Best antivirus for schools and educational institutions in 2025

Like businesses and healthcare providers, schools face many online security threats: phishing attacks, ransomware, data breaches, and malware infections. These threats compromise the sensitive data of staff and students, resulting in costly disruptions that impact learning and administrative operations. Schools must protect their networks and devices to safeguard against these risks.

Antivirus software is a critical tool in protecting against the threats mentioned above. It provides real-time threat detection, blocks different types of malware, and protects sensitive data. Below, we’ll guide you through the best antivirus programs for schools and educational institutions. These provide essential school features, such as centralized monitoring management and the ability to secure many devices via a single dashboard.

Don’t have time to read the complete guide just yet? Below is a quick overview of the best antivirus solutions for schools and educational institutions:

1. ESET Protect: Best antivirus for schools. Remote management with a high level of customization. Some of the strongest protection scores and secures all major operating systems.
2. Avast Business Security: Recognized for its protection as well as its performance. Plenty of extras, including a VPN. User-friendly remote management. Free trial available.
3. Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security: Uses machine learning to protect against ransomware and other threats. High scores in independent testing labs.
4. Sophos Intercept X: Real-time protection from threats, including ransomware. There are many security features, making it easy for you to adjust according to your requirements.
5. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint: Dashboard that’s detailed yet straightforward to navigate. Secures Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux.

Criteria for the best antivirus for schools and educational institutions

When choosing an antivirus for a school, looking for those that offer strong protection from threats and the flexibility to manage security across many devices is essential. Here’s some of what we look for:

• Centralized dashboard for monitoring and managing devices
• Ability to protect many devices and different device types
• Support for multiple operating systems, including Windows and MacOS
• Robust protection from viruses, ransomware, spyware, and more
• Tools to block access to inappropriate or malicious websites
• Lightweight software that doesn’t slow down older devices

Best antivirus for schools and educational institutions

Here’s our list of the top antivirus for small businesses:

1. ESET Protect

ESET Protect makes it easy to manage many devices across a school network, whether from the school or remotely, via the cloud. Available for both Windows and MacOS devices, it’s highly customizable and can tailor features to your school’s requirements. There are multiple ESET Protect products available. If you’re not sure which best fits your needs, ESET provides a helpful series of questions for you to answer to help narrow down the options.

We gave ESET a near-perfect protection score of 99.5 in testing, further backed up by its strong scores from independent testing labs. It provides cloud-based protection from ransomware and entirely new threats. With full disk encryption, ESET Protect can also help comply with data regulations. This antivirus solution for schools provides complete visibility of a network and potentially many endpoints while being accessible via a single console.

ESET Protect can secure Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux devices.

BEST ANTIVIRUS FOR SCHOOLS:ESET Protect is highly customizable allowing you to manage protection remotely and scale according to the number of devices you wish to protect. Comprehensive protection from a wide range of threats including ransomware.

Read our full ESET review.

ESET Coupon

50% off all ESET Home Security products!

Get Deal >

code CYBER50!

2. Avast Business Security

Avast Business Security protects staff and students alike. Endpoint protection keeps Windows, Mac, and Windows servers safe from malware and even zero-day threats. Thanks to Avast’s online management of endpoint security, you’ll be able to keep up with all of this in real time. Depending on whether you opt for the Essential, Premium, or Ultimate plan, you’ll have access to a VPN and USB protection.

You can be confident that Avast will provide the protection your school needs. It earned perfect scores in not only our protection testing but also performance. Experts at AV-Test and AV-Comparatives consistently praise it. Unique for a business security solution, Avast offers a 30-day free trial, allowing you to try it out risk-free. You don’t even need to provide a credit card to take advantage of the trial.

Avast Business Security is available for Windows, Mac, and Windows servers.

TRY IT RISK-FREE:Avast Business Security impresses with its fast performance and high level of protection. Offers numerous extra features, including phishing protection. A free trial is available, as is a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our full Avast review.

3. Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security

Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security emphasizes its multi-layered protection with machine learning. This combines prevention, detection, and blocking into a complete school cybersecurity package. There’s great flexibility in that you can secure anything from three to 100 devices and up to four servers. Everything is accessible via a centralized dashboard that helps you quickly identify and deal with threats.

It’s straightforward to customize Bitdefender GravityZone to fit your school or educational institution’s needs, with the option to check (or uncheck) specific modules as you see fit on the fly. The extensive list of features includes ransomware protection and mitigation, which restores files from backup copies if needed. Bitdefender has long ranked among the best antivirus providers in independent security tests, and it doesn’t hurt that a free trial is also available.

Bitdefender GravityZone is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

RANSOMWARE PROTECTION:Bitdefender GravityZone Business Security is quick and easy to set up. It uses machine learning to detect even the latest threats and also keeps you safe from ransomware and phishing attacks.

