Are you looking for the best antivirus software? This comparison will look at two of the most prominent brands, Norton and Trend Micro, comparing all of both brands’ features so you don’t have to do the heavy research yourself.
In this comparison, I’ll look at what you should think about before making a purchase. This involves assessing the software’s cost, security, performance, features, and general usability. To present a fair assessment, I did my own tests to see which product provides the greatest security against malware, as well as looked at independent data from top antivirus testing laboratories.
Do you want the shortened version? Norton is my choice. It is a well-known industry leader that provides excellent security for both enterprises and home customers. When compared to Trend Micro’s portfolio, Norton provides a greater variety of packages and more features.
To discover more for yourself, I suggest reading the whole comparison below.
Summary: Norton vs Trend Micro
Norton
- Strong malware protection results
- Webcam protection
- VPN
Trend Micro
- Reasonably fast performance
- Advanced antivirus program
- Several useful free tools
| Feature | Norton 360 Deluxe | Trend Micro Maximum Security |
|---|---|---|
| Antivirus and antispyware |  |
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| Firewall | |
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| Webcam protection | |
 (webcam protection currently only on the Mac version) |
| Password manager | |
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| Anti-phishing | |
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| Ransomware protection | |
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| Banking and payment protection | |
|
| Parental control | |
|
| Network attack protection | |
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| Encrypted storage | |
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| Automatically update apps | |
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| VPN | |
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| PC cloud backup | ( 50 GB) |
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| File shredder | |
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| Performance optimization | |
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| Identity theft protection | |
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| Run suspicious apps in sandbox | |
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BEST DEAL FOR NORTON:Save up to 83% on Norton and benefit from an antivirus with a wealth of premium features.
BEST DEAL FOR TREND MICRO:Save 44% on Maximum Security and protect up to five devices on one subscription.
Background
Norton
Symantec Corporation in California develops and distributes Norton’s products. As of the first half of 2007, Norton Antivirus and Norton Internet Security maintained a 61 percent retail market share for online security in the United States. Norton boasts 50 million clients worldwide, demonstrating that people have faith in the company’s products.
Trend Micro
Trend Micro employs effective anti-ransomware tools and AI learning as part of its security defense to combat online threats.
It covers around 250 million PCs worldwide and provides virus and malware protection, as well as PC performance and online privacy features. Trend Micro offers three cybersecurity solutions for consumers, as well as a broad selection for small enterprises.
Norton vs Trend Micro pricing
The cost of Norton and Trend Micro will be the first aspect I compare. Affordability is a crucial issue, and if you choose the premium edition, it’s worth evaluating the quantity and quality of additional tools you’ll get. The table below summarizes the various packages available as well as the annual subscription cost.
| Norton AntiVirus Plus | Norton 360 Standard | Norton 360 Deluxe | Norton 360 Premium | Norton 360 with LifeLock Select | Norton360 with LifeLock Ultimate Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $59.99 per year | $84.99 per year | $104.99 per year | $124.99 per year | $149.99 per year | $349.99 per year |
| Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security | Trend Micro Internet Security | Trend Micro Maximum Security |
|---|---|---|
| 39.95 | 79.95 | 89.95 |
Norton provides a variety of price options based on your security requirements. These vary from low-cost options to more expensive ones with higher levels of security. Here’s a rundown of your options.
Norton AntiVirus Plus
The cheapest package Norton offers covers basic AV protection needs, including coverage against the most common malicious threats, online protection whilst browsing the web, 2GB of cloud backup, a smart firewall, and a password manager. The subscription covers one PC or Mac.
Norton 360 Standard
Norton 360 Standard includes everything in the previous package, but the secure online storage is increased to 10GB. It also offers a Secure VPN, webcam protection and Privacy Monitor – a dark web monitor that scans for compromised personal information and allows Norton to remove your personal information from online public databases.
This package protects 1 device, either a PC, Mac, smartphone, or tablet. Norton also offers other options with more features and the ability to cover more devices, as listed below.
Norton 360 Deluxe
The next step up in Norton’s suite is Norton 360 Deluxe. This suite offers all the features of the previous options, but with some additional features. These include a larger 50GB of cloud backup, parental management, and a “school time” option. The latter enables parents to monitor their children’s gadgets to verify that they are remaining on track while studying from home. Importantly, the Deluxe subscription enables you to safeguard up to five devices, assuring the online safety of a whole home.
Norton 360 Premium
The Premium package includes all the features of the previous tiers and boosts the online storage space available to 100GB. The other main difference is that this package covers up to 10 different devices.
