Best Antivirus Software 2023:Best Buys And Expert Buying Advice
Looking for the best free antivirus software? You've come to the right place. Find out which program meets your needs by using the results of our in-depth antivirus lab tests.
To find the very best antivirus software for your PC, we bombard free and paid-for antivirus software with tens of thousands of threats in our tests, including viruses, ransomware and phishing attacks designed to compromise and steal data. We repeat this four times a year, as new threats are emerging all the time. This means you can be confident that any program we say is the best, really is.
Thanks to our tests, we can also save you money. We know that free and paid-for versions of the same software have the same protection. So unless you want extra features or extra peace of mind, opt for one of our best free antivirus programs.
Looking for an antivirus for your Mac? See our expert pick of the Best antivirus software for Apple Macs
Best Free Antivirus Software
You can save yourself from £45 to £118 a year by choosing a good free antivirus program. But be careful – we've found that some free options are annoying to use, have irritating pop-ups and simply aren't as good as rivals when it comes to protecting your data.
So you need to make sure the software you install is one of the best, which you can do by using the results of our tough, independent lab tests in our table below. Do note that we haven't given Kaspersky Best Buy status even though it scores highly enough to be eligible. See Why aren't Kaspersky packages Best Buys? for more information.
Scroll past our table to find out more about the software that scored highly in our tests.
Kaspersky Security Cloud, 80%
- Pros: Excellent malware and phishing protection, easy to use
- Cons: Scans could be better
Although this Kaspersky product scores highly enough to be a Best Buy, it doesn't have Best Buy status. Go to Why aren't Kaspersky packages Best Buys? to find out more.
If you don’t mind a basic package that simply protects you from malware without extra features, Kaspersky’s free Security Cloud tier is the best free product we tested this year.
Its protection against running malware is excellent and its phishing protection via a browser add-on is very effective. It also proved adept at preventing ransomware from running and locking up our test files.
It’s also easy to use, partially due to the lack of features. Those that remain are easy to find and use. While it's a free product, we didn’t find the messages reminding us we could upgrade to a premium version of the product particularly onerous, and there is even an option to turn them off forever if you have no intention of paying.
It’s not all roses, though. It wasn’t particularly brilliant at scanning for malware already on our test computers, especially those designed for Windows and MacOS. It was at least effective at spotting malware designed for Android devices.
Verdict: Brilliant free protection
Avast Free Antivirus, 77%
- Pros: Excellent protection
- Cons: Lots of locked features, some false positives
- Availability: Download from Avast.com
Avast is the second-best free product we tested and it does the basics really well, with excellent protection from running viruses and phishing attacks. It’s a bit overzealous with safe files, marking some possibly malicious more often than we’d like.
We also don’t like the number of locked features that crop up as you’re navigating around the software, as this makes it a bit confusing and annoying to use. Particularly irksome is the persistent insistence that you have a privacy-related problem on your computer, but the only way to find out what it is is to pay for an upgrade.
Verdict: Solid free protection
AVG Antivirus Free, 76%
- Pros: Strong virus and phishing protection
- Cons: A few false positives, lots of locked features
- Availability: Download from AVG.com
AVG is one of the best-known providers of free antivirus, and this year it’s done reasonably well. It has the same strengths and weaknesses of the paid-for product – great virus protection, but overzealous false positives and download protection that wasn’t quite as good as the very best – and it also has too many locked features and pop-ups for our liking.
Verdict: Decent, but better free options are available
Avira Antivirus Free, 72%
- Pros: Good malware and phishing protection
- Cons: Annoying pop-ups in both versions, clunky menus, and scans could be more effective
- Availability: Download from Avira.com
Avira Free and its paid-for offering, Pro, scored the same in our tests. Protection-wise, they're identical, with Avira adept at blocking malware and phishing attempts. Its scans weren’t among the best we tested and both have clunky menu designs that we think a lot of people will struggle with.
Even more annoyingly, both pieces of the software featured far too many pop-ups suggesting you pay for extra features, which is particularly galling if you’ve already paid.
Verdict: Pop-up heavy
Best Paid-For Antivirus Software For Windows
We recommend you install one of the best free antivirus programs if you want to save money, as they perform just as well as ones you can pay for. However, what you do get with paid-for software are extra features, such as multiple licences and password managers.
