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In this in-depth Surfshark Antivirus review, I’ll cover all the key features included with Surfshark’s cybersecurity product.
Surfshark is one of the most popular VPNs on the market and now includes a lightweight virus protection package, including anti-malware functionality, webcam protection tools, and identity theft protection features.
It boasts user-friendly apps for Windows, macOS, and Android and is one of the best antivirus programs for cybersecurity beginners. Based on extensive testing, I’ll explore its plan, pricing, and functionality, and how it compares to the top products today.
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What is Surfshark Antivirus?
Surfshark Antivirus is, hence, a relatively new addition to the antivirus market. It secures users’ devices from online threats like viruses, malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks and ensures users’ privacy and security with real-time scanning and threat detection.
Is Surfshark Antivirus Safe?
Surfshark Antivirus is a robust antivirus program for protecting your devices. Its user-friendly anti-malware package provides top-notch online security for casual users.
The antivirus has undergone independent testing with AV-Test, a trusted source for evaluating antivirus programs. The assessment gave Surfshark full marks for protection and usability, and close to a perfect score for performance.
Surfshark Antivirus is designed to be light on your device’s CPU and will only ever use a fraction of your device’s memory. This means you’ll never feel the need to disable the virus protection program due to it slowing down your device.
Surfshark Antivirus Plans & Pricing
Surfshark Antivirus isn’t a standalone product, and you can’t get it without subscribing to Surfshark One or Surfshark One+.
The good news is that both these plans provide you with a bunch of security tools, allowing you to enhance your online safety and qualifying Surfshark as one of the best antiviruses with a VPN. Let’s see what the real differences are between Surfshark Antivirus plans:
| Surfshark Antivirus Plans | Surfshark One | Surfshark One+ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.49/month | $3.99/month |
| Antivirus | ✅ | ✅ |
| Webcam Protection | ✅ | ✅ |
| VPN | ✅ | ✅ |
| Email Masking | ✅ | ✅ |
| Credit Card and ID Breach Alerts | ✅ | ✅ |
| Private Search Engine | ✅ | ✅ |
| Ad Blocker | ✅ | ✅ |
| Data Removal from People Search Sites | ❌ | ✅ |
Surfshark offers three subscription plans, but only two of them – Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ – have antivirus protection included in the bundles.
The two Surfshark One bundles offer similar features across the VPN, ad blocker, data breach monitor, private search engine, and antivirus product.
Surfshark One+ also comes with an option for data removal from company databases and people-search sites. The Surfshark One+ data removal service is currently only available in the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe for now.
You can subscribe to each plan for one month, one year, or two years, with the cheapest monthly rates offered with the two-year plan, which also includes four extra months.
All Surfshark plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to try the service without risk for a whole month. Both Surfshark One plans work on up to five devices simultaneously, and include VPN cover for unlimited devices, so you can ensure all your household devices are protected.
Can I Get Surfshark Antivirus for Free?
No, Surfshark Antivirus is not available for free. While Surfshark VPN offers a seven-day free trial for iOS, Android, and Mac users, this doesn’t apply to the Surfshark One package, which includes antivirus protection.
You can still test the service risk-free, however, thanks to its 30-day money-back guarantee. Simply subscribe and either continue or cancel the service at the end of the 30-day period. For alternatives, read our guide to the best free antivirus programs.
Is Surfshark Antivirus Good? Surfshark Antivirus Features
Surfshark Antivirus offers simple yet powerful protection. It may lack some virus protection features found in more advanced providers, such as a firewall or parental controls, but it provides a range of top-notch security tools, including advanced virus scans, webcam protection, and an industry-leading VPN.
I’ll cover all of these in full in the next section of my Surfshark Antivirus review.
Virus Scans and Antivirus Software
With Surfshark Antivirus, you can select from three types of antivirus scans – Quick, Full, and Scheduled.
The Quick Scan checks files in your Desktop, Documents, and Downloads folders. It typically takes just a few minutes and serves as a preventive security measure.
The Full Scan takes over 20 minutes and examines every file on your system, increasing the chance of catching malware. The duration of the scan depends on the size and number of files or folders chosen.
Surfshark also allows you to Schedule scans for specific days and times to help you maintain a secure online routine. You can also exclude files and folders from scans and can choose to run tests on all five protected devices at once.
VPN Functionality
The Surfshark VPN is one of the industry’s top VPNs, beating most of its competitors with its next-gen security measures and intuitive user interface. The product enhances your online safety and can bypass geographical restrictions to successfully unblock foreign websites and apps.
