Best Antivirus for Mac 2024: Top Security Software Compared (2024)

Price When Reviewed:From £20.99 for first year, then £49.99 a year (1 Mac) Using our link

• AV Comparatives, June 2024: 99% Mac Malware Protection, 93% Mac PUA Protection, 100% Windows Malware Detection.

Covers: macOS

Intego’s Mac Internet Security X9 combines the company’s VirusBarrier and NetBarrier applications to provide both antiviral protection and network traffic filtering programs.

The program is easy to download, install, and configure, and checks for the latest viral definitions. It then sets up real-time scanning features and intuitive network monitoring, allowing users to see and work with both incoming and outgoing Internet connections on their Mac.

While Mac Security X9 doesn’t offer every feature, it offers impressive configuration and customization to both its VirusBarrier and NetBarrier tools. VirusBarrier performs well in protecting users from viruses, while NetBarrier acts as a firewall that protects connections. The application allows users to create settings for home, work, or public connections, and allows or deny connections as needed.

There are some issues to address, such as a running counter tracking the number of files processed in a VirusBarrier scan and allowing traffic to questionable websites linked to spam messages.

Despite these issues, Mac Security X9 doesn’t try to upsell users to Intego’s other suites and services, making it worth considering. The tools in place are effective, work well, and make this utility worth considering.

Intego’s Internet Security bundle costs $24.99/£20.00/CA$31.99 for the first year. You can get Intego Mac Internet Security X9 here.

Price When Reviewed:From £39.99 for first year, then £64.99 a year (1 Mac)

• AV Test, June 2024: 100%
• AV Comparatives, June 2024: Approved, 100% Mac Malware Protection, 98% Mac PUA Protection, 100% Windows Malware Detection.

Covers: Mac, PC, iOS and Android

There are four Mac antivirus products from Avast. The paid for Avast Premium Security and Avast One, and the free Avast Free Antivirus and Avast One Essential. Avast Free Antivirus is a free version of Avast Premium Security, while Avast One Essential offers additional features like ransomware protection, privacy protection, and data leak detection.

Avast Premium Security is a well-featured suite that protects your Mac from various threats, including browser script hacks, ransomware, and remote attack activity. It includes modules such as Virus Scans, Core Shields, Traffic Monitor, Network Inspector, Email Guardian, Ransomware Shield, and Quarantine, all easily accessible from the home screen.

Virus scan options include Smart Scan, Deep Scan, Targeted Scan, or External Storage Scan. The Traffic Monitor shows data usage and bandwidth usage, while Network Inspector scans the network for safety and alerts users when unfamiliar devices join the network. Core Shields prevents fake websites from loading and triggering software.

The main frustration with Avast Premium Security is its subscription-based model, but that tends to be standard these days. Some features are only available on the Avast Ultimate subscription tier.

For those looking to save money can try the two free Antivirus for Mac solutions: Avast’s Free antivirus for Mac was among the best products in a June 2023 test by AV-Comparatives, detecting 100% of Mac malware, 99 percent of potentially unwanted applications, and 100% of Windows viruses. Avast also performed well in AV-Test’s investigations in March 2024, scoring full marks for protection, performance, and usability.

You can get Avast Premium Security for Mac here. Also consider Avast One, Avast Free Antivirus and Avast One Essential.

Read our full Avast Free Antivirus and Avast One Essential for Mac review

Price When Reviewed:From £29.99 for first year, then £89.99 a year

• AV Test, June 2024: 100%

Covers: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android

Norton 360 is a security utility that offers various monitoring and safeguarding operations to protect your Mac from threats such as browser hacks, search engine hijack scripts, intrusion attempts, and malware.

The core Norton 360 protection features do a good job, but the cloud backup benefits are missing from the Mac edition. Advanced editions offer Dark Web Monitoring, Parental Control, School Time, and licenses for up to five devices.

Norton 360 also provides additional features like a VPN for securing personal data while online, a tool for managing passwords, bank card details, and identity theft protection. The Cloud Backup feature doesn’t work on macOS, but it is an extra rather than a vital part of the package.

There are differences between what’s on offer in the U.S. and elsewhere. The entry-level version covers 5 devices in the U.S., while the UK offers a cheaper version (Norton 360 Standard) covering just one device. The Advanced edition in the U.K. covers 10 devices, similar to the Select version in the U.S., and includes +LifeLock in the U.S. The core Norton 360 protection features are effective, but cloud backup benefits are missing from the Mac edition.

