Some might consider identifying the best Mac software in 2018 a redundant task, given that Macs 'don't get viruses.' But although its true that Apple machines are targeted less than Windows, they can still be infected. The risks are increasing, which is why you need protection. Every product in this list has been chosen because it's especially designed to protect Mac systems and has scored highly at identifying and removing viruses and malware. We've also highlighted the The macOS operating system is based on the Unix operating system, which is sandboxed. That means it’s very difficult for viruses to do any damage. Think of them as locked in a little box from which they can’t escape no matter how hard they try.
This means that you need specific Mac antivirus software - whether that be the very strongest paid-for protection or a free download that we've picked out at the bottom of this guide - that's been designed to work with the unique demands that macOS has, so read on for our top choices. Mac antivirus: which is best at detecting threats? The excellent regularly puts anti-virus programs through their paces, and their most recent tests took place in June 2018 on macOS High Sierra. They tested two key areas: how well the packages detected Mac-specific threats, and how well they protected against Macs in mixed-OS environments being hijacked to spread Windows malware. While the amount of Mac malware is still considerably less than that targeting Windows, its still 100 times higher than what experts predicted just a few years ago.
For Mac malware, six packages achieved 100% detection without false positives. User interface won't be to everyone's taste Kaspersky is a well regarded name in the field of antivirus protection, and it maintains that reputation with its Internet Security for Mac software, which brings a range of features that put much of its competitors to shame, including firewall protection, parental controls and tools to make sure you can shop and bank completely securely online. The huge range of features are certainly welcome, but it can make the interface a bit cumbersome to navigate if you're looking for a particular tool. Pricey Norton is another brand that's well known in the anti-virus world, and the Norton Security Deluxe software helps protect your Mac with an excellent malware detection engine. It can cover a range of devices, so you can have it protect your Macs, or even any Windows PCs you have, or mobile devices. While the security it offers is great, there can be a noticeable impact on system speed when in use. If you want to keep your Mac feeling as speedy as possible, look at one of the other choices in this best software for Mac list, but if you want robust, dependable protection, no matter what, then Norton Security Deluxe is definitely worth investing in.
The next four achieved between 99.5% and 98.4% without false positives. No website filtering ClamXAV doesn't have the catchiest of names, but it's the antivirus software for Mac that many IT professionals swear by - not least because it only creates AV for Apple computers. That doesn't mean it's overly complicated - in fact, it has one of the most simple and easy-to-use interfaces out of all the Mac antivirus software on this list. It's particularly adept at catching viruses in email attachments, and while it doesn't come with some of the internet safety tools of other suites, it's still an excellent choice for protecting your Mac, and unlike its competitors, it offers a one-off fee, rather than a yearly subscription.
F-Secure SAFE is pitched as an antivirus service for the entire family, protecting all manner of devices, including PCs, smartphones, tablets as well as Macs, and strong parental controls. AV-Test found F-Secure protected against 100 per cent of zero-day threats during March and April 2018, as well as 100 per cent of all widespread and prevalent malware discovered during the previous four weeks. However as of June 2018, detection rates of MacOS malware are 96.4 per cent. Concerns about the suite slowing down the installation of frequently used applications also persist, as does a relative lack of features. Having said that it does offer some nifty capabilities such as banking protection, which blocks specific sites and apps from interacting with your system while you’re logged in, and specific safeguards across the scourge of ransomware. In short, F-Secure’s user-friendly UI and accurate protection make it an adequate choice, but it is lacking in the feature department. Do I need free or paid-for antivirus for Mac?
The debate is the same regardless of whether you have a Mac or a PC. Free antivirus products are effective at protecting against threats but they lack certain premium features. Having multiple systems on a network means cyberattacks have more users and more endpoints to target. Additional management tools that let you set policies can help mitigate this risk.
Macs might be considered safer than PCs, but it still might not be risking it for the sake of saving some money. Top 5 best free antivirus for Mac in 2018.
Detects network vulnerabilities goes the extra mile to protect your Mac with an unusually lengthy feature list. The core antivirus engine offers real-time protection to catch threats when they appear, for instance. You can run on-demand full system scans if you suspect a problem, or launch a more targeted check on specific files, folders or drives. It's even possible to schedule scans to run automatically when you're not around. A Web Shield warns you about malicious websites, blocks dangerous downloads and email attachments, and protects your privacy by eliminating intrusive ad tracking.
