Cybersecurity · head to head
Avast One vs Cortex
Avast One
Cybersecurity
All-in-one protection for your digital life
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
Cortex
Developer Tools
Internal developer portal that scores service ownership and maturity rather than just cataloguing services
- From
- On request
- Free plan
- No
The short version
- Only Avast One has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Avast One ransomware and Wi-Fi vulnerability protection only on paid plans; Cortex pricing is quote only, so a platform team cannot build a business case or compare against the true cost of self-hosted Backstage without entering a sales cycle first.
- They diverge on capability: Avast One covers Antivirus, Cortex covers Service catalogue.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Avast One and Cortex actually diverge.
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Avast One
- Antivirus
- Firewall
- VPN
- Data breach monitoring
- Email Guardian
- Webcam Shield
- Ransomware Shield
- Performance optimization
Only in Cortex
- Service catalogue
- Scorecards
- Initiatives
- Self-service templates
- Query language
- Eng intelligence
- Integrations layer
- On-call and ownership mapping
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Avast One
- Antivirusnot Cortex
- Internet Securitynot Cortex
- Privacy Toolsnot Cortex
Cortex
- A platform team that needs to prove to leadership how far a Kubernetes or framework migration has actually progressed across hundreds of servicesnot Avast One
- An organisation where ownership of production services is genuinely unknown after reorganisations or acquisitionsnot Avast One
- Enforcing production readiness standards on new services at creation time rather than at incident reviewnot Avast One
- Replacing a self-hosted Backstage that is consuming a full-time engineer or two just to stay upgradednot Avast One
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Avast One
- Ransomware and Wi-Fi vulnerability protection only on paid plans
- Free plan VPN is limited, no data breakthrough monitoring
- Rebuilt app in May 2026 may have stability issues
Cortex
- Pricing is quote only, so a platform team cannot build a business case or compare against the true cost of self-hosted Backstage without entering a sales cycle first.
- The catalogue is only as accurate as the metadata you supply, so an organisation with inconsistent repository conventions spends its first quarter cleaning data before any scorecard means anything.
- Scorecards create political friction: publishing a per-team grade turns an engineering standard into a performance metric, and teams will game the rules rather than fix the underlying issue.
- It is closed source and hosted, so organisations with strict data residency or air-gap requirements have limited options compared with running Backstage themselves.
- Value scales with organisation size, so a company with fifty engineers and thirty services will find the catalogue tells them nothing they did not already know while still paying an enterprise contract.
Pricing, plan by plan
Avast One
Free- FreeFree
- Antivirus
- Limited VPN
- Privacy tools
- Silver$2.99/month
- Enhanced antivirus
- VPN
- Device cleanup
- Premium$4.19/month
- Full antivirus
- VPN with 55 servers
- Password manager
- Premium Plus$11.67/month
- All Premium features
- 30 devices covered
Cortex
On request- Cortex$undefined/year
- Service catalogue and ownership mapping
- Scorecards and initiatives
- Self-service templates
Which should you pick?
Choose Avast One if
- You need antivirus.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android.
- You also want firewall.
Choose Cortex if
- You need service catalogue.
- You work on Web, API.
- You also want scorecards.
Questions people ask
- Is Avast One or Cortex better?
- Neither clearly leads. Avast One starts at Free and Cortex at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Avast One or Cortex?
- Avast One has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Avast One and On request for Cortex.
- Does Avast One or Cortex run on more platforms?
- Avast One runs on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android. Cortex runs on Web, API.
- Can I use Avast One for free?
- Yes. Avast One has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cortex starts at On request.
- What is Avast One best used for?
- Avast One is most often used for antivirus, internet security, privacy tools. Of those, antivirus and internet security are not what Cortex is typically brought in for.
- What can Avast One do that Cortex cannot?
- Avast One covers Antivirus, Firewall, VPN, Data breach monitoring. Cortex covers Service catalogue, Scorecards, Initiatives, Self-service templates.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Avast One: Is Avast One free?
Yes. Avast One offers a free tier with antivirus, VPN (limited), and privacy tools. Paid plans start at $2.99/month for Silver and $4.19/month for Premium covering up to 5 devices.
SourceCortex: How is Cortex different from Backstage?
Backstage is an open source framework you build and staff. Cortex is a hosted product with scorecards and initiatives out of the box and no platform team required to keep it running.
Avast One: What does Avast One include?
Avast One provides antivirus, VPN, password manager, device cleanup, Wi-Fi security, data breach monitoring, and protection against AI-generated scams and deepfakes.
SourceCortex: Is pricing published?
No. Cortex requires a sales conversation and prepares a custom proposal.
Avast One: Does Avast One have ransomware protection?
Ransomware protection is available only on paid plans, not the free tier. Free users get antivirus and basic protection only.
SourceCortex: Can it self-host?
It is offered as a hosted product; on-premise arrangements are handled through sales rather than published.
Cortex: What is the main adoption risk?
Bad or missing service metadata. The catalogue and every scorecard on top of it inherit whatever quality your repositories already have.
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