Avast Review 2026: The Most Complete Free Antivirus You Can Get

Avast is the only product on this page with a genuinely full-featured free tier, not a trial dressed up as one. Avast One Free covers real antivirus protection, scam detection and even a 60-day VPN trial at no cost, and you only pay when you want to add extras.

Protection

Avast has earned Advanced+ ratings from AV-Comparatives and strong scores from AV-TEST, putting it in the same protection tier as Bitdefender and Kaspersky on raw detection numbers. The engine is shared with AVG (same parent company, Gen Digital), so both products perform similarly in lab tests.

Performance

Avast runs reasonably light, though some users report more background notifications and upsell prompts than competitors, especially on the free tier. It's not a resource hog, but it is chattier about asking you to upgrade.

Features

The free tier alone covers antivirus, scam protection, a no-log VPN, breach monitoring and basic cleanup tools, all fully functional rather than crippled. Premium Security adds a firewall, webcam protection and email protection for up to 10 devices. Ultimate bundles in the full VPN, AntiTrack and a driver updater.

Price

Free is free, no card required. Premium Security (1 PC + 1 mobile) runs about $49.08 for the first year, then jumps to $77.99/year at renewal, so pay attention to that renewal price when you sign up. The 10-device plan follows a similar first-year discount pattern.

Verdict

If you want solid protection without paying anything, Avast's free tier is the most complete on this list. Just budget for the renewal price if you upgrade, since the first-year sale price doesn't stick around.