7 Best Server Antiviruses Reviewed for 2023

Finding the best server antivirus isn’t easy. To keep your server safe from attacks, though, you need to ensure you have the top antivirus for servers.

We’ve researched and explored the best server antivirus software for this guide. Read on to find out why TotalAV, McAfee, and Norton are the best server antivirus software products in 2023.

7 Best Antivirus for Servers Ranked

Our in-depth testing found TotalAV to be the best antivirus for servers. Here’s our complete list:

1. TotalAV – Overall, the best antivirus for servers. The award-winning tool uses its AI-powered Total WebShield to protect against malware attacks and unwanted downloads.
2. Surfshark – One of the cheapest options in antivirus software, with premium features available at all price tiers. It offers an unlimited VPN, strong ad blocking, and a safe search engine.
3. Norton – Top server antivirus offering a 60-day money-back guarantee. Uses AI to detect threats and offers SafeCam protection to prevent webcam spying.
4. Nord Threat Protection – An antivirus with advanced malware protection and powerful ad blockers. Fast, lightweight, and includes a VPN.
5. Intego – The best antivirus software for Macs. It’s excellent at detecting malware, has a user-friendly interface, and offers a strong built-in firewall.
6. Avast – Powerful antivirus software that’s free for individual users. Has high antivirus detection scores and offers six layers of protection against ransomware.
7. McAfee – Among the best Windows antiviruses for servers, with an Identity Monitoring feature that works in real-time to prevent data leaks, phishing scams, and identity theft.

Top 7 Server Antiviruses Compared

Here’s a quick head-to-head comparison of the top 7 best antiviruses for servers:

Top Server Antivirus Tools Reviewed

Let’s take a closer look at each server antivirus on our list and compare them based on their features, pros and cons, prices, and more.

1. TotalAV – The Best Antivirus for Servers

TotalAV takes the first spot on our list of the best server antiviruses thanks to its superb security solutions. As a member of the Microsoft Virus Initiative (MVI), TotalAV’s products are certified to meet all MVI requirements and provide advanced server security with real-time scanning.

The antivirus will help you rest easy knowing your database files are safe from online threats, thanks to its advanced business network protection.

This server antivirus offers superb protection from malware attacks, and its Data Breach Monitoring will notify you if your data gets exposed anywhere on the internet.

Besides automatic scanning, which will stop any virus from harming your devices, you can also schedule regular scans for peace of mind, knowing your system and servers are always protected.

In addition, TotalAV performs zero-day cloud scanning, safeguarding you against the most dangerous threats with cutting-edge technology. TotalAV is the best antivirus for companies, and not just because of its ability to detect and remove potential online threats.

While that’s certainly useful, the newest trends show that hackers rely on phishing more than deploying malicious software, making TotalAV’s Phishing Scam Protection an invaluable additional asset for businesses.

All in all, it’s a great antivirus for server security.

Pricing

The cheapest plan for this server antivirus starts at $29/year. If you want to unlock the full potential of TotalAV, you can upgrade to the Total Security plan, and you can take advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee to try TotalAV’s services risk-free.

2. Surfshark – Lightweight Server Antivirus That Includes an Unlimited VPN

Surfshark antivirus is a capable server security measure that’ll detect online threats in real time and keep your database files safe. The antivirus comes as a part of the all-around Surfshark One cybersecurity bundle.

The server antivirus is paired with a professional VPN service, ensuring the privacy of your personal and server data.

It protects your business network with a minimal workload on your devices, making it one of the best lightweight server antivirus software solutions.

The server antivirus software offers you plenty of scanning choices, including real-time scanning, quick, full, scheduled, and drag-and-drop scanning.

It’ll continuously monitor your devices, ensuring they’re malware-free, and send real-time notifications whenever you open a dangerous website.

If your employees’ info gets leaked on the dark web during a social engineering attack, Surfshark will warn you to take adequate measures and protect your database files.

Pricing

Surfshark antivirus comes as a part of the Surfshark One bundle, which also includes a VPN. The two-year plan costs $3.98 per month, with a 30-day guarantee. Annual and monthly subscriptions are available for $5.48/month and $14.44/month.

3. Norton – Feature-Rich Server Antivirus Protection

Norton is one of the best server antiviruses to protect your business servers and is capable of providing identity theft solutions, privacy monitoring, up to 250GB of cloud backup storage, and more.

Norton uses AI machine learning to detect online threats and respond to them to keep you safe. The real-time scanning feature effectively deals with spyware, malware, and ransomware and protects you from hackers, safeguarding you from any malicious software.

This server antivirus is easy-to-use for businesses of any size and allows your tech staff to monitor and manage devices from one online account.

