Best Antivirus Reddit | Top 10 Reddit Picks Reviewed for 2025

Finding an antivirus has never been easier, thanks to the best antivirus Reddit recommendations that include comprehensive reviews of first-hand experiences. Investing in antivirus protection is imperative, with malicious websites and ever-evolving cyber threats on the rise.

To help you determine which antivirus is best suited for you, we’ve investigated dozens of the best antivirus software Reddit lists and tested their recommendations. In this article, we’ll go into detail and compare the best antivirus programs based on their features, pricing, pros and cons, and more. You’ll also learn why TotalAV, our top pick this year, provides the best virus protection for PC and mobile devices.

Best Antivirus Reddit | Top 10 Recommendations Ranked

We’ve tested Reddit’s best antivirus recommendations and ranked them based on their capabilities and malware-destroying potential. Here’s the complete list of the top antivirus programs in 2025:

1. TotalAV — Overall, the Best Antivirus Software | Take Advantage of its 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
2. McAfee — Powerful Anti-Identity Theft Antivirus Program | Test it Risk-Free Thanks to its Month-Long Guarantee
3. Norton — Popular Antivirus Software With an Advanced Firewall | Includes a Massive 60-Day Money-Back Guarantee
4. Nord Threat Protection — Superb Antivirus Solution Against Third-Party Trackers
5. Avast — Top Rated Reddit Antivirus Program With Exceptional Ransomware Protection
6. Intego — Antivirus With Feature-Rich Plans for macOS
7. Surfshark Antivirus — Lightweight Antivirus That Includes an Unlimited VPN
8. Avira — Superb Security Features Antivirus
9. Kaspersky — Easy-to-Use Antivirus With Accurate Scans
10. TrendMicro — Antivirus With Excellent Anti-Scamming Features

Reddit Best Antivirus | Top Reddit User Recommendations Reviewed

Since picking one out of so many comprehensive programs is difficult, we reviewed them individually for your convenience. Let’s dive into the details of each antivirus on our list to help you make an informed purchase.

1. TotalAV — Overall, the Best Antivirus Software

TotalAV is compatible with most devices, provides exceptional malware attack protection, has an easy-to-use interface, and more. It features in almost every best antivirus Reddit list, with many Reddit users praising its secure and reliable services.

As a member of the Microsoft Virus Initiative (MVI), TotalAV’s products are certified to meet all MVI requirements.

TotalAV provides superb real-time protection and neutralizes online threats before they harm your system. Constant updates of its scanning capabilities ensure it’ll detect any new threat located on your files, downloads, and even the websites you visit.

TotalAV also performs zero-day cloud scanning, effectively shielding you from the most dangerous threats with cutting-edge technology. Another reason users include it in the best antivirus Reddit lists is its System Tune-Up feature.

This automatically scans your device for duplicate files and unused apps and removes them, revitalizing your device and making it faster. Besides local files, TotalAV will remove online trackers, speeding up your browsers and blocking access to your data.

That means your browsers won’t send information about you back to the websites you visit, resulting in fewer ads and complete privacy.

TotalAV also ensures you won’t accidentally grant access to your online accounts to unauthorized parties when filling out forms on malicious websites or answering emails, thanks to its Phishing Scam Protection feature.

Beyond the personal use benefits, that feature makes it a valuable asset for companies that want to protect valuable company data against social engineering attacks.

Pricing

TotalAV’s cheapest plan provides comprehensive malware attack protection, real-time scanning, and much more for as little as $29/year for the first year.

To unlock the full potential of TotalAV and gain access to its Password Vault and Total Adblock features, you can try its Total Security premium plan and use it on up to 6 devices. Thanks to its 30-day money-back guarantee, try any of these plans risk-free for a month.

2. McAfee — Powerful Anti-Identity Theft Antivirus Program

McAfee will let you rest easy knowing you’re nearly impervious to phishing scams and identity theft. It’s included in almost every best antivirus software Reddit list and has superb privacy features and reliable customer support.

This antivirus program can monitor up to 60 unique types of personal information, and it’ll warn you if your information gets leaked on the internet, including the dark web.

With its more advanced plans, McAfee provides insurance of up to $1 million per adult, covering eligible losses and fees in the unlikely case of identity theft.

With one of its more expensive plans, you can install McAfee on as many devices as you need, making it an outstanding solution for families and companies.

Installing McAfee on your company devices ensures your employees won’t accidentally leak your company data by visiting malicious websites. It also provides real-time protection against malware attacks and other online threats, making it an invaluable asset for your business.

McAfee has a beginner-friendly interface that doesn’t require you to be tech-savvy to protect your mobile devices and computers.

