Malwarebytes Review 2025: Is It Good Enough?

Malwarebytes is a minimalistic, easy-to-use antivirus that provides good protection against malware. However, it doesn’t have as many essential protections as the best antiviruses of 2025.

Malwarebytes detected 95% of the malware files I downloaded during my tests, which is a good result. Its real-time protection also performed well, blocking 98% of malware files.

It comes with a few handy extras, including Browser Guard, a free browser extension that blocks trackers, pop-up ads, phishing sites, and exploit attacks. The Malwarebytes Plus plan includes a secure VPN for hiding online activity, though it lacks the advanced features of standalone VPN competitors. There’s also identity theft protection for users in certain countries, featuring dark web monitoring, social media monitoring, and if you’re in the US, credit monitoring and identity insurance.

That said, Malwarebytes falls short on some premium antivirus perks, like automatic scans, an ad blocker, and broader real-time protections. It’s a solid pick for users wanting a no-frills antivirus, but it doesn’t match top competitors like Norton or Bitdefender. Still, it’s affordable, offers a 14-day free trial, and backs all premium plans with a generous 60-day money-back guarantee.

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Malwarebytes Full Review — Core Security Tools in a Simple Package

Malwarebytes has all the core security features of an antivirus program, including real-time malware protection, ransomware protection, and web protection. It also offers identity theft protection. However, it has fewer advanced features than its top competitors — there are no system optimization tools or comprehensive parental controls for family safety.

Malwarebytes’s top plans include a VPN, but competing brands like Norton and TotalAV offer better VPNs and a wider range of extra tools.

However, Malwarebytes is still an excellent low-cost option if you’re looking for a basic, no-frills antivirus that offers good malware protection.

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Malwarebytes Plans & Pricing (For Personal Use) — Low-Cost Plans Covering up to 20 Users

Malwarebytes offers 1 free plan and several paid plans on 1- and 2-year subscriptions. The paid plans have inconsistent names across Malwarebytes’s landing pages, but at checkout, they fall into these categories:

• Standard.
• Plus.
• Ultimate.
  

Malwarebytes also offers 2 family plans for US users. These plans are the same as the Standard and Ultimate plans listed above but cover more devices at a lower price. The Ultimate plan also comes bundled with Malwarebytes’s identity theft protections.

All of Malwarebytes’s paid plans include a risk-free 60-day money-back guarantee (the same as Norton). There’s also a 14-day free trial of Malwarebytes Standard or Plus.

Note: Depending on location, Malwarebytes may have plans with different names, features, and subscription durations.

Here’s a quick overview of Malwarebytes’s personal plans:

Malwarebytes Plans & Pricing (Identity Theft Protection) — Comprehensive Identity Tools

Malwarebytes offers several plans that include varying levels of identity theft protection. These are:

• Identity Essential.
• Identity Advanced.
• Identity Ultimate.

All plans include premium antivirus software, Browser Guard, and Privacy VPN, with tiered levels of ID theft protection.

Note: Depending on location, Malwarebytes may have plans with different names, features, and subscription durations.

Here’s an overview of Malwarebytes’s identity theft protection plans, focusing on the 3 available for US users:

Malwarebytes Plans & Pricing (For Business Use) — ThreatDown Powered by Malwarebytes

Malwarebytes’s business solution, ThreatDown, offers 4 plans for organizations on 1-, 2-, and 3-year subscriptions:

• Core.
• Advanced.
• Elite.
• Ultimate.

ThreatDown offers straightforward cybersecurity for companies. It’s built on Malwarebytes’s tech, and provides plans that protect against malware and other threats with expert support. It’s a good choice for teams without big IT budgets.

Here’s a quick overview of Malwarebytes’s business plans:

Malwarebytes Security Features — Essential Protections That Work Well in 2025

Virus Scanner — Quick Scans That Block Most Malware

Malwarebytes’s virus scanner is good — it blocks most malware on Windows, Mac, and Android devices. It uses a large database containing millions of known malware threats, including trojans, worms, ransomware, spyware, and rootkits, as well as heuristic analysis to flag new malware files that haven’t yet been added to its database. Malwarebytes also employs machine learning technology capable of learning about new threats without any human input.

