Malwarebytes Antivirus Review 2025: Decent Software, Terrible Customer Service

Malwarebytes has long been known for its ability to find and remove malware on your computer. Today, it also offers real-time antivirus protection, ad blocking, a VPN and online data management tools to help you protect your information. But how well does it hold up compared to other top antivirus tools?

I spent a week researching and testing Malwarebytes to answer that question. It didn’t live up to my expectations for premium antivirus software. It had frustrating usability issues, concerning third-party security test results and the worst customer service of any antivirus I’ve tested so far. The only real upsides were its minimal resource usage during scans and its excellent privacy policy.

Malwarebytes antivirus features

Malwarebytes offers a free, top-of-the-line malware scanner and remediation program to remove malware that’s already made its way onto your computer. Additionally, Malwarebytes’ Browser Guard, an online security extension for browsers like Chrome and Firefox, is free. This extension scans websites for potential danger and blocks ads and ad trackers, protecting your digital privacy.

Malwarebytes’ premium antivirus provides the malware scanner (with added scan scheduling) and remediation tools, plus real-time protection against viruses and other malware. This includes protection against phishing (a kind of scam that uses fraudulent emails to gain access to your personal information) and ransomware (which locks you out of your device and demands money in exchange for restoring your access). 

The midrange plan adds a VPN for improved privacy while browsing the web. A virtual private network is a fairly standard tool included in every antivirus package I’ve reviewed, even the relatively minimal cybersecurity packages offered by Norton and AVG.

At the highest tier, Malwarebytes offers advanced features for monitoring your data on the dark web. You’ll also get a personal data remover that finds sites selling your data and helps you remove your information, plus credit monitoring and up to $2 million in identity theft insurance.

Overall features score

Malwarebytes features are similar to those offered by our top two antivirus tools, Bitdefender and McAfee. Malwarebytes also provides protection for Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS. However, there’s no password manager, so Malwarebytes can only earn a 9/10 features rating.

Malwarebytes antivirus plans and pricing

Malwarebytes offers three plans for individuals:

Malwarebytes also offers two family plans:

*Social media monitoring is listed on the Malwarebytes plans page, but customer service states that this feature doesn’t exist, and as far as they were aware, no such feature is in the works.

Note: Some features, like the identity theft protection and personal data remover, are only available in the United States and US territories. Pay close attention to how plans differ in your region before you purchase.

Malwarebytes antivirus usability

I created a Malwarebytes account and explored the account dashboard, product installation and basic setup for both the antivirus and Malwarebytes’ additional tools to determine their usability. Specifically, I focused on how intuitive Malwarebytes is for those who aren’t tech-savvy. Most processes were pretty straightforward, but I ran into a few hiccups that I haven’t encountered with other antivirus tools.

Account navigation

Creating my Malwarebytes account was easy. I created login credentials, entered payment information and was directed to the account dashboard, where a pop-up asked me to confirm my information to set up identity theft protection. This surprised me, as most cybersecurity suites instruct you to set up the antivirus first. In addition, I’m in a country where I can’t access Malwarebytes’ identity theft protection.

I was able to close this pop-up and go to the account dashboard, where I found prominent links for downloading and activating the antivirus, Browser Guard and other tools. The only confusion here was that the sidebar features both a Subscription Overview and a Manage Subscription link — and the subscription overview page is where you can actually manage your billing or cancel your subscription. Most antivirus tools, like McAfee, have a Subscriptions and Billing page to simplify this, though it’s often hidden in a drop-down menu.

Installation and setup

The Malwarebytes installer took just a few seconds to download and launched the Malwarebytes Setup Wizard. I selected the type of device I was protecting, had the option to download the Browser Guard with the antivirus and waited a couple of minutes for the antivirus to unpack itself. I also glanced at the Advanced Options, but it only directed me to create a desktop shortcut, so most people can ignore this.

