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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
In this close comparison, we scored McAfee slightly higher than Aura. 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/first yr 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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| Star rating | ||
| Starting price | $35.99/first yr | $39.99/first 2 yrs |
| Max number of protected devices | Up to 10 devices | Unlimited devices |
| Malware scans | Manual | Manual and scheduled |
| Real-time protection | ||
| Phishing protection | ||
| Ransomware protection | ||
| 24/7 customer support | ||
| Compatibility | Windows, macOS, Android | Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, ChromeOS |
| Learn more | Get Aura Antivirus | Get McAfee |
We use our proprietary grading rubric in all of our testing, which considers ease-of-use, third-party testing scores, internal testing scores, price, compatibility, and features offered, among other metrics.
This means that our testing process is designed to ensure that the product isn't too confusing, protects as it claims, and offers you a lot for a reasonable price. We download and run each program on our own computers on home networks, just like you would. Our ratings reflect the real-world performance of the antivirus product. This ensures that we can recreate a similar experience for you and give our best advice on whether or not it's worthwhile.
To learn more about how we test, check out our full antivirus testing methodology here.
Aura has multiple plans and includes a variety of bonus features like a password manager and ad blocker for additional privacy. While Aura offers three types of manual scans (quick, full, and custom), it doesn't have the option to schedule malware scans.
McAfee has been a power player in the antivirus space for years now, and it consistently scores well on third-party testing. McAfee has multiple plans, including an option to protect unlimited devices. A firewall and VPN are included in all of its plans.
McAfee simply has more features than Aura, and with competitive plan pricing, too.
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Our Pick | |
| Price range | $35.99-$59.99/first yr | $29.99–$249.99/yr |
| Best value plan | Ultimate plan for $59.99/first yr | Advanced plan for $89.99/first yr |
| 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/first 2 yrs, 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.
Three of Aura's plans come with the antivirus included:
Aura’s best value is its Family 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.
McAfee also has three plans with the antivirus included:
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. McAfee’s Ultimate plan, which has the most features, costs $199.99/first yr.
McAfee offers more useful features, such as parental controls and device optimization tools. However, Aura does come with an ad blocker, which is useful for uninterrupted web browsing.
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Our Pick | |
| Manual and scheduled scans | Yes, manual | |
| Real-time protection | Yes, for Windows | |
| Phishing protection | ||
| Ransomware protection | ||
| Firewall | ||
| Device optimization tools | ||
| Parental controls | Not included | Yes, with the Family plans |
| Password manager | ||
| VPN | ||
| Ad blocker | ||
| Extras | Sensitive files vault, financial fraud protection, and identity protection | Identity theft protection, and data removal |
| 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 | 18/18 |
| AV-TEST Android score | N/A | 18/18 |
| AV-Comparatives malware protection score | N/A | 99.91% |
| SE Labs results | N/A | 100% |
| EICAR score | 2/3 | 3/3 |
| 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.
McAfee has a live chat support options, which we like as it's a fast way to get help. Both services offer 24/7 support, so they're both easy to contact if something goes wrong.
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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, email, online guides | Phone, live chat, online guides, forums |
| 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.
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Our Pick | |
| Value | ||
| Features | ||
| Test results | ||
| Compatibility & customer support | ||
| Learn more | Get Aura Antivirus | Get McAfee |
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.
Powerful app that offers 24/7 virus and malware protection that won’t hog your CPU or RAM
Includes webcam protection, fully customizable security, full or quick scans, and more
Compatible with Windows, Mac, and Android on unlimited devices
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