The first year is discounted, and renewal is at a higher price. The UK and Canada have Norton 360 Standard, while in the U.S., only Norton 360 Deluxe with LifeLock is available.

You can get Norton 360 here.

Price When Reviewed:Free download

• AV Test, June 2024: 100%
• AV Comparatives, AV Comparatives, June 2024: 100% Mac Malware Protection, 98% Mac PUA Protection, 100% Windows Malware Detection.

Covers: macOS

AVG Antivirus for the Mac is one of a handful of free antivirus for Mac programs. As such it is basic, but it’s effective at protecting you from viruses, spyware, and malware.

Despite being free, AVG covers all the bases: blocking viruses and malware from websites, downloads, and email attachments. AVG will scan applications and check every file and remove threats from your Mac. It auto updates so you shouldn’t miss out on protection from the latest threats.

In the AV-Test for March 2024, AVG was certified and was considered Outstanding for protection, performance and usability. AV-Comparatives June 2023 tests saw AVG Antivirus Free for Mac score 100% for Mac Malware Protection, 99% for Mac PUA Protection, and 100% for detecting Windows malware, which is better results than some paid-for options.

Though it lacks the advanced features of paid antivirus products, it handles the core tasks cleanly and seamlessly. However, if you need to resolve any advanced issues you will need to pay to upgrade to the full version of the software, which is about $2/£2 per month for a one-year subscription. There is a 60-day free trial though, which could be enough for your purposes.

All in all, this is a great option, despite being basic. You get much more than you ‘pay’ for.

You can get AVG Antivirus for the Mac here.

Price When Reviewed:From £19.95 for first year, then £49.95 a year (1 Mac)

• AV Test, March 2024: 100%

Covers: macOS

Trend Micro Antivirus is a good program with well-rated antivirus protection and a simple, straightforward interface that users will appreciate.

Anyone looking for additional features will be disappointed with this suite, but it offers good protection at a fair price.

In March 2024 AV-Test gave Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac full marks for protection, performance and usability. In their tests AV-Comparatives gave Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac 100% for Mac malware protection, 99% for PUA protection and 100% for Windows malware detection.

Our own spot checks produced similarly good results. Lining up against the Objective See malware library Trend Micro had no trouble detecting most threats. However, in a few cases, it didn’t detect all the malware contained in a folder until a scan had been run.

Trend Micro is an excellent choice for those looking for something that’s simple and easy to use. There are options with better protection, but Trend Micro’s protection is still good and pricing is fair starting at $29.95/£19.94/CA$29.95 for one Mac for the first year (then $39.95/£49.95/$39.95 a year).

Price When Reviewed:From £34.99 for first year, then £95.99 a year (5 devices)

Covers: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, ChromeOS

McAfee Total Protection continues to be steadily updated and offers a good suite of anti-viral, anti-malware, identity protection, VPN, and scheduling tools. Prices start at $39.99/£34.99/CA$44.99 for the first year.

It is simple to use; once you’ve walked through the guided steps for giving it permission to work behind the scenes it is essentially something you can just leave to get on with its job.

The software can perform a full scan of your hard drive as well as scan custom locations such as external volumes, and schedule scan times. You can control what Total Protection does when it finds suspect files, such as notifying you, quarantining them, or deleting the files. During our tests, it located and quarantined two suspected virus files I didn’t know about, thereby earning its keep.

Other features include an ID Protection tool that compares your email address to known data and password breaches, a firewall, and a Secure VPN feature that lets you quickly set up a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

McAfee’s Total Protection package extends up to five devices on one account, so it’s easy to add the app to other Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Android-based phones and tablets as needed. It’s worth noting that the Windows version offers features that you don’t get in the Mac app.

We noted some occasional performance impacts as it ran in the background, but it was largely unobtrusive in its efforts. Our only other grumble is the lack of simplicity if ending the trial.

You can get McAfee Total Protection here.

Price When Reviewed:£29.99 per year, 1 device | £39.99 per year, 3 devices

• AV Test, June 2024: 100%
• AV Comparatives, AV Comparatives, June 2024: 100% Mac Malware Protection, 99% Mac PUA Protection, 100% Windows Malware Detection.

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac covers: macOS, Bitdefender Total Security covers: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android

Bitdefender is another maker of antivirus solutions that has a number of solutions for the Mac, including a free option. There’s Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, which offers basic protection for up to three Macs, Bitdefender Total Security, which protects up to five devices (macOS, iOS, Windows and Android), and Bitdefender’s free Virus Scanner for Mac.

