Are you confused between Kaspersky and ESET on which one is the best for your needs? Worry not because in this review we will compare and explain to you the advantages of each brand.

These two prominent AV software brands both give good security features and thus keeping your computer and system safe from getting targeted by malicious attacks. Even though they come with their own respective features and some individuals are confused on them, they still provide good protection.

Now if you don’t know which one is for you, let’s get into it and determine what activation code and brand you should acquire. Read on!

Initial Verdict

If you want to know which one is the better product right away, then our verdict says that Kaspersky is the most ideal option as it comes with more features related to protection as well as some additional utilities in its security plans compared to ESET. Independent laboratory evaluations prove that the two AV brands give great malware protection while maintaining a minimal impact on the computer’s system performance. Additionally, Kaspersky is more inexpensive compared to ESET.

For more elaborated details, let’s move on below.

Antivirus Suites Offered By ESET And Kaspersky

The following will explain about the plans offered by both AV software brands for users from home and to get a license key.

ESET Security Plans:

• ESET NOD32 AV version (applicable to Windows only)
• ESET Internet Security (applicable to Windows only)
• ESET Smart Security Premium (applicable to Windows only)
• ESET Multi-Device Security (applicable to Windows and Macintosh)
• ESET Cyber Security (applicable to Macintosh only)
• SESET Cyber Security Pro (applicable Macintosh only)

Kaspersky Security Plans: 

• Kaspersky Free Trial version (applicable to Windows only)
• Kaspersky Antivirus (applicable to Windows only)
• Kaspersky Internet Security (applicable to Windows and Mac)
• Kaspersky Total Security (applicable to Mac and Windows)
• Virus Scanner (applicable to Mac only)
• Virus Scanner Pro (applicable to Mac only)

With their respective suites above, you’ll understand the availability of all AV software. And now, let’s go into deeper discussion about each plan that both brands offer.

ESET’s Antivirus Plans – Comprehensive Descriptions

Just like any other AV companies, ESET also provides various AV for different platforms. Even though one of its varied software is compatible to much kind of devices, the different version of the software the ESET offers are as follows:

ESET NOD32 Antivirus

This particular plan is the entry-level AV offered by ESET. IT doesn’t really have any particular security features and some extra utilities. However, it is still capable of protecting you from all angles. This implies that it can block off all kinds of Trojans, worms, spyware, viruses, and many more. Additionally, it comes with a protection against phishing attacks as well as ransom-ware.

That’s why it comes with an extra feature of silent mode – this helps suspend notification for better game or better experience.

ESET Internet Security

This is the next level of plan that ESET offers – the ESET Internet Security. This particular suite comes with every feature incorporated in the first plan we discussed about. Moreover, it comes with a hardened browser, an anti-spam filter, a two-way firewall, and an anti-theft module. Lastly, it comes with a network monitor. All of these are responsible for all kinds of activities through online. Furthermore, it comes with an extra feature called webcam protection that gives protection against web spying.

ESET Smart Security Premium

This is ESET’s full-blown version of their antivirus. It comes with everything the company has to provide. It comes with all the features that were found in NOD32 as well as the Internet Security version. Moreover, it comes with a password manager as well as the secure data module. Lastly, it features and encryption utility which is used for making virtual drives to safeguard your information from lurking hackers.

ESET Multi-Device Security

If you’re looking to get multiple-device AV software, then this one is what you’re looking for. Compared to BITDEFENDER’s Family Pack, this particular suite won’t let unlimited device protection from just one subscription plan. Moreover, since you can opt for either the Internet Security version or the NOD32 version to come along with this plan, the brand doesn’t let the installation of a high-shelf ESET Smart Security Premium plan. So instead of choosing this particular plan that might cost a little bit, you can just pick the Antivirus for your whole family.

ESET Cyber Security

This particular suite is an exclusive version of the AV made for Mac Operating System. It comes with a global protection against all kinds of malicious threats. Moreover, it features presentation mode that works to suspend notification in order to maintain the interruption-free experience of the user as well as of full-free premium support of the brand.

ESET Cyber Security Pro

This one is the professional version of the ESET Cyber Security. It comes with all the features present in the latter, and comes with an additional parental control module and a firewall.

Kaspersky’s Antivirus Plans – Comprehensive Descriptions

We all know that Kaspersky is a prominent AV brand that got its prominent title as it offers great results to its users. Kaspersky gives its users a lot of versions to pick from based on their specific needs. That’s why to further all of these plans, let’s go into their elaborated form below.

Kaspersky Free

This is the freeware of Kaspersky and gives basic protection against all kinds of malware which include ransom-ware, viruses, worms, and Trojans. However, you will not get any kind of innovated protection services and extra utilities in it.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus

This one is the upgraded version of the Kaspersky Free. It gives users with the protection against all types of threats. It also comes with a multi-layered ransom-ware protection, a reliable web-browsing protection, a gaming mode, and a vulnerability scanner. Keep in mind that a single subscription of it only protects one device. Even though there’s an option to add up more PCs, but as obvious as it is, you might need to spend more.