Once installed, Malwarebytes directed me to run a scan. This included a malware scan, a trust advisor scan (which looks at security settings on your device) and a digital footprint scan (which connects your email to Malwarebytes so it can search for data breaches). This took another two minutes and then directed me to the antivirus dashboard. 

This dashboard features prominent buttons for running a scan, accessing identity theft protection and using the VPN. You’ll also see your Protection score and a button to see suggestions for improving your digital security.

However, there’s no visible setting for scheduling scans or running different scan types. While I’ve experienced this with top antivirus systems such as Bitdefender, what makes Malwarebytes uniquely frustrating is the lack of a Scans area for scheduling scans. I had to search for this option in the Settings area instead.

Other minor issues with Malwarebytes include the need to manually activate my subscription — something I’ve only experienced with AVG — and the lack of a deep scan feature. I had to set up a custom scan to run a full scan on all of my files.

The Android app is also fairly simple to navigate and shows that several features — including a Scam Guard similar to the scam protector recently launched by McAfee — are currently in beta. These features have great potential to protect you from the ever-increasing amount of spam and scams being sent to your phone.

Additional tools

Most of Malwarebytes’ additional tools are intuitive. The VPN is built into the antivirus and can be quickly toggled on or off. You can install the Browser Guard extension when you’re setting up the core antivirus and easily connect it to Chrome or Firefox. You can set up identity theft protection by entering some core information when you first log into Malwarebytes.

The one tool I found confusing was the digital footprint tool. There seem to be two components to it. The first ran during my antivirus setup and provided information about a few data breaches, with some advice for how to deal with them. The second is built into the browser extension and displayed a pop-up about a data breach when I logged into Facebook. From there, it asked permission to search for other breaches and a few seconds later displayed this visual map of data breaches my information has been caught up in:

Both versions of the digital footprint scan were easy to use, but I’m not certain why there are two of them. I also don’t know if there’s any difference in how they search for data, though I do prefer the visual display the browser version gave me.

I wasn’t able to test the Online Personal Data Remover, as this tool isn’t available in Canada. I also couldn’t test the social media monitoring tool Malwarebytes advertises in its Ultimate plan, and a customer service agent I chatted with told me this tool doesn’t actually exist. I wasn’t able to find out why a nonexistent tool is listed on the plans page.

Overall usability score

Individually, Malwarebytes’ usability issues are small: mildly confusing labels for some features, lack of readily visible buttons for advanced settings like scan scheduling and the need to manually activate my subscription. These all took only a few clicks to figure out. 

But there’s one big issue: The social media monitoring tool listed on the pricing page doesn’t exist. This, combined with the minor issues I encountered when using other Malwarebytes tools, means I can only give Malwarebytes a 7/10 usability rating. This sounds pretty good, but it’s the lowest rating for any antivirus I’ve tested so far. Most tools I’ve tested, including Bitdefender and McAfee, earned a 9/10 usability rating.

Malwarebytes antivirus performance

I spent three days running Malwarebytes and performed several active scans to determine its efficiency. I also tested the Browser Guard and VPN to determine how they affected my browsing experience. The core antivirus thoroughly impressed me, with minimal resource usage and fast scans, and the Browser Guard had no discernible impact on browser speed. However, the VPN had mixed results, especially when using servers outside North America.

Note: I ran these tests on a Lenovo ThinkPad with an Intel i5 processor. Your own experience may vary, especially if you’re using an older system.

Background performance

Running Malwarebytes in the background had no noticeable impact on my browsing or other computer activities. Tracking with Task Manager showed that Malwarebytes consistently used just 0.3% to 0.5% of my CPU’s processing power. This is slightly more than top antivirus systems like Bitdefender use, but not enough to interfere with day-to-day activities or even complex tasks like video editing. Malwarebytes also uses no disk space, making it highly efficient.

I then launched a custom scan, checking off every area of my drive and all file types. This scan used slightly more CPU power — between 3% and 5% — and no disk space, allowing me to continue using the computer without issue. However, it did take around 42 minutes, with a similar timeframe the second and third times I ran the full scan. You’ll want to make sure you only do full scans when you can leave your computer running for at least 40 minutes.

