
Published on: April 29, 2025
The short answer is, yes, Norton 360 is definitely worth it in 2025. It has a powerful anti-malware engine, a wide range of internet security tools, an intuitive online dashboard, and good customer support, all for a better price than most competitors.
Its anti-malware engine uses machine learning, advanced heuristics, and a malware directory to identify threats. During my testing, Norton detected every malware file without slowing down my system or generating false positives.
Norton also comes with the following features:
- Firewall.
- Web protection.
- VPN (virtual private network).
- Password manager.
- Parental controls.
- Device optimization.
- Cloud backup.
- Webcam protection (Windows only).
- Identity theft protection (select countries only).
- AI-powered scam protection.
- And a lot more…
Norton is the best antivirus around, but it isn’t perfect. Its desktop app is a little clunky, and its mobile protections are split across several apps. While Norton’s VPN offers excellent security features like a no-logs policy, 256-bit AES encryption, and a good network of servers worldwide, it isn’t as fast as competitors and doesn’t work with Disney+. That said, it’s still among the best antivirus-bundled VPNs on the market.
While I have some complaints, I still think Norton 360 provides excellent value. Norton offers a wide range of plans, and most include more features than competitors. Plus, Norton comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee and regularly offers free trials.
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Norton 360 Full Overview — Complete Internet Security (Our Favorite Antivirus in 2025)
Norton 360 has a lot more security features than most competing antiviruses. Even on the cheapest plan, you get a top-notch anti-malware engine, a firewall, anti-phishing protection, a password manager, 2 GB of cloud storage, Genie (AI-powered scam protection), and a 100% Virus Protection Promise.
Upgrading to Norton’s best-value plan, Norton 360 Deluxe, lets you cover up to 5 devices. It also adds parental controls, a VPN with no data limitations, dark web monitoring, webcam protection, a privacy monitor, up to 50 GB of cloud storage, and more. Users in the US and other select countries can access up to 500 GB of cloud storage and Norton’s comprehensive identity theft protections as part of Norton’s LifeLock plans.
All of Norton’s packages are priced similarly to competing products like Bitdefender and McAfee, but Norton also offers a generous 60-day money-back guarantee with all of its plans.
Norton 360 Plans & Pricing — Great Value Across All Devices
Norton provides a variety of annual plans for users worldwide. At $29.99 / year*, the basic AntiVirus Plus plan is cheaper than Norton’s 360 plans, but it doesn’t include the VPN, webcam protection, and other additional features that make Norton 360 a comprehensive security suite.
Norton also offers LifeLock identity theft protection plans for users in select countries — you can read more about that below.
All Norton plans offer a 60-day money-back guarantee. It’s also very easy to cancel your Norton subscription and get a refund. You’ll get a full refund if Norton can’t remove a virus from your system through the Norton Virus Protection Promise, too.
Note: Norton’s plans and features vary by location. Some may see Norton 360 Premium, which costs more than Deluxe but covers more devices and offers more cloud storage. Likewise, LifeLock plans are limited to select countries, but Norton 360 Advanced is available in some other areas, adding basic identity protection like finance monitoring and credit alerts.
Here’s a quick overview of all of Norton’s plans:
Norton AntiVirus Plus — Basic Norton Plan With Core Protections
Norton’s AntiVirus Plus plan offers excellent malware protection, plus a handful of extra features, for just $29.99 / year*. It includes:
- Smart firewall.
- Norton password manager.
- 2 GB of cloud storage.
- Genie Scam Protection.
- Virus Protection Promise.
This scaled-back package doesn’t include many of the extra features that come with Norton’s 360 plans, like the VPN, dark web monitoring, parental controls, and webcam protection.
However, it’s great that AntiVirus Plus now includes Genie Scam Protection, which uses AI to protect you from SMS and web scams, and provides a scam assistant to give you real-time feedback on scams and answer your questions.
AntiVirus Plus can only be installed on 1 device, unlike the Norton 360 plans that offer protection for up to 5 devices. However, it’s still a great value.
Norton 360 Standard — Adds a Password Manager, Webcam Protection & More
Norton’s 360 Standard plan provides an impressive number of features for 1 device (3 devices if you’re a US or Dutch user) for only $39.99 / year*. Here’s what you get with Norton 360 Standard:
- Real-time malware scanning.
