Bitdefender vs Sophos: which antivirus is better?

Bitdefender and Sophos are both longstanding products in the antivirus space. Bitdefender is known for its affordability and excellent malware protection, while Sophos has been known for its enterprise antivirus. But which one is the better product?

For this comparison, I tested each antivirus’s real-time protection and scans, system performance impact, and malware detection accuracy through both in-house and independent lab tests.

I also compared their features, pricing, and customer support to give you a clear answer to who wins this Bitdefender vs Sophos showdown.

Bitdefender vs. Sophos at a glance

During our tests, both Bitdefender and Sophos provided strong protection, scoring well on both external lab tests and internal testing. However, they differed in terms of affordability and the plans offered. Here's a quick breakdown of each product in a nutshell:

	Bitdefender Antivirus	Sophos Home
⭐ Rating:	4.9 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★	4.6 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
🥇 Overall rank:	#1 out of #30	#5 out of #30
🔥 Coupons:	Bitdefender coupon 78% OFF	Sophos Home coupon 25% OFF
💵 Price:	From $12.99/year	from $44.99/year
✂️ Free version:	Yes	30-day free trial only
🖥️ Platforms:	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS	Windows, Mac, Android, iOS

Bitdefender vs Sophos: company background

Bitdefender and Sophos are both long-time competitors in the antivirus scene. Reaching back decades, the products have been trusted by millions of customers around the world.

Bitdefender software was originally created in 1990 by SOFTWIN, one of the first IT companies in post-communist Romania. First sold as AVX (Antivirus Expert), before rebranding to Bitdefender in 2001. The company is currently privately owned, with founder Florin Talpeș serving as CEO since its launch.

Sophos has an even longer history, being founded in 1985 by the UK-based duo of Jan Hruska and Peter Lammer. Since then, it has changed hands multiple times, being traded on the London Stock Exchange between 2015 and 2020, before being removed from the market after a takeover by American private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

Bitdefender vs Sophos: which offers better protection?

In order to see which of the two products offers better protection, I decided to look at both third-party lab tests and in-house testing I performed with the help of the Cybernews research team.

	Bitdefender	Sophos
Independent tests	Highest marks	Highest marks
Real-time protection	75%	76%
Firewall	Effective	Effective (separate product)

First off, in terms of lab tests, Sophos's home protection software unfortunately doesn't have any recent results on AV-TEST or AV-Comparatives. Bitdefender, on the other hand, has excellent lab test results, earning perfect marks from AV-TEST, along with a Top Product certification. AV-Comparatives also gave Bitdefender its highest, Advanced+ certification in its September 2025 malware protection test.

However, the one lab test of Sophos’ home antivirus I could find, performed by SE Labs, similarly had it scoring high marks. Unfortunately, Bitdefender hasn't been recently tested by SE Labs, making it impossible to compare the two head-to-head in a single test.

The test I performed with the Cybernews research team mostly confirms the lab tests. Both products performed well when faced with zero-day threats from bazaar.abuse.ch, detecting around 75% of them, which can be compared to the performance of our top picks, TotalAV and Norton 360.

Real-time malware protection

To test Bitdefender’s and Sophos’ real-time protection, I tested both products on a Windows 11 VM with 6 cores allocated from an AMD Ryzen 5 5600G and 8GB RAM. I then planted 100 malware samples from bazaar.abuse.ch, and checked whether each software would detect them.

Bitdefender detected 75% of the planted malware during real-time protection testing. While not a perfect result, in my experience, the samples we plant during testing are often hard to detect, and I have seen other real-time protection tests fail completely.

Sophos achieved a similar result, detecting 76% of the samples in real-time. What's interesting is that the samples it missed were mostly the same as those Bitdefender missed, leading me to believe that the samples I planted were challenging for both antivirus suites.

Firewall protection

Both Bitdefender and Sophos offer their own firewall solutions, which is a big plus if you need to tailor your computer's protection to your exact needs.

While both perform without any issue, I must note that Sophos’ firewall is a separate product from its home protection plan. In comparison, Bitdefender includes its firewall in the bundle. That's why, if a firewall is your primary concern, I'd definitely recommend using Bitdefender.

Scanning performance

To test each suite's scanning capabilities, I followed the same process I used for real-time protection, planting 100 samples from bazaar.abuse.ch. I also measured the time it took for each product to complete a full system scan. Similar to the real-time protection test, both products performed pretty much on par.

Just like in the real-time protection test, Bitdefender caught 75% of the planted malware. It finished the scan in just over 1 hour and 15 minutes, scanning 450248 files in the process.

Sophos, on the other hand, took 3 minutes longer, clocking in at 1 hour and 18 minutes. The scan caught 77% of the planted malware samples. It did not disclose how many files it scanned.

Pricing and plans

Bitdefender offers three plans with features added on each tier. It also offers a free tier with basic scanning capabilities, but without advanced features like a firewall and real-time performance.

Sophos does not offer multiple plans for home users. However, it does allow you to save by buying long-term subscriptions. The plan also offers a 30-day free trial to allow you to try before you buy. The 1-year subscription costs $44.99/month, while the three-year subscription costs $104.99, which equals $34.99/year. The only difference in its favor, is that it supports 10 devices, while Bitdefender will only support 1-5 devices depending on time.

Plan name	Bitdefender	Sophos
Free	Free	-
Antivirus Plus vs Home Premium Security	$12.99/month	From $34.99/year (3-year commitment)
Total Security	$19.99/month	-
Premium Security	$64.99/month	-

As you can see, Bitdefender is cheaper, even if we select Sophos’ longest and most affordable plan.