There's an unusual extra in Avast's wireless network scanner, which quickly checks your network, router and connected devices, alerting you to any vulnerabilities. Mac antivirus software isn't often checked by the independent testing labs, but Avast's most recent results were good, with finding the package detected 99.9% of sample threats. Only Bitdefender and Kaspersky did better, and they were both paid editions.
If you'd like even more, upgrading to Avast Security Pro gets you ransomware protection and instant alerts of Wi-Fi intruders or changes in your network security. A one Mac, one-year licence can be yours for £49.99 ($70). No web filtering While many antivirus companies try to win you over by piling on the features, takes a simpler, more lightweight approach. There's no web filtering, no network scanning or other security extras: it's purely focused on keeping your system malware-free.
That doesn't mean the package is short on power. Its real-time scanner checks any file the system accesses, picking up threats before they can do any harm. The scheduler enables setting up the app to scan your system automatically, or you're able to check your entire system whenever you like. As a bonus, the app doesn't just protect against Mac threats. It also uses Avira's Windows experience to pick up any PC-related malware, ensuring you won't share any files that might endanger your friends. The main testing labs haven't evaluated Avira Free Antivirus for a while, but found the Avira engine blocked 99.1% of test malware, and with Avira's strong record on the PC we've no doubt that this is an app you can trust.
Although this list is all about free Mac antivirus, Avira deserves a mention for its commercial Avira Antivirus Pro 2018. It adds an option to scan USB keys for threats, includes tech support and protects up to five devices with one licence (Mac, Windows and Android), yet the cost is low at just £29.99 ($42) a year. No real-time protection is a lightweight free malware hunter which can track down and remove both Mac and Windows-related threats. A simple and straightforward interface makes the app extremely easy to use. A status display keeps you up-to-date on how your system is doing, and four buttons enable running a quick scan of critical locations, an in-depth check of your entire system, or speedy scans of running applications or a folder of your choice. Although this looks all very basic, use Bitdefender Virus Scanner for Mac for a while and you begin to notice some very neat touches. The app doesn't force you to wait a day for your next virus signature updates, for instance.
Bitdefender issues updates every hour and Virus Scanner always fetches the latest version before it starts a scan. An option to exclude files and folders from the scan - network shares, system backups - is another plus, reducing the work the engine has to do and significantly speeding up your scan times. What you don't get here is any form of real-time protection or web filtering, essential tools for a complete security solution. This simplicity also reduces the chance of conflicts with other apps, though, suggesting Bitdefender Virus Scanner could be a useful second opinion tool which you run alongside another security app. No real-time protection Mac antivirus software isn't just about detecting the latest most deadly ransomware, or other high-risk threats. Most tools can also strip out adware and other potentially unwanted programs which may not be highly dangerous, but are wasting system resources and slowing your Mac down.
Has been eliminating the full range of Windows threats since 2006, and the Mac edition is just as simple, straightforward and effective. The app is such a lightweight installation, the size of three digital music files, that you'll barely notice it's there.
And while the lack of real-time protection means Malwarebytes can't stop attacks - only remove existing infections - it also ensures there's no real impact on your system resources and the app is unlikely to conflict with other antivirus tools. Performance is another highlight, with Malwarebytes claiming the average system is scanned in less than 15 seconds. Set it running when you check your emails in the morning and it'll be finished before you are. Installing Malwarebytes for Mac also gets you a 30-day trial of the Premium edition which is able to detect and block threats as they appear. If you're not interested in this, ignore it; real-time protection will disappear when the trial expires and you'll get on-demand scanning only. Alternatively, upgrading to Malwarebytes Premium enables protecting any mix of three Mac, Windows or Android devices, and a one-year licence is priced at £49.99 ($70). Protect Macs and PCs from one account The free antivirus market is highly competitive and it can be difficult for individual companies to stand out from the crowd, but the British vendor has found a way: it gives you more features in its free products than many competitors provide in their paid editions.
On-demand scanning to clean up infected systems? Check. Real-time protection to prevent attacks in the first place? Of course. Browser filtering which blocks access to dangerous sites?
Naturally. Parental controls to define the content your child can access online? Oh, and you can cover up to three Mac or Windows devices with a single account, and remotely check and manage their status from a central web console - potentially very useful when protecting the whole family. Sophos isn't just piling on these extras to disguise a weak antivirus engine, either. Showed Sophos delivered the same level of protection as products from Avast, Bitdefender, Kaspersky and other big names.