Norton 360 with LifeLock Select
This bundle provides more premium security than the cheaper suites by including the LifeLock Identity AlertTM, which monitors the usage of your personal information online and gives you notifications when it is utilized. Other services include a 100GB cloud backup, credit monitoring, and the “Million Dollar Protection Package,” which includes legal representation in situations of identity theft.Unlike the other services, this one enables you to pay either yearly or monthly.
Norton 360 with LifeLock Ultimate Plus
The top tier package adds a few important features. The ability to lock your credit file to prevent fraudsters from opening credit-damaging accounts in your name, protection against phone hijacking, bank and credit card activity alerts, fictitious identity monitoring, court records scanning, investment account activity alerts, and home title monitoring, as well as a massive 500GB of cloud backup, are among the extra tools. This plan provides coverage for an unlimited number of devices.
Such a comprehensive level of online protection comes at a cost and this is the most expensive option in the Norton lineup. For more information read our review on Norton Lifelock, and its identity theft features.
Norton is currently offering a range of discounts across its products for the first year of subscription. For example Norton Deluxe normally costs $104.99 per year, but at the time of writing a 76 percent discount is available making it $24.99 for the first year.
Trend Micro
Antivirus+ Security, Trend Micro’s entry-level package, includes an AI learning engine that adapts to new infections, as well as ransomware protection, phishing email protection, and Trend Micro’s online banking security system.
Antivirus+ Security costs $39.95 for the first year, or $29.95 at the time of writing, with a $10 first-year discount available. This license covers one Windows device, and Antivirus+ Security protection is only available for Windows.
Internet Security
Trend Micro Internet Security, the next plan up, protects up to three devices. Internet Security, like Antivirus+ Security, incorporates ransomware protection, email security, Trend Micro’s PayGuard, and AI learning software. This bundle includes parental controls, safe browsing for children, social media security, and a system tuner.
For the first year, the bundle is discounted from $79.95 to $39.95 at the time of writing. The Internet Security bundle can protect up to three devices. This suite, once again, is only compatible with Windows PCs.
Maximum Security
The Trend Micro Maximum Security tier can cover up to 10 devices, however three or five devices may be secured for a lower cost if you don’t need to cover so many devices. This edition contains all of the functions included in Antivirus+ and Internet Security, as well as a few more.
Among the options provided are a password manager, mobile device cybersecurity, and 24/7 premium help. Maximum Security is normally $89.95 for five devices, but it’s presently on sale for $39.95 for the first year. Trend Micro Maximum Security is available for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.
Effectiveness against malware
Malware is an all encompassing phrase that refers to all sorts of harmful software, such as adware, trojans, worms, and other unpleasant things that are meant to harm your system. I did a series of tests to see which antivirus software provides the greatest protection. The studies are intended to assess how effectively each provider’s real-time scanning performs against a variety of threats, as well as how well the on-demand scanner performs when real-time scanning is disabled.
Real-time scanning results
I obtained four samples of malware from the European Institute of Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR). Norton efficiently prevented all of the EICAR test files, with its real-time scanner preventing the dangers from reaching the PC. Norton was also successful in preventing all three live samples from being downloaded to my machine.
| Test File | EICAR Sample 1 | EICAR Sample 2 | EICAR Sample 3 | EICAR Sample 4 | Live Sample 1 (Adware) | Live Sample 2 (Trojan) | Live Sample 3 (Trojan) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norton | Blocked | Blocked | Blocked | Blocked | Blocked | Blocked | Blocked |
| Trend Micro | Blocked | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Blocked | Blocked | Blocked |
The first sample, a basic EICAR test file, was detected and blocked by Trend Micro’s real-time scan. The other three EICAR sample files hidden in ZIP folders were not discovered or blocked by Trend Micro’s real-time scanning protection.
The files were fragments of harmful malware files concealed inside ZIP packages, indicating that Trend Micro may fail to detect malware installed in this way. It was, however, successful in stopping the three live malware samples from operating on the machine when I tried to extract the files.
On demand scans
I switched off the live scanning function for the on demand test and downloaded four EICAR test files and three live malware samples to my computer’s hard drive.
With the malware files still on my computer, I conducted a couple of on-demand scans to check how many of the files the antivirus software detected. The first test I performed was a short scan that looked for malware files in the most prevalent regions of the system where malware is typically found. The second test was a full system scan, which scans more files and digs deeper but takes longer to finish.
