Avast BreachGuard Review 2024: Benefits and Drawbacks Explained

Avast BreachGuard is a solid data removal product that may be perfect for you if you want a low-cost, low-maintenance service.

Mary James, Author

Jordan Stevens, Editor

Last updated Sep 27, 2024

We receive compensation from the products and services mentioned in this story, but the opinions are the author's own. Compensation may impact where offers appear. We have not included all available products or offers. Learn more about how we make money and our editorial policies.

2.3

Editorial Rating

On Avast BreachGuard's website

Identity Protection

Avast BreachGuard

Easy to use
Low-maintenance
Includes browser extension
No recurring or custom data removal
Secure Identity is extra

Overview

Avast BreachGuard is a great, low-maintenance tool for reducing your online footprint. It wasn't the most robust data removal product we've tested, which knocked down its score quite a bit, but it is an overall good experience.

Its included browser extension helps you avoid personalized ads online while its data removal service advocates on your behalf to data brokers. BreachGuard even has a dark web scanner to check for your data.

If you want to see a reduction in spam and scam emails, calls, and texts, a data broker removal service like Avast BreachGuard can help. The best data removal services offer you protection for a low price, and Avast delivers with a monthly average cost that’s less than a cup of coffee.

Read on to see what we loved, what we thought could use improvement, and ultimately, if we’d buy Avast BreachGuard ourselves.

Pros

Easy to use
Low-maintenance
Includes browser extension

Cons

No recurring or custom data removal
Secure Identity is extra

In this article

At a glance
Our experience
Who is Avast BreachGuard best for?
Prices and subscriptions
Features
Does Avast BreachGuard keep your data safe?
Customer support
Top alternatives
FAQs
Bottom line: Is Avast BreachGuard good?

Avast BreachGuard review at a glance

Price	$3.67/mo (billed annually)
Money-back guarantee	Yes — 30 days
Family plan	No
# of site removals	14
Recurring removals	No
Custom removal requests	No
Privacy reports	No
Supported countries	U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and many more — available on all continents
Extras	Dark web scanning, Risk monitor, Privacy Advisor
Learn more	Get Avast BreachGuard

How we test and rate data removal services

To review data removal services, we sign up for the service anywhere from a week to a month in advance. This allows it time to gather our data, scrub it from the data broker and people search sites, and send us reports on its process.

With so many data broker websites, you’ll want to make sure the one you choose sends requests to a lot of them, as well as follows up and searches for more.

Once we've spent some time with the service, we calculate our editorial rating by taking into account key features, prices, security measures, and other criteria.

To learn more about how we test, check out our full testing methodology here.

Our experience

We purchased our Avast subscription before we actually downloaded it, so activating the key a few days after purchase gave us a little trouble. Support was helpful and got us going so we could test it out. Installing the browser extension on Chrome was a breeze.

The features were easy to use, and the data broker removal feature didn’t require too much information. We had to input our birthday, name, phone number, email, and address into Avast so it could begin removing us from data broker sites.

If you’re concerned about entering your Social Security number, you won’t have to unless you sign up for the extra Secure Identity monitoring.

Within a few hours, Avast had already processed several data broker removal requests. It also scanned our email and let us know where we needed to update weak or reused passwords.

The privacy advisor gave us details on how to increase our privacy depending on what operating system and platform we were using. Since everything is located in the dashboard, we didn’t need to hunt for any of these features.

Avast BreachGuard is a data broker removal service with optional identity theft protection as a premium add-on. It performed well enough to impress us but didn’t have so much that we felt overwhelmed. It’s definitely a winner for us all around.

Who is Avast BreachGuard best for?

Recommended for individuals who want affordable data broker removal with monitoring features

Avast is a reasonably priced data broker removal service that includes a few extras like dark web monitoring and a Privacy Advisor that helps you make sites like Facebook and Amazon more secure for yourself. Since it doesn’t offer couple or family plans, this service is better for individuals.

If you’ve been looking for a data broker removal service, Avast BreachGuard offers an easy-to-use design that’s low cost and low maintenance.

Avast BreachGuard prices and subscriptions

There is only one price for Avast BreachGuard and only one type of subscription. You can purchase annually for a Windows PC or Mac with the option to add the Secure Identity feature for an additional fee.

Avast BreachGuard covers almost every major country in the world and can be installed on your Windows or Mac computer but not on your mobile device. Since BreachGuard is fairly low maintenance, not having mobile access isn’t that big of a deal.

The Secure Identity premium feature may be worth it if you’re looking for identity theft protection, but it’s not necessary to use BreachGuard’s other features, including Scam Assist.

Plan	Windows	Mac	Premium Add-On: Secure Identity*
Annual plan	$43.99/yr	$43.99/yr	$47.88/yr (first year only)
Monthly plan	N/A	N/A	$9.99/mo (billed annually)
Family plan
Max # of people covered	1	1	1
Data broker opt-out	Manual	Manual	N/A
# of site removals	14	14	N/A
Privacy reports
Real-time alerts
Recurring removals			N/A
Custom removal requests			N/A
Identity monitoring			Yes

*In addition to the Avast BreachGuard subscription fee

Avast BreachGuard offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it risk-free.

Avast BreachGuard security features

BreachGuard offers two features we were impressed with outside of the data broker removal feature. The Privacy Advisor and Identity Assist features teach you about scams, spam, and how to increase your security across the internet.

You can even filter help guides from Privacy Advisor by operating system.

Types of data removed

Avast BreachGuard requests your data be removed from 14 sites it monitors across its dashboard. It went to work sending requests, and within a day, it finished all requests.

