Bottom Line: Avast Security (for Mac) delivers effective malware protection along with a network security scanner. Phishing protection only works well in Chrome at present, but this free utility is. Avast SecureLine VPN is our virtual private network (VPN) for PC, Mac, Android, and iPhone/iPad. Use it to encrypt your Internet connection, disguise your location, and prevent others from seeing what you. Avast protection for Mac endpoints is designed to keep all your devices safe. The automated process offers threat detection and malware scanning, ensuring every endpoint is covered. Avast protection for Mac endpoints is designed to keep all your devices safe. The automated process offers threat detection and malware scanning, ensuring every endpoint is covered. Why choose Mac antivirus from Avast?
It’s fair to say there’s less risk of malware attacks on a Mac than a PC, but does that mean you can skip antivirus altogether?
For years, we’ve been told that Macs can’t get viruses. But no computer is immune from cyber attacks, so each year we test Mac antivirus software to their limits with hundreds of virus attacks including worms and ransomware to see how they fare. Read on to see your protection options.
Browse all our antivirus software reviews, or skip straight to the best antivirus packages from our tough tests.
Built-in Mac security
There aren’t many viruses for Mac computers, which makes them hard to come by. Our lab tests Windows antivirus software with several thousand Windows-specific viruses each year, but tests only a few dozen on Mac computers. That isn’t to say that it’s impossible to catch a Mac virus, but the number of different strains is much smaller.
MacOS is secure by design. It requires a number of steps to allow a virus to run on your machine and needs you, the user, to intervene for any program – be it a virus or otherwise – to gain access to critical system files. In short, it’s actually quite tricky to get infected by Malware on an Mac.
Why you should still consider anitivirus for Mac
Even if you don’t let a piece of malware run, we have found that macOS’ built-in security scanning doesn’t reliably detect dormant viruses just sitting on the hard drive. If you never had any intention of running the viruses yourself, you could inadvertently share them with somebody you know who might not be so fortunate.
And there’s more to antivirus than simply protection from viruses. Almost all the security suites we test come with additional protection against phishing attacks, where websites pretend to be legit in order to steal your data. We have found that the very best Mac security suites will also bolster your phishing protection quite significantly, and perform better than the protection built into the Mac versions of Safari, Chrome, Firefox and Opera web browsers. For this reason, if you’re nervous about threats on the web, it would make sense to at least consider a Mac security suite.
Antivirus options for Apple Macs
While there’s no cheap way to get yourself a Mac, those who don’t fancy a yearly subscription to a security suite can rest easy in the knowledge that this year we tested three free options, one of which was good enough to be a Best Buy.
If you’re a Which? member, you can see the very best antivirus options on our best antivirus for Mac advice guide. And for everybody else, we’ve highlighted five options from the biggest brands.
Paid antivirus for Mac
Norton Security Deluxe
One of the biggest names in antivirus has a relatively inexpensive Mac option. What’s more, if you have Windows computers in your household you can mix and match the different device types under the same subscription. Subscribing gets you various other benefits, although some, such as the 50GB of cloud storage, is only available for Windows computers. See whether it’s worth paying for in our Norton Security Deluxe for Mac review.
Kaspersky Internet Security
Kaspersky’s security suite includes basic protection as well as tools specifically designed to protect your files from ransomware and a bolstered web browser for banking. Like Norton, you can mix and match a Kaspersky multi-device Internet Security subscription between Windows and Macs. See if it’s worth the cost in our full Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac review.
Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac
It comes with phishing protection and a VPN for keeping your web browsing safe from prying eyes, but can this AV production take on its big-brand rivals? It’s performed well in our tests in previous years, so read our full Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac review to find out.
Free antivirus for Mac
AVG Antivirus for Mac (free)
If you don’t want extra features and also don’t fancy shelling out for yet another digital subscription, AVG Free might be the option for you. There are no frills, but it should deliver when it comes to basic protection, adding that last layer of defence for when all else fails. See how it fared in our antivirus lab test by reading the full AVG Antivirus for Mac review.