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac is easy to download, install, and assign full drive permissions. It offers a speedy Quick Scan mode that performs a quick overview and locate, quarantine, and remove viral candidates within a few minutes as well as a Full Scan mode which runs in the background so you can continue to work. External volumes such as USB flash drives can be scanned.

There isn’t much in the way of malware that gets by it. However, we found the application’s ability to locate and neutralize malware that was already on the system mixed – it missed four significant pieces of malware.

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac offers anti-phishing protection in the form of web browser extensions for the Safari, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox web browsers. These offered varying degrees of success. Under Safari, Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac offered no prominent phishing protection, allowing us to visit questionable websites with no warning whatsoever.

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac offers an anti-tracker for web browsers and access to a VPN with basic functionality and a limit of 200MB a day. It encourages you to update to the full version, there are better VPNs for Mac out there. https://www.macworld.com/article/231047/best-vpn-for-mac.html

When we reviewed it Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac retailed at “50% off” which is $19.99/£14.99 a year for one Mac (then $39.99/£29.99 a year), but the deal prices change often. There is also a 30-day trial available.

There is also Bitdefender Total Security which includes Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac as well as coverage for iOS, Android and Windows. That software retails for $69.99/£44.99 a year for five devices (then $109.99/£74.99 a year) and offers a license that covers five devices, including Macs, Windows, Android and iOS with a 30-day trial available.

Price When Reviewed:From £51.99 for first year, then £90.99 a year (5 devices)

• AV Test, June 2024: 98.3%

Covers: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android

Like Avast, Avira makes a paid-for and a free version of its antivirus solution. Avira Prime is a security utility designed to keep your Mac safe from potentially unwanted programs; which covers everything from simple scripts designed to compromise and redirect your browser searches through to actual malware. Prices start at $59.99/£51.99/CA$67 for 5 devices for the first year, then $104.99/£90.99/CA$118 a year.

While Avira Free Security for Mac lets you run a quick scan to check out system files and other vulnerable areas, or a full scan to analyze your entire Mac for malware, but not much else.

Avira Prime is designed around several modules: Virus Scans (including Quick Scan. Full Scan and Custom Scan), Protection Options, Quarantine, VPN, Passwords, Cookie Cleaner, Identity Assistant, Junk Cleaner, Uninstaller, and Startup Apps. A single large window presents the various features, from scans to app management and cleanup, although a couple of its features use a separate panel for a web-based console. In our tests, it detected all our compromised files and installers–although we were concerned that it missed the problematic Wave web browser virus. It doesn’t look inside zip archives or disk images, but it pounces as soon as items are extracted from these.

Even while Avira Prime is actively scanning for trouble it has such a small impact on the general performance of our Mac that we wouldn’t notice it without comparing timings.

Avira Prime scored well in AV Comparitives June 2023 tests scoring 99% for Mac Malware protection and 99% for Mac PUA Protection, while AV Test gave Avira 99.5% in March 2024.

You can get the basics of the security features with Avira Free Security, but Prime’s annual subscription provides useful additional capabilities, including an unlimited VPN, if you can stomach the cost.

Avira Free Security for Mac seems to offer a lot of features for free. But most actually require a paid subscription, so the product’s overall usefulness is limited and the constant sales pitches are annoying.

The free app will run scans daily, weekly, or monthly. You can also create a custom scan. There are also real-time virus protection scans to scan new files saved to your computer or downloaded from the internet. You have to pay to scan a USB drive. Malware discovered is automatically quarantined. Avira was effective at detecting and stopping malware when we tested it.

The free version of Avira also includes the junk cleaner that can identify issues via a smart scan, but you need to pay to actually clean up anything beyond the junk files.

You can get Avira Prime here. Also consider Avira Free Security for Mac.

Read our full Avira Free Security for Mac review.

Price When Reviewed:£9.99 (single payment)

Covers: macOS

BitMedic Pro Antivirus is a good antiviral program, albeit with some shortcomings that need to be worked through, not lest the fact that this hasn’t been updated since 2020.

The program, which retails for $9.99/£999/CA$9.99 on the Mac App Store, features a nice complement of tools, including an Antivirus Scan module, an Adware Cleaner module, a Result Log, a Custom Scan module, a Browser Privacy module, and a System Settings module that allows you to schedule deep scans, customize system behaviors, and create a whitelist of files not to scan.

