Best Free Antivirus Software

1. TotalAV Antivirus - Best Features

SecurityScore:

9.7 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

Virus Detection	Yes
Malware Detection	Yes
Firewall	No
On-demand Scanning	Yes
On-access Scanning	Yes
Behavior-based monitoring	Yes

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Fast, Easy Installation

TotalAV is perfect for anyone who is looking for a quick, free antivirus solution. Think you might be infected with malware and want a fast, easy fix? Navigate to the TotalAV free download site, press the big green button in the middle of the page, and start the download. It’s that simple. TotalAV read our device so it knew exactly which package we needed. The installation took us less than two minutes, and the software initiated as soon as we opened it, so we had results within fifteen minutes. Turns out our device was clean, but we like knowing that if it had been infected we’d have known that fast and with no fuss.

Unobtrusive Scanning

All software slows down devices, including antivirus software. We’re willing to pay the cost in speed in exchange for keeping our device safe. Still, there’s no denying that when Zoom hangs up in the middle of staff meetings, or when our games lag, we can get pretty frustrated. TotalAV’s free edition is compact and doesn’t require a lot of resources to run effectively. Even when we were running a full on-demand scan, we saw no sign whatsoever that TotalAV affected our performance.

Compatible With Multiple Platforms

There aren’t a lot of antivirus companies out there offering free versions of their software. Even fewer of them offer free versions for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android platforms. TotalAV does. You’ll find highly rated apps on the App Store and Google Play, or you can head to the company’s website and TotalAV will choose the package that’s right for your device.

2. Surfshark Antivirus - Best with VPN

SecurityScore:

8.9 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

Virus Detection	Yes
Malware Detection	Yes
Firewall	No
On-demand Scanning	Yes
On-access Scanning	Yes
Behavior-based monitoring	Yes

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VPN Functionality

You might know Surfshark primarily as a VPN provider, and while that’s true, the company also offers some highly effective antivirus software as well as digital privacy tools that are free to try. First, let’s talk about their VPN, though.

VPN is short for Virtual Private Network. These tools effectively hide your online activity from hackers, internet service providers, and overzealous government agencies by sending your digital traffic through an encrypted tunnel. It’s obviously a lot more technical than that, but you get the gist. If you want to increase your privacy online, a VPN is the best way to do it.

>> Learn More: The Best VPNs of 2024

As far as Surfshark’s VPN goes, it’s definitely one of the best out there. It’s footprint is decently sized at around 3,200 servers across 100 counties, its protections are high-tech, and the performance degradations associated with VPN use were almost negligible when we put it to the test. It’s not the biggest — that’s PIA — and it’s not the fastest — that’s PureVPN — but we’re splitting hairs on both accounts. Overall, Surfshark is a high-quality, well-rounded VPN that’s going to get the job done where it counts.

Personally, I’ve found that Surfshark is one of the best travel VPNs out there. When I’m abroad, I use the VPN to watch Netflix from back home by spoofing my location back to my apartment in Brooklyn. This is comforting in two ways — one, I know my sensitive data is secure while I’m accessing the internet through public WiFi, and two, I get to watch Seinfeld while I fall asleep.

Antivirus Functionality

While VPNs can help increase your anonymity online, that’s not why we’re here. We’re here to talk about Surfshark One and Surfshark One+, this provider’s malware protection services. In our tests, we found that they did a pretty decent job at detecting our test viruses — not an outstanding job, but a decent one. But where they really stood out is that the database they check against is automatically updated every three hours. Digital threats are constantly evolving, so you want a company that’s going to keep up with the rapidly changing times.

We do want to point out here that this isn’t technically a free service. It’s free to try for seven days. Once that period is up, you’ll be asked to purchase a subscription, which will cost you between $2 and $20 per month, depending on the tier of service you select and the subscription term you go with. Also keep in mind that you have 30 days to return the service if you’re unsatisfied for any reason, so think of that as an extended risk-free trial.

Identity Theft Protection

Another reason I really like Surfshark is how comprehensive the protections are. They’re one of the few on this list that actually provide identity theft protection services bundled in. Functionally, this shows up as regular scans of known black-market sites that trade in personally identifiable information and alerts you if your sensitive data shows up — items like your credit card information or your social security numbers.

Surfshark also helps you set up what they call an “Alternative Identity” — essentially false credentials you can use to set up services or purchase items through sites that might not have the strictest security protocols. I actually used it to purchase a paint sprayer from China recently, and felt a lot more confident that I wasn’t giving them any information that could be used to steal my identity.

