When you are searching for a free antivirus, you are sure to find tons of them out there on the internet. With hundreds of options in front of you, you may feel like you are spoiled for choice. But in reality, many of these free antivirus applications are just gimmicks to reel you in and get you to pay later.

Whether this is by offering a free trial for a certain number of days, or it is just unsecured premium versions that leave you widely exposed to malware, it is actually quite hard to find an antivirus that really free. Not forgetting the many deceptive online reviewers include “free trials” as part of their lists of free products.

Luckily for you, we’ve got you covered. Within this article, you’ll find a list of antivirus software that is actually and seriously free to download, install and use in the long term.

It is important to note that no free antivirus software, not even the ones on this list, will 100% protect your device from cyberattacks. Some free antivirus software can act as a decent layer of protection if you are just looking for low-level security.

Choosing The Best Free Antivirus Software

Before you read through and decide which free antivirus software is best for you, there are a few factors you may want to consider. Think about why you are installing the software and what you are expecting out of it.

That way, you won’t be disappointed or set too high of any expectations because, at the end of the day, it is free antivirus software that has its limitations. Below are some ways that you can rate and review the software before you install it:

Virus and malware scanning: It is important that your chosen software has good virus and malware scanning engines. Programs with 100% detection rates are ideal.

Ease of use: it is also really important for technical software (like an antivirus) to be easy to use for non-tech users. Programs should be simple and easy to both understand and navigate.

Performance: another highly rated factor within antivirus software is its performance. It would be ideal if the antivirus software works well both with your computer device and your phone. Performance levels can be detected and measured through the central processing unit (CPU) in the operating system.

Internet security: as we all use and rely on the internet on a daily basis, so it goes without saying that this feature is quite important. You will need to make sure that the free antivirus you choose has powerful internet security featured to help you stay safe and protected online.

User friendly: even though it’s free, the antivirus needs to work well on all versions of Windows (including 10, 8, and 7) as well as mac and Andriod devices without any system impact.

What Is The Best Free Antivirus In 2021?

All of the following antivirus options will offer outstanding protection for your computer. And the best part is that they are all free plans that won’t cost you a single penny.

Avira Free Security

Avira Free Security for Windows and Mac is a firm favourite for many users. It is completely free antivirus software that doesn’t run any type of ads and doesn’t lock its features behind a trial period or a paywall.

It also comes with a whole host of features that are not usually available on free plans by other competitors, as well as having one of the best anti-malware engines on the market and being incredibly easy to use.

Avira has many benefits that are listed below, but one of which is that its virus scanner operates in the cloud. This means that the detection and analysis of any threats on your system does not actually take place on your PC, making the software extremely lightweight and fast. Other core features include:

A safe shopping browser extension that blocks suspicious phishing sites, web trackers, and unwanted advertisements
A cleanup tool to remove any leftover junk files
Privacy and performance optimiser that cleans out any cookies and also fixes any hidden privacy settings that could leak your personal information on the web
Phone locator tracker
Free VPN
Network scanner

You can get Avira Free Security by clicking here.

Bitdefender Antivirus Free

Bitdefender antivirus free is has a very user-friendly interface and is extremely simple to navigate with a clean layout — perfect for any new antivirus user. It can scan your device for any threats or malicious malware quickly and silently in the background, only giving a notification if it detects any suspicious activity.

Some of the core features that are included with Bitdefender antivirus free include:

An autopilot feature that scans all new apps and downloads for viruses and malware in real-time
Uses cloud-based technology to reduce battery and CPU consumption
Offers very powerful malware protection
Very easy to use and lightweight on your device

You can get Bitdefender Antivirus Free by clicking here.

Sophos Home Free

This is a great free antivirus if you’ve got kids as it comes with parental controls and a remote dashboard. The parental controls allow you to use web filtering to block access to specific website categories, such as gambling or adult content; and the remote dashboard is especially useful for managing your kids’ devices — you can configure settings, run scans, and get a quick overview of everyone’s devices in a single place.

For most antivirus software, parental control is usually a feature that is reserved behind a paywall so it is nice to see one company offering it in their free version for a change.

Some of the core features in this free software include:

scans and cleans your computer, and removes malware that could be slowing it down
keeps your valued, private information safe by blocking viruses, ransomware, and other malware from stealing or destroying files, documents, and photos
offers a safe shopping browser extension that blocks suspicious phishing sites, web trackers, and unwanted advertisements
stops hackers from accessing your webcam or microphone to block spying and predatory acts
prevents applications from stealing your usernames and passwords

You can download Sophos Home Free by clicking here.

Panda Free Antivirus

Panda has a free antivirus plan that comes with all the usual features of a free plan, alongside a few advanced features, such as a firewall and Game Mode. It is not very often that these features are offered for free since many competitors usually restrict it to their premium plans.

Windows Defender Antivirus

As made quite clear by the name, this antivirus software only works on Windows devices. However, it has been around for some time and has some great features. So although it isn’t compatible with other operating systems, its extensive free features have allowed it to still make the list.

This antivirus is actually built-in to Windows by default. With that being said, over time it has emerged to become one of the better free antivirus software available.

While it can’t quite match some of the top-rated ones on the list, it still provides some great built-in protection. There are not a lot of features available, but some of the ones that are included such as parental controls and a gaming mode give it an edge as they aren’t available on the free versions of other software.

Some of the core features of Windows Defender Antivirus include:

Very good malware protection
It is already built-in to Windows
Smooth and quiet, barely know it is there
Game mode
Hardened browser (Edge & IE only)
Ransomeware reversal
Scan scheduler
24/7 phone and email support

You can get Windows Defender Antivirus by clicking here.

Which Free Antivirus Is Really Free?