 Sophos
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 Avast
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|---|---|---|
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Pricing
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| Price | $42 | $69.99 |
| Money back Guarantee | ||
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Scanning
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| Real-time Antivirus | ||
| Manual Virus Scanning | ||
| USB Virus Scan | ||
| Registry Startup Scan | ||
| Auto Virus Scanning | ||
| Scheduled scan | ||
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Threat type
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| Anti-Spyware | ||
| Anti-Worm | ||
| Anti-Trojan | ||
| Anti-Rootkit | ||
| Anti-Phishing | ||
| Anti-Spam | ||
| Email Protection | ||
| Chat/IM Protection | ||
| Adware Prevention | ||
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Compatibility
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| Windows | ||
| Mac | ||
| Android | ||
| IOS | ||
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Usage
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| Ease of use | ||
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Extra features
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| Personal Firewall | ||
| Parental Controls | ||
| Gamer Mode | ||
| VPN Service | ||
| Smartphone Optimizer | ||
| Device Tune-up | ||
| Safe browser | ||
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Support
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| Live Help | ||
| Phone support | ||
| Email support | ||
| Ticket support |
There are a lot of antiviruses in the market, and it is not very easy to choose the best one. Sophos and Avast are among the most popular. Let’s review these products in Avast vs Sophos comparison.
Main features of Sophos and Avast
The availability of many popular features is vital for every antivirus software. Let’s compare Sophos vs Avast in terms of available features.
Sophos antivirus
- Antivirus protection against malware and hacker attacks.
- Web filtering against online threats and unwanted websites. With just a few clicks, you can block access to sites that may contain unwanted content or malware.
- Easy installation.
- Proactive artificial intelligence-based protection technology.
- Real-time protection.
- Web protection.
- Parental control on the Internet.
- Remote control.
- Protection of up to 3 devices in the free version and up to 10 devices in the premium version.
Besides, premium users get additional benefits:
- Malware removing tools.
- Protection against encryptors and ransomware.
- Banking Protection.
- Privacy and identity protection.
- Advanced web security.
- Premium support.
Avast antivirus
- Intelligent real-time detection and blocking any type of virus and malicious software.
- Intelligent scanning.
- Behavior analysis to identify suspicious behavior of software installed on your PC.
- CyberCapture to analyze unknown and potentially malicious files.
- Firewall to protect your online activity.
- Protection against ransomware.
- Protection against fake sites.
- Network analysis.
- Webcam protection to prevent surveillance by untrustworthy applications and unnecessarily curious people through your computer’s webcam.
- Confidential data protection.
- Data erasing not to allow any unauthorized access to your confidential data.
- Emergency repair drive.
- “Do not disturb” mode.
- Automatic software update.
- Sandbox to run some potentially dangerous or unknown software.
Verdict
Although both products offer a similar set of basic features, Avast is the clear winner. It provides much more advanced options for all your activities.
Malware Protection: Sophos or Avast
Malware protection is the vital feature of the antivirus. It must provide reliable protection. Let’s see which solution is better in this parameter.
Sophos antivirus
Many antivirus laboratories regularly include Sophos in their tests. Let’s see what results they showed.
In detecting and removing malware by ICSA Labs and West Coast Labs, the product received a VB100 award in several tests. It is quite a good result.
AV-Test tests antivirus products by three criteria: protection, performance, and usability. Sophos scored a maximum of 6 points for protection and 5 points for performance. In the usability category, the antivirus received 5.5 points, which means that it showed a small number of false positives on reliable programs and websites. In total, Sophos got 16 points out of 18 possible, which is a very good result.
Dennis Technology Labs simulates real user activity. Every day, researchers at the lab collect a huge number of real online threats: malicious links, hidden downloads, and other types of attacks — they use special tools to capture and copy the site. During the test, they use a unique system to replicate the attacks. Sophos received the highest possible AAA rating — it demonstrated excellent detection and no false positives.
Avast antivirus
In AV-Comparatives tests, Avast received the highest Advanced+ rating. In a complex evaluation by AV-Test, Avast received 6 points for usability due to low false positives and 6 points for protection effectiveness. In the performance category, the product received 5.5 points. Thus, Avast Antivirus has a total score of 17.5 points, which allows us to name it the best antivirus.
Another test is opening a folder with the current collection of malware to check antivirus protection. Avast blocked about 75% of the test samples immediately. It did this so quickly that Windows showed the file detection error messages. The product successfully blocked most threats even before they could be fully installed. The product detected 89% of the samples and received 8.9 points out of a possible 10 for cleaning.
To test the protection against online threats, we used a new and unique collection of URLs provided by the MRG Effitas lab. Avast blocked approximately 60% of online threats at the network level and 30% at the download stage. A total of 91% of test threats is a decent result.
Verdict
Avast is the winner. Both products are good in basic testing, but Avast showed better results in most tests. Due to some advanced features, you get better protection.
User Interface and Impact on the System: Avast vs Sophos
No matter how effective the product is, it must be convenient to use and maximally user-friendly, as well as not to consume a lot of system resources. We compared both products in terms of system performance and user-friendliness.
