The Best Free Antivirus Software for Mac 2024

TotalAV, AVG, and Avast are three of the best free antivirus solutions available, and they have plenty of features for Mac users.

TotalAV has many additional products that can be easily bundled together for a great security stack. AVG knocks it out of the park with its high protection scores and ease of use. Avast offers some of the best features we’ve seen for Mac users, especially considering the product is free.

We’ll review the three best free antiviruses for Mac and explain why they stand out from other products on the market.

The best free antivirus software for Mac

Antivirus protects you from all of the malicious things floating around the internet. Good antivirus makes your online experience better overall.

It’s a fallacy that Macs can’t contract viruses and malware infections. It is much more difficult to infect a Mac than it is to infect a PC, but it’s not impossible.

To help you out, we rounded up the top free Mac antivirus software:

• TotalAV: Best for bundling
• AVG: Best for high protection scores
• Avast: Best for advanced features

Top 3 free antivirus products for Mac compared

Antivirus
Starting price	Starts at $29.00/yr (first year only)	Starts at $46.68/yr (first year only)	Starts at $35.88/yr (first year only)
Free version
Firewall
Phishing protection
Ransomware protection
Parental controls
Learn more	Get TotalAV Read TotalAV Review	Get AVG Read AVG Review	Get Avast Read Avast Review

TotalAV: Best for bundling

Who it’s best for

Anyone who wants more than one product to enhance their security. TotalAV offers a variety of products, including antivirus software, an ad blocker, coupon savings tools, browser protection, and a virtual private network (VPN). You can grab one or use them all together.

What we liked

TotalAV can be downloaded for free, but the paid product offers so much more. With the free antivirus, you get antivirus protection, cloud file scanning, a VPN, junk cleaner, and protection against tracking cookies, plus more.

When you upgrade to a paid version, you add protection from ransomware, phishing, and potentially unwanted programs, plus system tune-up tools, a browser scanner and cleaner, a password manager, ad-blocking capabilities, and protection for multiple devices.

The verified search results you get with all TotalAV plans can help you distinguish between legitimate websites and scam sites. As scammers continue to defraud people online, increased online protection is so helpful. It’s definitely worth downloading just for this.

What we didn’t like

TotalAV’s different offerings can be a little confusing. In addition to what you get with the product, there are other add-ons, like a password manager and identity theft protection that you can purchase separately.

We also noticed that TotalAV’s protection scores were a little lower on AV-Comparatives compared to AVG and Avast. TotalAV got dinged for archiving, installation, and the first run being a little slower than competitors. Since the test was from October 2023, we hope it’s had time to improve those issues.

TotalAV specs

Starting price	$29.00/yr (first year only)
Free version	Yes
Firewall	No
Phishing protection	Yes
Ransomware protection	Yes
Webcam protection	No
Network protection	No
Parental controls	No
Extras	System tune-up tools, disk cleaner, browser manager and cleaner, Total Adblock, TotalVPN, Total Password
Learn more	Get TotalAV Read TotalAV Review

AVG: Best for high protection scores

Who it’s best for

Anyone who wants a free antivirus that also boasts high protection scores should consider AVG. Two of the top independent antivirus testing sites, AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives, gave AVG the highest scores possible for malware protection, device performance, and usability. If you’re looking for proven protection, AVG is a top choice.

What we liked

AVG is easy to install and use along with being incredibly powerful. The free version offers virus and malware protection, browsing protection, a malware scanner, and real-time security updates, so your protection stays as up to date as possible. All this together equals great free software.

If you want additional features, like anti-phishing protection, you can upgrade to AVG’s paid plan. We found the free version to be perfectly adequate, however, and definitely a long-term solution to antivirus protection. You could use it without needing another antivirus and rest assured that you have top-tier protection.

What we didn’t like

We wish AVG’s paid plan had more features. There isn’t a huge jump in features that would justify the upgrade for us. We love AVG’s protection capabilities and approach to security, which means we’d probably be all about the upgrade if it included extras like a VPN and parental controls.

AVG specs

Starting price	$46.68/yr (first year only)
Free version	Yes
Firewall	No
Phishing protection	Yes
Ransomware protection	Yes
Webcam protection	Yes
Network protection	No
Parental controls	No
Extras	Unsafe site and download blocker, security updates
Learn more	Get AVG Read AVG Review

Avast: Best for advanced features

Who it’s best for

Anyone looking for a free antivirus program that comes with additions like a VPN and email scanner. The Avast free antivirus offers a variety of advanced features that scan social media, email, and even add extra network protection.

