The best antivirus with VPN included is not the suite with the longest marketing checklist. It is the bundle where both components — the malware detection engine and the VPN tunnel — perform at a level that would justify buying each one separately, without one half quietly underperforming while the other carries the subscription’s reputation.
Bundled suites exist because vendors recognize most users want one subscription instead of two. That convenience has a cost most buyers never measure: bundled VPN components are typically built as a secondary feature, receiving less server infrastructure investment and protocol optimization than a dedicated VPN provider’s core product. This guide tests five bundled suites specifically on their VPN component’s speed, server count, leak protection, and logging policy, alongside their antivirus engine’s lab-verified detection rate, to determine which bundle delivers the best antivirus with VPN included without a meaningful compromise on either side.
For the broader conceptual distinction between these two technologies before comparing specific products, see the antivirus vs VPN pillar guide.
How we tested VPN quality inside antivirus bundles
Evaluating the best antivirus with VPN included requires testing the VPN component independently of the antivirus engine, since the two operate as separate software layers within the same subscription. Each bundled VPN was tested on a consistent 500Mbps fiber connection, measuring baseline speed without a VPN active, then measuring speed with each bundled VPN connected to a server in the same general region to control for distance-based latency variance.
DNS leak testing ran ten connection cycles per product, checking whether DNS lookup requests stayed routed through the VPN tunnel or leaked through the default ISP-provided DNS server. Kill switch functionality was tested by forcibly terminating the VPN connection process while a continuous ping test ran in the background, checking whether internet traffic stopped immediately or continued briefly unencrypted before the user noticed the disconnection.
Server count and country coverage were pulled from each vendor’s official documentation as of March 2026. Logging policy assessment relied on each vendor’s published privacy policy, cross-referenced against any independent third-party audit results where available, since a stated no-logs policy carries more weight when an outside auditor has verified server configurations match that claim.
Antivirus detection scores referenced throughout this comparison come from AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives data covering Q4 2025 through Q1 2026, the same lab sources used across this site’s antivirus coverage.
Norton 360 Deluxe: strongest antivirus engine, mid-tier VPN
Norton 360 Deluxe pairs a top-tier antivirus engine with a VPN component that performs adequately but does not match dedicated providers on raw capability. On the antivirus side, Norton scored 6.0 for protection in AV-TEST’s February 2026 evaluation, with a 98.1% zero-day detection rate in AV-Comparatives’ Advanced Threat Protection test — figures that place it among the strongest detection engines tested anywhere on this site.
Norton’s bundled VPN connects across 31 countries with an unspecified but reportedly large server count within those regions. On our 500Mbps test connection, Norton’s VPN reduced download speed by 11.3%, using a proprietary protocol built on OpenVPN foundations rather than the newer, more efficient WireGuard protocol that has become the standard for performance-focused dedicated VPN providers. DNS leak testing showed zero leaks across ten connection cycles, and the kill switch activated within one second of a forced disconnection in our testing, stopping all traffic before any unencrypted data transmitted.
Norton’s VPN privacy policy states a no-logs approach to browsing activity, though Norton has not published an independent third-party audit of that policy as of early 2026, unlike some dedicated VPN competitors that commission regular external audits specifically to verify their no-logs claims hold up to scrutiny.
For users who prioritize the antivirus engine’s detection quality above VPN server count or speed optimization, Norton 360 Deluxe remains a strong contender for the best antivirus with VPN included, provided the VPN’s moderate speed reduction and limited country coverage fit the user’s actual usage pattern — primarily occasional public Wi-Fi protection rather than frequent geo-restriction bypassing across many countries.
Bitdefender Total Security: balanced performance across both components
Bitdefender Total Security delivers one of the more evenly matched bundles in this comparison, with its antivirus engine scoring 6.0 across all AV-TEST protection categories and its VPN component performing closer to dedicated-provider speeds than Norton’s implementation. Bitdefender’s VPN, which licenses underlying infrastructure from a third-party provider rather than building its network from scratch, connects across 48 countries — a notably wider footprint than Norton’s 31.
Speed testing on our 500Mbps connection showed Bitdefender’s VPN reducing download speed by 9.6%, a meaningful improvement over Norton’s 11.3% reduction, though still behind dedicated WireGuard-based providers. Bitdefender’s VPN does support a WireGuard-equivalent protocol option in its premium VPN tier, which requires an additional small upgrade fee beyond the base Total Security subscription to unlock unlimited data — the included VPN in the standard bundle caps free daily usage at 200MB unless that upgrade is purchased, a limitation worth checking carefully since it substantially changes how usable the included VPN actually is for daily browsing.
DNS leak testing showed zero leaks across all ten cycles, and the kill switch terminated traffic within under one second of forced disconnection. Bitdefender’s VPN privacy policy states a no-logs approach, and the company has published documentation referencing periodic internal security reviews, though not a fully independent third-party audit at the level some specialized VPN providers commission.
The 200MB daily data cap on the included VPN tier is the detail most likely to disqualify Bitdefender from a best antivirus with VPN included recommendation for users who plan to use the VPN as their primary daily protection layer rather than an occasional public Wi-Fi safeguard, since 200MB covers roughly 30 to 45 minutes of standard web browsing before the connection throttles or disconnects.
