Sophos Vs. Avast Antivirus (Which is Better in 2023?)

Sophos vs Avast: What’s The Best Program?

Our Score
Features	3	5
Protection	5	5
Performance	2	5
User-Friendliness	4	5
Pricing	5	5
Overall	3.8	5
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Sophos vs Avast Feature Comparison

Feature
Real-time Protection
Browser Protection
Tune-Up
Customer Support
Self-Protection
Anti-Rootkit
Anti-Spyware
Automatic Updates
Threat Hunting
Anti-Ransomware
Web Protection
Firewall
PC Scanner
Sandbox
Core Shields
Network Inspector
Remote Access Shield
Password Management
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Today’s malicious programs are swift and sophisticated. Therefore, you need to choose the best option among antivirus solutions to get comprehensive protection.

Are you interested in choosing between Sophos and Avast? Both antivirus products are reliable like others, such as Microsoft Defender and Kaspersky Internet Security. However, this article will explore both security solutions in detail and determine which is the better option.

What Do I Need to Know About Sophos?

Sophos is a British-based Cybersecurity as a Service (CaaS) company that provides 24/7 threat detection with proactive threat hunting, investigation, and incident response. The cybersecurity company ensures this via its Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services. In addition, Sophos Home Premium provides the best value for Macs as it ensures protection against advanced malware samples and viruses. Therefore, Sophos is considered the best Mac antivirus software.

More importantly, Sophos can integrate with your existing security products. The company also provides you with an instant self-managed security operation center. According to Sophos, around 10,000 organizations use Sophos MDR. Sophos Central powers all Sophos products.

Figure 1: Sophos Home Premium (Main screen)

Sophos Products

Endpoint

Sophos Endpoint (EDR)
Sophos Workload Protection
Sophos Encryption
Sophos Mobile

Network

Sophos Wireless
Sophos Firewall
Sophos Switch
Sophos Zero Trust Network

Cloud

Cloud Workload Protection
Cloud Native Security

Security Operations

Sophos XDR
Sophos MDR

For Home

Sophos Home

What Do I Need to Know About Sophos Features?

Sophos Group plc provides useful features for many platforms, including mobile devices, iOS devices, Android devices, PC, and laptops. The following section spells out Sophos’ advanced features in more detail.

Real-Time Protection

Sophos Home Premium provides you with advanced real-time protection against malicious threats, such as malware attacks, Windows malware, phishing sites, social media dangers, and hacking attempts.

You must ensure privacy protection, web protection, and ransomware protection when working online. Malware attacks and phishing attacks are on the rise.

Sophos is reliable antivirus software that provides excellent malware protection in real-time. The company also offers a paid version with a premium security edition.

Managed Detection and Response (MDR)/Threat Hunting

Sophos MDR offers 24/7 threat hunting, detection, and response capabilities. The expert team of Sophos delivers these fully-managed services. In fact, Sophos doesn’t wait for the attack to occur. Instead, Sophos’ security professionals proactively look for threats to hunting them before they become a big nightmare.

The MDR team takes targeted actions on the user’s behalf to neutralize even the most complex and sophisticated threats. Moreover, MDR concentrates on machine learning, expert analysis for threat hunting and detection, and deeper investigation of false alarms. For example, the artificial intelligence built into Sophos Intercept X can detect unknown and known malware samples without relying on signatures.

Anti-Ransomware Technology

Sophos Intercept X with XDR incorporates anti-ransomware technology that detects ransomware attacks and blocks them on time. Sophos can prevent both master boot records and file-based ransomware. The recent ransomware attack occurred on Nvidia, the world’s largest semiconductor chip company. To avoid frustration and financial damage, Sophos anti-ransomware technology always help and protect against ransomware attacks.

Web Protection

Sophos home provides unique features to protect a webcam from unauthorized access. For example, Sophos doesn’t allow threat actors to infect a webcam. Mac users can also protect the webcam of their Mac devices.

