Bitdefender Vs. Windows Defender (Updated 2020)

Even though Windows is a prominent PC operating system, they really never had an excellent reputation when it comes to cyber security. This is the reason why antivirus software such as Bitdefender is here. Gladly, Microsoft didn’t ignore the threat themselves as they made the Windows Defender to each Windows installation.

Whether you rely on Windows Defender to maintain your personal computer safe or not is a different matter. This is the reason why we are going to compare Windows Defender with Bitdefender – which is our pick as the best antivirus software out there. You see, Windows Defender made it onto our best free antivirus software, and it actually offers some quite decent protection scores. However, you should read on if you want to see how it really performs.

Moreover, you can also take a peek at our elaborated review before you find out who will in this roundup.

Initiating The Match – Bitdefender Vs. Windows Defender

With possible threats to your technology popping up every day, you can’t really afford to pick an antivirus that doesn’t give you the most ideal coverage. Bitdefender is a paid solution that comes with premium feature list to match. In fact, it is the top of our recommendation lists. On the other hand, Windows Defender is doesn’t only come with free trial but it is actually free, which means it comes with certain limitations which we will tackle along the way.

Now, to provide you the most accurate sense of how well a single antivirus software shapes up versus the other, we will test Bitdefender and of course the Windows Defender in five criteria. Firstly, we will begin with features before getting into pricing, user-friendliness, protection features, and lastly the customer support.

The winner of every round will get a point, and the first software to get three points shall win this roundup. We will round up every part with a summary and elaborate our pickings, and then we will welcome your feedback in the comment sections.

Features

Regardless if you are paying for an antivirus or you are looking to use free software, you will want to know whether the features are good enough to keep your PC safe or note. Considering that, we will be taking a look at what both BITDEFENDER and Windows Denfer can offer to their clients. Let’s start with Bitdefender.

Features – BITDEFENDER

For the most part, Windows users are the winners when it comes to pricing since they will get Bitdefender’s ‘real-time data protection’ as well as Bitdefender’s ‘advanced threat defense’ as part of their plan. This implies that it will protect its clients against all different kinds of malware, even those tough malwares and viruses.

Also, most Bitdefender nowadays come with protection against cyber attackers that take advantage of the user’s webcam and microphone, with limits on both. Bitdefender is one of our best bet when it comes to securing your webcam against such cybercrime.  You see, Bitdefender’s threat detection is amazing, with software as well as Wi-Fi vulnerability scanners. You will also get a firewall included in order to further improve your PC’s security against malware and outside threats.

Now, if you are anxious about purchasing online and making transactions online, then you can take advantage of Bitdefender’s SAFEPAY. This feature will enable you to browse online in a safe setting. You can utilize this feature for any kind of websites, but Bitdefender will alert you to switch on SAFEPAY, especially if it saw you trying to make a transaction without this feature.

For the most part, SAFEPAY works great with Bitdefender’s limited virtual private network as well, particularly if you are not aware of the dangers of using Public Wi-Fi when purchasing online. This risks your data on an open Wi-Fi network. You also get daily allowance for data. However, it is capped at 200 megabytes. If virtual private network protection is crucial you will want to amalgamate Bitdefender with a virtual private network such as EXPRESSVPN.

It is also worth mentioning that Bitdefender features a password manager in order to secure your most sensitive data such as email, card numbers, and passwords. This is a nice utility. Bitdefender is light and basic when it comes to features, but if you read our Blur review, it won’t really make for a bad password manager, particularly if you’re just looking to set it and forget it eventually. Nonetheless, we would most likely recommend Dashlane before anything else.

Given the threat from ransom-ware, it is actually smart to see that Bitdefender only precludes file changes to your most sensitive information as well as your file and offers excellent file encryption in order to lock down any kinds of critical files. Additionally, it comes with a good file shredded that get rids of any of your unnecessary files. Moreover, keep in mind that most of these features are usual for Windows users out there with the most basic BITDEFENDER Internet Security package. You will also pick one of Bitdefender’s multi-operating system plans such as the Total Security in order to secure your Android and Mac devices.

Overall, this software comes with one of the most amazing sets of features that you’ll see in antivirus software.