3. Bitdefender Antivirus - Best for Desktop

SecurityScore:

8.7 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

Virus Detection	Yes
Malware Detection	Yes
Firewall	Yes
On-demand Scanning	Yes
On-access Scanning	Yes
Behavior-based monitoring	Yes

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Desktop Optimized

We’ve tested dozens of antivirus programs on our Windows and Mac computers, but we were most impressed by Bitdefender’s intuitive desktop app. The user-friendly interface made it easy for us to do a quick or full system scan, but it’s the on-access scans that made life easy for us. We just left the app running in the background, and whenever we accessed a file or opened a folder, it scanned them beforehand. Of course, running scans in the background could easily backfire and cause our computer to slow down. But thanks to Bitdefender Photon™, a freemium feature that optimized the antivirus for our hardware and software configuration, our computer and the scans ran smoothly.

Premium Features for Free

Although it’s free, Bitdefender didn’t hold back from providing premium features. Bitdefender Photon™ was one, but there were also web protection features such as anti-phishing and anti-fraud. Bitdefender checked the websites we visited to make sure they weren’t fake websites trying to scam us into providing our personal or payment information. We don’t easily fall for such tricks, but it’s a feature we certainly want for our parents’ computers.

Don’t Underestimate Its Virus Detection

The Bitdefender antivirus we tested may be free, but it’s no different from the paid-for version (which we also tested, by the way) when it came to our virus detection test. Both versions of Bitdefender detected all five viruses we hid in our computer. That’s not to say that the premium version isn’t worth it. Virus detection aside, the premium version offers a ton of useful extra features, like advanced scan customizations and device cleanup. But if we’re to focus on Bitdefender’s ability to detect viruses and that only, the free and premium versions are on par with each other.

It’s also worth pointing out that BitDefender’s free version receives the same updates as the paid version. This means you won’t miss out on protection from more modern threats — definitely a nice touch.

4. Avast Antivirus - Best for Android

SecurityScore:

8.5 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

Virus Detection	Yes
Malware Detection	Yes
Firewall	Yes
On-demand Scanning	Yes
On-access Scanning	Yes
Behavior-based monitoring	Yes

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Great Android App

If you’re looking to protect an Android Device, Avast is definitely a service to check out. Their app is highly rated in the Google Play store, and in independent testing, they were able to detect almost 99 percent of Android-specific malware. Those are some pretty great stats right there.

We also appreciated that Avast let us control what data they could collect and how it would be used. A lot of antivirus software providers — particularly ones that offer free services — collect a ton of data about their users and sell it to third parties. So if you’re interested in protecting your privacy as well as your Android device, this might be a good service for you.

Hackers Beware

Avast can also protect you from hackers trying to steal information through unprotected Wi-Fi Networks, something you should definitely be concerned about if you’re on the move a lot with your Android device. Their WiFi security scanner checked for network vulnerabilities and prevented us from wading too far into the danger zone.

Similar to Surfshark, we also use Avast’s onboard VPN to help keep us protected, like when we’re browsing social media on our phone at the airport or in a hotel lobby. Knowing that no one can look in and see what we’re doing offers some pretty great peace of mind. To learn more about that, check out our Avast SecureLine VPN review.

Protection in the Background

Thankfully Avast’s ability to detect malware isn’t limited to user-initiated scans. Who remembers to do those anyway? Instead, Avast is always working in the background, even if you don’t have the app open. We really felt a lot safer seeing the message that Avast was running in our notification tray.

>> Related: Avast Privacy Report

5. AVG Antivirus - Best with Ransomware Protection

SecurityScore:

8.6 /10

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How We Review

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Ransomware Protection

AVG offers extensive protection against ransomware. This type of malware traditionally hijacks a computer, encrypts or threatens to leak important files, and then asks for a ransom in exchange for the decryption key. It’s a formidable malware that has cost companies, government agencies, and individuals $7.5 billion in damages in 2019 alone.2 To protect its users from such attacks, AVG scans files for traces of ransomware, such as files that bear the ability to encrypt other files. AVG immediately quarantines such files to prevent them from causing any damages. However, note that AVG doesn’t have the ability to recover already hijacked files. As the saying goes, “prevention is better than cure,” and AVG is one of the best free antiviruses at preventing ransomware attacks.