- Smart firewall.
- VPN.
- Password manager.
- Genie Scam Protection.
- 2–10 GB of cloud storage (varies by country).
- Webcam protection (Windows only).
- Dark web monitoring (select countries only).
The Standard plan’s biggest problem is that it only covers 1 device (or 3 if you’re in the US or Netherlands). However, Norton 360 Standard is an excellent choice if you don’t have many devices.
Norton 360 for Gamers — Excellent Gaming Antivirus
Norton 360 for Gamers covers up to 3 PCs for $44.99 / year* — which is a great deal. Apart from the Privacy Monitor, it comes with all of the features included in Norton 360 Deluxe below, plus a couple of extras for gamers.
The game booster (Norton GO) automatically detects when your device is running games and reallocates processes to optimize processing power. In my testing, it performed well, resulting in a noticeable increase in performance while gaming.
I’m a huge fan of Norton’s game booster, which is, in my opinion, one of the best on the market.
Norton 360 Deluxe — Best-Value Norton Plan With Most Features
At just $49.99 / year*, Norton 360 Deluxe is Norton’s best-value plan and the one I recommend for most users. It includes all of the same features as Norton 360 Standard, plus:
- Coverage for up to 5 devices.
- Parental controls.
- Dark web monitoring (select countries only).
- Privacy Monitor (only in the US).
- 50 GB of cloud storage.
My only complaint is its lack of flexibility. Some competitors, like Bitdefender, allow users to add one or two more devices to their plans for a nominal fee — with Norton, the 360 Deluxe plan maxes out at 5 devices. That said, most users will be really happy with the variety of security features included with Norton 360 Deluxe.
Norton 360 With LifeLock Plans & Pricing — Top-Notch Identity Monitoring in Select Countries
Norton offers 2 annual LifeLock plans for users in select countries. These plans include all Norton 360 features and add advanced identity theft tools and identity restoration assistance.
Here’s a quick overview of the Norton 360 With LifeLock plans:
Norton 360 With LifeLock Select — Basic Norton LifeLock Plan With Essential Identity Theft Protections
Norton’s lowest-tier LifeLock plan covers 10 devices for antivirus protection and the primary account holder for identity theft protection for $99.99 / year*. It includes all of the features of Norton 360 Deluxe in addition to:
- 1 bureau credit monitoring
- $25,000 stolen funds reimbursement.
- $25,000 personal expenses reimbursement.
- Live identity restoration assistance.
- Social security and driver’s license monitoring.
- 250 GB cloud storage.
- Safe Call & Safe Email scam protection (Genie Protection Pro).
- Stolen Wallet Protection.
Norton’s LifeLock protections aren’t cheap, but they’re a good investment — I only wish Norton made it clearer that you have to pay extra to add additional family members. On the plus side, Norton gave me an additional 100 GB of cloud storage for free, bringing the total to 350 GB.
LifeLock’s identity theft protections are some of the best out there. It’s great to have an active insurance policy that protects you in case of a data breach or identity theft. And you get a lot of reassurance knowing that you’ll have 24/7 assistance in case something happens.
The Safe Call and Safe Email protection is also valuable, as it uses AI to proactively detect suspicious emails and calls.
Norton 360 With LifeLock Ultimate Plus — Most Expensive Norton LifeLock Plan With the Most Comprehensive Protections
Priced at $299.99 / year*, I think Norton’s LifeLock Ultimate Plus plan is too expensive for most users. However, if you’re looking to protect the most devices with the best protection in the world, this is the package for you. It includes antivirus protection for an unlimited number of devices and 500 GB of cloud storage (providing you click Add device security and VPN for all-in-one protection when checking out).
The primary account holder also gets these improvements over Norton’s other LifeLock plans:
- $1 million stolen funds reimbursement.
- $1 million personal expenses reimbursement.
- Credit monitoring from all 3 credit bureaus.
- 401k and stock monitoring.
- Home title monitoring.
- Social media monitoring.
- Scam reimbursement (up to $10k).
- Payday loan lock.
It’s pricey, but it will be worth it if you have a really large family, a significant amount of assets that need protecting, and you absolutely want the utmost in cybersecurity protection. However, the price tag to add additional family members to the LifeLock protection is pretty steep.
