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Cybersecurity · head to head

McAfee Total Protection vs Very Good Security

McAfee Total Protection logo

McAfee Total Protection

Cybersecurity

Award-winning antivirus trusted by millions

From
$29.99/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Very Good Security logo

Very Good Security

Cybersecurity

Tokenisation proxy that keeps card and personal data out of your own systems and out of PCI scope

From
$1000/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: McAfee Total Protection significant renewal price increase after first year (from $29.99 to $84.99/year); Very Good Security vGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • They diverge on capability: McAfee Total Protection covers Real-time antivirus, Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which McAfee Total Protection and Very Good Security actually diverge.

Attributes where McAfee Total Protection and Very Good Security differ
AttributeMcAfee Total ProtectionVery Good Security
Starting price$29.99/year$1000/month
Pricing modelUnknownPer month
PlatformsWindows, macOS, iOS, AndroidWeb, API
Founded1987Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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 McAfee Total Protection

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

Only in Very Good Security

  • Aliasing proxy
  • PCI scope reduction
  • Network tokenisation
  • Processor optionality
  • Card issuing data
  • Vault and access controls
  • Data residency options
  • Compliance artefacts

What people use each for

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

McAfee Total Protection

  • Antivirusnot Very Good Security
  • Internet Securitynot Very Good Security
  • Identity Protectionnot Very Good Security

Very Good Security

  • A marketplace facing its first PCI DSS Level 1 assessment that wants to keep card data off its own estate rather than harden a dozen servicesnot McAfee Total Protection
  • A merchant negotiating with a second acquirer that needs card credentials portable so the negotiation is real rather than theoreticalnot McAfee Total Protection
  • A fintech collecting bank account and identity documents that wants sensitive fields absent from logs, backups and analytics warehouses by constructionnot McAfee Total Protection
  • A card issuer that must display a full PAN in its own mobile app without the app or its backend touching cardholder datanot McAfee Total Protection

Where each one falls short

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

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

Very Good Security

  • VGS sits in the live path of every request carrying sensitive data, so its latency and availability become yours, and an outage in the proxy is a payment outage no matter how healthy your own systems are.
  • Token portability is the whole selling point yet leaving VGS means migrating tokens back out, a project the vendor has no incentive to streamline, so the lock-in you removed from your acquirer partly moves to VGS.
  • Entry pricing at around one thousand US dollars a month is real money for a pre-revenue fintech, and it buys volume-limited throughput, so cost scales with exactly the growth that made you buy it.
  • Scope reduction is not scope elimination: your QSA still assesses how you integrate, and teams regularly discover that a support tool or an internal admin screen pulled plaintext back in and dragged systems into scope again.
  • Proxy-based interception constrains how you design request flows, and non-standard payloads, streaming uploads or binary formats often need custom routing rules that make debugging production issues noticeably harder.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Very Good Security

$1000/month
  • Starter$1000/month
    • Aliasing proxy
    • Vault storage
    • PCI scope reduction
  • Growth$undefined/month
    • Network tokenisation
    • Multiple processors
    • Data residency options
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom vault architecture
    • Dedicated support and SLA
    • Contractual compliance coverage

Which should you pick?

Choose McAfee Total Protection if

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

Choose Very Good Security if

  • You need aliasing proxy.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want pci scope reduction.
Very Good Security review

Questions people ask

Is McAfee Total Protection or Very Good Security better?
Neither clearly leads. McAfee Total Protection starts at $29.99/year and Very Good Security at $1000/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, McAfee Total Protection or Very Good Security?
McAfee Total Protection starts at $29.99/year and Very Good Security at $1000/month.
Does McAfee Total Protection or Very Good Security run on more platforms?
McAfee Total Protection runs on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android. Very Good Security runs on Web, API.
What is McAfee Total Protection best used for?
McAfee Total Protection is most often used for antivirus, internet security, identity protection. Of those, antivirus and internet security are not what Very Good Security is typically brought in for.
What can McAfee Total Protection do that Very Good Security cannot?
McAfee Total Protection covers Real-time antivirus, Firewall, Safe browsing, Password manager. Very Good Security covers Aliasing proxy, PCI scope reduction, Network tokenisation, Processor optionality.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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
Very Good Security: Does VGS make me PCI compliant?

No. It removes cardholder data from your systems so your assessment covers a far smaller boundary, but you still complete an assessment and your integration is part of it.

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
Very Good Security: Can I move to another processor without re-collecting cards?

Yes, that is a core reason people buy it. The vault reveals stored credentials to whichever processor you route to.

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
Very Good Security: What does it cost?

Published entry pricing is about one thousand US dollars per month; growth and enterprise tiers are quoted.

McAfee Total Protection: Does McAfee Total Protection include VPN?

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

Source
Very Good Security: Is it only for card data?

No. The proxy handles any sensitive field, including bank details, national identifiers and documents, though payments is where the product is now focused.

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