Norton’s advanced firewall works as a two-way silent firewall by monitoring sent and received network traffic and ensuring server security, so it can protect your business network from attacks and stop intruders. What’s more, its scanning is enhanced by AI to ensure a highly effective service.

Pricing

Norton Antivirus Plus is the company’s cheapest plan, starting at $19.99/year, but you can upgrade to the Norton 360 Deluxe plan for additional identity theft protection solutions – and there’s a 60-day money-back guarantee to protect you.

4. Nord Threat Protection – Advanced Malware Protection and Ad Blocking

Nord Threat Protection is a great server antivirus software product to keep ransomware, phishing, and other attacks at bay.

Besides blocking malicious software, it’ll also block intrusive ads and trackers, protecting your privacy.

Nord Threat Protection will always notify you if you visit a potentially dangerous website and scans all downloads and attachments for malware.

This server antivirus will delete the problematic files before they can cause harm to your system and will provide a detailed error report to explain what happened.

When you visit a website, your device sends data. Trackers then retain this information and collate information from multiple sites to build up a profile of your interests. Nord Threat Protection’s built-in tracker and ad blockers prevent this, resulting in faster and more private browsing for all the devices on your business network.

Besides keeping your server security tight and your browsers running smoothly, Nord Threat Protection also keeps checking for data breaches and information leaks, notifying you if it detects one. These features and the built-in VPN make it a great option for businesses.

Pricing

The cheapest Nord Threat Protection plan protects you from intrusive trackers and ads for just $29.88/year and protects you from malware – and there’s a 30-day money back guarantee.

5. Intego – Easy-to-Use Antivirus That’s Perfect for MacOS 

Intego has a long history of award-winning cybersecurity services, and it’s held in high regard for its protection of Apple devices. This server antivirus provides a comprehensive set of features while also being straightforward and beginner-friendly.

Devices running macOS need virus protection, and the idea macOS is immune to viruses is a myth. That’s especially true if your servers rely on Macs. Its features include a bootable backup for Mac, saving essential files in case your business network falls victim to an advanced attack or needs to be relocated.

The Mac Washing Machine feature will also boost the performance of your device and clean it of unnecessary files, helping you run your business network smoothly.

Intego’s advanced two-way firewall provides anti-spyware measures to ensure your Mac isn’t sending sensitive information to third parties and blocks any unauthorized connections to your business network.

The platform also has a user-friendly interface for all its features, including its firewall – making it a great pick for businesses relying on Apple devices.

Pricing

Intego offers a wide variety of paid plans for Windows and Mac, with the cheapest plan for both being only $19.99/year for the first year. The company can also provide quotes for its VirusBarrier X9 and NetShield X9 packages, and it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all its products.

6. Avast – Powerful Software to Combat Ransomware

Avast is best known for its free antivirus software for individual users. However, the company provides more advanced services through its Antivirus Pro paid plans – and more than 435 million people trust Avast to provide them with security today.

Avast’s server antivirus will protect your business network from online threats using its versatile features – it’s a great free antivirus for servers.

It excels at keeping your devices safe from ransomware, one of the most pressing cyber threats today, and it regularly updates its anti-ransomware features to protect you from ever-evolving threats.

Besides ransomware, Avast can protect your company from social engineering attacks, the second most common type of cyber threat this year. You can further safeguard your business network by using Avast’s secure browser to access the internet, minimizing the chance of malicious software entering your system.

You can also install this server antivirus onto all devices connected to your server with a single click, making the installation an extremely simple process.

This server antivirus will block and restrict access to dangerous websites that could steal valuable information from your employees. Avast is an impressive server antivirus, and it’s anti-ransomeware tools are invaluable.

Pricing

While Avast offers free server antivirus software, its advanced plans offer far more features to protect your business network. Its cheapest paid plan costs $34.68/year and provides a comprehensive server security service.

Install Avast on up to 30 devices costs $48.60/year for its most feature-rich paid plan – though you are covered by a 30-day guarantee.

7. McAfee – Popular Server Antivirus with Strong Privacy Features

McAfee’s server antivirus software is one of the best security options for business networks to fight online threats and phishing scams.

McAfee is well suited for organizations of any size that want their privacy and database files protected, and it offers reliable customer support and unique privacy features.

Its advanced privacy features ensure information from your company and employees isn’t exposed anywhere on the internet.

McAfee will bolster your server security by securing all connected devices, blocking phishing scams, identity theft, and other privacy-related online threats, and instantly notifying you if you visit a suspicious website.

The Identity Monitoring feature monitors up to 60 unique types of personal information and warns you about information leaks on the dark web.

In case of identity theft, leading to a loss of funds and expenses related to restoring your identity, McAfee will provide up to $1 million in insurance coverage per adult with its more advanced paid plans.