Norton Security Features — 100% Malware Protection With Great Extras
Anti-Malware Engine — Perfect Detection Rate & Impressive Real-Time Protection
Norton’s malware scanner is one of the best around. I tested it with a database of nearly 1,000 malware files, including viruses, exploits, worms, trojans, backdoors, keyloggers, rootkits, ransomware, spyware, cryptojackers, and PUPs (potentially unwanted programs). It caught 100% of the malware samples.
The anti-malware engine draws on a massive malware directory, heuristic analysis, and uses machine learning. Only a handful of competitors can boast a similar malware detection rate!
Norton’s real-time protection is equally impressive. After testing Norton’s full scan, I tried to download the same 997-file malware database in the form of plain files, zipped files, and even encrypted files. Norton blocked all of the plain files before my computer could download them, and it blocked all of my zipped and encrypted malware files the moment I attempted to decrypt them.
Norton’s full disk scan took about 40 minutes on my desktop computer and finished scanning my laptop’s smaller hard drives in less than 15 minutes. In both cases, this was faster than most competitors. Norton also offers a wide variety of other scan options (Smart, quick, targeted, etc.). You can also exclude folders from all scans and create scheduled scans of any type.
I really like that Norton automatically detects when your apps are in full-screen mode — it won’t give you any notifications or initiate any scans while you’re playing games, watching movies, or using any other full-screen app.
Smart Firewall — Highly Customizable + Blocks Every Network Intrusion
Norton includes a Smart Firewall that offers significant improvements over built-in firewalls. It provides ARP and DNS spoofing protection, SSL man-in-the-middle attack detection, port access detection, and a ton of customization options for advanced users (much more than competitors like McAfee). In my testing, Norton detected every network intrusion, including a few instances that my Windows firewall failed to block.
There are tons of options when it comes to how Norton’s firewall operates. For example, you can make it so all new apps are blocked from connecting to the internet or allow all apps to connect automatically. There’s also Ask Mode, which makes it so Norton alerts you whenever a program attempts to connect and lets you decide what to do, but this can get annoying. My favorite is Smart Mode, which analyzes the behavior of apps and blocks or allows them based on that.
Norton’s Smart Firewall comes out of the box with strong traffic rules. By default, it blocks dozens of connection types commonly used to spread malware and infiltrate systems. It also has rules explicitly allowing certain types of safe connections that are vital for most computer users, preventing the firewall from giving false alerts.
You can also create traffic rules of your own, something many advanced users will appreciate. It’s possible to create rules for every program installed on your PC. For instance, if you’re concerned about an app, you can block it from connecting to the internet. Most users will want to leave the firewall be, but I like how customizable it is.
Norton also provides a detailed log of every network your device has ever connected to. It also gives detailed information about the network you’re currently using. It has the ability to detect whether a network is private or public. If it determines that you’re using a public network, it gets stricter in order to protect you from the dangers of public Wi-Fi.
Safe Web & Safe Search — Blocks Dangerous Websites & Highlights Risky Links
Norton’s Safe Web offers excellent protection against dangerous websites. In addition to blocking phishing pages, Safe Web has an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) to keep your online transactions secure.
Safe Web is integrated into Norton’s desktop and mobile apps, but you can also install the Safe Search or Safe Web browser extensions (the former is available for Chromium browsers, while Firefox and Edge have the latter).
All 3 tools blocked almost all phishing sites in my testing, including many that Chrome failed to detect.
Norton’s Safe Search is a search engine that tells you whether a website is safe or dangerous. It offers color-coded assessments of search results — green is safe, orange is potentially unsafe, and red is dangerous.
This color coding also works with search engines like Google, but if you install the Safe Search extension, you’ll use Norton’s search engine by default.
Safe Search is okay, but most people will want to stick with the search engine they know best.
Ransomware Protection — Customizable Defenses Against Ransomware Attacks
Norton’s ransomware protection is both effective and customizable. To test it, I tried downloading a ransomware simulator containing 25 different ransomware attacks, and Norton immediately blocked the download, which is impressive!
However, for the sake of testing, I whitelisted the simulator and initiated the ransomware attacks. I’m happy to say even with the simulator in my computer’s whitelist, Norton blocked a wide range of individual ransomware attacks.
I also really like the customization aspect of Norton’s ransomware protection. By default, it protects all data belonging to dozens of file types that often contain sensitive information (like documents, pictures, videos, and more). You can manually add additional file types or specific folders to the list of protected items. As an added bonus, you can block apps from accessing sensitive files.
