TotalAV vs. Norton 2024: Which Guards Your Devices Better?

Based solely on test scores, functionality, features, and customer service, Norton is a step ahead of TotalAV. However, TotalAV takes a different approach than Norton does and pairs its antivirus with device optimization tools, so it may be more worth it for you. 

Picking an antivirus software is personal. Whether you’re looking strictly for highly rated antivirus software that guarantees malware protection or you need a complete package with lots of extras, TotalAV and Norton both have offerings to meet your needs. Let’s take a deeper look at these two antivirus choices to see what additional features they offer.

TotalAV vs. Norton antivirus review at a glance

Norton and TotalAV are both highly-rated antivirus programs with a variety of features. TotalAV’s additional features focus more on device optimization and system tune-ups. Norton, on the other hand, offers a broader range of security features for complete privacy across the web, including a virtual private network (VPN), dark web monitoring, and parental controls.

• TotalAV: Best for device optimization
• Norton: Best for increased privacy and security

TotalAV vs. Norton compared

Star rating	4.7 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.8 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.
Starting price	Free or $29.00/yr (first year only)	Starts at $29.99/first yr
Max number of protected devices	Up to 8	Up to 10
Malware scans	Manual and scheduled	Manual and scheduled
Real-time protection
Phishing protection
Ransomware protection
24/7 customer support
Compatibility	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
Learn more	Get TotalAV Read TotalAV Review	Get Norton Read Norton Antivirus Review

TotalAV and Norton do a lot of things the same way. Both protect against viruses and malware, offer additional features on all plans, and have a variety of price points.

TotalAV focuses more on offering diagnostic as well as web protection tools with its antivirus product while Norton is focused more on broad cybersecurity with identity protection.

Pricing is close, but Norton does offer a less expensive starting price for the Norton AntiVirus Plus plan at $29.99/first yr as opposed to TotalAV’s $29.00/yr (first year only) price for the Antivirus Pro plan. On the other hand, TotalAV offers a free plan, while Norton doesn't. 

While Norton tops out at $99.99/first yr for the Select + LifeLock plan, Norton 360 Premium is comparable to TotalAV Total Security— both are about $50.00/yr. Each of these includes a ton of extra features. Be mindful of your renewal date, however, because renewal pricing is much higher than the first-year costs listed here.

TotalAV vs. Norton: prices

		Our Pick
Price range	$29.00–$49.00/yr (first year only)	$29.99–$99.99/first yr
Best value plan	TotalAV Internet Security for $39.00/yr (first year only)	Norton 360 Deluxe for $49.99/first yr
Money-back guarantee	Yes — 30 days for annual plans, 14 days for monthly plans	Yes — 60 days for annual plans, 14 days for monthly plans
Learn more	Get TotalAV Read TotalAV Review	Get Norton Read Norton Antivirus Review

TotalAV prices range from $29.00–$49.00/yr (first year only). We chose the middle plan, Internet Security, as the best value because it includes a VPN. While the Total Security plan, TotalAV’s top tier, was only $10 more per year (for the first year), we felt the device security portion wasn’t great since TotalAV isn’t as strong on Apple products.

Norton told us the Norton 360 Deluxe plan was the “Best Value,” but if you’re looking for identity theft protection on top of an antivirus, you might disagree. It doesn’t include LifeLock like the next choice up, but it does have parental controls and a privacy monitor to help keep you and your family safer online.

Norton’s renewal rate isn’t such a leap from the starting cost either. Norton 360 Deluxe begins at $49.99/first yr and jumps to $119.99/yr for the renewal, whereas Total Security starts at $49.00/yr (first year only) and then leaps all the way to $179.00/yr.

TotalAV vs. Norton: features

Feature		Our Pick
Manual and scheduled scans
Real-time protection
Phishing protection
Ransomware protection
Firewall
Parental controls
Cloud storage
Password manager
VPN
Ad blocker
Device optimization tools
Learn more	Get TotalAV Read TotalAV Review	Get Norton Read Norton Antivirus Review

What features do TotalAV and Norton have in common?

