(All those companies also make some of the best Android antivirus apps.) Avast, Bitdefender and Kaspersky got 100% in AV-Comparatives' June 2019 Mac tests, in which Norton was not tested. Bitdefender, Kaspersky and Norton's Mac malware engines each got perfect 100% detection rates in both those rounds.Īll three of those rival brands, plus Avast, also got 100% scores in both AV-Test's April-May 2019 Mac evaluations. In the October-November round from that year, Sophos stopped 100% of Mac malware in the April-May tests, it stopped 98.4%.
However, AV-Test did test Sophos twice in 2017. Neither of the independent antivirus testing labs whose results we normally rely on, AV-Test (in Germany) and AV-Comparatives (in Austria), had tested Sophos' Mac malware detection in their most recent surveys of Mac antivirus software at the time of this review. It uses its artificial-intelligence system and machine learning to apply lessons from its user base to recognize new malware strains. Sophos Home Premium keeps Macs free of malware using traditional signature-based detection by matching suspicious files to known malware. If you're short on cash, the Sophos Home Free program that kicks in after Sophos Home Premium's 30-day trial period retains the premium plan's parental web filtering and remote management, as well as the core antivirus protections.īut you'll be limited to three machines on a single Sophos account, and will lose tech support, webcam protection and some sophisticated anti-malware features such as dedicated anti-ransomware protection.