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Cybersecurity · head to head

Avast One vs IBM QRadar

Avast One logo

Avast One

Cybersecurity

All-in-one protection for your digital life

From
Free
Rated
-
IBM QRadar logo

IBM QRadar

Cybersecurity

Enterprise SIEM licensed by events per second, whose cloud business IBM sold to Palo Alto Networks in 2024.

From
On request
Rated
-

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; IBM QRadar iBM sold the QRadar SaaS business to Palo Alto Networks in 2024 and those customers are being moved to Cortex XSIAM, so anyone buying today is choosing an on-premises product whose vendor has publicly moved the cloud future to a competitor, and the support horizon becomes a contract negotiation rather than an assumption.
  • They diverge on capability: Avast One covers Antivirus, IBM QRadar covers Offence model.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Avast One and IBM QRadar actually diverge.

Attributes where Avast One and IBM QRadar differ
AttributeAvast OneIBM QRadar
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelUnknownsubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWindows, macOS, iOS, AndroidWeb, Api
Founded19881911

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).

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 IBM QRadar

  • Offence model
  • Network flow analysis
  • Device Support Modules
  • Ariel query language
  • Rules and building blocks
  • Deployment topology
  • App Exchange
  • Use Case Manager

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Avast One

  • Antivirusnot IBM QRadar
  • Internet Securitynot IBM QRadar
  • Privacy Toolsnot IBM QRadar

IBM QRadar

  • A regulated enterprise that must keep log data on premises or in a specific jurisdiction and cannot use a shared SaaS SIEMnot Avast One
  • A SOC that wants log correlation and network flow analysis in one platform rather than buying an NDR product separatelynot Avast One
  • An existing QRadar estate deciding whether to stay on premises or accept the migration path to a different vendor's platformnot Avast One
  • Compliance-driven log retention and reporting where the audit requirement is specific about collection, retention and reportingnot 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

IBM QRadar

  • IBM sold the QRadar SaaS business to Palo Alto Networks in 2024 and those customers are being moved to Cortex XSIAM, so anyone buying today is choosing an on-premises product whose vendor has publicly moved the cloud future to a competitor, and the support horizon becomes a contract negotiation rather than an assumption.
  • Licensing is by events per second and flows per minute, so every additional log source raises the cost directly and teams routinely exclude verbose sources such as DNS, proxy, endpoint and cloud audit logs to stay under the licence, which strips out exactly the data an investigation later needs.
  • It needs a dedicated operator: rule tuning, parser work and offence triage are continuous jobs, and an organisation that deploys QRadar without at least one named engineer accumulates thousands of unreviewed offences and a false sense of coverage.
  • A log source without a matching Device Support Module arrives unparsed, and writing a custom parser with regular expressions against an unfamiliar payload format is specialist work that can take days per source, which quietly determines which systems ever get monitored.
  • On-premises capacity is planned across consoles, processors, collectors and data nodes, so outgrowing the sizing means procuring and racking more appliances rather than changing a subscription tier, and growth becomes a purchasing cycle measured in months.

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

IBM QRadar

On request
  • QRadar SIEMFree
    • Event and flow processing
    • Offense management
    • Threat intelligence
  • QRadar CloudFree
    • Cloud-native deployment
    • Elastic scaling
    • Managed infrastructure
  • QRadar SuiteFree
    • SIEM + SOAR + XDR
    • Unified analyst experience
    • Federated search

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 IBM QRadar if

  • You need offence model.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want network flow analysis.

Questions people ask

Is Avast One or IBM QRadar better?
Neither clearly leads. Avast One starts at Free and IBM QRadar at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Avast One or IBM QRadar?
Avast One has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Avast One and On request for IBM QRadar.
Does Avast One or IBM QRadar run on more platforms?
Avast One runs on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android. IBM QRadar 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. IBM QRadar 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 IBM QRadar is typically brought in for.
What can Avast One do that IBM QRadar cannot?
Avast One covers Antivirus, Firewall, VPN, Data breach monitoring. IBM QRadar covers Offence model, Network flow analysis, Device Support Modules, Ariel query language.

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.

Source
IBM QRadar: Who owns QRadar now?

It is split. IBM sold the QRadar SaaS assets to Palo Alto Networks in a deal announced in May 2024 and closed that September, and those customers are being migrated to Cortex XSIAM. IBM retains and supports the on-premises product.

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.

Source
IBM QRadar: Is QRadar being discontinued?

IBM has committed to continuing support for on-premises customers, including security updates, while offering migration assistance. The cloud product's future belongs to Palo Alto. If you are signing a multi-year term, get the support horizon written into the contract.

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.

Source
IBM QRadar: How is it licensed?

By events per second for logs and flows per minute for network data, with the software or appliance sized to that rate. Add-on modules in the suite are licensed separately.

IBM QRadar: What is an offence?

QRadar's term for a correlated case. Rules group related events and flows against a common indicator such as a host or user, so an analyst reviews one offence rather than the hundreds of events behind it.

IBM QRadar: Do I need a full-time engineer?

In practice yes for anything beyond a small deployment. Parser development, rule tuning and offence triage do not stop, and the most common failure mode is a well-installed QRadar that nobody has tuned since go-live.

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