This works for us, but if you need more, Sophos Home Premium does have some worthwhile extra features: advanced ransomware protection, monitoring of access to your webcam and microphone, live chat and email support, and the option to protect up to 10 devices. It's a strong feature set, and competitively priced at £40 ($56) a year. Mac antivirus: what’s the effect on performance? Most of us believe that virus protection software has a negative effect on performance, but chances are it’s much less negative than we think: in their tests, AV-Test found that there was no measurable performance drop when using ClamXav, MacKeeper, Kaspersky or Norton. There was a measurable difference with Sophos and Trend Micro (2 per cent of additional system load), and with ESET and Bitdefender, which added around 4 per cent to the overall system load. Mac antivirus: do I really need it? That really depends on you.
The risk of infection remains pretty remote, and if you practice basic security measures and don’t fall for common scams then you’re very unlikely to suffer from any problems. Even ransomware can be defeated with the cunning tactic of having a backup of anything important. That said, if you’ve ever experienced the mess malware can make on a Windows system you’ll know that just getting things back to normal can be an incredible time thief, especially if key data has been damaged. Perhaps the question shouldn’t be whether anti-virus is worth the money, but whether your time is more valuable than the cost of a security app.
Rubenking The Best Mac Antivirus Protection of 2018 Despite what you may have heard, your Apple computer is not immune to malware. We test the top contenders to identify those offering the best Mac antivirus protection. Even Macs Need Antivirus Protection It never fails. If you post on a help forum about some computer problem you're having, some genius is sure to contribute, 'Get a Mac!' Yeah, it's not much help, but there is a nugget of value at the core of that advice. Devices running Windows (and Android) are vastly more likely to get hit with a malware infestation than Macs, simply because the macOS operating system is better at maintaining security. But less likely doesn't mean impossible; Macs do get hit with ransomware, Trojans, and other types of malware.
Smart Mac users don't rely strictly on the OS. They install a macOS-centric antivirus utility. We've put a collection of such tools under serious scrutiny, to help you choose the one that's best for your macOS devices. As with, the most common price is just under $40 per year for a single license.
ProtectWorks is unusual in that a single $29.95 payment lets you protect all the Macs in your household, with no subscription needed. McAfee goes beyond that, with a $59.99 per year subscription that protects all your Macs, PCs, Android, and iOS devices. With Sophos Home Premium, $50 per year lets you insall and remotely manage protection on 10 Macs or PCs. At the high end, you pay $99.99 per year for a three-license subscription to Intego Mac Internet Security X9. You may have heard that the coming advances the platform's privacy and security. Safari on Mojave automatically blocks ads and social media trackers. The built-in password manager does more than ever.
And when AppleScript apps try to access internal macOS features, Mojave makes them wait until you give permission. But nothing we've seen suggests that upgrading to Mojave will obviate the need for an antivirus utility.
Free Mac Antivirus Protection There's another angle to the variation in Mac antivirus pricing. How about paying nothing at all?, Avira Free Antivirus for Mac, and Sophos Home Free (for Mac) are totally free for personal use, although Sophos technically limits you to three devices, macOS or Windows.
AVG also offers free antivirus for Mac, but until its phishing protection improves we can't recommend it. The best commercial products offer more protection but if you can't afford the best, at least install a free antivirus. Offers everything found in the free edition, plus ransomware protection and Wi-Fi intruder detection. We don't consider the added features worth the product's $59.99 per year subscription price. It merits three stars, but not a spot in the chart. Malware Protection Lab Certifications When you go to select a new washer, refrigerator, or other appliance, chances are good you research it first.
User reviews can be helpful, as long as you discard the very best and very worst of them. But actual test results performed by an independent lab give you more reliable information. Two large labs include antivirus products in their testing, and all but four of the products in this roundup received certification from at least one of them.
Malwarebytes declines to be tested, on the basis that its unusual detection mechanism isn't compatible with current testing methods. And the labs didn't choose to include ClamXAV, McAfee, or ProtectWorks. The researchers at evaluate Mac antivirus products on three criteria: protection, performance, and usability. A product can earn up to six points for each. Protection against malware protection is essential, of course, as is a low impact on performance. A high usability score reflects a small number of false positives, legitimate programs and websites identified as dangerous. Several products achieved a perfect 18 points, all six points for all three criteria.
