Every PC needs antivirus protection, but you get significantly more protection from a full-on security suite. In addition, you benefit when that suite extends its protection to all your devices, not just PCs. That takes care of local devices and data; now add a VPN to shield your data in transit. Bitdefender Premium Security starts with the award-winning Bitdefender Total Security, removes the limits from its VPN, and swaps in a much better password manager. This upgrade does come at a significant increase in price, though.
Bitdefender Internet Security is our Editors’ Choice for an entry-level security suite, and Bitdefender Total Security holds the same honor at the mega-suite level. The suite reviewed here, Bitdefender Premium Security, receives the same score but doesn’t make the cut for Editors' Choice honors because the bump in price from Total Security is high for what it adds. Looking at cross-platform multi-device suites, Norton 360 Deluxe is our Editors’ Choice.
How Much Does Bitdefender Premium Security Cost?
Many security suites offer pricing tiers for one, three, five, 10, or even 20 licenses, with the per-device price shrinking as numbers go up. With Bitdefender Premium Security, pricing is totally simple. For $159.99 per year, you get protection for 10 devices. That’s it. Bitdefender Ultimate Security adds identity theft protection for $20 more, with the same 10-device licensing. Bitdefender Total Security, which is included in Bitdefender Premium Security, offers more choices when purchased separately. You can buy five licenses for $94.99, 10 for $104.99, or 15 for $119.99.
Compared with other top-tier suites, this one’s price is on the high side. Avast Premium Security and Kaspersky Premium cost $99.99 per year for 10 licenses. F-Secure Total runs a bit more at $139.99 per year, but still costs less than Bitdefender. All three include a no-limits VPN; Kaspersky and F-Secure also offer password management.
Norton 360 Deluxe costs $109.99 per year, but that gets you just five licenses. You can sometimes find 10-license packs at Amazon or other retailers, but generally getting 10 Norton licenses requires an upgrade to Norton 360 Deluxe With LifeLock Advantage. At $249.99 per year, it’s quite a bit higher than Bitdefender, but it includes a full identity theft protection suite. A better comparable product would be Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus, Bitdefender’s top suite plus ID theft, which goes for $239.99 per year.
It's Surprisingly Easy to Be More Secure OnlineFor many, protecting 10 devices is more than enough. For others, it’s just the beginning. Your yearly $139.99 payment on McAfee+ lets you install protection on every device in your household running Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and even ChromeOS. The unlimited price for Panda Dome Advanced also comes in under Bitdefender’s 10-pack price, at $135.99 per year.
Here’s another view on the pricing for Bitdefender Premium Security: This bundle includes Bitdefender Total Security, Bitdefender Password Manager, and Bitdefender Premium VPN. Purchased separately, a year’s subscription for these would cost $104.99, $29.99, and $69.99, respectively. That sums to $204.97, rather more than the bundle’s $159.99.
Getting Started With Bitdefender Premium Security
As with most modern security services, you manage Bitdefender through an online portal; Bitdefender’s goes by the name Bitdefender Central. Once you’ve activated your license in Bitdefender Central, you can immediately install the security suite, password manager, and VPN on the current device or send a link for installation on another device.
(Credit: Bitdefender)Bitdefender Central also lets you track all the devices where you’ve installed protection, and see any problems that need attention. It’s easy to see how many licenses you have left, and to send installation links to any unprotected devices.
Bitdefender Total Security for Device Protection
When you install device-level security from Bitdefender Central, it's in the form of Bitdefender Total Security—the protection you get for your devices is the same as Total Security because it is Total Security. That being the case, there’s no need for me to repeat my review of that product here. I advise you to click the link and read all about it. I’ll summarize here very briefly.
(Credit: Bitdefender)As noted earlier, Bitdefender Total Security is an Editors’ Choice winner in the category we call security mega-suites. At the core is Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, an Editors’ Choice in its own right. The antivirus boasts a cornucopia of features that beat out many security suites number-wise. Bitdefender Internet Security builds on the already impressive collection of features in the antivirus, and, you guessed it, this product is an Editor’s Choice for an entry-level security suite.
