A typical security suite starts with antivirus protection and builds from there. F-Secure’s entry-level suite doesn’t go much further, adding parental control, banking protection, and little more. F-Secure Total, reviewed here, is a more well-rounded suite. Beyond the entry-level features, it adds VPN, identity monitoring, and password management, all cross-platform. That said, many competitors offer much more. Like F-Secure, Norton 360 Deluxe builds in VPN protection, password management, and identity monitoring, but those features are just the start. Bitdefender Total Security also offers a wealth of security features, and both score very well with independent labs. Accordingly, these two are our Editors’ Choice winners for security suites.
How Much Does F-Secure Total Cost?
The lowest list price for F-Secure Total is $69.99 per year for a single license. Quite a few competitors charge the same or even less for a three-license subscription. Fortunately, F-Secure’s pricing improves as you add more licenses. You pay $84.99 for five licenses, which looks good compared with $99.95 for five Trend Micro Maximum Security licenses. Bitdefender Total Protection runs $109.99, while Norton 360 Deluxe and McAfee Total Protection cost $119.99 at the five-license tier.
When you hit 10 licenses, F-Secure’s $99.99 price shines. AVG Internet Security and Total Defense Ultimate Internet Security cost the same as F-Secure for 10, but almost all the rest have a higher price.
Per-device price keeps dropping with subscriptions for 15, 20, or 25 licenses. You pay $169.99 per year for a 25-license F-Secure subscription, the same as for Bitdefender Premium Security. That pencils out to just $6.80 per device. But if you have that many devices to protect, you should probably consider McAfee+. Like F-Secure, McAfee supports Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices. It can also protect ChromeOS devices and ARM-based laptops. And your $149.99 per year subscription lets you install McAfee protection on every device in your household.
F-Secure Total Includes F-Secure Internet Security
F-Secure Total builds on the collection of security components in F-Secure Internet Security. Everything from the basic suite is present in Total on all four platforms, so there’s no need for me to rehash my analysis of those components. Please read my review of F-Secure Internet Security first and then come back to this review. I’ll provide a very brief summary for those in a hurry.
The entry-level suite earned a perfect score from one independent antivirus lab and decent scores from another. In my hands-on malware protection, malicious URL blocking, and phishing detection tests, it achieved good scores, though not at the very top. A simple cross-platform parental control system offers different features for different platforms.
Installed on macOS, the suite offers most of the same features. Kids can escape parental control by disabling the browser extension on the Mac. The one lab test this Mac edition awarded it a perfect score, and its phishing protection score greatly improved. That same lab gave the Android edition yet another perfect score, and the app includes all the scam protection features found on other platforms. However, F-Secure on Android lacks many common features, such as anti-theft. On iOS, you get even less since it’s nearly impossible to run an antivirus scan under iOS.
Getting Started With F-Secure Total
As with other F-Secure products, your journey begins online at the My F-Secure portal. You create or log into your F-Secure account and register your purchase. After that, you can install protection on your device or send an installation link to another device by email. The portal keeps track of your installations and reports how many licenses remain in your subscription.
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F-Secure Total’s previous edition had a quirky appearance, with trees and clouds in the background and a pair of happy cartoon people. The current edition is a bit more orderly. A window-spanning panel at the top flags any setup tasks you haven’t finished or displays the security status if all the tasks are done. Those cartoon people show up in this panel, as do their pets.
(Credit: F-Secure/PCMag)
Below the top banner, six panels represent important security components. Device Protection, Scam Protection, and People & Devices carry over from F-Secure Internet Security. F-Secure Total adds ID Monitoring, Password Vault, and VPN. Alongside this group is a list of the most recent events, with a link to see all recent activity.
(Credit: F-Secure/PCMag)
Responsive design means the panels display differently at different window sizes. On my Windows virtual machines, the six feature panels line up in three rows of two. On the Mac, they’re arranged in two rows of three, a more pleasing arrangement.
F-Secure Total’s VPN
You can buy F-Secure VPN as a standalone app, with the same pricing structure as F-Secure Internet Security, from $49.99 for one device to $154.99 for 25. Upgrading from the basic suite to F-Secure Total at all multi-license levels adds $15 per year. Considering the price of the VPN separately, F-Secure Total is quite the bargain. At the highest level, 25 licenses, you’d save $139.99 per year buying F-Secure Total rather than purchasing the VPN and entry-level suite separately. Presuming, of course, that you want VPN protection.
When you use a VPN service, all your internet traffic runs through an encrypted connection to the VPN server, with no chance of snooping, not even by the owner of the shady cybercafé whose network you’re mooching. The sites you visit see the VPN server’s IP address, not your actual address, which makes it harder for them to track you. In addition, connecting to a server in another country may enable you to access region-locked content.
