Is Malwarebytes free, and is Premium worth paying for?

The free version is a removal tool, and a good one. It scans on demand, cleans out adware, browser hijackers, and potentially unwanted programs, and then sits quiet until you open it again. Technicians keep it on a USB stick for exactly that reason.

What it does not do is stop anything before it lands. The free tier has no real-time shield, so it cannot be your only protection. On Windows that gap is already covered. Microsoft Defender is free, always on, and scored 6 out of 6 in recent AV-TEST rounds.

Premium turns the specialist into a permanent second layer, and it is built to run beside Defender rather than replace it. Its price is on malwarebytes.com; at the September 2026 check no figure could be read from that page for the index here, so confirm the first-year price and the renewal step there before you buy.

That matters more here than elsewhere. A second layer only earns its place if it is still affordable in year three and year four, and the Renewal Price Index shows how far most suites have risen by then.

What Premium does not give you is a full suite. There is no firewall, no parental controls, and the lab results are good rather than chart-topping. As your only protection it is thinner than Bitdefender, but as a second layer it is the best value we know.

The rule for deciding is simple. If you clean up trouble only now and then, the free version next to Defender costs nothing and covers you. If you regularly rescue other people's PCs, or you keep finding adware on your own, pay for Premium.