(Credit: Bitdefender)Total Security could also qualify as a cross-platform multi-device suite, given that it includes protection for devices running Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. Admittedly, Windows owns the lion’s share of features, but Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac receives top marks from independent testing labs, and the Android app is a comprehensive mobile protection suite. Again, you can learn more by reading my separate review of Total Protection.
Bitdefender Password Manager
For years, Bitdefender’s product line, starting with the basic antivirus, has included Bitdefender Wallet, a rather simple password manager. Sentimentalists can still access Bitdefender Wallet, but Bitdefender Password Manager has superseded it. For Bitdefender products below the Premium level, the password manager requires a small extra subscription fee, while Wallet is built right in.
Unlike Wallet, Bitdefender Password Manager is available as a standalone product. Whether on its own or bundled in Premium Security, the password manager relies on Bitdefender Central for its data repository and configuration. You can use your saved passwords across all your Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices. Bitdefender isn’t permitted to confirm this, but the password manager is visibly a rebranded version of SaferPass. Panda Dome Complete has also relied on technology from SaferPass for its password management.
Getting Started With Password Management
From the Bitdefender Central dashboard, you can install the password manager in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari on the device you’re using. There are also links to grab the app from Google Play or Apple’s App Store. And you can send a link to install it on other devices.
The first time you launch the password manager, it has you log in to your Bitdefender account online and then create a separate strong master password. As part of this process, it generates a 24-character recovery key that you can use to access your account if you forget your master password. Clearly, this recovery key is sensitive information—I suggest you print it off and store the printout in a fireproof lock box or some other secure location. If you save a PDF copy for printing, use Bitdefender’s File Shredder to securely delete the file once you’ve made that printed copy.
Simple Tricks to Remember Insanely Secure PasswordsTo get you started on your password journey, Bitdefender lets you import existing passwords or manually create your first saved account. It doesn’t import directly from Chrome, Edge, and Firefox the way some high-end products do, but it can import browser passwords after you export them to a file. It also imports from 1Password, Bitwarden, Dashlane, LastPass, SaferPass, Sticky Password, and a dozen more, some of them totally unfamiliar.
When you manually add an account, you fill in the website URL, username, password, and a friendly title. There’s an option to check whether the password you entered has appeared in a breach. If this is a new account, you can invoke the password generator. I almost missed the tiny pull-down icon that lets you adjust the password length, tweak the character sets, and select the generated password.
Password Generator
The better way to invoke the password generator is to click its icon at the top of the password manager’s window. By default, it creates 16-character random passwords using all four character types: capital letters, small letters, digits, and punctuation. You can raise the length as high as 32 characters; we advise you to make it at least 20. After all, you don’t have to remember the generated passwords. One click copies the password to the clipboard, and you can use it in an account you’re editing.
(Credit: Bitdefender)Some password generators include an option to create pronounceable passwords, like kaxifocawumi or gufopotahemi, the idea being it’s something you can memorize. Bitdefender doesn’t, but it defaults to an option called Easy to Type. In testing, I couldn’t determine the difference between that choice and All characters. Just what makes 2op@%S4Thp_ky4HC easier to type than AFd,YLw9ONctrfMK, I wonder? For the broadest selection of possible passwords, and thus the best defense against brute force attack, I suggest choosing All Characters.
Password Capture and Replay
Bitdefender lets you manually type in login credentials, but doing so is tedious. Most users prefer to simply log in and rely on Bitdefender to capture the entered credentials. After you submit your credentials, you can let the password manager save them, skip saving once or always, or edit the captured data to add a friendly title.
