Avira for macOS review 2024

In this post, we’re looking at Avira’s antivirus offering for macOS. It includes:

• An antivirus
• Real-time protection with download protection
• A password manager (separate app)
• Junk file cleaner
• More extras with a paid upgrade

I recommend reading the review end to end if you want all the details. If you haven’t got the time, you can read the summary of my thoughts below.

Avira for macOS summary

Avira for macOS provides a decent antivirus scanner packaged in a user-friendly app. While it scored well on AVComparatives and AVTests, it failed to detect one EICAR sample in our in-house testing. Still, it provides good coverage and does have an ace up its sleeve: it’s entirely free, forever. The free version also includes real-time protection – a feature that gets stripped out of many free antivirus apps.

While the app is intuitive and easy to use, it includes a lot of marketing to entice you into a paid upgrade. No less than four of the app’s menus are marketing (VPN, Cookie Cleaner, Uninstaller, Startup Apps). Life’s a hustle, and the app is free, so maybe Avira can be forgiven for its mercantile instincts.

The free extras you get include a password manager, a separate app you need to download from the Mac App Store. You also get a Junk Cleaner that clears your device’s residual junk files (caches, logs, etc.). However, these features are of limited usefulness, given that there are plenty of excellent and free alternatives.

Ultimately, Avira is a prime choice if you’re looking for a decent antivirus for Mac that offers real-time protection and is easy on your wallet.

Avira may not be perfect, but if you feel the above sentence describes you, Avira is recommended.

Avira for macOS pros & cons

System requirements

Avira has very simple minimum system requirements for macOS:

Operating System: macOS Catalina (10.15) or later

My testing was done using macOS Sonoma.

Avira’s sign-up process

If you’re downloading the free version of Avira for macOS, there’s no sign-up process. Just download the app.

You’ll have to sign up if you’re purchasing a paid subscription. The sign-up process for Avira is essentially the same as signing up for any other online service. Select your subscription, enter your details, and click the confirm button. You’ll receive an email from Avira with all the details you need to download, install, and log in.

After signing up for Avira, auto-renewal is automatically enabled. You can turn this off once you sign into your account. You also get a 60-day money-back guarantee, so if you don’t think Avira Prime (the paid version) is for you, you won’t lose your money.

Installing Avira for macOS

Like Avira for Windows, installing Avira on your Mac is quick and easy. Follow these simple steps:

1. Download: Visit the official Avira website and download the macOS version.
2. Open: Locate the downloaded file and double-click to open it.
3. Drag and Drop: Drag the Avira icon into the Applications folder when prompted.
4. Launch: Open the Applications folder and click on the Avira icon to start the program.
5. Activate: The antivirus will automatically enable itself upon first launch.

Additional Features:

• Junk Cleaner: Access this tool directly within the Avira app.
• Password Manager: Download separately from the App Store for enhanced security.

Avira for macOS features

Next, let’s look at the app’s functionality.

Antivirus engine

Of course, the main event is Avira’s antivirus engine. While it scored highly on AVTests and AVComparatives, it failed to detect one of our EICAR samples in a custom scan. However, its real-time protection detected and blocked everything. So it’s a bit hit-and-miss, but I’d say that real-time protection might weigh more than a custom scan. And let’s not forget that it’s free.

With that in mind, let’s focus on Avira’s app.

Status

In the best antivirus apps, the main page is a Dashboard that lists the app’s main features. Avira does things a bit differently with its Status, which consists of a Start Smart Scan button. A Smart Scan is a quick virus scan combined with a Junk Cleaner scan. You can still run either separately.

Activity

The Activity menu is the app’s human-readable activity log. The scans that were run (manually or automatically) will appear here, along with any other tasks the app has completed. You can filter events by clicking the slider icon toward the top of the page.

Scheduler

As its name indicates, this is where you can schedule virus scans.

By default, a Smart scan and a Quick scan are scheduled.

Clicking the Create Scan button allows you to schedule the scan of your choice.

In this example, I’ve scheduled a Full scan to run daily at 3:42 PM. I can turn it off using the blue toggle to the right.

Virus Scans

The Virus Scans menu is where you can manually run a Quick, Full, or Custom scan. Clicking the Browse button under Custom Scan creates a file picker for you to select the Files or folders to be scanned.

Protection Options

The Protection Options page lets you turn on and off Real-time Protection and Download Protection. The former is real-time virus protection, with Avira running in the background as you go about your online business. The latter scans your downloads for viruses and malware. Both features provide real-time protection, so their inclusion here makes sense.

If you go for a paid subscription, you’ll also get USB device scanning.

Quarantine

The Quarantine menu is pretty self-explanatory. Any detected malicious files will be moved to the quarantine folder and displayed here.

VPN

The VPN page is also marketing… sort of. The “bundled” VPN is a separate app you need to download from the Mac App Store.

While the app is free, it’s capped at 1GB per day until you go for a paid subscription. Clicking the Get Avira Phantom VPN button takes you to the Mac App Store.

If you’re looking for the best VPN service, I’d go with a dedicated, paid provider rather than an add-on service within a software bundle. You’ll be much better served.

Passwords

This is Avira’s password manager. It’s a separate download that you need to get off the Mac App Store.

Clicking the Install & Turn On button takes you to the Mac App Store to download the app – it’s free.

Cookie Cleaner

Yet another marketing page for Avira’s Cookie Cleaner.

The Cookie Cleaner will scan your browser’s cache and delete any cookies found. Alternatively, you can clear your cookies manually or download a free extension for your browser(s).

Junk Cleaner

Avira’s Junk Cleaner will scan your system for “junk files” (i.e., caches, temporary files, etc.).