Features – Windows Defender

This software from Windows is a free and the usual antivirus option for most Windows users around the world. It features part of Windows itself. And depending on your particular version of Windows OS, Windows Defender could also come with the title of Windows Defender Security or Windows Security. Such protection feature can switch itself off and enable a competitor such as Bitdefender to take over one the software is installed. So long as it is not in the system, Windows Defender utilizes its very own protection.

Windows Defender’s core is a usual antivirus scanner. Users can run a quick scan in order to see any possible threats that may harm the computer. On a side note, it also enables for targeted scanning of certain drivers or folders. Also, it can scan your PC’s entire system if you want to. Furthermore, Windows Defender comes with a web protection all thanks to its anti-malware protection, Windows’ anti-phishing, and SMARTSCREEN. This comes ready-made into Microsoft Edge, and will probably be available in Google Chrome users with the Windows Defender Browser Protection extension. This makes Chrome our pick as the most secure web browser.

Its SMARTSCREEN also takes advantage of Microsoft’s extensive experience when it comes to cloud computing, utilizing an extensive cloud-based database of potential malware to offer the biggest possible protection. Also, Windows Defender provides an all-around protection to preclude virus installations and tamper protection to lock down any harmful threats.

Moreover, Windows Defender also comes with a certain protection against ransom-ware. Their defaults settings help protect particular folders such as your PC’s documents folder. However, you can also modify it to secure any folders you prefer. It will automatically back up such files to your One-Drive login.

There is a system and network firewall included with Windows Defender’s feature. It also comes with easy to modify settings based on what kind of network you utilize. Additionally, this antivirus from Windows doesn’t really offer any kinds of trimmings like those of BITDEFENDER. However, it also offers a good alternative for a 3^rd party antivirus plan. Another matter to discuss is in its name. You see, Windows Defender is a part of Windows 10 OS, and can’t really be installed on other kinds of devices.

Thoughts For Round One

For the most part, it would probably be unfair to compared Windows Defender to Bitdefender if its a few years back. But Microsoft has greatly expanded and upgraded its own antivirus features by huge steps.

Also, Windows defender tries to be versatile security software, and does it well with some firewall and ransom-ware protection. But the truth is that BITDEFENDER provides more advantages, even if it costly sometimes.

The winner for this round shall be the Bitdefender.

Pricing

Many antivirus developers around the world like to give a number of price plans in order to lock particular features behind highest costs and also to provide activation codes. Well, Bitdefender is not that difference as it also offers some plans, but with particularly decent discounts for new clients. That said; let’s take a peek at how BITDEFENDER and Windows Defender will matchup in this section.

Pricing – Bitdefender

Firstly, BITDEFENDER has four pricing plans. And each one of them comes with certain pricing according on the number of devices they want to cover or sometimes the length they want to cover. Noticing first at the number of devices you’d like to cover, new clients can acquire large discounts on the cost of Bitdefender by simply choosing a plan that covers three devices. In fact, you can buy plans that cover from one to fifteen devices, even though some of these are certain to particular plans and come without any kind of discounts.

When talking about the cheapest plan, Bitdefender’s least expensive plan is called Antivirus Plus. Its coverage ranges from one to ten devices which is good for one to three years depending on your needs. For some reasons, new customers will most likely be able to find the most inexpensive subscription for three devices instead of just one.

Bitdefender excludes specific features such as the network firewall and the file encryption from Antivirus Plus, but you will come with a complete antivirus protection and extras such as SAFEPAY. It is only available for Windows users as well but as for the Internet Security, you should check out Bitdefender’s next package.

You see, Internet Security comes with everything that Bitdefender has to provide to its clients, lacking only the anti-theft features as well as the OneClick Optimizer that you will find on the costliest Total Security plan.

The Total Security includes a total coverage for up to five to ten devices and as support mobile OS like android and Mac operating system. In spite of the immediate cost, it is still one of our best picks as the best antivirus for Android devices. In fact it is only five bucks which is more pricier compared to the Internet Security for one year of coverage and 5 devices.

Found at the top is the BITDEFENDER Family Pack that includes coverage for up to fifteen devices and all the features found on the Total Security plan. Additionally it comes with anti-theft protection, though must pay an upfront fee for it.

Pricing – Windows Defender

Now, let’s talk about Windows Defender’s myriad of packages. First of all, it is completely free, and comes already as part of Windows 10 Installation at no extra cost at all. There’s really no difference in the degree of features or protection you’ll get. The only price you’ll probably spend is for the Windows 10 license key, but this cost is for the entire operating system instead of the antivirus alone.