Sophos antivirus
To download the app, Sophos will request the email and password to create an account. The installation is effortless and takes less than five minutes. The interface is clean and attractive — there are only four buttons on the home screen. The settings are grouped by features, so everything related to antivirus, website protection, and privacy protection is managed on a separate page.
Checking the app after installation showed that Sophos was not lightweight, and the program added at least 12 background processes to our PC, consuming at least 400 MB of RAM. If your computer is old and weak, the antivirus will not work smoothly, taking a lot of system resources.
Avast antivirus
Unlike most antivirus products, Avast does not require your email address to allow you to use your software — we were able to download and install a 30-day trial version of Avast Pro Antivirus without giving any details. The installer offers many advanced settings so that you can customize the app on any parameters.
The product was installed in several minutes. The installer did not require rebooting the system.
Avast Antivirus uses an intuitive and user-friendly interface, which is the same in different types of products. The screen displays the security status, there is a Smart Scan button to check your system, and the left side panel organizes other functions of the program in different categories such as security, privacy, performance.
The folder where the app is installed took almost 1 GB of size. It runs five background processes; they typically used not more than 75 MB of RAM. So, the product will work smoothly even on a weak computer.
Verdict
Avast is a winner. Although both products have a simple interface and installation process, Avast consumes much fewer system resources.
Pricing: Avast or Sophos
Each vendor provides both free and premium products. Let’s compare Avast vs Sophos in terms of pricing and see which one is better to buy.
Sophos antivirus
Sophos specializes in providing extensive, centrally managed enterprise solutions. However, they protect a large family network with several computers in one convenient environment.
Both free and premium users have the same yeah basic protection. At the same time, if you get an annual subscription, you get a higher level of security. Premium users receive enhanced threat protection, real-time protection, privacy protection, and customer support. Also, the premium version is useful when you need to protect more devices. One license supports up to 10 gadgets.
The price depends on how many years you are going to use the service. So, one year plan is currently $42, while 2 years plan is currently $84. Let’s see what the difference between free and premium plans is.
| Free | Premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of devices | Up to 3 | Up to 10 |
| AI-based core | ✔ | ✔ |
| Real-time protection | ✔ | ✔ |
| Remote control | ✔ | ✔ |
| Parental web control | ✔ | ✔ |
| Protection against online threats | ✔ | ✔ |
| Malware remover | ✖ | ✔ |
| Ransomware, banking, privacy, and identity protection | ✖ | ✔ |
| Premium support | ✖ | ✔ |
Avast antivirus
Avast offers four different plans. So, you can choose the required level of protection for your devices.
The Free plan offers the basic protection and protects you against online voice threats, scans Wi-Fi networks for security issues as well as reliably secures your passwords.
The Premium Security plan offers a great combination of security and privacy at a good price. There are two versions of this plan: for one device and multiple devices (10 devices). The one-device plan is $69.99 per year; the multiple device plan is $89.99 per year.
The Ultimate plan is a great solution that includes all the features of the Premium Security plan as well as the additional tools such as Avast Cleanup Premium, Avast SecureLine VPN, and Avast Passwords Premium. There are also two versions: one-device for $99.99 per year, and 10 devices for $119.99 per year.
| Free | Premium | Ultimate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic protection | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Wi-Fi scan | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Passwords security | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Safe shopping | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Sandbox | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Firewall | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Spam and phishing protection | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Ransomware protection | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Webcam security | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Files shred | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Software update | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Avast Cleanup Premium | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
| Avast SecureLine VPN | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
| Avast Passwords Premium | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
Verdict
Sophos is a winner. Although Avast offers more flexibility, Sophos offers not much worse protection for much more affordable pricing.
Customer support
Every respective software product is expected to provide technical support for its users, especially for premium subscribers. How good are Avast and Sophos in this respect?
Sophos antivirus
The company provides support both for free and premium users, which is available by email, webform, and online chat. However, you have to log in to your dashboard. Besides, they provide an extensive knowledge base, which includes answers to all the popular questions.
Avast antivirus
Avast also offers support for all its users, no matter what product you use. It is available by email, webform, as well as online chat. Moreover, you can get premium support via the phone line. However, it is available only in English and not in every country.
Verdict
Avast is a winner. We analyzed a lot of independent observers and reviews and found out that Avast users are more satisfied with customer support.
Our Verdict
We compared Avast and Sophos. Which antivirus is better? In our tests, Avast showed better results in the main features, malware protection, system impact, and customer support. If a higher price is not a problem for you, we recommend Avast to protect all your devices.
Sophos highlights:
- Inexpensive, very user-friendly and straightforward
- Capable of protecting a large number of connections
- Comes packed with decent parental control suits
- Impressive remote management capabilities
- Exploit, keylogger, and ransomware protection
Avast highlights:
- Compatible with all modern platforms.
- Different levels of protection against malware.
- Effectively detects phishing sites.
- A strong security plug-in for browsers which automatically detects suspicious websites.
- New passive mode for running multiple security products in parallel.