When the scan is finished, it will display what was found.

From here, you can choose Show Details to see what it found specifically or Clean to delete the files without reviewing.

In my case, it detected cache files, reports and logs, and the contents of my Trash. Clicking Clean cleared most of the listed files.

I wrote “most” above because Avira didn’t delete the contents of my Trash. Clicking How to fix will simply prompt you to upgrade.

After manually deleting the Trash, I reran the Junk Cleaner. And, lo and behold, there were no residual files this time.

I doubt this one is worth the upgrade…

Uninstaller

Avira’s Uninstaller feature is an app uninstaller. These apps claim to delete residual files that remain on your system when using traditional uninstall methods. Again, there are many excellent and free alternatives that you can find on the internet.

Startup Apps

Of all the fluff features proposed by Avira, this one may well be the fluffiest. It’s a startup app manager. In other words, it lets you choose which apps run when your device boots. This functionality is already included in macOS. Sure, you can use a third-party app to replicate that functionality, but it begs the question of why you would want to do that.

Avira’s Settings

You can access the app’s settings menus by clicking the Gear icon at the top right. There are four Settings pages.

General

The General Settings page is where you can set things like the app’s notifications, language, and the amount of time to keep activity logs.

Virus Scans

The Virus Scans Settings page lets you fine-tune the app’s scanning behavior.

Protection Options

The Protection Options Settings page allows you to manage the Real-time Protection and Download Protection behaviors.

Exclusions

The Exclusions Settings page is where you can exclude files or folders from Real-time Protection and Virus Scans. There is a distinct page for each one.

Real-time Protection Exclusions

Virus Scans Exclusions

Let’s now move on to the antivirus tests.

Avira’s AV testing results

I started testing Avira with the malware samples from the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR).

As mentioned above, Avira scored very well on AVTests and AVComparatives but failed to detect one of our EICAR samples in Custom Scans. However, it detected all samples in the other scan modes and with Real-time Protection.

I then moved on to the malware samples, and it detected all of them in all scan modes.

How does Avira affect performance?

Here’s what Avira’s impact on system resources looks like for quick and full scans:

Quick scan

Full scan 

I’ve noticed this with many modern AV apps: Despite running a full scan, I could still use my computer without issue. This was the case with Avira as well. Gone are the days when an antivirus scan would turn your computer into an expensive paperweight.

Avira for macOS pricing

Avira offers two subscription plans for macOS: the free plan and the paid Prime plan. The latter costs $59.99 per year (for the first year). After that, you’ll pay $109.99 annually unless another deal crops up before that (a year is a pretty long time).

The paid plan gives you all of the “upgrade features” of the free plan, removes the data cap from the VPN, and supports up to five devices (versus the single device support of the free plan).

While $59.99 per year is reasonable for a proper antivirus, the free offering is so good that I probably wouldn’t pay $60 to get the extra features. For example, I could use that money to sign up for a proper VPN service.

Still, Avira’s pricing is very fair.

Support options

There are three support options with Avira: a knowledgebase, email, and phone.

Online knowledgebase

Email & phone

However, email and phone support are reserved for paying customers. And that’s fair. The company is already giving away its antivirus engine for free. Free premium support would be great, but let’s stay anchored to reality.

Its online knowledge base is pretty complete and should allow most users to overcome the most common issues.

Do I recommend Avira for macOS?

Absolutely. I do. But…

I wouldn’t recommend the paid version. The free version includes pretty much everything you would want if your primary concern is a decent antivirus engine that won’t break the bank. The upgrade features are just not that compelling. check out our free antivirus post if Avira doesn’t tick all the boxes.

Avira’s antivirus engine didn’t pass all our tests in all its scan modes. But it scored very highly on third-party testing sites. So it should work fine. And given that it’s free, you can’t complain too much. No antivirus will be perfect, and for zero dollars, I’m not sure there’s a better option for macOS.

Avira’s app is intuitive and easy to use and provides comprehensive settings to configure things to your liking. If you choose to go with the paid version, you get a 60-day money-back guarantee (though you should probably just download the free version to test the product out.

The bottom line is that Avira for macOS is recommended (though I’d stick with the free version).

Best Avira for macOS alternatives

While Avira offers solid protection for your Mac, consider these excellent alternatives:

1. Intego Mac Internet Security X9: Originally developed exclusively for Macs, Intego deeply understands the Apple ecosystem. Its later expansion to Windows support demonstrates versatility while maintaining its Mac-focused roots.
2. Surfshark One: Surfshark One combines traditional antivirus with comprehensive digital protection, including a VPN and data breach monitoring. This holistic approach creates a robust security environment for your Mac.
3. Norton 360 Standard: Norton consistently achieves high scores in independent lab tests, showcasing its effectiveness against Mac-specific threats. Its feature-rich security solution provides peace of mind for macOS users.
4. TotalAV Total Security: TotalAV is making waves in the Mac security landscape with impressive scores from independent testing labs. Its interface is designed with Mac users in mind, offering a seamless experience.
5. McAfee Total Protection Premium: McAfee offers a full-featured suite compatible with macOS, though it’s primarily focused on Windows. It’s an ideal choice for users with both Mac and Windows devices in their household.

Antivirus testing methodology

We’ve structured our antivirus testing methodology to provide reliable data on the software’s effectiveness at malware protection and performance.

Our testing process includes:

• Using malware test samples from EICAR
• Testing live malware samples, including Adware and Trojans
• Comparing our own tests with independent antivirus lab test results

In addition, we measure several PC performance metrics and analyze pricing, ease of use, compatibility, and additional features.

We have a dedicated post on our antivirus research and testing methodology if you want to know more about how we analyze antivirus software.