Avast Free Antivirus for Mac (free)
Avast and AVG are owned by the same company, so they should perform similarly in our tests. Included in the installation is Avast’s free password manager, which might come in handy if you’ve yet to set one up for yourself. Read our full Avast Free Antivirus for Mac review to see whether it’s a good free choice.
How we test antivirus
Our antivirus test lab is riddled with threats. It has set up dozens of computers in 40 countries around the world to act as ‘honeypots’ for millions of viruses. These honeypots capture viruses that are fresh into the wild and may have only existed for days. This makes the task for the security software very challenging, because many of them rely upon huge databases of so-called virus ‘definitions’ to tell whether or not a file is harmful.
Grabbing new threats means they will also have to rely on their own intuition – rather than simply checking a database – using more advanced techniques to decide if there’s a threat. We also use a mix of scenarios on both Windows and macOS, including viruses stored on USB sticks, and even malicious real-world phishing webpages designed to steal your data. Only the most secure software can fend off all these types of attacks effectively.
Malware can be more of a concern if you’re using an old phone. Read our guide on mobile phone security for more.
Editor's Rating | |
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Features | |
Overall | |
Price | |
Customer Service |
Positives
- Comprehensive duplicate file finder
- Speedy computer scan
- Easy-to-understand controls
- Clutter alert
Negatives
- Limited feature set
- Basic user interface
- Unique features don't seem to work
Known and trusted by millions of Windows PC and Android users for its antivirus products, Avast is now looking to conquer new markets by offering a handful of apps optimizing Mac performance, security and privacy. Avast Cleanup Pro seems to be the Mac version of the Cleanup Premium app that is available for Windows users and is part of this new offering specifically developed for the growing market of Mac users that the company sees as an opportunity on which it can capitalize.
The software is available as a free download, but you need to purchase a license to actually make use of the product – though doing so is protected by a 30-day money back guarantee. A yearly subscription license costs $59.99 per Mac, but it can be had for as low as $16.89 for one machine through a special 20% discount offer. But is it time for Mac users to take notice?
Features
Installing Avast Mac Cleanup Pro requires admin privileges, and it takes less than a minute. After that, a clean and easy-to-understand welcome screen appears, informing the user about the software's built-in features and that it is using the scan-only mode. This means that without a valid license the software will only scan the Mac, identify cache files and look for duplicates. To actually free up space you'll need to either enter a license key or, if you somehow managed to obtain an Avast Cleanup Pro installer, purchase one by clicking the “Clean” button.
InstallerScan-Only ModeScanningFirst Scan ResultsPreferencesActivation Prompt
Avast Cleanup Pro Scan-Only
Scan Results
Avast Cleanup Pro Activation Prompt
What Will Avast Do For A Mac File
If your expectations aren't high, then you won't be disappointed. The software's welcome screen displays everything you need, and since the available features are quite limited there is no way you'll miss anything. The features that are here include: Clean Clutter, Find Duplicates and Alert Me (when there's clutter to clean).
Cleaning
By clicking on the green “Clean” button, Avast Mac Cleanup will search the machine for crash reports, junk and temporary files, and log files created by applications, as well as any browser caches, development junk data, and system files that macOS adds to external files that are formatted for other operating systems.
Close Apps Before Cleaning
Notification After Cleaning
Depending on the Mac's hardware limitations, the scan can be very quick – which we experienced on our test machine – and will display its findings in a pretty basic app window, whose header advises the user as to how much clutter there is on the machine. The different clutter categories appear on the left, and the basic graphics show how much each category takes out of the total amount of junk data. The process of removing the files marked for deletion is fairly self-explanatory, requiring manual reviewing of the files and unchecking of any you don’t want to delete.
At the bottom left of the window the app displays a dropdown list with the recommended selection being the default for clutter. This is how Avast Cleanup Pro allows users to customize the cleaning process. The default setting includes the first three categories: application caches, log files, and trash. The cleanup process can be customized by checking the Downloads folder, and if you happen to be a developer you may be lucky enough to be given the opportunity to test how the development junk feature works, since the category was greyed out during our testing – much like the External Drive Junk.