Thoughts For Round

It’s quite unfair to make a comparison when it comes to free and paid software, but we will do it anyways. Of course, since we’re talking about the price, we want to go with the software the offers the cheapest price. But it’s not the cheapest because it’s free! So, without a doubt Windows Defender shall take this round.

Winner for the price round is Windows Defender!

User-Friendliness

We don’t want any antivirus software that is not friendly, right? It is going to put off the regular PC user. We are going to test and see how easy it is to use both Bitdefender and Windows Defender.

User-Friendliness – BITDEFENDER

Installing the Bitdefender will take around ten minutes. The basic installer of this software takes care of download the bulk of your installation files of your computer and more than some clicks to move on. Additionally, it doesn’t really need you to put a lot of interaction to it.

After installed, utilizing Bitdefender will be really easy. The main client concentrates around a dashboard that provides many usual actions such as quick scanning in order to save significant amount of time. Certain areas such as privacy and protection are on the left-hand side of the software and will provide you access to the full set of features.

Users can also easily modify the settings by simply clicking on the settings in the bottom left corner. If you are not sure about any of these settings or features, then you can just click the question mark button found above each area and you’ll acquire some useful tips.

On the other side, pro users will surely enjoy this software’s modification. However, newbies will like the hands-off method that Bitdefender offers. There is also something for everyone out there, but if you are concentrated to open and utilize the client, then the software will make things easier for you.

User-Friendliness – Windows Defender

It’s already a given that Microsoft has invested a lot of effort into making their Windows 10 interface as simple to utilize as possible, and Windows defender is really no different. In fact, users can normally find it as a shield icon on their Windows taskbar or in their Windows settings area.

The Windows Defender security at a glance part provides users a quick overview of their Windows Defender protection. Clicking on any of these blocks such as virus and threat detection would take users to the settings section for that particular feature.

There are really no huge lists of complex features, and Windows Defender already explained any vague options. After you are off the main area, you can easily navigate from the left side bar just like the Bitdefender’s option.

Moreover, Windows Defender activates by default after you begin operating Windows, unless you’ve already got antivirus software installed. Now if you really installed another antivirus, then Windows Defender will disable certain parts of its services, and give way to the other provider in order to preclude conflict and issues.

Overall, Windows Defender is very friendly to use. In fact it is also friendly enough to give way to antivirus software with its own operating software. It will also prompt users when it requires a decision about something or if there is an issue, but it will otherwise work in the back-end.

Thoughts For Round Three

As we read above, both BITDEFENDER and Windows Defender offer pretty beneficial features that even newbies would find really friendly. Bitdefender’s easy-access dashboard is quite better though, particularly if you can modify it. Moreover, it offers a quick scanning option. Now due to those reasons, Bitdefender pretty much wins this match.

Winner for the user-friendly round is the BITDEFENDER.

Protection

For the most part, any antivirus software is useless without any kind of protection. Now in this round, we will be using the reports from three security testing firms in order to determine whether BITDEFENDER of Windows Defender is better than the other when it comes to protecting your information and your PC, and whether it will affect speed of your PC along the process.

Protection – BITDEFENDER

Now let’s start with BITDEFENDER first. In an AV-TEST conducted on May to June 2019 testing of Bitdefender antivirus, there was a little dip in its past scores from March to April, reducing to 97.1 percent for the overall virus protection. Its overall protection score also dropped which previously from 6 now it’s 5.5.

Well, this dip in protection level is quite disappointing, and there was also some drop in performance percentage of 14 to 19 percent, even though the overall performance score has stayed the same of six.

Additionally, Bitdefender scored much better compared to AV-Tests’ from February to May protection tests. Bitdefender manage to block 751 threats at a speed of 99.9 percent. This is enough to acquire AV-Comparatives’ top advanced plus score for protection.

Additionally,  Bitdefender received the Advanced plus score for performance testing in April 2019, even though it was eleven out of fifteen in a comparison against other antivirus software out there according on impact scores. This places it on part with other antivirus software such as the Trend Micro Antivirus software.

Nonetheless, the MRG-EFFITAS testing made amazing results for Bitdefender. In fact, out of 339 malware, Bitdefender detected all of it in its Q1 2019 complete spectrum testing, which gained its top-tier level one certified award that even rivaled Avira.