Initial tests with the Antivirus Scan module’s quick scan and deep scan went well and BitMedic Pro Antivirus was able to find several phishing-based emails. The application crashed twice during testing though. Frustratingly, there was a lack of specific descriptions as to what the infected files were and their full location, even after a drop-down arrow was clicked.

The inclusion of an Adware Cleaner module is a nice touch, performs well, and runs quickly. The Browser Privacy module functions as a quick and easy way to clean up your history, auto logins, bookmarks, remove all extensions, and reset the preferences on your browser, but this is an all-or-nothing option and we’d prefer to disable or delete individual extensions.

The $10/£10 price point with no subscription, is very appealing, but there are a few elements that let it down.

Price When Reviewed:From £37.46 for first year, then £49.99 a year (10 devices)

Covers: macOS

Sophos used to offer a free version of its Home product with antivirus protection and website protection, but in 2021 that version was discontinued, leaving Sophos Home Premium as the only option for personal use.

There’s now a 30 days full trial, but after that it costs $44.99/£37.46/CA$44.99 for the first year and $59.99/£49.99/CA$59.99 for each subsequent year. You can install on 10 Macs or PCs though.

Setup was confusing. Initially, the software guides you through the process, but then setup stops and you have to sign into your Sophos Home dashboard to complete setup (it’s not clear that you need to do this step).

There’s also no Dock icon to launch the program, instead, you use a menu bar icon to access the online dashboard where you can control the five types of protection including:

• Antivirus protection – real-time scanning for local and network drives, perform a manual scan or schedule one, plus a quick scan can be triggered from the menu bar icon.
• Web protection
• Ransomware protection
• Privacy protection
• Malicious traffic detection
• Web filtering

A 2017 evaluation of macOS security software by AV-Test gave Sophos Home outstanding grades for protection, performance, and usability, however, Sophos hasn’t been tested by the team at AV-Test since.

When we tested, we ran the EICAR test, which simulates a virus, and Sophos detected and blocked it with no trouble. The website filtering worked well.

Sophos Home Premium provides effective protection, but the setup process and cloud-only features are drawbacks. It needs a clearer set up and the ability to do more locally.

Price When Reviewed:From £23.99 a year (3 devices)

• AV Test, September 2023: 100%

Covers: macOS

Installing ClamXAV from theClamXAV websiteis quick and easy. Either click the Free Trial button or sign up for a $29.95/£23.99/$42.95 a year subscription and the installation file is automatically downloaded. After the initial setup, where you need to grant permission to access the Downloads folder and modify security settings, you are all set.

You can run a manual scan from the main screen, but there are several other options. A quick scan checks system files and other areas on your Mac, you can select just your hard drive to run a scan on all folders and files on the disk, and dragging and dropping a single folder or file onto the scanning pane checks it for malware. You can also select an external drive or connected USB stick for scanning. There’s also a real-time scanning component–Sentry–that is always on guard.

It is possible to schedule any type of scan to run on specific days and times. By default, any malicious files are automatically quarantined, but you can decide whether or not to quarantine infected files. You can open the quarantine folder to see what files were caught.

ClamXAV scored perfectly in AV-Test’s June 2022 tests, but hasn’t been evaluated since.

ClamXAV proved effective at detecting and stopping test malware files, but there’s nothing more to the program beyond the basic antivirus scanning and options. ClamXAV is certainly effective at virus scanning, but that’s a capability found in many free and equally effective security products for the Mac.

Price When Reviewed:Basic: £2.50 a month; Security + VPN: £4.15 a month; Complete Protection: £6.25 a Month (down from £12.50 a month)

Covers: macOS

Malwarebytes Premium Security for Mac offers antiviral, VPN, and Real-Time Protection features and is available at $3.75/£2.50 a month for its Basic version, $5.00/£4.15 a month for its Security + VPN version, and $7.92/ £6.25 a Month (down from $15.83/£12.50 a month) for its Complete Protection version.

Malwarebytes Premium builds from the handy free version of Malwarebytes https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download, which has been a convenient catch-all that needs to be run manually. The paid for version sports a bright, friendly user interface and a good array of features. It includes quick viral scans, functional scheduling for scans, decent customization elements including whitelist creation, a good VPN client, and Real-Time protection that keeps an eye on what’s attempting to be installed.

The software performed well, offering speedy scans. Malwarebytes was able to quarantine and remove almost all the malware I installed, although it left elements behind such as the controversial Wave web browser, an incompatible version of MacSecurity, and a fake Adobe Album application.

The VPN isn’t as customizable as a dedicated VPN client, but it performs well and gets the job done.

