Pricing and Pricing Tiers
The most common price points for antivirus to protect a single Mac are just under $40 per year and just under $50 per year. Bitdefender falls in the second group, which makes it more expensive than many. That might seem like a negative, but a one-year Norton subscription costs $59.99 per year, well above the usual.
There’s every chance you or your family have more than one Mac, so Bitdefender offers a three-license pack at the discounted price of $69.99 per year. Norton offers a five-pack for $84.99 per year. On a per-device basis, Norton’s price is lower, but that’s only if you use every available license. With a significantly lower entry price, Bitdefender wins this one.
Winner: Bitdefender
Independent Lab Test Scores
I test every antivirus to see how well it does its job, but I’m also happy to see the periodic reports released by independent testing labs around the world. They have a whole team to perform in-depth testing, after all. I follow four such labs for my Windows antivirus reviews, and two of those also run tests on Mac-centric antivirus apps.
Experts at AV-Test Institute rate each antivirus on protection against malware, low impact on performance, and overall usability (defined as few false reports of valid programs as malware). An antivirus can earn six points in each category, for a maximum total of 18 points. In the latest report from this lab, both Bitdefender and Norton earned the full 18 points.
At AV-Comparatives, Mac antivirus apps earn certification based on the percentage of Mac malware they block. This lab also performs secondary tests using lower-risk PUAs (potentially unwanted applications) and Windows-focused malware. Norton and Bitdefender tied in the secondary tests, both blocking 99% of the PUAs and 100% of the Windows malware. But in the essential Mac malware test, Bitdefender’s 99% doesn’t quite come up to Norton’s perfect 100% score. Norton edges out a lab test win.
Winner: Norton
Hands-On Test Scores
When I evaluate Windows antivirus apps, I hit them with real-world malware samples that I collected and analyzed myself. I’ve also coded a handful of small utilities to test features like phishing protection and defense against dangerous downloads. But my coding and collecting skills are strictly Windows-based, so I can only perform a few of those tests on Mac antivirus apps.
Phishing websites don’t care if you visit them on a Mac, a PC, or an internet-aware massage chair. If you enter your login credentials on the fake site, the fraudsters own your account. Both Bitdefender and Norton did extremely well in my antiphishing test, with Bitdefender scoring 99% and Norton 100%.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)Almost every Mac antivirus tool includes detection of Windows malware in its arsenal. It’s not because a Windows virus can infect a Mac—that’s not possible. But wiping out such files from your Mac means there’s no way they could be transferred to Windows PCs on your network, and most antivirus apps already have the means to detect them.
(Credit: Norton/PCMag)My Windows malware detection test is extremely simple. I copy my current collection of samples to a thumb drive, plug the tainted drive into my test Mac, and trigger a scan (if it doesn’t scan automatically). In past reviews, Norton typically catches around 75% of the samples, but with the latest batch, it only recognized 51%. Bitdefender quarantined 82% of the Windows samples, for the win.
Phishing protection is decidedly more important than detecting Windows malware. Bitdefender clearly won the latter, but Norton eked out a win in the former. I declare a tie.
Winner: Tie
VPN Protection
An antivirus can scour your computer for existing malware and stand watch against future attacks. It exercises supreme power within the confines of your Mac. But once you start passing files and information across the internet, that same antivirus is powerless to protect you. To secure your data as it travels beyond the confines of your computer, you need a VPN (virtual private network). The VPN encrypts your data in transit, preventing any snooping. As a bonus, it makes your connection seem to come from wherever the VPN server is located, both hiding your location and potentially allowing access to region-locked content.
Every one of Bitdefender’s security products, starting with this simple antivirus and extending to the feature-rich Bitdefender Premium Security, includes VPN protection. At the Premium Security level, you get a full and unfettered VPN experience. For the rest, including this antivirus, there are limits on VPN usage. You don’t get to choose the location of the VPN server you’ll connect with, and you can only run 200MB of traffic through the VPN each day.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)The Norton security suites all come with a powerful VPN that has no such limits, but VPN protection doesn’t come with the standalone antivirus, whether on Windows or Mac. Where Bitdefender’s antivirus has a limited VPN, Norton has none.
Winner: Bitdefender
Firewall and Exploit Defenses
Many security companies cater to consumers who want more than just antivirus by offering a security suite that combines antivirus with various added security components such as a firewall, spam filter, or parental control. There’s no suite upgrade required with Norton, though, as you get a firewall right in the antivirus.
