The Best Free Antivirus Software for 2025

Avast has been supplying antivirus protection for as long as there’s been an antivirus industry. With Avast One Basic, you get award-winning antivirus protection for free. All four of the independent testing labs we follow include Avast in their reporting, and it aces almost every test. It also takes high scores in our own hands-on testing. At present, Avast, AVG, and Norton all rely on the same antivirus engine, which they call the Gen Stack.

Other protective services include a permission-based ransomware protection system, a basic firewall, and a bandwidth-limited VPN. Avast does reserve some features for paying customers. For example, the free edition will scan and identify apps with missing security patches and update them at your command, but won’t keep your apps updated automatically.

Many free antivirus utilities work only on the Windows platform. Avast has varying degrees of protection for macOS, Android, and iOS. It earns high scores from the labs on its macOS version, where the ransomware protection, browser trace cleanup, and VPN work just as they do on Windows—which is often not the case.

If a tight budget is the only reason you don’t buy a full security suite, Avast One Basic is perfect for you. The commercial Avast One Silver and Avast One Gold suites do more, naturally, but this free edition is packed with features. The fact that you can use it to protect all your devices, not just Windows PCs, is icing on the cake.

Bitdefender Antivirus Free for Windows offers basic protection that’s precisely the core of Editors’ Choice Bitdefender Antivirus Plus. In truth, it looks more like Bitdefender’s suite, but with many features disabled. In testing, lack of Ransomware Remediation made no difference because other protective layers defeated all the real-world ransomware samples. The unusual defense timeline shows exactly how Bitdefender stopped an attack, and its defense against malicious and fraudulent (phishing) websites is second to none.

If you spring for the commercial antivirus, you get vastly more features, more than found in some security suite products. Among these are a hardened desktop for secure browsing, a Rescue Environment to recover from malware that disables Windows, and a Wi-Fi security analyzer. None of these come for free.

Bitdefender has an excellent reputation in the security world, and the company’s researchers frequently report on important discoveries. Relying on such a company for antivirus protection is a smart move, but you may well be put off by the cornucopia of features in the commercial edition. In that case, try Bitdefender Antivirus Free, which gives you the full core protection without any possibly confusing trimmings.

In 2016, Avast acquired AVG. Both products have long used precisely the same antivirus technology under the hood. At present, Avast, AVG, and Norton all depend on the same underlying antivirus engine, called the Gen Stack. When you install AVG AntiVirus Free, you’re getting the same powerful protection you get from Avast. The two have different aggregate lab scores because not all the labs report on AVG. In the latest tests, that’s a plus for AVG, which has an aggregate score of 10 from two labs, while Avast holds 9.9 based on four labs.

Like Avast, AVG protects against ransomware by banning all unauthorized changes to protected files. And like Avast, AVG’s free edition will identify junk files and other performance drains but won’t fix any problems unless you pay. Bonus features include a hardened browser and a simple network security inspector.

Not every user wants the nearly suite-level features of Avast One Basic, and not everyone needs cross-platform protection. If your focus is on powerful protection against both malware and malicious or fraudulent websites, AVG offers the same protection as Avast but in a simpler, more traditional package. Both Avast and AVG have a widespread international presence, but they’re popular in different regions.

No discussion of free antivirus software would be complete without Microsoft Defender Antivirus, formerly known as Windows Defender. If you don’t have a third-party antivirus, or if your antivirus subscription lapses, Defender takes up the banner of your protection. If you do add or revive some other antivirus, Defender quietly retreats to the sidelines.

That’s not to say we’re super-enthusiastic about using Defender for your protection. It gets good scores in some lab tests, but just passes others. Likewise in our hands-on tests it earns some high scores and some very low ones. In typical Microsoft fashion, its protection against fraudulent and malicious websites only works in Edge. It’s good, but you can do better.

Hey, you! The one who’s falling asleep reading this article. The one who deeply does not care about antivirus. This one’s for you! To take advantage of its protection, you have to do exactly nothing. For the right person, that’s an ideal solution.

Like Avast’s freebie, Avira Free Security is a free version of a full security suite. All the features are visible, but many are locked away. Three of the four labs that we follow cover Avira’s antivirus technology in their latest reports, and Avira earns excellent scores. It didn’t do as well in our hands-on tests, but when our results don’t jibe with the labs, we defer to the lab results. And its handling of malicious and fraudulent websites proved stellar.

Avira does scan for apps that are vulnerable due to missing security patches, but leaves you to fix any found problems manually. Other features include a simple password manager, a shopping deal-finder, and active prevention of ad trackers, as well as a bandwidth-limited VPN and a comprehensive privacy settings checker.

Do you want a full-on security suite rather than a bare-bones antivirus? Can your nerves handle the occasional upsell windows when you accidentally click a feature that’s not free? Avira Free Security may be just the thing for you.

We know Avast One Basic for Mac does its job well because two independent labs rigorously tested it and gave it a perfect score—a rare accomplishment. It also aced our hands-on phishing protection test with 99% detection. It recognized and eliminated almost every one of our current Windows malware samples.

But this app doesn’t stop with antivirus protection. It includes a network inspector, ransomware protection, a data breach monitor, and a built-in VPN. Yes, the VPN has bandwidth limits, but that’s normal for free apps. You can check your online safety score at any time and get advice on raising it. Avast does all this with a light, airy, almost whimsical user interface.

You want antivirus protection for your Mac, but you don’t want some blocky thing that will harsh your mellow? Avast’s interface, featuring line-drawing doodles of happy people, pets, and flowers, will cheer you up as it protects your security and privacy with features that go beyond mere antivirus.

AVG and Avast share the same antivirus engine, so it’s not surprising that AVG AntiVirus for Mac scores just as high with the independent labs as Avast does. Both received perfect scores in the last reports from two labs, something few competitors can boast. Also like Avast, AVG aced our hands-on phishing detection test.

Where Avast wields doodles and dabs of color, AVG sticks to a more simple, familiar interface. It doesn’t pile on the features, but rather focuses on doing its core task well.

Not everyone is thrilled to learn that Macs need antivirus protection. But you can install AVG for free, and it doesn’t confuse the issue with lots of add-on features. Its simple interface lets you see just what it’s doing and what it has done for you.

The independent testing labs around the world only choose a few Mac antivirus apps for testing. Avira Free Antivirus for Mac is one of them, and it gets good scores. Like its Windows counterpart, it achieved 100% detection in our hands-on phishing protection test.

Avira doesn’t stop at foiling malware attacks. Its Browser Safety extension fends off fraudulent and malicious sites and also blocks ads. It features a VPN, a password manager, a system cleanup tool, and more. Do note that getting full access to some of these features requires a premium upgrade. For example, the system cleanup tool will find junk on your system for free, but automatic removal is reserved for paying customers.

You know you need antivirus for your Macs, but you want to minimize its impact on your life. Avira’s smart scan checks security, privacy, and performance all at once, so you can get on with your day.