Panda Dome Antivirus 2025: Cute Name, Serious Protection

Panda Dome Antivirus is a legit software that fared well in our independent research and testing, though its often in the middle of the antivirus pack with its third-party test results.

Panda has a variety of plans and price points (as well as a free antivirus version) to fit any budget and the features offer a lot for a reasonable price. On top of being a reliable antivirus with bonus features like a firewall and ransomware protection, you can also opt for a full security suite, with parental controls, dark web scanning, and more.

With big names like Bitdefender towering over best antivirus lists everywhere, you may be tempted to skip Panda’s free antivirus or paid plans. But overall, we were pretty happy with our Panda experience.

Panda Dome Antivirus overview

Price	$34.99–$83.99/first yr
Free plan	Yes
# of devices protected	1 to unlimited
Malware scans	Manual and scheduled
Real-time protection	Yes
EICAR test results	2/3
Firewall	Yes
Phishing protection	Yes
Compatibility	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS (Many features limited to Windows)
Extras	Wi-Fi protection, parental controls, identity protection, password generator, VPN, PC cleanup, update manager
24/7 customer support	Yes
Learn more	Get Panda Dome Antivirus

We last tested Panda Dome on January 28, 2025.

Our experience

Our experience with Panda Dome was mostly good, considering we've had some hiccups in the past. We were impressed by the amount of tools available and happy overall with the scan times.

We tested the critical area and full scans to see how quickly they'd be completed and if they would impact our device performance. We really liked the progress page that shows up while a scan was running. It gives you an idea of how far along the scan is so you can estimate how long it'll take.

We also downloaded fake viruses as part of our testing. When a threat was found during a scan, the software quarantined and deleted the file for us.

When a scan is done, you can review the event files, which let you know what the program did with any viruses it found. Overall, we thought the scan experience was good.

We got the Panda Dome Premium plan, which is jam packed with features beyond antivirus scanning. We had fun playing around with the updates scanner, VPN, and PC tune-up features, which all were easy to access and worked as promised.

Overall, Panda Dome has a lot to offer if you look past the slightly un-modern appearance and confusing layout. We were pleased with its ability to detect our fake viruses and felt safe with it on.

Note that Windows Defender has previously flagged Panda Dome as a potentially unwanted app. Luckily, nothing like that happened this time but we figured it was worth warning.

Who is Panda Dome Antivirus best for?

• Recommended for individuals or families researching the right protection plan

One of Panda Dome Antivirus’s advantages is the option to pay monthly with no commitments. Your first month is even free! 

Because of these flexible payment options, various features, and multiple types of plans, this is the perfect product for people looking to find the right protection for themselves or their families. Panda lets you try out different plans to see if this antivirus product works for you.

One caveat is that Panda isn’t the best for macOS users. While the Windows product is fairly robust and offers a lot, the Mac product doesn’t come with a lot of the same features. 

Mac users looking for a similar product should check out MacKeeper, which is an antivirus and performance optimization tool.

Panda Dome Antivirus cost

While Panda Dome does offer a free plan, there are four different paid plans available, costing between $34.99/first yr and $83.99/first yr.

Panda takes a little different approach to pricing than its competitors. While most antivirus companies want you to pay for a year’s subscription, Panda offers monthly installment options. Depending on what you need, you’ll have access to a variety of features and you can adjust your plan month to month or decide to save by purchasing an annual subscription.

The starting prices are slightly higher than competitors like McAfee ($29.99–$249.99/yr), Avast ($35.88-$119.88/yr (first year only)), and Avira ($26.99–$59.99/first yr).

It’s also nice that Panda lets you choose how many devices you’d like to protect for each plan. Some competitors will make you purchase a higher tier to include more devices, but Panda allows you to choose between one, three, five, 10, or unlimited devices for each tier.

Overall, we feel like Panda’s options are a good value for the price. Even with the Essential Protection plan, you receive a decent amount of features. We were happy with our testing results and would feel comfortable using Panda ourselves.

	Free	Essential	Advanced	Complete	Premium
Price	Free	$34.99/first yr	$41.99/first yr	$58.49/first yr	$83.99/first yr
Manual and auto scan
Real-time protection
Firewall
Wi-Fi protection
Parental controls
Ransomware protection
Password manager
Dark web monitor	Scanner only	Scanner only	Scanner only	Scanner only
VPN	Yes — 150MB daily	Yes — 150MB daily	Yes — 150MB daily	Yes — 150MB daily	Yes — unlimited data
Update manager
Learn more	View plan	View plan	View plan	View plan	View plan

Panda Dome Antivirus features

Panda Dome Antivirus offers the essentials for security suites, like scans and antivirus protection, and it includes bonus features like Wi-Fi protection, external device scanning and a virtual private network (VPN). It’s great to be able to scan external devices like your USB sticks and external hard drives for malware before they can infect your device.

