Vipre Antivirus Review 2024: Is It Only Great for Windows?

If you’re a Windows user, you’ll find a wide variety of features available with Vipre Antivirus. All plans include free customer support, antivirus and ransomware protection, and real-time scanning. If you choose one of the more comprehensive plans, you’ll enjoy webcam and microphone protection, dark web scanning, and a VPN.

But we found that most features were available only to PC users. It also had a slower scan speeds than many of the best antivirus programs we've reviewed. 

We'll dig into Vipre Antivirus so you can make an informed decision on your next antivirus subscription.

Vipre Antivirus review at a glance

Price	$15.99–$49.99/first yr
Free plan	No
# of devices protected	1 – 10
Malware scans	Manual and scheduled
Real-time protection	Yes
EICAR test results	2/3
Firewall	Yes
Phishing protection	Yes
Compatibility	Windows, macOS, Android
Extras	Dark web monitoring, VPN
24/7 customer support	No
Learn more	Get Vipre Antivirus

Our experience

Our experience with Vipre Antivirus was largely positive with some drawbacks. Once we signed up for the free trial, we received an email with the download link as well as a product key to plug in.  

We tested Vipre Antivirus on our laptop running Windows 10. On the plan comparison page, several features are listed as "Windows-compatible only." We're glad we were getting the most out of the product by testing on Windows, but were surprised that macOS users would have to pay the same price for limited protection. 

Our initial full scan took just over an hour, which is a lot longer than we expected. Most of the antivirus programs we've tested usually take five to 20 minutes during full scans. But luckily Vipre didn’t slow down or inhibit our ability to use our computers at all during its scanning. 

We also wish Vipre was clearer about its scan results. Once our full scan was complete, it only listed how many files were cleaned out of the number of items scanned. Other antivirus programs will say something clearer like "no threats detected," which we didn't find until we clicked through to view the scan report. 

When we began testing with EICAR, we were impressed that Vipre blocked everything EICAR threw at it. Each download prompted a pop-up letting us know something malicious had been blocked. That made us confident that Vipre’s real-time protection was working and would protect us in the event we came across an actual virus. 

Overall, we had a good experience with Vipre, especially for the price point. But it's lacking when it comes to scan speeds and user-friendliness.

Who is Vipre Antivirus best for?

• Recommended for Windows users looking for a lower-cost, effective antivirus

While Vipre doesn’t market itself as exclusively for the Microsoft Windows operating system, we found most features are only available to Windows users. Even more features are available if you use Outlook for email, like its spam protection.

Vipre is also competitively priced. Anyone looking for an effective antivirus program for around $15.99/first yr for one computer will be protected with Vipre’s lowest-cost option.

Vipre Antivirus prices and subscriptions

Vipre's lowest-priced plan is $15.99/first yr and it can go as high as $49.99/first yr. It has three pricing tiers: Antivirus Plus, Advanced Security, and Ultimate Security. 

Each plan has two to three options on how many devices you can cover, whether its one device or 10 devices. It’s completely dependent on how much protection you need. 

All of Vipre's pricing plans are extremely affordable compared to several antivirus programs on the market. Here's how Vipre Antivirus Plus ranks next to TotalAV's, McAfee's, and Norton's starting plans:

• Vipre Antivirus Plus: $15.99/first yr
• TotalAV Antivirus Pro: $29.00/yr (first year only)
• McAfee Basic: $39.99/first 2 yrs
• Norton AntiVirus Plus: $29.99/first yr

Below, we gave you the starting price for each plan, but remember prices will increase if you add more devices.

	Antivirus Plus	Advanced Security	Ultimate Security
Price for first year	Starts at $15.99/first yr	Starts at $26.99/first yr	Starts at $39.99/first yr
# devices supported	1 - 10	1 - 10	5 - 10
Compatible with	Windows	Windows, macOS	Windows, macOS
Manual and auto scan
Real-time protection
Phishing protection
Firewall
Ransomware protection
VPN
Parental controls
Performance optimization tools

Vipre Antivirus security features

Every Vipre plan, including the Antivirus Plus plan, comes with malware, spyware, and ransomware protection. Ransomware protection isn’t always included in the least expensive tier of competitors’ plans, so Vipre stands out from its competitors by offering this feature in all plans. 

Vipre has extremely useful features in its higher tiers. Windows users with the Vipre Advanced Security plan and the Ultimate Security Bundle also get features like a firewall, email spam protection, and patch management. 

