Your entire life relies on your devices staying safe, which makes it important to choose the right antivirus. If you’re choosing antivirus software bundled with other services like identity monitoring, it’s even more crucial to ensure you’re signing up for quality services. When choosing the right software, consider things like effectiveness, efficiency, usability and the quality of other cybersecurity tools you can get alongside your antivirus. You’ll also want to select antivirus offering protection for all of the devices you use.
Effectiveness
Every antivirus company will tell you its software can block viruses, ransomware and other forms of malware — but that doesn’t mean you should take their word for it. The best antivirus companies submit their programs to regular testing from third-party labs like AV-Test or AV Comparatives.
You should be able to find tests conducted within the past six months, and the company you’re considering should have high protection and performance rankings in those tests. The antivirus companies on our main list have high-scoring tests from at least two third-party labs going back two years or more.
System resource usage
Your antivirus runs constantly in the background, so you want to make sure it won’t interfere with your ability to use your device. The percentage of CPU power used by any program will depend on the resources your computer has available, but you can get a rough idea of resource usage by reading hands-on reviews. I looked for CPU usage of 5% or less when compiling this list, with most of the programs coming in at less than 1% of CPU usage.
Scanning your device will use more resources, but some antivirus tools, like Bitdefender, use less than 10% of CPU power for scans. Others, like Norton, can use up to 40% of CPU power to ensure rapid scans. I generally don’t recommend antivirus software that uses more than 40% of CPU power during scans, especially if it takes more than 10 minutes to complete them. This is why I’ve recommended McAfee for its online data management tools rather than its antivirus, which used as much as 80% of my CPU power during scans.
Protection for all of your devices
Most of us have multiple devices using different operating systems. You might have a Windows PC and an Android phone, or an iPhone and a MacOS computer. You might even have devices using all of these operating systems if you need one ecosystem for work and prefer a different one for personal use. Make sure your antivirus supports all of the operating systems you plan to install it on.
Additionally, you’ll want to pay attention to the number of devices covered by the antivirus you’re considering, as there are often strict limits. Some providers, likeMcAfee, offer unlimited device allowances, with others offering coverage for anywhere from three to 10 devices on individual plans and 20 to 25 devices on family plans.
Bundled services
Many antivirus companies now offer cybersecurity suites with additional tools like browser safety extensions, dark web monitoring and privacy monitoring. Some, like Bitdefender and Malwarebytes, offer plans with identity theft protection and insurance. Look for a plan that includes all of the privacy and safety tools (or as many of them as possible) you need to feel comfortable using the internet — without having to keep track of multiple accounts and bills.
Note: Most antivirus companies offer VPNs as well, but this is one feature we don’t recommend factoring into the package you choose. VPNs from antivirus-first companies generally lack important privacy features and cause major speed loss. In other words, these tools don’t just fail to conceal your identity — they also make it difficult to do anything online.
As an alternative to bundling, you could go the a la carte route, sourcing antivirus from one company, then get your VPN, password manager, identity theft protection and data removal services separately.
Privacy
In order to be effective, antivirus tools need to track a considerable amount of data about your device activity — so you’ll need to trust the company to protect your data. Ideally, this includes taking steps to anonymize your information. The company should also have detailed privacy policies explaining when it will share your data, what data it will share and the types of companies it will share your data with. Additionally, how antivirus companies cooperate with legal requests from government agencies should be stated clearly in the privacy policy.
Notably, one place where most antivirus companies fall short on privacy is their VPN policies. Almost every antivirus-first VPN I tested claims to have a no-logs policy, but most of them lack transparency reports or public-facing audits, key trust signals that we look for to prove the efficacy of a VPN’s no-logs policy. We recommend separately purchasing one of our vetted VPNs for stronger privacy protections.
Customer service
Your antivirus company should have an extensive self-serve knowledge base where you can find tutorials for performing basic tasks and troubleshooting simple issues. If you’re a visual learner, you may want to seek out a company that includes lots of images and videos in its knowledge base, such as Bitdefender or Norton.
You’ll also want 24/7 access to customer support representatives through your preferred communication method. Every antivirus company I’ve tested offers this via live chat, with some companies (including Bitdefender) also providing 24/7 phone support.
Cost and discounts
Many antivirus companies have introductory discounts on some or all of their plans, with some allowing you to save $100 or more in your first year. These savings are great, but it’s important to take note of the renewal cost so you don’t get sticker shock when you get your bill at the end of that first year.
If you have several devices, you’ll also need to factor that into your cost. Companies like Malwarebytes charge extra fees to cover additional devices (with Malwarebytes specifically having a default limit of three devices across most of its plans), while companies like Norton require you to pay for the more expensive plans if you have more than five devices. Of all the antivirus tools I’ve tested, McAfee is the only one with no device limits or additional fees for exceeding a specific number of devices.
Issues with Avast
Avast antivirus was the gold standard for antivirus tools for many years and still consistently receives high protection scores from AV-Test. Unfortunately, the Federal Trade Commission fined Avast $16.5 million in 2024, settling charges that Avast had sold customer data to over 100 third parties between 2014 and 2020. This data was allegedly collected through its safe browsing extensions and antivirus software, then sold through Jumpshot, an Avast subsidiary.
Avast closed Jumpshot in 2020 after comments from then-CEO Ondřej Vlček about how these actions resulted in a loss of trust. It’s been a few years now, and we trust that and hope the FTC actions mean that there will be no further Jumpshot-style activities and that Avast returns to glory as one of the best antivirus software options. But we haven’t re-tested Avast in recent years, so we recommend using one of the many other solid choices that we have vetted.
Issues with Kaspersky
Kaspersky Lab is a Moscow-based cybersecurity company that produces highly rated antivirus software for both businesses and individuals. However, in June 2024, Kaspersky was federally banned from directly or indirectly selling cybersecurity software or services within the US or to US citizens.
Gina Raimondo, the Secretary of Commerce when this decision was made, stated that “Russia has shown time and again they have the capability and intent to exploit Russian companies, like Kaspersky Lab, to collect and weaponize sensitive US information, and we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to safeguard US national security and the American people.”
Kaspersky issued its own statement that it “does not engage in activities which threaten US national security and, in fact, has made significant contributions with its reporting and protection from a variety of threat actors that targeted US interests and allies.” Despite this, the ban remains in place. While our antivirus reviewer is Canadian, most of our audience resides in the US, so reviewing Kaspersky was not an effective use of our resources.
Read the full article here