How much should antivirus cost?
What the vendors' own pages said on September 8, 2026
The 13 products with a verified first-year price in US dollars run from $29.99 (Intego Mac Internet Security, Intego ONE Essential (Antivirus + Firewall), 1 Mac, 1-year) to $144 (Aura); the median first-year price is $52.49. TotalAV bills in euros (€99 a year) and stays out of that median.
Year two is the figure to judge an offer on. The 9 vendors that print a renewal price charge 64.3% more on average from the second year, median 58.9%, while 5 vendors print no renewal amount at all.
Figures from the vendors’ own pages, read September 8, 2026, in the currency each vendor bills in. Every vendor with its source link is in the Renewal Price Index; the entry prices per month are in the Price Index.
The short answer
The range and the median first-year price for the products on this list, read from the vendors’ own pages on the date shown, are in the block at the top of this page and in the Price Index; the increases at renewal are in the Renewal Price Index. Judge a suite on the renewal row, not the first-year row. Pay more only for real extras you will use (unlimited VPN, identity monitoring), and never pay the renewal price without checking the new-customer price first.
In detail
The price tags in this market are theater. List prices exist mainly to make the first-year discount look generous. The economic reality is in the block at the top of this page: the lowest and highest first-year price read from the vendors’ pages, the median between them, and the average increase from year two across the vendors that print a renewal amount. Quality suites such as Bitdefender Total Security, Norton 360 Deluxe and ESET HOME Security sit inside that range, each at its own device count; where each one lands is on its product page here, with the date the price was read.
What moves the price up honestly is an unlimited VPN (worth paying for on its own if you would otherwise buy one), identity protection with credit monitoring and insurance (a separate product folded in), and cloud backup. Tune-up utilities of dubious value and tier names that re-sell you the same engine move it up dishonestly. Check the feature table, not the tier name.
And remember the floor: free is a legitimate price point. Microsoft Defender plus sensible habits protects a careful single-PC user at no cost, and the free tiers of Avast and Avira are real protection. The right question is not "what does antivirus cost" but "which gaps am I actually paying to close". Price the gaps, not the fear.
Relevant to this question
Bitdefender
Gen Digital