If you’re the kind of person who sets your computers and phones to update automatically, patch management is for you. This applies the developer patches so all your programs and apps have the latest versions and security patches.

Malware and antivirus scan

Vipre offers both manual and scheduled scans. Manual scanning allows for full scans, quick scans, and custom scans. Custom scans let you choose where to scan. This is helpful if you receive an external drive, like a thumb drive, and you want to check it for potential viruses and malware. 

Vipre also offer plenty of customization for scheduled scans, including date, time, and scan type. 

While the Vipre dashboard’s appearance is a little dated, it does the job. We found the scans to be informative and thorough, but could be clearer for antivirus beginners.

All of this is standard with most home antivirus products, but multiple scanning options are definitely something to look out for when buying antivirus software. Having the ability to scan on command could help catch a new threat that real-time protection may miss. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.

Phishing protection

A computer virus isn’t the only security issue you need to worry about online. Vipre offers anti-phishing protection as well as anti-spam protection for Outlook. These can be configured in the portal and enabled for Outlook. 

But if you're using a different email program, you won’t be able to tap into these features. We’re aware of how annoying spam is, so it’s nice to have the ability to filter it out of our email.

Phishing can be as dangerous as a virus or malware. Typically, phishing requests aren’t caught by antivirus software because they don’t contain any malicious coding like a virus. Instead, these requests trick you into giving up sensitive information that can lead to theft of your financial accounts or identity. 

Vipre’s anti-phishing scans your emails for known phrases and actions that look suspicious and flags them for your review. 

Firewall

The firewall is for Windows only, so Mac and Android users won’t have access to this protection. 

In our testing, we found that there were quite a few firewall configurations available. We activated the Boot Time Protection, which enables the firewall on startup, and the Stealth Mode, which turns off automatic response to port scans.

If you aren’t sure what that means, port scanning is a preferred method of attack by hackers. Like the USB ports on your computer, the internal software also has ports that allow people to access other computers or servers. 

When a hacker automatically scans for open ports, they’re trying to find a way in. By enabling Stealth Mode, it rejects any attempts to access an open RDP port on your system.

There’s even an Intrusion Detection System feature that blocks attacks from other machines on your network. If one of your family members picks up a virus or gets hacked, the firewall can help protect the rest of the computers in your network from also being infected. 

This can be a lifesaver if you bring your work computer home, as an attack from a family member’s infected computer can be carried back to your office network.

Real-time protection

In Vipre’s portal, real-time protection is called Advanced Active Protection and scans your computer in real-time. It’s looking for malicious scripts and processes that happen as you’re using your computer.

Real-time protection is important because it allows you to go online without the fear of picking up a virus that will root itself in your system. You can stop these issues before they begin and potentially save yourself a lot of wasted time, effort, and money.

Ransomware protection

Ransomware protection is wrapped up in a variety of Vipre’s offerings.

• Patch Management
• Real-time protection
• Specialized ransomware tools

Patch management keeps your apps and programs up-to-date with security, real-time protection constantly scans your activity for malicious codes and scripts, and the ransomware tools built into the product recognize the unique properties of ransomware. 

Combining these three gives you a strong preventative barrier against infection. Prevention is easier than having to clean up a ransomware mess.

Anti-fraud protection

While Vipre doesn’t focus on anti-fraud protection, there are several tools built into the product that help protect you from fraud, like the anti-phishing and anti-spam tools for Outlook.

Bonus features

Depending on the plan you choose, Vipre offers a variety of bonus features. We were definitely impressed with them. 

It’s nice to have an included VPN, and it worked well. The Secure File Eraser is a feature we’re seeing more of in cybersecurity products. Sometimes file deletion is an afterthought, but if you like to sell your devices, you’ll want to make sure all aspects of your life are gone before handing it over to a stranger.

Bonus features:

• Secure file eraser
• Webcam and microphone blocker
• Browsing eraser
• Dark web scanner
• VPN
• Gaming mode to reduce lag time and memory usage

Overall, if we were shopping for a cybersecurity product, Vipre’s bonus features would be a huge draw toward purchasing this product. The features are a mix of identity theft protection with the dark web scanner and secure file eraser as well as useful tools like the VPN and gaming mode. 

Vipre Antivirus test results

We reviewed Vipre Antivirus's scanning capabilities, cyberthreat detection and protection, and its third-party test results. Vipre had one of the slowest full scans we've encountered so far, but it passed all of the EICAR malware tests. 

Third-party testing is necessary for any security product. A company can tell you all it likes that its products are great, but an independent third-party test is the only real way to confirm. 