Norton failed to discover any of the seven files in the rapid scan, which is not surprising given that many of the applications I’ve tried fail to detect files in the quick scan mode. The comprehensive scan discovered all live samples but missed one of the four EICAR test files (not a huge issue, but worth noting). The whole scan examined over 970,000 files and took 121 minutes to finish.
Trend Micro’s quick scan finished at 1020 seconds, making it one of the slowest antivirus apps I’ve tested. Regardless, no potential hazards were detected throughout its evaluation. Trend Micro’s comprehensive scan took 110 minutes to complete and examined 667,000 items. During the on-demand scan, Trend Micro missed all four EICAR samples, but the three active malware files were discovered.
.If you don’t want to take my own tests as the final word, I looked at leading websites, AV-Test and AV-Comparatives to see if my results matched up.
AV-Comparatives
AV-Comparatives performs a number of tests on AV software for both personal and commercial use. I’ll focus on the Real World Protection Test and the Malware Protection Test for Home Windows software in this research.
AV-Comparatives’ Real World Protection Test assessed a variety of antivirus systems against 743 malware samples between July and October 2021. Norton protected against 100 percent of the attacks in this test, although it did detect 37 false positives. In the Real World Protection test, Trend Micro was able to block 100 percent of the threats, however it did report 17 false positive results.
In September 2021, AV-Comparatives announced the most current results for the Malware Protection Test. Norton scored a 80.1 percent offline detection rate, a 97.5 percent online detection rate, and a 100 percent online protection rate.
In the same test, Trend Micro had a 52.4 percent offline detection rate, a 92.3 percent online detection rate, and a 98.79 percent online protection rate.
Trend Micro’s offline protection rate is relatively low, and it placed second to bottom in this area where most AV suppliers scored over 90 percent protection.
AV-Test Results
In AV-most Test’s current statistics, Norton received 100 percent protection in November 2021 and 100 percent protection in December 2021 in the lab’s study of 0-day real-world threats.Norton earned 100 percent protection in both the November and December 2021 testing against widespread malware first discovered in the preceding four weeks.
Trend Micro obtained 100 percent protection in the zero-day malware test in November and December 2021, and 100 percent protection in the widespread malware test in both months.
According to my testing and those of other labs, both Norton and Trend Micro perform a really good job of protecting home users against malware and viruses.
Impact on PC performance
Most people do not consider the impact of antivirus software on PC performance, but it is critical to examine if your software may slow down your PC. In these tests, I conducted full scans for both Norton and Trend Micro to see how they affected performance.
| Test Type | Control CPU Utilization % (no scan) | Control Memory Utilization % (no scan) | Control Disk Utilization (MB/s) (no scan) | Quick Scan CPU Utilization % | Quick Scan Memory Utilization % | Quick Scan Disk Utilization (MB/s) | Quick Scan Time (seconds) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norton | 14 | 72 | 13 | 37 | 76 | 41 | 171 |
| Trend Micro | 59 | 71 | 2 | 72 | 71 | 2 | 1020 |
Norton showed a 23 percent increase in CPU utilization, a four percent increase in memory utilization, and an increase from 17 MB/s to 171 MB/s in disk utilization during its quick scan. Trend Micro reports a 13 percent rise in CPU utilization, no change in memory utilization, and no change in disc utilization from the control statistics during the quick scan.
The table below highlights the effects both Norton and Trend Micro had on my PC whilst performing a full scan and when no scan was running.
| Test Type | Control CPU Utilization % (no scan) | Control Memory Utilization % (no scan) | Control Disk Utilization (MB/s) (no scan) | Full Scan CPU Utilization % | Full Scan Memory Utilization % | Full Scan Disk Utilization (MB/s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norton | 14 | 72 | 13 | 84 | 75 | 381 |
| Trend Micro | 59 | 71 | 2 | 77 | 63 | 10 |
The full scan numbers show Norton CPU usage jumped by 70 percent. Memory utilization went up by three percent, and disk utilization increased from 13MB/s to 381MB/s. Trend Micro recorded an 18% rise in CPU utilization, an eight percent decrease in memory use, and a small spike in disc utilization from 2 MB/s to 10 MB/s.
Similar to the malware tests, I have taken a look at AV-Comparatives’ latest performance tests from October 2021. The test shows the impact antivirus has on PC performance when carrying out eight common tasks:
- Downloading files
- Browsing websites
- File copying: first and subsequent run
- Installing and uninstalling applications
- Archiving and unarchiving
- Launching applications: first and subsequent run
Norton scored a very fast rating for all tasks, with the exception of installing applications where it was still rated as fast.