So if you need these, make sure your antivirus software is worth your money by picking one of the best paid-for antivirus programs from our independent lab tests. Scroll past our table to find out more about the software we tested.
A note on pricing: Below, we've listed the correct price as of August 2022 based on the companies' own websites. To make price comparisons easier, we've chosen each company's three-licence tier (or the closest multi-licence equivalent, which if not three is usually five or 10). Where automatic renewal is an option (usually on by default), we've included the price you'll pay at the end of the first year if you don't cancel or seek out a better deal. If you want to get a good deal at the end of the year, make sure you have automatic renewal switched off – look out for 'special offer' emails in the final months of your subscription. You shouldn't ever pay full price.
Bitdefender Internet Security, 83%, Best Buy
- Pros: Excellent virus and phishing protection, easy to use
- Cons: Minor ransomware slip-up, doesn’t detect Android malware
- Pricing: Available at Bitdefender.co.uk for £29.99 for three licences for the first year, renews at £49.99
This is the best antivirus software package we've tested this year.
Bitdefender used to provide a free version of its software, but in 2021 it dropped the free tier, making its paid-for tiers the only options available. With this tier, you get features including ransomware remediation, an additional firewall and access to a (limited) VPN.
Bitdefender puts in brilliant performances across the board. It’s adept at blocking malware from being downloaded, and if there’s malware on your computer and you try and run it, it will reliably step in and stop it from running and doing any damage.
Phishing protection using its browser add-ons is excellent and among the best, we tested this year.
It’s also very easy to use, with mostly well-laid-out menus and clear options.
There were areas it didn’t perform perfectly; a piece of ransomware was able to run in our testing, but it stopped it from running before it was able to harm the files on our test computers. The software is also unable to detect malware designed for Android devices and it can be a tad tricky to uninstall.
Verdict: Top-tier protection
ESET Internet Security, 82%, Best Buy
- Pros: Brilliant protection against malware and phishing threats
- Cons: Scanning could be better
- Pricing: Available at ESET.com for £39.90 for three licences for the first year, renews at £49.90
ESET was the best on the test in 2021 and it’s a very close second this time around. It includes ransomware remediation and family device control, as well as the usual anti-malware tools.
Protection from running viruses is top-notch and it had no problem detecting phishing attempts in our testing, either. Scanning is one area where it didn't score top marks, but it wasn’t far off.
Verdict: Terrific premium protection
Kaspersky Internet Security, 81%
- Pros: Excellent malware protection, great protection against phishing attempts
- Cons: Scanning is not the best on test
- Pricing: Available for £17.99 for three licences for the first year, renews at £44.99
Although this Kaspersky product scores highly enough to be a Best Buy, it doesn't have Best Buy status. Go to Why aren't Kaspersky packages Best Buys? to find out more.
This is Kaspersky’s cheapest premium option and includes a fair few features, such as a firewall, email protection and a specific safe banking web browser.
Protection is excellent overall, with phishing threats deftly blocked and malware stopped in its tracks when it tries to run. Ransomware stood no chance in our tests, either. Like the free Security Cloud mentioned above, it wasn’t the best at detecting viruses already on a computer, but it was far from the worst, either.
Verdict: Lots of features and great protection
F-Secure SAFE, 79%, Best Buy
- Pros: Excellent anti-phishing, great malware protection, easy to use
- Cons: Minor ransomware issue, too many false positives
- Pricing: Available at F-Secure.com for £44.99 for three licences for the first year, renews at £59.99.
F-Secure scores well enough to be a Which? Best Buy, but it isn’t the very best we tested this year and it's certainly not our cheapest Best Buy, either.
It does the basics well, with excellent protection from malware that’s started to run, and it got top marks for anti-phishing, too.
A piece of ransomware was allowed to run, but F-Secure SAFE nipped it in the bud before any damage could be done. Still, we prefer to see antivirus stop the software before it even gets the chance to run. We also found it was occasionally slightly over the top when detecting viruses, with a few so-called ‘false positives’ creeping in, which suggests a better-safe-than-sorry approach.