Read our full Bitdefender review.

4. Sophos Intercept X

Sophos Intercept X for Education blocks ransomware and focuses on preventing such threats in the first place. Sophos’s solutions for educational establishments are extensive and include managed detection and response (MDR) and endpoint and network security. A blend of deep learning and real-time intelligence nullifies threats across all of a school’s devices.

This antivirus solution for schools has features to make securing an entire network much easier. For example, Intercept X with XDR alerts you to which apps are installed on users’ devices. You can choose the level of protection required and adjust it over time to scale with the school. AV-Test has given Sophos Intercept X a full score for protection and has done so consistently for years, highlighting the high level of security you can expect.

Sophos Intercept X can be used with Windows, MacOS, and Linux devices.

EXTENSIVE SOLUTIONS FOR SCHOOLS:Sophos Intercept X provides an easy-to-use interface but has very strong threat detection and can protect you from a wide range of threats including ransomware. Can manage many services all in one place.

Read our full Sophos review.

5. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a cloud-native endpoint security offering that stands out for using AI to identify and stop attacks. The detailed dashboard presents plenty of key information in a clear, manageable way. It makes full use of threat intelligence to protect your school’s network against the very latest cybersecurity threats.

One of the benefits of using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is that everything can be managed via a single console. Though you might think it’s only offered for Windows, it can also be used to secure Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux devices. It seamlessly integrates with Windows, although setting up advanced features requires technical know-how.

Capable of securing devices across Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and Linux.

SEAMLESS WINDOWS SETUP:Microsoft Defender for Endpoint takes advantage of AI to detect and protect against attacks. Ideal for Windows but capable of covering multiple platforms. User-friendly interface but support is hit-and-miss at best.

Read our full Microsoft Defender review.

Antivirus testing methodology: How we found the best antivirus for schools

Not every antivirus provider offers solutions for schools and educational institutions. Some of those that don’t include the key features we’re looking for. Below, we explain our methodology, covering essential features and how we tested for them.

• Malware protection: First and foremost, we need to ensure that an antivirus provides adequate real-time protection from different types of malware, including ransomware. To do this, we download malware samples (both test and live samples) to see if and when the antivirus provider blocks them.
• Centralized management: A centralized dashboard for administrators is particularly important for schools and securing what can be a large number of devices. This allows for easy monitoring and managing of devices. You’ll also have the option to remotely set up, update, and configure devices with these antivirus solutions.
• Compatibility with school devices: Ideally, the antivirus will support a wide range of operating systems, covering all devices in the school. This usually includes Windows, Mac, and Linux but may include Android and iOS devices too.
• Scalable solution: An antivirus isn’t suitable for schools if it isn’t capable of covering a large number of devices. Schools and other large institutions can have hundreds of endpoints, and the best antivirus software for schools is scalable and can grow with the needs of the school as more devices are added to the network.
• Performance impact: We can assess an antivirus’s performance and impact on devices by examining CPU and memory utilization when idle and during quick and full scans. Some high-quality lightweight antivirus solutions are better for older or less powerful hardware.
• Content control: Tools that block inappropriate and malicious websites are handy for schools. Any content controls should integrate well with a school’s existing content filtering systems.
• Ease of use: An antivirus for schools with a straightforward, user-friendly interface makes it much easier for IT staff to navigate and manage. End users (students and staff) should require little to no involvement. Automated features such as automatic updates and scans also make things easier.
• Value for money: It’s not uncommon for schools to have tight budgets, but that shouldn’t come at the cost of security. Fortunately, we’ve found affordable solutions with flexible plans that scale according to the number of devices you need to secure. With so many extras included and even free trials in some cases, they’re excellent value for money.

We further explain our process in our antivirus testing methodology.

How to use an antivirus for schools

Setting up antivirus protection for a school or educational institution is a little more complex than using an antivirus on just one or two devices for personal use. Still, we believe we’ve identified user-friendly antivirus tools, all offering quality customer support should you need any help.

Here’s how to set up an antivirus for schools and educational institutions:

1. Select and sign up with your preferred antivirus solution. We particularly recommend ESET Protect.
2. Update school devices to the latest versions of their respective operating systems. Be sure to remove any existing outdated antivirus systems.
3. Download and install the antivirus software. Use the central management console to deploy the software across multiple devices remotely.
4. Configure the antivirus settings, enabling real-time scanning, scheduling scans for off-peak hours, and activating content control features.
5. Log into the central management console to monitor all protected devices. Create user groups (such as students and staff) with specific security settings.
6. Use real-time alerts to detect any threats or vulnerabilities and establish a clear protocol for handling any detected threats or breaches.
7. Keep your antivirus updated by enabling automatic updates. This helps you stay ahead of the latest security threats.

Antivirus for schools: FAQs