You can also use its password manager to create complex passwords that can be entered quickly and securely across all devices.

Lastly, McAfee server antivirus software is also highly customizable, allowing you to configure its settings to fit your organization perfectly. With a range of robust security features, McAfee is a great pick for businesses and particularly so, when it comes to identity protection.

Pricing

McAfee’s cheapest paid plan is a feature-rich solution that costs $29.99 per year. It’s one of the best antiviruses around, with an extremely versatile toolset. Even better is the 30-day money-back guarantee.

Do I Need an Antivirus for My Business Servers?

It’s possible to run business servers without antiviruses, but since cyberattacks are more common and have an ever-evolving nature, leaving your business server unprotected is a massive risk for your business network.

A good server antivirus software will avoid leaving vulnerabilities in your server security, making it more robust and turning malicious actors away.

Besides protecting your server from some of the most prevalent online threats, like ransomware and malware software, a good server antivirus will prevent data breaches, safeguarding your database files.

Server Antivirus Free Options – Are Free Server Antiviruses Enough?

A free server antivirus is a welcome addition to your server security – but it won’t provide a service as comprehensive as a premium server antivirus.

They can be helpful if you’re running a home office and don’t need to monitor multiple devices and employees.

However, like many software products advertised as being free, most free server antiviruses come with limited features or hidden fees. Some offers of antivirus support will even be scams.

Because of that, instead of looking for an antivirus for servers free of charge, we recommend exploring affordable paid options that come with more features. After all, they can do far more than even the best free antivirus for a Windows server.

We’ve found that TotalAV offers the most comprehensive free server antivirus service that doesn’t overwork your devices while protecting them.

How to Choose the Best Server Antivirus for Your Business

Choosing the best server antivirus isn’t easy, especially when you consider that it’s not just your business network at stake but also the privacy of your customers and partners.

Our team of cybersecurity and hosting experts have a wide range of experience testing and researching IT hardware – meaning we can identify the antivirus software server features that really make a difference.

Here’s a list of crucial factors that we considered when deciding which server antivirus for business to include on this list – and which are worth keeping in mind whether you’re looking at ESET server security or the best antivirus for Windows servers.

Performance

Some server antiviruses overwork your devices by constantly scanning and monitoring them, ultimately slowing your system down, which could impair your work.

Ensure that your devices can run the server antivirus you choose and that it can protect your business network without bogging it down.

Frequent Updates

We don’t even consider server antiviruses that don’t have regular updates for our lists.

With new online threats constantly evolving and emerging daily, serious antivirus companies must provide constant and comprehensive updates to keep your business network safe.

You should also ensure the software supports automatic updates to avoid wasting time performing them manually.

Ease of Use

Unless your company has tech expert security staff on deck, avoid overly complicated server antiviruses that require help for their installation and use.

The best server antivirus should have a user-friendly dashboard that’s easy to navigate. You should also look for an antivirus program that provides detailed and accurate reports after every incident.

Comprehensive Threat Protection

The best server antivirus must protect you from well-known online threats, like viruses, ransomware, malware, spyware, and others, but also from more sophisticated malicious attacks.

Look for antiviruses that protect from phishing and social engineering attacks based on their identity protection capabilities.

How We Tested Each Antivirus Server

Where possible, we’ve taken advantage of trials and free plans to test every antivirus server software product on this list.

It’s also important to us that we incorporate user feedback, so we’ve scoured the web for consumer reviews of Windows server antivirus tools and server security software products to ensure we can provide coverage of the full user lifecycle.

We also consider antiviruses for a wide variety of circumstances – such as the best antivirus software for India.

How to Install a Server Antivirus

While different software requires a different approach to its installation, most of the server antiviruses from our list follow a similar process.

Here’s a quick installation guide for our top pick this year, TotalAV:

Step 1 – Download TotalAV

Start by downloading TotalAV from its website. Click “Yes” to allow TotalAV to make changes to your device, and finally, click “Install” to start the process.

Step 2 – Wait for the Installation to Finish

Step 3 – Start Your First Scan

After completing the installation, TotalAV will allow you to perform your first device scan and immediately start protecting your device.

Conclusion – What’s the Best Antivirus for Servers in 2023? TotalAV

We’ve compared dozens of server antiviruses, and after thorough research we’re confident TotalAV is the best server antivirus in 2023, thanks to its versatile paid plans and usability.

Picking the best server antivirus ensures your business network is safe and helps you avoid losses and negative press by protecting your system from data breaches.

Try TotalAV risk-free for a month with its 30-day money-back guarantee, and start protecting your business network today.

Server Antivirus FAQs