McAfee vs AVG: which antivirus is better?

Both McAfee and AVG are well-known antivirus tools praised by antivirus experts. In this McAfee vs AVG battle, I compare the two providers in terms of features, security, performance, pricing, apps, and customer support.

After conducting thorough research with the Cybernews research team, the results showed that McAfee is superior to AVG.

McAfee vs AVG

At a glance, it’s quite clear why both providers are among the best antivirus programs available. They both offer great prices, compatibility with different operating systems, and even a free version.

However, McAfee takes the lead by offering a better feature suite.

	McAfee Antivirus	AVG AntiVirus
⭐ Rating:	4.3 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆	4.1 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
🥇 Overall rank:	#10 out of #30	#15 out of #30
🔥 Coupons:	McAfee Antivirus coupon 67% OFF	AVG Antivirus coupon 60% OFF
💵 Price:	From $29.99/year	From $31.20/year, 1 PC
✂️ Free version:	Yes (Android, iOS)	Yes
🖥️ Platforms:	Windows, Mac, Android, iOS	Windows, macOS, iOS, Android

Features overview

At first glance, it’s hard to determine a winner when it comes to McAfee vs AVG features. Since they both offer the same basic security features (like a firewall, real-time protection, and device scans). However, the two antivirus software start to differ with their additional features. This is where McAfee antivirus surges ahead of AVG.

	McAfee	AVG
Firewall	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Real-time protection	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Device scans	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Password manager	✅ Yes	❌ No
Parental control	✅ Yes	❌ No
File shredder	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
VPN	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Secure data encryption	✅ Yes	❌ No
Webcam protection	❌ No	✅ Yes
Performance optimization	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

McAfee has some enticing features in its package. For example, a password manager is included in the subscription or a Parental Control feature to ensure your kids are safe online and don’t access unsafe websites.

Additionally, McAfee antivirus provides you with identity monitoring for up to 10 different email addresses. And a protection score that allows you to determine the safety level of your device.

Overall, McAfee appears to be the better antivirus software than AVG antivirus. It offers more thorough protection for your devices and a wider variety of features.

McAfee features

McAfee is the perfect antivirus for those who expect a lot for what they pay for, as there are many features on offer. However, you don’t even really need to pay for those, as the software’s 30-day trial allows you to try them all for free.

Of course, first of all, there are the usual security features like real-time protection (which prevents threats like malware and spyware from entering your device) and system scans that can be easily customized according to your needs. All of these features are followed by a firewall with some customization options.

McAfee also offers a Tracker Remover that allows you to remove unwanted items and clear your browsing history or cookies. You also get a file shredder that permanently deletes the files of your choice.

Another interesting feature is called App Boost. It automatically updates the programs on your device, letting you enjoy better PC performance. In addition to all this, McAfee also lets you know whether any of your email addresses have been breached. It also includes the Parental Controls that allow you to set online boundaries for your children. However, note that this feature is only included in the Family plans.

Moreover, you also get a password manager and a VPN. However, the latter is available only if you’re enrolled in subscription auto-renewal.

AVG features

Similarly to McAfee, AVG doesn’t make a fool of itself in the feature department. Aside from the obvious ones like real-time protection, various types of scans, and a highly customizable firewall, it also blesses us with an array of useful extras.

One neat feature of AVG is the Privacy Advisor, which lets you manage your privacy. For example, you can see what can be turned off in your apps to make them more private and secure.

You might also like the Sensitive Data Shield feature that doesn’t allow untrustworthy applications to access your sensitive data.

AVG antivirus also lets you know whether you’re trying to access a website that might implement various phishing techniques. Also, you won’t need to worry about malicious hackers accessing your camera ever again, as AVG makes sure nobody can get to it without your permission.

The antivirus software also comes with AVG Secure VPN, which gives you a foreign IP address and protects your data while you browse the web.

Protection

It comes as no surprise that security is the most important aspect of any antivirus suite. However, to make sure that an antivirus keeps its promise of protecting your device at all times, you can rely on independent lab tests. Securely research institutes like AV-TEST test and compare the most popular antivirus programs so that you can easily choose the best one.

	AV-TEST	Protection	Performance	Usability
McAfee	Top product	6	6	6
AVG	Top product	6	6	6

As you can see, both programs achieved the highest marks for protection, performance, and usability. For example, both providers achieved the same success rate – 99.5% – for blocking malware.

To sum up, both McAfee and AVG are reliable antivirus suites.

