The Best Antiviruses with Parental Control Tools in 2024

Norton offers robust protection against malware, viruses, and ransomware and has scored perfect testing results with AV-Test.

Underlining its efficacy, Norton’s Virus Protection Promise guarantees a 100% refund if its specialists are unable to remove a virus from your device.

The Deluxe plan also comes with plenty of additional security software features, including a password manager, a VPN, 50GB of cloud backups, and data breach monitoring, alerting you if your details have been leaked on the dark web.

The Norton parental controls are thorough and in-depth. You can set schedules for children’s internet usage, restrict websites and apps, and precisely track their location. You can also monitor the videos, sites, and apps they use and the terms they search for with detailed internet activity reports.

Norton’s parental control tools also allow children to request changes to the internet usage rules and access to blocked websites. Other providers don’t have this feature, and it opens a helpful line of communication between parent and child.

In AV-Test’s latest assessments, Norton achieved a perfect 6/6 score for protection, performance, and usability.

In real-world testing, it detected and neutralized 100% of zero-day and widespread viruses. Norton’s performance stats were equally impressive, and the antivirus matched or beat industry averages across most criteria, including for browsing the web.

Norton fared well for usability, as well, with zero false warnings when assessing almost 1 million samples. I found the antivirus runs quietly in the background and won’t interrupt your or your kids’ online activity.

The cheapest plan with the Norton family parental control toolset costs $49.99/year for five devices.

Higher tiers and Norton family plans provide stolen funds reimbursement up to $1 million, credit monitoring coverage, home title monitoring, and social security alerts. There’s a 30-day free trial and a lengthy 60-day money-back guarantee.

Norton is great for families looking for a premium security solution with diverse parental controls, powerful antivirus protection, and practical security features.

Bitdefender’s multi-layered protection includes a firewall and can keep your devices safe from viruses, spyware, phishing, and zero-day exploits. It also comes with strong ransomware protection that prevents cybercriminals from encrypting files and media on your device.

Bitdefender has achieved perfect scores in independent antivirus testing and is known for being light on the system resources.

Bitdefender’s parental controls offer extensive activity tracking to let you monitor your child’s on-device internet access across websites, YouTube, and search terms and to control internet access time.

There are customizable filtering modes for parental restrictions, so you don’t have to manually update restrictions during the day, in the evening, or while doing homework. Along with location tracking, you can also remotely view your child’s online activities.

The Reward system is a useful addition that lets you reward your child with internet time to help establish responsible internet use.

Bitdefender is another high achiever and scored 6/6 across all AV-Test verticals and 100% threat detection rates for zero-day and prevalent malware.

With a reputation for being bulkier than most, the software slowed down average PCs by 23% against an industry average of 19% when visiting popular websites.

Nevertheless, it scored 6/6 for performance overall, and system impact remained low when installing or using popular applications, so you should still enjoy a smooth experience when streaming or gaming.

Parental controls are available on the Bitdefender Internet Security plan, costing $35.99/year for one Windows device or $49.99/year for three.

Upgrading to Bitdefender Total Security for $59.99/year offers protection for five devices across Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS and gives you device optimization tools.

The Bitdefender Family Pack, meanwhile, secures 15 devices for $69.99/year, while advanced plans provide identity theft protection, credit monitoring, and $25,000 ransomware reimbursement.

Bitdefender has a 30-day free trial and a free tier without parental controls.

Bitdefender is great for families wanting greater customization options and room for flexibility when implementing parental restrictions.

For additional information, see our Bitdefender vs Kaspersky and Bitdefender vs Norton guides.

McAfee offers AI-powered threat protection against evolving malware and zero-day threats. It promptly filters out scam links on mobile devices and has a strong firewall for securing your home network.

McAfee’s family packages focus on identity theft protection. It can enhance your privacy on social media apps, and the product monitors the dark web for leaks of your details for up to 60 kinds of personal information.

Families also get a password manager, VPN, and lost wallet protection. In addition, there are some great system optimization tools, and the Protection Score, which offers an overall security-level rating, is an invaluable extra.

McAfee has a comprehensive set of internet parental controls. It automatically blocks inappropriate content and adult websites based on the child’s age, activates safety filters on search engines, and enables screen time limits. You can choose what sites to block, and you can create a schedule for your child’s internet access.