Kaspersky Internet Security

This one is the level up version given by the brand. It comes with all the features present in the past versions. Aside from that, it comes with a firewall utility, a limited parental control module, and of course a hardened web browser. Lastly, it comes with a reliable protection against microphone and webcam spying. Again, keep in mind that this plan is compatible with smartphone, Mac, and PCs. Users can pick protection for more than one device but again with an extra cost.

Kaspersky Total Security

This one is the higher-end version of the plan we discussed above. It comes with all the features that come also from the Internet Security version. It also features an encryption tool, a data shredder utility, and a password manger. Moreover, it comes with an integrated complete parental control module as well as a backup utility tool that is capable of automatically backing up your important data and files.

Kaspersky Security Cloud

This is the most recent AV plan from Kaspersky. This one is another high-end version offered by Kaspersky. This particular plan comes with all the features that Total Security version has to give. Aside from that, it gives you a patented adaptive technology that can adjust your security settings very efficiently. Also, this particular technology will advise you on certain activities you’ll be making.

Kaspersky Security Cloud comes in two packages which is the Personal and family. The sole difference between this two is that the family version only offers protection for up to twenty devices. When it comes to personal version, it is only capable of protecting 1 PC. Thus, the family version is obviously priced much higher compared to the personal one. Take note that all premium plans featured by Kaspersky are compatible with mobile devices, Windows, and Mac.

ESET Versus Kaspersky – Who Provides Better Protection

For the most part, protection is the heart of any kind of AV software out there.

See malware can be classified into two kinds. The first one is unknown malware and the second one is the known malware. The known malware is type of malware that can be detected by utilizing the conventional signature-based scanner that is normally working by simply matching suspect files against a certain database of knowing malware fingerprints. The unknown malware is the kind of malware that comes with a higher danger. It can’t really be detected by a simple signature-based scanner since it targets an unknown vulnerability of your PC. Today, most modern AV software implements heuristics scanning to detect this kind of malware.

The takeaway here is that both brands come to be good AVs. Nowadays, viruses will more likely hit a system because there’s a growing number of internet individuals every day, thus making the threats much faster. That’s why both of the software gives nominal features for protection from possible dangers and malicious threats.

That’s why tests are important. And with that said, both AV-Test and AV-Comparatives evaluated how well these two brands can fight malicious threats.

AV-Test (Tests)

The evaluation was conducted in September to October of 2018. The Kaspersky was evaluated against widespread malware samples as well as the unknown malware samples. The result was one of the few antiviruses was able to achieve perfect score of six out of six, Kaspersky was able to detect all types of malware in the same months, without giving any kind of single false positive.

On the other hand, ESET AV didn’t really participate in the test. Its AV-test evaluations are not really taken into considerations.

AV-Comparatives (Tests)

Because ESET AV didn’t participate, another evaluation was conducted. This time by the AV-Comparatives; this particular evaluation was conducted in sight of targeting to test a product in the real-world protection test as well as the malware protection test. The result was that Kaspersky was able to get an Advanced plus rating, which is the highest rating one could get. It was able to get a score of 99.4% real-world protection score without and false positives count.

On the other hand, ESET was quite low as it only comes with a 98.9 percent of score. This implies that the AV software only achieved the advanced title. But what more is that it gave some few false positives which is not really good.

Now, when it comes to the Malware protection evaluation, surprisingly ESET did really good. It was able to acquire the Advanced plus rating with a protection score of 99.94 percent with small quantity of false positives.

On a side note, Kaspersky was able to achieve the second best Advanced Rating with a protection score of 99.87 percent and has five false positives during the evaluation.

If we look into these results, we can tell that both AV brands are pretty much similar when it comes to head comparison in their protection category.

ESET Versus Kaspersky – Who Has Better Impact On System

AVs are primarily prominent for operating in the backend of the computer to operate real-time scanning. Even though it has been a concern for many users as they tend to eat some of the computer’s performance, but it is crucial to secure their data and information.

Thus, for an AV to be an ideal candidate, it must imply less strain on the computer because heavy strain can come into unexpected delays and hang in your computer’s system.

That’s why, evaluations were performed by independent laboratories to carry out the results of well these two AV brands can perform well on their impact on the computer’s system. By simply doing activities such as launching prominent websites, installing and downloading, and using certain apps and copying files, they were able to determine the impact on the system.

When it comes to the performance category of the AV-TEST evaluation, the impact on the system of each brand is measured by system slowdown experienced while performing usual computer activities such as launching prominent websites, download, install, copying, etc. To get the best results, this evaluated was conducted on both standard PC and High-end PC.

ESET’s Impact Test

In regards to ESET’s AV-Test, their software didn’t participate but on the AV-Comparative evaluation, they were able to get an Advanced Plus rating which is good, making it pretty suitable for users out there.