Sophos vs Bitdefender feature comparison

Sophos and Bitdefender both offer similar features in terms of basic antivirus functionalities. However, as we get into the advanced aspects of cybersecurity suites, you can clearly see a difference, as shown in the table below:

Feature	Bitdefender (Total Security)	Sophos (Home Premium)
Malware Protection	✅ Included	✅ Included
Ransomware Protection	✅ Included	✅ Included
Detects Scam/Phishing Sites	✅ Included	✅ Included
VPN	✅ Included (200MB/day/device)	❌ Not included
Vulnerability Assessment	✅ Included	❌ Not included
Firewall	✅ Included	❌ Not included
Password Manager	✅ Included	✅ Included (mobile only)
Parental Controls	✅ Included	✅ Included
Anti-Theft	✅ Included	❌ Not included
Anti-Tracker Technology	✅ Included	✅ Included
Webcam & Microphone Protection	✅ Included	✅ Included
Remote Management	✅ Included	✅ Included
Banking/Isolated Browser	✅ Included	❌ Not included

Bitdefender's exact offer will depend on the plan you select. However, even with the cheapest Antivirus Plus plan, you will receive a multi-platform password manager and a file shredder, which Sophos doesn't offer in any of its plans. You can learn more about Bitdefender's features in our full Bitdefender review.

Sophos, on the other hand, doesn't really offer much in terms of advanced features. Offering only one plan, it delivers pretty much the same features in its $49.99/year plan as Bitdefender offers in its $9.99/year plan. The difference is rather jarring. If you want to learn more about Sophos’ offer, read our full Sophos review.

Impact on PC performance

When testing the scanning capabilities of each product, I also monitored how much system resources each product used while scanning. The tests were performed on a Windows 11 Virtual Machine with a 6-core allocation of a Ryzen 5600G and 8GB of RAM.

Bitdefender's scan was rather heavy on the system. It started off at 33% CPU usage, peaking at 80% during more intense sections of the can, fluctuating the whole time. The RAM usage was consistently at around 5.1GB.

Sophos, meanwhile, started off at around 10% CPU usage before leveling off at around 25%. Peaks reached up to 85%, and RAM usage stayed at around 4.6GB. In layman's terms, the computer was more usable than during the Bitdefender scan.

Apps and interface: which is more user-friendly?

In order to fully rate Bitdefender and Sophos, I decided to test their installation process and user experience in desktop and mobile apps.

Both suites were easy to install on both mobile and PC. However, that's when the differences really started to shine.

Bitdefender offers a clean and modern interface that is easy to use and is definitely simple to grasp for both advanced and novice users. Sophos, unfortunately, decided to make most of its features accessible through a website, limiting responsiveness.

Desktop apps

Bitdefender offers a classic antivirus app. Its dashboard gives you easy access to customizable quick actions, including system scans and access to Bitdefender's VPN by default. The sidebar then lets you quickly access advanced features.

On the other hand, Sophos’ web-based approach is pretty confusing. While its desktop app is passable, the website is really tough to use. The buttons aren't intuitive, and it reminds me more of a router's dashboard than an antivirus suite. While after a while, I managed to figure out how to navigate it, I believe that somebody less technically savvy may have trouble with using Sophos.

Mobile

Bitdefender's mobile application, like its desktop counterpart, is simple to use and has a clean interface. The most important aspects of the software are displayed on the dashboard, while the bottom bar provides easy access to other useful features.

Sophos's mobile app is a step up from the desktop version. That said, it still looks outdated, relying on a rather clunky sidebar for access to advanced features. While I do appreciate that the mobile version has a (rather basic) password management feature in the Password Safe, I'd still pick Bitdefender if I had to pick one.

Customer support

When using any antivirus, customer support is crucial. If the software is acting up or you're having trouble installing an update, a good support agent can help you quickly get your software back on track.

Bitdefender has top-tier customer support, offering all customers 24/7 live chat and phone support, on top of email support, community forums, and a knowledge base. This is great, particularly for less technically savvy users who may need a bit more human touch.

Sophos offers 24/7 phone support, as well as chat support limited to set hours on weekdays. While a bit more limited than Bitdefender, it’s good that you can still contact the customer support team during the chat’s off-hours. Unfortunately, Sophos offers toll-free support only in a few countries, making it potentially very expensive to contact them in certain regions.

	Bitdefender	Sophos
Live chat	✅ Yes	✅ Yes (limited hours)
Phone support	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Email support	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Knowledge database	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Community support	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

Final verdict

This comparison has had a pretty obvious winner throughout. Bitdefender is far superior to Sophos. While both suites will do the job when it comes to malware protection, Bitdefender wins out with better user experience, more robust features, more affordable pricing, and 24/7 customer support.

	Bitdefender	Sophos
Features	✅	❌
Malware protection	✅	✅
Pricing	✅	❌
Performance impact	❌	✅
User interface	✅	❌
Support	✅	❌

Nonetheless, Sophos can be a good option for advanced users looking for a low-performance impact antivirus supporting up to 10 devices. If you don't need additional features like a VPN, password manager, or file shredder, and don't mind paying a premium price, there's a niche for Sophos.

However, given the large discrepancy in pricing and feature sets, I recommend using Bitdefender. You never know when you'll need some of its more advanced functionalities, and the basic scanning performance isn't a big enough difference to warrant using Sophos.

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