TotalAV Antivirus Review 2025: Is It Legit?

TotalAV is an award-winning antivirus, but what makes this software stand out from the rest? We found TotalAV to be among the most user-friendly antivirus programs and it provides proven protections. It repeatedly scores high with third-party testers like AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives as well as our own in-house testing against malware and phishing threats.

TotalAV won several awards in our own antivirus rankings, including best antivirus with web protection, best ad blocker bundle, and best performance optimization tools. No matter your cybersecurity concern, TotalAV likely has a solution. 

We'll explore TotalAV's offerings, subscription plans, performance, and more in our review. 

Overview

Price	$19.00–$49.00/first yr
Free plan	Yes
# of devices protected	4 - 8
Malware scans	Manual and scheduled
Real-time protection	Yes
EICAR test results	2/3
Firewall	No
Phishing protection	Yes
Compatibility	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Chrome, Edge, Opera
Extras	Password manager, ad blocker, VPN
24/7 customer support	Yes
Learn more	Get TotalAV

We last tested TotalAV on August 20, 2025.

Our experience

Our experience testing TotalAV was smooth and came with few little complaints. From the start, TotalAV appeared user-friendly. All of its features are clearly listed on the lefthand sidebar and categorized by feature type (malware protection, internet security, and system tune-up). 

We started by running a Smart Scan, which reviews your device for malware, junk files, tracking cookies, and more privacy and security issues. The results page provided a list of all the issues found. You can select any issue and have TotalAV fix the problem.

The TotalAV Scan detected one of the malware dummy files we had downloaded on our laptop before installing TotalAV. 

As we continued to run scans, TotalAV detected two of the three files we placed; one in our downloads folder and another in our documents folder. We were only disappointed it missed the file on our desktop.

When TotalAV did find malware, we were always notified with a desktop notification. From there, it was easy to choose to either quarantine or delete the file.

Overall,TotalAV is one of the easiest-to-use antivirus software out there with some minor issues. Its scans were fast and detected exactly what we expected it to, even going above and beyond to recommend some space optimization steps.

Mobile experience

To get the full experience, we downloaded the TotalAV app on our Android. The app walked us through all the permissions and settings we needed to enable to get full protection. 

There are so many features wrapped up into this app. For instance,WebShield blocks malicious sites, QR check to scan QR codes safely, and app lock, which restricts access to sensitive apps.

We were largely disappointed because the TotalAV app failed to detect any of the fake virus files we downloaded or the fake phishing site we accessed. TotalAV mobile may be focused on detecting malicious apps, so you should look elsewhere if you're concerned about downloading malware. 

Who is TotalAV best for?

• Recommended for anyone concerned with online privacy and eradicating computer viruses — but with a budget in mind. It's ideal for one or two people who each have one to three devices.

TotalAV is perfect for anyone ranging from first-time antivirus users to seasoned pros. The product offers an intuitive user experience that makes accessing its features simple and pleasant.

Its useful security features, such as real-time antivirus protection, anti-phishing protection, malware scanning, and a virtual private network (VPN), put it on par with any competitive antivirus program available today. And at $19.00/first yr, that’s hard to beat.

You can use TotalAV for anything, from ridding your device of malicious files to ensuring constant protection while you browse the web. Features such as Password Vault make managing passwords across every login easy, and Total Adblock allows you to turn off pesky advertisements to make your online experiences better.

If you want to go basic, you can opt for the most foundational antivirus subscription, Antivirus Pro, for $19.00/first yr and forgo some of the more advanced features, such as a VPN.

TotalAV prices and subscriptions

TotalAV costs between $19.00–$49.00/first yr, depending on your subscription. There are three plans: Antivirus Pro, Internet Security, and Total Security.

We had a subscription to Total Security for this review — the product’s most expensive and comprehensive option. With 100% complete online protection and security, Total Security comes with every premium feature available on TotalAV, including the browser cleanup tool, data breach protection, and thorough malware scans.

TotalAV also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee in case you aren’t happy with its product.

