Renewal Buddy offers price comparisons of anti-virus software

People can now compare prices of their existing and rival developers' security software at a new price comparison site.

Renewal Buddy will show people the prices being offered by retailers, such as Dabs, Amazon, Tesco and PC World, for a new subscription as well as the renewal price they would have to pay the software developer.

They will also be able to check out deals from competitor products and if they want to switch, the site also plans to run special offers.

Computeractive often gets complaints from readers who feel let down after automatically renewing their anti-virus product and then finding out they could have bought the same product cheaper elsewhere.

We tested the site and found that the difference in price for the same internet security packages was startling; up to £20 to £30 in some cases. And the renewal price was never the cheapest option.

Graham O'Reilly, who has worked for companies such as AVG and is chief executive of Renewal Buddy, told Computeractive. "We're fed up seeing customers getting a raw deal on their renewal. The anti-virus companies give massive discounts to get new customers but a renewal licence is exactly the same as a new one."

The site makes money only if a person uses the switch to a special offer. Currently the only offers available are from AVG. But Mr O'Reilly said the site has only been active for about eight weeks and the company is in discussion with other major vendors.

"Our plan is to eventually have a daily special offer, which will rotate depending on what the security companies want to offer, so it would make sense to check the site when nearing the renewal period," he said.