Viruses: Do Not Enter

Checking our files for potential threats is one thing, but making sure they didn’t enter our devices in the first place is another. AVG’s web protection features kept viruses and malware out by blocking unsafe links, downloads, and email attachments. For instance, when we accidentally clicked on an ad that was supposed to bring us to a suspicious website, AVG immediately interfered. Even during our virus detection test, we forgot to turn off AVG before downloading the first virus file, and so AVG prevented the download from pushing through. Well, it did detect that the file was a virus, so that’s a point for AVG right off the bat. As for the rest of the files, we made sure to turn off AVG before downloading them so we could proceed with our tests as planned.

Performance Problem Scans

Quite a few of the antivirus tools we tested slowed down our computers while they scanned for threats. However, AVG was different. It was a lightweight program, so it had no noticeable effect on our PC’s performance. On the contrary, it scanned our computers for potential performance issues. And while it didn’t fix them, it helped us pinpoint which areas we could optimize to make our computers faster. For example, it pointed out that our hard disks were “cluttered”, so we knew it was time to defragment our drives.

6. McAfee Antivirus - The Best Free Trial

SecurityScore:

8.8 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

Virus Detection	Yes
Malware Detection	Yes
Firewall	Yes
On-demand Scanning	Yes
On-access Scanning	Yes
Behavior-based monitoring	Yes

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Try All Features For 30 Days

McAfee is the odd one out among the antiviruses in this review. It’s the only free trial software, not a free version, and that means it has a time limit of 30 days. However, it has a unique advantage over the other top picks. Because it’s a free trial of the paid-for version, the McAfee software we tested had access to all premium features, including web protection, identity theft protection, a password manager, and a VPN.

Additionally, it’s a free trial of the highest tier package, and that means it protects up to 10 devices and includes parental control and family safety features. It didn’t last long, though. The free trial was over before we knew it, and we had to upgrade to the five-device plan to complete our McAfee review. However, if you’re looking for a premium antivirus software for short-term use, a free trial of McAfee Total Protection might be just what you need.

Real-Time Threat Detection

Running a full scan with McAfee took several hours, which is why we’re glad it offered real-time malware detection. Instead of having us scan our computer every now and then, McAfee took the initiative and scanned every file, folder, or program we clicked on before allowing them to open. And everytime it detected threats hidden in those items, McAfee quickly quarantined the files to prevent the threat from spreading or affecting our computer.

A Simple User Interface

Our experience using the McAfee Windows app went smoothly, largely because of the intuitive design and user interface of the app. The app’s homescreen featured a quick status report of recently detected threats along with shortcuts leading to the app’s advanced features. It had one of the cleanest interfaces we’ve seen, and despite the frequent notifications, the app generally left us well enough alone to go about our daily tasks.

7. Kaspersky Antivirus - Best Discounts

SecurityScore:

9.1 /10

How We Review

Product Specs

Virus Detection	Yes
Malware Detection	Yes
Firewall	No
On-demand Scanning	Yes
On-access Scanning	Yes
Behavior-based monitoring	Yes

Smartphone Protection At Its Best

We tested Kaspersky’s free antivirus on Windows, iOS, and Android, and we have to admit, we were impressed by the smartphone apps. The apps have a near-perfect user rating — 4.7 out of five stars on Android and 4.7 out of 5 stars on iOS. Aside from that, independent tests by AV-TEST show that the Android version detected 99.9 percent of all recent Android malware, another near-perfect performance. Plus, the fact that we could use the antivirus on our iPhone and Android phones at the same time means we didn’t have to choose one device to protect and compromise the other. Thanks, Kaspersky.

More Than Just an Antivirus

Kaspersky was a great antivirus, but it was much more than that. It was also a VPN and a password manager. As a VPN, the free Kaspersky version could encrypt up to 200 MB of data per day and change the IP address of devices to help maintain the user’s anonymity online. And as a password manager, the free version could securely store up to 15 passwords. Now, that’s not nearly enough for all the social media, shopping, and digital streaming accounts we have. But we’re glad that we could protect our most important accounts such as our emails and online banking accounts. As a side note, the Kaspersky full version includes a VPN with no data limit and a password manager that can handle an unlimited number of accounts.

Pricing for All Budgets

We know we’re supposed to focus on free antiviruses, but we also want to keep your options open in case you decide to spring for the full version. Kaspersky’s pricing is flexible. There are license packs for three or five devices, and the duration of the subscription ranges from one to three years. If you’re in for the long haul, a three-year license will yield the biggest savings, but if you want to dip your toes first, a one-year license is better. Either way, you’ll get Kaspersky’s full virus and malware protection suite.