	Antivirus Pro	Internet Security	Total Security
Price per year	$19.00/first yr	$39.00/first yr	$49.00/first yr
# devices supported	4	6	8
Manual and auto scan
Real-time protection
Phishing protection
Ransomware protection
Disk cleaner
Browser cleaner
Performance optimization tools
Ad blocker
VPN
Password manager
Learn more	View plan	View plan	View plan

TotalAV security features

TotalAV boasts standout features, including its scans, VPN, password manager, and real-time protection offering called WebShield. All of these tools are quick to set up, intuitive to navigate, and start working right away. There is very little friction between the user and understanding what the service is delivering.

The main downside is the lack of a firewall feature.

Malware and antivirus scan

TotalAV offers two types of manual malware scans: a Quick Scan (also referred to as a Smart Scan) and a System Scan. We first opted for the Quick Scan, which has taken us anywhere from less than a minute to just a couple of minutes. 

TotalAV let us know it had detected malware even though the scan was still performing.

Once the Quick Scan is complete, TotalAV displays the threats it has detected on your device. It then gives you the option to “Take Action” which can include quarantining, removing, whitelisting, or skipping the malware. 

We opted to quarantine the offending file, and TotalAV then prompted me to walk through its System Tune-Up series of bonus features such as Junk Cleaner, Duplicate Finder, and more, which are described below.

Under Malware Scan in the left menu of the user interface is Quarantine. We navigated to that feature to see what to do about the offending piece of malware TotalAV discovered. 

The system gives you the option to select your quarantined items and clean them — warning you that this action cannot be undone before you confirm you want to delete them from your device. Once you confirm the clean, TotalAV says your quarantine is empty.

Real-time protection

TotalAV offers real-time protection by default when you download it, which means it'll make sure any file you download will automatically be scanned for malicious intent and blocked if necessary. This is extremely helpful as you don't need to run a scan everyday to feel like you're protected.

During our tests, the real-time protection was able to block all the malicious test files from downloading automatically.

WebShield phishing protection

Another automatic feature that's providing real-time protection is WebShield. This blocks or warns you whenever you're opening a suspicious or low-trust website, helping stop the malware before you even go to download it.

You can whitelist websites that you believe are incorrectly blocked, or even submit suspicious websites that you think should be blocked in the future.

Ransomware protection

TotalAV's real-time protection, WebShield, helps prevent ransomware, though it's still recommended you back up your files regularly.

Additionally, TotalAV’s real-time protection secures you against spyware and adware.

Total VPN

If you’re subscribed to the Internet Security or Total Security plan with TotalAV, you can turn on Total VPN to connect to a secure server when you go online.

A VPN hides your browsing activity, IP address, and personal data while you’re using a Wi-Fi network by employing an encrypted connection. While this is especially important to use if you are accessing public Wi-Fi, it’s still a good idea to use it on your home network. 

You’ll want to use a VPN if you are concerned with your online privacy because the VPN makes it more difficult for your web traffic to be tracked. When you use a VPN, your traffic is routed through a specific server. In this case, when we turned on TotalAV’s VPN, it connected us to a server in Seattle, WA.

Total Adblock

The Total Security plan on TotalAV comes with Total Adblock, which is a feature you’ll want to use if you’re inundated with ads you’d prefer not to see while you browse the internet. Ad blockers integrate with your web browser and use filters to block certain content for a safe browsing experience.

How does the ad blocker decide what you see and don’t see? They typically include a set of rules to block traditional ads, but they offer a way to change the categories of ads you see, so you can activate or deactivate what you want to alter what is blocked.

Using an ad blocker provides a variety of benefits, including:

• Speeding up your browsing experience. Ads can dramatically slow down your load time on certain webpages. Pop-up ads are one of the worst offenders.
• Boosting security. Some ads are actually more harmful than they appear and might contain malware. Clicking on these ads leads you to websites that can put your devices and data at risk.

TotalAV’s ad blocker is dubbed Total Adblock. It promises to block pop-ups, banner ads, video ads, and third-party trackers that follow you across the internet.

We chose to install Total Adblock for Chrome and it immediately got to work. We visited Forbes and Total Adblock blocked 49 ads and trackers, just on the homepage. 

Additionally, we now notice green checkmarks next to the green shield checkmarks in Google during a search. They signify that TotalAV views the website as no threat:

Password Vault

The Total Security plan comes with a password manager called Password Vault. It says it provides a safe location to securely store your passwords, which you can then access by setting up a master password. 