Firewall

Sophos provides the next-generation Firewall that protects the user’s network against advanced threats while accelerating his vital SD-WAN, SaaS, and cloud application traffic. In addition, TLS1.3 decryption removes a big blind spot with fast and effective TLS inspection.

Sophos’ deep packet inspection ensures malware protection and prevents data breaches. The deep packet inspection technology incorporates next-gen Intrusion Prevention systems (IPS), app control, and web protection.

Sandbox

Sophos Sandbox technology provides a highly scalable and secure environment for in-depth analysis of suspicious files and programs.

Prices

Sophos Home Premium is available for a 1-year license. The product can protect up to 10 computers and Mac devices. The 1-Year plan starts at $44.99 with a 25% discount. A 2-Years license costs you $74.99 with a 25% discount. Lastly, a 3-Years license is available for $104.99 with a 25% discount. A free trial is also available, with no credit card required.

Customer Service

Sophos customer service provides the following features:

Twitter Support
Community Support
Knowledge Base
Product Support Videos
Product Setup and Configuration
Sophos Central Status
Rapid Response
Contact Us
Live Chat

What Do I Need to Know Regarding Avast?

Avast offers advanced features, a user-friendly user interface, and excellent malware protection with Avast Premium Security. The cybersecurity company ensures a robust cybersecurity posture by combining machine learning with human ingenuity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and insights from the company’s extensive global user base.

Moreover, Avast provides six layers of security to its home users. As per Avast, the company blocks 1.5 billion cyber-attacks each month. Regarding Mac security software, Avast is the best choice and is at the forefront of the Mac community. Besides, Avast free Mac security is a trustworthy security solution for individuals and businesses.

Avast is effective and, therefore, the best choice for millions of people. The company claims 11,759 Servers, 463,000 VPN connections, and 435 million users. Furthermore, Avast analyzes 3.97 trillion URLs annually, provides 302 Gbps download speed, and transmits 56.4 Petabytes of data monthly.

Avast Security Products

Avast mainly offers four security products that can install on all your devices, including PCs equipped with Microsoft Windows, Android devices, Mac, and iPhone/iPad. Below is the list of Avast security products:

Avast Free Antivirus
Avast Premium Security
Avast Ultimate
Avast One
Avast Mobile Security App (Free)

Avast Privacy Tools

A good antivirus software always protects customers’ data privacy. This is the reason Avast offers five additional privacy tools, including:

Avast SecureLine VPN
Avast AntiTrack
Avast BreachGuard
Avast Secure Browser
Avast Online Security & Privacy

Avast Performance Tools

Security doesn’t meet the purpose unless your computer performs fast with fewer errors. To this end, Avast provides you with two performance tools.

Avast Cleanup Premium
Avast Driver Updater

What Are Avast Essential Features?

Avast provides essential features required to defend against cybersecurity threats and attacks. In addition, the company can provide you with around the clock protection.

Real-Time Protection

Like Sophos, Avast provides real-time protection for its home users and businesses. In addition, Avast antivirus is a free version that can provide basic protection.

Today’s malware threats are very sophisticated. Hackers make them hide in computer memory for months to years. Usually, users cannot notice them. These Bots can establish a network of Botnet using a Command & Control (C&C) server.

Avast real-time protection prevents covert operations and foils attackers’ secret missions. Furthermore, instead of waiting for the attack to occur and preparing a response, real-time protection often prevents the attack with the help of threat intelligence or threat hunting. To this end, Avast offers several unique features, including Core Shields, Email Guardian, Real Site, Remote Access Shield, Ransomware Shield, Firewall, and Network Inspector. In contrast, Sophos also offers real-time protection.

PC Scanner

Avast offers different categories of PC Scanner that encompasses Smart Scan, Boot-time Scan, Explorer Scan, Targeted Scan, Custom Scan, and Full Scan. More importantly, PC Scanner provides a comprehensive malware scan. Unfortunately, Sophos doesn’t offer a variety of scans.

