The notion that MacOS is immune from malware is no more true. The recent researches showed that Macs, especially jailbroken devices, are vulnerable to online attacks at the same degree that windows devices are. Albeit, the type of threats is different. To give you an overall view, here we went over the list of Top 10 Best MacBook antivirus software.
Bitdefender Antivirus-Mac
If you’re looking for a smart and flawless security solution for your Mac, you should go for Bitdefender. While having no or almost no impact on the performance of your device, it provides everything your Mac needs to be virus-free and hack-proof.
Developed with user privacy in mind, Bitdefender comes with multi-layer Ransomware protection. It also features a Time Machine that helps you to recover your data if a Ransomware won’t let you access your device unless you pay some fees.
To stop websites from tracking your activities and help you stay anonymous, there is also a browser extension and VPN included in a very good web protection engine that blocks suspicious websites and ads reaching your notebook and phishing your banking accounts.
Bitdefender has the ability to detect Windows viruses too. That means malware won’t use your device as a bridge to infect other Windows machines in the network where it can cause damages. This is a feature no many other Mac antivirus offers.
Kaspersky Antivirus-Mac
As one of the most well-known and long-standing brands, Kaspersky offers one of the best antivirus apps for iOS. Like Kaspersky products, this tailor-made antivirus for Mac is praised for providing a perfect defence against malware.
Thanks to URL blocking and robust anti-phishing, Kaspersky not only keeps you safe online but also helps to protect your privacy. To set your mind at ease, it has advanced ransomware protection ensuring that your data won’t be lost in the case of malware attack. There is also an encrypted browser providing an extra security layer for online transactions.
Apart from excellent protection from viruses and trojans, Kaspersky for Mac prevents hijackers from accessing your notebook’s webcam. This interesting feature means there is no need to cover that camera as you know nobody can gain access.
Norton 360 Deluxe
Thanks to years of experience, Symantec (now known as NortonLifeLock Inc.) is considered as one of the leaders in the user security industry, and it should be no surprise that its comprehensive security solution Norton 360 is ranked as one of best antiviruses for MacOS has been ever made.
With Norton, you can expect very good antivirus protection as well as anti-ransomware. Furthermore, the intelligent firewall provides another layer of protection for your device.
Norton comes with tones of useful features such as an internal password manager and a VPN with unlimited traffic. Two features that most rivals lack or may demand extra fees for activation.
Add to these free cloud backups and other security options that come along with security pack at a reasonable price. However, tests indicate that it slows down some PCs especially older ones. So, before going for this giant defender suite make sure that you have a fast machine.
Trend Micro-Mac
TrendMicro is a solid and no-frill detector of malware and spyware in the Mac world. Thanks to advanced AI, it catches viruses before reaching your device, and even a malware could manage to bypass the first defence firewall, a powerful real-time shield is always there to hinder vicious apps from causing damage to your Mac.
This pioneering security suite includes web and anti-phishing engines that warn users as soon as they hover on a link with untrusted content. To shelter children and us from online threats, it offers a promising parental control tool finished with a secure password manager.
When you need Antivirus for more than a single device, the Maximum-security package allows you to enable protection for five different devices including desktop and mobile security.
It turns out that Trend Micro lacks active ransomware detection and removal, rather, they offer a kind of lockbox you can use to tag and protect a few locations such as Desktop and Documents.
Intego Mac Internet Security X9
With more than two decades of experience in the industry, Intego provides dedicated security solutions for Mac and Windows. Intego Mac offers some cool features that other top Mac security packs don’t, a smart firewall that blocks malware before getting to your machine. Anything that slips through the first defensive line, it’ll meet with an invincible concrete real-time shield.
You’ll get advanced phishing protection too. So, you can be sure that cheeky website won’t show you deceptive link and emails. And all of these comes with an affordable price and intuitive interface. Despite being a very flexible program for more advanced users, it still has straightforward and simple to use for newbs.
