RealOffice360 is a simple CRM designed to help real estate agents streamline their business and boost productivity. Its intuitive interface makes it easy to get up and running quickly.
Some standout features include automated reminders to keep in touch with clients, the ability to build customized pipelines and processes, and AI-powered communications. Lead capture tools pull in prospect information from various sources to create a centralized database. A mobile app provides agents with fast access on the go.
In testing out the CRM platform, I found it reasonably priced for the functionality, and the interface was very user-friendly. Some areas for improvement are the email marketing capabilities and the limited third-party integrations currently. But overall, RealOffice360 offers a solid set of core CRM features tailored for busy real estate professionals looking to better manage client relationships and grow their business.
RealOffice360 core capabilities
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The RealOffice360 CRM contact pages highlight associated details, tasks, and properties. (Image credit: RealOffice360)
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You can edit deal stages and easily add new properties to your pipeline. (Image credit: RealOffice360)
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Increase your chances of closing deals by setting workflow tasks. (Image credit: RealOffice360)
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Integrating with real estate lead capture websites can increase your lead pool. (Image credit: RealOffice360)
RealOffice360 provides a robust set of client management capabilities. Its all-in-one contact database lets users easily add and manage real estate clients. Contacts can be imported from various sources like Google, Outlook, iPhone, Excel, or other CRM software. The system also allows categorizing contacts with group labels and favorites to keep the database well-organized.
The client profile in RealOffice360 acts as a central hub, housing notes, communications, files, property details, and even family information all in one place. I particularly like the smart follow-up reminders for important dates like client birthdays, home purchase anniversaries, and wedding anniversaries — this enables agents to effortlessly keep in touch with past clients.
Another strength is the CRM's client communication features. It syncs emails, enables bulk emailing, provides an AI assistant to help craft professional emails, and supports customizable email signatures. Having all client interactions and touchpoints logged in one system is invaluable.
Beyond contact management, RealOffice360 CRM offers capable deal tracking functionality. Users can manage the full sales cycle, from lead capture and follow-up to commission calculations and tax handling. The visual sales pipeline with drag-and-drop controls makes it simple to advance deals to close.
Rounding out the feature set are tools for daily task management and scheduling via the built-in calendar and to-do lists. The system also provides email marketing, note-taking, data storage, and more.
But while RealOffice360 covers the CRM essentials and requirements for real estate quite well, the feature set feels a bit limited compared to some more mature mainstream players that offer deeper customization, extensibility, and third-party integrations.
How easy is RealOffice360 to use?
The drag-and-drop feature easily updates deal stages for contacts and properties. (Image credit: RealOffice360)
RealOffice360 shines in its simplicity and intuitiveness. The software takes a streamlined approach, stripping away unnecessary complexity to provide a clean and modern interface that is easy to navigate. Even users with minimal technical skills can quickly get up to speed and start managing their client relationships effectively.
But RealOffice360 also allows you to tailor the CRM to your specific workflow and preferences. You can create custom fields, views, and pipelines to match how you do business. The flexibility means you're not forced into a rigid one-size-fits-all system. Instead, the CRM adapts to you, enhancing your work style.
The thoughtful UI design carries through to mobile, with a responsive interface that is just as intuitive on a smartphone as on a desktop. Whether you're in the office or on the go, you have full access to your client data, communications, and deal pipeline. Updates sync seamlessly so your whole team is always on the same page.
Onboarding is refreshingly painless thanks to the software's inherent simplicity. RealOffice360 provides a library of concise tutorial videos that walk you through the key features and configuration options. In my experience, most users can dive right in and learn by doing, with the videos there as a fallback for any stumbling points. The time from setup to full productivity is remarkably short compared to more complex CRM systems.
As your business evolves, RealOffice360 scales smoothly alongside you. The well-organized settings allow you to adjust your account as needed, without technical headaches. You can add new users, tweak permissions, and expand your usage while maintaining the same core interface your team is familiar with.
Sure, RealOffice360 may lack some of the advanced features found in higher-end CRM suites. But those bells and whistles often come at the cost of usability. For the vast majority of small to midsize real estate businesses, RealOffice360 delivers exactly what's needed in a package that's intuitive, accessible, and easy to adopt.
Integrations
RealOffice360 has been putting in more effort into making the CRM integrate with other business software, which is important for any modern CRM. The product supports pre-built integrations with popular apps like Gmail, Outlook, Slack, QuickBooks, and more, allowing data to flow seamlessly between systems.
RealOffice360 also has an open API that enables developers to build custom integrations. While the API documentation could be more comprehensive, it does cover the core CRM objects and allows pulling data into 3rd party apps. The API supports both REST and Webhooks for real-time notifications.
For non-technical users, RealOffice360 offers integration with Zapier, a leading iPaaS. This opens up connections to 1000s of apps without needing to write code. Setting up Zaps was relatively intuitive when I tested it. RealOffice360 has provided Zapier triggers for common events like new lead created, deal updated, etc., which can then kick off actions in other apps.
One area I'd like to see RealOffice360 improve is the breadth of its pre-built integrations. Several CRMs that I've reviewed have marketplaces with hundreds of apps that integrate out of the box. RealOffice360's selection is more limited currently. Expanding this, as well as creating more comprehensive docs for the API, could make the platform even more extendable.
How good is RealOffice360 support?
RealOffice360 offers a few key channels for users to get assistance, such as email, chat, and self-service.
Live chat support is available, allowing customers to get quick answers to their questions or concerns directly through the platform. This is a convenient option that can provide more immediate help compared to other methods.
In terms of self-service resources, RealOffice360 maintains a fairly comprehensive online knowledge base. This searchable support hub contains helpful articles, tutorials, and FAQs across a range of topics. It's a good first stop for users looking to troubleshoot issues on their own or learn more about certain features.
RealOffice360's documentation doesn't specify average first response or resolution times, which would be helpful to know. Responsiveness and the speed at which issues get resolved are important factors in evaluating support quality.
From the user reviews I came across, it seems that support does earn some praise. Several customers mentioned that the support team was helpful and ensured their problems were solved. Of course, a broader set of testimonials would paint a clearer picture.
One potential limitation is that live support via chat and email is only available on weekdays from 11 am-7 pm EST. Round-the-clock coverage would be better for users in different time zones or those who need assistance outside regular business hours.
The free plan also has a slower 48-hour maximum response time, compared to higher tiers. While understandable, it's something for free users to keep in mind.
RealOffice360 pricing and plans
Plan
Essentials
Premium
Team
Price
$12/user/month
$25/user/month
$50/user/month
Best For
Solo agents starting with CRM tools
Agents needing advanced marketing features
Teams requiring collaboration and shared data
Features
Unlimited contacts
Task calendar
Deal tracking
Customizable workflows
Bulk email
AI assistant features
Collaborative calendars
Team management
Shared pipelines
Limitations
Limited to basic CRM functions
Advanced features at higher cost
Additional users cost extra
The first thing that stands out to me about RealOffice360 is their very generous 14-day free trial, which doesn't even require a credit card to get started. This makes it easy and risk-free to fully test drive the platform before making any financial commitment.
Once you're ready to upgrade, their paid plans start at a very reasonable $12 per month for solo agents on the Essentials plan. This gets you access to their core CRM features for managing your contacts, properties, and transactions.
Stepping up to their Premium plan at $25 per month unlocks some powerful automation capabilities, like email syncing and customizable workflows, that can really streamline your business. For an individual agent, this tier likely provides the best bang for your buck.
Small teams will appreciate the affordability of RealOffice360's Team plan, which supports 2 users for $50 per month, with additional seats at $30 each. So a team of 5 could get everyone up and running for around $140 monthly. The inclusion of team-oriented features at this level, like shared calendars and pipelines, adds a lot of collaborative value.
Larger brokerages with many agents have access to volume pricing starting at $125 per month for unlimited users. This allows bigger firms to take advantage of RealOffice360's capabilities at scale.
Other factors that enhance RealOffice360's pricing attractiveness are the lack of any long-term contracts or cancellation penalties, and the ability to save up to 20% by opting for annual billing. All in all, RealOffice360 delivers robust CRM functionality at price points that should fit comfortably within most real estate businesses' budgets.
RealOffice360 CRM review: Final verdict
After an in-depth evaluation, RealOffice360 emerges as a solid CRM contender purpose-built for real estate professionals. Its intuitive interface and streamlined feature set make it easy to adopt and use on a daily basis to manage contacts, properties, and deals.
A major strength lies in RealOffice360's ability to facilitate collaboration among real estate teams. The software allows assigning properties, tasks, and commissions to specific team members, ensuring clarity and accountability. The visual deal pipeline is also a standout, enabling agents to easily track and advance sales opportunities.
RealOffice360's customer support is another bright spot. The company offers live chat and phone support on weekdays, along with a searchable online knowledge base for self-service.
However, RealOffice360 does have some room for improvement in terms of customization and integration. The platform provides limited ability to personalize data fields, reports, and pipeline views. Additionally, while it offers essential integrations with email and calendar tools, the breadth of third-party app connections trails some competitors. Security-conscious firms may also find the lack of two-factor authentication problematic.
Brivity is a real estate-focused CRM and marketing automation platform that aims to streamline the daily workflows of agents and brokerages. Its integrated suite of tools covers lead generation, contact management, transaction management, and team collaboration.
Brivity enables agents to efficiently manage client relationships with customizable action plans, mass emailing, unique single property websites, a client portal, and more. The CRM platform also includes a built-in dialer and texting functionality to facilitate client communication.
In addition to the CRM, Brivity provides a customizable IDX website, text-to-lead capture, CMA reports, and even open house automation. While this breadth of functionality is impressive, it may come with a learning curve for users. Customer reviews praise Brivity's feature set, but adopting the full platform requires a commitment to learning the system.
Brivity CRM core capabilities
(Image credit: Brivity)
Brivity is a comprehensive real estate CRM that provides agents with a centralized hub to manage their contacts, transactions, marketing, and productivity.
The platform makes it easy to keep track of leads from various sources in one place. Lead details, behavior insights, and communication history are readily accessible. You can set up custom filters, tag,s and alerts to stay on top of hot prospects.
I found the messaging center quite useful for client engagement. It allows you to send personalized texts and emails using templates, and even set up auto-responses. The email sync with Gmail is also very handy.
Where Brivity really shines is transaction management. It provides a clear pipeline view of all your deals, with quick access to contacts, documents, tasks, and key dates for each transaction. I like how it automatically notifies clients of status updates.
Another standout is the customizable dashboard. At a glance, you can see how many new leads you've gotten, upcoming appointments, messages that need a reply, and priority tasks. It's a great way to plan your day.
While not groundbreaking, the MLS search and property pages are well-integrated into the CRM. You can easily add listings and share them with clients. The built-in comparative market analysis tool is also nice.
Other notable features include drip campaigns, single property websites, virtual tours, social media marketing, and team collaboration tools. There's no built-in dialer, but Brivity makes up for it with a wide range of integrations and an app marketplace for the CRM.
Brivity covers all the essential functions of a real estate CRM and adds quite a few extras. The interface is modern and intuitive, though the sheer number of features can feel overwhelming at first. But once you get the hang of it, Brivity can be a massive time-saver and productivity booster for a busy agent.
How easy is Brivity to use?
Brivity makes ease of use a top priority for its CRM. Upon signing up, you provide some basic details about your team and intended usage, then dive right into the platform as soon as billing is verified. While the array of tools and features may feel a bit overwhelming at first glance, Brivity's interface is thoughtfully designed to be easy to navigate on both desktop and mobile.
The main dashboard is divided into six core tabs that provide quick access to key functions like your calendar, contacts, transactions, and marketing tools. I found it simple to move between these areas and locate the specific features I needed. The Brivity Go mobile app is also well-designed, allowing agents to stay productive on the move - responding to messages, tracking web activity, finding prospects, and more.
What really impressed me was the level of user support Brivity provides to help new users get up to speed quickly. There's a dedicated support phone number and email address for any questions that come up. The Help Center is packed with detailed video tutorials and FAQs covering essential topics like initial setup, key features, and CRM best practices. You can also tap into the knowledge of the Brivity community by joining the Brivity Masterminds Facebook group to connect with other users, share tips and tricks, and stay updated on new feature rollouts.
While it offers an array of customization options to tailor the platform to your specific needs and workflow, Brivity’s essential functions are very approachable and don't require extensive setup to start using them effectively. Common tasks like logging contact interactions, setting up email campaigns, generating market reports, and managing transactions are quite straightforward.
The learning curve comes with exploring more advanced capabilities and optimizing your configuration. But overall, I'd estimate that a new user could get comfortable with the core day-to-day functions within a few hours, thanks to the intuitive design and breadth of learning resources. More advanced users will appreciate the ability to set up custom dashboards, data fields, pipelines, and more to suit their needs.
Integrations
Brivity offers a number of ways to sync data and automate workflows with external applications.
First, Brivity connects natively with Gmail, allowing users to send and receive emails directly within the CRM interface. This eliminates the need to switch back and forth between separate email and CRM apps.