We were a little surprised that the free product didn’t offer ransomware protection. Ransomware and viruses aren’t the same, even though they’re frequently grouped together. Panda has antivirus protection, but you’ll need to opt for a paid plan if you also want ransomware protection.

Malware and antivirus scan

With Panda, you get both manual and automatic scans. Custom scans can be scheduled from the Antivirus icon on the dashboard. Panda’s real-time protection means it’s scanning files and apps as they’re running on your device, so you can feel confident that a new threat can be caught quickly in any critical areas.

When you check your antivirus dashboard, you’ll be able to see your last scan, scheduled scans, any files in quarantine, and any problems found, like spyware and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs). It’s all easy to understand and well organized.

Phishing protection

Panda’s Safe Browsing features help protect against phishing pages by blocking them. A pop-up will let you know that the site you’re trying to visit isn’t safe and give you the option to navigate away.

Panda has built-in blockers that will immediately block a fraudulent or malicious site without you having to do anything. It also shows you the URLs allowed by users so you can see where these attempts are originating. You have the option to configure this in the Safe Browsing section.

Firewall

The Firewall feature allows you to choose where you’re working from so it can be more diligent in protecting your computer. If you set the option to Public place, then this feature can add a layer of security along with your VPN.

And the firewall doesn’t just monitor access when you’re connecting and disconnecting from networks, it also monitors activity while you’re using your device. If a foreign device tries to access your computer while you’re online, Panda’s firewall will block the interaction. 

You can use Panda’s preconfigured permissions or customize permissions to work for you. Using the firewall can give you more peace of mind that hackers and malware are being blocked from your computer.

Real-time protection

Real-time protection means that the cybersecurity product you’re using is scanning files and apps as they’re running on your computer. Panda’s real-time protection appears on the main screen of the dashboard as it shows you the total number of files scanned to date.

 The paid plans protect against all forms of malware, including spyware, ransomware, and adware. As we were testing the product, we could continue to scan files and processes on our laptop without issue.

Ransomware protection

Panda Advanced, Complete, abd Premium customers enjoy additional ransomware protection. Panda’s antivirus is great for protecting against older bugs like trojans and computer viruses while ransomware protection is more advanced for protecting against modern threats like spyware and adware. 

Panda’s ransomware dashboard breaks down what was blocked, allows you to customize protection, and even educates you on ransomware.

Bonus features

Panda’s dashboard has some other cool features that may be beneficial to you. The Rescue Kit allows you to make a backup of your hard drive and use Panda’s Cloud Cleaner to look for advanced threats that may be tucked away on your computer.

The password generator is helpful if you need to create a strong password quickly. And as we mentioned earlier, Panda comes with a VPN, which will keep your data encrypted and your browsing private. However, these features may not be available on all plans or they may be limited depending on your plan.

Here’s a list of Panda’s other bonus features:

• Parental controls: Monitor and limit your kids’ online activities
• Dark web monitoring: Scans the dark web for your information
• Device optimization tools: Helps your device run smoother and more efficiently
• Password manager: Stores all your passwords in one convenient, safe place
• Private browsing: Part of the VPN, this allows you to browse anonymously to avoid trackers
• Virtual keyboard: Use this keyboard while typing confidential data to protect against hackers

Panda Dome Antivirus test results

As part of all our product reviews, we run through a set of standardized internal tests so we can make sure the product works as promised. We also rely on trusted third-party testing to get a wider amount of information.

Here's how Panda Dome fared.

Scan speed

• Result: Average

Panda Dome offered three types of scans: Critical (which is basically a quick scan), full, and custom. We timed how long a critical and full scan took so we can compare against other antivirus.

Scan type	Time spent
Critical scan	2 minutes. 51 seconds
Full scan	19 minutes, 56 seconds

The critical scan took under three minutes and the full scan took under 20 minutes. Most antivirus programs we've tested usually take only a minute or two on the quick scans and under 15 minutes for the full scans, but these scan times weren't critically slow.

EICAR test results

• Result: 2/3

In order to safely test how well the antivirus can detect viruses, we rely on a series of tools developed by the European Institute for Computer Anti-Virus Research (EICAR). These allow us to download files and visit pages that act maliciously, but don't actually endanger our devices.

As part of our tests, we try downloading malware in two different ways and visiting a page that acts like it's trying to phish info from us.

Test	Panda Dome score
Malware detection	Pass
Drive-by malware downloads	Pass
Phishing pages detection	Fail

Test results as of 01/28/2025.

