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Best for Affordable Premium Protection
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Anti-ransomware, spyware, adware, worms, trojan, and rootkits protection
Real-time protection scans, phishing and scam site prevention, and ability to quickly isolate dangerous files
Choice between 3 plans, all of which include a VPN, Safe Browsing, and 24/7 customer support
Best for Family Security
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Premium antivirus, scam, and web protection, plus a VPN, identity monitoring, and secure password manager
Added peace of mind with 24/7 expert online support and McAfee’s Virus Protection Pledge
Compatible with Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and ChromeOS on up to 5 devices
If you want to keep your online data and devices secure, you need antivirus protection. Aura Antivirus is a good choice for users who want standard features like malware protection and safe browsing, as well as advanced security features like a virtual private network (VPN), password manager, ad blocker, identity theft insurance, and financial fraud protection.
In addition to award-winning antivirus protection, McAfee also offers a cybersecurity bundle with options like a secure VPN, credit monitoring, identity theft coverage, and even coverage of ransomware damages.
We’ve tested the best antivirus solutions, and here we compare Aura Antivirus and McAfee, offering a head-to-head breakdown of their price, features, test results, compatibility, and more.
Cost is a primary factor when selecting a premium antivirus solution. Aura and McAfee offer comparable basic plans, as both of these products check for online threats to keep your device more secure. But McAfee ranges up to $199.99/yr (first year only) for the Ultimate plan. Comparatively, Aura costs $59.99/first yr for its Ultimate plan.
Another consideration is how many devices each plan covers. McAfee offers unlimited device protection with every Individual and Family plan, but Aura's top-tier plan covers only up to 10 devices.
The length of time you have to test antivirus products can also be a dealbreaker. Aura includes a whopping 60-day money-back guarantee, whereas McAfee gives users only 30 days. The length of the trial period may not be a big deal to some, but if you need extra time to test the software, it’s worth noting.
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| Starting price | $35.99/first yr | $39.99/yr (first year only) |
| Free version | ||
| Max number of protected devices | Up to 10 devices | Unlimited devices |
| 24/7 customer support | ||
| Compatibility | Windows, macOS, Android | Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, ChromeOS |
| Real-time protection | ||
| Phishing protection | ||
| Ransomware protection | ||
| Learn more | Get Aura Antivirus | Get McAfee |
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Our Pick | |
| Price range | $35.99 - $59.99/first yr | $39.99–$249.99/yr |
| Best value plan | Ultimate plan for $59.99/first yr | Advanced plan for $89.99/yr (first year only) |
| Money-back guarantee | Yes, 60 days | Yes, 30 days |
| Learn more | Get Aura Antivirus | Get McAfee |
Aura is a little less expensive than McAfee with its starting plan. McAfee costs $39.99/yr (first year only), while Aura’s entry plan is $35.99/first yr. That isn’t a big gap, especially when you consider McAfee covers unlimited devices with all plans. Aura’s starter antivirus plan protects only three devices.
Aura’s Ultimate plan covers 10 devices and costs $59.99/first yr. McAfee’s Ultimate plan, which has the most features, costs $199.99/yr (first year only). At first glance, that looks like quite a savings if you choose Aura Antivirus, but that’s only for the first year. After that, Aura’s renewal price more than doubles.
McAfee lists the Advanced plan as its best value, and we tend to agree. It costs more than the Premium and Essential plans, but for the price increase, you get more features like credit monitoring, credit lock, and $2 million identity theft coverage to help you stay safe online. Aura’s best value is its Ultimate plan, and although it’s the most expensive, you get features like fraud protection, theft insurance, and online account monitoring. Aura offers a 60-day money-back guarantee, which is twice the length McAfee provides at 30 days.
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Our Pick | |
| Manual and scheduled scans | Yes, manual | |
| Real-time protection | Yes, for Windows | |
| Phishing protection | ||
| Ransomware protection | ||
| Firewall | ||
| Parental controls | Not included | Yes, with the Family plans |
| Password manager | ||
| VPN | ||
| Ad blocker | ||
| Device optimization tools | ||
| Learn more | Get Aura Antivirus | Get McAfee |
Aura gives users plenty of tools to help with security. It also focuses on identity protection features to ensure your data is secure. What you won’t find are the parental controls that many families feel are essential. However, Aura Parental Controls is offered separately from the antivirus solution.
Aura and McAfee are both feature-rich, but the only feature Aura offers that McAfee doesn’t is an ad blocker. McAfee includes unlimited device protection in addition to a secure VPN and a password manager. Plus, McAfee gives you a firewall for an extra security layer, a file shredder to free up space on your device, and parental controls with a Family subscription.
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Although McAfee is a more robust antivirus package, Aura Antivirus includes the essentials to protect you from malware. We consider phishing and ransomware protection necessary for optimizing data security. Aura’s real-time protection feature is available only for Windows, which is disappointing for macOS users. Aura also focuses on identity protection and includes account monitoring, dark web monitoring, and spam call removal. McAfee also has a notification showing your device is secure while using the internet to give you peace of mind.
