As a reviewer, here’s why I recommend Norton over McAfee for most people

McAfee and Norton are among the best antivirus software solutions. Since they share similar features and pricing, it can be hard to know which to pick to keep your computer safe from the ongoing threat from hackers.

I recently reviewed Norton 360 Deluxe and McAfee+ Premium antivirus, so I can share some insights about ease-of-use, functionality, and customer service to help you decide which antivirus app works best for your needs and budget.

Tiers and pricing

While it’s hard to put a price on protecting your personal and financial data, the annual cost of paying for antivirus software can add up quickly if you choose the highest-price solution.

Thankfully, McAfee offers plans that start at just $30 for the first year and $90 thereafter. Norton matches McAfee’s starting price but has a lower $60 renewal cost. You can only protect one device with these budget plans, so you’ll probably need one of the more expensive subscriptions.

The first-year discount is fairly standard among antivirus software, but some have consistent pricing. Malwarebytes offers a discount if you choose a two-year plan.

Norton covers up to three devices for $40/$95 (Standard), five for $50/$120 (Deluxe), 10 for $100/$180 Select), and an unlimited number of computers, tablets, and phones for $300/$350 (Ultimate). Norton doesn’t count users, only devices, so you can share a plan with family members.

Every Norton antivirus subscription comes with cloud storage to keep your most important documents safe from ransomware. Standard and above includes a VPN, password manager, and dark web monitoring. Norton 360 Deluxe and above have parental controls. The Ultimate plan adds identity theft protection with $1 million in coverage.

McAfee protects more devices for less, but costs extra for family plans. It also lacks some of the extras Norton includes. The $40/$120 Essential plan supports up to five devices. McAfee covers an unlimited number of devices for $50/$150 (Premium), $90/$200 (Advanced), and $200/$280 (Ultimate).

For families, you can add a second adult and get parental controls for children. The first-year prices are only a bit higher, $70, $120, and $250 for the first year. Renewal costs climb more significantly to $170 for Premium, $270 for Advanced, and $425 for Ultimate.

Like Norton, McAfee’s subscriptions include a VPN and password manager, but lack ransomware cloud storage. Premium adds dark web monitoring. Advanced includes identity theft protection with $1 million coverage. Ultimate doubles the identity theft insurance to $2 million and $25,000 in ransomware coverage.

Features

Malware protection

The primary reason you set up antivirus software is to guard your personal and financial data from malware. McAfee and Norton each passed my spot tests, blocking intentionally harmless threats at Wicar.org.

Independent cybersecurity lab AV-Test evaluates all major antivirus software several times each month. While McAfee has a good track record, earning perfect protection scores for the last four years, it missed some threats in March 2020 and even more in 2016 and 2017.

By comparison, Norton stands out as one of the strongest antivirus solutions with a perfect for the last 10 years with only minor issues in 2013 and 2014. Bitdefender is the only antivirus app that can challenge Norton’s cybersecurity performance.

Scam and tracking protection

McAfee and Norton bundle a good VPN service with the second-tier plans. That helps prevent third-party tracking of your location and profiling.

These aren’t meant to help you stream videos from other countries. For that you need a more robust VPN with high bandwidth and plenty of servers to choose from.

Special features

Your operating system already includes a secure password manager, but Norton and McAfee provide cross-platform solutions that let you add allow secure notes to safely share important data between your computer and your phone. Other common features include dark web monitoring, financial monitoring, and identity theft protection in the more expensive plans. Parental controls let you set up accounts for children in the midrange.

Norton also includes two to 500GB of secure cloud storage, increasing with the subscription cost. Encrypted cloud storage can back up important files, keeping them safe from ransomware.

Customer support and usability

McAfee and Norton have each been protecting computers from malware for decades, so installation is simple, it’s easy to find your way around the app, and there are plenty of support documents to help with any questions. Still, you might need personal service for billing, account help, and other issues.

Norton offers live chat and phone support 24 hours a day, every day. McAfee also has 24/7 support by phone and chat. Wait times vary but I found both to be reasonable in my spot checks. I waited about 15 minutes for Norton and 13 minutes for McAfee.

According to Trustpilot ratings, Norton provides much better support with an average score of 4.5 versus McAfee’s dismal 1.2-star rating. However, the scores are quite close in Windows app store: 3.4 for McAfee and 3.2 for Norton.

Protect your PC and Mac

McAfee and Norton make apps for your PC and Mac, along with mobile apps for iOS and Android. Most Norton plans include protection for multiple devices, but McAfee can protect an unlimited number of computers and phones with its $50 plan. Norton only covers five devices with its $50. For strong protection against cybersecurity threats, both offer great deals on antivirus software.

These two top competitors offer similar features and first-year pricing, but you’ll notice a difference when it comes time to renew. Both have big increases in the second year and beyond. Overall, McAfee has higher renewal prices.

McAfee might be a better solution if you have more than 10 devices that need protection, but overall, Norton has a better protection rating and lower prices in the long term.