Norton vs AVG: which antivirus is better?

Both Norton and AVG are top products in the antivirus market. They have plenty to offer: strong malware detection, user-friendly apps, rich feature sets, just to name a few. However, these similarities can make it especially difficult when deciding which is actually better.

For this reason, I teamed up with the Cybernews research team to test these programs in the ultimate Norton vs AVG comparison. We evaluate their performance impact, pricing, security tools, malware blocking capabilities, and overall value.

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Norton vs AVG

While both Norton and AVG are solid antiviruses, I found that Norton comes as the better option in multiple areas. It provided better protection, a richer feature set, was lighter on the system, and cheaper.

	Norton Antivirus	AVG AntiVirus
⭐ Rating:	4.8 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★	4.1 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
🥇 Overall rank:	#2 out of #30	#15 out of #30
🔥 Coupons:	Norton coupon 60% OFF	AVG Antivirus coupon 60% OFF
💵 Price:	From $29.99/year	From $31.20/year, 1 PC
✂️ Free version:	No	Yes
🖥️ Platforms:	Windows, macOS, iOS, Android	Windows, macOS, iOS, Android

Norton vs AVG: which offers better protection?

	Norton	AVG
AV-TEST	Top Product	Top Product
AV-Comparatives	Advanced+	Advanced+
SE-labs	AAA	AAA

For any antivirus, it’s extremely important to provide the highest level of protection possible. Luckily, both Norton and AVG are great options for this, as shown by both independent lab testing and our own in-house testing experience.

According to independent testing, Norton and AVG were awarded the highest grades in all lab tests.

AV-TEST graded both Norton and AVG in 2025 with a Top Product badge, meaning that both of these antivirus solutions were marked 6 out of 6 in protection, performance, and usability.

Moving on to the AV-Comparatives malware protection test 2025, both antivirus providers were once again graded with the highest Advanced+ rating. Additionally, when it came to false positives, both providers performed similarly, with a 99.96% protection success rate, while logging 8 false alarms.

Finally, the SE-labs test ranked both Norton and AVG as the highest. Regardless of which antivirus you choose, you can get reliable protection for your device.

Although when you look at the tools that Norton and AVG provide to secure your device, it’s easy to see that Norton offers more variety of customization and features for security tools. Which is why it's slightly better.

Malware protection

Norton and AVG both have solid tools to protect your device from malware. Their real-time protection features are reliable, secure, and manage to block both known malware and zero-day threats.

Norton’s real-time protection tool protects you from malware threats before they get a chance to infect your system. The protection starts at the browser level, so you don’t accidentally visit malicious sites.

This feature works based on AI and machine learning to monitor all types of online threats and protect your device from malware.

AVG’s malware protection feature also works well. The real-time protection feature uses AI and machine learning to protect your device from even the newest malware threats.

The real-time protection feature from AVG enables the software to protect your device from online threats without scanning every file you download or open.

Scanning

Norton has several scan options available:

• Smart scan – only scans the locations where malware is usually detected
• Quick scan – quickly scans the entire device and looks for privacy issues with the Wi-Fi connection
• Full scan – scans the entire device system and is the most demanding of your device resources
• Custom scan – you can specify which files, folders, or disc locations need to be scanned
• Norton Insight – marks suspicious files that would require a custom scan

Out of all the scan options we’ve tested, the full scan showed the most accurate results. During the full scan, Norton found all 10 malicious files that we planted, it lasted over 11 minutes. However, the CPU load was between 70% and 100%.

AVG allows for a quick scan and a full system scan. Once again, the quick scan just checks the locations where viruses usually appear, while the full scan checks your entire system.

During our own tests, AVG’s full system scan was slightly slower than the competitor’s. However, it was just as accurate. AVG caught all 100% of the malware that we planted. So, you can be certain that this antivirus can provide the needed protection for your device.

Additionally, with AVG, you can perform USB and DVD Drive scans. Also, the performance scan helps you optimize your OS and fix the issues that slow down your device.

Overall, Norton offers more thorough scanning options with a lot more customizations available.

Firewall protection

With Norton's smart firewall feature, you also get intrusion protection. This firewall offers more protection than just monitoring your network traffic, including both the sent and received traffic to your computer.

Norton's Intrusion Protection feature actively monitors your internet traffic for suspicious activity, such as malicious hackers scanning for vulnerabilities, unusual data transfers, or known attack patterns. By blocking these threats in real-time, it helps to prevent unauthorized access to your device and keeps intrusion attempts away. Additionally, the vulnerability assessment feature notes ways your device can be attacked by cybercriminals and guards against them.

