Having a quality anti-virus program is incredibly important to keep yourself and your computer system safe in the online world of today. Ho...
Having a quality anti-virus program is incredibly important to keep yourself and your computer system safe in the online world of today. However, an anti-virus alone may not protect you from all of the digital threats, malicious programs, and bad actors that are out there. For online privacy, security, and anonymity, a VPN is an excellent complement to a good anti-virus program. VPN services encrypt user traffic between the user and the VPN server. This keeps your information secure, free from prying government or ISP eyes, and obscures the destination of your traffic. The VPN server decrypts the traffic and then passes it on to the intended destination. In the process, it obscures your true IP address and appends its own IP address (from a pool assigned to the VPN server). This means the destination servers don’t see your real IP address either, keeping your browsing private and secure. Finally, VPN services often allow users to connect to servers in other countries, thus bypassing geographic restrictions on content, censorship, and so forth.
Fortunately, there are a number of anti-virus companies who have come around to the idea that using a VPN is an important part of Internet security for users. Therefore, they’ve started bundling free VPN services with their paid anti-virus product offering. In this list, we’ll look at 5 of the top anti-virus programs that offer a free VPN service with their product. The list is alphabetical – we didn’t rank them by any subjective measure, as their strengths, weaknesses, prices, and so forth vary, as does their intended user base.
# 1 – Avast Ultimate (Secureline VPN)
The Avast Ultimate security package contains 4 of the premier services offered by Avast – their award-winning anti-virus program Premier edition, their password manager Passwords Premium, their system clean-up, and optimization tool Cleanup Premium, and a VPN. The Avast VPN service is called Secureline and can be purchased as a separate service for those who do not want the bundled tools. This VPN is valued at $59.99/year by itself if purchased separately, and covers one PC – so you’re getting half of the Ultimate package value right there. While they don’t have the largest network of servers, they offer coverage in 34 countries and support streaming and peer-to-peer file sharing. It’s a great all-around value package to give you everything you need to stay safe, secure, and anonymous online. Price: $119.99/year.
# 2 – Avira Antivirus (Avira Phantom VPN)
From German security firm Avira comes Avira Antivirus, in three flavors – free, premium, and prime. The free option offers the Avira Antivirus suite with essential protection, scanning files in real-time, blocking phishing, ransomware, and malware, and working as a quality anti-virus product. Also included is the Avira Phantom VPN, with limitations – a 500 MB/month bandwidth cap, limited features, and servers/locations. The Premium offering has a more detailed anti-virus and Internet security suite, with more features and customer support, though the same free VPN option. Finally, the Prime version, for just shy of 100 Euros per year, offers their top anti-virus and internet protection options, VIP support, and an unlimited bandwidth VPN account, with additional public Wi-Fi security and premium features. Price: $115.59/year.
# 3 – Comodo Antivirus (Comodo Unite VPN)
Comodo offers a full range of products and services for home and business users in the area of computer and network security. Their anti-virus program, like many, comes in both a free, “lite” option, as well as various subscription plans and levels of features. Any plan, including the free software option, enables users to download and set up the Comodo Unite VPN. However, it should be noted, this is not a traditional VPN service. Rather, it is an architecture or platform to allow users to create their own VPN with a group of computers, either locally or remotely. While it may be easy enough for even tech novices and the accompanying manual is fairly detailed, this isn’t a VPN service in the sense of what most consumers are typically looking for. However, it is still a VPN, and therefore still makes our list, but might not be for everyone. Price: Free.
# 4 – AVG Antivirus or Internet Security (AVG Secure VPN)
AVG is a leading name in anti-virus and internet security. Currently, they offer various bundles and toolkits, including their anti-virus (both free and premium editions), an internet security suite, and more. They also offer a subscription VPN service, AVG Secure VPN. For purchasers of anti-virus or internet security packages from AVG, a 30-day free trial of the AVG Secure VPN is included. While this is somewhat limited, and it’s not “free” for a year or forever, it gives you a chance to test out the VPN, and see if you find it useful, check out the speed, user-friendly client, and so forth. If you like the service and wish to continue using it, the rates on an ongoing basis are fairly competitive. As of this writing, there were no bundle packages that offered both the anti-virus or internet security suites AND a full annual subscription to the VPN. Price: Free 30-Day Trial Or $59.99/year.
# 5 – Panda Internet Security Dome Premium (VPN Premium)
Panda Internet Security has been growing their profile in recent years, and now offer their anti-virus software bundled with their full range of internet security options, along with a subscription to their Panda Dome VPN Premium VPN service. This top-tier package includes all of the features of their lesser packages – the anti-virus, Wi-Fi protection, personal firewall, ransomware protection, parental controls, data protection and password manager, device and system tuneup, and 24/7 customer support. All of their lesser plans also offer VPN access, capped at 150 MB/day and with access to only one server location. The Premium, top-tier package is fully unlimited for up to 5 devices. Their VPN service can be purchased separately as well, at $6.45/month for a 1-year plan (a $77.40 value). This means the combined top-tier bundle, despite being pricey, is a far more cost-saving option than buying all of the Panda tools separately, with more than half of the purchase price/value already covered with the Premium VPN service itself. Price: $116.24/year.