Malware and antivirus scan

Both TotalAV and Norton offer a quick scan and a full system scan. TotalAV's quick scan took a couple of minutes and its full system scan took over 10 minutes. During the full scan, TotalAV also seemed to slow down significantly when it encountered threats.  

When testing Norton, its quick scan took under one minute and its full scan analyzed over 600,000 files in less than 10 minutes. While both products' scanning tools were easy to use, we thought Norton was better due to speed and performance.

Real-time protection

TotalAV offers real-time protection with a feature called WebShield. It's a phishing protection browser extension that can verify if the websites you're browsing are safe and protect against misleading activity, like scams or spoofed sites.

With Norton, you can turn on the Intrusion Prevention System and Proactive Exploit Protection.  The Intrusion Prevention System detects and scans all network traffic for security vulnerabilities and works with your firewall to detect and block malicious attacks. Proactive Exploit Protection works by recognizing malicious behaviors and then blocking any software that mimics those behaviors. Ultimately, Norton's real-time protection is more comprehensive. 

Phishing protection

TotalAV's phishing protection is the WebShield extension, which will deem websites safe for browsing and flag any suspicious websites it might encounter so you can browse securely. 

Norton's phishing protection is the Norton Safe Web extension, which also analyzes sites you browse to help detect malware and other online threats. Similar to WebShield, it'll give you site ratings depending on whether a site is safe, potentially unsafe, or unsafe. TotalAV and Norton are evenly matched on phishing protection.

How are TotalAV and Norton different?

Features unique to TotalAV

One way TotalAV stands out from Norton is by including an ad blocker. Total Adblock not only blocks ads, but it can also help speed up your browsing since ads are known to slow down webpage load times. It also promises to block third-party trackers, which can help give you more anonymity online. Total Adblock and many other ad blockers have free versions, so we don't feel like this is a make-or-break feature, just something that's nice to have. 

TotalAV also comes with device optimization tools like a duplicate file finder, large and old files locator, and disk usage analytics. Norton sells these tools separately, so TotalAV may be a better choice for you if you're looking to optimize your device.

Features unique to Norton

TotalAV and Norton share various features, such as ransomware protection, a password manager, anti-phishing, and malware detection, including spyware and adware. Norton, however, has a few additional features that helped it take the lead. Parental controls, cloud backup, and dark web monitoring are all useful features that will increase your security. 

Diagnostic tools are available for free across the web, so that’s why we felt Norton’s additional features added more value to its antivirus product than TotalAV’s features. Products like Fortect help with PC health and tune-up, while CCleaner speeds up your device and deletes your history. IObit Advanced SystemCare Pro uses AI to clean and speed up your computer.

TotalAV vs. Norton: test results

If you’ve ever received a product that didn’t work the way it was advertised, you can appreciate the need for third-party testing. It’s an important part of the cybersecurity landscape because it tests products to make sure they use the most recent technologies and block the newest threats.

While you may not be as concerned about a product’s performance in slowing down your machine, you should always strive for products that excel in protecting against cyber threats.

TotalAV vs. Norton malware protection scores

		Our Pick
AV-TEST Windows score	17/18	16.5/18
AV-TEST Android score	18/18	18/18
AV-TEST macOS score	N/A	18/18
Learn more	Get TotalAV Read TotalAV Review	Get Norton Read Norton Antivirus Review

For Windows, TotalAV had some issues with both protection and performance. In the protection arena, TotalAV was tested against 316 real-world malware examples from webpages and email.

The industry standard in these protection tests is to pass with 99.9%. In March 2024, TotalAV passed with 99.1%. We were impressed to see that TotalAV jumped up to 98.2% malware protection in April, but it looks like its initial score resulted in TotalAV being docked a half point in this category. 