VPN (Virtual Private Network) — Unique Encryption Protocol, Kill Switch & Lots More
A lot of antiviruses include bundled VPNs, but I think Norton’s VPN is one of the very best! One of the best things about it is its unlimited browsing data (even on the cheapest 360 plan). Many other antivirus-bundled VPNs set a cap on your data on their lower-tier plans, like Bitdefender and Panda Dome.
Norton VPN provides industry-standard VPN security features like 256-bit AES encryption, a kill switch (on Windows and Android only), and a no-logs policy, plus extras like Wi-Fi security, split-tunneling (again, on Windows and Android only), an ad blocker, and Tor compatibility. Like many of the best VPNs out there, it uses the WireGuard protocol.
The VPN also has 2,000+ servers in 28 countries, which is about the average server network size for a VPN included with an antivirus package. It has servers based in 6 continents, so most users can connect to a server close to them to get the fastest speeds.
In my speed tests, Norton’s VPN was somewhere in the middle. I first ran a test from my local network without a VPN. Then, I ran the speed test with Norton’s VPN connected to a local server in the US. My results are below:
As you can see, Norton’s VPN affected my download speed. That said, I could still stream HD video and browse the web without any noticeable slowdown.
Here are my speeds connected to a server in the Netherlands from my home in the US:
While my download speeds were still good enough to quickly download large files, my ping increased, which caused websites to load in about 4 seconds. However, videos started right away.
Norton’s VPN works with Netflix, Max, Amazon Prime, BBC iPlayer, and more. However, it doesn’t work with Disney+.
While Norton supports torrenting, P2P traffic is only allowed on dedicated servers — and you can’t manually connect to a server of your choice. Instead, the VPN automatically connects you to a P2P server. Unfortunately, you don’t get to choose where the server is.
Password Manager — Best Antivirus-Bundled Password Manager in 2025
Norton’s password manager is surprisingly good. It’s simple, secure, and includes a few useful extra features.
Here’s what’s included in Norton’s password manager:
- Secure 256-bit AES encryption.
- Unlimited password, address, credit card, bank account, and note storage.
- Synchronization across PCs, Macs, Androids, and iOS devices.
- Browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari.
- Auto-save and auto-fill.
- Password generator.
- Password vault auditing.
All of Norton Password Manager’s features work great, especially the auto-fill function, which fills in your login information with a single click.
I also like Norton’s vault auditing tool, which shows which passwords are insecure, too simple, repeated, or too old, and it’s automatically updated so you can examine your login security each time you look at your password vault.
Norton’s password manager also includes a mobile login option, which allows you to log into your vault using your mobile device instead of your master password.
Norton’s password manager isn’t perfect, though. It has minimal account recovery options and lacks emergency access. If you forget your master password, you only have 2 options. The first is to log into Norton’s mobile app using biometrics and reset your master password in your account settings. The second involves using the recovery key.
Norton does let users create a password hint for their master password, but it’s hard to make a good hint for a string of random numbers, letters, and symbols (which is what an ideal master password will be). Some users may appreciate this lack of account recovery options — it makes it impossible for con artists to gain access to your vault — but I think most users would rather have emergency contact.
Parental Controls (Safe Family) — Comprehensive Content Filtering With Tons of Extra Protections
Norton’s parental controls are some of the very best on the market — they’re available for Windows, iOS, and Android and let you monitor up to 10 devices on most plans, which is pretty good.
With Norton’s parental controls, parents can:
- Accurately filter inappropriate web and app content.
- Block websites on desktop devices.
- Manage online activity during school time.
- Monitor and block apps on mobile devices.
- Monitor YouTube activity and even watch a portion of each video.
- Supervise searches on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines.
- Set time limits and schedule usage for all devices.
- Track location for mobile devices.
- Receive activity reports.
- Set emergency contacts.
Norton’s Web Supervision is great for limiting which websites your kids can access. It accurately blocked dozens of different sites during my tests — with the ability to block 45+ different categories, including “Cult”, “Hate Speech”, and even “Abortion”. It automatically sets filters based on your child’s age, but it also gives users the choice to toggle all of the parental controls separately. Plus, kids can’t use a VPN to bypass any of the blocks.
