Antivirus software can be divided into two broad camps: free apps, and products that you must pay money for. These are usually known as paid or premium apps.
Clearly, the most obvious difference between the two is that one involves spending money and the other doesn’t. But, there's more to it than that. This article looks at how to decide on the best choice for you. Weighing up various key factors between the two will make it much easier to choose the best one to suit your needs.
- Our definitive list of today's best antivirus software
- Looking for even more protection? Grab the best VPN
- See why we rate Bitdefender so highly in our testing
Budget
The first and most obvious thing to thing about is your budget. If you’re on a very tight budget when it comes to your PC and the software you’re running on it, a free alternative can be a tempting option. The good news on that front is there’s nothing wrong with getting a freebie antivirus app.
However, it is absolutely vital that you're very careful about which free piece of software you download and install. It's not a good idea to simply grab an app from a random company you’ve never heard of. Don't just pick any old antivirus either – make sure you select software from a well-known vendor. The respected firms which we highlight in our roundup of the best free antivirus is a great place to start.
That said, it's worth noting that some antivirus developers offer their premium products on long-term contracts. This route is often very affordable in terms of a monthly rate. Plus, these apps give you much more in terms of features, as we’ll discuss next. Therefore, the overall value proposition, at least with some products such as those that top our best paid antivirus list, is actually very strong. Check out how reasonable some of the best names in the business have made their premium offerings:
It's also worth remembering that paid apps frequently offer either a trial or a money-back guarantee if you’re not happy within a certain period. That means you can try before you buy and see first-hand if the software is worth splashing out on.
Features
With free virus protection, you’ll only get a basic feature-set. These apps might only carry the core antivirus engine. As a possible bonus, there may be a couple of additional pillars of defense – but antivirus vendors tend to keep most of the more heavyweight functions for their paid products, for obvious reasons.
Premium versions will often come with the benefit of important additions. These can include extra layers of anti-ransomware protection, or web protection with anti-phishing features or perhaps a tailor-made secure browser functionality. You’ll be even more secure with these kind of features backing you up online. That's great news for those who might be less confident about the web and all of its potential dangers.
Similarly, because parental controls and the likes of social media monitoring tools are generally only found in paid security apps, anyone with a family may well want to pay for these extra features. This is definitely a good idea for keeping the kids safe and secure when they’re online.
Adverts
Another consideration is advertising, which can often be a prominent feature of no-fee software. With free products, there will likely be some manner of advertising involved (there are exceptions to the rule but they are few and far between). This might be ads for all kinds of things, or simple messages suggesting you upgrade to the premium version. Either way, you will probably face pop-ups of some sort.
With a paid antivirus app, there is none of this. Another way of looking at it could be that with a free antivirus package, you’re effectively paying for the product with another resource - your time (to dismiss adverts), rather than money. Granted, you won’t spend much time dismissing adverts with most decent free apps because there shouldn’t be too many. Nevertheless, they can be annoying all the same.
Support
Aside from those considerations, another major difference between paid and free products is that you get a fully rounded technical support package with a premium antivirus package. That frequently means 24/7 support, which often allows you to talk to human agents - via the phone, or live chat online. This can be a really useful route for troubleshooting if you're stuck or getting tied up in knots.
Indeed, some security companies even offer additional benefits such as Norton’s virus protection promise, whereby if a paying user’s system is infected by malware, they get a guarantee that one of the company’s experts will remove it. If tech support can’t remedy the situation, the cost of the customer’s subscription is refunded, which adds real value to a package.
Compared to that, free virus protection will not give you any guarantees. In fact, support is usually limited to simple FAQs, or forums where users can try and help each other out, often with varying levels of success. If your query is a trickier one to solve, you may find you get no replies and can’t find much out in any FAQ either. That could leave you pretty much high and dry, perhaps speculatively Googling for an answer.
Paid antivirus vs free antivirus: which should you get?
As we've outlined above, the answer to this question does, of course, depend on your exact needs. Broadly speaking, though, paid antivirus is the best option because of the extra features on offer. Many of these are genuinely very useful, particularly to computing novices, plus there's the clear benefit of better support, and a distinct lack of any pesky ads.
However, a free app is a perfectly viable option for robust core protection of your PC. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with going down this route for anyone who wants to save some money, and who are perhaps more confident about avoiding online dangers.
- Read more: How to choose the best antivirus for you
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