Malwarebytes for Windows offers 3 types of scans:

• Threat Scan. Scans key areas of your device’s system, memory, and startup programs.
• Quick Scan. Checks your memory and startup programs for active infections.
• Custom Scan. Lets you pick any file or folder you want to scan (including the entire disk).

Note that Malwarebytes doesn’t have a default full system scan option, so if you want to check your entire system for malware, you need to use the custom scan and select your C: drive from the available options (which is a little annoying!).

During my tests, the Threat Scan was fast — it took 1 minute and 33 seconds to scan over 260,000 files on my device. This is on par with competitors’ quick scans, which usually take anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes.

Before installing Malwarebytes on a Windows test device, I downloaded around 1,000 malicious files (viruses, trojans, spyware, etc.). I ran the Malwarebytes Threat Scan, which found around 76% of the files. The custom scan of the C:/ drive took around 3 hours and detected 95% of malware. This is good, but competitors like Norton and Bitdefender have a perfect 100% malware detection rate, and the scans are much faster (they only take about an hour).

You can easily review and save the scan results — if you want to know more about individual detections, just click on them, and Malwarebytes will take you to a webpage explaining that kind of malware. This can help you identify false positives so you don’t accidentally remove them.

Overall, Malwarebytes has a decent detection rate of around 95%. The Threat Scan is also a good option for users who want to quickly check their files for malware, and I found it easy to select whether to scan a single folder or my entire disk with the Custom Scan option.

Real-Time Protection — Great Protections Against Malicious Threats + Helpful Extras

Malwarebytes provides real-time protection in a few different ways. If you subscribe to one of the paid plans, you’ll get access to a handful of distinct layers of protection:

• Malware and potentially unwanted program (PUP) protection.
• Web protection.
• Ransomware protection (PC only).
• Exploit protection (PC only).
• App Block (Mac only).

Malwarebytes’s real-time malware protection performed really well in my tests, successfully blocking 98% of the malware I attempted to download to my device. This is a great result that’s comparable to most premium antiviruses.

There’s Tamper Protection for Windows devices, too, which prevents unauthorized changes to the Malwarebytes application and settings. During my tests, I simulated an attack where malware tried to disable the real-time protection. Malwarebytes blocked the attack and notified me about it. Likewise, Malwarebytes has brute force protection to stop unauthorized access to your PC through remote devices, which is cool.

I also like Malwarebytes’s web protection and exploit protection features. These tools work in the background regardless of which browser you’re using, and they can block phishing attacks and malicious web scripts that try to hack your computer through your browser. In my testing, the web protections blocked more phishing and exploit attacks than the built-in protections in Chrome or Firefox.

App Block prevents sketchy apps from running on Mac computers. It actively scans programs for suspicious activity. If an app comes from a shady developer or includes potentially dangerous components, Malwarebytes will automatically block it — even if it hasn’t been added to the malware database. Additionally, App Block can be used by administrators and parents alike to control what apps can be used on a Mac device.

Unfortunately, Malwarebytes’s ransomware protection isn’t as good as its other real-time protections. I used a ransomware simulator to see whether Malwarebytes could detect and block ransomware, and Malwarebytes only blocked around two-thirds of the ransomware files on my device. When I used the same simulator on Norton and McAfee, they blocked all ransomware simulations instantly.

Overall, Malwarebytes’s real-time protection is decent. The ransomware protection needs some work, but the real-time virus protection and web protections are on par with the best antiviruses on the market.

Browser Guard — Good Ad & Tracker Blocker (It’s Free!)

Malwarebytes’s Browser Guard is a free browser extension for Chrome, Edge, Safari, Firefox, and Telegram that does a great job blocking phishing sites and is also a decent ad-blocker. The extension protects against malware, pop-up ads, trackers, phishing scams, and PUPs.

