Bitdefender Free to discontinue of 31st of December 2021

[CyberDevil]

I couldn't find an official link, but people write that they get such a letter:

The decision to discontinue a product is never easy.

This is especially so when a product is as popular as our Free Edition product has been for the last years.

Since early 2020, we have had to weather immense changes in our industry, changes which upended many of our cherished plans for product development.

Sadly, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition has been a casualty of those changes.

As of 1st of January 2022, Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition will officially be discontinued and no longer available for use.

As a Free Edition user, how does this affect you, and how should you prepare?

We will continue to offer tech support for our Free Edition until 30st of June 2022. We hope this gives you time to choose and install an alternative solution that will keep your devices protected.

As cybersecurity experts, we strongly advise you not to simply leave your PC unprotected going forward. Malware attacks are more sophisticated than ever, so it is critical to have robust protection that keeps you and your devices safe at all times.

If you would like to keep Bitdefender's silent "set-it-and-forget-it" style of protection (and we hope you do), we will happily upgrade your subscription to our most popular protection plan, Bitdefender Total Security, for a nominal fee of just 9.98 € for the entire first year.

If this is true, it looks like a big mistake by Bitdefender, since almost all the big players now have free solutions.

UPD: Official link by upnorth :

Will Bitdefender Free continue to exist?

Good morning, Will Bitdefender Free continue to be available for download and will it continue to be implemented? Can you clarify? Thanks!

community.bitdefender.com

 

[Sorrento]

Free seems well covered by MS lately, lots don't do free such as Norton, ESET, F-Secure & seem to get by OK, never been a lover of free AV, IMO you tend to pay with your data but some can be tweaked to prevent that. interesting news!

 

[upnorth]

This may be a rumor, but I saw a post about it on two platforms. I couldn't find an official link

Here's the official link on their own forum.

Will Bitdefender Free continue to exist?

Good morning, Will Bitdefender Free continue to be available for download and will it continue to be implemented? Can you clarify? Thanks!

community.bitdefender.com

Unfortunately, our Free Antivirus product no longer meets our higher-than-ever standards and will be retired starting December 31st. And we will continue to offer tech support for our Bitdefender Free Edition users until January 31st.

 

[Moonhorse]

When windows 10 came out in 2015, it took like year for bitdefender to update their free version of antivirus up to date....porting over windows 11 should not be that hard though?

Well as i read multiple forums, ive seen more paid users there than people using bitdefender free anyways

 

[ExecutiveOrder]

If this is true, it looks like a big mistake by Bitdefender, since almost all the big players now have free solutions.

I think Norton and its subsidiaries will get a much stronger userbase and threat intelligence data than ever before.
Avast (including AVG) has free products that have been heavily promoted (even used in multiple independent testers) for a very very long time, Avira also has a free product.

 

[South Park]

Considering that Bitdefender Free no longer scans scripts and cannot be made to do so, perhaps this is for the best.

 

[ForgottenSeer 92963]

This morning I got an email that BD Free will be discontinued on 31-12-2021 and I am only using BD free on my Android phone.

Does anyone know whether the Bitdefender Free for Android also will be discontinued?

 

[Mountainking]

It's not a rumor...
Got an email this morning that as from Jan 2022 there will no longer be free bitdefender. I hope that Kaspersky will not follow suite! They are also offering me (via email) a 1 year subscription for only $9.98 for 5 devices instead of the MSRP of $89.99. The offer expires on 31st December 2021. Anyone else got this news?

 

[BitdefenderOfficial]

Hi! We are focusing product development around multi-platform protection and as a result, we are retiring Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition for Windows starting on December. Bitdefender values its customers and user base; all our Bitdefender Antivirus Free users will receive privately (via email) a special discounted offer for Bitdefender Total Security.

 

[BitdefenderOfficial]

This morning I got an email that BD Free will be discontinued on 31-12-2021 and I am only using BD free on my Android phone.

Does anyone know whether the Bitdefender Free for Android also will be discontinued?