Real-time protection

Real-time protection might just be the most important security feature of any antivirus software. It doesn’t allow malware to be installed onto your device when you browse the web or download files, making your online experience much safer.

To determine which one does it better, McAfee or AVG, AV-Comparatives has already answered this question thanks to its all-around real-time protection tests.

The most recent test, Real-World Protection Test Feb-Mar 2025, showed that McAfee blocked 99.5% of the threats provided to it. However, the remaining 0.5% weren’t compromised cases – these were the instances when the antivirus asked the user whether it was safe to download a particular file.

Similarly, AVG blocked 99.5% of the malware. Unfortunately, the remaining 0.5% shows compromised cases. Also, AVG antivirus showed eight false positives, while McAfee had two.

Overall, McAfee takes the slight advantage by not showing any false positives and had no issues dealing with compromised cases.

Scanning

Like most antivirus tools, McAfee and AVG offer similar scanning options. These include a quick scan (which only takes up to a minute and scans only the most vulnerable parts of the device) and a full scan (that performs a thorough system checkup).

AVG also lets you customize your scans in terms of when they should be performed and on which folders. On the other hand, McAfee doesn't let you customize scans on specific folders, as they happen automatically.

However, AVG also lets you scan removable drives like USBs and DVDs.

All in all, both AVG antivirus and McAfee antivirus provide a wider variety of scanning options.

Firewall protection

As is expected from top antivirus tools, both McAfee and AVG offer quality firewalls.

When it comes to McAfee, you can customize the firewall according to your needs through Windows settings. For example, it even allows you to open a port to your device or enable UDP tracking. You can also take control of which programs can access the internet. Of course, the firewall also protects you from malicious hackers and helps you avoid risky connections.

In the meantime, AVG’s firewall focuses on protecting you from ransomware. However, it also protects your device from other threats and lets you customize its security level.

Overall, both McAfee antivirus and AVG antivirus have great firewall protection in their software packages.

Impact on PC performance

Both AVG and McAfee are quite light on the system. When performing a full scan, McAfee uses between 8 and 13% CPU. However, it takes quite a long time to finish the scan – it took me 55 minutes in total. On the other hand, the quick scan was truly quick – it lasted only a couple of minutes and used between 4 and 7% CPU.

In the meantime, AVG used between 12 and 14% CPU while performing the full scan, which took about an hour. Also, if you want to conserve CPU usage while you’re gaming or doing other activities, AVG lets you switch on a Do not disturb mode to disable notifications.

Overall, both McAfee and AVG antivirus offer great protection for your systems. Neither of these antivirus software programs is a clear winner, since their speed, protection, and impact on devices were equal.

Pricing and plans

Plan	McAfee	AVG
Free	–	$0.00
Essential/Internet Security	39.99/year, 5 devices	$31.20/year, 1 device
Premium/Internet Security	$44.99/year, unlimited devices	$39.99/year, 10 devices
Advanced/Ultimate	$89.99/year, unlimited devices	$55.99/year, 10 devices
	Check pricing	Check pricing

It’s quite difficult to compare the pricing between AVG and McAfee because of the diverse subscriptions.

For a singular device use, AVG leads as the cheaper option for those who don’t need a broad coverage of devices. McAfee is almost twice the price for a single device coverage, compared to AVG.

However, McAfee is better for those who want to cover all the family devices. Additionally, this antivirus software offers the middle ground of 5-device coverage for almost the same price as AVG’s single-device price.

Yet, AVG antivirus has a free plan, which McAfee antivirus lacks – the latter only offers a free subscription on mobile devices.

All in all, the argument can be made for both antivirus software providers. The winner between McAfee and AVG antivirus depends on the number of devices you want to cover for the most optimal price. So I must declare a tie on the price topic of comparison.

• If you want to protect your device and save money at the same time, check out these McAfee deals and AVG antivirus coupons.

AVG pricing plans

Here’s what you need to know about AVG Antivirus pricing plans: you can either get a subscription for one or 10 devices. And it pays to get the latter one, as the price increase is not that big compared to how many extra benefits you get from protecting all of your devices.

So, here are the main AVG plans:

• Free. The free plan simply protects you from malware and ransomware. It’s not much, but still better than having no antivirus software.
• AVG Internet Security. You can get this subscription for either 1 or 10 devices, and it would cost you $31.20/year or $39.99/year for the first year. The plan also includes Wi-Fi security, protection against fake websites, and protection against phishing.
• AVG Ultimate. Getting this plan for 10 devices costs you $55.99 for the first year. Aside from everything in the previous plans, you also get AVG Secure VPN, AVG TuneUp, and AVG AntiTrack.

