At a Glance
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Excellent malware protection
- Masses of features
- Decent, unlimited VPN service
Cons
- Fragmented experience with multiple apps
- Can’t set individual app time limits using parental controls
- Identity protection included only in most expensive package
Our Verdict
Bitdefender Premium Security offers impressive protection from malware, phishing and scams. Some of the additional features, such as the VPN and password manager are good, but others such as parental controls are far from best-in-class. You need to pay more for ID protection, but it’s a good service overall.
Price When Reviewed
$39.98 (1 year, 5 devices), $89.999 subsequent years
Best Prices Today: Bitdefender Total Security
In recent years, Bitdefender Total Security has felt like a misnomer because – unlike some rivals – it doesn’t include any protection for your identity.
It’s a naming problem more than anything, because Bitdefender did offer ID protection, albeit as a separate, standalone service.
If you’d rather pay a single subscription fee then Norton, McAfee and others will give you everything in one package.
But now, Bitdefender has rolled this protection into its top security suite and calls it Premium Security Plus – in the UK at least. In the US it’s called Bitdefender Ultimate Security. There are reasons for this, which we’ll get into later where we’ll explain how that protection works.
To keep things simple, though, this is primarily a review of Bitdefender Premium Security which doesn’t include ID protection. It’s the same whether you’re in the UK, US or elsewhere and offers protection for 10 devices whether they’re running Windows, macOS, iOS or Android.
Since Premium Security is essentially Bitdefender Total Security but with the 200MB per day VPN limit removed, you can also treat this as a Total Security review – just bear this rather annoying limit in mind.
What’s included?
Mega-suites such as Premium Security include so many features it’s hard to get your head around them all.
So, here’s a handy list of the main features. But, just to complicate matters, features vary across operating systems, with Windows and Android getting the lion’s share, and iOS and macOS having fewer of them.
- Malware protection – including ransomware
- Web attack prevention
- Anti-phishing, anti-fraud, anti-spam
- Vulnerability assessment
- Game, movie and work modes
- Performance optimiser
- Anti-theft tools
- Battery mode
- VPN
- Anti-tracking tools
- Microphone + webcam monitor
- Parental controls
- Firewall
- File shredder
- Online banking protection (Safepay browser)
- Wi-Fi Security Advisor
- Social network protection
That’s just Total Security. With Premium Security (which covers 10 devices instead of 5) you also get:
- No-limits VPN
- Password manager
If you opt for Premium Security Plus, then you get digital ID Protection. (Again, in the US, you’d need Ultimate Security but there are three tiers for that, the lowest of which comes with the same ID protection. Go for the more expensive tiers and you get ID Theft Protection which includes an ID restoration service and insurance to cover any losses. These are not available if you’re in the UK.)
It can be hard to spot what’s missing from a list like this, but the most obvious one – especially if you’re also considering Norton 360 – is cloud backup. Norton’s the only company that offers this, though. Norton also includes an updater which checks and automatically updates any out of date software but this and the cloud storage are Windows-only features.
A list of features is helpful only to a limited extent: it’s whether the features are any good that’s important. And that’s what the rest of this review will explain.
Apps and interface
When you sign up for your chosen package, you’ll get an activation code. You can enter this in the Bitdefender Central website (or mobile app) where you create an account and then use the code to redeem your subscription.
The Central website is an important portal where you can manage your subscription, see an overview of how many licences you’ve used and send links to devices (or family members) so they can install Bitdefender on their devices.
Jim Martin / Foundry
The links include login details, which makes it really easy for everyone to install the app and get protected.
Install Bitdefender on Windows and you’ll be presented with an clean-looking interface that tells you ‘You are safe’. For non-technical users, the default shortcuts to Quick Scan, System Scan, Vulnerability Scan aren’t particularly easy to understand.
Jim Martin / Foundry
The eagle-eyed will notice that it says Bitdefender Total Security at the top even if you subscribe to Premium or Ultimate. This again goes back to the naming convention: you’re effectively getting Total Security with a few extras bolted on.
Getting back to the app itself, Quick Scan does what it says, as does the second – a full system scan. The the third – vulnerability – checks your device for things like out of date apps, system settings that have been changed from defaults and weak passwords. There’s also a dedicated Wi-Fi scan that checks you’re not using weak encryption or authentication protocols.
The Protection tab is a lot less intimidating than it once was and is much easier to understand
You can edit these six shortcuts and replace them with the features you want to see. And above them is the oddly named ‘Autopilot’ which offers recommendations for actions you need to, or might want to take – the opposite of autopilot. The first is to turn on ransomware protection, which is simply a case of clicking Enable.
On the left-hand side are tabs for Protection, Privacy and Utilities. Notifications is a log of what Bitdefender has been doing or noticing on your system, and Settings lets you pick dark or light mode, the language and a host of other things, including turning off special offer notifications which are on by default.