Additional tools performance

Next, I moved on to testing the Browser Guard extension. It had no noticeable impact on my browser speed, but a pop-up appeared when I opened Facebook. This pop-up led to a digital footprint scan, which ran in a secondary tab without interfering with my continued browsing in other tabs. However, I did have some issues closing the pop-up, forcing me to refresh the page to properly view Facebook.

I’m also not certain that the Browser Guard did much beyond identifying the Facebook breach. It didn’t stop me from loading any of the suspicious links in my spam folder or flag any links I encountered elsewhere. It did block some ads, but it wasn’t quite as effective on that front as my preferred ad blocker, UBlock.

Finally, I moved on to testing Malwarebytes’ VPN to determine how much it affects internet speed. I started by establishing my internet speed without the VPN activated by running three Ookla speed tests. I got an average ping of 2 milliseconds, a download speed of 559.81 megabits per second and an upload speed of 787.09 Mbps. (Disclosure: Ookla is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis.)

Next, I set the VPN to my fastest server — the one closest to my location in Canada — and ran three more speed tests. These tests established an average ping of 3.33ms, download speed of 671.26Mbps and upload speed of 813.37Mbps. So, using the VPN on my local server actually improved my overall internet speed — a stark difference from most antivirus companies’ VPNs. Only Norton’s VPN had similar results, making minimal impact on download speed and actually improving my upload speed when using my closest server.

I then ran speed tests with the VPN set to several different locations (three tests per location), establishing the following averages:

These tests weren’t as extensive as our usual testing process for VPN reviews, but they still show that most of Malwarebytes’ VPN servers were significantly slower than my regular internet connection. However, the Canadian and US servers had great performance, so the Malwarebytes VPN may be worthwhile if you’re planning to stick to those locations. Folks in Europe, Asia or Australia may have similar experiences with VPN servers on their own continents.

Overall performance score

Malwarebytes’ background performance and active scans are fast and use minimal processing power, allowing you to continue with your regular tasks while they run. The Browser Guard also uses minimal resources, but it doesn’t seem particularly effective at blocking malicious websites, and its ad blocking is mediocre. So is the VPN, which mildly reduced my internet speed when I used nearby servers but caused major slowdowns when I switched to servers further away. This mixed experience leads me to give Malwarebytes an 8/10 performance rating.

Malwarebytes antivirus security

I performed a deep analysis of Malwarebytes’ third-party lab test results, security protocols and privacy policies to see how well it protects you. Results were mixed, with lackluster performance in antivirus testing but excellent privacy protocols for the VPN, comprehensive protections in the privacy policy and no recent data breaches.

Antivirus security

A quick look at the Malwarebytes AV-Test page shows that Malwarebytes hasn’t been tested since 2023. Moreover, Malwarebytes received a 5.5 out of 6 stars security score (or lower) in its last several tests, a stark contrast from the other antiviruses I’ve tested, all of which had perfect security scores going back at least one year. Since companies must pay to have their tools tested by AV-Test, I suspect Malwarebytes stopped paying for tests it couldn’t use in marketing instead of fixing the security issues that led to lower scores.

The Malwarebytes AV-Comparatives page is similarly concerning. The tests are more recent — including one for March 2025 — but there’s no star ranking at all, whereas most of the antivirus tools I’ve tested had 2- or 3-star rankings out of 3 stars. The full AV-Comparatives ranking page shows why: Malwarebytes might have a 98.6% online detection rate, but it also had 53 false positives, far more than the 28 false positives Avira had, or the 10 to 15 false positives common among other popular antivirus tools.

Combined, these test results aren’t promising. In fact, the free Microsoft Defender received better scores in its most recent tests from AV-Comparatives and AV-Test. Malwarebytes’ scanning tool is still considered one of the best for finding malware already on your computer, but for real-time protection, you’re better off sticking with Microsoft Defender or choosing one of our top-rated antivirus tools like Bitdefender.