Verdict: A good last line of defence
Norton 360 Deluxe, 79%, Best Buy
- Pros: Excellent at stopping malware
- Cons: Rivals have better phishing protection, and automatic renewal is expensive
- Pricing: Available at Norton.com for £29.99 for five licences for the first year, renews at £84.99
Norton 360 Deluxe has one of the highest renewal prices of any software on test here, even if its first-year price is more reasonable. We highly recommend you switch off automatic renewal or mark your diary when your subscription is due to renew, as that’s when Norton’s high full price might come back to bite you.
Beyond that, this is a solid piece of antivirus software. Protection from running viruses is excellent and its phishing defences are good, if not quite up with the best on the test. It also couldn’t detect Android malware on our test computers.
Verdict: Great malware detection, but watch out for automatic renewal
G Data Internet Security, 78%
- Pros: Great at stopping malware running, excellent phishing protection
- Cons: Some malware downloads slipped through, some false positives
- Pricing: Available at gdatasoftware.com for £45 ($55.95) for three licences for one year
G Data puts in a decent enough performance and, like most antivirus software, is effective at stopping malware from running and reliably detects phishing scams. It doesn’t score quite so well elsewhere; it did allow some malware to be downloaded in our tests and it was sometimes overzealous when blocking legitimate software.
Verdict: Solid protection with a couple of caveats
McAfee Total Protection, 78%
- Pros: Effective at blocking malware and phishing attacks
- Cons: Scans could be better, ransomware slip-up
- Pricing: Available at mcafee.com for £44.99 for five licences for two years (£22.49 per year), renews at £84.99 after two years
One of the biggest names in antivirus fared well in our tests but isn’t among the very best. While its abilities at blocking running viruses are excellent, we found its ransomware protection occasionally let the side down, allowing the dodgy software to run before putting a stop to it.
Its scans aren’t the best, either, and it was poor at detecting Mac malware and only mediocre at finding Android nasties.
Most annoyingly, the McAfee website initially suggests the only way to get multiple licences in one go is to commit to two years of service instead of one. However, we found you can get a five-user, one-year licence if you scroll down the purchasing page and select one-year options. The price then more than doubles at the end of the subscription (and automatic renewal is on by default), so keep an eye out for that.
Verdict: Good, but could be better
AVG Internet Security, 77%
- Pros: Great malware and phishing protection
- Cons: A few false positives, locked features require extra payments
- Pricing: Available at avg.com for £49.99 for 10 licences for one year, renews at £78.99
AVG’s paid-for product is fairly light on features although it does at least include ransomware remediation, a firewall and email protection. There are some locked features, including a TuneUp feature that always suggests there are things you should fix, but when you try to do so you are prompted to pay for it. This, plus pop-ups, are annoying, especially when you consider you’re already paying for this product.
Oh, and make sure you turn off automatic renewal as soon as you can because the difference between the first and second-year payments can be very large
Elsewhere, performance is good. Malware and phishing attacks are stopped in their tracks, although there were a few too many false positives for our liking.
Verdict: Good protection, mediocre user experience
Trend Micro Internet Security, 77%
- Pros: Excellent malware and phishing protection
- Cons: Too many false positives, mediocre scanning performance
- Pricing: Available at Trendmicro.com for £24.95 for three licences for one year, renews at £59.95
Trend Micro does the basics well and we can’t fault its abilities on stopping viruses from running and protecting you when browsing the web. However, its over-insistence that files might be malicious is tiresome and it isn’t particularly good at scanning for viruses.
Verdict: Do the basics right
Avast Premium Security, 76%
- Pros: Effective malware and phishing protection
- Cons: Mediocre scans, a few false positives
- Pricing: Available at Avast.com for £54.99 for 10 licences for one year, renews at £78.99
The premium version of Avast includes a few extra features, including email protection and ransomware remediation, but that doesn’t stop it from trying to upsell you further, with a persistent warning about privacy issues pointing us to buy its VPN product.
Protection-wise, we were happy enough with its performance and it was adept at blocking malware and phishing attacks. Its scans are mediocre, though, and it will often leave it up to you to decide whether a safe file is in fact safe, so it doesn’t score so well when it comes to false positives.
