Method
Comparing antivirus features: a method
A blank table, a stated set of rules for filling it in, and an honest account of which questions you cannot answer from outside.
Why a feature count is the wrong comparison
Put two vendor pages side by side and the instinct is to count. One plan lists fourteen capabilities, the other eleven, so the first looks better. The count is close to meaningless, for three reasons that apply across the whole category.
Vendors name the same thing differently, so one product's "smart scan" and another's "intelligent protection" may describe identical behaviour, or may not, and the page will not say. Lists frequently include capabilities that the operating system already provides, which inflates the count without adding anything. And the entries are not comparable in weight: an item that decides whether the product works for your household sits in the same typeface as one you will never open.
A useful comparison inverts the direction. Instead of listing what the vendors offer and looking for your needs in it, list your needs and look for them in the offer.
The method, stated
One row per requirement, drawn from your own device sheet — never one row per feature drawn from a vendor's list.
Every cell is filled from the vendor's own current documentation, not from a third party, not from a review, and not from this site. Where the vendor does not say, the cell reads "not stated" and stays that way.
"Not stated" is information. A requirement that matters to you and that a vendor will not commit to in writing is a reason to ask support before buying, or to prefer the plan that does commit.
Record the date you filled it in. Plan contents and prices change; a table with no date is worthless six months later.
Nothing is scored out of ten. Each cell is yes, no, a figure, or "not stated". Composite scores hide the reasoning that made them, which is exactly the part you need at renewal.
The blank table
Copy this into a note or a spreadsheet and fill one column per candidate plan. The rows below are the ones that decide most household purchases; add any that came out of your own requirement and delete any that do not apply.
| Requirement | What to record | Plan A | Plan B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Devices included | The number, and whether mobile counts the same as desktop | ||
| Platforms supported | Each operating system on your sheet, listed separately | ||
| What the mobile app does | The actual capability, not "protection for your phone" | ||
| First-term price (AUD) | Amount and term length | ||
| Renewal price (AUD) | Amount and term length — the figure that matters | ||
| Automatic renewal | On by default? How many days' notice? How to switch off | ||
| Refund window | Number of days, and the conditions attached | ||
| Support channels | Email, chat or phone; hours, and whether they suit Australian time zones | ||
| Moving a licence | How a slot is released when a device is replaced | ||
| Parental controls | Only if you need them; what they actually control | ||
| Bundled extras | Named, with their own limits — data caps, storage size, device counts | ||
| Date checked | The date you filled the column in |
Which rows usually decide it
In most household comparisons, four rows carry the decision and the rest break ties.
Devices and platforms
A plan that does not cover your sheet within its limit is not a candidate, whatever else it offers. This is the only row that can eliminate a plan on its own.
Renewal price
Over three years the renewal price dominates the total. Compare the three-year figure in AUD, not the headline.
Cancellation and refund terms
These determine how much a wrong decision costs you. A plan that is easy to leave is worth a modest premium over one that is not.
Support, in your time zone
Support hours quoted in another country's business day are a real limitation for an Australian household. Check what the hours translate to locally before assuming you can reach anyone on a weekday evening.
Rows that rarely decide anything
Several commonly advertised items deserve less weight than their prominence suggests. Performance and cleanup utilities are conveniences, and modern operating systems handle most of what they do. Password managers bundled with a suite are worth having, but a browser or a standalone tool already covers this for most people, so the bundled one is a tiebreaker rather than a reason. Bundled VPNs are a separate product with their own limits, and the bundled version is frequently not equivalent to the vendor's standalone service. Identity monitoring services vary enormously in what they actually watch and are worth reading closely before assigning them any value at all.
None of these are bad. They are simply not the thing you are buying, and letting them decide the comparison is how households end up on a higher tier than they needed.
Questions you cannot answer from outside
An honest method has to mark its own limits. You cannot establish from a vendor page how the product performs on your particular machine, how often its behavioural engine will object to software you use, how quickly its lists update relative to a competitor's, or how good its support is in practice. Trial periods answer the first two for you specifically, which is more useful than any general claim. The last two cannot be resolved from the outside at all, and any site presenting a confident answer without a stated, checkable method is presenting an opinion as a measurement.
Filling a column: a worked example
TotalAV is the product this site has a commercial arrangement with, and it serves as the example of how a column gets filled. From the vendor's published material, the platform row can be completed: applications are offered for desktop computers running Windows, macOS and Linux, for Android and iOS mobile devices, and for tablets, and the product is sold to customers in Australia on a subscription basis.
The remaining rows — device limits on the specific plan, first-term and renewal prices in AUD, automatic renewal behaviour, the refund window and the support hours — must be read on the vendor's own site on the day you are buying, because those are exactly the values that change. This site does not reproduce them, and a page that does should be treated as out of date until proven otherwise. The overview page lists them as questions so you can work through them in order.
Paid link. Polaris Network receives a commission if you subscribe after following it; the vendor's price to you is unchanged, and the commission did not decide what this page says.
What to do with the finished table
Keep it. Save it with the purchase confirmation and the licence key, and open it again two weeks before renewal when the reminder fires. At that point the decision takes five minutes instead of twenty, because the question is no longer "which product" but "has anything in my requirement changed, and is the renewal price still acceptable".
The table is also the evidence that matters if a product turns out not to do what was represented. The buying guide covers the consumer guarantee position, and the ACCC publishes the underlying guidance on what businesses must deliver under the Australian Consumer Law.