For Mac, Avast offers antivirus, wifi protection, and anti-phishing. All for free. Pay a bit extra, and it adds anti-ransomware on top. We compare the protection. Compare Sophos vs. Avast A great way to choose the right IT Management Software product for your firm is to evaluate the solutions against each other. Here you can compare Avast and Sophos and see their capabilities compared thoroughly to help you decide on which one is the better product.

Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac

Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac's top-shelf malware detection and barely there system impact make it the best antivirus solution.

Avast Free Mac Security

Avast Free Mac Security's malware-squashing proficiency, negligible performance impact and included password manager make it the best free option.

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac offers top-shelf malware detection and protects files from ransomware.

After evaluating eight free and paid antivirus products, we've chosen Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac ($40 per year) as the best antivirus for Mac. It had a nearly invisible impact on system performance, and it caught all malware.

Avast Free Mac Security is our favorite free option, as it provided nearly perfect malware protection and an easy-to-use interface with an imperceptible performance hit.

You do need an antivirus program on your Mac. Recent years have seen more Mac malware and adware than ever before, from Trojans to targeted attacks, supply-chain attacks like the XcodeGhost attack and even encrypting ransomware.

MORE: Best Antivirus Software and Apps

Latest Security Alerts and Threats

— Google pushed out an emergency patch for its Chrome browser for Windows, macOS and Linux after a vulnerability was found that could let a malicious website take over a computer. ADVICE: Copy and paste 'chrome://settings/help' into your Chrome address bar to make sure your browser is updated to version 76.0.3809.132.

— Apple patched a security hole that let you -- or a malicious website -- jailbreak an iPhone and install any kind of app, including potential malware. (This is not among the flaws that let several websites infect any iPhone.) ADVICE: Make sure your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch is updated to iOS 12.4.1.

— Spammers have been sending emails to inject scam or malicious messages in regular people's Google Calendar pages. ADVICE: Follow our instructions to stop phony Google Calendar notifications from happening to you.

How We Tested

To find the best antivirus for Mac desktops and laptops, we evaluate ease of use, interface and performance impact, we installed each AV program on the same Late 2013 MacBook Pro with Retina Display running macOS 10.12 Sierra. It was powered by a 2.6-GHz Intel Core i7 processor and had 8GB of RAM and 70GB of data stored on a 512GB SSD.

We conducted our own tests in July and August 2017 based on how much each antivirus product affected our laptop's performance. To do this, we used our custom OpenOffice benchmark, which matches 20,000 names and addresses in a spreadsheet. We measured how long it took to run a quick scan and a full scan while the laptop crunched numbers in the background.

We assessed how easy each program was to use and the number of useful extra features it offered (including free add-on software). To gauge how effective each package was at stopping malware, we used the results of evaluations conducted in May 2017 by AV-TEST, a well-regarded independent product-testing lab in Germany, and results from other tests conducted in July 2017 by AV-Comparatives, a similarly well-respected firm in Austria.

Best Mac Antivirus

Reasons to Buy

Kaspersky Internet Security is the best antivirus for Macs because it offers both the lowest system impact and some of the best malware-detection rates recorded. It even provides extra security features, including parental controls and options to lock down your webcam and stop websites from tracking your browsing activity. If you're willing to pay to protect your Mac from malware, Kaspersky Internet Security is the best option available.

Best Free Mac Antivirus

Reasons to Buy

Avast Free Mac Security caught 99.9 percent of all malware, packs in a password manager, barely leaves a smudge on system impact and doesn't charge a dime. If only it caught 100 percent of malware, as Kaspersky did.

Reasons to Buy

Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac is one of only a few solutions we tested that offers perfect malware detection. Further, its modern, streamlined interface places on-demand scans front and center. Bitdefender has dropped from first place, though, because its system-impact scores don't match the flawless marks posted by Kaspersky.

Reasons to Avoid

Norton 360 Deluxe may offer excellent protection, but it charges more (after the first year) than its competitors do, without offering as many perks. Norton AntiVirus Plus offers similar protection for a single Mac, but with fewer perks. Still, both have always-on-call customer support.

Reasons to Buy

Reasons to Avoid

Avast For Mac Comparison Guide

If you're looking for the best antivirus for Mac without having to pay, AVG AntiVirus for Mac is not too shabby, with its 99.9 percent detection rate and easy-to-use design. Unfortunately, other free competitors provide extras (Sophos with parental controls, Avast's password manager) that AVG does not.

Best for Families

Reasons to Buy

With Sophos Home for Mac's simple interface and low system-performance impact, you'll barely realize the program is shielding you until you need it. Anyone with young children at home will find Sophos' parental controls useful, as they allow for remote scans and checks, and let you block sites by category. Sophos even keeps a log of when users try to reach banned pages. This program's major drawback, though, is its lackluster malware-detection rate.

Reasons to Buy

Once our favorite, Avira Free Antivirus for Mac is no longer the best antivirus for Mac. That's because it is a hair shy of perfection in its malware detection, and fell behind in system-performance testing, earning some of the higher performance impacts recorded.