Norton Safe Family also offers a “School Time” mode, which allows access only to websites and apps that a parent deems important for their children’s education. This is an extremely helpful feature for any kids who may be involved in virtual school.
Unfortunately, Norton’s parental control app has a few issues. It doesn’t work on Mac computers, and most features don’t work on Chromebooks. It’s too easy for a tech-savvy kid to bypass the web filter and YouTube and search monitoring on Windows, too, but parents are notified if a child removes the extension or app.
Privacy Monitor — Stops Data Brokers From Harvesting Your Information
Norton’s Privacy Monitor helps you purge your personally identifying information (PII) from data brokers. Data brokers harvest metadata from thousands of different sites to build an identity profile and then sell that aggregated information to the highest bidder. At the moment, Privacy Monitor is only available in the US.
Norton checks all of the major data brokers for your information and links you to the page where you can request your personal details be removed. Alternatively, you can pay extra for Norton’s Privacy Monitor Assistant service and have a Norton employee handle the data brokers for you. Norton found 61 sites that exposed my personal information. It was easy to request the removal manually, and it took me less than 2 minutes to complete most data brokers’s suppression forms.
Device Optimization — Decent Speed-Up Tools (With an Excellent Upgrade Available)
Norton’s default system tune-up tools are fast and efficient but pretty basic. This is what Norton offers for its base device optimization package:
- Optimize disk — Defragments your hard drive.
- File cleanup — Trashes temporary files from Windows and web browsers.
- Startup manager — Allows you to choose which programs run on startup.
- Software updater — Identifies out-of-date programs and links you to the latest version.
Each of these worked well in my tests. When I ran the software updater on my Windows 11 machine, it found 6 outdated programs and updated them to their latest versions with just a few clicks. Norton also makes it easy to exclude programs you don’t want to update.
I was pleased to see that Norton prompted me to turn on automatic updates (something most users ought to do). I just wish Norton’s optimization tools also updated drivers (you need to buy Norton’s driver updater separately).
Users who upgrade to Utilities Ultimate get a much better system tune-up package. Utilities Ultimate cleans up more kinds of junk files, broken shortcuts, and fixes registry issues. It also provides performance statistics and tools that help uninstall apps, free up RAM, and shred files. It’s too bad that not even Norton’s most comprehensive bundles include these features. Norton’s built-in system tune-up tools are pretty good, but it’s a shame that none of the antivirus bundles come with Utilities Ultimate. If you upgrade, you’ll get some of the best optimization tools on the market.
Dark Web Monitoring (Select Countries Only) — Live Agents Notify You About Breaches Containing Your Info
Norton’s dark web monitoring feature scans dark web forums, credit reports, and breach databases to notify users when their information has been leaked. Dark web monitoring is available to users in 30+ countries, including the US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and more than 10 countries in Europe like the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark.
Norton’s dark web monitoring scans for an impressive array of personally identifying information (PII), such as:
- Bank account numbers.
- Credit cards.
- Addresses.
- Driver’s license information.
- Insurance numbers.
- And lots more…
The exact list depends on the country, but Norton improves on most data breach monitors because, in many cases, it uses live human agents who are paid to infiltrate dark web forums — Norton’s dark web assistants can find data that most companies can’t, and they can give you advice and feedback if your information is found on the dark web.
Furthermore, dark web monitoring is always active once you enter your information. When any of your data is discovered, Norton’s dark web monitoring team will notify you and provide instructions on making the necessary changes to protect your identity and accounts.
Identity Theft Protections (LifeLock) — Comprehensive Credit Services & Protections to Prevent Fraud
Norton’s LifeLock identity protections include a huge number of features, such as:
- Credit report monitoring.
- Social security monitoring.
- Stollen wallet protection.
- Monetary compensation in the event of identity theft.
- Live identity recovery assistance.
- Legal assistance.
- Credit freezing.
- Court record, 401k, social security, and ID monitoring.
I think LifeLock’s identity theft protection services are some of the best out there. Live credit report monitoring gives you notifications about any loans, purchases, investments, rental applications, or credit card applications that include any of your personal identifying information. The top LifeLock plan compiles this data from the top 3 credit reporting services in the US, while the lower-tier plans only monitor a single bureau. So, if anybody is trying to use your information, LifeLock will notice and notify you.