Panda Dome detected the EICAR files during the full device scan. They were promptly sent to quarantine. 

However, the safe web feature was unable to detect the phishing page we visited.

AV-TEST results

• Result: Decent but outdated results on Windows

AV-TEST is a trusted third-party tester that vigorously examines an antivirus' ability in three areas: protection against viruses, impact on device performance, and how many false positives it finds (usability).

Panda Dome hasn't been tested by AV-TEST by a while, but here are their latest results:

Test type	Windows 10 score	macOS Monterey score	Android 6 score
Protection	6/6	N/A	0/6
Performance	5/6	N/A	N/A
Usability	5.5/6	N/A	6/6
Date	December 2018	N/A	November 2017
Link to test	Link	N/A	Link

On Windows, Panda Dome performed pretty well. It lost a point in performance because it generally made devices slower when downloading and installing applications or when copying files. It also found five false positives, which is exactly industry average and cut down its usability score a little.

The Android scores weren't impressive at all, only detecting 65.9% of malware vs. the industry average of 94.8%. Though this test was from 2017, we would recommend finding an alternative antivirus for your phone.

AV-Comparatives test results

• Result: Good scores

AV-Comparatives is another trusted third-party tester. Luckily they've much more recently looked at Panda Dome, and the scores are much better than the AV-TEST results.

That said, they didn't do a mobile security test, so Panda's abysmal Android scores have not been redeemed.

Test type	Mobile security	Real-world protection	Malware protection	Performance impact (Lower is better)
Score	N/A	97.9%	99.25%	9.9
Platform	N/A	Windows	Windows	Windows
Date	N/A	July - October 2024	September 2024	September 2024
Link	N/A	Link	Link	Link

On paper, these scores look excellent. When taken in context of how other antivirus did, it's more accurate to just call them good scores. 

When it comes to real-world protection, Panda came in seventh place and was compromised by eight threats. The top antiviruses in this category — Avira, F-Secure, McAfee, and Norton — saw a much more impressive 99.8% protection rate.

Similarly, Panda's score of 99.25% in malware protection only got it eight place. The top contenders, F-Secure, TotalAV, and Bitdefender got top scores of 99.98%.

Finally, when it comes to the performance test, the closest to zero you can get, the better. Panda came in at a middling seventh place here with a 9.9 score, far outranked by McAfee which only had a 2.6 score.

Though these scores didn't exactly top the rankings, they are still commendable and get the job done. But when it comes to your safety, would you settle for seventh best?

SE Labs results

• Result: 99%

SE Labs is the last third-party tester on our list. The U.K.-based company compiles quarterly reports of antivirus effectiveness for both consumers and enterprises. Here's how Panda Dome fared last time they were included:

Test type	Home Anti-Malware Protection
Total accuracy rating	99%
Date	2024 Q4
Link	Link

While not a bad score on its own, Panda only came in sixth place with this score. Four other antivirus actually tied for first place with a perfect score of 100% — Avast, Kaspersky, McAfee, and Norton.

Panda Dome Antivirus compatibility

You can install Panda on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices running:

• Windows XP+
• Android 6+
• macOS 10.10+
• iOS 13+

Panda Dome Antivirus isn’t available on every platform and doesn’t list any browser extensions you could install if you don’t have one of the compatible devices. It does, however, cover the bases for most home users.

What's important to note is that not all features are available on every platform. Here's a breakdown on which features are available on each device:

	Windows	Mac	Android	iOS
Antivirus
Dark web scanner
Anti-theft
VPN
PC Tuneup
Password manager
Update manager
Wi-Fi protection
Safe browsing
Parental control
Firewall
Data protection
USB protection
Virtual keyboard
App lock
File encryption
File shredding
Process monitor

Panda Dome customer support

The Support icon in Panda’s dashboard is listed along with all the other features. You can search the support forums, go over its FAQs, or contact technical support.

Panda support is available at all times and is accessible by calling the number listed on the site (1-917-341-2063) or by filling out an online form. You can navigate to the site from the dashboard of your Panda Dome product.

 

Top alternatives

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Panda Dome FAQs

Bottom line: Is Panda Domegood?

Yes, we feel confident that Panda Dome is a good option to protect your Windows computer based on our antivirus review experience. We appreciated the extras like the VPN and private browsing as well as the free product offerings. 

With a variety of features and alright test results, Panda proves it’s able to compete on the cybersecurity stage. It can even be argued that it outdoes some of its competitors with a free product and a lot of features as you move up in tiers. We just wish the Mac product was more robust but our best antivirus software list has options for macOS devices.