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We rely on third-party test scores to show how an antivirus program will perform in real-world environments. Will it protect you from various computer viruses? Will the software slow down your device or make applications slower to launch? Third-party tests give us these answers.
Unfortunately, Aura doesn’t have any third-party testing available, so we can’t verify the security protection. These third-party tests can be quite expensive. So, it doesn’t mean Aura Antivirus is not a good product, but it does mean we are limited to what we can know without more data.
We used AV-TEST scores to see how well McAfee stacked up against rigorous testing scenarios.
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Our Pick | |
| AV-TEST Windows score | N/A | 18/18 |
| AV-TEST macOS score | N/A | N/A |
| AV-TEST Android score | N/A | 18/18 |
| Learn more | Get Aura Antivirus | Get McAfee |
The most recent AV-TEST shows McAfee receiving perfect scores for Windows and Android devices. There was no test performed for macOS, so we can’t confirm protection for that operating system. Since Aura Antivirus doesn’t have third-party testing, there’s no way to compare the two products.
For Windows protection, McAfee scored 100% in January and February. That’s higher than the industry average of 99.9%. In testing how much McAfee slows down the launch of popular websites, it scored 17% on a standard PC and a high-end PC. The industry average for both is 20%. There was one false positive for January and February, but the industry average is also 1, so that wasn’t concerning.
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Our Pick | |
| Windows | ||
| macOS | ||
| Android | ||
| iOS | ||
| Browser extensions | Chrome, Firefox, Edge | Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari (iOS only) |
| 24/7 customer support | ||
| Customer support options | Phone, live chat, Help Center, online guides | Phone, live chat, online guides, videos, email |
| Learn more | Get Aura Antivirus | Get McAfee |
Aura’s interface was easy to use, and we had no noticeable interruptions in system speed when scanning our device. To give it a thorough run, we opened multiple browser tabs and ran the scan. A full scan checked over 300,000 files in around 10 minutes. The scanning process was a breeze, but we noticed you can’t schedule scans. Manual scans are the only option there.
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McAfee’s interface was also simple to navigate, and the full scan was quick to run. The firewall made our online experience more secure, as it monitors incoming and outgoing traffic. Some of the identity features didn’t work when testing the software on our MacBook, but it wasn’t a huge issue, as changing browsers fixed the problem. We placed a call to support, and their advice worked. We had no lag time during scanning, and the real-time protection gave us peace of mind without interrupting our online workflow.
Both Aura Antivirus and McAfee offer 24/7 phone support. However, McAfee offers 24/7 chat support, whereas Aura’s chat support is limited to M-F, 9 AM to 6 PM EST. McAfee provides videos to help you if you’d rather troubleshoot a problem yourself first. Similarly, Aura offers customers a comprehensive Help Center with self-guided FAQs and troubleshooting articles.
Aura Antivirus is good antivirus software. It includes identity theft protection services, a VPN, and secure browsing. It also has $1 million of identity theft insurance as an option with the Premium Identity Protection features.
McAfee is hard to beat with features like a firewall, a secure VPN, parental controls, identity theft protection, and a password manager, among the award-winning antivirus protection it offers. These features helped make it one of the best antivirus programs this year. But if you want antivirus with more budget-friendly options and fewer frills, there may be others that are better than McAfee for your needs.
It may be considered a con that Aura Antivirus doesn’t include its parental control software or offer firewall protection. If you’re not concerned about family options, that might not matter. A definite pro is the identity protection that you get with Aura, which includes not only insurance but also online account monitoring, home and title monitoring, and financial fraud protection.
Aura checks for malware when you run an antivirus scan. After that, you can review it for up to 7 days, then Aura will automatically delete the online threat.
Norton 360 and Aura Antivirus have some of the same online protection features, but Norton is better than Aura if you want a firewall and cloud backup options.
Overall, we think McAfee is the better antivirus software. It includes identity protection features and also provides a two-way firewall, credit monitoring, and ransomware coverage. You get plenty for your money, so if you’re in the market for a trusted name in antivirus, we don’t think you’ll be disappointed with McAfee.
But that doesn’t mean Aura isn’t worthy of consideration. Aura Antivirus offers exceptional identity protection features, and we think the $1 million theft insurance shows that Aura is serious about your security.
Premium antivirus, scam, and web protection, plus a VPN, identity monitoring, and secure password manager
Added peace of mind with 24/7 expert online support and McAfee’s Virus Protection Pledge
Compatible with Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and ChromeOS on up to 5 devices
If you’re still on the fence and want some other antivirus options, we’ve included a list of tested and research-backed alternatives that offer different price points and features.
Real-time protection from viruses, malware, and online threats
Blocks tracking cookies and ads, proactively monitors for data breaches, and option to schedule smart scans
100% compatible with Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS operating systems on up to 3 devices
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