Verdict: Good protection with some flaws
Malwarebytes Premium, 74%
- Pros: Good phishing and malware protection
- Cons: Too many false positives, can’t see Android and Mac malware
- Pricing: Available at Malwarebytes.com for £69.99 for five licences for one year
Malwarebytes does the basics well, but there are issues when it comes to the tests that set the best apart from the rest. It throws up too many false positives – or asks the user to decide – when scanning non-harmful software, and its scans overall were poor at finding malware designed for Mac and Android devices.
Verdict: Good, but not the complete package
Sophos Home Premium, 72%
- Pros: Good virus and phishing protection
- Cons: Scanning could be better, poor documentation
- Pricing: Available at Sophos.com for £37.46 for 10 licences for one year
Sophos stopped offering its free antivirus at the end of 2021, so Home Premium is now the cheapest way to get your hands on a Sophos antivirus product. It’s fine, but we wouldn’t write home about it. Protection from running malware and phishing attempts is good, but scanning could be better and it’s poor at spotting malware designed for operating systems other than Windows.
It’s easy to use, which is just as well because its help files are extremely limited. When buying, we found if we moved our cursor to close the tab, the website popped up an additional 10% discount to stop us from leaving. It probably won't be enough to convince you this is the best option, though.
Verdict: Nothing special
Avira Antivirus Pro, 72%
- Pros: Good malware and phishing protection
- Cons: Annoying pop-ups, clunky menus, and scans could be more effective
- Pricing: Available at Avira.com for £38.99 for three licences for one year, renewal price 'subject to change
Avira Pro and its free offering, Free, scored the same in our tests. Protection-wise, they're identical, with Avira adept at blocking malware and phishing attempts. Its scans weren’t among the best we tested and both have clunky menu designs that we think a lot of people will struggle with.
Even more annoyingly, both pieces of the software featured far too many pop-ups suggesting you pay for extra features, which is particularly galling if you’ve already paid.
Verdict: Disappointing protection and a bit annoying
TotalAV Internet Security, 72%
- Pros: Effective malware protection
- Cons: Phishing and download protection could be better
- Pricing: Available at Totalav.com £145 for five licences for one year, renewal price 'subject to change
This is the first time we’ve tested rather pricey TotalAV, which has a prolific presence around the web in the form of online ads, and we were underwhelmed. It’s good at stopping running viruses, but phishing protection left a little to be desired, as did its ability to block you from downloading malicious files. It’s by no means bad, but it still finds itself near the bottom of our rankings.
If the high price and mediocre performance aren't enough to put you off, also consider that when buying this service, TotalAV adds two extra items to your basket 'for free' (two additional licences and a VPN product). If TotalAV were to charge for these at the end of the first year, this would add £179 to your automatic renewal price. If, for some reason, you do choose to buy TotalAV, be sure to keep track of your subscription as it comes up to renewal.
Verdict: Underwhelming and expensive
Bullguard Internet Security, 70%
- Pros: Good virus protection
- Cons: Mediocre phishing protection, can no longer be purchased
Bullguard didn’t do particularly well in our tests. It was announced last year that the company, which is owned by Avira that is in turn owned by Norton, will be rebranding to Norton in soon of 31 March 2022, Bullguard was no longer available to buy.
If you already have a BullGuard subscription, Norton has told us that it will continue to support you for the duration of your subscription.
Verdict: Not great and you can't buy it now anyway
Panda Dome Advanced, 63%
- Pros: Good malware protection
- Cons: Non-existent phishing protection, a lot of false positives, poor scans
- Pricing: Available at pandasecurity.com for £44.99 for three licences for one year
There aren’t many reasons to choose Panda. Yes, its protection from running malware is good (but so is everybody else’s), and it falls down in several her areas including the fact it has no phishing protection and is overly aggressive with blocking completely harmless programs scans aren’t great, either.
Verdict: Not good enough
Why Aren't Kaspersky Products Best Buys?
Two high-scoring Kaspersky products – Kaspersky Internet Security and Kaspersky Security Cloud free – don't have Best Buy status. Despite providing excellent protection from malware, we've decided that it wouldn't be right to unequivocally recommend Kaspersky software, in light of the situation in Ukraine and the worsening relations between Russia and the West.