Browser Guard is very easy to use, as all the protections are turned on by default. However, if you’d like to turn off certain layers of protection — for example, if you know a website is safe but the extension is blocking necessary pop-ups — you can easily whitelist safe sites.

During my testing, I visited 40 known phishing sites, and Browser Guard blocked all but one — which is great.

Malwarebytes claims Browser Guard can make your browser run 4x faster by blocking ads and other unwanted content. But while it blocked about 80% of ads on ad-heavy sites, it certainly didn’t make my browser much faster. Browser Guard also struggled to block video ads on YouTube and news sites. If you’re annoyed by these types of ads, competing brands like TotalAV and Avira have better ad blockers.

Overall, Browser Guard is good at blocking most ads and effective at detecting phishing sites.

Privacy VPN (Virtual Private Network) — Basic VPN With Decent Speeds (Not Good for Streaming)

Malwarebytes’s Plus plan comes with Malwarebytes’s Privacy VPN, which has pretty good privacy protections, including:

• Servers in 45+ countries.
• WireGuard protocol.
• Strict no-logs policy.

There’s also a kill switch on Windows and Mac. A kill switch shuts off your internet connection in case your VPN connection fails and is a really important VPN feature.

Malwarebytes Privacy VPN has decent connection speeds. To assess its speeds, I first ran a speed test without the VPN, and then I ran another test when I was connected to a local server in the US. I also tested the VPN’s speeds while connected to distant servers.

As you can see, my connection speeds were slowed down — this is to be expected with any VPN, but I was disappointed to see my download speed cut to one-fifth of its original speed. By comparison, ExpressVPN only cuts download speeds in half when connecting to servers on another continent.

I also couldn’t get Malwarebytes’s VPN to work with popular streaming sites like Netflix. If you’re looking for a good streaming VPN, I recommend TotalAV, our favorite antivirus-bundled VPN.

Malwarebytes’s VPN supports torrenting. It also includes the handy split-tunneling feature, which allows you to decide which app traffic will go through your VPN and which app traffic will bypass it, letting you avoid unnecessary slowdowns on trusted apps.

However, Malwarebytes’s VPN doesn’t work in restricted countries. If you’re looking for a good VPN for these countries, I recommend ExpressVPN.

Overall, Malwarebytes’s VPN is basic, and there are better options out there. However, if you’re only interested in hiding your online activity and staying anonymous online, Malwarebytes’s VPN is a decent option.

Read our full Malwarebytes VPN review here

Identity Theft Protection — Straightforward ID Protection & Social Media Monitoring (With Extras for US Users)

Malwarebytes provides identity theft protection across 3 domains — monitoring your identity, tracking your credit (US only), and providing assistance in the unfortunate event of identity theft. While some features are US-only, the main identity theft protection service is available in 70+ countries, including the UK, Canada, Australia, many European countries, and various Asian, Latin American, and African countries.

It actively scans the dark web and other suspicious online domains for your personal information, sending alerts if anything concerning is uncovered. It also keeps an eye on your credit for any unusual activities like new accounts being opened in your name. If identity theft does occur, Malwarebytes supports you through the process of reporting the crime, disputing fraudulent charges, and restoring your identity. It also offers lost wallet assistance and insurance coverage of up to $2 million for US users and $1 million USD for users living in other countries.

An interesting aspect of Malwarebytes’s Identity Theft Protection is its social media monitoring service. This feature examines your Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram accounts for any unusual activity or posts that may be flagged as violent, profane, discriminatory, or indicative of cyberbullying. While the intention is to safeguard your online reputation from potential threats, the extent of monitoring leans slightly towards overseeing user activity. This could be a concern when it comes to personal privacy.

That said, it can be pretty handy for keeping an eye on your kids. It works like a basic stand-in for parental controls, so if you’re worried about anything unusual happening on their accounts, adding their profile instead of your own is an easy way to monitor them.

