UltraAV Review 2025: Is This Kaspersky Alternative Good?

UltraAV was supposed to be the best alternative for Kaspersky users who no longer have access to software updates after the U.S. ban — but we found it lacking.

While UltaAV was easy to install and presented no issues while we were using it, it also didn’t catch very much. In addition, there were no extra features, like performance enhancements or a firewall, and we were disappointed to learn that the real-time protection had to be enabled manually.

While we didn’t find UltraAV to be the best antivirus software, we also didn’t find it to be a good choice. We have all the information you need regarding UltraAV, from the surprising pricing and refund policies to the actual test results, in our full review below.

UltraAV review at a glance

Price	$99/first yr
Free plan	No
# of devices protected	20
Malware scans	Manual and scheduled
Real-time protection	Yes
EICAR test results	2/3
Firewall	No
Phishing protection	No
Compatibility	Windows, macOS
Extras	Password manager, VPN, and dark web scanner
24/7 customer support	Yes
Learn more	Get UltraAV

We last tested UltraAV on May 5th, 2025.

Our experience

Even though UltraAV has no real third-party testing scores for MacBooks, we decided to test it on our MacBook Pro with an M2 chip running macOS 15.4. UltraAV claimed compatibility, so we wanted to see how well this Kaspersky alternative worked. Overall, the experience was easy, but UltraAV wasn’t everything we hoped it would be after testing it out.

We were surprised that UltraAV didn’t come with a monthly payment option. The only payment choice was the annual option costing $99/first yr. While UltraAV does note it has a 30-day refund policy, we always like to read the terms and conditions.

In this instance, UltaAV stated that refunds were at the company's discretion. UltraAV doesn’t offer a free trial or a money-back guarantee, so buying this product would really be a gamble. If we were consumers, these two factors — confusing refund language and lack of a free trial — would make us reconsider UltraAV before even trying it.

Downloading the antivirus software was easy and took place without incident. The main dashboard allows you to access the antivirus, VPN, password manager, and dark web browser. When we launched the antivirus product, it came up with a simple screen displaying a few options.

We went right to the scan first. The quick scan was so quick we thought it wasn’t working at all. It barely scanned anything, returning results in less than a second.

We clicked it a few more times to make sure, but it kept running that super speedy scan without really catching anything. We already had some EICAR malware test files on our hard drive, and were surprised that the scan didn’t find them.

Next, we tested the full scan. The full scan took a painfully long time, just over 47 minutes, and returned no flagged results. We double-checked our hard drive where the EICAR files were stored, and they were there. We turned off the antivirus and were able to download more EICAR malware test files without UltraAV flagging them, telling us it was truly off.

After turning it back on, we clicked around the sparse AV agent and found that the real-time protection wasn’t enabled. We enabled it, then ran more EICAR testing. The real-time protection stopped the download of the EICAR files, but nothing could stop the phishing attempts we also tested through EICAR. UltraAV never did find the files that were on our computer, meaning that if they were real viruses or malware, it wouldn’t have cleaned them.

Overall, UltraAV isn’t a product we’d recommend or use. While it stopped files from downloading once the real-time protection was enabled, it didn’t find old malicious files on our hard drive. Antivirus should be able to do both and do it well.

Who is UltraAV best for?

• Recommended for backup protection

If you get UltraAV as an add-on with something else, you could enable it as backup protection. Due to poor test scores and a lack of overall features, we don’t suggest it as your primary antivirus or the best alternative to Kaspersky Antivirus. Still, if it’s the only option you have on your computer, then you should enable it.

UltraAV cost

UltraAV starts at $99/first yr, and then doubles upon renewal. There’s no monthly payment option, free trial, or less expensive option. The annual price isn’t outrageous by antivirus terms, but the renewal price is high, especially considering what you get.

We didn’t find UltraAV to be the most effective antivirus, and it lacked a lot of features you’ll find with other products. UltraAV is a basic service, and there are others we’ve found that are better while costing the same or less.

Overall, it’s not antivirus software we’d use or recommend.

	Annual Plan
Price for first year	$99/first yr
# devices supported	20
Compatible with	Windows, macOS
Manual and auto scan
Phishing protection
Firewall
Real-time protection
Ransomware protection
Parental controls
Performance optimization tools
VPN
Learn more	View plan

UltraAV features

Despite its name, UltraAV is pretty basic. There aren’t a lot of features aside from the VPN, the password manager, and the dark web scanner. Those are all located in the dashboard, leaving the actual antivirus menu sparse. We didn’t find a lot of useful tools within UltraAV’s offerings, but we did test what we could find.

Malware and antivirus scan

The UltaAV scans were disappointing. Not only did the initial full scan take nearly an hour, but it also didn’t catch the malware test files we had on our hard drive. The quick scans barely touched anything. The custom scan looked through our downloads folder upon request and still didn’t catch the malware test samples there. Overall, we weren’t impressed.

Phishing protection

UltraAV doesn’t have phishing protection and failed the phishing tests we put it through. Intuitive antivirus products can help you recognize phishing emails and websites when the protection is active. It’s a useful tool, especially considering phishing emails are getting more convincing.