Additionally, an in-app store provides access to multiple pre-built integrations that can be enabled with just a few clicks. Popular options include syncing contacts and events with Google, automating email campaigns via MailChimp, posting video updates with BombBomb, and importing leads from Zillow.
For more advanced use cases, Brivity supports integration with iPaaS tools Zapier and Make (formerly Integromat). This opens up possibilities to connect the CRM with hundreds of other SaaS apps and create custom automated workflows.
Real estate-specific integrations are available too, such as RealSynch for syndicating listings data and Callingly for automating lead follow-up calls. Clicking a lead capture form on a website can instantly trigger a call that connects the lead with an available agent, with the call data saved to Brivity.
Under the hood, Brivity provides a REST API that enables developers to programmatically insert and update data within the CRM. So companies with development resources can build fully customized integrations if needed.
In my testing, setting up basic integrations was simple and worked smoothly. Zapier automations reliably added or updated records without any noticeable sync delays. The breadth of turnkey integrations with common real-estate and productivity tools is impressive.
On the downside, API documentation is quite limited and hasn't been updated recently. So, more complex custom integrations may require some trial and error to implement. The interface for managing active integrations could also be improved; it's not always clear which integrations are enabled and how to troubleshoot issues.
How good is Brivity customer support?
Brivity offers solid customer support options to assist users with any questions or issues they may encounter while using the CRM platform.
In terms of live support channels, Brivity provides a dedicated support phone line that users can call to get help from a real person. The support number is 855-427-4848, staffed during regular business hours. Email support is also available by contacting support@brivity.com. While live chat doesn't appear to be offered, the phone and email support should meet the needs of most customers.
For those who prefer to troubleshoot issues on their own first, Brivity maintains a knowledge base with FAQs, how-to articles, and video tutorials. This self-service resource library enables users to quickly find answers and solutions without needing to contact a support rep. However, discussion forums where customers can interact with each other don't seem to be available.
Details on Brivity's average first response and resolution times are not readily published. But many user reviews praise the CRM provider for its prompt and helpful customer service. While response time data would provide a clearer picture, the glowing customer testimonials suggest most users are very satisfied with the speed and quality of support they receive.
As someone who has tested dozens of CRM systems over the years, I'm impressed by how Brivity's executives make themselves personally accessible to customers who need support. That level of leadership involvement and commitment to customer success is rare.
So while it may not have every support channel or resource one could want, Brivity still delivers high-quality customer service overall. Between the live phone support, email assistance, self-help knowledge base, and responsive team that even includes the company's leaders, most customers should feel well taken care of. The rave reviews from real users further boost confidence in Brivity's support.
Brivity CRM plans and pricing
Plan
Growth
Accelerate
Expand
Mega
Custom
Price
Custom pricing
Custom pricing
Custom pricing
Custom pricing
Custom pricing
Best For
Individual agents needing basic CRM functionality
Small teams up to 5 users seeking collaborative tools
Medium teams up to 10 users requiring enhanced capabilities
Large teams up to 25 users needing comprehensive solutions
Teams over 25 users with specific needs
Features
Core CRM
High converting drip campaigns
Unlimited texting and dialer
All the Growth plan features
Lead ponds
Advanced lead routing
All the Accelerate features
Transaction Auto Plans
Client portal access
All the Expand plan features
Dedicated success manager
Extensive reporting tools
Tailored features and support
Scalable solutions
Custom integrations
Limitations
Limited to 2 users, fewer advanced features
Limited to 5 users, additional costs for some add-ons
Limited to 10 users, requires setup time
Limited to 25 users, higher cost structure
More expensive than some competitors
(Image credit: Brivity)
Brivity takes a tiered subscription approach to pricing its CRM platform, with the cost and features steadily increasing across its plan lineup. The plans — Growth, Accelerate, Expand, Mega, and Custom — scale from 1 user up to 25+ users. Exact pricing is no longer provided since Brivity revamped its pricing, so you'd just have to request a demo to get those details.
On the low end, Brivity’s Growth plan provides core CRM functionality for up to 2 users. This could work for a solo agent or small team just getting started. Stepping up, Brivity Accelerate ups the user limit to 5. For larger teams, the Expand plan supports 10 users. There’s also a Large plan for 25 users and a Custom plan for more than 25 users.
While the features across the plans appear to be similar, higher prices get you more user seats. That said, a few features like lead capture, lead pricing, and dedicated success manager support aren’t available on the entry-level plans. And, if you need more than just a CRM, Brivity offers three additional tools: Virtual Assistant, Lead Generation, and Recruiting. These are available as add-ons on top of the base plan.
Unfortunately, I didn't see any discounts advertised beyond the savings from paying annually instead of monthly. And it doesn't look like Brivity offers a free plan or even a free trial to test the software first. Contacting the sales team for a custom demo without any idea of the pricing can be frustrating, but consider that Brivity’s entry-level plan used to be priced at $99.90/month for 2 users before the revamp.
Overall, Brivity's pricing seems reasonable if you just need a basic CRM for a small team. The entry-level plan should suffice for most independent agents or small agencies. But costs can add up quickly if you require more users or additional features beyond the core CRM. And not having transparent pricing or a trial for its more robust plans makes it hard to evaluate the full value you'd be getting.
Brivity CRM review: Final verdict
Brivity is an all-in-one real estate CRM platform that aims to streamline the daily workflows of agents and brokerages. In my experience testing the software, I found that it covers all the core functions needed to manage client relationships and transactions.
The platform is thoughtfully designed to be approachable for new users, with key tools organized into six main tabs. Helpful video tutorials, detailed guides, and a responsive support team make it easy to get up and running quickly. That said, being a real-estate CRM, Brivity’s interface is not as modern as some mainstream competitors.
Brivity also offers an impressive set of features for its price point. Agents can efficiently manage contacts, automate email and text communication, collaborate on transactions, build custom websites, generate market reports, capture leads, and more. The mobile app and Gmail integration are especially useful for staying productive on the go.
While the sheer breadth of functionality is powerful, it may feel a bit overwhelming for some users at first. The main learning curve comes with leveraging Brivity's more advanced marketing and customization capabilities. But overall, most agents should be able to adopt the core CRM tools with ease.
Brivity's pricing is reasonable for small teams, starting at $99/month for up to 2 users. However, costs can add up for larger teams or those needing add-on features beyond just the CRM. The lack of a free trial makes it difficult to fully assess the value before buying.
All in all, I see Brivity as an excellent choice for agents and small brokerages seeking an affordable yet comprehensive platform to orchestrate their daily operations. It checks all the boxes for core CRM functionality, while offering some compelling extras for marketing and productivity. If you're willing to invest a bit of time learning the ins and outs, Brivity can be a big asset for efficiently managing and growing your real estate business.
As a realtor-focused customer relationship management (CRM) platform, Chime, now known as Lofty, aims to streamline the entire lead-to-deal process. Its intuitive interface and all-in-one feature set make it a compelling option for realty businesses looking to grow their pipelines and close more sales.
Chime's key capabilities span lead generation, contact management, and deal tracking. The platform offers an IDX website builder, AI-powered marketing automation, and a mobile app for on-the-go access. While these comprehensive features may come with a learning curve, they enable realtors to qualify leads, prioritize follow-ups, and gain visibility into team performance metrics.
During my review, I found it to be a robust CRM platform for realty teams wanting to consolidate their tech stack. Regular product updates, good user feedback, and a niche focus provide strong evidence of Chime's customer-centric approach. For growing realtor businesses, Chime warrants strong consideration.
Chime CRM core capabilities
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You can easily navigate across Chime CRM’s extensive feature list from desktop and mobile. (Image credit: Chime CRM)
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Chime CRM’s ad targeting tool works across many major platforms, including Google and Facebook. (Image credit: Chime CRM)
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To increase your close rate, let Chime CRM’s Smart Suggestions recommend the next best step. (Image credit: Chime CRM)
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Conveniently, your IDX website builder is in the same place as your customer data. (Image credit: Chime CRM)
Chime's core CRM capabilities strike me as quite robust, well-suited for the needs of most real estate businesses. It covers all the essential features you'd expect in a comprehensive CRM system.
For contact management, Chime offers solid lead generation and capture tools. The AI Assistant can automatically match new leads to appropriate listings and set up customized property alerts based on their behavior. This intelligent lead nurturing helps keep prospects engaged.
I was impressed by Chime's pipeline tracking capabilities as well. The platform provides a good overview of your sales pipeline, with visual reports on the status of deals. You can create customizable "Smart Plans" to automate workflows and keep transactions moving smoothly.
Another standout is Chime's forecasting algorithm, which uses agent performance data and historical trends to predict future sales. As an analyst, I always appreciate a CRM that offers strong reporting and analytics. Chime lets you monitor key metrics like volume, closings, and revenue in real-time.
For agents frequently in the field, Chime's mobile app is indispensable. It provides access to critical CRM features on the go, including the ability to contact leads and use the built-in Power Dialer.
If I had to critique Chime, I'd say the depth of its sales analytics could be stronger compared to some enterprise-grade CRMs. But for most real estate teams, it likely provides ample insights to optimize performance.
Overall, Chime appears to be a well-rounded CRM platform. By combining essential contact management, deal tracking, and reporting capabilities with industry-specific features, Chime positions itself as a solid contender in the real estate CRM space. While it may have some room for improvement, Chime's core functionality is more than enough for most agencies.
How easy is Chime CRM to use?
Having the property market at your fingertips with the IDX website builder can help win deals more quickly. (Image credit: Chime CRM)
Chime CRM shines with its clean and intuitive UI that even CRM novices can navigate with little training. The well-organized layout and ample white space make it simple to find the tools and data you need. Performing essential tasks like updating contacts or placing a call only requires a few clicks.
Chime's mobile app brings the desktop version's core functionality to your smartphone, enabling agents to work efficiently on the go. This accessibility is a huge plus for busy real estate professionals constantly juggling client meetings and property showings.
The CRM offers a solid range of customization options, letting you tailor dashboards, reports, and workflows to match your unique business processes. However, it may take some time to fully explore and configure these features to optimize your setup.
To smooth the onboarding process, Chime provides helpful training videos that walk new users through the basics of the platform. These resources can significantly reduce the learning curve and help your team hit the ground running.
That said, given its extensive capabilities, it's realistic to expect an adjustment period as you get acquainted with all the bells and whistles. Mastering advanced features and fine-tuning automated sequences will likely require some trial and error.
In my experience, most users can become comfortable with Chime's core functions within a couple of weeks. But reaching peak proficiency and fully customizing the system to your needs may take a month or two of consistent use.
While not without a learning curve, Chime CRM's thoughtful design and educational resources make it an accessible, user-friendly choice for real estate teams. With a bit of practice and exploration, you'll be leveraging this powerful tool like a pro in no time.
Integrations
Chime offers several pre-built integrations out of the box with popular real estate tools and services. This includes lead capture and parsing integrations with Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com, email integrations with Gmail and Exchange, calendar sync with Google Calendar and Outlook, and transaction management tie-ins with Brokermint, Dotloop, and Skyslope.
The CRM also integrates with marketing automation and video tools like BombBomb, MailChimp, Cloud CMA, and Dubb. Based on my experience, most of the key applications real estate teams would need seem to be supported natively.
For more custom integrations, Chime does offer an API. However, documentation on its full capabilities is limited. The main use case highlighted is accessing queue and agent availability data from the Chime support desk. While useful, this is a fairly narrow integration scenario.
Where Chime really shines is its support for iPaaS tools like Zapier. Using Zapier, you can connect Chime with 1000s of other web apps and automate data syncing and workflow steps between them. I found several examples of real estate teams using Zapier to integrate Chime with tools like ClickFunnels for lead capture and Roomvu for lead qualification.
So while Chime's custom API is lacking, the combination of pre-built integrations with key industry tools and extensive Zapier support make it a very extensible platform overall. It should meet the integration needs of most real estate businesses without heavy technical lifting.
How good is Chime CRM support?
Chime CRM provides several live support channels, including phone and email, but it seems to lack a live chat option based on my research. While they do offer a knowledge base with articles and tutorials, there doesn't appear to be an active user forum or community for peer-to-peer support.
Where it really struggles is in the quality and responsiveness of the customer service. Many user reviews mention slow response times, with support agents often just reading from scripts rather than providing personalized assistance. Some customers report waiting weeks to get critical account issues resolved.
Chime touts a 96% customer satisfaction rate on its website, but that figure seems suspect given the numerous complaints I came across on sites like TrustRadius and G2. On TrustRadius, Chime's support is ranked poorly compared to other major CRM brands. One reviewer called their service "awful" and said it made the platform nearly impossible to use.
Reddit contains several threads with users venting frustrations about Chime's "atrocious" and "joke" of a support experience. Agents apparently say anything to get people off the phone without actually resolving problems. Tax issues and account lockouts are cited as common issues that linger unaddressed.