There doesn’t seem to be a custom scan element that allows you to easily scan an external volume such as a thumb drive, and the Real-Time Protection feature doesn’t kick in and scan an external volume once it’s mounted, nor can you drag and drop a volume into Malwarebytes for it to scan – which you can do in the Windows version of Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes offers no warnings against questionable websites and links either.

Price When Reviewed:From £59.99 a year (1 device)

• AV Test, March 2024: 99.6%

Covers: macOS

F-Secure Total for Mac is a simple-to-use security software suite that works on macOS, iOS, Windows and Android devices and protects your data from a wide range of threats. It includes several useful features, but lacks certain key options, especially in virus scanning.

The program is $69.99/£59.99 a year for one device, which is steep, but there’s a free 30-day trial that requires no credit card and even gives you free technical support if you need it.

Clicking the Scan button runs a full virus scan that checks your entire system, while clicking the link for Viruses & Threats takes you to another screen where you can scan just specific folders. But there are no options to run a quick scan or even to schedule a scan, unlike the Windows version which includes a quick scan. It provides real-time virus and spyware scanning to automatically block malware, and ‘DeepGuard’ monitors applications for any changes indicative of a malware infection.

You can set up ID monitoring to check your email address for data breaches among your online accounts. The VPN is another defense and includes tracking protection to prevent advertisers from monitoring your online activity and a kill switch to quickly cut off all internet traffic.

F-Secure offers a password vault that creates and stores secure logins for all your accounts. The password vault requires an extension that supports Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Safari isn’t yet supported.

Unfortunately, F-Secure doesn’t let you review blocked or deleted malicious files, and no setting allows you to quarantine files instead of removing them.

F-Secure’s Safe (which was the old name for F-Secure Internet Security) was tested by AV-Test in June 2023 and scored 5 out of 6 for protection, 5.5 out of 6 for performance and 6 for usability.

Price When Reviewed:From £44.99 a year for one device (currently reduced to £39.99 for first year)

Covers: macOS, Windows and Android

ESET Home Security (available in Essential, Premium and Ultimate configurations) is developed by Slovakian software company ESET. The suite will protect your Macs (as well as PCs, and other smartphones and tablets, but unfortunately not iOS). We tested ESET Home Security Premium, which offers extensive antiviral and malware protection, and Real-time File System Protection, as well as a password manager, an encryption tool – although it turned out the latter two were missing from the version we reviewed, which appears to be an error.

The software can be downloaded from ESET’s website. There is a 30-day trial available with only an email address and no credit or debit card needed. ESET Home can also be found on the U.S. version of the Mac App Store, but the download doesn’t actually work.

ESET Home Security Premium retails at different price points given the number of devices it’s installed on and the number of years you subscribe for. It’s usually $59.99/£44.99 for one device for one year, scaling up from there, but there are discounts from time to time which can be seen on the ESET website.

The application allows for changes such as blacklists and whitelists to be created, different levels of detection and sensitivity, access to the logs and proxy servers, reactions as to new volumes being mounted, and an impressive level of customization.

Scheduled scans can be set up easily, and it’s fairly simple to designate which areas of a local or cloud-based drive will be scanned and when. In our tests ESET’s initial scan was able to locate and quarantine 18 suspect files without incident.

However, issues within the software included: extremely long scan times ranging from seven to more than 24 hours to look over an internal solid-state drive, the scheduler feature failing to activate a scan, a lack of a progress bar or elapsed time readout during a scan, the software’s uninstall feature failing to install multiple times, and our copy of the ESET Home Security Premium software arriving without the advertised password manager or encryption features.

While ESET Home Security Premium completes its primary task of antiviral and malware prevention, several bugs and omissions need to be fixed.

1.

Do Macs even need antivirus software?

2.

What features should I look for in Mac antivirus?

3.

Should my Mac antivirus include a VPN?

One of the add-ons you might find with Mac security products, although also commonly sold separately, is Mac VPN (virtual private network). For many users these are of interest because they can mask your location and allow you to view things (like streaming series) that are otherwise off-limits in your location. But they also have a very real benefit for security, protecting your internet connection by encrypting it, which is especially useful when using public Wi-Fi networks. In this day and age we should all be using VPNs and, while we’d recommend buying a dedicated Mac VPN product, one built into your antivirus software is better than nothing – just be prepared to be nagged to upgrade to the full product.

4.

What is the best value Mac antivirus?

5.

How do I spot fake Mac antivirus software?

6.

What can’t Mac antivirus protect you from?

7.

How we test Mac antivirus software