Firewall

There is no firewall option with UltraAV. You can use the included VPN, but it’s not the same. Mac users will find that the internal firewall built into their machines will provide that protection, since you won’t see it from UltraAV.

Network protection

There’s no network protection included with UltraAV. If it were available, this feature would scan your network to see if there are any additional threats outside of the ones found on your actual machine. It’s important to help stop network attacks before they can take over.

Real-time protection

We were surprised that the real-time protection feature was disabled when we installed UltraAV. Had we not gone into the settings and clicked around, we wouldn’t have known to turn it on. Once we turned it on, we noticed that UltraAV actually stopped the test virus files we downloaded, although it still didn’t find the ones already on our computer.

Ransomware protection

Since UltraAV is so sparse, there’s no extra language regarding ransomware protection. The site mentions that this feature is built in, but we didn’t see it in action during the scans. All our scans came back clean, even though we had test viruses on our computer. Once the real-time protection was enabled, UltraAV stopped our EICAR test virus files. But it still never found the ones previously on our system.

Anti-fraud protection

UltraAV doesn’t offer any specific anti-fraud protection. There is a dark web scanner available, but it contains alerts rather than actionable steps.

Bonus features

You have the option to use the password manager and VPN that are attached to UltraAV. When we tried loading both, we received error messages. If you’re looking for dark web scanning, identity protection, a quality VPN, antivirus, and a password manager, we suggest a product like Surfshark One+ instead of UltraAV.

UltraAV test results

We evaluate antivirus software based on a combination of third-party testing sites like AV-TEST, AV-Comparatives, and SE Labs, in addition to EICAR virus test files we administer ourselves. The three third-party sites have long histories of effective testing and evaluating antivirus software. It’s worth noting that software companies have to pay to have these third parties test their products and do not get a say in the results in any way.

We also test scan speeds and the performance impact of each antivirus. Even though UltraAV used a lot of our working memory — at one point 97% during its scan — our performance wasn’t impacted to the point of being unable to use our computer.

Scan speed

• Result: Slow

The quick scan we tested was so fast, it barely scanned any files. It took less than a second, and we didn’t find it to be effective at all. On the other hand, the full scan took nearly an hour. We weren't impressed with the results because it still didn’t find the previously installed virus test files.

Scan type	Time spent
Quick scan	Less than a second
Full scan	47 minutes and 9 seconds

EICAR test results

• Result: 2/3

Once the real-time protection was enabled, UltraAV stopped us from downloading the malware test from EICAR but didn’t do anything against the phishing test. It also never caught the previously downloaded EICAR files we had on our hard drive.

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

AV-TEST results

• Result: Ok

UltraAV only had results from AV-TEST for Windows, likely due to wanting to pay for only one test, and AV-TEST being the most widely accepted of the three. While most quality products score either 17 or a perfect 18 for protection, performance, and usability, UltraAV scored 16.

A test result difference of a point or two may not seem like a huge difference, but it matters. We found the lower score to be consistent with our own test results, where UltraAV missed previously installed viruses.

Test type	Windows score	macOS score	Android score
Protection	5.5/6	N/A	N/A
Performance	5.5/6	N/A	N/A
Usability	5/6	N/A	N/A
Total	16/18	N/A	N/A
Date	Jan/Feb 2025	N/A	N/A
Link to test	Link	N/A	N/A

UltraAV’s scores were relatively low compared to some of the best products we’ve seen. Most of the best antivirus programs don’t score below a 17, and they normally receive a perfect 6 out of 6 in the three categories. AV-TEST does offer some wiggle room in its scoring, so having a score below 17 means the product must’ve done poorly.

UltraAV compatibility

UltraAV offers coverage for up to 20 devices at a time, but mentions compatibility only for Windows and Mac. Most quality antivirus programs offer coverage for mobile devices, too. While we found the Mac installation to be easy and seamless, we were surprised there wasn’t additional coverage for other operating systems outside of Windows.

UltraAV customer support

We found the customer support options and experience to be surprisingly quick and effortless. If you need customer support outside of your UltraAV dashboard, there’s an email option via a form submission on the website.

There’s also an AI chatbot on the website. Customers can access 24/7 live support via a chatbox when logged into their portal. We didn’t have to wait for a live agent, and they answered our question quickly.

Top alternatives

We don’t feel that UltraAV is the best value for the money when it comes to features and performance. The other options we’ve listed below are some of our favorites and consistently have high performance scores. You’ll also find plenty of features and extras with each of these products.

FAQs

Bottom line: Is UltraAV good?

No, UltraAV isn’t antivirus software we’d recommend. While it’s not harmful, it’s also not robust enough to protect you against modern internet threats. We tried multiple times to have it catch the test virus files on our computer, and it failed each time. It’s also fairly sparse and doesn’t offer the robust performance and protection we’ve come to expect from a quality antivirus.

The best antivirus software not only protects you from incoming threats, but it also cleans your device and rids it of any threats that may be there due to subpar protection. You should also be able to enjoy useful features, like network security, webcam protection, phishing alerts, and more from a quality antivirus. UltraAV doesn’t offer any of this. There are better options out there that give you more value for your money.