I think Chime has built a powerful CRM product, but they have seriously dropped the ball when it comes to backing it up with quality customer service. For a tool that is so critical to a business's operations, I would have major concerns about relying on Chime based on these support shortcomings.
Response and resolution times are clearly well below industry standards, and the lack of live chat and community forum options is disappointing for a modern SaaS company. Until Chime makes major investments in expanding and upleveling their customer service, I would be hesitant to recommend them over competing CRM platforms with better reputations for support.
Chime CRM pricing and plans
Plan
Core
Premier
Business
Price
$499/month
$700/month
$1500/month
Best For
Individual agents starting with CRM tools
Small teams needing enhanced collaboration
Larger teams requiring comprehensive features
Features
Basic lead management
Email marketing
Mobile app access
API access
Advanced reporting
Team collaboration tools
Dedicated customer support
AI-driven insights
Custom integrations
Limitations
Basic features only, limited support
Limited advanced features, higher cost
Complex setup, requires training
Chime offers three main pricing plans to suit different types and sizes of real estate teams. The pricing model is subscription-based, with a monthly fee that varies depending on the plan and number of users.
The starter "Core" plan is priced at $499 per month and is designed for solo agents and small teams just getting started with a CRM. It includes core CRM features like lead management, marketing automation, and reporting.
The most popular "Premier" plan starts at $700 per month for up to 15 users. Additional users can be added for $25 each per month. This plan unlocks advanced capabilities like custom dashboards, API access, and dedicated support.
For larger teams, the "Enterprise" plan starts at $1500 per month for up to 100 users, with each additional user costing $12/month. It offers the full suite of Chime features plus extras like white-labeling and a dedicated success manager. The Enterprise plan also has a one-time $2000 setup fee.
On top of the base subscription fees, there can be additional charges for certain premium add-ons and integrations, like advanced analytics or third-party data enrichment services. The costs for these extras are not openly published.
Chime does not offer a free plan but does provide a 14-day free trial on all plans so potential customers can test drive the platform before committing. Discounts may be available for annual contracts paid upfront, but the details are not public.
Overall, while not the cheapest option on the market, Chime's pricing seems reasonable given the comprehensive feature set and strong track record with real estate professionals. The tiered plans provide flexibility to accommodate different team sizes and budgets. But the lack of transparent pricing for enterprise-grade features and add-ons is a bit disappointing.
Potential buyers will definitely want to take advantage of the free trial and get a custom quote to determine the true long-term costs for their specific needs before signing up. For smaller teams and solo agents, there may be more affordable alternatives to evaluate as well.
Chime CRM review: Final verdict
Lofty, also called Chime, is a robust real estate CRM platform that combines essential contact and deal management features with advanced marketing automation and analytics tailored for the industry.
In reviewing it firsthand, I was impressed by the breadth and depth of its feature set. The platform offers all the core CRM functionality you'd expect, like contact management, task assignment, and pipeline tracking. But it really shines in its real estate-specific tools, such as the ability to create IDX websites, intelligently match leads to listings, leverage targeted online ads, and automate personalized lead nurturing.
Chime's interface is clean and intuitive, with solid customization options to adapt it to your workflow. The built-in onboarding and training resources also help flatten the learning curve. Integrations are another strength, with an extensive library of pre-built connections and a flexible API. However, customer support gets mixed reviews on responsiveness.
That said, Chime (or Lofty) is best suited for growth-focused real estate teams and brokerages seeking a fully-featured industry-specific CRM to manage their businesses. Budget-conscious solo agents may find it a bit overkill.
Creatio is a comprehensive CRM platform that aims to streamline sales, marketing, and service processes for businesses of all sizes. I found its no-code approach to workflow automation and customization really interesting.
The platform is divided into three main modules — Sales, Marketing, and Service — each offering a robust set of features. From lead management and opportunity tracking to multichannel marketing campaigns to customer support ticketing, Creatio covers a wide range of CRM functionalities. However, this breadth of capabilities comes at a price, both in terms of cost and complexity.
Its extensive customization options, while beneficial, can be overwhelming for those seeking a more straightforward CRM. But if you like the idea of building your own no-code CRM by rigorously customizing different aspects of the application, all without resorting to actual coding, this might be a great option.
Creatio CRM core capabilities
As a CRM, Creatio allows users to create detailed customer profiles with a 360-degree view of each contact, including communication history, associated deals, and relevant documents. But the real standout here is its no-code nature, which allows users to customize the platform and create new applications without extensive programming knowledge.
Creatio consolidates information from various touchpoints, providing a complete picture of customer interactions across sales, marketing, and service departments. The platform provides tools to capture leads from multiple sources and guide them through a customizable sales funnel.
I appreciated the ability to set up automated lead scoring rules, which help prioritize prospects based on their likelihood to convert. As leads progress, Creatio allows sales teams to track potential deals, associate them with specific accounts, and manage all related activities in one place.
Creatio CRM uses your historical data and current pipeline information to generate accurate sales predictions. I was impressed by the AI-driven forecasting capabilities, which analyze patterns and trends to provide more precise estimates.
It also offers a wide range of pre-built reports and dashboards covering various aspects of sales, marketing, and customer service performance. That said, where the platform really shines is the drag-and-drop report builder, which lets you customize reports to an uncanny degree.
Apart from the no-code CRM, Creatio has a few things that make it stand apart from most competitors. It offers tools for creating and managing multi-channel marketing campaigns, case management tools, a knowledge base for self-service, and even a visual process designer to automate complex business processes across departments.
There’s a wide range of pre-built connectors to integrate with popular third-party applications, plus custom integration support through an open API.
For employees in the field, Creatio’s mobile app provides access to key CRM functions on-the-go, including contact management, opportunity tracking, and activity logging. I appreciated the offline mode, which allows users to continue working even without an internet connection, with data syncing once connectivity is restored.
How easy is Creatio to use?
(Image credit: Creatio)
Creatio CRM combines powerful features with a user-friendly design, making it a great choice for businesses. While its many capabilities can feel a bit overwhelming at first, I found the interface welcoming and modern, following the latest design trends.
Navigating the platform is easy, thanks to a clear layout and a navigation bar at the top that gives quick access to sections like Sales, Marketing, and Service. Users can customize their home dashboard, arranging widgets and data visuals based on what matters most to them.
Creatio embraces a no-code approach, making it simple to adjust layouts and fields, or even create new sections in the CRM without needing programming skills. The drag-and-drop interface designer is a fantastic tool, allowing users to quickly tailor the CRM to fit their needs. However, those who prefer simpler systems might feel a bit lost with so many options.
Data entry is typically smooth, with smart features that help fill in fields and detect duplicates to keep information accurate. However, during busy times, I did notice some slight delays in data updates, which could be frustrating for users working with urgent tasks.
Creatio has made impressive strides in accessibility, yet there is still room for growth. The platform supports keyboard navigation and has some screen reader compatibility, but certain dynamic elements might be tricky for users who rely on assistive technologies. The overall color contrast is good, which helps with readability, but some areas could use a little more work to fully meet WCAG Guidelines.
The Creatio Academy is a fantastic resource, offering many e-learning courses that cover everything from basic navigation to advanced customization techniques. I particularly enjoyed the guided learning programs. They provide interactive, instructor-led training sessions that focus on practical tasks, which can be very helpful for users eager to master the platform's more complex features.
In general, Creatio works by guiding users through predefined workflows that can be tailored to fit specific business processes. This helps ensure consistency across sales, marketing, and service operations in an organization. However, it may require adjustment for users used to a more flexible way of working.
Integrations
Creatio CRM stands out with its impressive integration capabilities, showcasing its dedication to creating a connected ecosystem for businesses. From my experience, Creatio makes it easy for both technical and non-technical users to navigate its integration features.
The Creatio Marketplace is a treasure trove, offering over 700 ready-to-use add-ons, connectors, and templates. Its range of options helps businesses quickly link Creatio with popular tools and platforms, without extensive development work. I found the setup for these pre-built integrations simple, often just requiring a few quick configuration steps.
Creatio also supports popular iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) vendors. The Zapier connector available in the Marketplace, for example, makes it easy for users to sync contacts, leads, and other important data across many applications.
For those with more advanced integration needs, Creatio offers a powerful API based on the OData protocol. It allows developers full access to Creatio's data model. But while the API provides great flexibility, new developers may find it a bit challenging to understand Creatio's data structure at first. API documentation is thorough, but adding more real-world examples could really help with practical implementation.
Beyond just data synchronization, Creatio's no-code approach empowers users to build complex, automated workflows across different systems. For example, I successfully set up a process that automatically creates a new contact in Creatio when a lead comes in from a marketing tool, and then triggers a follow-up task in a project management app.
Overall, my experience with data synchronization in Creatio has been mostly positive, with real-time updates working well most of the time. Still, I did notice some occasional delays during busy periods, which businesses with high-volume and time-sensitive data might want to keep in mind.
For larger enterprises, Creatio also provides specialized integration options. A great example is the Snowflake Integration for Creatio available in the Marketplace, which helps businesses connect their Creatio instance with Snowflake data warehouses.
Customer support
Creatio CRM has a strong customer support system across various channels. During my time with the platform, I found that it offers phone, email, as well as chat support. Phone support is available during business hours. But email and chat are accessible 24/7. Chat responses are quick, often within minutes.
The support quality is generally high. Representatives seem to know the platform well, too. They offer step-by-step instructions that help solve even the most complex issues easily. However, response times can slow down during busy periods, which raises concerns for busy teams.
Creatio also has a well-organized self-service knowledge base. It includes articles, videos, and guides on various topics. The search function is particularly useful. Additionally, there’s an active user forum for peer support. That said, official responses in the forum can be slow.
Another key feature is Creatio Academy, offering free courses and certifications. It's beneficial for both new and experienced users, with courses structured around practical exercises. I liked how each course is part of a larger learning program, making it easy to follow along.
But, Creatio could improve by adding more region-specific support. While it supports multiple languages, time zone differences can make live support hard to access. Overall, however, Creatio's support is robust and effective. It combines live support, self-service resources, and training courses well. Despite some areas for improvement, the support quality is a major strength.
Creation CRM pricing and plans
Plan
Growth
Enterprise
Unlimited
Price
$25/user/month
$55/user/month
$85/user/mont
Best For
Small to medium-sized businesses looking to automate basic workflows
Corporate and enterprise clients with more complex automation requirements
Large enterprises needing advanced features and unlimited resources
Features
No-code UI designer / 1 GB storage per user / Basic workflow automation
Limited storage and workflow capabilities may restrict scalability for larger organizations
May be overkill for small businesses with simple CRM needs
High cost may not be justifiable for businesses not utilizing all advanced features
Creatio CRM features a flexible pricing model. This model allows customers to tailor subscriptions to their needs, but the cost is increased complexity. It includes three tiers: Growth, Enterprise, and Unlimited.
The Growth plan starts at $25 per user per month. It's aimed at small-to-medium-sized businesses. It covers basic automation and relationship management features. This plan also includes a no-code interface designer, 5 users, and 1 GB storage per user.
Next is the Enterprise plan priced at $55 per user per month. It's for businesses with complex needs. It offers all Growth features, plus unlimited workflows and custom branding. But the Unlimited plan starting at $85 per user per month is the most advanced of the lot. It caters to large enterprises with complex needs. It also includes unlimited storage and attachment space.
Creatio also introduces different user types, such as Restricted Data Input Users, External Users, and Mobile-Only Users, each potentially with different pricing implications. Its pricing also allows adding extra applications or products, such Customer 360, Lead and Opportunity Management, or Case Management. By creating a modular pricing approach, they make it easier to pay for only the features you need.
However, the flexibility can also complicate pricing. Accurately determining costs may require careful consideration. Businesses with diverse needs might find the discounted bundles more cost-effective, such as Sales Creatio, Service Creatio, or Marketing Creatio.
Creatio offers a 14-day free trial, which is useful. However, it doesn't have a permanent free plan. Discounts are often available. For example, the Unlimited plan includes a "No-code Magic" offer, which covers implementation for the first project from a certified partner. However, it's important to consider the extra charges that apply for additional products.
Creatio review: Final verdict
Creatio CRM is a versatile platform for managing customer relations, marketing, and business processes. Its no-code customization allows businesses to adapt easily, without needing technical skills.
The platform boasts strong features, wide integration options, and ongoing innovation. Its pricing, though complex, offers flexibility for specific needs. However, mastering all its features takes time.
I believe Creatio CRM suits medium to large businesses with complex needs and the resources for a full solution. It's also ideal for those wanting to build custom workflows without coding. Smaller businesses or those seeking a simpler solution might find it too complex.
Some of the best parental control apps try to concentrate on particular areas of expertise, like location tracking or social media monitoring – while others, like MMGuardian, try to do it all.
That’s an admirable aim, and MMGuardian’s list of features is certainly impressive: it monitors messaging and social media apps, it analyzes content for inappropriate messages using AI, and tracks your children’s location – while offering remote device management.
There’s no shortage of apps that offer it all, though, at least on paper – so let’s see if MMGuardian can stand up against big-name offerings from the likes of Norton, Bark and Qustodio.