In terms of performance, TotalAV met or exceeded downloads of frequently used applications, launches of standard software applications, and copying of files locally and in a network. However, TotalAV slowed the loading of webpages and the installation of familiar applications in Windows machines more often than was considered acceptable by industry standards. While some slowdown is expected, this was significant enough to dock TotalAV a half point.

Norton had perfect malware protection testing scores for Android and macOS. Unfortunately, TotalAV didn’t recently submit itself for testing for macOS. The last macOS test was in March 2022. In the world of cybersecurity, it’s important to keep up with independent testing as new threats are constantly being released.

But similar to TotalAV, Norton's scores also dropped during the most recent Windows testing. In the past, AV-TEST conducted system tests for Windows 10 but now checks antivirus software against Windows 11. Norton dropped a whopping 1.5 points, chiefly due to two false positives (which isn't really a big deal) as well as a noticeably slower performance during the installation of frequently-used applications (which isn't great but still not a dealbreaker). 

TotalAV vs. Norton 360 Antivirus: compatibility and customer support

		Our Pick
Windows
macOS
Android
iOS
Browser extensions	Yes — Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Opera	Yes — Firefox, Chrome, Edge
24/7 customer support
Customer support options	Live chat, online guides, email	Live chat, online guides, email, support forums, phone
Learn more	Get TotalAV Read TotalAV Review	Get Norton Read Norton Antivirus Review

There isn’t much difference in compatibility between TotalAV and Norton. We found that both products delivered on promises for not just Windows but also their limited Mac functionality. Our product testers found each antivirus offered many helpful features. Each one also works with Apple and Android mobile devices.

Originally we found both TotalAV and Norton had browser extensions for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge. TotalAV also added the Opera browser to its compatibility list. Because both products are so similar in functionality and compatibility, the addition of the Opera browser gives TotalAV a slight advantage.

TotalAV scans and flags potential malware.

Norton scanning a clean Macbook.

As far as customer support goes, TotalAV seems to have a different feel than Norton. Norton seems much more accommodating with a variety of options for customers. When we tested TotalAV, we found more options in the product portal than on the website. If you’re looking for more than online guides with TotalAV, you won’t necessarily find them on the site.

FAQs

Bottom line: Is TotalAV better than Norton?

Unfortunately, we would have to say “no” to this question. While TotalAV is a completely valid and safe choice for an antivirus program, Norton does edge it out in almost every category.

Norton has better customer service, stronger testing and test scores, and a wider variety of extra features like dark web monitoring and cloud storage. We also were impressed with the fact that Norton’s renewal pricing wasn’t as severe a difference from year one to year two as TotalAV’s pricing structure.

If you decide to go with TotalAV, you’ll still get a good product that’s done well in third-party testing. You may not have as many features, but you will have solid protection. Our only strong suggestion would be to keep an eye on your renewal date. That price jump is significant!

Whichever you choose, just make sure you use an antivirus on your computer. Viruses and ransomware are no joke, and a good piece of security software can ensure you’re safe.

TotalAV vs. Norton alternatives

Still not sold on TotalAV or Norton? That’s ok, we have other antivirus software options for you. We’ve tested all these products and can recommend them with confidence.

• McAfee: McAfee is only free for iOS and Android, but you can test it out with a 30-day free trial for Windows. Since it’s one of the oldest names in the industry, McAfee knows what it’s doing when it comes to cybersecurity.
  
  Get McAfee | Read Our McAfee Review
• Avast: Avast offers a free product that tests very well and provides you with protection where you need it most. If you feel you need more protection than what’s in the free product, you have the option to upgrade to a premium Avast service. You’ll even be able to access the free Avast service on your Android with its mobile app.
  
  Get Avast | Read Our Avast Review
• Bitdefender: Loving the idea of free? Bitdefender provides you with diagnostic tools as well as protection for free. Your free subscription is available on up to three devices, so search away.
  
  Get Bitdefender | Read Our Bitdefender Review