In the same test Trend Micro was scored as very quick for loading websites, downloading files, archiving/unarchiving, and file copying. For the remaining four categories, it was classified as fast.
Norton vs Trend Micro features
While the performance of antivirus software is vital, I also analyze the extra functions contained in each application. I’ve selected a few of the most notable features from both Norton and Trend Micro to give you an idea of which one provides the greatest value to the user.
- Cloud Backup 50GB
- Real-time Threat Protection
- Password Manager
- Secure VPN
- Dark Web Monitoring
- PC SafeCam
- Parental Control
Trend Micro Maximum Security Antivirus
- Protects against ransomware
- Safeguards against email scams
- Includes premium 24×7 support
- Keeps children safe online
- Trend Micro PayGuard
- Fixes and optimizes systems
- Protects and manages passwords
Here’s a detailed overview of some of the key features listed above:
- Password Manager – The password manager program makes it simple to create, save, and manage passwords, credit card details, and other information.
- Secure VPN – You will be able to surf privately and anonymously with the secure VPN, ensuring that information such as your passwords and bank data are kept secure and confidential.
- PC Cloud Backup – You’ll be able to save crucial files and documents as a safeguard against data loss caused by stolen devices, hard drive failure, or ransomware.
- Parental Controls: Keeps kids safe online and lets them to securely explore the web, with time and content controls.
- PayGuard: With this function, you can protect your transactions. Pay Guard may be used to verify the integrity of financial websites while banking online.
- Password manager: Password protection and management, as well as the creation and storage of complicated passwords and secure logins for your favorite websites.
Signup and installation
Norton and Trend Micro’s installation is fast and simple, requiring just a few minutes from registration to installation.The price, discount, and renewal fee for the next year are all explicitly stated by Norton. The renewal fee is often concealed or printed in very tiny type, so it’s nice that Norton is straightforward and open about it when you join up. If you want assistance with your device performance, you will also be able to add choices such as Norton Computer Tune Up.
Trend Micro’s website is organized in such a manner that it is simple to navigate between pages and learn more about each product. The checkout process is very straightforward, and downloading and installing the program took just a few minutes. If you want to cancel the subscription, you’ll need to go to your account preferences and turn off the auto-renewal setting.
How easy is the interface to use?
An intuitive app with a simple and straightforward structure makes it easy to access and safeguard your device’s many capabilities.
Norton’s dashboard is in its characteristic color scheme, and the UI plainly indicates your device’s current condition as safe or at risk. It’s simple to get to popular features like performance, identification, and security from the main UI screen. The bright color palette facilitates quick navigation and makes it easy to read the information on the dashboard.
It’s worth noting that Norton 360 Deluxe also features an online interface via which you can control the security of your five devices.
It is really simple to browse via the Trend Micro user interface. Because each function is meticulously split into discrete icons, there is no unnecessary clutter, and the interface has a clean and distinctive structure that makes it exceptionally simple to explore and locate what you’re searching for. The large scan button in the center of the interface makes it simple to quickly launch a scan as soon as you open up the app.
Customer Support
Customer service is key for any product, and it’s critical to have someone on hand to assist you if you run into any problems with the software. The excellent thing about Norton is that it provides help on all of its product levels 24 hours a day, seven days a week. On its website, you can discover frequently asked questions (FAQs) and discussion boards to assist with typical difficulties. In addition, there is a live-chat support feature, as well as assistance via social media platforms, available.Customers may reach out to Trend Micro in a variety of ways via the company’s website.
In addition, each product has its own support page, which includes a variety of FAQs as well as search and directory options. You may call the phone number if you need immediate assistance. If you want to cancel, you must first turn off the auto-renew option in your account. It is invoiced in a single payment every year, and you must cancel in advance to stop it being taken from your card. Customers who have purchased Trend Micro Maximum Security are the only users who can take advantage of the premium 24/7 support assistance.
Norton vs Trend Micro conclusion
To summarize, this comparison demonstrates the advantages and disadvantages of both Norton and Trend Micro. Both products perform admirably in terms of malware protection, but Norton achieved 100 percent protection in nearly all of the tests I conducted as well as in the tests conducted by independent labs, making it difficult to beat.
Norton is my overall winner because of its outstanding efficacy against malware as well as its excellent extra features, which include a VPN and cloud backup. Norton provides a number of different pricing plans and package options, ensuring that you will be able to discover the most appropriate choice for your requirements.
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