Plans and pricing
MMGuardian’s most popular pricing tier is an annual family subscription, which costs $99.98/£78.53 for a year of coverage for up to five child device apps. It’s certainly a better option than the monthly subscription, which offers the same protection for $9.99/£7.85 per month.
If you only need to protect one child device, MMGuardian costs $4.99/£3.92 monthly or $49.98/£39.26 for a year of coverage.
It’s easy to see why that annual five-device plan is the most popular option. And if you’re unsure about whether MMGuardian is the right app for you, there’s a fourteen-day free trial.
That pricing aligns well with Bark’s Premium offering, which also costs £99/£78 annually. But Qustodio is a little cheaper – and so is Norton Family, too.
Features
MMGuardian makes a big deal about its web filtering, and it’s easy to see why. There are over 140 categories of inappropriate content to filter out, which is more than virtually any rival offers, and parents can use filters based on age ranges and also manually block or allow particular websites.
On Android, the web filtering works on browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Opera. It’s common for parental control apps to be a little more toothless on iOS, though, and that’s true here: on Apple devices, web filtering only works if you use MMGuardian’s own safe browser.
There are other areas where MMGuardian is just as comprehensive. You can access, monitor and read your child’s sent and received text messages and see the time, duration and number of their phone calls.
Additionally, MMGuardian offers message monitoring for popular services like WhatsApp, Instagram, Kik, Discord, Facebook Messenger, TikTok and Snapchat, so most of the big social media sites are covered.
You’ll get alerts if MMGuardian detects messages featuring inappropriate content, but it’s worth noting that this scanning and notifying is well-supported on Android but a bit patchy on iOS – it works on iMessage and WhatsApp, for instance, but not on Instagram or Snapchat.
(Image credit: MMGuardian)
MMGuardian can update parents on children’s locations periodically, with parents able to choose how often they get alerts, but this is a rare miss from MMGuardian – unusually, there’s no geofencing available in this app. That means you won’t get a notification when children enter or exit your chosen areas – like arriving at home or school, for instance.
MMGuardian’s screen time limiting has preset schedules for school nights or weekend nights, with the latter offering more leniency, and parents can create their own schedules. Individual apps can also be augmented with usage time limits.
If they contravene limits, they can still call or message parents, but there’s a missing feature here: MMGuardian doesn’t allow parents to define how much time their children are allowed to spend on their devices every day. That’s a very common feature for parental control apps, so it’s disappointing that it’s not available here.
If you want to easily see what your children have been up to, MMGuardian offers comprehensive activity reporting.
(Image credit: MMGuardian)
Delving into specific areas gives parents loads more data, so there’s no shortage of options for parents who want to monitor their children’s device usage.
Elsewhere, MMGuardian allows parents to lock and unlock child devices remotely and use a siren to help find a lost phone. Android users can also monitor YouTube viewing histories.
It’s also worth noting what’s missing, though. MMGuardian might be great at monitoring messages, but it doesn’t watch over emails – a big miss when it comes to content monitoring.
Also note, if you’re a parent who wants a particular level of control, that MMGuardian sells its own phones in conjunction with Samsung. The A15 and A35 devices are essentially Samsung phones with MMGuardian features layered over the top, and they include advanced GPS tracking, real-time monitoring, instant alerting and built-in protection to stop kids from tampering with the settings.
It’s the best way to get MMGuardian’s full suite of parental control abilities, although it does require quite an upfront cost on the devices – the A15 costs $229/£180 and the A35 is $339/£226.
Interface and in-use
It’s easy to get started with MMGuardian. Download the parents’ app, confirm that you’re the parent and create an account, and you’re good to go.
On child phones, it’s easy enough to link to parent apps – it just involves sending a link – and then it’s just a matter of accepting permissions and getting started.
The Android and iOS apps are easy to use, with settings stored in obvious places. And while there are fewer features available on iOS, that’s typical with parental control tools.
The web interface is just as easy to navigate, and it does a tremendous job of presenting parents with pertinent information.
The only downside here is the aesthetic: MMGuardian’s software is easy to use and well-designed, but it looks a bit archaic.
Support
MMGuardian’s website has an FAQ section with some articles and a glossary of teen slang, and there are installation videos to help Android and iOS users set up their software.
Beyond that, support functionality extends to a support email address that’s accessible on the website and a chatbot that directs questions back to MMGuardian. The chatbot says that MMGuardian usually responds within 24 hours.
It’s a solid support selection, but nothing special – competitors sometimes have phone support at particular product tiers, and many have more extensive article and FAQ sections on their websites.
The competition
MMGuardian tries to offer every kind of mainstream feature found in parental control apps – which means it faces lots of strong rivals.
Take Bark, for instance. It’s great for social media and AI-based content analysis and has a better interface than MMGuardian, but doesn’t provide complete web histories.
Bark and Qustodio both outpace MMGuardian for user interface, too, and Qustodio is a better option for screen time controls and for value.
Norton, similarly, is a cheaper option with a more attractive interface, but it’s weaker on social media and message monitoring.
Final verdict
MMGuardian, then, tries to do everything – and does a pretty good job. Its web filtering, message monitoring and screen time controls are excellent, the pricing is reasonable – even if others are cheaper – and it has comprehensive reporting and decent location tracking.
It doesn’t have geofencing, though, and it misses out on social media abilities and attractive UI when compared to rivals, some of which are cheaper. It’s also far stronger on Android than on iOS.
That said, MMGuardian is certainly a contender. If you’re not concerned about an attractive UI and you’re an Android-based family, compare MMGuardian’s features to Bark, Qustodio and Norton – and this may well be a winning app for you.
Hostinger recently announced that the Zyro website builder is now fully integrated with Hostinger. This integration sees Zyro's user-friendly website building tools and features combined with Hostinger's leading web hosting solutions.
Although all sales and services of Zyro are now discontinued, Zyro clients can continue to manage, edit, and grow their site with the Hostinger website builder.
Hostinger Website Builder is a strong cloud-hosted no-code platform for those looking for an affordable website creation tool.
After testing it against many competitors in our best website builder guide, we found it to be a great value, offering an all-in-one solution similar to Wix or Squarespace, but at a more affordable monthly price.
Plans start at just $2.99/mo (intro rate), well below the entry points of most competing solutions.
We have spent thousands of hours testing over 140 website building platforms, giving us insight into how each platform stacks up against the rest of the market. While Hostinger doesn't fully match the feature set of Wix — our top pick for 2026, it still provides an impressive range of tools at a lower cost.
Read our full Hostinger Website Builder review below to find out how its beginner-friendly UI, AI-driven website creation, and strong ecommerce features make it ideal for both businesses and freelancers. We especially liked the unlimited web pages, free domain registration, and SSL certificates included with all plans, offering great value for budget-conscious users.
Hostinger Website Builder: 2-minute review
Our testing of Hostinger Website Builder shows it is a strong yet affordable choice. The platform stands out with its drag-and-drop editor and AI tools, making it easy for beginners. Plans start at just $2.49/month with our exclusive discount code. This offers great value compared to other website builders.
Hostinger Website Builder is included in all Hostinger web hosting plans, which also include a free domain for a year, 100 email addresses, and SSL certificates for user safety. You can also purchase it as a standalone for $2.99-$3.99 per month.
We found the platform ideal for small businesses, freelancers, and personal sites. It offers over 170 responsive templates across various categories, making it simple to create professional-looking sites fast. While it may not have the extensive features of premium competitors like Wix, Hostinger provides impressive capabilities at a lower cost.
However, there are some limitations. There’s no free plan to test, and you can’t switch templates without starting over. The platform lacks an app marketplace for extra functionality, and many advanced AI tools are only available in the higher-tier plan.
What is Hostinger Website Builder?
Hostinger Website Builder is a user-friendly tool. It allows you to create websites without coding or design skills. Think of it as digital building blocks that you can drag and drop. Unlike complex platforms, Hostinger's builder focuses on simplicity. It uses customizable templates as starting points for your site.
The builder has two main toolbars. They contain everything needed to design and manage your website. You can easily add text, images, buttons, and other elements with simple clicks. For a quicker start, Hostinger offers an AI option. It can generate a website for you in just 2-3 minutes based on your preferences.
What makes Hostinger great for beginners is that it includes everything in one package. You get website building tools, hosting, and even a free domain name. This all-in-one approach removes the technical challenges of connecting different services. Plus, the editor works smoothly on mobile devices. You can update your site from anywhere.
Features
(Image credit: Hostinger Website Builder)
Hostinger Website Builder is a terrific tool for creating personal blogs, professional sites, and online stores without special technical skills. The core of the process is choosing a template and customizing it until you like it. Thanks to Hostinger’s easy-to-use editor this will be an easygoing experience. However, there’s one catch with this - once you choose a template, you can’t switch it without starting all over, and doing this more than once can become awfully annoying awfully quick.
The site builder profits from a clear interface, intuitive layout, and drag-and-drop functionality. The UI is minimalistic, the core options on the left menu are almost self-explanatory, and adding new elements is easy. There are almost no restraints on how can one move content elements around.
Also, its automatically responsive web design can adjust to any screen and look beautiful to boot - computers, tablets, and smartphones alike.
As for ready-made templates, there is a decent amount of them and they are designed to fit different types of sites - online stores, art portfolios, all sorts of blogs, and so on. And if none of them is what you wanted for your site, you can adjust colors, change fonts, and move elements around. Plus, Hostinger provides a royalty-free image library you can browse and borrow any image that catches your eye.
Like with other Hostinger products, its site builder works as an all-in-one sort of solution for creating sites. So, in addition to the site builder and all its tools, the package also includes a domain name registration and a web hosting service with unmetered traffic, and a free SSL certificate. Plus, you can create up to 100 sites and up to 100 domain-based email accounts, if you wish to do so.
If you’re interested in e-commerce features, you’ll be glad to hear that (with the 'Business Website Builder' plan) Hostinger site builder covers all essentials including the ability to accept 20+ payments methods and offering 0% transaction fees.
Tools
(Image credit: Hostinger Website Builder)
Since we’ve pretty much covered standard site-building tools (as well as e-commerce tools) in the previous chapter, we’ll now check out the awesome AI-powered tools this builder has to offer.
Hostinger's advanced AI tools makes it one of the best small business website builders — making it quick and easy for those with little time and budget to get their business online.
If you’re eager to create more content for your site, but don’t have enough time for that, you can employ Hostinger’s AI Writer to do the writing for you. To get things started, choose one of the top-level topics (such as “small business”) and then select a topic-specific category (let’s say gaming). Then, choose what part of your site the AI will be creating this piece of writing for (something like the “About” page), and hit the “Generate” button.
While the AI’s scope currently seems somewhat limited, the paragraph you’ll get will be surpassingly readable - and it will save you the time you could spend on something more critical. Plus, AI Writer is now multilingual, which is excellent news for all non-English speakers out there.
Another interesting AI-powered tool is AI Heatmap and it should help you find out what images will your visitors focus on, even before your site is finished. Moreover, it tries to predict in which way the visitors will navigate around your site and what will attract their attention the most. Then, you can organize the elements of your site in a way it attracts the most visitors and maximizes conversion.
Hostinger has also integrated AI in some smart ways to help online sellers. For example, you can use AI to automatically remove the background from images, making it easier than ever to create professional looking product images. You can also use AI to do bulk product uploads from CSV, drastically cutting the time it takes to get new products online.
Other noteworthy tools from Hostinger’s bag of tricks include Logo Maker (as suggested, it creates catchy logos), Site Analytics (it will get you an insight into who visits your site), PageSpeed Insights (a way to test your site’s speed performance), Business Name Generator (it’s self-explanatory), and Slogan Generator (also, self-explanatory).
Hostinger Reach: Email marketing tool
Last year, Hostinger launched Reach, its dedicated email marketing tool. Built for small businesses and creators, Reach leverages AI to turn your descriptions into a professional, mobile-friendly email to send to your marketing lists. It also includes analytics, GDPR compliance, and email deliverability features. It's free to use, but you'll need to upgrade as your list grows.
Hostinger Horizons: Vibe coding
Those looking to build an interactive website or web app should also check out Hostinger's dedicated vibe coding tool, Horizons.
Hostinger Horizons allows freelancers, solopreneurs, and business owners to launch complex projects without needing to write a single line of code. Simply explain what you want to build using natural language and let Horizons do the coding for you.
The platform integrates seamlessly with payment processors such as Stripe. It also keeps everything, including hosting, domains, and professional email, under one roof, removing friction.
User reviews
(Image credit: Hostinger Website Builder)
Since its launch in October 2022, Hostinger’s website builder has attracted a modest user base, many of whom have shared their observations and opinions about the product on popular review sites. Some of the sites we’ve closely checked include Trustpilot, HostAdvice, Reviews.io, and TrustRadius.
Since most user reviews are focused on web hosting services, though, we had to get our hands dirty digging through these reviews to find what users think about the new site builder.