It also evaluates your security and displays a numeric score reflecting your system’s security level, allowing you to look for vulnerabilities and apply fixes if needed.

The best way to raise your score is to create strong passwords with McAfee’s password manager and fully protect your online accounts.

Pricing

McAfee’s cheapest solution comes at a low price of $29.99/year, and it covers one device with plenty of advanced features.

Its Plus plan covers up to five devices, while the other, more advanced, plans cover unlimited devices and offer the most feature-rich experience. Take advantage of McAfee’s 30-day money-back guarantee and try its premium plans risk-free now.

3. Norton — Popular Antivirus Software With an Advanced Firewall

Norton provides powerful malware attack protection, multiple scanning options, identity theft solutions, and many more comprehensive features. Thanks to its advanced two-way firewall and hosted online backup, it’s on our best antivirus for Windows 10 list.

Norton’s firewall checks more than just incoming traffic, as it’s a two-way firewall capable of stopping your data from being extracted. It’ll also detect any susceptible open ports and take action to close them, preventing data leaks.

That means nobody can hijack or gain access to your devices and steal your data. Beyond this, you get 250GB of cloud storage to back up your most crucial files. While Norton effectively stops malicious attacks, this feature ensures you can’t ever lose access to your most important files.

Besides providing the standard antivirus protection, Norton will monitor the dark web for private data leaks and warn you if it detects any threats to your online accounts. Norton uses highly advanced AI machine learning to learn about new threats and stop them in their tracks.

In other words, it can swiftly react to zero-day threats and the most modern malicious attacks, making it an excellent counter to phishing scams, ransomware attacks, and other cyber threats.

Pricing

Norton’s cheapest plan starts at just $19.99/year for the first year and covers a single device.

Norton 360 With Lifelock covers up to 10 devices and offers comprehensive features against identity theft and massive cloud storage. You can try Norton risk-free now thanks to its industry-leading 60-day money-back guarantee.

4. Nord Threat Protection — Superb Antivirus Solution Against Third-Party Trackers

Nord Threat Protection will keep your device security tight and scan the internet for data breaches that could directly affect your privacy. It can protect your devices from intrusive ads, web trackers, ransomware, malware attacks, and other online threats.

Every time you visit a website, your device provides a surprisingly large amount of data to help it create a more personalized experience based on your interests. Web trackers collect that data to learn more about you and keep the websites you visit updated on your interests.

Nord Threat Protection deals with trackers and ads with built-in features that block them and make your browsing experience safer. That means your privacy remains intact while on the internet, and it removes the background processes resulting in smoother browsing.

It protects you from malicious websites with hidden phishing forms or shady downloadable content. If you visit a harmful website, this antivirus program will immediately notify you and help you avoid trouble.

It scans every file you download before it reaches your system, which means it can remove malware-infested files before they can harm your device. Plus, it has a straightforward interface — activating protection for your device is as simple as going to “Settings” and turning it on.

Pricing

Nord Threat Protection’s cheapest plan costs as little as $29.88/year for new customers and protects you from malware attacks, web trackers, and intrusive ads.

The more expensive plans offer more advanced features, with its most pricey option featuring 1TB of encrypted cloud storage, a cross-platform password manager, and a data breach scanner.

Try Nord Threat Protection risk-free today, thanks to its 30-day money-back guarantee on all its plans.

5. Avast — Antivirus Program With Exceptional Ransomware Protection

Avast is a well-established provider renowned for its comprehensive free antivirus software and reliable Avast One paid plans. Over 435 million users worldwide trust Avast with their privacy, and it’s one of the best antiviruses for Android.

Avast focuses on keeping your devices safe from ransomware by constantly updating its anti-ransomware features to tackle this ever-evolving threat.

Besides safeguarding you from ransomware, it protects you from malware and social engineering attacks by blocking traffic from malicious websites and checking emails for potential threats.

It’s one of the best antivirus programs for mobile devices because of its clean-up tools that can extend your device’s battery life and perform in-depth scans for unused files and viruses.

Unlike most antivirus programs, Avast has a secure browser for mobile devices that guarantees no trackers and intrusive ads will interrupt your browsing.

With Avast, you can get up to $2 million in reimbursement for identity theft-related issues, including lost wages, stolen money, and certain out-of-pocket expenses related to identity restoration.

Pricing

While Avast offers a robust free plan, its paid plans include most of its advanced features:

Avast One Platinum is Avast’s most feature-rich plan that covers up to 30 devices and has 24/7 personal customer support, which can assist you with any tech or device issues. Try Avast risk-free today with its 30-day money-back guarantee.