Fortunately, there are a number of anti-virus companies who have come around to the idea that using a VPN is an important part of Internet security for users. Therefore, they’ve started bundling free VPN services with their paid anti-virus product offering. In this list, we’ll look at 5 of the top anti-virus programs that offer a free VPN service with their product. The list is alphabetical – we didn’t rank them by any subjective measure, as their strengths, weaknesses, prices, and so forth vary, as does their intended user base.
# 1 – Avast Ultimate (Secureline VPN)
The Avast Ultimate security package contains 4 of the premier services offered by Avast – their award-winning anti-virus program Premier edition, their password manager Passwords Premium, their system clean-up, and optimization tool Cleanup Premium, and a VPN. The Avast VPN service is called Secureline and can be purchased as a separate service for those who do not want the bundled tools. This VPN is valued at $59.99/year by itself if purchased separately, and covers one PC – so you’re getting half of the Ultimate package value right there. While they don’t have the largest network of servers, they offer coverage in 34 countries and support streaming and peer-to-peer file sharing. It’s a great all-around value package to give you everything you need to stay safe, secure, and anonymous online. Price: $119.99/year.
# 2 – Avira Antivirus (Avira Phantom VPN)
From German security firm Avira comes Avira Antivirus, in three flavors – free, premium, and prime. The free option offers the Avira Antivirus suite with essential protection, scanning files in real-time, blocking phishing, ransomware, and malware, and working as a quality anti-virus product. Also included is the Avira Phantom VPN, with limitations – a 500 MB/month bandwidth cap, limited features, and servers/locations. The Premium offering has a more detailed anti-virus and Internet security suite, with more features and customer support, though the same free VPN option. Finally, the Prime version, for just shy of 100 Euros per year, offers their top anti-virus and internet protection options, VIP support, and an unlimited bandwidth VPN account, with additional public Wi-Fi security and premium features. Price: $115.59/year.
# 3 – Comodo Antivirus (Comodo Unite VPN)
Comodo offers a full range of products and services for home and business users in the area of computer and network security. Their anti-virus program, like many, comes in both a free, “lite” option, as well as various subscription plans and levels of features. Any plan, including the free software option, enables users to download and set up the Comodo Unite VPN. However, it should be noted, this is not a traditional VPN service. Rather, it is an architecture or platform to allow users to create their own VPN with a group of computers, either locally or remotely. While it may be easy enough for even tech novices and the accompanying manual is fairly detailed, this isn’t a VPN service in the sense of what most consumers are typically looking for. However, it is still a VPN, and therefore still makes our list, but might not be for everyone. Price: Free.
# 4 – AVG Antivirus or Internet Security (AVG Secure VPN)
AVG is a leading name in anti-virus and internet security. Currently, they offer various bundles and toolkits, including their anti-virus (both free and premium editions), an internet security suite, and more. They also offer a subscription VPN service, AVG Secure VPN. For purchasers of anti-virus or internet security packages from AVG, a 30-day free trial of the AVG Secure VPN is included. While this is somewhat limited, and it’s not “free” for a year or forever, it gives you a chance to test out the VPN, and see if you find it useful, check out the speed, user-friendly client, and so forth. If you like the service and wish to continue using it, the rates on an ongoing basis are fairly competitive. As of this writing, there were no bundle packages that offered both the anti-virus or internet security suites AND a full annual subscription to the VPN. Price: Free 30-Day Trial Or $59.99/year.
# 5 – Panda Internet Security Dome Premium (VPN Premium)
Panda Internet Security has been growing their profile in recent years, and now offer their anti-virus software bundled with their full range of internet security options, along with a subscription to their Panda Dome VPN Premium VPN service. This top-tier package includes all of the features of their lesser packages – the anti-virus, Wi-Fi protection, personal firewall, ransomware protection, parental controls, data protection and password manager, device and system tuneup, and 24/7 customer support. All of their lesser plans also offer VPN access, capped at 150 MB/day and with access to only one server location. The Premium, top-tier package is fully unlimited for up to 5 devices. Their VPN service can be purchased separately as well, at $6.45/month for a 1-year plan (a $77.40 value). This means the combined top-tier bundle, despite being pricey, is a far more cost-saving option than buying all of the Panda tools separately, with more than half of the purchase price/value already covered with the Premium VPN service itself. Price: $116.24/year.
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