(Credit: Bitdefender)I tested the password manager with a random bunch of secure sites, and it correctly captured all my logins, including two-part logins like Gmail and Yahoo. When you return to a site, the password manager fills in your credentials, so all you need to do is submit them. If you’ve saved multiple credential sets, it offers a list for you to choose from. Clicking the toolbar button brings up a list of saved accounts, and clicking one of those accounts both navigates to the site and fills in your username and password.
Identities and Credit Cards
It’s a short step from automatically filling in passwords to automatically filling in other personal data in web forms. Bitdefender lets you save details for any number of credit cards, so you don’t have to whip out the card and copy the numbers when purchasing online. Separately, you can create one or more identities with personal data such as your physical address, email address, and phone number.
When Bitdefender recognizes that you’ve opened a web form, it puts an icon in the data fields it can fill. You simply click that icon and choose the appropriate identity or credit card. In testing, it filled all credit card data except the first name. In testing with saved identity data, it omitted a few stored items, including the first name and phone number. I'm surprised that I had to click on each field separately—many other password managers fill all identity fields at once. Even so, every field filled by the password manager is one you don’t have to type.
Secure Your Accounts Remotely
You can install the password manager browser extension on all your desktop computers and add the app to all your mobile devices. That’s convenient, but there could be a security risk if one of your devices gets lost or stolen. The Secure Me feature lets you see all the devices that have an active connection to the password manager. If you don’t like what you see, you can disconnect any device or shut them all down remotely. The unusual Secure Me feature is one of the clues indicating that this product is licensed from SaferPass.
(Credit: Bitdefender)You open the Secure Me system by clicking its icon at the top of the browser extension’s window or by choosing it from the app’s menu. At least one connection will always be listed, representing your current device. Cutting a connection is as simple as clicking the power icon next to it and clicking to confirm the action.
If a thief or hacker has gained access to your account, cutting off that access is a good start, but the Secure Me feature can do more, at least on Windows. At your command, it can log out of any sites it logged into, delete cookies and history, and close the associated browser tabs. Let’s hope you don’t need to use this feature. But I can confirm that in testing, it totally did the job.
Other Avenues
Many security suites include some form of password management, but few are as effective as the best standalone password management software. Norton Password Manager is roughly on par with Bitdefender. Neither has advanced features like secure sharing or digital inheritance. Both flag weak and duplicate passwords to improve your security. The same is true of Trend Micro Password Manager. And while all three support filling personal data in web forms, this feature proved somewhat limited in all three.
What Is Two-Factor Authentication?With McAfee, you get the True Key password manager. True Key’s forte is multi-factor authentication (MFA). If you set up enough alternate forms of authentication, you can log into True Key even if you forgot your master password. It handles the basics of password management but lacks advanced features and doesn’t attempt to fill web forms. You can protect your passwords (and your entire Bitdefender Central account) with MFA, either using an authenticator app or by means of emailed codes.
Bitdefender Premium VPN
Bitdefender's many layers of antivirus, web, and network protection keep you, your devices, and your data safe. However, when you connect to the internet, your data in transit could be at risk. To ensure privacy for your data, you need a VPN. When you connect using a VPN, nobody, not even the owner of the shady Wi-Fi network you're using, can access your network traffic, and you'll be harder to track as you move across the web.
At one time, Bitdefender’s VPN wasn't available as a standalone offering. That’s changed—you can now purchase Bitdefender Premium VPN just like any other product, even if you don’t use Bitdefender as your bastion of security protection. Read our full review of the VPN for all details, but I’ll summarize here.
Bitdefender’s VPN has had a serious makeover. Previously, it appeared as a slender gray rectangle. Now it’s a full-sized window with a world map for the background. The new look is a serious improvement. Simple buttons let you automatically connect to the optimal location or choose a location from around the world. Your recent location choices get their own buttons, for easy return.
(Credit: Bitdefender)If the Kill Switch or Ad Blocking features aren’t enabled, you can click buttons to turn them on, but turning them off requires that you dip into Settings. A set of panels toward the right offers stats such as connection time, ads blocked, traffic secured, and the VPN-supplied IP address you’re using. The map also moves to put your server location in the middle.