I like that LifeLock Select offers up to $1,050,000 in insurance payouts and legal assistance in the event of serious identity theft. I don’t have anywhere close to a million dollars, so I was happy to sign up for Norton’s LifeLock Select plan. This plan covers a $25,000 payout for identity theft-related damages, $25,000 in personal expenses reimbursement, up to $1M in legal aid for identity theft victims, and access to Equifax’s credit monitoring network and LifeLock’s in-person identity recovery services. The highest-tier plan can pay out up to $3M.
There are a couple of things I don’t like about LifeLock’s protections — they’re only available to users in certain countries, such as the USA. Other countries are limited to using Norton Identity Advisor Plus, which has fewer features. Adding extra family members to the LifeLock protections is also a bit pricey, and Norton could clarify that only the primary account holder is covered in the listed price.
Cloud Backup — Up to 500 GB of Secure Storage Space
Norton’s Cloud Backup is pretty good but limited to PC users. Norton’s backup tool is integrated into the antivirus app, and you can access it from anywhere through your web dashboard. Beyond that, it’s basically identical to well-known cloud storage tools like Dropbox, OneDrive, and iCloud. It offers the following options:
- Schedule backups.
- Back up specific files or folders.
- Remove or save backed-up files on your local disk.
- Back up to the cloud or a local disk.
- Create and manage local backups.
Cloud Backup works pretty well — it automatically selected and backed up 50 GB of my important files, most of which were media files like .mov, .jpeg, .doc, and .wav. However, I found it better to select specific folders to back up. For me, this was because Norton initially wanted to back up tons of miniscule images, sound, and text files associated with the video games I play. If you’re not a gamer, this probably won’t be an issue.
Despite the name, you can also use the tool to create local backups on your device or an external drive. Obviously, a local backup won’t be as secure as one stored in the cloud, but I like that Norton makes it easy to create one (or more!).
Additional Features — More Extras Than Most Competitors in 2025
Norton 360 has a lot more extra features, including:
- Genie Scam Protection — AI-powered protection against web and SMS scams, including an interactive scam assistant and a dashboard showing you what scams have been detected (plus Safe Email and Safe Call tools on the LifeLock plans).
- PC SafeCam (Windows only) — Webcam protection ensures your PC’s webcam isn’t being remotely controlled by a third party.
- Spam filter — Automatically filters out spam emails and allows you to set up exclusion lists for trusted emails and manually block untrustworthy emails.
- AntiTrack (separate add-on) — Blocks online trackers and disguises your digital fingerprint, allowing you to browse the internet privately.
- Safe Email — For an extra fee, Norton will monitor up to 5 email addresses for malicious messages, including phishing attempts, scam emails, and malware.
- Private Browser (free) — Norton Private Browser is a secure web browser that protects online activities. It blocks ads, trackers, and browser fingerprinting.
- Sandbox — Allows you to run applications or browse the web in an isolated environment, preventing potential threats from affecting your main system.
- Driver Updater (paid add-on) — Scans your system for outdated, corrupt, or vulnerable drivers and updates them to the latest versions. Keeping drivers current helps reduce crashes, freezes, and security vulnerabilities.
- Email Protection — Checks incoming and outgoing emails for threats.
- Rescue Disk — Create a bootable version of Norton, which you can put on a USB stick to save seriously damaged devices that can’t even boot up.
Norton 360 Ease of Use & Setup — Easy Installation + Intuitive User Interface
Norton 360 is a big program. Even its lowest-tier package includes many features that other top internet security suites don’t have. It does have a learning curve, but Norton made some pretty good design choices to minimize it. That said, there are also a few poor choices that make some features more complicated than they need to be.
How to Install Norton 360 (Just 3 Simple Steps):
- Sign up for a Norton 360 plan. Select the plan that works best for you.
- Download and install the app. You can find the download link in the “My Norton” portal, and the installer wizard will guide you through the setup process.
- Open the Norton app. Now, you can perform your first full system scan and use Norton’s other features.
Norton has a clean, modern interface. All key features are present on the home screen, and you can easily access all customization options from the sidebar.
I like how Norton provides a feature setup wizard for beginner users. It notified me that regular scans would run each week and told me how to alter the scanning schedule. It also walked me through enabling cloud backup, the VPN, and setting up the password manager. If you don’t want to set everything up at once, you can click Set Up Protection on the toolbar at any time to view the tutorial again.