F-Secure Safe took the lowest score in the most recent test. You won't find a Mac-specific review of this product, as it's a cross-platform suite that protects Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices. In the macOS malware test by, almost every charted product scored at least 99 percent, and a couple managed a perfect 100 percent. Webroot stumbled just a bit, with 96.9 percent protection.
This lab, too, included a test using malware aimed at Windows. Yes, these samples can't affect a computer running macOS, but they could conceivably escape to Windows machines on the network. Scores in the Windows malware test ranged from 35 percent to 100 percent, which is quite a span. Results in these tests have a much smaller point spread than in tests of. It's good that most products in the chart received at least one certification for Mac protection, and even better that some received two certifications. Malwarebytes earned a three-star good rating, but because of its unusual detection and remediation mechanisms, it's not suited to lab testing, and hence has no lab certifications.
The chart also doesn't include free products such as Sophos and Avira, but you can find all of these products in the blurbs at the bottom of this roundup. Hands-On Phishing Protection Testing When we test on Windows, we use live malware inside an isolated virtual machine. We've coded a number of analysis tools over the years to help with this testing. Little of that testing regimen carries over to the Mac. Phishing, however, isn't platform-specific, and neither is our antiphishing test. Phishing websites imitate secure sites, everything from banks and finance sites to gaming and dating sites.
If you enter your credentials at the fake login page, you've given the phisher access to your account. And it doesn't matter if you are browsing on a PC, a Mac, or an internet-aware sewing machine. Over half of the products in this story include protection against malicious and fraudulent sites. With ClamXAV, Intego, and ProtectWorks, this just isn't an included feature.
The venerable SiteAdvisor component of McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac) failed when tested previously. More recently, it went from flop to phenom, with an amazing 100 percent protection. The wily malefactors who create phishing sites are in the business of deception, and they constantly change and update their techniques, hoping to evade detection.
If one fraudulent site gets blacklisted or shut down by the authorities, they simply pop up with a new one. That being the case, we try to use the very newest phishing URLs for testing, scraping them from phishing-focused websites. We launch each URL simultaneously in four browsers. One is Safari on the Mac, protected by the Mac antivirus that's under test. The other three use the protection built into Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Discarding any that don't fit the phishing profile, and any that don't load correctly in all four browsers, we report the product's success as the average of the difference between its detection rate and that of the other four test systems. Most of the products in this roundup beat the combined average of the three browsers.
Bitdefender in particular scored hugely higher; perhaps the browsers were having a bad day. It's worth noting that, while phishing is platform-independent, phishing defense may not be. For example, Norton on Windows scored siginficantly better than Norton for the Mac. Tested at the same time, McAfee on Windows and on macOS both scored 100 percent. Ransomware Protection The scourge of ransomware is on the rise.
While ransomware attacks are more common on Windows devices, Macs have suffered as well. Of course, any antivirus utility should handle ransomware just as it handles spyware, Trojans, viruses, and other malware types. But since the consequences of missing a ransomware attack are so great, some security products add components with the sole purpose of preventing ransomware attacks. We've observed a wide variety of techniques on Windows. These include blocking unauthorized access to user documents, detecting ransomware based on its activity, and recovering encrypted files from backup. Of the products listed here, Bitdefender and Trend Micro offer a ransomware component that blocks unauthorized modification of protected documents. As with Bitdefender's Windows edition, the Safe Files feature prevents all unauthorized access to your documents.
On a Mac, it also protects your Time Machine backups. Trend Micro offers multiple layers of Windows ransomware protection. Folder Shield, which, like Safe Files, prevents unauthorized document access, is the only layer that made its way to the macOS edition. Sophos Home Premium includes the same CryptoGuard behavior-based ransomware protection found in its Windows equivalent. Our Windows test sytsems are virtual machines, so we feel free to release real-world ransomware for testing.
We just roll back the virtual machine to a clean snapshot after testing. We don't have the option to do that on the physical Mac testbed, so we just have to figure that since it worked on Windows, it probably works on macOS.
Spyware Protection Any kind of malware problem is unpleasant, but spyware may be the most unnerving. Imagine some creeper secretly peeking at you through your Mac's webcam! Other types of spying include logging keystrokes to capture your passwords, sending Trojans to steal your personal data, and watching your online activities to build a profile.