Hostinger boasts a 4.7/5 rating on Trustpilot, 4.6/5 on HostAdvice, and 4.7/5 on WPBeginner. But these don't all reflect customer perception of their website builder, since it also includes their hosting services. So we’ve checked the latest user reviews that bring up Hostinger Website Builder to see how it holds up.
On Trustpilot, users have criticized the process of transferring their sites to the new site builder as it was slow, required users to rebuild their sites, and had to wait for a day before the sites appeared on the internet. However, most users found the site builder simple to use, swift, and of big help.
User reviews on HostAdvice paint a similar picture by calling Hostinger Website Builder useful but somewhat slow and lacking in more complex editing options. On Reviews.io no one pointed out the site builder, but the rating of Hostinger’s overall service was a rock-solid 4.4/5.
TrustRadius rated Hostinger with 7.4 out of 10, which is uncharacteristically low compared to other platforms.
But user reviews suggest that most users are pleased with Hostinger’s new website builder overall. Complaints were mostly directed towards its speed and lack of more complex image editing options — but that’s it.
Ease of use
(Image credit: Hostinger Website Builder)
The short answer is yes, it is. However, Hostinger Website Builder is not only easy to use but it’s one of the most beginner-friendly site-building tools out there. After all, it was created to address the needs of less tech-savvy Hostinger users.
Building a site with WordPress calls for some technical know-how (or tons of tutorials).
Even if you’re an experienced professional user, a beginner-friendly site builder can help your less-experienced teammates get used to the new tool and speed up the workflow.
The site builder’s drag-and-drop, grid-based editor will make adding text, images, videos, maps, contact forms, and other elements to your site effortless. There’s also an icon that lets you clone the whole section, which can significantly speed up things. And if your site doesn’t turn out exactly as expected, there’s an easy-to-spot “Undo” icon that’ll return your site to its prior state.
And if by a stroke of bad luck, a thunderstorm causes a power outage or you turn off your computer by accident, thanks to Hostinger’s autosaving functionality you won’t lose your cherished content - and this autosaving is activated every couple of seconds.
As mentioned above, Hostinger offers a royalty-free image library, so you can stop worrying about where you’ll find fitting images for your site. While only one image can be uploaded at a time, all of them will be saved in your image library from where you can choose the ones to use, edit, or delete.
To tell the truth, we weren’t exactly impressed with the site builder’s edition options. While the site builder offers more image edition options than the old one, it still isn’t much. You can add/remove backgrounds, resize, crop, and upscale an image, and that's about it.
So, our only complaint about Hostinger Website Builder is that its image editor is a bit too basic. Even so, this tool is probably as user-friendly as one can get.
Pricing
(Image credit: Hostinger Website Builder)
Plan
Introductory offer (48 months)
With our exclusive promo code*
Renewal rate
Premium
$2.99/mo
$2.69/mo
$11.99
Business
$3.99/mo
$3.59/mo
$13.99
* You can use the code TECHRADAR at checkout to save 10% off on top of the introductory rate. You can also check out our Hostinger promo codes to find more deals.
Pricing and plans explained
Hostinger Website Builder comes in two package options, making it simple to find a plan that works for you.
Premium Website Builder offers you everything you need to build one website with up to five pages, including an AI website builder, plenty of templates, and a free domain for one year. It starts at $2.99/mo for a 4-year sign-up, but increases to $11.99/mo after that.
More serious users will need the Business Website Builder plan. This unlocks unlimited pages and up to 50 websites, as well as ecommerce features and a bunch of helpful AI tools. This plan starts at $3.99/mo for a 4-year sign-up, then jumps to $13.99/mo after that.
All Hostinger’s web hosting and website builder plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, which means you can try out everything before making a long-term commitment. Hostinger also offers 3 months for free when purchasing 48-month plans. There is no free-forever plan.
As for payment methods, Hostinger accepts all major credit/debit cards, PayPal, Google Pay, AliPay, and Coingate.
So, does Hostinger Website Builder provide good value for money? Yes, particularly if you subscribe for a longer period.
Security
(Image credit: Hostinger Website Builder)
With cybercrime on the rise, site owners need to stay very vigilant to keep their sites on the safe side of the internet. A smart place to start is to make sure your service provider is equipped with all the security tools you’ll need to shield your site and its visitors from all sorts of threats. Fortunately for all Hostinger customers, the company takes the security of its products and services very seriously.
For starters, Hostinger provides a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate with all its plans, which adds another layer of security to all data being shared through your site.
With Hostinger you can set up Cloudflare which will conceal all server IP addresses and shield your site against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
All Hostinger’s plans come with weekly backups, which means you can turn back time in case you mess up your site or something goes wrong. If automatic weekly backups aren’t enough for you, you can always go with a business-focused plan and get daily backups instead.
Also, Hostinger supports two-factor authentication (2FA), so you can be sure all your logins are done by you. So, even if someone steals your login credentials, they won’t be able to access your Hostinger account.
Instead of a conclusion, we’ll also add that Hostinger guarantees 99.9% uptime with all its web hosting services, and this is the available uptime per month. If your site suffers more downtime than this, you can contact the customer support staff and request a credit of 5% off your monthly hosting fee for that month.
All in all, Hostinger Website Builder seems like a solid choice in terms of security.
Customer support
(Image credit: Hostinger Website Builder)
With all Hostinger's plans (website builder & web hosting included), customers can rely on round-the-clock live chat, e-mail, and ticket support. However, a telephone line is not available at this time.
Live chat support is probably your best bet out of the direct support channels and you shouldn’t wait for more than a couple of minutes before getting a reply from a support agent.
All do-it-yourself types of users will be thankful for Hostinger's well-supplied Help Center. There, you’ll find both the basic, beginner-oriented web hosting and site-building stuff and tips on mastering marketing and boosting your business strategy. Most how-tos are written in a simple-to-understand way and feature fitting screenshots to boot - so, getting lost is not an option.
However, we suggest browsing through the categories rather than utilizing the search box since it’s astonishingly awful at finding the right articles - strange, it’s usually the other way around.
All things considered, Hostinger hits the marks in all areas when it comes to customer support and it offers more options than most budget-friendly providers.
Alternatives
As a website builder, Hostinger stands out mainly as an affordable and easy-to-use option. It offers good value without confusing users with complex features. We believe it would work best for individuals, freelancers, and small businesses who need a professional-looking website without high costs or a steep learning curve. The platform shines for those creating simple business sites, portfolios, or small online stores with up to 500 products.
Wix is the market leader and our top choice for 2026. It provides more advanced features and design flexibility than Hostinger, but at a much higher price. WordPress offers greater customization and scalability for larger sites, but it can be daunting for beginners. For those focused on ecommerce, Shopify offers specialized selling tools, though at premium prices.
When comparing hosting services that provide website builders, Hostinger competes with Bluehost in the WordPress hosting market. Hostinger has captured a large market share (58.95%) in this area, making it a value leader. For users who want affordability without losing essential features, Hostinger Website Builder is an excellent starting point for building an online presence without the technical challenges of more complex platforms.
Hostinger AI WordPress website builder
Hostinger offers a slightly different version of its website builder for those looking to build their site on the WordPress CMS. Put simply, the Hostinger AI WordPress Website Builder allows users to build a full website template, complete with text and images that will be hosted by Hostinger, but managed via WordPress.
(Image credit: Hostinger)
You start the journey by telling the AI website builder a little about the site you are looking to build, including your brand name, website type, and a description of the website you are looking to create. The website builder then takes that information and uses it to create a website for you.
Of course, like with all AI website builders, you will need to do at least some editing to make your site worthy of representing your brand online, but it does give you a great starting place.
Hostinger Website Builder is an AI-powered, all-in-one sort of solution aimed at newcomers and less experienced users that plan to create a personal blog, a pretty-looking portfolio, or a small online store.
The templates are beautiful yet simple, the editor is easy to use (but a bit too basic), and the price tag is pretty pocket-friendly. Plus, a free SSL certificate, royalty-free image library, ecommerce features, AI tools, and 24/7 live chat support will only sweeten the deal. It’s one of the best beginner-friendly options out there.
Hostinger Website Builder review: FAQs
Does Hostinger have a free website builder?
While Hostinger provides a free Hostinger Website Builder with all its web hosting plans (even the cheapest one), there isn’t a free edition of this product - nor a free trial for that matter. Besides this, there is a one-and-only site builder plan and it is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Is Hostinger website builder secure?
Yes, Hostinger is considered one of the most secure website builders on the market.
All Hostinger sites come with a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate. The platform also allows you to set up Cloudflare, which can conceal all server IP addresses and protect you against DDoS attaches.
All plans also come with weekly backups, making it easy to jump back in time if anything goes wrong with your site. Alternatively, if you upgrade your plan you can get access to daily backups.
Can I migrate my website to Hostinger’s website builder?
Hostinger website builder offers a tool that allows you to migrate websites directly into its platform. This can be incredibly helpful, but only if you have the original files. However, in many circumstances you will not be able to access what you need to complete a seamless migration.
Other website builders such as Wix and Squarespace will not typically allow you to download your website files, making it impossible to then upload those files onto Hostinger’s website builder.
Hostinger Website Builder is an upgraded, feature-rich, AI-powered, rookie-oriented version of Zyro, so we think it’s an improved edition of the site builder. If you were a fan of Zyro, you’ll probably like it as much under the new name.
What payment type does Hostinger Website Builder support?
The online payments platform you can utilize in your online store with Hostinger Website Builder is Stripe and it supports several payment methods. These include all major credit/debit cards (including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express), Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay, Afterpay/Clearpay, Bancontact, BLIK, and the list goes on.
We should note that the only payment method available by default is bank cards, while the other methods will have to be enabled. They’re all integrated though.
Your iPhones and iPods aren't nearly as vulnerable to malware as most devices, but they can’t offer any safety guarantees. You'll still face a number of privacy and security risks just about every time you turn your device on.
Bitdefender Mobile Security for iOS for iOS has a free edition which offers a handful of tools which can help. There’s a basic VPN, which limits you to 200MB data per day (6GB a month) and doesn’t allow you to change location. A vulnerability scanner checks your device and network for security issues, and a data breach monitor raises the alarm if your email address shows up on the dark web.
The app gets more interesting if you pay to upgrade. The highlight is web protection, which blocks phishing and malicious apps in your browser, other apps, SMS, even calendar invites. And if you agree with us that 200MB a day just isn’t enough, buying the full VPN allows you to use it as much and as often as you like.
We’ve seen more generous free apps. Avast One Free’s VPN, for instance, gives you 5GB a week. But we’ve also seen worse - Avira Free for iOS has a 500MB a month VPN and no web protection at all - and, overall, there’s not a lot between the big providers on the iOS features front.
Bitdefender Mobile Security for iOS is a free product with some useful optional paid upgrades. (Image credit: Bitdefender Security for iOS)
Bitdefender Mobile Security for iOS: Pricing
Bitdefender Mobile Security for iOS can be upgraded by adding web protection, blocking access to phishing and other malicious sites. It's a worthwhile feature, and not expensive at $1.25 a month for the first year of the annual plan, rising to $2.09 on renewal.
If the limited VPN doesn't suit your needs, you can upgrade to a Premium Bitdefender VPN account for a low $2.92 a month on the annual plan ($5.84 on renewal.) That’s a decent price by VPN standards, and protects up to ten devices, but the best value comes in Bitdefender's suites.
For example, Bitdefender Total Security doesn't include the VPN, but it has full antivirus and other tools to cover any mix of five iOS, Android, Windows and Mac devices for only $5 a month in year one, $8.33 on renewal.
Premium Security includes full antivirus, a stack of privacy tools and an unlimited VPN, and covers up to ten devices for $6.67 a month in year one, $13.33 on renewal.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)
Bitdefender Mobile Security for iOS: Getting started
Bitdefender Mobile Security for iOS installs easily, then prompts you to sign in with your Bitdefender, Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft accounts.
After signing up, the app recommends running a 'quick scan'. Not for malware, but security vulnerabilities, apparently: an outdated iOS version, device configuration issues (the app doesn't clearly explain what these are) and Wi-Fi or network problems (we're unsure about those, too.) It's a very short list, but that made for a very quick scan (three seconds for us), and Mobile Security successfully identified a missing iOS update on our device.
Scan completed, the app directed us to its Dashboard. This doesn't do very much - in portrait, more than half the dashboard's screen space was taken up with a pulsing shield and a 'Scan device' button - but a simple menu bar does give speedy access to Mobile Security's other features.
Bitdefender’s free VPN is easy to use but only gives you 200MB data a day. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Mobile Security for iOS: Bitdefender VPN
Connecting your device to Bitdefender's Hotspot Shield-powered VPN is easy. Tap VPN, then Connect, and in a couple of seconds it's up and running, protecting your web traffic from snoopers. Speeds were reasonable in our tests, and connections proved stable, with no unexpected drops.
As we’ve mentioned already, the free version embedded into Mobile Security is extremely basic. You can’t choose a location, switch protocols, adjust settings or reconfigure how the VPN works in any useful way. If you only need the core VPN essentials, maybe to access your email via public Wi-Fi a couple of times a week, this might be acceptable. But if you're looking for anything even slightly more advanced, it's likely to leave you disappointed.
