ESET Antivirus Review 2024: Is the Protection Worth the Price?

ESET antivirus is a good product that’s proven its effectiveness through third-party tests. Although the price per device is higher than its competitors, such as McAfee and Norton, ESET provides equally as strong protection against malware and viruses. 

With additional features meant to keep your browsing safe, and even anti-theft protection for your computer, ESET has a lot of qualities a person with one or two devices may be looking for in an antivirus package. Let's dig into ESET's features and pricing to find out if it's the right antivirus program for you.

4.5

AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

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On ESET's website

ESET

15% off on 2-year protection

• Lots of useful features
• Offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card required
• Lackluster customer service options

ESET antivirus review at a glance

Who is ESET antivirus best for?

• Recommended for advanced protection for one or two devices

ESET has a lot of features such as anti-phishing protection, an exploit blocker, and advanced machine learning that provide superior protection against viruses and malware. 

These essential security features, alongside additional features such as Gamer Mode and cloud-powered scanning, offer a well-rounded security option that’s constantly evolving to keep you protected.

Unfortunately, ESET’s price is determined by how many devices you’re looking to cover. If you have one or two devices, you’ll reap many benefits of this antivirus. If you have a family to cover with multiple devices between family members, you may need to find an antivirus program that offers more devices at a single price.

ESET antivirus pros and cons

ESET antivirus cost

ESET’s Essential Security product starts at $49.99/first yr for one device. As you increase your level of protection, features, and even devices, this price continues to rise. Although this is a reasonable yearly price for one person with one device, if you need a family subscription this could become expensive quickly.

The Advanced Security option seems the most beneficial to most people. Although it doesn’t include the identity theft protection or the virtual private network (VPN) that comes with the Premium Security paid plan, it does include more than the Essential Security plan. You’ll get the most out of your subscription with the Advanced option. If you need to cover more devices, we recommend checking out TotalAV, Bitdefender, or one of our other choices for the best antivirus software.

ESET antivirus plans and prices

ESET antivirus features

ESET provides a long list of features for customers that only expands as you go up in price plans. Although protections such as antivirus and advanced machine learning are available to everyone, most privacy and identity protection features are only for Advanced and Premium subscriptions. 

That doesn’t exclude ESET from the conversation; however, as all pricing tiers have useful tools for every need.

Malware and antivirus scan

Malware is a constant threat in all its forms. ESET’s anti-malware protection provides you with manual scan options for all types of malware, such as ransomware, spyware, adware, and other viruses. 

ESET will even alert you to potentially dangerous files that might not have allowed a scan. You can see we encountered an unknown file that we cleaned. When we rescanned, the file passed ESET’s tests.

Phishing protection

ESET protects you from phishing attempts through a series of safety measures. First, it compares websites you’re visiting with its own database of safe or suspicious websites. 

If you do happen across a malicious site, ESET recognizes it and severs the connection to the site. It does this through its proprietary phishing detection, which is always up-to-date, and by learning the behaviors of malicious sites and scripts. All this boils down to a safer way to browse online.

Firewall

You’ll receive the firewall feature with all ESET plans. It has several different methods for configuration including integrating Windows firewall rules into its own firewall. Because the firewall feature is filtering out content on multiple levels, it allows you to configure those specifics within its portal. 

If you aren’t comfortable configuring your firewall, no worries; ESET has permissions for the most common usage already set up and ready for you. All you’ll need to do is turn it on.

Real-time protection

The real-time protection feature is set to launch and scan automatically without you needing to configure anything. 

ESET also scans files as you receive and open them to make sure what you’re accessing doesn’t contain anything malicious. Because these permissions are always looking at what’s passing over your machine, it’s not recommended to disable them.

Ransomware protection

Ransomware is just one form of malware, but it’s the one that gets most of the press. A ransomware attack can devastate a business (or your personal finances). 

ESET protects you from ransomware with the Ransomware Shield. This feature blocks any malware that tries to lock you out of your personal data. It even goes a step further to provide you with free cybersecurity training to help you become a more vigilant internet user.

Anti-fraud protection

ESET provides you with a secured browser to help thwart fraudulent attempts when you’re using the internet for sensitive information. It works through your default browser and can be accessed through your ESET portal on your device when you go to Advanced setup then Browser protection. 

ESET even includes a handy guide for adding or blocking websites within the browser configurations.

Bonus features

Depending on what plan you choose, ESET offers a variety of bonus features to enhance your security and performance. Although antivirus protection and performance optimization tools come standard on every pricing plan, tools for privacy and identity protection come with the Advanced plan and higher.

Performance optimization tools

The performance optimization tools offered by ESET include Gamer Mode, cloud-powered scanning, and a small system footprint. Gamer Mode disables pop-ups and notifications when you’re gaming so you can have an uninterrupted experience.

Cloud-powered scanning whitelists files to speed up scanning. The small system footprint feature takes the majority of the computing power off your computer so more memory is left for you.

Secure web browsing tools

In addition to ESET’s safe browsing tools, you'll have access to network attack protection, antispam, banking and payment protection, and botnet protection. Each of these tools employs various filters to keep potentially harmful executables from planting themselves on your device. 

An executable is anything that executes on your computer, like when you download an attachment from your email or a file from the internet.