Additional tools security

Malwarebytes’ VPN secures your information with AES-256 encryption, an industry-standard protective protocol. The VPN also has a comprehensive no-logs policy, which means it won’t track your IP address, DNS requests, bandwidth usage or other internet usage data while the VPN is active. This is notable since some antivirus companies, like Avira, only extend the no-logs policy to the sites you visit but do track your IP address, which could be retroactively used to gather other data about you.

I chatted with a Malwarebytes representative about the VPN’s privacy protocols and learned that the VPN is currently being moved to the AzireVPN infrastructure that Malwarebytes purchased last year. This gives Malwarebytes full control over the VPN infrastructure, allowing it to prevent anyone — including Malwarebytes employees — from accessing or abusing private data. AzireVPN also has a Blind Operator mode, creating a barrier to block traffic interception for further privacy.

In addition, AzireVPN uses RAM-only, diskless servers. This means data only goes through the RAM and is never written onto permanent storage, ensuring true no-logs functionality in line with Malwarebytes’ privacy policies. AzireVPN also publishes regular transparency reports, allowing me to independently confirm its commitment to privacy.

Malwarebytes is headquartered in the US and states that it will share your data with government authorities if legally required. As its VPN uses a 100% no-logs infrastructure, there won’t be much to give them. Still, if you’re concerned about privacy, you may want to use CNET’s Editors’ Choice ExpressVPN, which is headquartered in the British Virgin Islands and has excellent privacy policies.

Privacy policy and data breaches

Malwarebytes has a thorough privacy policy with something I deeply appreciate: Simply Put sections translating the legalese into easy-to-understand language. The policies themselves are solid, too, promising that Malwarebytes will only collect the bare minimum data needed to keep its programs functional. It even explicitly states how all data collected will be used to improve the antivirus and other Malwarebytes tools.

Malwarebytes’ policies around sharing your data with third parties are also well thought out. Malwarebytes specifies that your data may be shared with Google Analytics, payment processors and third parties engaged for services like delivering marketing communications. There are no provisions for sharing your data with social media platforms unless you’ve given proactive consent. Malwarebytes states that the companies it does share data with must agree not to disclose your information or use it for anything other than the services they’ve been hired for.

Malwarebytes also states that it will share your data with government authorities on request. As mentioned above, Malwarebytes is in the US, which is part of the Five Eyes Alliance. This means your data may be requested by the US government for its own purposes or for the purposes of any government within the Five Eyes Alliance. While Malwarebytes doesn’t collect much data, and most popular antivirus tools are from countries with similar privacy concerns, it’s important to be aware of this.

As for data breaches, Malwarebytes had one known data breach of its forum in 2014 that compromised 112,000 accounts. Malwarebytes addressed this breach right away, providing instructions to find out if an account had been breached and secure accounts. There hasn’t been a known data breach since then.

Overall security score

Malwarebytes’ privacy policies and VPN security protocols are some of the best I’ve seen in the antivirus industry. However, the antivirus itself isn’t as effective as other tools like Bitdefender, McAfee or even Microsoft Defender.

This means I can only give Malwarebytes a 9/10 security rating. While this is on par with some top antivirus tools, like McAfee, it’s not as good as our top-ranking antivirus, Bitdefender.

Malwarebytes antivirus customer service

Malwarebytes offers a self-serve knowledge base and 24/7 live chat powered by AI. The AI-powered chat can connect you with a human worker, but there’s no immediately visible support ticket system and no phone support. The support I was able to access proved slow and inconsistent in quality.

Knowledge base

The Malwarebytes knowledge base, or Help Center, is very well laid out, with a search bar at the top and buttons for common question categories. There are even helpful arrows pointing to the search bar, quick start guide and account/billing articles, though they feel somewhat superfluous given how clearly labeled everything already is.

The Quick Start guide is also excellent, with step-by-step instructions for setting up the software and tutorial animations. However, I didn’t find images or videos in most other areas of the knowledge base. This is frustrating, especially for those who prefer to learn visually.

