AV-Comparatives Performance Test October 2021

Disclaimer
  1. This test shows how an antivirus behaves with certain threats, in a specific environment and under certain conditions.
    We encourage you to compare these results with others and take informed decisions on what security products to use.
    Before buying an antivirus you should consider factors such as price, ease of use, compatibility, and support. Installing a free trial version allows an antivirus to be tested in everyday use before purchase.

Gandalf_The_Grey

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Introduction
The Performance Test evaluates the impact of anti-virus software on system performance, as programs running in background – such as real time protection antivirus software – use some percentage of system resources. Taking these tests as reference, users can evaluate their anti-virus protection in terms of system speed (system performance). For further details please refer to the methodology documents as well as the information provided on our website. We want to make clear that the results in this report are intended only to give an indication of the impact on system performance (mainly by the real-time/on-access components) of the consumer security products in these specific tests. Users are encouraged to try out the software on their own PC’s and see how it performs on their own systems.
The following activities/tests were performed under an up-to-date Windows 10 21H1 64-Bit system:
• File copying • Archiving / unarchiving
• Installing applications
• Launching applications
• Downloading files
• Browsing Websites
• PC Mark 10 Professional Testing Suite
Test Results
Schermafbeelding 2021-11-05 111336.jpgSchermafbeelding 2021-11-05 111414.jpg
Summarized results
Users should weight the various subtests according to their needs. We applied a scoring system to sum up the various results. Please note that for the File Copying and Launching Applications subtests, we noted separately the results for the first run and for subsequent runs. For the AV-C score, we took the rounded mean values of first and subsequent runs for File Copying, whilst for Launching Applications we considered only the subsequent runs. “Very fast” gets 15 points, “fast” gets 10 points, “mediocre” gets 5 points and “slow” gets 0 points. This leads to the following results:
Schermafbeelding 2021-11-05 091444.jpg
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Anthony Qian

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Why the impact scores of Avast and AVG are slightly different?

Based on this test, we can find that most popular AVs will not slow down your computer. Low impact on system may no longer be a selling point for an antivirus software.
 
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Nevi

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I think it's remarkable so low Kaspersky has achieved to get the performance down. Now even lower than Eset. I remember around 2005, it was a heavy cousin. The blocking of malware, has always been spectacular, but today I think it has evolved to be a real great antivirus. So low impact on the computer, but still class A virus blocking. Well done Eugene. :)
 

roger_m

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I think it's remarkable so low Kaspersky has achieved to get the performance down. Now even lower than Eset. I remember around 2005, it was a heavy cousin. The blocking of malware, has always been spectacular, but today I think it has evolved to be a real great antivirus. So low impact on the computer, but still class A virus blocking. Well done Eugene. :)
I don't think that's really the case. While it may have been true on computers they used for testing, it won't be the case for many people. I'm sure that for most people, K7 and ESET will be lighter than Kaspersky. Kaspersky is reasonably light, but there are lighter antiviruses. My experience with using antiviruses is often quite different to the results in performance tests.
 

Evjl's Rain

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I trust AV-C but I always have a suspicion of Kaspersky performance test. I don't think it's that fast. It's definitely heavier than ESET
it noticeably slows down file copying speed, app launching and web browsing performance for me although not much for other people

panda deserves the top spot. It's ultralight but still it slows down significanlt the cmd, powershell or any script performance (few people use scripts)
 

Nevi

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Based on the latest performance test, I tried to install Kaspersky's antivirus just to try it. And there IS a change compared to Webroot which is my usual antivirus. When I compare it to the model from around 2005, the difference is really incredible. Now I'm wondering if I should keep Kaspersky, or keep Webroot. Well I'll probably find a solution. :rolleyes:
In the long run, Kaspersky would probably be the best in terms of safety. Hmm..
 
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Gandalf_The_Grey

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What I find strange in this test that the results for PC Mark and AV Comparatives own testing are so different.
Kaspersky is below Microsoft in PC Mark, but in AV Comparatives own testing Kasperski is on top, and Microsoft is at the bottom.
And if you are just browsing websites or downloading files there is no difference between all of them.
In the testing doen by AV Test there is a difference when just browsing websites...
So, while I applaud AV comparatives for the extensive testing that they do, I find it difficult to rely on their results.
The best way is still to try software on your own system...
 

Anthony Qian

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Apr 17, 2021
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What I find strange in this test that the results for PC Mark and AV Comparatives own testing are so different.
Kaspersky is below Microsoft in PC Mark, but in AV Comparatives own testing Kasperski is on top, and Microsoft is at the bottom.
And if you are just browsing websites or downloading files there is no difference between all of them.
In the testing doen by AV Test there is a difference when just browsing websites...
So, while I applaud AV comparatives for the extensive testing that they do, I find it difficult to rely on their results.
The best way is still to try software on your own system...
Tbh, I find the PC Mark score more reliable. However, AV-C score carries a lot of weight in this test.
 

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