For the companies it couldn’t make successful contact with, it gave us the option to request removal directly from the broker’s site.

Data brokers and people-search sites covered

# of sites covered: 14

You don’t have to input your Social Security number into this service, which is good because that can be nerve-wracking. We input our name, birthday, email, phone number, and home address, and then Avast went to work requesting removals from sites like America Phone Book and LexisNexis.

There can be thousands of data broker sites at any given time, and the industry is always in flux. To keep your digital footprint low, you’ll want to send requests every few months.

Reports

Other than the immediate reports you get on the screen in your app, there isn’t any other data that’s aggregated and sent to you on a regular basis. You’ll need to check the dashboard for action items.

Avast BreachGuard Processing Data Removal Requests

Alerts

There aren’t alerts that pop up in real time (unless you add Secure Identity) to let you know if there’s something you need to take action on immediately. Rather, you’ll see the data on the dashboard and can take action from there.

Recurring and custom removals

There isn’t an option for custom removals, but if Avast BreachGuard isn’t able to contact the data broker to request your information be deleted, it will navigate you to the site and help you request it there.

BreachGuard will remind you every two months to run another set of removal requests so you can stay on top of your digital footprint.

Bonus features

Privacy Advisor, Identity Assist, and the BreachGuard Chrome extension are extra features that help increase your overall security.

Privacy Advisor: This function gives you helpful, operating system-based guides on configuring popular sites like Amazon and Facebook to increase your security.

Identity Assist: You’ll get a number to call to ask about anything from phone calls to texts to emails to see if they’re scams (Scam Assist) or if you think your identity has been stolen (Identity Resolution).

BreachGuard Chrome Extension: This feature helps shield your online activities from trackers to reduce the information available about you that data brokers harvest for their sites. It can also help remove your data from Google.

We tested all three, and a shoutout to our Scam Assist support person for being informative, warm, helpful, and kind. We had a great experience.

Does Avast BreachGuard keep your data safe?

Avast recently settled a lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding potentially leaked customer data. As part of that settlement, Avast is not allowed to sell or divulge any of your information for the purpose of advertising.[1]

As a result, Avast’s privacy policy is now very clear on what data is collected, how it’s used, and what permissions you have to give. We’re privacy policy nerds, and we liked what we read. We feel comfortable recommending Avast to anyone.

Avast BreachGuard customer support

We had a decent experience with customer support. We purchased BreachGuard before installing it, then had some trouble with the activation key when installing it a few days after purchase.

The initial support member in chat took a long time to answer questions, which can get frustrating when you’re just sitting and waiting.

Once we were transferred over to a remote session, the specialist there got everything working for us quickly. Our product activation still wasn’t showing in our online portal, so the remote session specialist escalated the issue. Twenty-four hours later, we were still waiting for an email.

Overall, though, support was friendly, helpful, and fixed our issue so BreachGuard was working. It was definitely a better experience than we’ve had with competitor support representatives.

Top alternatives

If BreachGuard doesn’t tick all your boxes, you could check out one of the other data removal services we’ve tested. Data removal helps reduce your online footprint and gives you more protection against scams, spam, and phishing attacks.


Starting price	From $10.75/mo (billed annually)	From $7.49/mo (billed annually)	From $9.00/mo (billed annually)
Max # of people covered	4	4	5
Data broker opt-out
# of site removals	750+	180+	30+
Privacy reports
Real-time alerts
Learn more	Get DeleteMe	Get Incogni	Get Aura

Avast BreachGuard FAQs

Is Avast BreachGuard worth it?

Avast BreachGuard’s price-to-quality ratio makes it worth it. The service has an inexpensive annual fee and helps remove your info from the most prominent data broker sites online.

It also monitors the dark web, provides security guides for apps and sites specific to your operating system, and gives you a helpline to identify scams.

What is the Avast privacy scandal?

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused Avast of misrepresenting the sharing of browsing information with a third-party company named Jumpshot. The FTC accused Jumpshot of selling that data to over 100 companies.

Further allegations note that the data wasn’t fully anonymized or de-identified, allowing companies to link back to customer browsing data.

Avast shut Jumpshot down in 2020 and settled the lawsuit with the FTC in June of 2024. As part of the settlement, Avast has narrowed who it shares data with, and all of the Jumpshot data has been deleted.

The settlement also ensures that Avast cannot share or sell your data with third parties for the purpose of advertising.

Is Avast a Russian company?

No, Avast was originally founded in Czechoslovakia in 1988. In response to the Russian assault on Ukraine, Avast suspended operations in Russia and Belarus. Avast has been active in providing resources to humanitarian aid foundations and furthering global cybersecurity in the wake of Russia’s aggression.[2]

Can I trust Avast?

Yes, you can trust Avast. We trust Avast. We test all our security products ourselves and input our own personal information into the software when testing.

If we’re comfortable using it, we hope that empowers you to feel comfortable using it.

Bottom line: Is Avast BreachGuard good?

We like Avast BreachGuard, even if it isn’t the most robust product. The best data removal services make the process effortless. Avast doesn’t include all the features you might wish for, like custom data removal requests or automatic recurring removals, but it’s an affordable way to increase your privacy and security.

Even with the effort you have to put in, it’s still a low-maintenance product.

Data removal services can be done manually, but you may spend a lot of free time trying to keep up. Avast BreachGuard can give your free time back while also helping you stay secure. We like that kind of multitasking.

Author Details

Mary James

About the Author

Mary is a seasoned cybersecurity writer with over seven years of experience. With a B.S. in Liberal Arts from Clarion University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Point Park University, she educates audiences on scams, antivirus software, and more. Her passion lies in educating audiences on helpful ways to protect their data.