Protecting your internet traffic with the VPN F-Secure Total couldn’t be simpler. Just find the VPN panel in the main window and click Turn On. F-Secure connects you to what it considers the best server, and the text in the panel changes to say, “VPN is scrambling your internet traffic.” On some platforms, you’ll need to grant the app VPN permissions the first time you use it.
(Credit: F-Secure/PCMag)
The VPN’s overview screen parallels the suite’s home screen in many ways. A banner across the top shows your connection status along with connection statistics and, naturally, a cartoon person happily using VPN protection. A map at the bottom right roughly identifies the location of the server you’re using, and the list of available connection locations appears to the left of the map. A panel at the bottom left holds links to settings and related options.
VPN Server Locations
The list of server locations is decidedly easier to view on one of the mobile apps. On Windows and macOS, there’s not much space allotted to the list—it’s easier to view in the mobile editions.
Perusing the list, you quickly see that F-Secure doesn’t attempt to blanket the globe with coverage. Servers reside on just four continents: North America, Asia (represented by Japan, Singapore, and South Korea), Europe, and Oceania (represented by Australia alone). You get 22 country choices, plus three spots in Canada and five in the US. With TunnelBear and Proton VPN, you can select your server by clicking the world map; with F-Secure, it’s just informational.
(Credit: F-Secure/PCMag)
Other VPN services offer vastly more locations and more geographical diversity. NordVPN boasts servers in 60 countries around the world. ExpressVPN covers 105 countries, Surfshark VPN has a presence in 100, and HMA VPN lists 190 locations. When your VPN has widely distributed servers, you can probably find one nearby wherever in the world you may be. In addition, a vast server collection means plenty of choices for spoofing your location.
VPN Settings
You can dig into Settings to fine-tune the VPN’s behavior, but what you get depends on the platform. The Windows, Mac, and Android editions let you define trusted networks on which local devices remain available even when you’re connected through the VPN. The iOS edition simply offers a toggle for allowing those local connections. On Windows and Mac, you can set the VPN to connect automatically when the device turns on.
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All four platforms offer a feature called Tracking Protection, enabled by default on all except iOS. This feature aims to strip tracking elements out of the pages you view. The mobile-only Browsing Protection feature supplements F-Secure’s other capabilities by blocking all connections to known dangerous domains.
It’s always possible that your VPN connection might be dropped, leaving open the chance for unprotected traffic until the VPN reconnects. All the platforms except iOS include a Kill Switch feature that cuts off all traffic during a dropped VPN connection.
As I’ll discuss below, your connection through a VPN will almost always be a bit slower than a direct connection simply because it travels farther and passes through more servers. You may decide that some of your activities need a fast connection more than VPN security. On Windows and Android, you can use the App bypass feature (often called split tunneling) to identify apps that should eschew connecting through the VPN.
Those using iOS will encounter a feature with the lengthy name “Keep VPN ON when device is idle.” Apparently, if you turn this off, you may have trouble receiving messages when the device isn’t in use. Other VPNs don’t seem to need this feature. At least, I haven’t encountered it.
VPN Protocols
Every VPN must encrypt and protect web traffic, but they don’t all use the same protocol. We prefer the modern OpenVPN and WireGuard protocols because they are open-source projects and can be scrutinized by any interested party. F-Secure uses OpenVPN by default on Windows, macOS, and Android. Those using Windows and macOS can choose OpenVPN over TCP. Android users don’t get any choices.
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On Windows, macOS, and iOS, you can choose the older IKEv2 protocol. IKEv1 is the default for iOS. Really, though, if you’re not a VPN expert, you should just use the default.
VPN Speeds
When you use a VPN, your data travels farther and makes more stops than on an unprotected connection. This typically slows the connection by a little or by a lot. To measure a VPN’s impact on connection speed, we average multiple test runs using the Ookla Speedtest tool both with and without the VPN and compare the results. (Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag.com’s parent company. For more, see the ethics policy in our Editorial Mission Statement.) You can read how we test VPNs for a complete breakdown of our methodologies and the limitations of our testing. For the overall results of our speed tests, check out our roundup of the fastest VPNs.
We haven’t yet tested F-Secure’s current VPN. The last time we evaluated a VPN from this company, it was a different app, F-Secure Freedom VPN, which did well in our speed tests. But that was five years ago.
Remember that security, privacy, and overall value are more important differentiators than speed. Speed should not be the primary consideration when choosing a VPN.
Ultimately, having VPN protection integrated into your security suite is extremely convenient. You don’t need to be a VPN wizard to flip on protection, and if you want to spoof your location, choosing a server country is easy enough.