You can opt to use the stand-alone free Bitdefender VPN app, instead. That's good news, as it gets you many more VPN features (ad and tracker blocking, choice of protocols, split tunneling, more.) But if the VPN is your priority, it's a reminder that you could simply ignore Mobile Security and just install the Bitdefender VPN for iOS app, instead.
(Thinking of paying for the unlimited Bitdefender VPN? Read our full review here.)
(Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Mobile Security for iOS: Account Privacy
Bitdefender's Account Privacy feature scans a list of data breaches for as many email addresses as you need, and raises the alarm if your details have been exposed.
We tapped 'Account Privacy' to try it out. The app sent a code to the email address to verify that we owned it, then displayed an alarmingly lengthy list of breaches where our address appeared.
This isn't quite as useful as it sounds. Although our list included 19 breaches, only four were dated 2020 or later, and the most recent of those was from February 2021. If you follow the standard advice to change your passwords occasionally (and we do, of course), this isn't going to tell you much at all.
There is still value here. Maybe your list will be more relevant, and you can sign up to get alerts when new breaches appear. But the reality is you can do this for free anyway at haveibeenpwned.com, no need to install Bitdefender Mobile Security or anything else.
Bitdefender’s Web Protection blocked almost all our sample malicious sites in testing. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Mobile Security for iOS: Web Protection
Bitdefender's Web Protection is an optional feature which blocks access to phishing and other malicious sites, reducing the chance that you'll be caught out by dangerous links in your inbox or social feeds.
Web protection automatically filters threats in your browser, but Bitdefender can protect you in other ways. A Scam Alert monitors your calendar events and SMS messages for dubious URLs, welcome bonus features which we don’t always see with other iOS security apps.
(If you’re uncomfortable with the idea of third-party apps reading your texts, don’t worry: iOS doesn’t allow anything to do this unless you give an app specific permission in Settings.)
We tested Bitdefender’s web protection by seeing how it performed when faced with 100 brand new malicious URLs from phishing experts OpenPhish [https://openphish.com/]. Bitdefender blocked 96%, which is a great result, but not quite the best we’ve seen. The company was just a touch ahead of Norton’s 95%, for instance, but Avast blocked 100% of our test URLs in its last test, for instance, while Avira blocked a full 100%.
Bitdefender does have an unusual plus, though, in its ability to block malicious URLs in SMS and calendar invites. Overall, if you’re solely looking for iOS anti-phishing, web protection could be worth the upgrade.
Bitdefender Mobile Security for iOS: Final verdict
Bitdefender Mobile Security for iOS isn't a bad product - it's easy to use, there's effective anti-phishing if you're willing to pay for it, there’s a simple if limited VPN - but the lack of features makes it difficult to recommend. Bitdefender Total Security is vastly more powerful and can protect iOS and other platforms for only a little more cash.
Security vendors often save their best features for Windows, leaving mobile users feeling a little short-changed. Fortunately, that's not the Bitdefender way, and Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android is actually more powerful than some of the desktop competition.
It scans your apps for malware, for instance. Protects you from phishing and other malicious sites. Monitors texts and chat messages for dangerous links. Shields your internet activities with a limited VPN. Locks apps to prevent others viewing sensitive data. Raises the alert if your details appear in a data breach. And tracks or remotely locks your device with Mobile Security's built-in anti-theft tools.
The app does its best to look cheap at $1.25 a month for year one of the annual plan. But beware: it renews at $2.08 a month, and keep in mind that this only covers a single device.
If you've lots of hardware to protect, you can get Mobile Security bundled with Bitdefender Total Security. This offers full antivirus and many other tools for any mix of five iOS, Android, Windows and Mac devices for only $5 a month in year one, $8.33 on renewal.
The only catch here is the VPN, which limits you to 200MB a day, and doesn't support choosing a location (it automatically selects your nearest server.) But that could be enough for casual use, and it's more generous than some (Panda's free VPN allows 150MB a day, Avira's 100MB.)
Upgrading to Bitdefender's unlimited Premium VPN costs $6.99 billed monthly, or $2.92 on the annual plan. These are fair prices, but there are faster and more capable Android VPNs around. If web privacy is a priority for you, check our Best Android VPN Apps guide for more.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)
Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android: Getting started
After a hassle-free install, Mobile Security ran its first scan, checking our system and apps for threats in a speedy 30 seconds.
Mobile Security's dashboard appeared moments later. If you've ever used another security suite or app you'll recognize the layout: the main area of the screen displays your current device status, while a sidebar gives you quick access to Mobile Security's many features.
There's a lot to explore, but work through the various functions individually and you'll find most are straightforward to use.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)
Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android: Malware Scanner
Mobile Security doesn't just check your apps for malware when you manually run a scan: it also monitors every app as it's installed, and raises an alert if it spots anything dangerous.
We tried this with a test app, and Mobile Security popped up an immediate warning.
Results from the big independent testing labs suggest these are very accurate recommendations, too. We checked the most recent AV-Test, AV-Comparatives and MRG Effitas Android reports, and they each placed Bitdefender Mobile Security in first or equal first place for malware protection.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)
Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android: Web Protection
Bitdefender's Web Protection blocks access to phishing and other malicious sites, reducing the chance that you'll be caught out by dangerous links in your inbox or social feeds.
We tested Bitdefender’s web protection by seeing how it performed when faced with 100 brand new malicious URLs from phishing experts OpenPhish [https://openphish.com/]. Bitdefender blocked 96%, which is a great result, but not quite the best we’ve seen. The company was just a touch ahead of Norton’s 95%, for instance, but Avast blocked 100% of our test URLs in its last test, for instance, while Avira blocked a full 100%.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)
Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android: Bitdefender VPN
Connecting your device to Bitdefender's Hotspot Shield-powered VPN is easy. Tap VPN, then Connect, and in a couple of seconds it's up and running, protecting your web traffic from snoopers. Speeds were reasonable in our tests, and connections proved stable, with no unexpected drops.
The problem? It's extremely basic. As we write, you can't choose a location, switch protocols, adjust settings or reconfigure how the VPN works in any useful way. If you only need the core VPN essentials, this might be acceptable. But if you're looking for anything even slightly more advanced, it's likely to leave you disappointed.
Bitdefender clearly realizes the problem, and Mobile Security for Android will soon be updated to use the regular stand-alone Bitdefender VPN app. That's good news, as it gets you many more VPN features (ad and tracker blocking, choice of protocols, split tunneling, more.) But if the VPN is your priority, it's a reminder that you could simply ignore Mobile Security and just install the Bitdefender VPN for Android app, instead.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)
Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android: Account Privacy
Bitdefender's Account Privacy feature scans a list of data breaches for as many email addresses as you need, and raises the alarm if your details have been exposed.
We tapped 'Account Privacy' to try it out. The app sent a code to the email address to verify that we owned it, then displayed an alarmingly lengthy list of breaches where our address appeared.
This isn't quite as useful as it sounds. Although our list included 19 breaches, only four were dated 2020 or later, and the most recent of those was from February 2021. If you follow the standard advice to change your passwords occasionally (and we do, of course), this isn't going to tell you much at all.
There is still value here. Maybe your list will be more relevant, and you can sign up to get alerts when new breaches appear. But the reality is you can do this for free anyway at haveibeenpwned.com, no need to install Bitdefender Mobile Security or anything else.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)
Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android: App Locker
Bitdefender's App Locker enables protecting others from launching specific apps and perhaps viewing sensitive details. It's very useful if you'd like to pass your device to a friend or family to use the phone or browser, say, but don't want them to have full access to everything else.
It's an effective system, and far more usable than some lockers. Although by default App Locker prompts you to manually unlock every protected app, every time you launch it, for instance, you can also have unlocking one app automatically unlock all the others until your screen turns off. Far more convenient if you're just worried about someone picking up your device.
There are stacks of surprising bonus features, too. It can use a random numeric keyboard, reducing the chance others can read your pin by watching your finger movements. It'll snap a photo of the user after three failed PIN entries, and can then upload the pics to your Bitdefender account so you can view them from other devices. It's all very well put together, and adds real value to the app.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)
Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android: Anti-Theft
Bitdefender Mobile Security also includes some Anti-Theft features, which cover most of the ground you'd expect.
Remote Location support may allow you to track your device from Bitdefender's website or other apps, for instance. And if it doesn't, the app can snap a photo of the thief after three failed attempts to unlock the device, perhaps giving you more clues.
If your device really has been stolen, you can remotely lock it or even wipe its contents and reset to a factory state. Or if you've just mislaid it somewhere, a 'Scream' command plays an audio alert to help you track it down.
There's nothing new here, and if you've a number of Android devices, you could get very similar features and more convenient reporting with Google's Find My Device for free.
We found Bitdefender's Anti-Theft tools worked as advertised, though, and if you're planning to install and manage Bitdefender on a number of devices, it could be more convenient to have Anti-Theft available for all your hardware from the same dashboard.
Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android:
Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android is a powerful security tool which gives you rock-solid protection from a host of security threats. Okay, the VPN is very basic, but we wouldn’t expect any better price, and overall Bitdefender Mobile Security is a great Android choice.
Bitdefender is one of the best-known and oldest names in the consumer cybersecurity space, and has been chosen on multiple occasions as our pick for the best antivirus software. The Romanian business has been a big player in the market since its founding way back in 2001 and now operates worldwide, with offices across the globe and a big-time sponsorship deal with the Ferrari F1 team.
Beneath all of that, though, you’ll find a hard-won reputation for effective software and a product that goes beyond pure antivirus by offering a huge range of security features in one tool.
Despite the name, Bitdefender Total Security is actually the firm’s entry-level all-in-one security product now that the standalone Bitdefender Internet Security product has gone End-of-Life.
Total Security costs $59.99 for an annual one account, five-device licence, with that price jumping to $79.99 if you want five accounts and support for 25 devices. The former package is ideal for smaller households and the latter is ample for even a large family, but it’s worth noting that Total Security is a little more expensive than comparable products like Norton 360 Deluxe or Sophos Home Premium.
Upgrade to Bitdefender Premium Security and the one- and two-year packages cost $79.99 and $99.99 and add innovative email protection, more VPN ability and AI-powered anti-scam features, and there are pricier versions of the product for Ultimate customers, small businesses and creators.
Bitdefender Total Security is the company’s mid-range all-platform security suite. (Image credit: Bitdefender)
Bitdefender Total Security: Interface
No matter which version you buy, you’ll get a slick bit of security software. Open up the Bitdefender Windows app and you’re greeted with a panel with recommendations for immediate actions and five large buttons that enable various quick scans and take you to the VPN and SafePay modules.
A sixth button can be customized with other features you use frequently, and a ribbon of buttons down the left-hand side of the app opens up the protection, privacy and utility menus with their deeper array of tools and settings. It’s all very well-organised.
If you want to use the password manager, parental controls and several other features, though, you have to use the Bitdefender Central web portal. This is just as well-organised as the desktop app, but it’s a little frustrating that you can’t manage your entire Bitdefender offering from one location.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)
Bitdefender Total Security: Antivirus
Total Security features complete, real-time data protection that is designed to protect every device from existing and new threats – and it gets to work right away by offering to conduct a full system scan when you install the product.
The app’s front page gives you options for system, vulnerability and quick scans with one-click operation, and if you delve into the Antivirus settings you can create custom and scheduled scans, use a separate rescue environment and scan flash and network drives.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)
That’s a good slate of features, but AV-Comparatives’ April 2025 Performance Test saw Bitdefender lag behind many of its rivals. Its Impact Score of 25.1 – one of the poorest recorded, with only Total Defence Essential having more of an impact on user systems.
Bitdefender had moderate levels of system impact when copying files and when launching applications – and had a severe impact when archiving or unarchiving data. If you want a utility that can help you quickly move files around or work with data, look elsewhere.
The situation was better when we considered AV Test’s latest performance figures: Total Security was awarded a 6/6 performance score. Its website launching and app installation figures matched industry averages, and there was little system impact when downloading and copying.
Bitdefender Total Security: Protection
Bitdefender may not be the fastest app in certain situations, but there’s no denying its ability when it comes to protecting your technology.
It’s a close-run thing – Bitdefender was compromised once while other apps like Norton 360 Deluxe were compromised twice – but it does mean that Total Security is a top-quality option.
Bitdefender’s performance was similarly impressive in AV Test’s June 2025 report. It scored a maximum 6/6 points for protection, performance and usability.
It’s no surprise that Bitdefender performs so well here – its Advanced Threat Defence system continuously monitors apps and processes on your PC to detect threats, and it uses real-time behavioural analysis to spot new risks, too.
Bitdefender Total Security: Other features
Bitdefender Total Security has a reasonable array of features.
There’s a safe remote desktop called SafePay that gives you a secure environment to make payments and handle your online shopping – it even includes a virtual keyboard to avoid keyloggers.
Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection uses 24/7 monitoring to alert you if your data has been caught in a breach, and there’s a Ransomware Remediation feature blocks attacks and restores stolen or encrypted files without you having to face paying any money to hackers.
Elsewhere, there’s microphone and webcam protection, a Safe Files section that protects files and folders you don’t want altering during scans or other operations, and an Online Threat Prevention feature that monitors for new online threats and blocks them before they can ever reach your systems.
There’s a Rescue Environment module that is a very easy option for recovering your system and there’s a performance optimizer that does disk, registry and privacy cleanup, alerting you to large files and optimizing your boot processes. The firewall is excellent, too, automatically blocking incoming attacks without fuss – it works and you won’t even know it’s working.
The software also includes a handy Anti-Theft module that includes location tracking, remote locking, wiping and alarming of devices, SIM card change alerts and even an option to take a photo if someone enters your PIN or password incorrectly three times – handy for spotting potential intruders.
In some areas, though, Bitdefender Total Security is lacking. While its Android app is great, for instance, its iOS offering is poor – devoid of features when compared to other tools. And, as with many other security tools, Apple users don’t get scheduled scans, a firewall, file shredder or other tools.
(Image credit: Bitdefender)
The VPN is limited, too: you can only use it to process 200MB of data per device per day unless you pay extra for one of the more expensive Bitdefender product.
That’s a bit of a theme with Bitdefender: if you want parental controls, for instance, you’ll have to buy the more expensive family version of Total Security – and, even then, it’s a relatively benign and underwhelming array of features. If you need parental controls but you’re happy with only five devices, you’re out of luck.
And if you want more in-depth dark web monitoring you’ll need to upgrade to one of the higher-end versions of the product, too.
Bitdefender Total Security: Final verdict
It’s no real surprise that Bitdefender Total Security doesn’t include every feature possible – this is technically now the entry-level product, and it’s unrealistic to expect that every feature is included, like a VPN with unlimited usage or in-depth dark web monitoring.
At its core, Bitdefender does an excellent job of protecting your devices – its security scores provide evidence of that. It’s a well-designed app that’s easy to use on both desktop and in the browser, it has smart functionality to support online shopping, preventing theft and protecting your identity, and it’s got an excellent Android app.
Norton is a bit cheaper, and you shouldn’t invest in Bitdefender if you want to protect a single device or any Apple kit. But if you want a capable product for protecting a house full of devices, then Bitdefender Total Security is worth the investment.
Bitdefender Internet Security may be Bitdefender’s entry-level Windows internet security suite, but it’s absolutely stuffed with features: real-time malware protection, anti-phishing, parental controls for desktops and mobiles, a secure browser, tracker-blocking, a limited 200Mb a day VPN, anti-spam, it’s all here. Factor in Bitdefender’s consistently excellent protection rates and Bitdefender Internet Security could be the ideal security suite for your PC; keep reading and we’ll take an in-depth look at everything it has to offer.
Bitdefender Internet Security is the company’s entry-level security suite. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Pricing
Bitdefender Internet Security is priced from $39.99 to protect a single Windows device for a year ($59.99 on renewal.) Many entry-level suites are priced around $30-$40 for year one, but they typically cover far more hardware. Avast One Silver and Norton 360 Standard both support three devices, for instance, and they can be Mac, Android or iOS, as well as Windows.
Value improves hugely if you’ve a lot of PCs to protect. Bitdefender Internet Security’s 10 device license costs only $94.99 a year, and if you’ll use all 10, that’s only $0.79 to protect each device for a month: a real bargain.
If you need a full VPN, don’t rule out Bitdefender Premium Security. It adds Mac and mobile device support, an unlimited VPN and a password manager, yet is cheaper initially than Bitdefender Internet Security at $79.99 in year one, and still reasonably priced at $159.99 on renewal.
Bitdefender Internet Security isn’t the cheapest product around, then, especially if you only need to protect a single PC. But the features you get are top quality, and if you can use a 10 device license, the suite looks like a much better deal.
Bitdefender only hassles you with alerts when it’s really, really necessary. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Ease of use
If you’re looking for antivirus software you can install and forget, Bitdefender Internet Security has a lot of appeal. The app installed easily for us, then moved to the background and made most of its decisions entirely automatically, keeping any technical hassles to a minimum.
Other providers often have a very different user experience. Present Avast One with an app it doesn’t recognize, for instance, and it’ll launch a scan and leave you waiting for up to 15-20 seconds before you can continue. By comparison, Bitdefender might ask if you trust the app, but mostly it sorts out the issue for itself.
Try Avira antivirus and you’ll get notified with pop-up alerts for every threat, which can become annoying (a malicious web page opens lots of dangerous links, for instance.) Bitdefender displays the first alert, but doesn’t bother you with the rest. The information is still available in a Notifications page, but you don’t have to look at it unless you’re interested.
It’s easy to find your way around the Bitdefender Dashboard. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Interface & use
Bitdefender Internet Security opens with a simple dashboard offering one-click access to its most useful features: quick scan, system scan, the VPN and the secure browser, Safepay.
In theory you can customize the dashboard with your own shortcuts. But in practice, there are only two other items you can add, in the Password Manager (only a trial) and the Data Shredder. The dashboard would benefit from more flexibility, such as the ability to pin your own custom scans (more on those below.)
There are plenty of other tools and options available, and Bitdefender organizes those with icons in a left-hand sidebar: Protection, Privacy, Utilities, Notifications, Settings. If you need to control the Anti-Tracker, for instance, click Privacy, and you can edit its settings, or turn it on and off with a click.
Bitdefender hasn’t changed the core of its interface for a very long time. That’s a pity, because as we’ve discussed, there is room for improvement. But at its heart the interface is generally easy to use, and it’s likely you’ll find the functions and features you need without any difficulty.
Bitdefender Internet Security has all kinds of ways to scan your system. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Antivirus scanning
Bitdefender offers a strong range of scan types covering all kinds of situations.
Quick Scan runs a brief check which inspects the most commonly-infected areas only. This took a reasonably short 8:14 on our test system, falling just a little to 7:36 on the second scan.
System Scan is a deeper analysis which crawls your entire storage device and explores everything it finds. That takes much longer for the first scan, but drops hugely afterwards as Bitdefender only scans new or changed files.
To test this, we scanned 50GB of application files. The first run took 37:44, a little behind Avast (35:40) and Norton (32:01.) The story changes on subsequent scans, though, with Avast taking 34:53, Norton falling to 3:48, but Bitdefender completing in just 90 seconds.
Rescue Environment is a bootable scanner which lives on your hard drive and removes even the most stubborn of threats. It’s a great tool and the ability to launch it from your Bitdefender app is a major usability plus (Avira and many other vendors expect you to download, set up and run their boot scanners separately.)
This is all very configurable, too, with options including the ability to build your own custom scans and schedule them to run automatically, perhaps overnight or whenever you’re not around.
Bitdefender is tested by all the top antivirus labs. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Antivirus lab test results
Although we put every antivirus app we review through our own series of tests, we also pay close attention to results from the big antivirus testing labs.
We follow nine tests from labs including AV-Comparatives (Real-World Protection, Malware Protection, Android, Anti-Phishing, Performance), AV-Test (Windows, Android), MRG Effitas (360° Protection Testing) and SE Labs (Endpoint Security Home).
As each site has its own scoring system, we use a special algorithm which converts the various figures into an overall score from zero to 10.
Bitdefender score appears in the latest reports for eight out of our nine core tests, making this a strong all-round test of its abilities. But Bitdefender’s combined score was a little disappointing at 9.92, earning the company seventh place in our charts behind the likes of Avast (9.97), ESET (9.94) and Avira.
Looking at the individual tests, Bitdefender was a little below par in both the AV-Comparatives and AV-Test’s Windows reports. The differences are small, though, and not always about protection; AV-Test found Bitdefender blocked 100% of test threats, for instance, but marked the company down for reducing device speeds a little and falsely flagging 5 legitimate apps.
Bitdefender isn’t leading the way with the independent labs right at this moment, but the margins between providers are tiny, and it’s not far behind. Where Bitdefender has scored in the past is for its consistency over the long term - it won 2023’s ‘Outstanding Product’ at AV-Comparatives but the sheer number of awards won across all its tests - and we’ll be watching to see if its normal market-leading performance returns soon.
Bitdefender has some of the best ransomware protection around. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Anti-ransomware
Defeating ransomware isn’t just about spotting known threats as they’re downloaded. A good antivirus needs multiple other layers of protection, such as using behavior monitoring to detect even brand new threats before they can do any harm.
We tested Bitdefender by running our own custom ransomware simulator. This defeated Avira, but Bitdefender killed our simulator before it could damage a single file.
That’s not the end of the story. Bitdefender’s Ransomware Remediation can automatically protect ransomware-encrypted files, recovering them once the infection was removed. The technology has worked faultlessly in previous reviews, giving Bitdefender a major advantage over other security vendors.
The latest MRG Effitas Ransomware tests also brought positive news. Bitdefender, ESET, Microsoft and ThreatDown all blocked 100% of test threats, earning them an equal first place. That’s another great result, and more confirmation that Bitdefender is one of the best vendors around for battling ransomware.
Bitdefender blocked almost all our test phishing sites. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Anti-phishing
The best security tools don’t just detect and block web threats as they appear: they prevent you ever reaching them in the first place. That’s why we’re always very interested in an app’s ability to keep you safe from phishing and other malicious websites.
Antiphishing doesn’t get much attention from the labs, but AV-Comparatives did run a small test on the feature last year. Bitdefender led the pack with an excellent 96% protection rate, just ahead of Avast (94%), AVG (94%), ESET (92%) and Avira (88%.)
We ran a test of our own, and attempted to access 100 brand new phishing URLs on a Bitdefender-protected system. The protection rate was identical at 96%, but Bitdefender didn’t lead the way this time. Avira topped our anti-phishing chart with 100% protection, while Avast managed 99%, and Norton scored 95%.
Top benchmark PCMark found Bitdefender didn’t slow us down (much). (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Performance impact
We expect a quality antivirus to offer reliable and accurate malware protection, but that’s not all. The best apps deliver their protection without slowing down your device, raising endless false alarms or otherwise causing daily hassles.
AV-Comparatives’ Performance Test measures the performance impact of 16 antivirus apps when browsing websites, downloading files, installing and launching applications, and more. Bitdefender had a little impact on application launch times, but was still very fast overall, and received AV-Comparatives top Advanced+ award.
Our own tests with the excellent PCMark 10 benchmark found barely any performance impact from Bitdefender and although our boot times lengthened a little, they’re still comparable to similar apps. Our test system took 65 seconds to fully load Windows and 81 seconds to fully load a collection of apps, for instance; Bitdefender increased this to 73 and 100 seconds, but that’s almost identical to Avast’s times of 72 and 102 seconds.
Overall, our tests suggest that although Bitdefender isn’t quite the most lightweight of antivirus apps, it has less performance impact than most, and didn’t cause us any significant speed issues.
Bitdefender can open sensitive sites in secure browser SafePay for maximum privacy. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Safepay
Many security vendors offer some form of ‘privacy browser’, but typically you can get much the same result by installing a few well-chosen extensions, or a third-party freebie like Brave Privacy Browser.
Bitdefender Safepay is a secure browser which protects you both from web dangers, and malware which might have smuggled itself onto your own system.
The protection starts by Bitdefender recognizing when you’re accessing a sensitive site. When we visited a banking site, for instance, an alert prompted us to open the website in Safepay (it can automatically connect to the VPN, too.) Sounds like a small point, but that one idea reduces the chance that you’ll forget to turn Safepay on.
The other major Safepay plus is it’s isolated from every other process on your system. Malware can’t capture your keystrokes or record screenshots of what you’re doing (we tried with commercial and custom tools of our own), and the virtual keyboard prevents even hardware keyloggers from recording your activities.
Put it all together and Safepay offers way more protection than other privacy browsers, making it one of the highlights of Bitdefender’s range.
Bitdefender VPN looks good - but beware the tiny 200MB a day data allowance. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: VPN
Bitdefender Internet Security includes the free version of Bitdefender VPN. The paid edition is an excellent service with quality apps using the Hotspot Shield network, but, unfortunately, the freebie is so restricted that many will find it unusable.
You only get 200MB of data a day, for instance. We opened desktop Outlook and a few other applications on a Windows laptop, but just left them running without doing anything ourselves on the device,, and the background traffic alone used 70MB of data over the next hour. The free Bitdefender VPN is only suitable for light use.
The other big issue is you can’t choose your location. Hit Connect and Bitdefender VPN automatically selects whatever it thinks is the best server for you (the closest or the fastest, most likely.). That means there’s little hope of unblocking anything, and, if the VPN chooses a location in a neighboring country to you, there’s nothing you can do about it.
Still, if you only need a VPN very occasionally, perhaps to securely access your email on public Wi-Fi, the free Bitdefender VPN just might be enough. And, if you can live with the data and location limits, there’s a lot to like here.
