Table of Contents • • • • • • Getting an antivirus is a critical step toward securing your computer. Even so, it feels like Apple users have been left in the cold. With most malware targeting Windows, Mac seems to get served subpar versions of established software or, worse, mediocre dedicated options. In this guide to the best antivirus for Mac, we’ll go over the few good options available. While most are part of a multi-device plan, they still offer excellent protection and a list of features, to boot. We’re going to go over how we made our selections, analyze lab results and give you other reasons why we like each. If you’re a regular reader of our guides, it should come as no surprise that we rated first, but be sure to read through the other four picks if you want some options.

We also recommend reading our article on the for even more protection. What Makes an Antivirus Best for Mac? According to, 88.13 percent of all desktops use Windows and, because of that, most malware is written to attack it. That said, macOS accounts for 9.27 percent of the market share, which isn’t insignificant. There’s just a different set of threats to Apple users.

Antiviruses are structured differently on macOS because they’re looking for different malware that behaves in different ways. It isn’t as simple as slightly rewriting the software to run on the operating system. That means some of the isn’t available for macOS, or, worse, isn’t any good.

Our main concern is that a Mac antivirus won’t be able to stand up to the list of threats Apple products face. While the same methods apply, the applications may differ. We consulted three independent labs to find the most secure macOS options on the market. Protection against known threats is important but simple.

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We also looked at the real-time protection of each antivirus, as well as how it did with zero-day malware, which are attacks carried out the same day an exploit becomes known. Security is our first priority, but there are other important areas.

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We looked at the the usability of each program, including their scan modes and settings, to see how well they balanced it with power. As antiviruses have evolved, they’ve added more features, so we also looked at what else is provided with each security package. That includes things such as webcam protection, which is the first recommendation in our guide on. There aren’t as many antiviruses for macOS as there are for Windows, so price isn’t a big factor. We considered it, but not at the cost of features or, especially, security. If there is a free plan, that’s a plus, but only if the antivirus satisfied our other criteria. Make sure to check out our guide to the if you’re looking to save money, though.

Best Antivirus for Mac: Bitdefender has some of the best protection scores for Macs. AV-Test awarded it a perfect score in its. It was 100 percent effective against 507 samples of malware discovered in the four weeks leading to the test. The industry average at the time was a pitiful 95.5 percent. Bitdefender’s performance is excellent, too. AV-Test found that it slowed the machine down by, at most, 1 percent while downloading applications and copying files.

The industry average 12 percent for downloads and 16 percent for copying files. AV-Comparatives found similar results.

Out of 310 samples, Bitdefender. The lab doesn’t have numbers for macOS performance, but Bitdefender received an advanced+ rating, the highest possible tier, on Windows in April 2018. The third lab we reference, MRG Effitas, doesn’t have Mac results, but it awarded Bitdefender a Level 1 certification in its, meaning it blocked 100 percent of the threats. The tests were done on Windows 10, though, so there are no macOS results to compare. Even so, given the results from AV-Test and AV-Comparatives, it’s likely that Bitdefender’s Apple variant would have performed well. Other Reasons We Like Bitdefender Bitdefender has great protection scores, but it has a lot more going for it, too. The user interface, while slightly different from the Windows version, is excellent.