Sophos Home Premium for Mac
Sophos provides protection for up to 10 Mac or PCs at the same time and a low price. The antivirus suite comes with dedicated ransomware protection as well as parental web filtering. It also blocks unauthorized access to microphone and webcam.
The user interface is simple and mostly lives in the menu bar and, for more advanced users they offer a powerful management tool that gives control over every part of the program.
Despite the minimal GUI, the background process requires a more fraction of system resources compared to its competitors, but it’s still is a way ahead of Windows counterparts.
AVG Antivirus for Mac
The Czech Republic-based cybersecurity company maintains AVG technologies antivirus for Mac, including a free version that comes with all essential tools you need for keeping cyber-attacks away from your notebook. That includes standard real-time anti-malware, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, anti-ransomware, and other protections as well as email and download protection.
AVG offers two paid products too. AVG internet security enhances the protection provided by the free version with a more advanced detection algorithm capable of identifying for malware released for the first time. Besides, it includes a removable drive and webcam shield, a firewall, a “Do Not Disturb” mode, anti-phishing, and much more.
For more security, the ultimate version adds an AVG’s multi-operating system VPN on the top of the less expensive plans. It also includes AVG Tune-up system optimization software. This will ensure that your Mac runs smoothly all the time.
ESET Antivirus for Mac
ESET has a very good reputation in the IT world for providing the top security for devices while leaving the minimum footprints in the system performance. They generally sell the security solution in three plans, i.e. ESET NODE32 antivirus, ESET Internet Security and ESET Smart Security Premium.
The basic plan includes a full-range of protections such as the fight against viruses, spyware, phishing, exploits and ransomware. The script-based attack protection will identify and remove malicious scripts from infiltrating to your device.
The Next plan offers all benefits of the Node32 plus some advanced features such as firewall and spam filter as well as defence against network threats, webcams intrusions, and router attacks. Besides, you can locate your laptop by the anti-theft feature and block kids from viewing an objectionable website using the parental control tool.
F-Secure SAFE -Mac
F-secure SAFE keeps you safe from a variety of malware including, viruses, trojans, ransomware, adware, keyloggers. Not only that, it provides online banking and web security, parental control, popup blocker and smartphone locator.
The more expensive option called F-Secure TOTAL brings a secure virtual private network (VPN) and password manager at your disposal. F-Secure allows users to buy its FREEDOME VPN separately too.
Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus-Mac
Webroot Antivirus Plus has some bonus features, such as a passwords manager, that other Mac antivirus apps lack. It delivers a very fast scan. A quick scan of the system takes one minutes and a half while a full-scan needs only about 25 minutes. Other security solutions generally require a couple of hours to finish full-scan of the PC for the first time.
But this comes at a price of failing to detect as much as malware its competitors did. The antivirus has a good browser plugin but you can’t install them until the installation and initial scan is finished.
The Bottom Line
According to our review, Bitdefender is the best custom-made antivirus for macOS, but Kaspersky and Norton are not far behind. However, if you’re looking for a free antivirus option with an almost same security level, you may want to try AVG Free Antivirus for Mac.
References
- https://www.usnews.com/360-reviews/antivirus/best-antivirus-software-for-mac
- https://www.gamesradar.com/best-antivirus-for-macs/
- https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-mac-antivirus
- https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-mac-antivirus-protection
- https://www.macworld.com/article/3263722/best-antivirus-for-mac.html
- https://www.tomsguide.com/us/webroot-secureanywhere-mac,review-2978.html
- https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/kaspersky-internet-security-mac
- https://www.macworld.com/article/3265449/trend-micro-antivirus-for-mac-review.html
- https://www.macworld.com/article/3265449/trend-micro-antivirus-for-mac-review.html
- https://www.usnews.com/360-reviews/antivirus/avg-technologies
- https://www.usnews.com/360-reviews/antivirus/eset
- https://www.usnews.com/360-reviews/antivirus/f-secure