Moving on to Explore you get into the meat of Avast One’s features. Explore is really more of a launchpad for all the deeper controls of the security suite. For example, under Explore you have Scan Center, which has its own screen and includes the controls for all the types of scans you want. This includes the types of scans we’ve already talked about, as well as a boot-time scan. You can also save scans in the Custom Scans section if there’s a type of scan you want to run repeatedly. This is also the section where you can schedule scans, such as running a deep scan once a month, and perform a quick scan every day.

Other key security features inside Explore include file shield for monitoring changes to files for malicious behavior, ransomware protection, web shield for staying safe online, a firewall allowing you to block internet access on a per-app basis, webcam protection, and a number of other features.

The firewall is particularly nice since it offers customizable security in a very simple interface. It’s not the most advanced firewall you can find, but it’s a firewall that even non-techies can use if they feel the need. For paid users, the firewall hides key identifiers of your PC from other devices on the same network such as the PC’s name and the type of device. If another device starts doing a port scan on your PC, the firewall will notify you, and it’s built to deter man-in-the-middle attacks.

Avast’s built-in VPN allows unlimited bandwidth as part of the paid packages, with a wide range of country locations to choose from. Free users also aren’t left out, with a solid 5GB per week. This is quite a switch from Avast’s prior suites that wanted more money to use the VPN. The paid version supports peer-to-peer transfers, as well as streaming servers for viewing geo-restricted content. Avast can also automatically turn on the VPN when you do things like go to banking or shopping websites. Those are nice additions, though be aware that you really shouldn’t be going onto a banking website over Wi-Fi on a network you don’t trust.

The paid version also has what is commonly called dark web monitoring but what Avast calls Password Protection. This feature alerts you if any of your passwords for online services ever get revealed in a data breach.

The other two parts of Avast One are for managing your account and receiving notifications from the company. That’s it. The interface is far more simplified than it once was, and it already wasn’t very complicated. This is an excellent design and is easily navigable by anyone from a grizzled PC veteran to a novice user.

Performance

Testing house AV-Test gave the free Avast One Essential, which uses the same detection engines as Avast One, a 100 percent score for protection against 0-day malware and widespread and prevalent malware, in its most recent December 2022 evaluation.

AV-Comparatives’ September 2022 Malware Protection Test found that Avast blocked 100 percent of threats from more than 10,000 samples. You can’t get better than that.

AV-Comparatives’ real-world protection test for July and August found that Avast blocked 100 percent of threats from 626 samples. Again, top of the pack.

For our in-house hardware performance tests, we found that Avast had no real performance impact on our large file transfer test, archiving test, and the Handbrake encoding test. The only noticeable change is that unzip times were actually a little bit faster at just under 7 minutes with Avast installed compared with around 8 minutes without.

For the PC Mark Extended test, the PC performed slightly better, with an average score of 1630.67 after three consecutive runs compared with an average of 1643 without Avast installed. The main performance impact was found in the productivity tests that deal with spreadsheets and text documents. That’s perhaps not surprising given that Avast One is monitoring files for malicious changes. The difference isn’t too huge overall, however; and unless you’re opening a ton of large datasets in Excel you shouldn’t see much of a performance impact. Gaming performance was unaffected by Avast One.

Pricing

Avast One costs $29.99 for the first year for new customers, with a regular price of $99.99 per year. For that price you get one Avast account that covers five devices. That’s quite a switch from Avast’s old Premier pricing that would cover a single PC for $70.

Avast One Family provides six accounts and coverage for up to 30 devices and is priced at $48.99 for the first year for new customers, and a regular price of $139.99 per year.

If a paid suite isn’t your bag then there’s also Avast One Essential, which includes a lot of features for free, including that 5GB of VPN usage every week. But you miss out on items like the sensitive data shield, webcam protection, and optimization features such as the disk cleaner and driver updater.

Avast One is available for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.

Conclusion

Avast One is a very good security suite. The price is right, and its protection is excellent. The performance impacts are negligible for most users, and it’s also a good value within the Avast lineup, which is not something I would’ve said about Avast Premier a few years ago. If you’re looking for a new security suite, or want to upgrade your current Avast lifestyle, I’d highly recommend looking at Avast One.

Editor’s note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article.