In terms of usability, Malwarebytes directly integrates its identity theft protection into the Windows application, meaning you can scan for exposed personal data for free and manage your identity theft protection.

Malwarebytes’s ID protection tools aren’t included in all the main antivirus plans. To get these features, you’ll need one of the Ultimate plans (the names vary depending on whether you’re in the US or a different country) or the Identity plans. Luckily, all the Identity Theft Protection plans are affordable and include the antivirus and VPN.

Overall, Malwarebytes offers a straightforward, tiered approach to ID protection, allowing users to choose the level of protection they require. That said, I slightly prefer Norton LifeLock’s monitoring as it’s even more comprehensive, adding extras like 401k and stock monitoring and even home title monitoring.

Malwarebytes Ease of Use & Setup — Intuitive Antivirus That’s Great for Beginners

Installing, setting up, and using Malwarebytes is very simple — it took me only a couple of minutes to download and set up the software, and I had no problems using all the provided features.

Malwarebytes’s interface is clean, simple, and easy to navigate. Choosing which scan you want to run, setting up a Custom Scan, and scheduling scans are pretty straightforward. All the real-time protections are also turned on by default, so most users won’t need to customize anything to be fully protected. There’s a Light and Dark theme, too.

However, I was disappointed to find that the macOS app lacks crucial real-time protections like ransomware protection and exploit protection, which are both available on its Windows version. The macOS-only feature, App Block, which prevents apps from untrusted developers from running on your device, hardly makes up for the loss.

Malwarebytes didn’t noticeably slow down my computer’s performance. In fact, I barely noticed it was there at all. Some antiviruses can slow down a system’s performance, especially during full system scans, but Malwarebytes ran quietly in the background throughout all of my tests.

I like that Malwarebytes has a simple Play Mode on Windows devices, which hides notifications when certain apps are in full-screen mode — this is great for gaming and streaming. However, I don’t like that users need to add the apps, as competitors like Norton automatically suspend scans and notifications when an app is in full-screen mode (Norton also improves gaming performance with its excellent game booster).

There’s also Trusted Advisor, a helpful and intuitive tool that serves as a quick way to optimize your security. It gives you a security score and tells you what actions you can take to close vulnerabilities. For example, it let me know that I should add Browser Guard.

Overall, Malwarebytes is really intuitive and easy to use, it doesn’t cause system slowdown, and it even has a simple Play Mode for pausing notifications when playing games or watching movies. But its macOS app is severely limited in security features.

Malwarebytes Mobile App — Well-Designed Apps (Great for Non-Tech-Savvy Users)

Malwarebytes is available on both iOS and Android — both apps are well-designed and easy to use, but the Android app offers more functionality than the iOS app. During my tests, both worked well. I found it easy to install and use the apps, as well as access and customize all the available settings.

The Android app has almost all the same features as the desktop app (malware scanning, web protection, and exploit protection), but it also includes a couple of useful extras, like spyware protection and a privacy audit tool. I like this tool because it allows users to check which apps have what permissions. For example, you can view apps that can read your personal information, track your location, monitor calls, cost you money, and much, much more.

The iOS app doesn’t have as many features as the Android app, but it offers decent web protection, ad blocking, SMS filtering, and scam call blocking. While this isn’t much, I like how simple it is to use the app.

Malwarebytes also offers its Privacy VPN app for Android and iOS users — but unfortunately, all of my complaints about Privacy VPN’s desktop app hold true with its mobile app. Privacy VPN is slower than competitors, it doesn’t work with streaming sites, and it doesn’t work in restrictive countries.

Overall, there are better antivirus apps for both Android and iOS users — Norton is my favorite Android antivirus (includes malware protection, an app advisor, and Wi-Fi protection), and it’s also my top choice for iOS protection (comes with web protection, dark web monitoring, a VPN, and much more). But Malwarebytes is a good pick for beginners or less tech-savvy users.

