In the early days of malware, antivirus programs could identify dangerous files just by matching a few patterns of bytes. That approach fails against modern polymorphic malware, so Malwarebytes Premium employs behavioral detection and many other protective layers. It earns top scores in our hands-on tests and in some tests by independent antivirus labs. However, Editors’ Choice antivirus picks Bitdefender Antivirus Plus and McAfee AntiVirus Plus score even higher, and offer more than just the basics of antivirus protection.
How Much Does Malwarebytes Premium Cost?
Just under $40 per year is a common price for a single year’s antivirus subscription, both Windows and macOS editions. Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus, Kaspersky, Bitdefender, and Trend Micro Antivirus+ Security are among the antivirus utilities that fit this profile. Malwarebytes is just a little higher, at $44.99 per year, but at the three-license level, it aligns with the rest. Of the antivirus utilities that offer a three-license subscription, 60% charge between $55 and $60 for it; Malwarebytes goes for $59.99 at the three-license level.
Paying $79.99 per year gets you five Malwarebytes licenses. With multi-device subscriptions, subscription you can install Malwarebytes on Macs or Windows boxes, your choice. Note that at the three- and five-device tiers an extra $20 per year adds the Malwarebytes Privacy VPN.
It's Surprisingly Easy to Be More Secure OnlineWith Norton, you pay $114.99 per year for five licenses. You get VPN protection with no bandwidth limits at this level, along with a full panoply of other security suite features. McAfee AntiVirus Plus charges $64.99 per year, but that license lets you install protection on all your macOS, Windows, Android, iOS, and ChromeOS devices. As you can see, there's a lot of variation in pricing.
No money in the budget for antivirus? No problem! You can install Avast, AVG, or a dozen other free antivirus utilities at no charge.
Simple Interface, Speedy Scan
After a quick installation, the Malwarebytes main window appears, with three large panels along the bottom that represent Detection History, Scanner, and Real-Time Protection. It looks almost the same as the free edition, except that premium features such as real-time protection and scheduled scanning are enabled. Above these panels is an area that provides status information and advice. Out of the box, it advises launching an initial scan.
(Credit: Malwarebytes)By default, the display uses a faintly patterned light gray background, with elements of white and blue. If that’s too bland, you can switch to dark mode or choose a livelier background.
New since my last review is the Trusted Advisor feature, reached by clicking the status pane in the main window. Much like the AutoPilot feature in Bitdefender, Trusted Advisor reports on the status of your protection and offers advice on how to do even better.
(Credit: Malwarebytes)When you call for an on-demand scan, you get a full Threat Scan by default, just as you do with Malwarebytes Free. In testing the free edition’s ability to clean up existing malware infestations, I found that the full scan averaged about five minutes. Given the average for current antivirus scans is nearly two hours, that's speedy. A full scan with Malwarebytes Premium on a system with no malware also took around five minutes.
(Credit: Malwarebytes)The scan scheduler lets you run a full, quick, or custom scan on a regular basis. You can choose an hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly scan, or you can set it to scan any time the system reboots. Quick scan, custom scan, and scan scheduling are Premium-only features, and welcome ones.
Malwarebytes offers the free Browser Guard security plug-in for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox when you install the free or Premium antivirus. When I tested it with Malwarebytes Free, it proved effective at steering the browser away from fraudulent (phishing) URLs and pages that host malware. If you use Chrome, Edge, or Firefox, be sure to install this useful extension.
Excellent Lab Test Results
Many of the independent antivirus testing labs strive to create tests that emulate real-world situations, but this emulation isn't perfect. Some of them still include simple file recognition as one part of their testing. In the past, Malwarebytes didn’t focus on passing tests, but that’s changing. The company now participates in testing and receives good to excellent scores. I follow the regular test reports from four labs: AV-Test, AV-Comparatives, SE Labs, and MRG-Effitas.
Malware experts at AV-Test Institute rate antivirus utilities on three criteria, protection, performance, and usability. Here usability refers to avoiding erroneous identification of valid apps or websites as dangerous. Malwarebytes earned the top score, 6 points, for performance and usability, and took 5.5 points for protection. Its total score of 17.5 points earns it the title Top Product. Bitdefender and F-Secure also have 17.5 points in this latest test. Half the tested antivirus utilities own a perfect 18, among them Avira, Microsoft Defender Antivirus, and Norton AntiVirus Plus.
Reports from AV-Comparatives list certification levels rather than numeric scores. An app that passes one of this lab’s numerous tests achieves Standard certification; those that fail get the label Tested. An app that goes beyond the minimum requirements for certification may rate Advanced or Advanced+. Over a third of the programs tested earned Advanced+ in all three tests, among them Avast Free Antivirus, AVG, and Bitdefender. Malwarebytes doesn’t show up in the latest reports from this lab, though it has in the past.
While most lab tests report results on a scale of one kind or another, those from MRG-Effitas lean toward pass/fail. In this lab’s assessment using a wide range of malware types, programs that fend off all attacks immediately receive Level 1 certification, while those that eliminate all malware traces within 24 hours pass at Level 2. A separate test specific to banking-related attacks is strictly pass/fail. Malwarebytes passed the latter and reached Level 1 in the former, a fine success.
Each lab has its own way of rating and ranking the programs they test. I’ve devised an algorithm that maps all results onto a 10-point scale and derives an aggregate lab score. The scoring algorithm yields an impressive 9.8 points for Malwarebytes, though AVG AntiVirus Free, also tested by two labs, reached a perfect 10. Among those tested by three labs, Kaspersky and McAfee join the winners’ circle, also with 10 points each. Bitdefender is one of just four antiviruses evaluated by all four labs, and its 9.9-point score is nearly perfect.