As with ransomware protection, we've observed more features specifically devoted to on Windows-based security products than on the Mac, but a few products in this collection do pay special attention to spyware. Under Windows, Kaspersky's Safe Money feature opens sensitive sites in a secure browser that's hardened against outside interference.
The Safe Money feature on the Mac doesn't do that, but it does check URLs to make sure you're on a legitimate secure site. Kaspersky offers an onscreen keyboard, so you can enter passwords with no chance of capture by a keylogger. Its webcam protection isn't as configurable as it is on Windows, but you can use it to disable your Mac's webcam whenever you're not using it. It even includes the ability to block advertisers and others from tracking your online activities. If spyware is your bugaboo, you'll like Kaspersky.
Sophos Home Premium offers protection for the webcam and microphone that's more substantial than Kaspersky's. You get a notification any time an untrusted program attempts to access either; you can allow access or stop the program. There's also an option to whitelist a program, so you don't get a popup every time you use your off-brand video chat tool. Bonus Features.
Many antivirus tools on Windows pack in a ton of bonus features, packing in everything from tune-up utilities to. That behavior seems less common on the macOS side.
Even so, some vendors don't have a standalone Mac antivirus, opting instead to offer a full as the baseline level of protection, and a few others include suite-like bonus features in the basic antivirus. A typical personal firewall component blocks attacks coming in from the internet and also manages network permissions for programs installed on your Mac. Intego, McAfee, and Norton each include a firewall component, while Kaspersky's Network Protection comes close.
Parental control is another common suite component. With Sophos (free or premium) and Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac, a content filter can block access to websites matching unwanted categories. Kaspersky goes beyond that, with content filtering, internet time scheduling, private data protection, and even social media contact control. Protect Your Mac Most of the products covered in this roundup earned certification from at least one independent testing lab; some managed two certifications. There really are no bad choices here, as far as basic antivirus protection goes. Even so, a couple of products stood out. Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac not only achieved certification from both labs, it earned the maximum score in every test, and took the top antiphishing score.
Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac also earned high scores. It offers a full suite of Mac security tools, at the same price competitors charge for basic antivirus protection. These two are our Editors' Choice winners for Mac antivirus protection. Look over the reviews, pick the product that suits you best, and get your Mac protected.
Once you've done that, you should also consider installing a. While an antivirus protects you, your devices, and your data locally, a VPN extends that protection to your online activities, protecting both your security and your privacy. Pros: Protects files and backups from ransomware. Top ratings from two independent testing labs. Excellent score in our antiphishing test. No-hassle Autopilot mode. TrafficLight browser extension marks dangerous links in search results.
Cons: TrafficLight currently doesn't work under the specific Safari/Google combination. Bottom Line: Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac gets top marks from the independent labs and in our own hands-on testing. With its handy Autopilot mode, you can set it, forget it, and have confidence that your Apple computer is protected against malware. Pros: Excellent scores from two independent testing labs. Full parental control system.
Network protection. Decent score in our antiphishing test. Privacy protection. Useful bonus tools. Cons: Parental content filter foiled by secure anonymizing proxy. Content filter missed raunchy sites blocked by Windows edition.
Bottom Line: Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac excels in independent lab tests, and it goes far beyond mere antivirus, offering protection against network attacks, parental control, privacy protection, and many other useful features. Pros: Certified by one independent antivirus lab. Webcam protection. Very good phishing protection. Ransomware protection. Remote management. Simple parental control.
Cons: Parental content filter foiled by secure anonymizing proxy. Lacks exploit protection, malware deep-clean, download reputation check, keylogger protection, and other advanced features found in the Windows edition. Bottom Line: Sophos Home Premium offers Mac antivirus protection at a very reasonable price, but the absence of many advanced features found in the Windows edition is disappointing.
Pros: Certified by one independent testing lab. Speedy full scan.
Best Antivirus For Mac And Iphone
Excellent phishing protection for Chrome and Firefox. Useful bonus features. Ransomware protection. Wi-Fi intruder detection.
Cons: Doesn't add much to free edition's features. Poor phishing protection for Safari. Password manager includes only basic features.
Antivirus For Mac
Bottom Line: Avast Security Pro (for Mac) adds ransomware protection and Wi-Fi intruder detection to the features found in Avast's free antivirus, but these additions don't merit its high price.