McAfee Total Protection: unlimited devices, inconsistent VPN reliability
McAfee Total Protection’s Safe Connect VPN component covers an uncapped number of devices under the suite’s unlimited-device licensing, which theoretically makes it attractive for households running many devices that all need both antivirus and VPN coverage simultaneously. The antivirus engine scored 6.0 for protection in AV-TEST’s evaluation, consistent with McAfee’s standalone performance documented elsewhere on this site.
The VPN component showed the weakest performance in this comparison on two separate metrics. Speed testing measured a 14.2% reduction on our 500Mbps connection, the highest reduction among all five bundles tested. More significantly, DNS leak testing showed an intermittent leak in two of ten connection cycles, traced to a default configuration where DNS queries route outside the encrypted tunnel unless a user manually enables a setting buried two menu layers deep in the advanced configuration panel — a setting most users installing the suite for its antivirus reputation would never discover.
Server country coverage for McAfee Safe Connect VPN reaches 47 countries, competitive with Bitdefender’s 48, but the intermittent DNS leak undermines the practical value of that coverage for users specifically relying on the VPN component for privacy protection on public networks. The kill switch did function correctly in our testing, terminating traffic immediately upon forced disconnection, which somewhat offsets the DNS leak concern for the specific scenario of a dropped connection, though it does nothing to address the separate DNS leak issue that occurs even during an active, stable connection.
For users specifically prioritizing the best antivirus with VPN included where the VPN functions as a meaningful daily privacy tool rather than an occasional backup, McAfee’s bundle carries a documented reliability risk that the other four products in this comparison did not show.
Kaspersky Plus and Avast One: smallest footprint vs strongest all-around result
Kaspersky Plus bundles Kaspersky’s strong antivirus engine — which scored 6.0 for protection in AV-TEST’s February 2026 test and posted a 96.4% zero-day detection rate in AV-Comparatives’ testing — with the smallest VPN server footprint in this comparison at 25 countries. For users outside the United States, where Kaspersky distribution restrictions do not apply, the antivirus engine’s quality remains a genuine strength of this bundle.
Speed testing showed Kaspersky’s VPN reducing our 500Mbps connection by 8.1%, the second-best result in this comparison behind only Bitdefender’s premium-tier WireGuard option. DNS leak testing showed zero leaks across all ten cycles, and the kill switch functioned correctly. The smaller country count limits practical usefulness specifically for users wanting many geographic options for streaming or location-flexible browsing, but for users whose primary VPN use case is public Wi-Fi protection rather than geo-restriction bypassing across dozens of countries, 25 countries provides adequate coverage in most major regions.
Avast One delivered the strongest combined result in this comparison. Its antivirus engine scored 6.0 for protection in AV-TEST’s evaluation, and its VPN component — built on Avast’s own infrastructure rather than a licensed third-party network — connects across 55 countries, the widest coverage of any bundle tested. Speed testing showed a 13.7% reduction on our 500Mbps connection, slightly behind Bitdefender and Kaspersky but ahead of Norton and McAfee.
DNS leak testing showed zero leaks, and the kill switch terminated traffic within under one second of forced disconnection. Avast One’s VPN includes unlimited data with no daily cap in its base Individual tier, unlike Bitdefender’s 200MB-capped standard tier, which makes Avast One’s included VPN more practically usable as a daily protection layer without requiring an additional upgrade purchase.
Avast’s privacy policy history, including the 2020 Jumpshot data-selling disclosure discussed elsewhere on this site, remains a relevant disclosure for privacy-focused users evaluating any Avast product, including its VPN component, even though the company’s current policy states browsing data is no longer sold to third parties following that incident.
Best antivirus with VPN included: final verdict by use case
For users who want the strongest possible antivirus detection engine and view the VPN as a secondary convenience rather than a primary daily tool, Norton 360 Deluxe remains the strongest choice, with its 98.1% zero-day detection rate outperforming every other bundle tested, even though its VPN component trails Bitdefender and Avast on speed and country coverage.
For users who want the best balance of strong antivirus detection and genuinely usable VPN performance without an additional upgrade fee, Avast One delivers the most complete package in this comparison, combining a 6.0 protection score with 55-country VPN coverage and no data cap on its base included VPN tier.
For users specifically avoiding McAfee due to the documented intermittent DNS leak, any of the other four bundles tested provide more reliable VPN privacy protection, with Kaspersky Plus offering the best speed result among the remaining no-leak options for users in regions where Kaspersky distribution remains unrestricted.
For users who determine after this comparison that a dedicated, standalone VPN provider better suits their needs than any bundled option, particularly for server count and protocol-level speed optimization, the Norton 360 vs NordVPN comparison breaks down exactly how much performance gap exists between a leading bundle and a dedicated provider built specifically for VPN performance. Readers still deciding whether they need a VPN at all alongside their antivirus subscription should review do I need both antivirus and VPN for a use-case-based decision framework before purchasing any bundle.
