Top 5 Best Free Antivirus Software (2026)

Howdy folks, Brett here with another top 5 in tech. To keep your computer safe from viruses and other malware, you will need software that offers excellent protection. Thankfully, there are some great programs that are offered for free. In this top 5 for Windows and macOS, I'll count down the best free antivirus software. In testing, ease of use, system impact, and overall effectiveness were the most important factors. So let's dive in. Starting things off, coming in at number 5 is AVG Antivirus Free. You may be familiar with its sister companies, also offering antivirus software, Avast and Avira. While the three programs do share the exact same antivirus protection engine, AVG's feature set is much more limited. On the positive side, their email shield can warn you about infected emails and attachments. Their phishing protection does help to avoid scams from infected links and websites, and it does have a good firewall to stop people from attempting to hack your PC's network. Downsides are that some users have reported that their computers tend to lag when real-time protection is turned on, and it has a lot of ads when compared to other free antivirus. AVG Antivirus Free is available for Windows and macOS. Mobile apps are also available for iOS and Android. Next up, coming in at number 4 is Avira Free Antivirus. Prior to the year 2020, before it fell under the same corporate umbrella as AVG and Avast, it was one of my favorites, but over time, got passed up by its competitors. On a positive note, it still has free features the others do not have. It utilizes the power of machine learning and artificial intelligence to protect against new and evolving threats. It also includes a free VPN, but you're limited to only 500 megabytes per month, and it includes an ad and tracker blocker built in. Just like AVG, users do report that Avira Free Antivirus does have a negative impact on system performance on low-spec computers. If that doesn't describe your situation and you want to try it out, it's available for Windows and Mac, along with mobile apps for Android and iOS. Moving things along, Avast Free Antivirus comes in at number 3. While it does share the exact same antivirus protection engine as its sister companies, AVG and Avira already mentioned, Avast ranks higher than those two because it includes more of its useful features, which they include for free on both Windows and macOS. It includes an excellent firewall to protect your computer from hackers and other intruders, which is especially helpful when using a laptop connected to a public Wi-Fi network. Their botnet shield protects your computer from being attacked and turned into a part of a bot network. In addition, their ransomware protection prevents hackers from getting access, changing, or locking your files, holding them ransom until you pay up. Avast Free Antivirus is available for Windows and Mac. Mobile apps are also available for Android and iOS. Quickly, before we get to our top two picks, I should mention that if you're running Windows 10 or Windows 11, the built-in Microsoft Defender Antivirus as part of Windows Security may be While the protection scores have improved, the others already mentioned and coming up do provide more comprehensive protection with higher malware detection rates, but it's still better than using nothing. While Apple does offer basic anti-malware protections built into macOS, it's far from being sufficient. It's less comprehensive, max real-time scanning capabilities, and is well known in the security community to update slower to new threats. The use of virus, ransomware, and other malware attacks on macOS has been quickly on the rise over the last few years, so just using Apple's so-called security features built-in is not enough these days, especially for those of you with higher risk behavior online. Back to the countdown, our number two pick is actually three programs we recommend having installed as a backup for what your primary antivirus may have missed, beginning with Trend Micro Housecall. Available for Windows and Mac, it's easy to use, it will not interfere with your primary antivirus, provides detailed threat reports even a novice would understand, and the scan options are customizable. ESET's free online scanner gets recommended quite a bit by people in our comments as a second line of defense. It's good for possibly finding and removing threats your primary antivirus did not catch. This one's only available for Windows. And Malwarebytes Free is what I use as a secondary solution. It's great because like the other two I mentioned, with their real-time protection turned off, it won't interfere with your primary antivirus software slowing down your PC. It's available for Windows, macOS, and Chromebook. There's also a mobile app for Android. And I'll mention this briefly, if you use an iPhone, their iOS app called Malwarebytes Mobile Security, in addition to the malware protection, it has the added benefit of blocking ads in the Safari browser, which might be useful for some of you. Coming in at number one, the best free antivirus software is Bitdefender Antivirus Free. Independent labs give it an excellent score for detection of malware, and unlike most free antivirus software, offers live customer support. The free version is difficult to find on their site, so I recommend using the link in the description to get to it. With their real-time scanning and threat detection, it has a very low impact on system performance, with great ransomware protection. Also included is a top-notch anti-phishing and anti-rootkit utility built in. Bitdefender Antivirus Free is available for Windows. It's also available for macOS, using a different name, Virus Scanner for Mac. It's also available for free, with various scan settings, and lets you remove or quarantine any dangerous threats. Thanks for watching. All links are in the description. If this video was useful for you, give it a thumbs up and share it with others. In the comments, let us know the antivirus software that you're currently using. And if you're new to our channel and haven't done so already, subscribe and make sure to hit that bell to not miss out on our latest top fives and other tech-related stuff here on Brett in Tech.