Malwarebytes Customer Support — Extensive Knowledge Base, but Live Chat Can Be Frustrating

Customer support from Malwarebytes is satisfactory — it offers a helpful knowledge base, a chatbot, live chat, and support via email. However, the inclusion of phone support would be helpful. Many competing companies provide a broader set of options — for instance, TotalAV offers support through email, phone, and live chat.

That said, when I tried later on, I connected with a live chat agent. It wasn’t the best service ever — I had to answer a few questions for the chatbot and then wait in a queue for 5 minutes before I connected with the agent. Once I had connected with them, I felt like they were working from a script, and it was a lot of work to get an answer to a simple question. I ended up just giving up and leaving the chat.

Despite this, customer support emailed me later to apologize and gave me a better answer. It wasn’t the exact answer I was looking for, but I appreciate that they went out of their way to follow up and try to resolve my problem.

Overall, Malwarebytes’s extensive knowledge base can answer most questions, but the chatbot is pretty basic and not that helpful. Plus, the live chat can be pretty frustrating. On the other hand, the email support team is very friendly and knowledgeable.

What Malwarebytes Can Do Better — It Doesn’t Include a Firewall, Optimization Tools, or Full-Featured Parental Controls

Though effective at stopping malware, Malwarebytes could implement some changes to earn a higher place on my list of the best antiviruses in 2025.

Browser Guard does a great job keeping you safe online, but it could be better. It blocked the vast majority of dangerous web pages in my tests and has great customization options. However, it struggles to block ads in videos and can’t block static ads as well as the best alternatives. I’d like to see this aspect improved and Browser Guard become an all-purpose browser extension.

Similarly, the real-time protections are generally great but don’t perform well against ransomware simulations. Given the dangers posed by that type of threat, I’d like to see Malwarebytes improve its ransomware protections.

Malwarebytes is also missing a few features, namely a firewall, optimization tools, and full-featured parental controls. Its social media monitoring offers a basic workaround for keeping an eye on kids’ accounts, but it’s not a complete parental control solution. I’d like to see these features added.

The lack of a firewall is particularly disappointing given the problems with the native firewalls included with all Macs and PCs. Competitors like Bitdefender come with firewalls that are both more effective and customizable than what you get out of the box.

That said, Malwarebytes provides a free, Windows-only utility called Windows Firewall Control, which simplifies managing the native Windows Firewall with features like app blocking and rule customization. While handy for Windows users, it’s not a true firewall, and it doesn’t address the Mac firewall shortcomings.

In short, Malwarebytes is a good antivirus suite that would benefit from the addition of a few new features and improved real-time protections.

Are Malwarebytes Premium Plans Worth the Price?

Malwarebytes provides excellent real-time malware protection, good phishing protection, and a decent VPN, all for a good value. It also offers Identity Theft Protection and insurance coverage. However, it lacks some of the features that I expect to see in a premium antivirus, like system optimization tools and a password manager.

During my tests, Malwarebytes’s antivirus scanner performed well, detecting 95% of my test malware files. While this is a very good result, competitors like Norton and Bitdefender have 100% malware detection rates. Malwarebytes’s real-time protection was better than its malware scanner, though — real-time protection blocked 98% of the malware files I tried launching, which is comparable to the top antiviruses on the market.

Malwarebytes also has a secure VPN and web protection, but the VPN doesn’t work with streaming services like Netflix, and it doesn’t work in countries with internet restrictions.

Malwarebytes is not the most full-featured internet security suite. For more feature-rich protection, I recommend Norton 360 Deluxe or Bitdefender Total Security. And since Malwarebytes is compatible with other antiviruses, you can always use it alongside a more feature-rich antivirus — as long as you turn off real-time protection.

Overall, Malwarebytes is an easy-to-use, install-and-forget antivirus scanner with a decent identity theft protection offering, so it might be enough for some users. Plus, it offers a 14-day free trial and a generous 60-day money-back guarantee.

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