Few things are more concerning than viruses attacking your devices, especially when you have no protection in place at all. Meet Malwarebytes, antivirus software that has subscriptions for personal and business use. On this page, we broke down the pricing not only for its antivirus software but also for its VPN and secure browser. Is it worth it? Read on to find out.
Most people are going to be, like us in our Malwarebytes review, using the antivirus service for personal reasons. Personally, we went with the Premium package because it gave us antivirus protection for five devices; however, if we wanted to get a VPN as well, we could’ve gone with Premium and Privacy, which adds on a VPN for an additional $11.92 a year. All of Malwarebytes’ pricing is annual, but that’s typical across the antivirus industry, and their prices are definitely on the lower end, especially if you only need coverage for one device.
FYI: Want the VPN on its own? Scroll down, as we also discuss pricing for the VPN alone.
Buying Malwarebytes through iOS worked a little bit differently, as we couldn’t purchase the subscription directly on their website but instead in the app itself. Once the 30-day trial of Premium is over, you can upgrade for either $1.49 a month or $11.99 a year, which is really generous. But note that this app isn’t available in all countries. You’ll need to live in:
We wish this app was available elsewhere outside of North and Central America, but hopefully, this will change in the future.
Malwarebytes certainly gets the job done in many respects, but we still would have liked to see it perform a little better in our real-world privacy and performance tests. If you’re looking to comparison shop — which you absolutely should — check out a few of our favorite options below:
Malwarebytes also has options for businesses small and large. Small teams should go with the “For Teams” option, while larger teams of at least 10 will go with either Endpoint Protection or Endpoint Detection Response.
You drive a car before you buy it, so the same should be true for your antivirus software…right? Right…sort of. Malwarebytes offers free trials for some of its antivirus apps; with Windows, you’ll get a 14-day trial, while iOS bumps that number up to 30. However, if you are using the service for Chrome, macOS or Android, there’s no free trial. Darn!
However, Malwarebytes does have more free trials on other services; for example, the VPN package offers a free trial for seven days, and you can also download their secure browser and anti-adware software for free.
Malwarebytes has other products besides pure antivirus software, including a VPN, a secure browser and anti-adware software.
If you want a VPN on its own, the cost is $59.99 a year, which breaks down to about $5 a month. That’s a decent price for a VPN, but it only covers five devices, unlike Surfshark VPN which covers an unlimited number of devices for as little as $2.49 a month. However, if you’re also looking for antivirus software, it makes sense to bundle with it the VPN, as Malwarebytes discounts its prices for each.
Did You Know: Many people are concerned with their privacy online. VPNs encrypt web traffic and device IP addresses so people can browse privately.
Another option for secure browsing is the Browser Guard, which is completely free for Chrome and Firefox. We’ve all gotten sick of the constant barrage of ads, tracking and scam websites online; if we have to see one more ad for a toilet paper holder we bought a month ago, we just might flip out, so the Browser Guard certainly comes in handy.
Another free service is what Malwarebytes calls the AdwCleaner, which stands for adware cleaner. In a nutshell, the company says that it gets rid of junkware and any unwanted programs to create faster speeds. However, it only works on Windows 7, 8 or 10, so it won’t be an option for the nine percent of people who use Macs or the two percent of people who use Linux.1
We’ve all experienced buyer’s remorse, that creeping feeling you get when you click purchase on a kitchen tool you definitely won’t use, or when you’re walking out of a department store with party dresses you have no occasion to wear. But fortunately, that shouldn’t be the case with Malwarebytes as the company has a 60-day money-back guarantee on its Premium subscriptions, so long as you purchase them from their website directly and not an app store or third party. However, this only applies to personal subscriptions, so businesses may have trouble getting their money back.
To cancel your personal, Premium subscription of Malwarebytes, log into your account, click on Payments, then the pencil icon under Active Subscription and select turn off. One you’ve turned off auto-renewal, you’ll receive a confirmation email and you won’t be charged again.
While we’re not going to get too deep in the weeds as to why we think that Malwarebytes is well with its prices, here are our main points.
The main feature of an antivirus software is to detect malware, and tests from AV Labs showed that Malwarebytes was outstanding in this capacity, detecting 98.9 percent of the latest malware from Androids as of July 2020. And when that testing was done in the month of July specifically, that number rose up to 99.4 percent, meaning that Malwarebytes is getting even stronger.
Both of Malwarebytes’ mobile apps have high ratings, a 4.6 for both the Malwarebytes Security: Virus Cleaner, Anti-Malware app on the Google Play store as well as the Malwarebytes Mobile Security app for iOS. This meant that protecting our phones and tablets was a far from frustrating process.
From aggressive sales tactics to major security vulnerabilities, we’ve seen our fair share of scandals when it comes to the companies behind antivirus software, but Malwarebytes was squeaky clean. They haven’t had any concerning security or privacy issues, which was a relief considering that they logged our IP addresses, names, emails, and more. Now, we’re not saying they’re immune to such issues, but given the fact that the company has been around since 2004, this is a pretty impressive track record.
Note: Malwarebytes is based in California, and since the U.S is a founding Five Eyes member, the company could be forced, legally, to share customer information with the federal government under certain circumstances.
While it’s a bit hidden on their website, Malwarebytes does offer a student discount through Student Beans. In a nutshell, you can get four years of antivirus protection for $5, which is a whopping 95 percent off the Premium package for one device; this is by far the most generous student discount offer we’ve ever seen. The best part? It doesn’t cost anything to join Student Beans, so saving around $35 is completely free.
We appreciate Malwarebytes for its straightforward pricing and myriad of digital security services, and their prices are right where they should be, compared to their competitors. Read on to get the answers to the questions we get the most about Malwarebytes’ antivirus software.
Answering your most hard-hitting questions about Malwarebytes is quite literally our job, and we take it seriously. Hopefully, we can help you decide if Malwarebytes is the right antivirus for you.
The Malwarebytes free version is exactly the same as the paid version, but it only lasts for 14 to 30 days, depending on your device. That being said, the free version is effective, detecting 98.9 percent of all malware on Androids.
The Malwarebytes anti-malware software is easy to use. The Android and iOS apps both have ratings of 4.6 out of five stars in the Google Play and Apple stores, respectively, and on Windows, macOS and Chrome, getting started is as easy as downloading the apps and browser extensions and creating an account.
Malwarebytes is not spyware. Rather, it’s a software that detects viruses, malware, ransomware and any suspicious behavior.
The Malwarebytes free version lasts for 14 days on Windows devices and 30 days on iOS devices.
Net Market Share. (2020). Market Share Statistics for Internet Technologies.
netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx
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