6. Intego — Antivirus With Feature-Rich Plans for macOS

Intego firmly opposes the myth that devices running macOS don’t need antivirus programs to keep them safe. It’s a well-established antivirus provider focused on protecting Apple devices since 1997 with its award-winning cybersecurity solutions.

Intego has an advanced two-way firewall that’s beginner-friendly, even though it’s usually the most complicated feature to navigate and use.

Its firewall will protect your device from unauthorized third-party hackers and stop spyware programs from stealing your files and data and sending them across the internet.

Beyond this, it features a bootable backup for macOS, ensuring you won’t lose your files if you fall victim to a ransomware or malware attack. And to top it off, Intego’s Mac Washing Machine feature will clean your device of duplicate and unusable files and boost its performance.

Pricing

Intego offers multiple plans for Mac and Windows:

Its most expensive plan, the Mac Premium Bundle, includes a VPN, and all of its plans can cover up to five Mac devices for an additional fee. Intego offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to try its services risk-free today.

7. Surfshark Antivirus — Lightweight Antivirus That Includes an Unlimited VPN

Surfshark Antivirus keeps your data safe and scans the internet for any leaks that could harm your privacy. It’s part of an all-in-one cybersecurity solution called Surfshark One, which includes one of the fastest VPNs in the industry.

The Surfshark One bundle contains a capable antivirus and one of the best VPN services currently available. Surfshark One ensures your online privacy is intact and helps you avoid malicious websites and phishing scams.

Surfshark Antivirus offers several in-depth scanning options, including full, quick, scheduled, and drag-and-drop scans, ensuring your devices are malware-free.

In addition, it uses real-time scanning to continuously monitor your devices for threats, allowing you to rest easy knowing you’re always protected. Beyond this, it also features webcam protection.

This will safeguard your privacy from intrusive apps and malicious actors that would otherwise gain unauthorized access to your devices.

Pricing

Surfshark Antivirus is part of the Surfshark One bundle that includes one of the best VPNs currently available. It costs $95.52 for two years, making it a cost-effective solution for users who need a comprehensive antivirus and a superb VPN service.

You can also commit to an annual subscription at $65.76/year or a monthly subscription for $14.44/month, but its 2-year plan has the best value in the long run as it saves you 83% of your money. Try it out risk-free today, thanks to its 30-day money-back guarantee.

8. Avira — Superb Security Features Antivirus

Avira keeps you safe while browsing the internet and downloading files with real-time protection. It’ll automatically block malicious websites before they load and detect harmful files before they can harm your device.

While Avira offers a comprehensive free plan that keeps your devices safe at no cost, its Avira Prime premium plans provide an all-in-one cybersecurity solution. It includes:

• A password manager Reddit users recommend
• An unlimited VPN and antivirus protection
• A PC cleaner feature and software updates

You can customize how Avira scans your devices by manually running a quick or full scan or by scheduling scans and picking the folders you want to check for malware.

While it provides the best virus protection for PC, you can also protect your mobile devices with Avira since it’s a cross-platform and multi-device product that covers up to 25 devices.

Pricing

Avira’s cheapest plan covers five devices and includes all its advanced features:

It costs $129.99/year to cover more than five devices, up to a maximum of 25, or $12.99/month. Avira’s annual plans come with a massive 60-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to try its services risk-free today.

9. Kaspersky — Easy-to-Use Antivirus With Accurate Scans

Kaspersky uses cutting-edge AI technology to protect your devices from known and unknown online threats. It’s a lightweight program that won’t strain your devices and can clean them, resulting in a performance boost.

Proudly displaying its impressive results last year, Kaspersky claims it stopped 687 million cyber attacks, blocked 114 million unique malicious URLs, and neutralized 64 million unique malicious objects.

That’s made possible because of its in-depth, accurate scans that can prevent any malware attack or phishing attempt. Overall, Kaspersky offers a modern interface that’s easy to use and configure.

This allows you to stop it from sending you notifications while you’re working or gaming using one single setting. Beyond this, it also blocks unauthorized webcam access and web activity trackers and provides a hacker-proof secure browser that you can use to shop or bank online.

Pricing

Kaspersky offers affordable annual subscriptions, with its cheapest plan costing as little as $16.99/year for the first year.

You can configure its premium plans to cover up to 10 devices. You can test Kaspersky for a month thanks to its 30-day money-back guarantee.

10. TrendMicro — Antivirus With Excellent Anti-Scamming Features

TrendMicro lets you rest easy, knowing it can stop even the most sophisticated ransomware or malware attack.

This antivirus features enhanced anti-scam protection, preventing fraudulent and malicious websites from stealing your financial and personal data. It’ll also detect and flag suspicious emails and websites to help you avoid phishing attempts.

