How much do antivirus prices increase at renewal? (2026 data)
We compared the first-year price with the renewal price for 16 antivirus brands in June 2026. On average, year two costs about twice year one: a 2.0x markup. The steepest jump is TotalAV at roughly 4x (about $29 rising to about $119). Only G Data and ESET keep renewals close to the first-year price, while Malwarebytes, Aura, and LifeLock stay around 1.3 to 1.4x. The single most effective response is to turn off auto-renewal the day you buy.
Antivirus pricing runs on one trick: a deep first-year discount that renews at full list price. To put numbers on it, we took the advertised first-year price and the stated renewal price for every paid product on our list (US pricing, annual billing, June 2026) and calculated the markup. We excluded free products like Microsoft Defender, and two brands that publish only vague renewal terms (ESET states a "modest increase"; Surfshark, like all VPN-style deals, renews "much higher").
Renewal markup, worst to best (first year rounded, then renewal): TotalAV: $29 to about $119 (4.1x) McAfee: $50 to about $150 (3.0x) Norton: $50 to about $120 (2.4x) Avast: $50 to about $120 (2.4x) AVG: $60 to about $120 (2.0x) Bitdefender: $50 to about $100 (2.0x) Kaspersky: $45 to about $90 (2.0x) Webroot: $30 to about $60 (2.0x) Intego: $40 to about $80 (2.0x) F-Secure: $60 to about $110 (1.8x) Trend Micro: $50 to about $90 (1.8x) Avira: $60 to about $105 (1.75x) LifeLock: $90 to about $125 (1.4x) Aura: $108 to about $144 (1.3x) Malwarebytes: $45 to about $60 (1.3x) G Data: about $50 to about $50 (roughly 1.0x)
Two patterns stand out. The steepest markups cluster around the most heavily advertised consumer brands (TotalAV, McAfee, Norton), where the cheap first year is the hook. The honest end is split between a European old-timer that simply does not play the game (G Data) and the identity-protection services (Aura, LifeLock), whose prices start high and therefore have less room to climb. Bitdefender, our overall pick, sits at a middle-of-the-road 2x, which is the realistic baseline for this market.
The fix costs nothing. The day you buy any antivirus, open the account and disable auto-renewal; you keep protection for the full term you already paid for. Set a reminder for one week before it expires, then choose: ask support for the new-customer price (often granted to keep you), switch to a competitor at their first-year price, or rebuy the same product through a fresh checkout. In this market, loyalty is simply the most expensive option.