Best antivirus for Mac: do you even need one?

Product	Best for	Per month, yearly plan	The deciding fact, and the catch	Link
Bitdefender Antivirus Plus	Best overall for Mac	$2.50	AV-TEST's June 2026 Mac round scored Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac 10.3 at 6 for protection, performance and usability. It also watches Time Machine backups. The catch: renewal costs more and the page doesn't say how much.	Visit
Norton AntiVirus Plus	Best for one Mac, with extras	$2.50	Norton 360 scored 6/6/6 in that same Mac round; the lab tested Norton 360, not the AntiVirus Plus plan listed here. AntiVirus Plus covers 1 device with a password manager and 2 GB of cloud backup, which is thin as a backup. It renews at $59.99 a year on Norton's page.	Visit
Avast One Premium Security	Best with a free tier	$4.09	Avast One scored 6/6/6 on Mac in June 2026, and there's a free product below the paid one. Read the renewal price before you click through.	Visit
Malwarebytes Standard	Best second opinion	$5	The free version only cleans up an infection that already happened. Premium adds real-time protection. It wasn't in AV-TEST's June 2026 Mac list, so there's no lab score here.	Visit

Start with what you already have. Apple's platform security guide says macOS includes "built-in antivirus technology called XProtect" that detects and removes malware by signature. It checks apps at first launch and after they change, and it removes malware when Apple pushes updated information.

If that's enough for you, stop here. If it isn't, Bitdefender is the pick.

Why Bitdefender first

AV-TEST's June 2026 test covered 9 home products on macOS Tahoe. Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac 10.3 scored 6 out of 6 for protection, performance and usability. So did Avast One, AVG, Avira, Kaspersky, Norton 360 and TotalAV. ESET Security Ultimate and F-Secure Total scored 5.5 for performance.

That's the problem with lab scores on Mac: almost everything ties. Protection was 6 for all nine. So the choice comes down to price, extras and devices.

Bitdefender's Mac page lists Time Machine Protection, which guards your backups against malware that tries to encrypt them. It also lists Safe Files, which locks chosen folders to trusted apps. The VPN is limited to 200 MB per day per device.

Antivirus Plus is $2.50 a month billed yearly (checked November 1, 2026), which is $29.99 for the first year and up to 3 devices. Bitdefender says renewal may be higher and gives no number. Its Mac page lists a free 30-day trial of Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, no card.

What the rest are for

Norton's entry here is AntiVirus Plus at $2.50 a month for the first year, for 1 device; Norton's page shows it renewing at $59.99 a year. Bitdefender's Antivirus Plus is also $2.50 a month in year one, for up to 3 devices. So you pay Norton for the bundle, not for the price, and 2 GB of cloud backup is not a backup. Our Bitdefender against Norton comparison covers the renewal side.

Avast is $4.09 a month billed yearly in the first year. Its free tier is the reason to shortlist it, and AV-TEST's June 2026 Mac result is the same as Bitdefender's.

Malwarebytes is a different tool. Its Mac page calls the free version "a cleanup tool for cyberattacks that have already infected a device," and says Premium prevents them. Its Standard plan is $5 a month billed yearly ($59.99 a year, 3 devices), with a 60-day money-back guarantee. Run the free one occasionally as a second opinion, next to XProtect.

ESET lists PC, macOS and mobile on its home page, with a 30-day free trial. The page showed no USD price, so there's no figure to compare. Check it in the store before you shortlist it.

Which one to buy

Mac only, one machine, tight budget: Bitdefender. Mixed household with Windows PCs: pick the suite that covers all of them, because that decides the price. If you're on Windows too, is Microsoft Defender enough may save you the money there.

Worried about ransomware specifically? See ransomware protection for a home PC. For the full Bitdefender write-up, read the Bitdefender review. The catalog entries are under antivirus.