Although the prices of Internet Security and Ultimate are the same for the first year, the latter becomes more expensive for the second year.

Try AVG AntiVirus today

McAfee pricing plans

While AVG offers more features with each subscription, McAfee doesn’t discriminate – you’ll get the same features no matter which plan you choose. However, you will receive the Parental Controls feature only when buying the Family plans.

Here are the main McAfee subscriptions you might consider purchasing:

• McAfee Essential – $29.99/year for 5 devices
• McAfee Premium – $44.99/year for unlimited devices
• McAfee Advanced – $89.99/year for unlimited devices

Keep in mind that the price for McAfee Essential is valid only if you get a two-year subscription. In case you want the coverage only for one year, you’ll pay slightly more.

Try McAfee Antivirus today

Apps and interface

Both McAfee and AVG antivirus offer good antivirus applications that are easy to install and use. Moreover, both are easy to use in the system and do not take many resources.

For app support, you’ll find that both McAfee antivirus and AVG antivirus are equal. Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS are supported by both antivirus software providers.

Thus, McAfee and AVG antivirus reach another tie in this comparison competition. Both software providers have solid apps that are easy to use and have the needed features.

Desktop apps

The user interface of McAfee antivirus is really pleasant to look at. It feels really clean and fresh, with no unnecessary clutter. The color palette is really light, which I like a lot.

You will find shortcuts to the most essential features: Secure VPN, Antivirus, Web Protection, and File Shredder. You can find all other features in the settings.

However, keep in mind that McAfee comes with some presets (for example, automatic scans that might occur at an inconvenient time). For this reason, you have to dig deeper into the application as soon as you install it and make sure it works as you intended it to.

Meanwhile, AVG antivirus feels totally different, as its color palette is really dark (the whole user interface looks similar to Avast). You will find all the features under five categories and won’t get lost even if you’re only a beginner.

Overall, both McAfee and AVG antivirus offer a pleasant looking desktop apps. They are user-friendly, easy to use, and filled with needed features.

Mobile apps

The mobile version of McAfee antivirus not only protects you from viruses, but also offers quite a few features. For example, you get antivirus scanning, scam protection, a VPN, safe browsing mode, and a feature that sends you the image of the person trying to unlock your phone.

In the meantime, AVG’s antivirus mobile apps are really easy to use. Of course, the Android version is a little bit more comprehensive, as it scans your device for viruses (something that iOS antivirus apps usually lack).

The features include data leak checkups, a secure photo vault, secure browsing, a VPN, a Privacy Advisor, hack alerts, scam protection, app lock, and performance optimization features.

Overall, both McAfee antivirus and AVG antivirus mobile apps have their perks and negatives. But they meet the needed criteria of securing your device, and the additional features are nice extensions.

Customer support

Both McAfee and AVG have good customer support options. However, as you can see from the table, AVG has one extra option, which is email support:

	McAfee	AVG
Email	❌ No	✅ Yes
24/7 live chat	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Phone support	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Knowledge base	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

Keep in mind that AVG’s human assistance is reserved only for paying users. If you have the free version, you must rely on the knowledge base or the FAQ section. On the other hand, its 24/7 live chat is pretty great.

Now, even though McAfee also has a live chat option, it’s a bit more annoying. That's because you have to fill in lots of personal details, including your first name, last name, and mobile phone number.

All in all, AVG antivirus wins the customer support comparison over the McAfee antivirus. It has better customer service support and offers a wide variety of contact possibilities.

Final verdict

	McAfee	AVG
Features	✅	❌
Malware protection	✅	✅
PC performance	✅	✅
Pricing	✅	✅
User interface	✅	✅
Support	❌	✅

Visit McAfee Antivirus

Overall, while both of these antivirus software are good contenders, McAfee antivirus has a slight edge over AVG antivirus. That is why McAfee antivirus is my choice as the better antivirus software.

The categories that McAfee antivirus triumphs over are the most important ones. McAfee has better performance, offers better features, and has better deals for multiple device coverage plans. So not only can you be certain that your device will be protected 100%, but also your family's device too.

In other cases, like their apps and interfaces, pricing, and impact on your devices, McAfee Antivirus and AVG Antivirus are equal contenders.

FAQ