Network and device monitoring tools

Parental controls, webcam protection, network inspector, anti-theft, and brute force attack protection are included with all plans. Although some of these features are self-explanatory, such as webcam protection, other features like the network inspector are useful surprises. You can scan the network you’re connected to so you can find devices that shouldn’t be connected as well as see the vulnerabilities of devices you have authorized.

ESET antivirus test results

One way to test an antivirus program yourself is through EICAR testing. The European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) developed test files that mimic malware, potentially unwanted apps, and phishing links to test programs without downloading real viruses. 

ESET EICAR test results

ESET passed all the EICAR tests with flying colors. Depending on the test type, ESET blocked the file or it blocked the webpage. 

ESET third-party test results

AV-Comparatives tested ESET’s effectiveness and functionality from July to October 2023. The three sections tested were real-world protection, malware protection, and performance.

ESET was only beaten by TotalAV when tested on false positives, tying with Avast, AVG, and Avira for a single false positive. ESET also blocked 99.96% of all malicious attempts AV-Comparatives threw at it, received a perfect score across performance tests, and had the top score for real-world protection.

ESET antivirus AV-Comparatives test results

Our ESET antivirus experience

In our test, ESET was relatively easy to install and setup was very fast. We used an older laptop running Windows 10 and had no issues. You can have this security software downloaded, installed, and running in less than 30 minutes (depending on your internet speed) without needing advanced knowledge of how antivirus software works. The secure browser installs automatically and downloads an icon onto your desktop.

While we were trying out the features, ESET would set annoying yellow reminders to let us know we hadn’t finished setting up our anti-theft, firewall, and some other features we’d clicked on. There was no option to clear these reminders so we had to continue to set them up. We didn’t love that.

That aside, we had a pleasant experience using ESET. The full scan of our hard drive was fast (coming in at less than five minutes) and alerted us to files that may need cleaning. We were able to clean them, rescan them, and come up with no issues. We found all of the features to be easy to use, most with off/on toggles, and useful.

Even though we purchased the Advanced Protection instead of the Premium, we found it had all we needed in a security suite. We chose Advanced because we wanted more features than what came with the Essential Protection tier, which is a basic antivirus.

ESET antivirus compatibility

ESET compatibility is relatively simple. Windows operating system, macOS products, and Android products can all be covered under various ESET plans. Unfortunately, there are no ESET products for Linux or iOS. For a full list, check below.

Windows products

• ESET Smart Security Premium 16.1
• ESET Internet Security 16.1
• ESET NOD32 Antivirus 16.1
• ESET Smart Security Premium 16.x
• ESET Internet Security 16.x
• ESET NOD32 Antivirus 16.x

macOS products

• ESET Cyber Security 7.x
• ESET Cyber Security 6.x
• ESET Cyber Security Pro 6.x

Android products

• ESET Mobile Security for Android 8.x
• ESET Mobile Security for Android 7.x
• ESET Parental Control for Android 5.x

ESET antivirus customer support

Unfortunately, ESET is another security solution with a self-serve approach to customer service. We tried accessing support through the website on a device that wasn’t logged in to our account as well as through our ESET dashboard. But both options only directed us to self-service customer support options.

We did eventually find live chat support, but it's only available Monday through Friday from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PT. The live chat support is listed as being able to help with basic support like product installation and activation, lost license key or activation email, and error messages from your ESET product. You can also pay $20.00 per hour to chat with an ESET Home Adviser, which can help with advanced issues and troubleshooting other software.

We didn’t have the option to email or call anyone. However, when we did an internet search for “ESET customer service” a number popped up immediately. We cannot caution strongly enough against calling these numbers. They’re almost always a scammer. Even though ESET’s support is lackluster, don’t go looking for a way around it.

ESET antivirus alternatives

ESET offers lots of features but could be expensive depending on your budget and device coverage needs. Here are some of the best antivirus programs to consider if you're not sold on ESET:

• Norton: Norton is user-friendly option with helpful walkthroughs for antivirus beginners. It also offers various security suites that include features like a password manager, VPN, and identity theft protection. 

  Get Norton 360 | Read Our Norton 360 Review

• TotalAV: TotalAV is another performer with high third-party test scores. It also offers a free plan so you can try it out risk-free as long as you need.

  Get TotalAV | Read Our TotalAV Review

• Avast: Avast is a freemium antivirus service that test well even without the premium plan. You can use the free plan on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, which is more operating systems than most competitors.

  Get Avast | Read Our Avast Review

ESET antivirus FAQs

Bottom line: Is ESET antivirus good?

Yes, ESET is a good antivirus product with a lot of extra features that enhance your protection online. It has high ratings from independent testing as well as a user-friendly interface and easy-to-use controls. With the use of advanced machine learning, real-time protection, and global research to identify new and emerging threats, ESET gives a well-rounded shield of protection to any device.

Although the cost is a little higher than competitors like AVG, McAfee, and Norton, it’s still a trusted product. If you aren’t interested in covering a lot of devices, ESET’s pricing falls on par with its competitors. Choosing ESET is a decision you can feel confident about.

4.5

AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.

Editorial Rating

Learn More

On ESET's website

ESET

15% off on 2-year protection

• Lots of useful features
• Offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card required
• Lackluster customer service options

Author Details

Mary James

About the Author

Mary is a seasoned cybersecurity writer with over seven years of experience. With a B.S. in Liberal Arts from Clarion University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Point Park University, she educates audiences on scams, antivirus software, and more. Her passion lies in educating audiences on helpful ways to protect their data.