Reasons to Buy

Reasons to Avoid

While McAfee's unlimited licenses mean you can support a whole family of Macs (and PCs and Android devices, too), this program's lack of special features (for a paid version) make it hard to recommend. Further, we don't have malware-detection testing scores for McAfee, so its protection powers are unproven.

In Windows 8, Microsoft reinforced the Windows firewall by expanding its features, added virus protection, device performance checking, apps & browser control, parental controls, etc. and relaunched the software as Windows defender promising that with this pre-installed software, you won’t need to install any antivirus.

After Windows 8, 8.1 released and then Windows 10 and with them, new versions of Windows defender arrived but even after years of improvements, do you believe that Windows Defender is strong enough to protect your PC? It’s way better than Windows firewall but the software isn’t even close to the standard of virus & spyware protection that antivirus software are providing for years. Windows defender can identify very few virus, spyware and PUPs. It lacks quick, custom, scheduled and boot time scanning. Neither the performance tools it provides are strong enough to take on tune-up utilities.

So, the thought of depending on Windows defender thinking that it will keep you protected from all latest viruses, spyware, adware, PUPs and privacy threats is plain stupid. You need a good antivirus and if you can afford, you should have the best antivirus available right now to keep sensitive data available on your PC protected. And that’s why more and more people are installing Avast antivirus.

Available in both free and paid versions, Avast antivirus surpasses the Windows defender and challenges many popular antivirus software through its free version only and with the addition of premium features in its Internet Security, Premier and Ultimate versions, the antivirus software outpasses every other premium antivirus software available in the market.

Avast Free Antivirus

With a user base of over 400 million happy customers, Avast Free Antivirus is the most downloaded antivirus for past few years. The free version comes with all the standard antivirus features. You will get the top level of protection from viruses, ransomware, spyware, rootkits, trojan horses, malware, phishing and PUPs with real-time threats scanning in PC and on the network.

The software automatically scans every unknown file before it reaches you to ensure that your data is 100% secure. If it isn’t able to identify, it sends the suspicious file to cloud using the CyberCapture feature and the cure is sent to all avast users if it’s a threat. The Avast free antivirus uses multiple levels of security to keep you safe even from the newest, never-before-seen threats.

• Wi-Fi Inspector – Automatically detects weakness in your home WiFi and captures strangers piggybacking your network
• Smart Scan – Finds those cracks from which malware can slip into your system: unsafe settings, weak passwords, out of date software, etc.
• Gaming Mode – Not only blocks Avast notifications but also those coming from your Windows so that you can totally enjoy playing the game on full screen without getting interrupted by disturbing notifications
• Behavior Shield – Avast doesn’t only scan files to find malware, it also keeps an eye on the behavior of the software to that even the smartest malware can’t escape.

The interface is so simple and straight forward that you don’t need to even consult the manual or use software’s help. From the left hand side, click Protection to view all the important tools such as Scan, Virus Chest, WiFi Inspector, Software Updater, etc. Privacy & Performance consist of other important tools such as VPN, Password protection, Webcam Shield.

Below on the left, you’ll find the option to Upgrade your free Avast antivirus to Avast Internet Security, Avast Premier or Avast Ultimate protection. And at the bottom, Settings is provided to manage language, virus chest size, Scan settings, Popups, Sound, Alerts, etc. to personalize the antivirus according to one’s need.

Avast Internet Security Antivirus

Avast Internet Security is the first premium version of the antivirus which expands to provide online protection for a safer shopping, separate space to run suspicious apps without putting your PC at risk, advanced firewall to block eavesdropping of hackers and keeping eye on what goes in and out from the system, stop spam and phishing attacks and provide extra layer of ransomware security to keep your personal photos and file safe from unwanted changes.

All of this at just $59.99 per year and you can get even more discount by paying for up to 3 years in advance.

Avast Security For Mac Download

Avast Premier Antivirus

The Avast Premier version is the most loved version among the customers who want total protection because with Avast Premier along with getting all the security benefits of Avast Internet Security, you will get essential webcam protection to prevent hackers from monitoring you via webcams, the feature to shred sensitive files so that they can never be restored and the auto-update feature for all the apps into your PC.

These additional features make up to you for just $79.99 per month

Avast Ultimate Antivirus

Avast For Mac 10.6.8

Avast Ultimate Antivirus, is not a separate premium version but rather a software bundle that comes with Avast Premier, Avast Passwords Premium, Avast Cleanup Premium and Avast SecureLine. Together all of these software not only provide the highest level of security but also easy password remember and protection, PC Clean up tool to remove junk space, empty RAM and make PC Fast. The Avast SecureLine included provides premium Avast VPN which not only allows you to browse internet anonymously but also to unblock websites & apps which are otherwise blocked in your geo-location.

Avast For Mac Comparison Chart

The Avast Ultimate will cost $119.99 per year. PC Tune Up tools, VPN and Password protection tools are essential. If you use your PC more than a normal computer user and for comparatively more important tasks, you will need these software sooner or later. So, instead of going with other companies to purchase similar software, I recommend you to purchase Avast Ultimate software bundle because not only it will cost you very less but it also provides these tools with most powerful features and frequent updates just keep making them more and more amazing.