It also promises to “easily generate secure and unique passwords for your accounts” as well as auto-filling and saving login details using Chrome and Firefox web browsers.

Opting to set up Password Vault prompts you to begin by setting up a Master Password:

Once you’ve set your Master Password, the system tells you how many passwords it detects are stored in your browser and asks if you’d like to import them into the Password Vault. If you select to do this, you’ll need to input your device’s login password. 

Once in the vault, you’ll see a list of your stored passwords in your browser. Each password has four options, indicated by four icons: an eye, a paper stack, a trash can, and a pencil. 

We were only able to access the trash can function — which is to delete that associated password — because TotalAV crashed every time we tried to select one of the other icons.

Additional features

The TotalAV Total Security plan comes with a set of bonus features, including:

• Junk Cleaner: This feature scans your system for junk files that are taking up disk space.
• Duplicate File Finder: Any duplicate images, videos, music, or other files can be quickly and easily deleted.
• Large & Old Files: The system locates large files that can be removed as well as seldom-used ones that might be taking up disk space unnecessarily.
• Disk Usage: You get a summary of disk usage to see where you might be wasting space. The scan takes several minutes to complete, and offers you a summary in a clear format:

• Browser Cleaner: This feature finds the browser history of every website you have visited and helps you view and manage your cookies.
• Startup Programs: A startup program is an application that launches when you log into your device. This feature finds them and helps you control which ones start when your computer starts.
• Uninstaller: Scan your device for software installed and remove any unwanted applications safely. The user interface presents your list of applications and easily allows you to clean selected ones: 

• When you select to clean your device, Uninstaller lets you know how much disk space you’ve saved.
• There is also a feature called Identity Protection located under “Internet Security” in the user interface that offers “next level monitoring, alerts and restoration should your personal details fall into the hands of cybercriminals.” It includes theft insurance, lost wallet insurance, child monitoring, and more (available as an add-on to Total Security).

TotalAV test results

We put TotalAV to the test ourselves using EICAR tests, plus consolidated the results from trusted third-party testers. Overall, the program did well in its tests, with at least 90% performance on most categories.

Scan speeds

• Result: Fast scans all around 

TotalAV has two types of malware scans: Quick Scan and System Scan. Plus, there's a Smart Scan, which detects junk on your device, privacy issues, and malware.

Scan type	Time spent
Smart	39 seconds
Quick	4 seconds
System	2 minutes, 45 seconds

The Smart Scan took less than one minute but still made several recommendations to remove junk files as well as clear history items and cookies. Plus, it detected one of the EICAR files we had downloaded on our laptop before installing TotalAV. 

The Quick Scan finished almost instantly. Although TotalAV's System Scan has been slow in the past, this time it took less than three minutes to scan over 340,000 files. 

EICAR test results

• Result: 2/3

One of the best ways to test antivirus software yourself safely is available thanks to the EICAR (European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research) test. You can download specific types of files that mimic malware to test if your antivirus will catch it. 

The best part is the files aren't actually unsafe, so you can test your program without worry.

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

When we tested TotalAV against the EICAR test, it passed with flying colors when it came to malware detection. Every time we tried downloading a dummy malware file onto our laptop, TotalAV sent the download straight to quarantine. 

During our last test, TotalAV blocked the phishing page for the first time. So we were disappointed when TotalAV Web Shield failed to detect the EICAR phishing page again. 

AV-TEST results

• Result: TotalAV had perfect scores for macOS Android, but had some minor misses for Windows. 

AV-TEST is a popular third-party testing site that evaluates antivirus software for businesses and home users. It uses the most current, publicly available version of the products to test and focus on realistic test scenarios. Below are the test results for TotalAV in AV-TEST’s three categories: protection, performance, and usability.

Evaluation is based on a point system where all products can achieve a maximum of six points in each of the three categories, so 18 total points is the best possible test result. 

Test type	Windows score	macOS score	Android score
Protection	6/6	6/6	6/6
Performance	5.5/6	6/6	6/6
Usability	6/6	6/6	6/6
Total	17.5/18	18/18	18/18
Date	June 2025	June 2025	May 2025
Link to test	Link	Link	Link

The Windows program received perfect scores for protection and usability, but was docked 0.5 points for performance. TotalAV slowed down computer speed more than the industry average when launching popular websites and when installing frequently-used apps. 

