Question & answer

Are Avast and AVG the same company?

The short answer

Yes, AVG and Avast are the same company. Avast bought AVG in 2016, and both now belong to Gen Digital, which also owns Norton, Avira, and LifeLock. Avast and AVG products run the same detection engine, which is why their lab scores are nearly identical. Choose on interface preference, and never pay for both.

In detail

The consumer security market looks crowded until you check the ownership. Avast acquired AVG, its old Czech rival, in 2016. In 2022 Avast merged with NortonLifeLock to form Gen Digital, which means one company now sells consumer security under at least five brands: Norton, Avast, AVG, Avira, and LifeLock.

For Avast and AVG specifically, the convergence is technical, not just corporate. Both use the same scanning engine and threat cloud. The independent labs score them alike: AV-TEST gives both the same marks in the home-user round shown on their product pages here, and the AV-Comparatives ratings for both are on the lab’s own page, linked from those same pages. The differences that remain are interface design, bundled extras, and which upsells you see.

Why keep both brands alive? Distribution. AVG and Avast each have hundreds of millions of installs and different brand recognition per country. For you as a buyer the takeaway is simple. Treat them as one product in two jackets, pick the interface you find less annoying, and be skeptical of any "Avast vs AVG" review that declares a dramatic protection winner. The engine on both sides is the same.