After reviewing the files, hit “Clean” and then the app will display a message showing how much clutter has been removed. The process is flawless, although the app did crash once during our testing while we were reviewing a file listed in the Downloads folders.
Utilities
Avast Cleanup Pro's second main feature is its ability to deep scan a targeted folder for duplicates. This includes duplicate documents, pictures, music, videos, folders, and other files. The Duplicate Finder feature allows you to use file size, date, or a preview to decide which clones you need and which to remove from the Mac. The app will scan the Mac user's Home folder by default, but the targeted folder can be changed in the Preferences.
In our testing the Duplicate Finder performed very well, maybe even too well; it identified nearly 20GB of duplicate files in the Mac's home folder, a lot when compared to Gemini's 2GB. The difference between the two results could be due to Avast's deep scanning functionality, so when it comes to pictures, for example, Avast scours through the Photos library and carefully identifies duplicates. It does the same for videos, too, and will identify temporary files if there is a duplicate, so it does a good job here.
Duplicates Scan Results
Although there are quick removal options – such as “keep newest” or “keep oldest” – reviewing these files is highly recommended.
After hitting the clean button Avast Cleanup Pro removes the files, but they will be deleted forever. This means that they won’t be in the trash, so if you accidentally remove a file (you will have another duplicate remember), then you won't be able to recover it without a Time Machine backup.
Pricing
Compared to its competitors, Avast Cleanup Pro for Mac is priced high at $59.99 per year for a single Mac license. Luckily Avast doesn’t shy away from discount deals, and therefore grants new users a 20% discount through a special offer, dropping the price for one Mac to $47.99 in the first year. However, we were able to use the same license key on a secondary Mac, which means two things: first, that Avast needs to do its homework when it comes to protecting its products and, second, that the price for one license ultimately drops to at least half when used for two (or more) Macs.
Avast is available as a free download from the support page, but to use its cleaning features you need to purchase a license. The free trial is only for scanning purposes, but a 30-day money back guarantee gives enough time to test the software.
Accepted Payment Methods
Download clash of clans for windows 10. U.S.-based users are offered multiple payment methods, as Avast accepts credit cards from the main payments networks – Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express – as well as PayPal and even wire transfer, an option that isn't available worldwide.
$3.99/mo
- Declutter your Mac
- Remove duplicate files
- Remove junk files
- Billed as $47.88/1 year
$2.99/mo
- Declutter your Mac
- Remove duplicate files
- Remove junk files
- Billed as $71.76/2 years
$1.76/mo
- Declutter your Mac
- Remove duplicate files
- Remove junk files
- Billed as $189.99/3 years (3 Macs)
What Will Avast Do For A Mac Pro
Avast also offers a discount if you opt for three Cleanup Pro for Mac licenses: in this case the price drops to $18.66 per Mac per year when combined with the 20% discount, since the total is only $55.99. There is also a three-year subscription available, which costs $127.99 for one and $151.99 for three Mac licenses.
Customer Service
While the software is activated by default upon purchase, the same cannot be said of the Avast account. You need to register for one if you want to make use of the community support for the software, as the support page gives users very limited information.
Customer Support Message
Avast, however, enables several channels of communication for its customers. For example, you can send feedback (and hope they will reply) by clicking on the Help section in the app menu bar. But if you want customer support to reply, then head over to the dedicated page and select the category of problem that you are facing. Here you'll be able to either send a message or obtain a phone number through which the company can be contacted.
Bottom Line
Avast Cleanup Pro is a newcomer in the industry, and that clearly shows in how the app is presented and the features it carries. When compared to its competitors, Avast Cleanup Pro's feature set is poor for its price. The developer junk and external drive junk cleaning features just didn't work, which makes them useless. At its best, the software may be useful as a thorough and fast duplicate finder, since it was able to find so many more duplicates than its competitors could.
At this stage it’s clear that Avast Cleanup Pro is a clear rookie in this segment, so if you are looking to clean up your Mac of system junk then it’s better to turn to other Mac optimization apps instead of this one. When it comes to cleaning application caches the program is good enough, but that's not satisfactory enough to make it worthwhile when there are tons of other neat optimization solutions for half the price.
Best Alternative Mac Optimization Software
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