I found some features a bit difficult to find. Luckily, the app has a search function that can take you to every feature and customization option. In my book, this more than makes up for any issues I might have had with the UI.
Much of the desktop app is taken up by customization options. For advanced users, this is great. For everyone else, Norton has designed the app in such a way that these toggles don’t get in the way or overwhelm.
The web dashboard is cleanly laid out, responsive, and includes most of Norton’s features outside the realm of device security. It’s the easiest way to access Privacy Monitor, parental controls, and identity alerts. It also provides links to every device security app.
Norton 360 Mobile App — Easily Among the Best Mobile Antiviruses in 2025
Norton’s mobile protections for Android and iOS are both really good — but I wish the company would bundle all of Norton’s security tools into a single app.
Norton offers a ton of protections for mobile users:
- Malware scanner (Android only).
- App Security.
- App Advisor (Android only).
- Device Report Card (iOS only).
- Web protection.
- Genie Scam Protection (SMS and web).
- Wi-Fi network monitor.
- VPN.
- Device security.
- SMS spam filter.
- Secure calendar (iOS only).
- Ad blocker (separate app for iOS only).
- Password manager (separate app).
- Parental controls (separate app).
- LifeLock identity theft protection (separate app).
I really like Norton’s App Security feature, which lets Android users know which apps have privacy risks, how much data they collect, how many permissions they require, and whether there are any issues with their privacy policy. It also scans apps in the Play Store before you download them. I appreciate this dual approach to app security, where you can check both existing and new apps for security risks.
iOS users get a Device Report Card, which generates monthly reports on their device’s security. It contains a list of dangerous websites you visited, unsafe networks you connected to, and invasive apps you downloaded.
I also really like Norton’s web protections for mobile. Both mobile apps blocked harmful sites in my tests. The Android version also comes with Safe Search, a search engine applet that color-codes results based on how dangerous they are. Norton’s SMS spam filter is great, too. It blocks unsafe smishing texts on both iPhones and Android devices. And the Secure Calendar feature for iOS blocks spam and phishing messages that arrive as iOS Calendar notifications.
The rest of Norton’s mobile security tools are really good, but I do have two complaints. The first is the number of apps I had to download. Norton should include the password manager, LifeLock, and Safe Family features in a single app, just like it includes the VPN. The other complaint is that some apps are unavailable in some regions, and this info is not communicated to prospective buyers.
In terms of overall device security, Norton’s mobile antivirus apps are among the best out there — they offer malware protection and app security for Androids and web and Wi-Fi protections for all mobile users. All of Norton’s separate apps for password management, parental controls, and identity theft protection sync up well with Norton’s desktop app and online dashboard.
Norton 360 Customer Support — Friendly Staff, Multiple Language Options & Knowledgeable Answers
Norton offers a really good range of customer support, including telephone, live chat, frequently asked questions (FAQs), troubleshooting guides, a premium customer support package, and an active community forum.
I was really impressed by how well Norton’s support page is organized: once you click on “Contact Us,” you’re taken to a page with a clearly displayed 5-step process to connect to a Norton agent, and you can easily see your progress as you pick the options that suit you best.
Norton will first try to refer you to its well-written FAQs, but if you want human help, just click Get help and pick your preferred channel. I recommend opting for the live chat: I used it a handful of times and never waited more than 5 minutes to get connected to an agent. The agents (who appeared to follow the same well-written script) were always very efficient, friendly, and knowledgeable. They were always prepared to offer remote support, accessing customers’s computers to resolve any problems.
When it comes to phone support, it’s available in dozens of languages, including English, German, Dutch, Turkish, French, and Arabic. Some of these languages are only available for phone chat during regional business hours, but I was able to chat with a surprisingly large number of agents in different countries 24 hours a day. By comparison, competitors like Malwarebytes only offer support in a few languages.
I had a great experience with a support rep in Colombia, who helped me with a bug on the Norton website. They were patient, knowledgeable, and one of the best phone support experiences I’ve had with an antivirus provider.
The FAQs and troubleshooting guides are good, and I often found that I didn’t need to escalate my issue to a live agent. The community forum is not that good, though. Most of the posts don’t get answered, and the posts that were answered were often left waiting for multiple days.