Bitdefender VPN can warn you to connect whenever you access a banking or shopping site. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: VPN Features
Bitdefender’s Windows app takes up a lot of screen space, thanks to a large and mostly pointless map. But it looks good, and provides a lot of information: your current IP address, the session length, the data you’ve used, and more.
Using the VPN is easy - just hit the blue Connect button - but connection times were relatively slow for us at around 6-8 seconds (the best apps typically take under two seconds.)
Speeds were acceptable at 60Mbps+ on a 70Mbps connection. That’s adequate for browsing, or a short period of low-quality streaming (30 minutes of standard definition YouTube watching needs around 180MB, for example.)
Useful settings start with a strong choice of secure protocols, including WireGuard, OpenVPN and Hotspot Shield’s Hydra. Quality ad and tracker blocking enhances your privacy online, and we found the effective kill switch immediately blocks your internet access if the VPN drops.
Split tunneling support allows you to select apps which bypass the VPN and use the internet directly. That could help cut your VPN data usage and stretch that 200MB a day just a little further.
A very clever Auto-Connect option can automatically connect to the VPN when your device starts, if you connect to unsecured Wi-Fi, when you access specific domains (your business network, say), even if you visit a particular category of website: banking, online payments, health, and more.
There’s even an App Traffic Optimizer, which can improve speeds of up to three apps by giving them priority for your available bandwidth. That won’t help much with the free version - the more apps you use, the faster your data will disappear - but we have to applaud Bitdefender’s technical expertise.
(Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Webcam and microphone protection
Bitdefender Internet Security includes video and audio protection, a feature which can prevent apps accessing your webcam or microphone without your permission.
Bitdefender says the suite blocks untrusted apps by default. We tested this by running our own custom webcam hijacker app, and Bitdefender realised there was a problem, displayed a notification, and our app couldn’t access the webcam until we clicked ‘Allow.’
We ran a safe but little-known command line tool to record microphone audio. Once again, Bitdefender handled the situation well, allowing the app to access our microphone but using a notification to keep us informed.
Although most top suites have similar tools, they don’t always work as well. If Avast One asks permission for an app to access your webcam, for instance, and you close that dialog box without giving an answer, Avast allows access anyway. Bitdefender is more secure because it blocks dubious apps until you specifically hit the Allow button.
If you don’t like the default settings, Bitdefender provides various ways to customise your protection. You can turn notifications on or off, for instance; block browsers from accessing your webcam, or even block webcam access entirely if you’re sure you’ll never need it.
(Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Firewall
Bitdefender’s firewall watches the network connections made by your apps, decides which apps can get online and which can’t, and works to protect you from network scans and attacks.
If you’re a networking novice and that’s already more than you want to know, that’s fine: the firewall makes all its decisions automatically, so you can safely leave it alone (or forget it even exists.) But if you’re the more technical type, there are potentially useful features to explore.
An ‘Application Access’ list showed us which processes had accessed the internet recently, for instance, handy if you’re monitoring what’s happening on your system.
The Rules page listed the apps Bitdefender allowed online, and any it was blocking. You can change these rules or add new ones yourself, perhaps to prevent specific applications from connecting to the web.
Useful options provide various ways to configure the firewall to suit your needs. For example, if you’re looking for maximum security, you can have the firewall only allow traffic for known trusted processes. That might break a lot of applications (which is why Bitdefender intelligently decides which apps are safe by default), but it does make your system more secure, and could work for some people.
Bitdefender’s Spam Filter uses several techniques to keep your inbox junk-free. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Antispam
Bitdefender’s Antispam tool is a simple spam filter that works for local email clients only (Outlook, Thunderbird, anything which sends and fetches emails via SMTP and POP3.)
The feature isn’t going to be relevant if you access your email in a browser, or you’re using Gmail or some other top provider. The likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft already do a decent job of filtering spam. If you get email from your ISP or a hosting provider, though, and they don’t provide spam filtering, then Bitdefender Antispam may be useful.
In theory, the feature should be easy to operate. Turn Antispam on, and it automatically scans incoming emails,moving anything sufficiently spam-like into your Junk folder. You can customise the results by building block and allow lists, or enabling one or two generic junk-blocking tricks (stop all emails encoded with Asian characters, for instance.)
In practice, it wasn’t quite that simple for us. Antispam should have added a toolbar to our Outlook, but we didn’t see it. Investigating, we found Outlook had disabled Antispam because it was taking too long to load. That’s disappointing, but it was easy to re-enable, and a quick test showed the filter working as advertised.
Overall, Bitdefender Antispam could be handy for some users. If you really need a local spam filter, though, something like MailWasher gives you more features with even its free version.
Take charge of what your kids are doing online with Bitdefender Parental Controls. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Parental Controls
Bitdefender Internet Security comes with a built-in parental control system to keep your kids safe from the worst of the web.
A decent feature set includes content filtering, screen time limits, device usage scheduling, location monitoring and more.
The service is managed from the company’s Bitdefender Central web dashboard, where you’re able to set up protection and monitor what’s happening on each of your kid’s devices.
Although the Bitdefender Internet Security license protects up to five Windows devices only, those rules don’t apply to Parental Control. These work on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, and you can install them on as many devices as you need.
Parental Control works on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices. (Image credit: Future)
Installation varies depending on the device. Desktops are relatively simple, mobile devices more complex, as you have to set up various permissions.
IOS setup is particularly complicated because the content filtering and app blocking relies on Apple’s built-in parental controls. For comparison, Bitdefender’s Android setup guide lists three main steps; the equivalent iOS document has six, and the Apple Family Control guide potentially has another 23.
Apps installed, the next step is to create a profile for each child. This is quick and easy - enter your child’s name and birth date, and choose an icon - but Bitdefender does a little more work, using your child’s age to automatically configure which web content they’re allowed to you.
If you’re in a hurry then you could apply that profile to any device your child uses. You’ll probably want to fine-tune Bitdefender’s options to best suit your own children, though, and there are plenty of interesting options to choose from.
Allow or block access to web content by up to 43 categories. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Content Filtering
Bitdefender’s Content Filtering allows you to block web content by an impressive 43 categories, covering inappropriate topics (porn, drugs, guns), social media, online shopping and more. We tested this and it worked correctly, blocking the specified types in all browsers.
This approach often blocks at least some sites you’ll feel are safe, but it’s easy to add exceptions so you can block YouTube and TikTok, say, but allow your child to watch their favorite Netflix kids shows.
Bonus features include the ability to enforce safe search at search engines and YouTube, reducing the chance that your child can find inappropriate content.
The content filtering isn’t tamper-proof, and there is at least one way to bypass Bitdefender on Windows and browse whatever you like. It’s not straightforward and there’s no chance that young children will discover the trick by accident, but teenagers are more likely to find the workaround (or be told around it by more technical friends.)
Choose just how long your kids can use a device per day. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Screen time limits
Bitdefender’s Parental Control provides several ways to define just how long your kids can use your devices.
You can manually set a total device usage time for each day of the week, though only in 30 minute increments. Your kids can request extra time from their device, or you can add extra time as a reward, or if they need it for some important reason (finishing homework, maybe.) But again, you can only add time in 30 minute blocks, which is a little restrictive.
A separate Focus Time supports creating a simple schedule. If you want your kids to do their homework in the evening, for instance, you could set up Focus Time to run from 7:30-8:30pm, and only allow them to use web search or educational apps during that time. While that’s useful, we’d like the option to set up multiple Focus Time blocks per day.
You’re also able to define two periods of time when device usage won’t be allowed: Bedtime and Family Time. That’s important, but again, you’re limited to one block of time in each case. That’s not much use if you want to set up two or three Family Time blocks for meals.
(Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Location monitoring
The Parental Control system allows you to view the current location of your child’s mobile device (there’s no location support on Windows or Mac.) Just open the Bitdefender Central web dashboard, choose your child’s profile and click Locate to see the device location on a map.
What you don’t get is even the most limited form of geofencing (the ability to raise an alert if your child leaves or arrives at a particular area.) Some security suites deliver far more. Norton 360 Deluxe, for instance, can create multiple Favorite Locations - home, school, grandma, the local park - and display notifications as your kids move from one to the other.
(Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Reporting
Bitdefender Parental Control not only limits what your children can do online: it also logs their activities to help you find out more about what’s going on.
Access your child’s profile from the Bitdefender Central web account and you can view stats including their internet use over the past one, seven or 30 days, and the apps, website categories and websites they’ve used most often.
The ‘Prevented content access’ panel lists any content that Bitdefender Parental Control has blocked. That’s useful, and not just to check whether they’re trying to break the rules. If Bitdefender is preventing access to a kid-safe site then you’ll see it listed here, and can quickly create an exception to make sure it’ll be accessible the next time they visit.
Bitdefender Internet Security: Will Parental Controls work for you?
Bitdefender Parental Control has a lot of features, but these aren’t always available on every platform. Sometimes this is understandable (location monitoring is on mobile devices only), but others are a surprise: kids can only request more time on Android and iOS, for some reason.
The system isn’t as powerful as the top specialist parental controls applications, either, which are typically more configurable, with better content filtering tools and the ability to raise location alerts when your child arrives at (or leaves) key places.
If your needs are relatively simple then Parental Control could still be useful. That’s especially true if you’ve devices on several platforms, as you can manage them all from the Bitdefender Central web dashboard.
If your devices are all on a single platform, though, especially iOS, we would recommend checking out the built-in parental controls options first. Or if you need lots of functionality, check our Best Parental Control guide to the top competition.
Bitdefender Internet Security shares many features with Bitdefender Antivirus Plus. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: More features
We’ll complete this review by running through some additional features that Bitdefender Internet Security shares with Bitdefender’s starter product, Antivirus Plus. We’ve only space for a summary here, but check the full Bitdefender Antivirus Plus review for more details.
Is your device configured for maximum security? Vulnerability Scan tries to find out. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Vulnerability scan
Bitdefender’s Vulnerability Scan checks your device for various issues which might make it open to attack: missing updates, weak passwords, dubious Windows and browser security settings, and more.
Sounds good, but this didn’t help us much, incorrectly reporting that our Wi-Fi network had no password and highlighting a couple of very minor technical issues. Avast and Avira did a better job of identifying issues on our review system.
The password manager is available as a mobile app and Chrome, Edge and Firefox browser extensions. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Password manager
Bitdefender includes a password manager on its feature list, but this turns out to be only a three-month trial. That still beats Avast, who dropped its own password manager a few years ago, but it can’t match Norton, who still includes a password manager with even its starter Antivirus Plus package.
We signed up for the trial, and were happy to see Password Manager was available on desktops via Chrome, Edge and Firefox extensions, with mobile apps for Android and iOS.
The option to import passwords from browsers or your current password manager should get you up and running quickly, at least in theory. Bitdefender didn’t correctly import all of our Dashlane logins, though, so it might not always be so simple.
We found some issues with the tool in real-world use. Importing data from Dashlane didn’t work if we had multiple accounts for a website; it didn’t always automatically enter our email address on login forms, and it had occasional problems capturing our credentials from complex forms.
But there are plus points, including a secure password generator, highlighting of weak or reused passwords, and a check to see if your email address appears in any data breaches.
Bitdefender Password Manager might be suitable if you only need the password basics, especially if you get the full version for free as a part of Bitdefender Ultimate Security or Bitdefender Premium Security. But we wouldn’t pay for it, and if you’re looking for a powerhouse password manager with every possible feature, check our Best Password Manager guide for better ideas.
(Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: Anti-tracker
Bitdefender’s Anti-tracker is a Chrome, Edge and Firefox extension which prevents intrusive trackers from collecting data on your online activities.
The technology blocked an impressive 93% of sample trackers, but that success came at a price: it broke some websites, preventing key features from working. There are ways around this - you can tell Anti-tracker not to block anything on these troublesome sites - but that’s perhaps more hassle than it’s worth.
You might be more lucky, though, so Anti-tracker is well worth a try. And if it doesn’t work out, no problem, you can disable it with a click.
Use File Shredder on sensitive files and they’re gone forever. (Image credit: Future)
Bitdefender Internet Security: File shredder
Bitdefender’s File Shredder is a simple tool which securely deletes files by overwriting them multiple times. Use File Shredder on your most sensitive documents and even if someone has full access to your device (you’ve sold it, or it’s stolen), they won’t be able to undelete or recover that dara.
The feature worked for us, but it’s not very configurable, and there are far more powerful file wiping tools available for free. File Shredder’s ease of use is a plus, though, and we’re glad it’s included in the package.
Bitdefender Internet Security: Final verdict
Bitdefender Internet Security is a capable entry-level security suite that mostly does a great job of keeping your PC safe. We’re just not sure the parental controls, firewall and webcam add quite enough to justify the upgrade from Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, though, especially when many other entry-level suites protect Macs, Android and iOS devices, as well as Windows.
If you’re happy with Bitdefender Internet Security’s PC-only protection then it could still be a decent choice, but Bitdefender Premium Security looks the best value product in the range to us, with apps for desktops and mobiles and an unlimited VPN, too.