ID Monitoring
Every time another data breach occurs, there’s a possibility that your personal information is exposed. If hackers and ne’er-do-wells get hold of that information, you could wind up as a victim of identity theft. Worst of all, you may not even know that the theft happened until you get a bill for items you never bought or face a warrant for crimes you didn’t commit. The sooner you know there’s a problem, the sooner you can seek help.
(Credit: F-Secure/PCMag)
To start with F-Secure’s ID Monitoring, enter your email address. F-Secure doesn’t reveal breach details until you respond to a verification email. These precautions keep naughty F-Secure users from trolling other people’s breached data.
Chances are good that you’ll turn up in one or more breaches. You can click any listed breach event for full details, including exactly what appeared in the breached data and advice on what to do next. Once you’ve done all you can, F-Secure lets you archive the report, so new events will stand out.
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You can set F-Secure to monitor a variety of personal information types. Specifically, you can make up to 10 entries each for a bank account, credit card, driver’s license, email, passport number, phone number, social security, and username. The actual monitoring occurs online, so whatever you enter here quickly syncs to all your devices.
F-Secure’s simple 10-apiece plan is refreshing. Other identity protection tools we’ve evaluated apply different limits for different types. With IDShield, everything is either unlimited (such as credit cards) or singular (such as mother’s maiden name). Bitdefender Ultimate Security, IDX Complete, and Norton let you make one, five, or ten entries, depending on the type. Webroot Total Protection doesn’t limit the number of entries for each personal data type but only tracks a handful of data types.
(Credit: F-Secure/PCMag)
As you add each personal data item, the ID monitoring system immediately checks whether it has appeared in a breach. The monitor also alerts you if any of your data shows up in a new breach. Your subscription includes personalized identity theft help, though it won’t reimburse you for lost funds the way Norton 360 With LifeLock Select, McAfee+, and others do.
Password Vault
F-Secure once promoted F-Secure Key, a simple password manager app. Now, it offers F-Secure ID Protection, consisting of the identity monitoring described above and password management. Like the standalone VPN, ID Protection’s pricing matches that of F-Secure Internet Security at every tier. Buying the components separately instead of getting them in F-Secure Total would cost two to three times as much, depending on the number of licenses.
(Credit: F-Secure/PCMag)
When you first dig into Password Vault, you must declare whether you’re a new user who needs to create a master password or an existing user who just needs to log in on a new device. F-Secure advises that you “choose a phrase that is easy for you to remember but only makes sense to you” and requires at least 12 characters. The app does rate your password as you type. For example, for “Password1234,” it jeered, “This password is too easy to guess.”
After you create your master password, F-Secure offers a recovery code, a QR code you can use if you forget it. This code is as sensitive as the master password itself, so don’t leave it lying around. Consider printing it off and storing it in a fireproof lockbox or protecting it using encryption.
Using the Password Generator
The password utility invites you to add your first password by clicking the Add New button. You fill in a title, username, password, web address, and any notes you may want to remember.
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You’ll want to invoke the built-in password generator if you’re recording details for a new account. It creates 16-character passwords by default, using all four character types. You can crank the length up to 32 characters or down to four and deselect specific character types if you hit a cranky website that won’t accept them all. In an unusual twist, F-Secure color-codes the characters in the generated password: red for uppercase, purple for numbers, and blue for symbols.
I don’t recommend generating passwords of fewer than 16 characters. After all, you don’t have to remember them.
Browser Extensions Replay Saved Passwords
Once you’ve got a nice collection of passwords stored in the vault, you can relax and take advantage of F-Secure’s offer to enable Autofill. To do so, you install a Chrome, Edge, or Firefox extension and link it to your account by copying a lengthy code. For most password managers, entering the master password is sufficient to enable a browser extension’s access. F-Secure’s secondary authentication is unusual.
When you visit a website where F-Secure has saved credentials, you’ll see a small F-Secure icon in the username and password fields. Click it for a list of all the saved logins for that site (often, this is a list with just one item). Click a saved item to fill in those fields.
(Credit: F-Secure/PCMag)
Like most password managers, F-Secure aims to help you create new entries by capturing credentials as you log in to secure sites. In testing, I couldn’t find a single site where it recognized and captured my username and password. My F-Secure contacts suggested uninstalling and reinstalling the browser extension. I did that, and rebooted too, for good measure. But F-Secure didn’t catch any of the several dozen logins I attempted.
When you have an app or extension that can fill username and password fields on a web page, it’s just a small step to filling web forms with personal information like your credit card or contact information. RoboForm Everywhere started life as a form filler, for example.
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F-Secure does let you store credit card details along with your passwords, but to use them, you must cut and paste them from the app. It doesn’t fill them automatically.