It’ll ensure you won’t fall victim to a malware attack and provides exceptional defence against ransomware. It backs your files up locally and through a cloud-based service like Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive, ensuring you can safely recover from a devastating ransomware attack.

TrendMicro also has a built-in password manager that can safeguard your online accounts and create complex passwords that are tough to crack, even for the most capable hackers.

Pricing 

TrendMicro’s cheapest plan is suitable for a single Windows device:

Its most expensive and feature-rich plan, Premium Security Suite, covers up to 10 devices. Take advantage of its 30-day money-back guarantee and try TrendMicro risk-free today.

Best Antivirus Software Reddit | Top Antiviruses Compared

Let’s see how these Reddit-suggested antivirus programs compare head-to-head based on their pricing, compatibility, money-back guarantee, and more:

Why Do I Need An Antivirus?

The best antivirus software is a must-have to protect your devices from ever-evolving cyber threats that can hijack your data. According to Reddit users, the invaluable benefits of using antivirus protection on your PC or mobile devices are:

Virus and Malware Protection

The best antivirus programs ensure your devices are virus and malware-free, preventing hackers from stealing your data or wreaking havoc on your systems.

While the most comprehensive service comes from premium antivirus programs like TotalAV, you should consider free virus protection from providers like Avast and Avira if you aren’t ready to commit to a subscription.

Privacy

Besides protecting your devices from external threats, the best antivirus programs will protect your data from being extracted.

A reliable antivirus will help you avoid phishing scams and fraudulent websites that would otherwise lead to the theft of your financial and identity information.

In addition, these programs will scan the internet, including the dark web, for data leaks that could put your privacy at risk. Antiviruses will swiftly alert you of potential issues, allowing you to secure your vulnerable online accounts or credit cards.

Tune-Up Tools

Unless you methodically manage your devices and delete outdated files, tune-up tools will do that for you – in minutes.

These features can detect and delete duplicate, outdated, and unnecessary files, ultimately boosting your device’s performance. The best antivirus programs offer cloud storage that you can use to store important files and take some load off your device’s internal storage.

Should I Trust Antivirus Recommendations from Reddit Users?

Reddit is an excellent source of first-hand information about various tech-related and other topics. We’ve read through dozens of the best antivirus Reddit lists, including the best free antivirus Reddit suggestions, and found unbiased opinions.

However, we’ve thoroughly tried and tested these antivirus programs recommended by Reddit users before placing them on our list.

The Best Free Antivirus Reddit | Do Reddit Users Recommend Free Antiviruses?

The best free antivirus Reddit lists favor Avira and Avast over other free antivirus programs, and Reddit users have a generally favorable view of free virus protection software.

However, Redditors often mention their flaws, including limited features and malware databases compared to their premium plan counterparts. That means free antivirus programs can’t effectively protect your devices from the newest and most sophisticated online threats.

In addition, a significant drawback of a free antivirus program is that it usually doesn’t include extra features like an unlimited VPN or a password manager, limiting your overall cybersecurity.

How We Ranked the Best Antivirus Reddit Users Recommend

Whether you’re looking for a program with the best virus protection for PC or the best antivirus app for iPhone, there are factors to consider before finalizing your decision. Here’s a list of crucial factors to consider before your purchase:

Ease-of-Use

You should avoid overly complicated antivirus programs that require tech expertise to install and use. The best antivirus software should have an easy-to-use interface that you can comfortably navigate.

It should clarify what each feature does for you to avoid resource-heavy background processes. You should also look for antiviruses that provide detailed and accurate reports after each scan or incident.

Frequent Updates

Avoid antivirus programs that don’t have constant updates because they won’t be able to stop the newest threats. Formidable threats like viruses, ransomware, malware, and spyware attacks evolve daily, and so should your antivirus.

You should look for antiviruses that automatically update their software to avoid doing it manually each time.

Performance

Some antivirus programs overwork your devices with various background processes and in-depth, resource-heavy scans.

While that works in your interest and helps the antivirus detect even the stealthiest threats, you should look for antiviruses that can perform well without overworking your computer or mobile devices.

Look for antiviruses with multiple scanning options, like quick scans or drag-and-drop scans that are quick and accurate.

Complete Threat Protection

Look for antivirus programs that can protect you from more than just ransomware, malware, viruses, and other well-known threats.

While the best antivirus software complements cybersecurity tools like password managers and VPNs, it should protect you from social engineering attacks and data breaches.

Consider antiviruses with comprehensive phishing protection, anti-scam features, and prevention of identity theft.

Reddit Antivirus FAQs