Otherwise, TotalAV aced its AV-TESTs. Both the macOS program and Android app received perfect scores. 

AV-Comparatives test results

• Result: Good protection, mild impact

Like AV-TEST, AV-Comparatives is a trusted third-party tester that provides certification for antivirus software. It puts the product through a vigorous test in mobile security, real-world protection, and malware protection, ending up with a score out of 100% based on how many malicious files the software could block.

AV-Comparatives also tests the impact the software has on your system, with higher numbers in this category indicating higher impact.

Test type	Mobile security	Real-world protection	Malware protection	Performance impact (Lower is better)
Score	N/A	99.1%	99.98%	18.4
Platform	N/A	Windows	Windows	Windows
Date	N/A	February - June 2025	March 2025	April 2025
Link	N/A	Link	Link	Link

TotalAV has not yet been tested for mobile security, but its other protection tests show promising results. 

• Real-world protection: TotalAV came in fourth and tied with several antivirus programs, including ESET and F-Secure. Bitdefender came in first, with a 99.8% real-world protection rate. 
• Malware protection: TotalAV tied for third with Avira. Kaspersky came in first, with a 100% malware protection rate. 

However, TotalAV had a significantly higher impact than most antivirus software, coming in as the 13th most impactful. For comparison, McAfee won this round with an impact score of 2.8.

SE Labs test results

• Result: 97%

SE Labs is a third-party tester specializing in all things cybersecurity. Its quarterly reports dig into  the software's overall accuracy. So the higher the score, the more accurate the software was.

Test type	Home Anti-Malware Protection
Protection accuracy rating	93%
Legitimate accuracy rating	100%
Total accuracy rating	97%
Date	2025 Q2
Link	Link

TotalAV previously hadn't completed SE Labs testing since 2021, but it now has fresh 2025 test results. TotalAV got a commendable 97% due to its 93% protection accuracy rating combined with the 100% legitimate accuracy rating. 

This got TotalAV the highest rating of a AAA score, but there were still five other antivirus with a higher accuracy rating including Sophos and Microsoft Defender, both of which grabbed the coveted 100% accuracy score.

TotalAV compatibility

TotalAV works with both Windows and macOS, and it offers mobile apps for Android and iOS devices. Here’s the complete list of devices and platforms that TotalAV works on:

• Windows 7
• Windows 8
• Windows 10
• Windows 11
• macOS X 1013 High Sierra or higher
  
• Android 5.0+
  
• iOS 9.3+

Total WebShield is compatible with the following browser:

• Google Chrome
• Microsoft Edge
  
• Opera
• Safari

TotalAV customer support

TotalAV offers 24/7 technical support and customer service through phone, email, or live chat. The service also has a support help center section on its website, which includes video tutorials and FAQs. You can submit a support ticket through the FAQ section.

Our experience with their customer service live chat was mixed, and we even received conflicting information about whether it offers a firewall. For more basic questions, the service is okay, but there's room to be desired.

Top alternatives

Want to see how TotalAV stacks up to the top competition? See how TotalAV compares to these top alternatives:

TotalAV FAQs

Bottom line: Is TotalAV legit?

TotalAV is an award-winning antivirus software for good reason. We were delighted by how easy the program is to use. We anticipated a rather clunky and complicated based on possible misconceptions of modern antivirus software.

The top benefits include both its ease of use and its efficacy. We're confident it will do what it says it will do, as it's a highly rated software. The main drawbacks were the lack of a firewall and its inconsistent phishing protection. 

This program was so easy to use that we would recommend it even for those who are technology-averse. Overall, anyone concerned with their online privacy and device security — while staying within budget — is a great candidate for using TotalAV.

Want to take a deep dive into how TotalAV compares against other popular antivirus? Check out our series of comparisons:

• TotalAV vs. Avast
• TotalAV vs. Malwarebytes
• TotalAV vs. AVG
• TotalAV vs. Bitdefender
• TotalAV vs. McAfee
• TotalAV vs. Norton
• TotalAV vs. Aura Antivirus
• TotalAV Alternatives