Password Import and Export Abilities
Switching from another password manager to F-Secure can be easy, but only if you switch from Dashlane, KeePass, LastPass, or McAfee’s True Key. The ability to import from those is built into F-Secure. It can also import passwords stored in Chrome, Edge, or Firefox. If you’re coming from Bitwarden, Keeper, or one of the many other unsupported competitors, you’re out of luck. There’s no provision to import from a generic CSV file. For testing purposes, I found I could import passwords from a CSV file to Chrome, export them from Chrome, and import them to F-Secure.
As for switching away from F-Secure, that’s not easy. Where most password managers include an option for exporting to CSV, F-Secure exports to a proprietary file format that’s only easily processed by another instance of F-Secure. It’s not encrypted, just complicated. And your passwords are visible as plain text in the exported file.
Connecting Devices
With most password managers, connecting another device is simple: install the app and log in with your master password. F-Secure takes a more stringent approach. To add another device, click Connect Devices in the main app window. This displays a page with a numeric code that changes every minute.
(Credit: F-Secure/PCMag)
On the new device, you click to set up password management and select the option “I’m an existing user.” After you enter the current code, you’ll be prompted for the master password. With that hurdle passed, you’ve got full access to your shared password vault. This requirement for a code from an existing device is similar to multi-factor authentication, but there’s no added layer of authentication once the device is connected.
The awkward process described above only occurs when you install password management on a new device.
(Credit: F-Secure/PCMag)
Unlike most competitors, F-Secure’s browser extension doesn’t work unless the main vault app is unlocked. And by default, the vault locks automatically after five idle minutes. If you’ve used a properly long, strong master password, retyping it every five minutes can be annoying. But don’t switch to an easier password; instead, go into settings and change the Automatic Lock time to something more reasonable.
Password Analysis
Storing all your passwords in a password manager doesn’t do a lot of good if they’re all “Password” or “123456” or some other weak sauce. The job’s not done until you’ve changed all those weak and duplicate passwords to strong, unique ones. And F-Secure can help.
Simply click Password Analysis for a quick summary of your password strength. The summary page tells how many passwords fall into these categories: Weak, Reused, Common, Moderate, and Strong. Note that these categories can overlap. For example, one password may be both Weak and Common. Another may be Strong but Reused. Clicking on any of the five categories lists the corresponding passwords.
(Credit: F-Secure/PCMag)
Your task is to work through the Weak, Reused, and Common lists and update each password to something unique and hard to crack. You can use F-Secure’s password generator to create those new, strong passwords, then go to the website in question and change the password manually. At one time, LastPass and a few others attempted to fully automate the password-change process, but it was too unwieldy. Keeper never tried, stating it couldn’t be done while retaining pristine Zero Knowledge.
Password Analysis is only present in the Windows and macOS editions. That makes sense. In general, it’s easier to manage and modify a big list of passwords on a desktop device.
What’s Not Here?
I expect a password manager to capture credentials as you log in, replay those credentials when you revisit a site, and use that same replay mechanism to automatically fill personal data in web forms. F-Secure falls short. You can use it to autofill logins, but in testing it failed to capture credentials when I logged in to secure sites. It stores credit card data, but not any other personal info, and it won’t autofill credit card details.
Widely sharing passwords is a bad idea, but when you truly need to share, you want to do so securely. All the apps in our roundup of the best password managers include some type of secure sharing. On a more somber note, if you die, your heirs need access to your account passwords. Most of our top choices let you define a digital heir. F-Secure offers neither of these features, and unlike the top password managers, it also doesn’t offer full multi-factor authentication.
You get this password manager at no extra charge as part of your F-Secure Total subscription, and it handles the basics. But you should look elsewhere if you want full-blown web form filling along with advanced features. You might consider a free password manager. Our recommended free picks offer multi-factor authentication, a password strength report, and secure sharing, and almost all include some form of digital legacy.
Verdict: A Somewhat More Complete Suite
We faulted F-Secure Internet Security for its relatively sparse feature set. F-Secure Total feels more complete, with added password management, VPN, and identity monitoring. It’s a definite improvement, but it still doesn’t keep up with the best cross-platform security suites. Like F-Secure Total, Norton 360 Deluxe includes VPN, password management, and identity monitoring, but its central security suite is seriously feature-rich by comparison, with hosted online backup, a self-sufficient firewall, and parental control that’s miles above F-Secure’s. With Bitdefender Total Security, you pay extra to remove limits on the VPN, but the underlying antivirus gets amazing lab scores, and the feature list is practically endless. Both have earned our Editors’ Choice award after thorough testing.
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The Bottom Line
While its entry-level security suite is a bit thin on features, F-Secure Total adds VPN, password management, and identity protection, with competitive pricing for multi-device subscriptions.
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About Neil J. Rubenking
Lead Analyst for Security