Also, you will always be informed about any possible vulnerabilities encountered and possible solutions to the problem.

AVG’s firewall is less feature-rich than Norton’s. AVG offers a firewall that is designed to monitor all incoming and outgoing traffic that is connected to your network. The most customization that you can apply to this feature is that you can pick the strictness of your firewall.

This firewall also has a separate mode when connected to public Wi-Fi, so it automatically switches to stricter settings to ensure stronger protection for your device.

Overall, Norton’s firewall is much more customizable than AVG’s. However, both of them fully perform the necessary tasks to protect your device from threats.

Features overview

Both Norton and AVG provide you with all the needed essentials, yet Norton takes the lead because it has more useful features at a cheaper price. You can see how they compare below.

	Norton	AVG
Firewall	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Real-time protection	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Virus scan	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Password manager	✅ Yes	❌ No
VPN	✅ Yes	✅ Yes (separate product)
AI-powered scam detection	✅ Yes	❌ No
Parental controls	✅ Yes	❌ No
File shredder	✅ Yes (Data Shredder available with the separate Norton Utilities Ultimate plan)	✅ Yes
Webcam protection	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Performance optimization tool	✅ Yes	❌ No

One of the clear losses to AVG is the lack of a password manager, while Norton has its own. Both antivirus software offer webcam protection features, virus scans, real-time protection, and performance optimization tools.

However, Norton additionally provides parental controls and a built-in scam detection powered by advanced AI. AVG offers a secure file shredder in the antivirus plans, and Norton requires a separate purchase of the Norton Utilities Ultimate subscription.

Overall, it’s clear that Norton offers an antivirus package with a lot more features included. This isn't to say that what AVG offers is bad, just that it can’t compare to Norton’s large suite of features.

Norton features

Norton antivirus package includes various security features for your device. Real-time protection detects and protects against common online threats. Additionally, there’s a virus scan option, which was very accurate in catching malware during our testing. The full system scan caught 100% of threats.

Another useful feature that Norton offers is the secure VPN, which encrypts your online activities, hides your IP address, and offers an additional layer of security for your data online.

With the VPN, you also get an ad blocker, Wi-Fi Security feature, and split tunneling to choose which apps or websites require a VPN tunnel and which don’t.

Another useful feature is Norton’s Password Manager. Not only can you store all your passwords here, but it can also generate secure passwords, autofill personal information, a Wallet feature saves your credit card information, and the Safety Dashboard informs you about your password safety.

The parental controls are useful for selecting the devices your children use and setting up different rules. For example, time supervision, web or search supervision, among others.

Another feature that provides additional security is Dark Web Monitoring. This allows you to track whether your data has been leaked and whether you need to take certain actions to protect yourself.

To clean up your device and optimize its performance, Norton has a very useful feature called System Optimization. This tool scans your device for duplicate, old, or unnecessary files and removes them.

To read more about Norton features visit our review.

AVG features

AVG AntiVirus has a strong security feature package. Real-time protection constantly monitors your device for threats, virus scans protect you from malware, and phishing protection secures your online browsing.

The phishing protection works based on AI detection. This antivirus checks for domain meta information, suspicious tokens, and visual elements to decipher if there are phishing threats.

AVG’s Secure Browser is a free feature that is seamlessly integrated into the AVG AntiVirus package. It offers a private browsing mode, blocks ads, and prevents tracking.

Another useful feature is the Anti-Theft Phone Tracker. So, if you accidentally lose your phone or it is stolen, you remotely erase your phone data or change your screen lock.

What’s more, the sensitive data shield protects your most important files. It’s done by controlling which applications have access to those files, so no hacker can reach them.

Check detailed feature descriptions in our AVG AntiVirus review.

PC performance

When comparing Norton vs AVG and the effects these antivirus software have on your PC performance, it’s clear that Norton is a lot lighter on your device.

To compare Norton’s smart and most in-depth scan options, the smart scan took around 2 minutes, and the CPU usage was between 5% and 20%. While the full system scan took only 7 minutes, it did take up 75–89% of CPU usage. Additionally, when tested on a 16GB RAM computer, the background scans used only 70–90MB. So, this antivirus is pretty light on your device.

On the other hand, AVG used significantly more RAM during the scans.

While its Smart Scan was impressively quick, taking just 1 minute and using around 5–14% of CPU, the Full Scan gave different results. It lasted around 32 minutes, nearly four times longer than Norton’s 7-minute full scan, and averaged 9–14% CPU usage.

Additionally, while working in the background, AVG took up around 200MB of RAM usage on the same 16GB RAM device.

