Another seven managed a decent three-star rating, but there isn't room for all of those. Ten commercial macOS antivirus products that earned 3.5 stars or better appears in the list at top. The best commercial products offer more protection but if you can't afford the best, at least install a free antivirus. How about paying nothing at all? Avast One Essential for Mac, AVG AntiVirus for Mac, and Avira Free Antivirus for Mac are totally free for personal use. There's another angle to the variation in Mac antivirus pricing. Still, nothing we've seen suggests that upgrading to Monterey will obviate the need for an antivirus utility. And Monterey adds subtle security enhancements like hiding your IP address in Safari and Mail and easier access to passwords. Big Sur goes further, sealing the operating system in a protected volume that's unreachable by malware. MacOS Catalina piled on more security features, with enhanced control over data-access permissions, weak password warnings, a strengthened anti-malware gatekeeper, and more. When macOS Mojave came out, it advanced security in various ways, including tracker blocking in Safari, a password manager, and a tighter rein on AppleScript. At the high end, you pay $99.99 per year for a three-license subscription to Intego Mac Internet Security X9 or Airo Antivirus for Mac. With Sophos Home Premium, $60 per year lets you install and remotely manage protection on 10 Macs or PCs. McAfee goes beyond that, with a $59.99 per year subscription that protects all your Macs, PCs, Android, and iOS devices.

ProtectWorks is unusual in that a single $29.95 payment lets you protect all the Macs in your household, with no subscription needed. All you need do is pick the one that best suits your needs.Īs with Windows antivirus tools, the most common price is just under $40 per year for a single license.

We’ve evaluated dozens of antivirus products to determine how well they’ll protect your Mac. If you don’t know what to install, fear not. If you’re already using a security product on your Windows boxes, check for macOS support-it may be easy to enable cross-platform protection. All it takes is one successful ransomware attack on your Mac to ruin your day.

It’s true that Windows is easier to hack, and more malware exists in the Windows arena, but your Mac isn’t invulnerable. Here’s another similarity-you need antivirus protection on both platforms.

With its new layout options and centered taskbar, Windows 11 is looking more and more like macOS. Best Malware Removal and Protection Software.

Free antivirus for apple computers