Hi. The changes will be made only for Antivirus Free for Windows, meaning that the free version of Bitdefender mobile will not be affected.

 

[South Park]

Hi. The changes will be made only for Antivirus Free for Windows, meaning that the free version of Bitdefender mobile will not be affected.

Glad to hear that. I like and use Bitdefender Free for Android and have recommended it to others as well.

 

[SeriousHoax]

@BitdefenderOfficial Is there any plan on including Android related signatures to the Windows version because Windows 11 now comes with Android apps support? Some of your competitors like ESET (on access, on write, on demand, on execution), Kaspersky (on write and on demand it seems), Avira (On demand scanner only), Microsoft's (on demand scanner but unpredictable) and some other's signature already includes signatures for detecting APK files at least.
I've already asked this to two other vendors and only received a partial reply from F-Secure (uses Avira engine but for some reason don't detect all APK files that Avira does).

 

[blueblackwow65]

I won't miss it .

 

[BitdefenderOfficial]

@BitdefenderOfficial Is there any plan on including Android related signatures to the Windows version because Windows 11 now comes with Android apps support? Some of your competitors like ESET (on access, on write, on demand, on execution), Kaspersky (on write and on demand it seems), Avira (On demand scanner only), Microsoft's (on demand scanner but unpredictable) and some other's signature already includes signatures for detecting APK files at least.
I've already asked this to two other vendors and only received a partial reply from F-Secure (uses Avira engine but for some reason don't detect all APK files that Avira does).

Hi! Thanks for asking about this. We kindly inform you that it's something that we have to consider. At the moment we have the option to scan Android devices as separate storage devices using the Windows version of Bitdefender.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Hi! Thanks for asking about this. We kindly inform you that it's something that we have to consider. At the moment we have the option to scan Android devices as separate storage devices using the Windows version of Bitdefender.

Thanks for replying and I understand that it's something that won't happen in a day or week. It requires time to analyze this particular attack vector, and see whether it's necessary or not, before making any decision.

 

[The Ordynary]

a pity they discontinued the free version, kaspersky free and WD will reign

 

[Kiss]

@BitdefenderOfficial Hello how are you? A question that I think is from all or most Bitdefender customers: Why do you never release the changelog of new versions? I believe that every customer should know what is being updated, what is new and etc., because it is not cheap to pay every year for a license, I think that publicizing what is being updated in a program that I pay is more than deserved and respectful.

 

[BitdefenderOfficial]

@BitdefenderOfficial Hello how are you? A question that I think is from all or most Bitdefender customers: Why do you never release the changelog of new versions? I believe that every customer should know what is being updated, what is new and etc., because it is not cheap to pay every year for a license, I think that publicizing what is being updated in a program that I pay is more than deserved and respectful.

Hi! Thanks for asking about this. We kindly inform you that Bitdefender adopted a continuous updates and upgrades model, therefore there are no e-mail alerts regarding new versions/updates. You can always be sure that you are using the latest version of your security software. You can also check directly from the app if you have the latest version of Bitdefender or if it needs to be updated (right click on the icon displayed near the clock - Update now). For new features or options that are launched, you can follow our official pages.

 

[Guilhermesene]

Hi! Thanks for asking about this. We kindly inform you that Bitdefender adopted a continuous updates and upgrades model, therefore there are no e-mail alerts regarding new versions/updates. You can always be sure that you are using the latest version of your security software. You can also check directly from the app if you have the latest version of Bitdefender or if it needs to be updated (right click on the icon displayed near the clock - Update now). For new features or options that are launched, you can follow our official pages.

Hi,

Interesting

So, you use the Scrum product development methodology where there are continuous evolutions and updates, correct? If so, even if you use this development methodology, there is nothing stopping you from producing changelogs where customers can follow the changes (even if they are minimal).

 

[chrismin13]

@BitdefenderOfficial What happens to existing free customers' machines after June 30, 2022? Are they informed on their machine that they are no longer protected or are they prompted to upgrade? Are they given an option to uninstall? I am asking since many friends and family are using Bitdefender Free and I would like to know the options they will be offered.