McAfee can also track your child’s location, and you can access activity reports, though, unlike Norton’s reports, they lack details like time spent on apps and websites.

In AV-Test’s most recent trials, McAfee scored an impressive 100% for malware detection and an 18/18 overall score, underlining the provider’s market-leading status.

McAfee also had a consistently lower-than-average impact on system resources across metrics like browsing (12%), downloading (1%), and app usage (3%), so even with advanced features like parental controls enabled, your machine should run as smoothly as ever.

McAfee only offers parental controls with its family plans, starting at $64.99/year for two adults and four children with the McAfee Premium Family plan. The basic plan has ID monitoring and alerts, a password manager, a VPN, and standard parental controls.

The advanced plans offer bank and credit card monitoring, $25,000 ransom coverage, and $2 million identity theft coverage for adults. There’s a 30-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee with all plans.

McAfee is ideal for families who want superior parental controls and a wide range of security features. The family plan is also particularly strong when it comes to identity theft protection and privacy tools.

Intego protects Mac devices from viruses, spyware, and ransomware with reliable, 24/7 monitoring.

Its two-way firewall secures inbound and outbound network traffic, while the Washing Machine tool clears junk to optimize your Mac’s system functionality. There’s also a backup tool that secures your system with features Apple’s Time Machine is otherwise missing.

Intego can also scan connected iOS devices as external drives.

Intego’s parental internet control suite blocks inappropriate web content, adult site categories, and sites flagged by specific keywords.

You can create custom user profiles for different children so that they have age-appropriate filters in place when using the internet. You can also set up schedules that block internet access based on the time of day.

Intego’s AntiPredator chat monitoring sends you notifications if it detects inappropriate terms in communications and stores a chat log for review. In addition, it records keystrokes and can block inappropriate emails, torrenting activity, music and video streaming, and access to gaming servers.

In AV-Comparatives testing, Intego achieved a 99.1% malware protection rate and a 100% protection rate against cross-platform Windows malware on Mac.

While the antivirus scored well when downloading and launching applications, it had a major impact when installing new apps. Nevertheless, Intego scored well for usability, with zero false positives, so you can rely on its warning if it blocks a webpage or an app.

Intego’s Mac Premium Bundle X9, the entry plan with parental controls, is $65.99/year for one device, $87.50/year for three, and $110/year for five, with a two-year subscription. You can also upgrade to an advanced plan for a VPN.

The plans include a 30-day trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Intego is best for families needing protection and parental controls optimized for Macs. The product will ensure your system is operating smoothly and that your family has comprehensive protection.

Trend Micro is a lightweight antivirus that stops over 250 million cyber-security threats a day across its network and has perfect scores in independent lab tests.

It protects devices using cloud-based AI technology to block previously unknown zero-day threats. It also has system optimization tools to address problems on your device and improve performance.

Trend Micro’s ransomware protection is particularly notable. It can cover multiple operating systems and defend files on your device and cloud-synced folders from providers like OneDrive and Dropbox. There are also data breach monitoring notifications, identity theft restoration features, and up to $1 million in identity fraud insurance.

Trend Micro’s parental controls have an age-based web filter for young children, pre-teens, and teenagers. For added safety, you can allow the parental controls to block all sites Trend Micro hasn’t checked, as well as inappropriate images in search results.

You can also set internet-use schedules for weekdays and weekends, and the total permitted computer time. Programs, including chat and gaming apps, can be blocked during specific hours. You can also customize the on-device rules depending on who is logging in.

Unlike other providers, there’s no location tracking feature, and the security report goes into less detail about blocked sites and categories.

AV-Test’s most recent review of Trend Micro found it was able to protect against 100% of zero-day and common malware. It also issued no false alarms when testing 990,000+ samples.

With a 6/6 performance score, Trend Micro delivers a light, reliable antivirus that you can be assured won’t interrupt your family’s digital activity.

Trend Micro’s Internet Security plan costs $39.95/year and protects three Windows devices.

Upgrading to higher-tier plans will protect between five and ten devices and extend coverage to macOS, ChromeOS, iOS, and Android. You’ll also get a VPN, a password manager, dark web monitoring, and up to $1 million in identity fraud insurance.

There’s a 30-day trial with all plans and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Trend Micro is budget-friendly and perfect for families seeking basic parental controls with a focus on strong antivirus protection – especially from the threat of ransomware.