What Norton Can Do Better — There’s No Free Plan
Norton is my favorite antivirus suite in 2025, but it isn’t perfect. For starters, Norton is missing anti-theft tools for phones and laptops. It still has great mobile apps with unique features (including Wi-Fi report cards that the competitors lack), but if it added anti-theft protections, it would be well on its way to being perfect.
Secondly, some of Norton’s more common features are locked behind paywalls. For example, if you want a file shredder, you need to purchase Norton Utilities Ultimate. Likewise, if you want to update drivers with Norton, you need to buy Norton Driver Updater.
Overall, I don’t think any of the areas where Norton could be improved are a deal breaker. It’s still the best antivirus I’ve ever tested. I just think that, with these slight improvements, it would be miles ahead of any of its competition.
Is Norton 360 the Best Internet Security Suite for 2025?
I’m very confident in calling Norton the best antivirus software on the market in 2025. Norton detected every single malware file in my testing — its anti-malware engine uses a vast malware directory, advanced heuristics, and machine learning to synthesize the best parts of traditional and modern antivirus detection.
Norton’s web protections are really good, too. Safe Web offers anti-phishing protection far superior to what you get with Chrome or Firefox. Moreover, Norton also offers free extensions in addition to the web-protection tool integrated into the antivirus. Plus, it also provides an Intrusion Prevention System for an extra layer of security during financial transactions and excellent malicious link scanning capabilities. And the addition of AI scam protection offers even more protection against suspicious text messages and websites.
Norton also has comprehensive parental controls, a good password manager, and excellent dark web monitoring (which uses real people to uncover data breaches). For users in select countries, Norton’s LifeLock protections provide a huge network of PII (personally identifying information) monitoring tools, as well as up to $1 million in reimbursement for the legal costs of identity theft, up to $1 million in personal expense reimbursement, and a further $1 million for any money stolen.
Norton’s VPN is another plus point — it comes with unlimited data on all 360 plans, it’s good for secure browsing, the dashboard is easy to use, and you can buy it as a separate purchase for a pretty affordable price.
Overall, Norton is the best internet security suite you can find — it provides unbeatable malware protection, it bundles almost all of the internet security tools available on the market into a single program, and it provides excellent value for virtually all types of users. You can try out Norton risk-free with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I trust Norton?
Yes, you can. Norton is a trustworthy cybersecurity company that’s been in business since 1990. With a staff of nearly 3,000 employees, Norton’s malware databases are constantly updated, allowing it to maintain outstanding malware detection rates (perfect in my tests). In fact, Norton is so trustworthy that it even offers LifeLock protection to help protect your identity from cybercriminals looking to steal it.
Is Norton free?
Norton isn’t free — but for users on a budget, the Norton 360 Standard plan offers excellent antivirus protection for 1 device (3 devices if you’re in the US). Norton offers a pretty good first-year discount, and you can try all of its features risk-free with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Does Norton protect against ransomware?
Yes, Norton provides strong protection against ransomware. Its security software is designed to detect and block ransomware attacks before they can encrypt your files.
Moreover, Norton’s automatic cloud backup feature acts as a safety net, offering a backup of your files in case they get encrypted by ransomware. With constant updates to its malware databases, Norton ensures it stays ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of malware, providing solid protection against ransomware and other threats.
What’s the best Norton package?
Norton 360 Deluxe is the best choice for most users. It provides a ton of useful features for up to 5 devices across Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. But if you only need protection for up to 3 devices (or 1 device outside the US) and don’t require parental controls, Norton 360 Standard is a decent choice too.
In certain countries, Norton also offers 3 packages with LifeLock’s identity theft protections. Users looking for the very best protection should invest in Norton 360 With LifeLock Ultimate Plus. The package includes antivirus protection for an unlimited number of devices and comprehensive identity theft protection for 1 primary user — you can easily add additional family members for identity theft cover (but it is a bit pricey). However, most users will be perfectly happy relying on Norton 360 With LifeLock Select for a more basic but still adequate antivirus + identity theft protection package.
Does Norton work for iPhones, Androids, and Chromebooks?
Norton provides mobile apps that work for iOS devices and Androids, but Chromebooks aren’t officially supported. That said, several of Norton’s Android protections still work on Chromebook. This includes Norton’s app advisor, dark web monitor, and anti-phishing protection (if you install Norton’s browser extensions).