The VPN uses an AES-256 encryption cipher, which makes it virtually impossible to decrypt your online traffic. The implementation of the WireGuard tunneling protocol and selection of 3,200+ servers in 100 countries ensure you get a stable, secure, and lightning-fast internet connection wherever you are.
Unlike the antivirus, the VPN covers unlimited devices, including those that don’t support VPN applications, thanks to its Smart DNS feature. The tool itself is included in all Surfshark subscription plans and works on Windows, iOS, Android, macOS, Linux, and more.
The VPN is a great product for streaming, gaming, and torrenting. For antiviruses optimized for gamers, see our guide to the best antivirus for gaming PCs.
Surfshark Search
Most popular search engines gather significant amounts of personal data, sharing it with advertisers and putting it at risk in the event of a breach. However, this isn’t how Surfshark Search works, as it’s an entirely anonymous search engine.
When using Surfshark Search, your online activity is untracked and unregistered. This means your search results aren’t affected by any external factors, and no one can track your searches.
Additionally, the private search engine doesn’t display any ads or pop-ups, providing you with a safe, stress-free online browsing experience.
Surfshark Antivirus Performance – Surfshark One Antivirus Review
Surfshark is a simple yet powerful antivirus product that consistently delivers top-class performance for its users, and its effectiveness has been widely recognized by cybersecurity experts and independent testing companies.
In AV-Test’s assessment, Surfshark Antivirus scored 17.5/18, demonstrating excellent protection capabilities.
Surfshark Antivirus consistently scored 100% detection rates for catching zero-day threats and prevalent malware attacks. The antivirus also achieved a perfect score of 6/6 for usability, with no false warnings being recorded across close to 1 million sample sites and apps. This matched my experience in hands-on testing with the product.
In terms of performance, Surfshark Antivirus generally performed well, matching or beating industry averages in six of ten cases. It had a slight impact on the speed of loading popular websites and installing frequently-used apps, but nevertheless scored 5.5/6 for this category.
In my testing, I found that Surfshark Antivirus maintains a moderate CPU load during scans and doesn’t significantly impact your digital experience.
Surfshark Antivirus Compatibility and Ease of Use
Surfshark Antivirus has apps for macOS, Windows, and Android, though it’s only a question of time until the provider offers AV apps for iOS and Linux users.
In my testing, all the apps proved to be user-friendly, lightweight, visually appealing, and intuitive. Let’s dig into the performance of each of the Surfshark Antivirus apps and the platform’s compatibility with different devices.
Surfshark Antivirus for Windows
With Surfshark, you can easily select a subscription plan from their website, download the app on Windows, and install it with just a few simple steps.
Once the installation is complete, you’ll be prompted to log in with the account you created during the signup process. There are three main sections for the app – a menu on the left, features or server details in the center, and a dashboard on the right.
The Surfshark Antivirus Windows application includes all the features the provider has to offer, so you’ll be able to run different types of scans, enable real-time protection, use the CleanWeb feature, and more. For more recommendations, see our guide to the best antivirus for Windows.
Surfshark Antivirus for macOS
Surfshark Antivirus for macOS is a great choice for both beginners and those who prefer a simple user interface. To get started, you need to select a subscription plan, create an account, and download the app from the Surfshark website.
Installation takes around two minutes. When the app is ready, you can log into your Surfshark account and start exploring.
The application is similar to the Windows interface, with a menu, features or servers list, and a dashboard. The design is tailored to the macOS interface, which enhances the app’s visual appeal, and all the available antivirus features are included.
The Surfshark macOS application lacks several VPN features, however, such as split tunneling and the NoBorders feature, and it doesn’t offer the OpenVPN tunneling protocol, unlike the Windows app.
Surfshark Antivirus for Android
Surfshark also has an excellent antivirus for Android devices. The application is divided into four sections – Surfshark, Locations, One, and Settings. They are displayed at the bottom of the screen and take up minimal screen space.
In the Surfshark section, you’ll find the VPN and its associated features, including the kill switch, GPS spoofer, and more. The Locations section offers a list of servers and the countries they’re located in.
If you’ve subscribed to Surfshark One or One+, the One section gives you access to Surfshark Antivirus, Surfshark Alert, the Alternative ID feature, the secure search engine, and other tools.
It’s worth noting that the antivirus feature on the Android app just includes the “Scan” button, so you can get to quickly running scans.
How Does Surfshark Antivirus Compare Against Other Antiviruses?