Direct communication

Malwarebytes’ AI chatbot is easy to find — something I can’t say for most antivirus companies’ live chat — and moderately well trained, providing fast answers to simple questions. I was pleased when the chatbot directed me to an agent immediately the first time I asked. This may seem like a low bar, but multiple antivirus companies’ bots have refused to connect me with a person until I requested it two or three times.

However, the agent wasn’t able to answer my questions in a timely manner. In fact, she told me she’d have to follow up via email, as she didn’t have ready access to the information. My questions were somewhat advanced — specifically, asking if transparency reports exist for the VPN — but other companies’ agents have been able to answer them within a few minutes, suggesting that Malwarebytes’ support agents aren’t as well-trained as those at other antivirus companies.

Support tickets do exist, but you’ll only discover this if the AI can’t answer your questions — a support ticket option appears when you request human customer service. If you prefer to get customer service via email, you’ll have to jump through hoops to even know it’s an option.

The other downside is the response time. I submitted my request at 3 p.m. one day and didn’t get a response until 9 a.m. the next day. The response thoroughly answered my question, but waiting so long was frustrating.

Overall customer support score

I was thoroughly disappointed by Malwarebytes’ customer service. The knowledge base lacks visual guidance, the live chat representatives were slow and unable to answer my questions and the response time for support tickets was abysmal. There’s also no phone support.

This leads to a customer support rating of 4/10, the lowest of any antivirus I’ve tested so far.

Malwarebytes antivirus value

Finally, let’s take a look at how Malwarebytes compares to Avira, another freemium antivirus, and our top-ranking antivirus, Bitdefender:

*Social media monitoring is listed on the Malwarebytes plans page, but customer service states that this feature doesn’t exist, and as far as they were aware, no such feature is in the works.

We can draw a few conclusions based on this data:

• The free version of Malwarebytes is severely limited, without the real-time protection you’ll get from Avira or even the built-in Microsoft Defender in Windows or X-Protect for MacOS.
• The basic paid plan has no introductory discount, something most other antivirus suites I’ve tested offer.
• The highest-tier plan seems affordable until you factor in the one-device limit. When you calculate the cost for five devices, the first-year price rises to a whopping $200 and the renewal cost to $400 per year, significantly more than other multidevice cybersecurity suites.

In short, Malwarebytes is significantly less cost-effective than other antivirus tools and cybersecurity suites, especially if you have multiple devices. You may be able to save some money with it if you have only one device and still want identity theft insurance, but otherwise, its individual plans aren’t a great investment.

However, the Family Device Security plan, priced at $120 per year, may be worthwhile if you want comprehensive antivirus and scam protection for six to 10 devices. Bitdefender doesn’t offer coverage for more than five devices, while Avira only lets you choose between five or 25 devices for its Avira Prime, and its 25-device plan costs $135 per year. Still, Malwarebytes’ Family Device Security plan doesn’t include the VPN or other features common to multidevice cybersecurity plans.

Overall value score

With all this considered, I can only give Malwarebytes a value rating of 5/10. It’s simply not worth the cost for most people, though you may find it valuable if you have six to 10 devices to protect and you only want antivirus and scam protection.

Malwarebytes: Is it right for you?

Before you make a purchasing decision, let’s consider how Malwarebytes performed in each subcategory:

• Features: 9/10
• Usability: 7/10
• Performance: 8/10
• Security: 9/10
• Customer service: 4/10
• Value: 5/10

These numbers earn Malwarebytes an overall rating of 7/10, the lowest score of any antivirus I’ve tested so far.

There are some areas where it truly shines — like its excellent VPN security protocols and privacy policies — but its features, usability and subpar customer service don’t live up to other paid tools like Bitdefender or McAfee.

The free version isn’t a great antivirus solution, either, since it only provides malware scanning, not real-time protection. I recommend Bitdefender if you want a paid antivirus or AVG if you want a free one.