Kaspersky’s Impact Test

When it comes to Kaspersky’s evaluation, the AV once again got a six out of six rating in AV-Test whereas an advanced award was given in AV-Comparatives evaluation with a slightly heftier impact score of 11.9 in its performance category.

Overall, it’s obvious that both software is quite good and can give minimal impact on the computer’s system.  But when it comes to both stats, both Kaspersky and ESET tend to stand equal in this section of particular feature, making both of the software suitable for use.

Kaspersky Versus ESET – User Experience

It is crucial for security software to give a good user experience. So, let’s go into Kaspersky’s user interface factor first.

First of all, Kaspersky’s interface has an elegant and neat form of white and dark green. Its default view comes with plenty of information as well as links. However, everything is so well-organized that it does not look really crowded anymore. Additionally, the green banner at the top of it is where you will see your current protection status of your computer.

Placed below are the main six modules which are Protection for all devices, Parental Control, Privacy Protection, Safe Money, Database Update, and Scan. Each of these modules come with a set of related options and features. Moreover, the name of the plan you need to install on your computer is displayed in the title bar. Its bottom bar links to the settings, help, etc.

And that’s how Kaspersky’s is. Let’s now go over ESET’s user experience.

ESET has an airy, bright, and simple interface. On its left, you can find six categories which are named Help and Support, Setup, Tools, Update, Computer Scan, and Home.

The Home is its default Window, and it displays the user’s current protection status and come with links to different innovative modules such as the Secure Data Utility. If everything is secure and safe, you will have a reassuring ‘You’re Protected’ message along with a green checkmark. This message will immediately change to ‘Attention Required’ or sometimes ‘Security Alert’ all will be depend on the seriousness of the problem that needs to get fixed. Some of the other categories is quite self-explanatory.

Moreover, the name of the software you’re subscribed will be displayed at the top. Its bottom bar displays the number of days that is remaining in the user’s subscription plan. All in all, Kaspersky’s user interface is much more robust and intuitive compared to ESET’s user interface.

Kaspersky Versus ESET – Popularity

On this part, we will determine which AV software is more popular. We will get the opinion of prominent security form which is called OPSWAT. They regularly release monthly evaluations on the market share of the leading AV brands and products. In fact, their latest evaluation was published in November 2018 and comes with data collected from millions of data points as well as over 30,000 live endpoints.

According to a certain evaluation, AVAST is currently dominating the market today with a 18.44 percent market share, while MALWAREBYTES and McAfee are second and third that comes with a 12.58 percent and 12.23 percent share.

Meanwhile, ESET is fifth on the list with 9.09 percent share, while Kaspersky has a 6.65 percent claims the 7th position. That’s why it is clear that ESET is more prominent compared to Kaspersky in the AV industry..

Kaspersky Versus ESET – Price Factor

Both brands resulted in acquiring good score in their price factor. That’s why it has similar features. But the same might not really be the case in terms of price ranges. Now in this part, we will be discussing their respective prices of each brand to help prospective users have better understanding of the plans.

ESET Antivirus Software Pricing:

• ESET NOD32 Antivirus – 39.99 US dollars good for one year
• ESET Internet Security – 49.99 US dollars good for one year
• ESET Smart Security Premium – 59.99 US dollars good for one year
• ESET Multi-device Security – 69.99 US dollars good for one year and multiple devices
• ESET Cyber Security for Mac – 39.99 US dollars good for one year

Kaspersky Antivirus Suites Pricing

• Kaspersky Anti-Virus – 29.99 US dollars good for a year and covers 3 computers
• Kaspersky Internet Security – 39.99 US dollars good for a year and covers 3 computers as well
• Kaspersky Total Security – 49.99 US dollars good for a year and can cover up to 5 computers
• Kaspersky Security Cloud – Family version is priced at 149.99 US dollars per year and covers up to 20 devices. Personal version comes at 89.99 US dollars and only covers one device.

Final Thoughts:

Acquiring a premium AV nowadays is must today. That’s why they normally give users with safety and security from online malicious hazard. As of the two AV software both Kaspersky and ESET proved to meet users’ needs. Even though this comparison is for users to comprehend the software much better and to choose one that fits their needs.

That’s this conclusion is that both Kaspersky and ESET are very good AV software and well-functioning. Moreover, they are quite successful in protecting the users from malicious treats and malicious activities. However, as the result of this review, we found that Kaspersky excels better due to its myriad of streamlined features and good pricing ranges, regardless of the fact that they are pretty much equal in the evaluation tests performed on them.

That’s Kaspersky is the highly-suggested contender in this head-to-head roundup between Kaspersky and ESET, primarily due to the low prices of the software features and versions given by it.

If this review help you, kindly leave any feedback below. Oh and if you’re looking for some coupon code, then you might find some on REDDIT.