Core Shields

Although cyber threats and attacks and accelerating exponentially, Avast Core Shields are very effective in defending against these attacks. For example, Mail Shield keeps you safe in the face of notorious social engineering attacks, such as phishing attacks and social engineering attacks.

Moreover, File Shield scans all your essential files and ensures they are safe and secure. Behavior Shield detects abnormal behavior and raises warning signs if any application behaves suspiciously. Lastly, Web Shield provides that your web browser is secure. Web protection is very critical to ensure the overall security of a computer. This is what the Web Shield does. Contrarily, Sophos doesn’t offer Core Shields but some of its features.

Ransomware Shield

Bad guys often encrypt the user’s vital documents and files and demand ransom (often in Bitcoin) to decrypt such critical digital assets. Unfortunately, even if a user pays ransom, recovery of assets is not guaranteed. Fortunately, Avast offers a Ransomware Shield to prevent hackers from holding, deleting, or changing your digital assets.

You can create a folder and put all of your vital information there. Once you are done, you can put this folder in a Ransomware Shield and disallow anyone to access it. This feature will also enable you to allow or block apps. Likewise, Sophos also offers ransomware protection – namely, Anti-Ransomware Protection.

Remote Access Shield

Recent years have witnessed the eruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. World Health Organization (WHO) requires individuals and organizations to obey the rule of social distancing. Therefore, people are recommended to work from home. To this end, Avast offers a Remote Access Shield. It will not allow hostile actors to use your remote desktop against you. You can also block people from accessing your remote desktop. On the contrary, Remote Access Shield is not available in Sophos.

Firewall

Unauthorized communication and intrusions are widespread nowadays. The good news is that Avast Firewall doesn’t allow outsiders to penetrate your computer system. Instead, it monitors all the network traffic between the outside world and your PC. Sophos also offers Firewall.

Sandbox

You may need to download software from the internet. Some people even download unknown but useful apps from torrents. However, doing so can be detrimental to your critical data on the system. Using a Sandbox text, you can test and run this software in a safe environment. Sophos also offers a Sandbox feature.

Network Inspector

The network involves various data points that can allow malicious actors to penetrate your computer systems. To prevent network attacks, Avast offers a Network Inspector. This feature scans the user’s network to find strangers piggybacking and vulnerabilities on his network. Contrarily, Sophos doesn’t offer Network Inspector.

Password Management

Password is the weakest point of security; hackers often exploit weak passwords to penetrate a corporate network. Avast password management services are exceptional. You can get peace of mind by using Avast Password Management System. This feature will allow you to safely log in to sites and save your credentials at a secure place. On the other hand, Sophos doesn’t offer password management for PCs. Instead, the company only offers this feature for mobile and iOS devices using Sophos Intercept X.

Additional Features

Avast ensures users’ privacy protection through various additional features, including Sensitive Data Shield, Data Shredder, Webcam Protection, Hack Alerts, Parental Controls, and Password Protection. Privacy can also be ensured by Avast SecureLine VPN, Avast Secure Browser, and Avast AntiTrack Premium.

Prices

In terms of prices, there is a slight difference between Avast and Sophos. Sophos offers low price but limited features. Avast charges $49.99 annually (49% discount) for Avast Premium Security. For Avast Ultimate, a company charges you $79.99 annually (38% discount). Ten devices support is available for each subscription plan.

Customer Service

Avast provides technical support in four sections: Forums, Business Support, Privacy Request, and Reporting False Detection. In addition, the support team ensures customer satisfaction. Therefore, Avast is the best choice for home users and businesses. Avast’s premium support is available 24/7 for a free consultation.

Conclusion

Our Score
Features	3	5
Protection	5	5
Performance	2	5
User-Friendliness	4	5
Pricing	5	5
Overall	3.8	5
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Avast is the ease of use, and many independent sources are satisfied with its long time protection. In addition, Avast offers more advanced features than Sophos. Avast customer service is also better than Sophos. The only edge of Sophos is that it offers much lower prices.

AV-test institute conducts unbiased evaluations to determine the better choice between Sophos and Avast.