Where Bitdefender lags behind is in background scans. That saves not only your device's resources but your time as well. There are several tools that should help you avoid frequent scans. So, you won't be left with only the antivirus scanner and real-time protection. To some extent, the same applies to Bitdefender, however, the service has much better network safety tools even on its most basic version.
So, potentially the amount of malware that you have to deal with will be significantly lower because most of the junk won't end up on your device. With the paid version, there is a much bigger focus on network protection. This is because Avast heavily focuses on frequent background rescans for threats that already are on the inside.
Avast's capabilities to protect you against malware will heavily depend on your subscription version.
