Antivirus cost: what you really pay over the years
Antivirus pricing runs on one trick: a cheap first year that renews at a higher price. The advertised first-year amount is not what you keep paying. Type your two numbers below, or tap a vendor preset with the prices we read on September 30, 2026, and the calculator shows the total over the years you actually keep it, the real average per year, and the size of the renewal jump.
Presets are the first-year and renewal prices as printed on each vendor's own page on September 30, 2026, in the currency the vendor bills in.
A steep 59% renewal jump. Set a reminder, then either ask for the new-customer price or shop again at expiry.
The teaser first year hides the real cost. What you actually pay is the renewal price, every year after the first.
Why the first year lies about the cost
Most antivirus brands sell the first year at a promotional price and renew at their list price, and the renewal is the amount that recurs. On the vendors’ own pages, read September 30, 2026, the 7 vendors that print a renewal price charge on average 42.2% more from year two (median 33.3%). The widest gap is Norton 360 Deluxe: $49.99 in year one, then $124.99 a year, which over three years comes to $299.97 instead of three times the teaser. TotalAV and F-Secure Total renew at the first-year price, and G Data Total Security renews lower (-30%), which is exactly what makes them cheaper over time. 5 vendors print no renewal amount at all; for those, type the figure from your own renewal notice.
How to read the result: a renewal jump under 50% is fine to lock in, just turn off auto-renewal the day you buy so year two stays your decision. A jump above 50% means you should set a calendar reminder for one week before expiry, then ask support for the new-customer price, switch to a competitor at their first-year rate, or rebuy through a fresh checkout. In this market, loyalty is the most expensive option, and the only honest way to compare two products is on their multi-year cost, not the price on the ad.
The presets above are the same pairs as the table in our Renewal Price Index, where every vendor carries its source link and reading date; the monthly entry prices of all suites are in the Price Index.