Likelihood to Recommend It just works. I have seen multiple viruses and malware get past other antivirus software like TrendMicro, Webroot, and Kaspersky. Bitdefender GravityZone always catches what others miss. It has a very light footprint when it comes to system resources. The centralized management console is nice, but I prefer the console before they redesigned the UI.
Read full review Robust protection with a small footprint. Catches all malware and viruses, while respecting the exclusions put in place by our organization. Pricing was very aggressive compared to other products. Great management application, where you can manage the installations and even update third-party apps on those machines from that portal. Great product for a great price.
Read full review Pros Once installed, Bitdefender [GravityZone] runs silently in the background with little to no need for user interaction. The cloud-based console provides for easy computer management and deployment. Bitdefender [GravityZone] is extremely flexible, with a policy-based system wherein different profiles can be created (i.e. a policy to deactivate the firewall, a policy to allow for admin control on a machine, etc.) and pushed out to individual computers. Computers can be grouped into different categories, with different policies automatically deployed to each category. Bitdefender [GravityZone] is relatively resource-light and runs well even on lower-end computers. Read full review Vipre Antivirus constantly scans your computer in the background without a need for user intervention. In one program Vipre can successfully protect all your computing devices from both malicious virus attacks as where vicious spyware intrusions. You won't feel any slowness or sluggishness with Vipre installed & running in the background while you continue to use your computing devices. Read full review Cons Who do I ask? This is my chief complaint is once the initial licenses were purchased through Bit Defender, there was no one to contact that could help navigate some of the initial questions I had with regard to specific policies to implement for our file server. The parent web site is, well, hard to navigate when one is trying to "learn" the system. The second issue is in increasing the licenses. It took several days for the parent company (by contact and phone) to inform me that they could not increase the licenses and I would have to go through a private vendor. There was no intent to connect me to a vendor or provide a vendor list until I asked specifically. YET I continue to get email from the parent company reminding me to pay an annual fee for the licenses purchase through the private vendor. The parent company can see the number of licenses yet did not sell them to me. Gravity Zone Dashboard, while excellent for those who have experience, is not particularly intuitive for those who have never used it. There does not seem to be a lot of documentation for those responsible for implementation. Read full review When using older versions of Outlook I have seen the plugin cause sluggish behavior and hangs, in 2007 and 2010 versions specifically. For some business applications, there are .dll's and libraries and application .exe's that can be misidentified as virus or trojans. While it is fairly easy to whitelist these once discovered, new implementors should be aware that they will need to carefully look through their initial virus scan reports to find and whitelist these items. Read full review Likelihood to Renew It works. I rely heavily on my vendors to provide a product that works, is easy to implement, and that they support. As well as be a decent value for the money
Read full review Usability The console is easy to use, but has grown to have a lot of functionality. The only challenge is that all functions (even disabled and not installed ones) are shown. It would be great if only the functions that are active would be visible.
Read full review VIPRE is very easy to use and administer. You have a lot of functionality from the server on what you can do with the clients. It has proved useful when I can't access a client any other way. I can reboot the computer from the server and then usually get back into that machine.
Read full review Support Rating Support is an area Bitdefender has always struggled with. While their products work great, the GravityZone dashboard is very technical in nature. If you aren't IT inclined, it could be difficult to setup. While most times support is helpful, we tend to work with them over email because of their very thick accent, they are hard to understand over the phone.
Read full review VIPRE support is usually pretty quick. Sometimes you have to get a lot of information to send back so they can see the issue. This has not been too bad and I understand why it's needed. VIPRE also has a free rescue tool that is very useful and easy to use. There have been others but VIPRE seems to keep theirs updated. It's my go-to even outside of work.
Read full review Alternatives Considered We were a Kaspersky shop for years. Kaspersky was a resource hog and it didn't even block half of what was thrown at it. We had more outbreaks and more end-user complaints in a year of Kaspersky then we have had in almost three years of Bitdefender.
Read full review We got a chance to buy AVG Business edition and we tried to install that throughout our organization and most specifically to our important systems but it was not compatible with a majority of them and we found AVG as high-demand software with a mediocre speed of action and more pricing. So in comparison to AVG, VIPRE is good in all aspects.
Read full review Return on Investment The ROI for Bitdefender is hard to quantify except that it requires very little maintenance time from our staff. We've spent no time troubleshooting user complaints or issues from users, so it has been a big time-saver over our previously used anti-malware software. Bitdefender's customer service is usually pretty good and also very responsive, so I don't have to wait by the phone or to keep checking email to resolve a problem--although our issues have been mostly informational and not a problem with functionality. Read full review The VIPRE MSP program cost effectively lets me integrate protection into every endpoint I protect. Integration with ConnectWise for deployment and billing has increased our revenue. Integration with ConnectWise for management means we keep endpoint protection coverage consistently above 99% to secure our clients. Read full review ScreenShots