Bitdefender includes a Kill Switch feature, meaning that if the VPN connection drops, it cuts the unprotected internet connection until the VPN comes back online. That way, you don’t risk transmitting any data unprotected. Split tunneling means you can exempt certain websites from VPN protection, perhaps sites that are very sensitive to connection speed. You can also opt specific apps out of VPN protection.
(Credit: Bitdefender)This VPN offers an unusually comprehensive collection of auto-connect options. You can have the VPN connect automatically at startup, when you log into unsecured Wi-Fi, when you use peer-to-peer sharing, or when you connect with specific apps, domains, or website categories. Finally, the VPN can filter out domains associated with ads and trackers. A pop-up notification clarifies that the anti-tracking browser extension handles that task in the browser. The VPN takes care of non-browser traffic from those domains.
Bitdefender licenses its VPN technology from Aura's Hotspot Shield VPN. It has 4,000 servers in 53 countries, with a good global spread. Server locations matter, partly because a bigger collection of places means more options for spoofing your own location, but mostly because a closer server usually yields better speed and lower latency. Some VPN services let you dig in and select a specific server. With Bitdefender, you make your choice at the country level, for the most part. You can fine-tune your location in Canada (three cities), the UK (two cities), and the US (15 cities).
(Credit: Bitdefender)On all platforms, Bitdefender supports Hotspot Shield’s Hydra protocol, with OpenVPN as a fallback. Windows and macOS users don’t see protocol choices at all. On Android and iOS, VPN users do have choices, including the modern WireGuard protocol and, on iOS, the older IPSec protocol. Both mobile versions default to automatically choosing the protocol that should give you the best performance, though you can lock in a selected protocol if you have the need and the knowledge. We prefer OpenVPN and WireGuard, both of which have the advantage of being open-source and picked over for potential vulnerabilities.
A major concern with using a VPN is its impact on your internet connection speeds. Using the Ookla speed test tool, we find a percent change between speed test results with the VPN and without the VPN. (Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag.com's parent company.) When last tested, Bitdefender’s impact on the all-important download speed was a bit more than the median, as was its impact on upload speed. It beat the median in latency, a big improvement over its previous test. It’s important to remember variations in network traffic can affect speed test results. The fastest VPN today may not be the fastest tomorrow; the fastest VPN in Norway may not be the fastest VPN in Romania. We don’t recommend choosing a VPN on speed alone.
McAfee acquired TunnelBear VPN a few years ago, but McAfee SafeConnect VPN doesn’t exhibit the spread of advanced features found in TunnelBear. It does have a decent array of server location choices. With some advanced features such as ad blocking, split tunneling, and compromised network detection, Norton Secure VPN is a contender on its own, though it won’t beat the very best VPNs. At present, our top choice is Proton VPN—a rare five-star product and winner of an Editors' Choice award for VPNs.
An Outstanding Security Suite
The Bitdefender Premium Security bundle starts with device protection by Bitdefender Total Security. It adds Bitdefender Password Manager and removes limits on Bitdefender Premium VPN. Viewed just as a security suite, Bitdefender Total Security has earned our Editors’ Choice honor. At the 10-license level, the only level for Bitdefender Premium Security, you pay $55 more to add a password manager and unchain the VPN. Toss in another $20 and you get the full identity protection of Bitdefender Ultimate Security. Bitdefender Premium is in the middle, and while it's an excellent collection, just $20 to add full-blown identity protection in Bitdefender Ultimate is a bargain.
As noted, Bitdefender Total Security is our Editors’ Choice winner for security mega-suite. At the entry level, Bitdefender Internet Security takes the Editors’ Choice honor. With powerful device and data protection, online backup, and a full-powered VPN, Norton 360 Deluxe takes the Editors’ Choice crown for cross-platform multi-device security.