While Kaspersky's products have impressed in our tests, there are concerns about giving a Russian-based company access to personal computers. In 2017, the UK's National Cyber Security Council (NCSC), which is an arm of the intelligence agency GCHQ, recommended government departments not use Kaspersky, because of Russia's history of attempting to hack critical UK infrastructure.
It updated this advice in March 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine (you can find out more on the NCSC website). The key thing for UK consumers who use Kaspersky software to know is that, unless they're doing work that could be seen as being counter to the interest of the Russian state, the NCSC says it's highly unlikely they will be targeted directly. However, it did warn that 'you may need to move to a new AV [antivirus] product if Kaspersky itself becomes subject to sanctions since the AV product would likely stop getting updates'.
The NCSC also said that Kaspersky is safe to turn on and use and, similarly, we aren't currently recommending that existing Kaspersky customers should stop using their software. We also aren't advising people don't buy Kaspersky products. We're just saying that, at this present time, we're happier to recommend other equally good options instead.
We will continue to review this decision.
You can jump back to our free antivirus software results or to our paid-for software results or keep reading to find out more about antivirus software, including whether you can get away with only using Windows' built-in security.
Windows Antivirus Features Comparison Table
Below, we've arranged all the antivirus software we've tested alongside the key features you might expect to find. If you want to find out more about each feature, scroll on.
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| No | No | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
- Email Protection Whether the software includes protection for Windows Mail or Outlook.
- Password manager Whether you get access to (either within the main software or via a web browser extension) a password manager tool.
- Anti-phishing Whether the software provides a browser extension that protects you from phishing attacks.
- Ransomware remediation Select specific files to lock when ransomware strikes. This only kicks in if the antivirus has failed to spot the ransomware, to begin with, so is a last resort.
- Parental controls Install this software on family members' devices to control their access to the internet and programs at specific times of the day.
Free Antivirus Vs Paid-For Antivirus Software
We've found in our tests that free and paid-for versions of the same antivirus software have exactly the same underlying protection from viruses and phishing attacks.
In other words, free antivirus will always be as effective as a last line of defence as the paid-for version.
This means when you're paying for antivirus software, you're really just paying for extra features that won't necessarily improve your security, but might still be handy. The features table above summarises some of the more popular extras you can get if you pay for antivirus rather than opting for a free version.
Paid-for features could also stop malware and phishing attacks sooner. For example, by paying for email protection, your antivirus could spot a virus-laden email before it ever reaches your inbox. Whereas without, you might end up downloading the malicious file only for the antivirus to block it before it can run. Either way, this is effective, but if extra peace of mind is something you think is worth paying for, it's worth considering.
Another thing worth knowing is that paid-for antivirus software will often grant you multiple licences, which is the ability to install the software on multiple devices. Some subscriptions will include different types of devices, such as Macs, Android devices and iPhones. This also allows for the use of family controls (mentioned above), which can be handy.
If being able to install the software on multiple devices is the only reason why you're paying, consider using the free software on each separate device with a different email address.
Should I Use Windows' Built-In Security?
In addition to all of the packages featured above, we also test Windows' built-in security by itself. In many ways, it's a very effective tool. It's reliable for blocking malware from running, although it's a bit overzealous warning you about files and programs that are in fact completely benign.
However, it doesn't score brilliantly in our web test and allows the downloading of some malware without blocking it. But it's worth reiterating that if you do download malware, Windows should block it if you end up running it. But this isn't helpful if you download a file and immediately share it with someone else or move it to a USB drive for use later.
It, therefore, rates really poorly for false positives in our tests. It also provides no additional anti-phishing tools for browsers other than the pre-installed Microsoft Edge, although Edge itself is quite good at blocking phishing attempts.
It's only mediocre at detecting Mac malware and can't detect malware designed for Android devices.
Overall, though, Windows' built-in security is pretty effective. While it doesn't have additional features that can bolster your security further, its reputation for being toothless in the past is very much that – in the past.
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How Do We Test Antivirus Software?
Our test involves subjecting every piece of software to tens of thousands of threats, including viruses, ransomware and phishing attacks designed to compromise and steal data. We repeat the test four times each year and the scores you see below are based on a full year of testing, giving you confidence that our recommendations have performed consistently all year.
ARTICLE SOURCE: WHICH.CO.UK
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