Question & answer

What is the best cheap antivirus?

The cheapest antivirus

The lowest first-year prices in US dollars are Intego Mac Internet Security at $29.99, Webroot Essentials at $41.99 and Avast One at $49.08.

Over three years the order can change. With one first year and two renewals the cheapest are Intego Mac Internet Security at $109.97, G Data Total Security at $119.85 and Avast One at $205.06. The renewal decides most of the total. Across the 7 vendors that list a renewal price, year two costs 42.2% more on average.

Prices come from each vendor’s own website, in the currency they bill in. You can compare every vendor in the Price Index and the Renewal Price Index.

The short answer

For pure value, Surfshark One stands out. It bundles antivirus, an excellent unlimited VPN and breach alerts at one price on a long plan. Malwarebytes Premium on top of the free Microsoft Defender is a smart budget combination. Whatever you pick, compare what it costs over three years rather than just the first.

In detail

Cheap antivirus often starts with a low introductory price. Judge it on what you pay in year two rather than year one. Three approaches stand out. Surfshark One bundles a top-tier VPN with antivirus and data-breach alerts at one price. Surfshark sells it as a long prepaid plan. Look at the total for the whole term on surfshark.com rather than a monthly figure. The antivirus part is decent rather than lab-leading.

The second approach is a vendor that renews at or below its first-year price. The Renewal Price Index shows which vendors do that. ESET was long the usual example. ESET does not list a renewal price on its plan page. Check the second-year price in your own account before you count on it.

The third approach costs the least of all. Keep the free Microsoft Defender as your engine and add Malwarebytes Premium as the specialist second layer. That combination covers a careful user remarkably well. Malwarebytes lists its price on malwarebytes.com. At the latest check we could not confirm a price there. Whichever route you take, put the renewal date in your calendar when you buy.

Calculate your true multi-year costSee the total over the years you keep it, the real average, and the renewal jump the teaser year hides.