The Protection tab is a lot less intimidating than it once was and is much easier to understand. Ransomware Remediation, for example, backs up important files as an extra safeguard so they can be restored if the worst happens and Bitdefender is unable to stop a ransomware attack in the first place. Though, as you’ll see, all the major antivirus testing labs found Bitdefender exceptionally good at blocking all types of malware.
The anti-spam module allows you to explicitly whitelist friends and blacklist real spammers. However, with so many people using web-based email services (along with their mobile apps), this won’t be any use as it only works with Outlook and Thunderbird desktop email apps.
Web browsing is protected by the Online Threat Prevention module. This uses machine learning and a global website reputation database to judge whether any site you visit should be considered malicious. Like the Safe Browsing service used in Chrome and other browsers, this is constantly updated, meaning that you’re technically getting global real-time protection. (This is also available on iOS and Android.)
There are also a selection of tools under the Utilities menu. OneClick Optimizer looks for disk space that can be freed up, Registry entries that can be deleted (improving Windows’ performance) and does a Privacy Cleanup, which wants to delete your browsing history, temporary internet files and cookies.
Fortunately, after analysing what can be deleted, there’s a warning to check the items before doing the optimisation. And you can uncheck cookies and other items that you don’t want to be deleted.
Another utility is Profiles. These kick in automatically when you’re watching a movie, or playing a game, for example. The different modes prevent popups, or put off housekeeping events until the software detects that they’re appropriate. Now, these profiles can be enabled automatically – once you’ve enabled that particular setting, and each can be configured to your liking.
Jim Martin / Foundry
In the most recent tests from AV-Test, Bitdefender’s performance is outstanding. It achieved perfect scores for protection, performance and usability. Similarly it was given the top rating for performance and malware protection by AV-Comparatives, and came top in SE Labs’ latest tests covering January to March 2023.
As mentioned at the start, Bitdefender has an enviable track record, too: these results have been repeated month after month, year after year.
Privacy features
As well as the webcam and microphone monitoring already mentioned, Anti-Tracker blocks data collection from websites. It’s ‘enabled’ by default but this misleading because that default is to only apply this protection to Internet Explorer. Who still uses Internet Explorer?
You have to click on the settings to install and enable it in Chrome, Firefox and Edge – the only other supported browsers.
Bitdefender VPN
As mentioned, the VPN service – powered by Hotspot Shield – is also part of Total Security and Premium Security. This is such an important feature that we’ve covered it in a full, separate review of Bitdefender Premium VPN.
Jim Martin / Foundry
If you go for Total Security, it’s very limited because you get only 200MB of data per day. But with Bitdefender Premium Security it’s a ‘proper’ service with unlimited data and the ability to pick from 30 or so countries and stream video from Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and others.
However, it wouldn’t unblock UK-based streaming services including BBC iPlayer and ITVX. Still, given that the best standalone VPN services cost almost as much as Premium Security (at least for the first discounted year) it is a real boon having a half-decent VPN service that you can use on 10 devices at the same time.
Password manager
There has been plenty of criticism of Bitdefender’s password manager in the past – specifically in its ‘Wallet’ incarnation – but the company is retiring that and replacing it with a totally new one called Bitdefender Password Manager. Of course, the Wallet extension for web browsers still exists, so you need to avoid that (if you don’t use it already) and instead install the correct add-on in your web browsers. Firefox, Chrome and Edge.
It’s very confusing for new users that the password manager within the Total Security Windows app is still the Wallet version. Plus, even though the new Password Manager has a Bitdefender Wallet import option (along with 1Password and other popular apps) it will only accept them as a .csv file. But Wallet exports as .db – a problem Bitdefender obviously hasn’t noticed this.
There has been plenty of criticism of Bitdefender’s password manager in the past – specifically in its ‘Wallet’ incarnation – but the company is retiring that and replacing it with a totally new one called Bitdefender Password Manager
A representative told us there was a tool for seamlessly switching from Wallet to Password Manager, but there’s no reference to this in Total Security or indeed the new browser extension.
Jim Martin / Foundry
Password Manager doesn’t allow you to create multiple wallets (which always felt unnecessary) but does let you store identity info (name, address, email, phone numbers) to quickly enter this on web forms, credit / debit card details, website logins and there’s also a section for notes that you want to keep private. It’ll generate strong passwords, too, with options to include or exclude certain types of characters.
Plus, there’s a handy Security Report that shows at a glance how many duplicate, weak and old passwords you have.
The sign-in process on the web is more painful than it could be because the extension redirects you to the Bitdefender Central website which makes you click on Captcha images before you can log in. However, you only have to do this the first time.
Jim Martin / Foundry
After setting up your password vault – which handily has a recovery key – it’ll ask only for your master password every time you close your web browser, which is standard practice. And once logged in, it works well, and the mobile apps are good, too.
Jim Martin / Foundry
A bigger issue is that using a password manager bundled with a security suite means you’ll lose access to it if you stop your subscription. So, instead, we recommend using a dedicated service – some of the best password managers are free, too.
Parental control
Bitdefender’s parental controls allow you to control your kids’ screen time across all supported devices, as well as decide when they can and…