In the world of VPNs, Surfshark stands out for its next-gen protection and user-friendly experience. But does it maintain the same position when looking at its antivirus package? I’ll now compare Surfshark’s antivirus with other top-tier providers to provide a broader Surfshark One review.
| Antivirus | Starting Price | Max Devices | Real-Time Protection | Firewall | Antivirus Lab Testing Scores |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surfshark | $34.86/year | 5 (Unlimited for VPN) | ✅ | ❌ | 17.5/18 (Protection: 6/6, Performance: 5.5/6, Usability: 6/6) |
| TotalAV | $19/year | 8 | ✅ | ❌ | 17/18 (Protection: 5.5/6, Performance: 5.5/6, Usability: 6/6) |
| Bitdefender | $23.99/year | 25 | ✅ | ✅ | 18/18 (Protection: 6/6, Performance: 6/6, Usability: 6/6) |
| Norton Antivirus | $29.99/year | Unlimited | ✅ | ✅ | 18/18 (Protection: 6/6, Performance: 6/6, Usability: 6/6) |
| McAfee | $39.99/year | Unlimited | ✅ | ✅ | 18/18 (Protection: 6/6, Performance: 6/6, Usability: 6/6) |
Notably, Surfshark One doesn’t offer extras like parental controls, system optimization tools, a password manager, or secure storage – though it does offer a secure search engine and an excellent email masking feature.
Is Surfshark’s antivirus as good as its VPN? In my opinion, the antivirus functionality isn’t quite as strong as the VPN, though it’s a tough comparison given that the VPN is excellent – and the antivirus still gets first-class testing scores.
How to Set Up Surfshark Antivirus
Surfshark Antivirus is one of the most user-friendly antivirus software products I’ve come across. Setting up the app and using it requires minimal time and effort, so it’s a fantastic pick for beginners. Here are step-by-step instructions on getting started.
Go to the official Surfshark website, choose your subscription plan, and create an account.
Download the Surfshark application for your device from the website.
Following the instructions provided, install Surfshark Antivirus, then launch the application, and log into your account.
Find the Antivirus section on the left of the Surfshark dashboard and open it.
Select the option “Install Antivirus” and click “Continue” to begin your first system scan.
Finally, when the scan has completed, you can check the report, see whether any threats have been detected, and choose whether you want to follow the instructions to remove the threats or whitelist them as safe.
Surfshark Antivirus Customer Support And User Reviews
Surfshark Antivirus provides 24/7 customer support through channels including live chat and email and offers a knowledge base, video tutorials, and an FAQ section, ensuring help is always available.
When it comes to live chat, Surfshark’s customer support agents respond to questions within a minute. The ticketing system is speedy, too, and you can expect answers around the clock.
During my testing, I received fast, helpful advice for all my queries. Users writing on Trustpilot have noted similarly positive experiences.
Surfshark Antivirus user review on Trustpilot
Based on customer feedback, Surfshark Antivirus offers swift assistance and helpful advice even in challenging situations. This commitment to customer support is undoubtedly one of Surfshark’s strengths.
Trustpilot user review for Surfshark Antivirus
Overall, Surfshark Antivirus has an “Excellent” 4.3/5 rating on Trustpilot, based on 23,000+ reviews. Of these, 74% are five-star reviews, and another 10% of users gave the platform four stars.
How We Review And Test Antivirus Software
15 Antiviruses Tested
20 Datapoints Measured
300+ Hours Testing
500+ User Reviews Read
We base our recommendations on first-hand experience and in-depth testing. All the Antivirus products we suggest, have been tested based on the following criteria:
- Core Security Features: We make sure that the antivirus software is fully equipped with features like real-time protection, scanning, a firewall, web protection, and more.
- Malware Detection Rates: We test malware detection rates ourselves by running both in-depth and quick scans on our devices. Additionally, we check independent lab tests.
- Compatibility: We check which devices and operating systems the antivirus software is compatible with. Often, different-looking dashboards and slightly different packages of features may be available.
- Performance Impact: A reliable and functional antivirus should not slow down your device significantly. So, we examine our device performance with and without the antivirus running.
- Customer Experience: Alongside our own experience, we are curious to know what real users have to say regarding the services. So, we’ve scoured the web for feedback on each of our tested antiviruses.
- Value for Money: We always consider value for money and how much each product is offering for the set price point.
FAQs
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References
- Surfshark Antivirus testing results (AV-Test)
- Your Data Is Shared and Sold… What’s Being Done About It? (Knowledge at Wharton)
- Surfshark’s no-logs statement gets verified by Deloitte (Surfshark)
- TotalAV testing results (AV-Test)
- Bitdefender Internet Security testing results (AV-Test)
- Norton Internet Security testing results (AV-Test)
- McAfee Internet Security testing results (AV-Test)