Protection – Windows Defender

Now, when it comes to the Windows Defender, it had the same percentage rating to Bitdefender in their AV-TEST’s May to June 2019 testing at a staggering 97.1%. On a side note, it had a total protection score of six, which even rivaled those of Bitdefender’s 5.5 rating. Moreover, Windows Defender held this score from March up to April 2019, where it also got a 6 out of 6 rating.

For the most part, the AV-TEST ratings imply that it recognized Windows Defender as one of the most ideal AV software for home users out there on Windows. Some AVs alongside its class are F-Secure, Norton, and Kaspersky.

Furthermore, Windows Defender performed pretty well in AV-Comparatives’ from February to May 2019 testing. It was able to block 749 threats at a score of 99.8%, which only has 0.1% significantly lower than of those Bitdefender’s rate. But what’s shocking is that, it was the mere number of false positives Windows Defender has detected which is 74 versus 2 for Bitdefender.

This only implies that Windows Defender acquired a much lower “advanced” award, but anti-virus comparatives particularly notes that this lower rating is on the back of these false positives.

It is also worth mentioning that MRG-EFFITAS was nice enough to Microsoft as they award it the same level one certified score that Bitdefender acquired in its Q1 2019 testing. Moreover, out of the identical 339 samples, Windows Defender was able to automatically block all these samples.

Round Four Thoughts

For the most part, BITDEFENDER has always been one of the most ideal AV when it comes to protection. However, it saw a dip in some of its latest ratings. On the other hand, Windows Defender is competing real hard with amazing performance ratings, but with so many false positives from antivirus-comparatives displays that there is still particular work in making Microsoft’s detection systems perfect.

Considering their variety in ratings, we shall end this round with a draw.

Support

Most individuals around the world would probably want the best support for their PC if something’s not right. Keeping that in mind, we will be testing customer support from both Windows Defender and BITDEFENDER in this part of the article.

Support – BITDEFENDER

First of all, BITDEFENDER won’t easily lose when it comes to support options. Users can phone of its sixteen varied support lines in various countries all over the world. Users can also send some emails, or just talk with some representatives through a live chat.

Furthermore, BITDEFENDER offers 24/7 customer service, so you are free to take advantage of its vast knowledgebase as a substitute, with Frequently Asked Questions, and some instructions guides to aid you with more common issues.

BITDEFENDER also have a community forum that comes with English and other languages which covers different Bitdefender usual issues and products.

Support – Windows Defender

Considering that BITDEFENDER is a paid AV, it’s quite fair to say that you are spending some hard-earned cash for a premium customer service. But how about Windows Defender’s free use and plan?

You see, Windows Defender has a community answers forum, where users can ask about Windows Defender, but this particular forum is usually for Windows users only. In addition, you’ll found some helpful articles and guides on how to keep your PC up to date and work through some obvious problems.

Now if you need the support, you might want to consider purchasing the Windows Premium Technical Support that will cost around forty-nine bucks a year for Windows devices as well as online support.

Additionally, users will also acquire the “get help” app which is included as part of the Windows. This feature allows you to speak to a customer service representative or sometimes the virtual chat box. This will be able to guide you through some common issues. Considering the great number of Windows users in the world, it is likely you will have to pay for support if you happen to have any critical issues.

Thoughts For The Final Round

Let’s admit it, BITDEFENDER subscriptions surely come with premium support packages, and Windows Defender doesn’t. If you’re looking for the same degree of customer support, you need to spend some cash on Microsoft’s premium package for the privilege. With almost $50 cost, you will surely prefer purchasing the Bitdefender AV anyways.

Our clear winner for this round is the BITDEFENDER.

Final Thoughts

We are all are now that Windows Defender is the default AV on Windows devices in the world, that’s why it is fair to make a comparison between it and a prominent AV – which is the BITDEFENDER. You see, Windows has done well to turn what used to be a very essential protection suite into one of the most ideal AV out there – well at least it what’s the AV-TESTS are saying.

However, for those positives, Windows Defender is not a premium AV protection. And obviously Bitdefender will offer you more features compared to a slightly more convenient client to use, and impressively better support.

To sum it up, the overall winner is Bitdefender.

If we miss something out, please let us know in the comments down below. Oh, if you’re looking for some coupon code, you might see one or two on Reddit, so check it out now! See you!