Pricing

Both Norton and AVG have plenty of plans for you to choose from, but Norton offers cheaper prices and comes with more features. Meanwhile, AVG has a decent free version that comes with real-time protection.

In terms of refund policies, AVG offers a standard 30-day money-back guarantee, while Norton goes a step further with a 60-day money-back guarantee. They both have free trials, too. Norton offers a 30-day free trial for its AntiVirus Plus plan, while other Norton plans come with a 7-day trial. AVG, on the other hand, provides a 30-day free trial across the board.

Plan	Norton	AVG
Free	–	$0.00
AntiVirus Plus vs AVG Internet Security	$29.99/year	$59.88/year
Standard	$29.99/year	–
Deluxe vs AVG Ultimate	$39.99/year	$59.88/year
	Check Norton Discounts	Check AVG Discounts

Overall, Norton offers a bigger variety of plans for a cheaper price. The AntiVirus Plus plan from Norton costs $29.99/year and covers one device. The Standard plan currently costs the same – at $39.99/year – with coverage for three devices.

The largest number of device coverage that you get with both providers is 10. You can get it with Norton 360 with LifeLock Select Plus Plan for $99.99/year. Similarly, AVG’s multiple devices plan covers up to 10 devices and costs $55.88/year.

Apps and interface: which is more user-friendly?

Norton and AVG offer pretty much the same developed apps for both desktop and mobile users.

Both of these antivirus software cover Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices. Additionally, the apps are easy to install, use, and navigate for both experienced users and novices.

Desktop apps

Norton’s desktop apps are very clean-looking and easy to navigate. All the features are easily accessible through the main dashboard. So even a novice user won’t get overwhelmed.

However, several of Norton’s antivirus features open outside of the app. For example, if you want to enable dark web monitoring or check parental controls, the app will redirect you to the Norton website.

The AVG AntiVirus apps are also minimalistic and easy to navigate. Luckily, all AVG features can be managed through the app, and you won’t be redirected to the browser page.

Your security levels are at the top of the dashboard, and all of the other features are easily accessible from the main screen.

The main dashboard provides a lot of information. For example, at the bottom of the screen, you’ll see the date of the last virus scan that was performed.

Mobile apps

Norton’s mobile apps are well-designed, feature-rich, and easy to use. However, the iOS app doesn't have the Real-time Scan, Scan Apps, Ransomware Security, and similar tools that Android has.

The main page lists all the main features. Additionally, this app constantly runs quick scans, so your device security is taken care of.

To prevent you from falling for malicious links, Norton’s link guard will monitor your online behavior constantly.

One drawback to Norton's mobile apps is that for certain features you'll need to download different apps. So, just having the antivirus app won't be enough for full security. The separate features are for the VPN, password manager, and parental controls.

AVG’s mobile apps are available for free with limited features or with a premium subscription with no limitations.

The Android and iOS app versions are a bit different. The Android app is a bit more developed and offers features like the Anti-Theft feature, App Lock, and a Camera Trap. The iOS app doesn't have these security tools.

Additionally, the iOS app lacks the virus scan option, while the Android version has it. However, both versions include a Secure Photo Vault, Secure Browsing, and a VPN.

Customer support

	Norton	AVG
24/7 live chat	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Email	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Phone line	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Knowledge database	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Community support/FAQs	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

Both Norton and AVG offer many great customer support options. If you need human assistance, you’ll find a 24/7 live chat, email, and phone line available with both providers. During our tests, the response times of both providers were rather impressive.

Additionally, you can go through either AVG's or Norton’s knowledge bases or FAQ sections. They’re both filled with helpful articles and content.

Overall, in terms of customer service, you won’t miss out no matter which provider you stick to. Both Norton and AVG include plenty of flexible support options for you to pick from.

Final verdict

	Norton	AVG
Protection	✅	❌
Features	✅	❌
PC performance	✅	❌
Pricing	✅	❌
Ease of use	✅	✅
Customer support	✅	✅

The Norton and AVG comparison ended up with Norton being the clear winner. This antivirus software was the leader in security, features, and pricing comparison topics and left no possibilities for the competitor.

Norton is one of the best antivirus software on the market right now. It offers the highest level of protection against known and zero-day malware. Additional features offer not only device security but also protection of your personal information. It also offers some of the best deals for the antivirus software package. Overall, it's the better choice in this comparison.

On the other hand, AVG is quite an impressive antivirus. With a reliable but slightly restricted free version, it’s a good option for those who don’t want to pay for antivirus software. Additionally, the premium subscription offers a variety of useful features, has a high protection rate for your device, and the apps are easy to use even for beginners.

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