In our research, we found that Vipre doesn’t have consumer tests from anything more recent than 2022. This is a little concerning considering Vipre bills itself as a top antivirus product.

Scan speed

• Result: Slow

Vipre Antivirus options offers several types of scans including quick scans, full scans, and custom scans. 

Scan type	Time spent
Quick scan	5 minutes, 22 seconds
Full scan	1 hour, 4 minutes

Vipre Antivirus had significantly slower scan speeds compared to most of the antivirus programs we've tested. The full scan took over an hour, while most usually take no more than 20 minutes. At least Vipre didn't impact our device performance. 

EICAR test results

• Result: 2/3

EICAR tests are essentially fake cyberthreat files that you can run on your computer to check the effectiveness of your antivirus program. They present the same way a virus or piece of malware would as far as code and process, but they won’t harm your device. 

This allowed us to check Vipre for its malware and phishing protection capabilities since its third-party test results are dated. 

Test	Vipre Antivirus score
Malware detection	Pass
Drive-by malware downloads	Pass
Phishing detection	Fail

Vipre blocked every malware file EICAR threw at it. The detection rate for each of these was 100%. 

The only test that Vipre didn't pass was the phishing detection test, but Vipre isn't configured for web phishing. The only phishing configuration is for Outlook, so we weren’t too concerned with this.

AV-TEST results

• Result: Vipre received near-perfect scores across the board

AV-TEST is an independent organization dedicated to testing the efficacy of security programs. 

We reviewed Vipre's most recent AV-TEST results for Windows and macOS. The tests are focused on malware protection, impact on device performance, and usability as far as correctly detecting cyberthreats.

Test type	Windows 10 score	macOS Mojave score	Android 11 score
Protection	6/6	6/6	N/A
Performance	5.5/6	6/6	N/A
Usability	6/6	6/6	N/A
Total	17.5/18	18/18	N/A
Date	December 2022	June 2019	N/A
Link to test	Link	Link	N/A

For Windows, Vipre received a perfect protection and usability score. Its only markdown was in the protection category. It slowed down computer speed when launching popular websites and when installing frequently-used applications more than the industry average. 

For macOS, Vipre received a perfect score in every category. Its never submitted its Android app for testing. 

AV-Comparatives test results

• Result: Vipre had solid protection scores but high performance impact rates

AV-Comparatives is another independent organization we rely on for antivirus test results. It runs a number of tests including real-world protection, malware protection, and impact on device performance. 

Test type	Mobile security	Real-world protection	Malware protection	Performance impact (Lower is better)
Score	N/A	99.7%	99.7%	18.0
Platform	N/A	Windows	Windows	Windows
Date	N/A	October 2022	October 2022	October 2022
Link	N/A	Link	Link	Link

Vipre was among the top antivirus programs for real-world protection, tying with Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and Panda. It was also in top group for malware protection, also tying with TotalAV and K7.

However, Vipre was toward the back of the pack for performance impact. The lowest impact score was K7 with 0.6 while the highest impact score was Microsoft with 27.7. 

Vipre Antivirus compatibility

The Antivirus Plus plan is only for Windows, while the Advanced Security and Ultimate Security Bundle are both available for Microsoft Windows and Mac. We found an app in the Google Play Store for Android, but there's no Apple Store app for iOS.

This isn’t a deal breaker. Most security suites don’t accommodate iOS because of its advanced security features. If you really want protection for your iPhone, consider a product like 1Blocker to beef up security.

Vipre Antivirus customer support

Vipre Antivirus only has two options for customer support: email and a help center with online guides. We submitted an email to support to learn more about its anti-phishing capabilities, but haven't received a response back yet. 

The help center does provide informative pages on explaining. 

Top alternatives

If you’ve made it this far and you’re still thinking Vipre isn’t your jam, we have other options. Whether you need different features included, like a password manager, or you want more device compatibility, these three competitors are other strong choices.

Our three suggestions below are some of the best antivirus software products on the market.

FAQs

Bottom line: Is Vipre Antivirus good?

We found through testing and research that Vipre is a good antivirus solution. You’ll get even more out of it if you're a Windows user, but that shouldn’t stop Mac or Android users from using the basic protections available to them at an affordable price. We'd love to see its phishing protection extend beyond Outlook as well.  

If you’re looking for a program with more features for either of these, we have guides on the best antivirus for Mac as well as the best antivirus overall. Whatever you do, make sure you keep your device secure from cyberthreats.