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Developer Tools · head to head

Hookdeck vs McAfee Total Protection

Hookdeck logo

Hookdeck

Developer Tools

Event gateway that receives, queues, retries and replays inbound webhooks

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
McAfee Total Protection logo

McAfee Total Protection

Cybersecurity

Award-winning antivirus trusted by millions

From
$29.99/year
Free plan
No

The short version

  • Only Hookdeck has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Hookdeck pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.; McAfee Total Protection significant renewal price increase after first year (from $29.99 to $84.99/year)
  • They diverge on capability: Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, McAfee Total Protection covers Real-time antivirus.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hookdeck and McAfee Total Protection actually diverge.

Attributes where Hookdeck and McAfee Total Protection differ
AttributeHookdeckMcAfee Total Protection
Starting priceFree$29.99/year
Pricing modelPer month by delivered event countUnknown
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, WindowsWindows, macOS, iOS, Android
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
FoundedUnknown1987

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 Hookdeck

  • Ingest and persist
  • Automatic retries
  • Filters and fan-out
  • Transformations
  • Local development CLI
  • Rate limiting

Only in McAfee Total Protection

  • Real-time antivirus
  • Firewall
  • Safe browsing
  • Password manager
  • Secure VPN
  • Identity monitoring
  • Protection Score
  • Parental controls

What people use each for

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

Hookdeck

  • A payments integration where losing a Stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfillednot McAfee Total Protection
  • Fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separatelynot McAfee Total Protection
  • Debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fixnot McAfee Total Protection
  • Receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnelnot McAfee Total Protection

McAfee Total Protection

  • Antivirusnot Hookdeck
  • Internet Securitynot Hookdeck
  • Identity Protectionnot Hookdeck

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Hookdeck

  • Pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.
  • Free-tier retention is three days, which is shorter than the time it typically takes to notice a failing integration, so the payloads needed for a replay are often already gone.
  • It becomes a single point of failure in front of every third-party integration, and an outage there means every provider webhook queues or fails at once.
  • The transformation layer runs JavaScript in a constrained environment, so anything that needs a database lookup or an external call has to happen downstream instead.
  • For a team already running Kafka or SQS the value is mostly the console and the replay UI, which is a hard cost to justify against infrastructure they already operate.

McAfee Total Protection

  • Significant renewal price increase after first year (from $29.99 to $84.99/year)
  • Customer support responsiveness issues reported as reason for switching
  • Renewal billing can be aggressive with auto-renewal defaults

Pricing, plan by plan

Hookdeck

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Up to ten thousand events per month
    • Three-day retention
    • One user
  • Team$39/month
    • Ten thousand events included
    • Unlimited users
    • Pay as you go metering above the included events
  • Growth$499/month
    • Ten thousand events included plus metered usage
    • Thirty-day retention
    • Uptime and latency SLAs
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Negotiated event volume
    • Custom retention
    • Dedicated support

McAfee Total Protection

$29.99/year
  • Basic$29.99/year
    • Antivirus
    • Firewall
    • 1 device
  • Plus$39.99/year
    • Antivirus
    • Firewall
    • 5 devices
  • Premium$49.99/year
    • Antivirus
    • Firewall
    • VPN
  • Advanced$74.99/year
    • Antivirus
    • Firewall
    • VPN

Which should you pick?

Choose Hookdeck if

  • You need ingest and persist.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want automatic retries.

Choose McAfee Total Protection if

  • You need real-time antivirus.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android.
  • You also want firewall.

Questions people ask

Is Hookdeck or McAfee Total Protection better?
Neither clearly leads. Hookdeck starts at Free and McAfee Total Protection at $29.99/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hookdeck or McAfee Total Protection?
Hookdeck has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Hookdeck and $29.99/year for McAfee Total Protection.
Does Hookdeck or McAfee Total Protection run on more platforms?
Hookdeck runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows. McAfee Total Protection runs on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android.
Can I use Hookdeck for free?
Yes. Hookdeck has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. McAfee Total Protection starts at $29.99/year.
What is Hookdeck best used for?
Hookdeck is most often used for a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled, fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately, debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fix, receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnel. Of those, a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled and fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately are not what McAfee Total Protection is typically brought in for.
What can Hookdeck do that McAfee Total Protection cannot?
Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, Automatic retries, Filters and fan-out, Transformations. McAfee Total Protection covers Real-time antivirus, Firewall, Safe browsing, Password manager.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hookdeck: Is there a free plan?

Yes, ten thousand events a month with three-day retention and one user.

McAfee Total Protection: How much does McAfee Total Protection cost?

McAfee Total Protection introductory pricing ranges from $29.99/year (Basic) to $74.99/year (Advanced), but renewal costs jump to $84.99/year after the first year.

Source
Hookdeck: How is usage counted?

By delivered events, so a single inbound webhook fanned out to three destinations counts as three.

McAfee Total Protection: What is the trial period for McAfee Total Protection?

McAfee offers a 60-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to try the service risk-free for two months.

Source
Hookdeck: Can I replay a failed webhook?

Yes, individually or in bulk from the console, with the original payload.

McAfee Total Protection: How many devices can I protect with one McAfee Total Protection subscription?

Device coverage varies by plan: Basic covers 1 device, while other plans protect 5 to unlimited devices depending on the tier selected.

Source
Hookdeck: Does it work for outbound webhooks too?

Yes, the same queueing, retry and observability applies to webhooks you send.

McAfee Total Protection: Does McAfee Total Protection include VPN?

VPN is included in higher-tier McAfee plans if you opt for auto-renewal.

Source
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