Effective Malware Protection
For most antivirus utilities, my malware protection test begins the moment I open the folder containing my current collection of malware samples. The minor file access that occurs when Windows Explorer reads a file's name, size, and attributes is enough to trigger a real-time scan for some. For others, clicking on the file or copying it to a new location triggers a scan. To maintain compatibility and avoid stepping on the toes of such programs, Malwarebytes waits until just before the malware launches before running its on-access scan.
Avast, Emsisoft, and McAfee AntiVirus Plus are among the other programs that wait until launch to scan for malware. Skipping mere on-access scanning saves time and resources, no doubt. However, wiping out known threats on sight means you're protected even if the antivirus crashes or stops working.
To test this program’s malware protection, I launched each of my samples in turn. In almost every case, Malwarebytes quarantined the sample before it could launch. It also supplied a description of the malware type for each file it caught, things like Floxif.Virus.FileInfector.DDS, PUP.Optional.ChinAd, and Adware.KorAd.
(Credit: Malwarebytes)Malwarebytes detected an impressive 98% of the samples and scored 9.8 of 10 possible points. That’s the best score of any antivirus tested with this current sample set. Yes, Guardio and PC Matic also scored 9.8, but both required modified testing. Guardio only checks files that are downloaded in Chrome, and PC Matic blocks everything that’s not on its allowlist. Malwarebytes is squarely in the traditional antivirus lane, and it outscored Webroot, McAfee, Emsisoft Anti-Malware, and quite a few others.
It takes me quite some time to gather and curate a new set of malware samples, so I use the same sample set for quite a while. My malicious URL blocking test, by contrast, always uses the very latest in-the-wild malware. It starts with a feed of real-world malware-hosting URLs supplied by London-based testing lab MRG-Effitas. I launch each dangerous URL and note whether the antivirus under test blocks access to the page eliminates the malware payload, or sits idly without providing protection.
When I tested Malwarebytes Free I thought it might be at a disadvantage due to its lack of a real-time protection module that would check downloads for malware. I found that Browser Guard did both duties, replacing most of the dangerous pages with a warning, but catching others during the download process. One way or another, the free edition scored an impressive 95% protection.
(Credit: Malwarebytes)I repeated the test for Malwarebytes Premium, using the very latest malicious URLs. The premium edition earned points in three distinct ways. In many cases, Browser Guard diverted the browser away from danger, just as with the free edition. In other instances, a notification popped up explaining that the site was blocked based on the download of a dangerous file. I also observed pages blocked by Malwarebytes Web Access Control, though Browser Guard always gets the first crack.
(Credit: Malwarebytes)With all these protective components in play, it’s not surprising Malwarebytes Premium scored 99% protection, the same as G Data Antivirus. McAfee, Norton, Sophos, Trend Micro, and ZoneAlarm PRO scored 100% in their own latest tests, as did the Chrome-specific Guardio, but no other recent antivirus utilities outperformed Malwarebytes.
Phishing Protection Success
A hack attack using malware must somehow get the malicious program onto your system, cause the code to execute, and evade detection by the operating system and antivirus. A phishing attack, by contrast, only needs to fool the hapless user. Phishing sites mimic banks, retailers, and even dating sites, often using a URL that looks almost legitimate. A victim who logs in to the fake site has given away those all-important login credentials. Goodbye, bank account! Goodbye, social media reputation!
To test phishing protection, I start by scraping hundreds of newly reported frauds from sites that track such things. I work to ensure a balance between those that have been analyzed and blacklisted and those that are still unknown. I launch each phishing URL in four browsers, one protected by the antivirus being reviewed and one each using the built-in protection in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. If any of the four can’t load the page, I skip it. I also discard any pages that don’t actively attempt to steal login credentials.
Malwarebytes Free and Premium both identified 99% of the verified phishing frauds, beating out all three browsers and most of the competition. Very few antivirus programs managed a perfect 100% in their own latest tests, among them Avast, Norton Genie, and ZoneAlarm.
Integrated Ransomware Protection
You don't really expect ransomware to get past your antivirus. Indeed, Malwarebytes handily eliminated every one of my ransomware samples before any could begin to execute. However, the potential consequences of a ransomware miss are staggering enough to merit a separate focus on ransomware protection.
In my previous review, I tried to test Malwarebytes by turning off all real-time features except Ransomware Protection and launching a dozen real-world ransomware programs. That attempt failed, with zero detection. My company contact explained that the various layers are now more tightly integrated and can’t necessarily function alone.
That didn’t stop me from trying again with the current edition. As is common, a couple of the samples refrained from taking any action and thus evaded behavior-based detection. However, of the remaining 10, Malwarebytes detected and quarantined 9. That’s pretty good for a feature that isn’t meant to stand alone.
(Credit: Malwarebytes)I did observe that in almost every case the ransomware encrypted some files before getting slapped down, from just a handful to thousands. Since the ransomware component works by detecting behavior, that’s not terribly surprising.
With all cylinders firing, Malwarebytes eliminated every single ransomware sample. Even when I crippled it by disabling other features, it still put up a good fight. If a zero-day ransomware attack gets past this program’s other layers of protection, this test suggests its behavior-based ransomware-specific component will come to your rescue.
An Undeniable Contender
The free Malwarebytes scanner is popular for its ability to clean up tough infestations, but it offers no real-time protection. Malwarebytes Premium is a full-blown antivirus that packs many layers of protection against malicious attacks. With excellent scores in lab tests and our own hands-on tests, it’s definitely a contender, but it’s up against some stiff competition. Bitdefender Antivirus Plus packs more features than many suites, and it maintains perfect or near-perfect scores from four testing labs. McAfee AntiVirus Plus, too, earns top lab scores, and a McAfee subscription protects every device in your household. These two are our current Editors’ Choice winners for antivirus software.