The free plan is pretty comprehensive, but the paid plans offer even more, including identity theft protection for your entire family.

What we liked

While most of Avast’s bonus features come with the paid products, Avast Free for the Mac still offers extensive protection. It includes anti-hacking, email scanning, a VPN, a data breach checker, and even the Privacy Advisor, which will scan your social media accounts for data sharing and accessibility. It’s really impressive for free software.

We like that you can add identity theft protection for yourself or your family by purchasing a paid plan. You’ll also get advanced features that protect you while shopping online, hide your digital fingerprint, clean up your photo albums, tune your device, and offer the ability to search through old and new data breaches for your information.

The VPN feature goes from 5 GB a week to unlimited when you upgrade, which can save you money on a VPN by bundling.

What we didn’t like

Avast offers a parental control product to partners for co-branding but doesn’t sell it to the public on its website. The lack of parental controls is definitely a con for us when it comes to Avast, especially since it apparently already has the technology built. We hope it will offer parental controls with its family protection plans in the future.

Avast specs

Starting price	$35.88/yr (first year only)
Free version	Yes
Firewall	Yes
Phishing protection	Yes
Ransomware protection	Yes
Webcam protection	Yes
Network protection	Yes
Parental controls	No
Extras	VPN, device cleanup, identity protection, tracker blocker, privacy advisor, photo library cleanup, email scanning
Learn more	Get Avast Read Avast Review

Premium antivirus to consider

Choosing a paid service for antivirus can net you a lot of extra features to enhance your experience. Whether you’re looking for parental controls or heavy network protection, one of these has what you need. The best antivirus providers offer a lot of variety to give you the best online experience possible.

• CleanMyMacX: Specifically built for a Mac system, CleanMyMac X is an antivirus product with a bunch of other features like a junk cleaner and performance enhancement tools. You can try it for free for a week or simply sign up. Either way, we think you’ll be pleased.

  Get CleanMyMacX | Read CleanMyMacX Review

• Norton: It’s been around a long time and for good reason. Norton offers a variety of plans, pricing, and features so you get exactly what you want in a security suite. It even includes extras like parental controls and identity theft protection with some plans so you’re protected everywhere.
  
  Get Norton | Read Norton Review
• Surfshark Antivirus: Lightweight protection is a cornerstone of Surfshark’s antivirus pledge. Not only is it running constantly to protect you from viruses and malware, but it does so without a lot of components bogging down your machine. For even more protection, couple Surfshark antivirus with Surfshark’s VPN and identity protection suites.

  Get Surfshark Antivirus | Read Surfshark Antivirus Review

How to choose the best free antivirus for a Mac

We Mac users want more out of our security products, which is why we chose only those services we’ve tested ourselves. TotalAV, AVG, and Avast, along with our honorable mentions, are all great antivirus solutions.

When looking for software, especially free software, you need to make sure it’s reputable and trustworthy. You should also consider the following:

• Great protection scores
• Ease of use
• Malware protection including spyware, adware, and ransomware
• Features available for Macs
• Lots of compatibility options
• Anti-phishing technology
• Device cleanup tools
• Device enhancement tools
• Upgrade and bundle options

Pros and cons of using free antivirus for Macs

It’s often said that free software isn’t trustworthy, and, in a lot of cases, that’s very true. There are free antivirus solutions on the market, however, that are not only trustworthy but also good products. Most of them are going to come with minimal features but will keep your device protected from viruses and malware.

The best antivirus for Mac works smoothly without impeding performance. If you’re looking for a basic antivirus, a free product is a great way to supplement Apple’s natural protection. If you’re looking for something with more features, functionality, and even bundled security, you’ll likely have to find a paid product.

Best free antivirus for a Mac FAQs

Bottom line: The best free antivirus programs for Macs

Whether you just want to supplement Mac’s built-in protections or you want additional features to keep you safe online, TotalAV, AVG, and Avast all have something for you.

TotalAV is great for bundling with its other products. AVG has top-rated protection scores. And, Avast offers a multitude of features even with its free service. Whatever you decide, make sure you’re keeping yourself protected online.

3 best free antivirus products for Mac 2024

	Starting price	Best for	Learn more
	Starts at $29.00/yr (first year only)	Best for bundling	Get TotalAV Read TotalAV Review
	Starts at $46.68/yr (first year only)	Best for high protection scores	Get AVG Read AVG Review
	Starts at $35.88/yr (first year only)	Best for advanced features	Get Avast Read Avast Review