Poll Paid vs Free Antivirus in 2026: What are you using, and is it worth paying for?

In 2026, what’s your main antivirus setup: paid or free?

  • Paid security suite (AV + web protection + ransomware layers + firewall, etc.)

  • Paid antivirus only (light AV, minimal extras)

  • Free third-party antivirus (Avast Free, etc.)

  • Microsoft Defender only (built-in, no third-party AV)

  • macOS/Linux/Android built-in protections only (no third-party AV)

  • Other (comment what you use)

Results are only viewable after voting.
I usually look at what's mentioned in tests and the forum and see if I have time to install and test trial versions (full uninstall before installing the next one). After choosing one, I go to some online stores and look for the best deals. For example, you can get some of them for $3 a year per device. Just make sure to buy from sellers with the highest ratings.
 
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As I have a licence I have installed K Standard again from McAfee which is good until October & only cost me a few £s, I like to do a change every few months for interest only, K running fine, though I've changed from The Wolf browser to Firefox as difficult to get the K extension running on Wolf, so all good here, & its picked up no infections, though I do have a bad cold which K did miss!
 
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I am currently using Eset Home Essential and I am fully satisfied. Beside this, I'm also using Hard Defender ( @Andy Ful ). On my another system, I'm using K7 Antivirus ( MAT edition ). I also want to use Bitdefender Internet Security ( I have licence ) but it really feels very heavy on my system & use high amount of RAM & disk.
 
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ahmad_rafiansyah said:
I have also been using Eset Smart Security Premium for a long time.
Click to expand...
Eset is always difficult to uninstall.


McLovin said:
If you’re an OG of MalwareTips, you’d know I’ve been that user who has been using it since the old PC-Cillin days.
Was very active back in the day in the MalwareHub section.


It’s like with all AV’s, they are changing the way they detect and the way it interacts (UI) with the user.

For a standard non tech user Trend works great, but if you’re more advanced (like most of us are, being on MalwareTips), you know how to avoid getting infected.
Click to expand...
Trend Micro is good, but it does not have its own firewall.
 
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The only free 3rd party AV I consider if one is not willing to use MD is AVG Free. It needs some configuration like blocking the UI from accessing the Internet so that it stops displaying ads and silencing the notifications but it offers good protection if you don’t care much about their past data selling. MD and WF offer superb protection if you use the H_C recommended Firewall Hardening rules and use the High security setting in configure defender along with SAC. The only reason I’m using ESET in my gaming PC is because of its superb protection along with its extreme lightness. MD is slower than ESET and on my gaming PC, I tend to extract every bit of performance out of it.
 
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