(Credit: Norton/PCMag)A few other macOS antivirus apps include a firewall, but all too often, the firewall component is minimal, doing nothing more than blocking unsolicited incoming network traffic. Norton’s is a full two-way firewall, both blocking attacks from outside and preventing misuse of the network connection by apps on the inside. If you leave it at its out-of-box settings, you’ll hardly even notice it, but it’s working away to protect you behind the scenes. As a bonus, the separate Intrusion Prevention component watches for network traffic that might indicate a threat, such as an attempt to remote control your computer. You’re thoroughly protected.
As for Bitdefender, it reserves the firewall component for its security suite products. Norton wins.
Winner: Norton
Ransomware Protection
Even if a zero-day Trojan or bot infests your system despite antivirus protection, it won’t be around for long. Within days or even hours, an antivirus update will surely wipe out the infestation. But if ransomware was the problem, you’re hosed. Your files are still encrypted, and eliminating the ransomware might even make it harder to recover them. Ransomware is such a scourge that many security companies have built in extra protection strictly aimed at combating it.
Bitdefender’s Safe Files component simply prevents all changes to files in protected folders unless the program making the change is authorized. Your word processor can edit documents, and your image editor can touch up pictures, but a ransomware program that tries to encrypt those files gets blocked. It’s an effective strategy, though files outside the protected folders can be damaged. By default, it protects your Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and Pictures folders, as well as your Time Machine backups.
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)Norton’s multi-faceted malware detection and prevention engine should defend against ransomware just as it does against any other type of malware. But the Data Protector feature that specifically foils ransomware in its Windows edition is not present on the Mac.
Winner: Bitdefender
Backup for Important Files
If you wake up one morning to find your Mac inexplicably bricked, will you succumb to despair? Or will you calmly order a replacement, secure in the knowledge that your important files are backed up? Whether you lose your files to ransomware or to a natural disaster, backup is the ultimate security. And neither of our contenders offers it, though both have backup-adjacent features.
(Credit: Norton/PCMag)As I mentioned above, Bitdefender’s Safe Files component doesn’t just prevent unauthorized changes to protected files; it also fends off attacks on your Time Machine backups. Given that restoring from backup is a fine way to defeat ransomware, protecting those backups is smart.
As for Norton, you can click to log in to your backup management console online. There, you can view and even download files backed up from your Norton installations on Windows. But Norton doesn’t back up files from your Mac. With no actual backup functionality in either app, it’s a draw.
Winner: Tie
Additional Security Features
Both Norton and Bitdefender clearly handle all the antivirus basics, scanning for existing malware, defending against new attacks, and preventing malware downloads from even reaching your Mac. Both also go beyond those basics...but which one goes the farthest?
(Credit: Bitdefender/PCMag)You can use your Norton or Bitdefender licenses to protect both Windows and Mac devices—they both have the cross-platform mojo. They also both include browser-level protection against ads and trackers. Bitdefender’s flexible and effective tracker blocking supports all popular browsers. Norton's protection only works in its Secure Browser, unless you pay extra for Norton AntiTrack. But speaking of that security-first browser, Norton has it, Bitdefender doesn’t. Bitdefender’s SafePay doesn’t appear in the Mac product.
(Credit: Norton/PCMag)Norton builds in quite a few other security components that don’t have an equivalent in Bitdefender’s feature set. Its startup manager lets you reversibly disable apps that launch at startup, and it will clean up junk files to help performance. Norton comes with a basic password manager. You can even manage the Norton Family parental control system from your Mac, though its monitoring abilities themselves don’t work under macOS.
Bitdefender’s Windows antivirus abounds with bonus features, enough to match what Norton offers on Windows. In the Mac realm, however, Norton clearly carries the day bonus-wise.
Winner: Norton
Which Mac Antivirus Is Best?
I’ve put Norton and Bitdefender side by side in eight different ways. Bitdefender wins on price, VPN, and ransomware protection. Norton comes out ahead on lab test scores, firewall protection, and bonus features. And they tie the rest. It’s not lonely at the top; Bitdefender Antivirus Plus and Norton AntiVirus Plus are equally recommended for your Mac. So pick the one that has the most features you won't and rest assured that you won't be disappointed.