Antivirus Subscription Audit 2026: You're Paying $200+/Year for Protection You Already Have

The Full Antivirus Cost Stack

Many households have MULTIPLE overlapping security subscriptions:

• Norton 360 Deluxe: $49.99-$104.99/year
• McAfee Total Protection: $39.99-$119.99/year
• Avast Premium Security: $49.99-$89.99/year
• Trend Micro Maximum Security: $39.95-$79.95/year
• Kaspersky Premium: $49.99-$79.99/year
• Bitdefender Total Security: $49.99-$89.99/year
• TotalAV: $19/first year → $119/renewal
• LifeLock (bundled with Norton): $11.99-$34.99/month on top
• VPN add-on: $30-60/year extra

Worst case: We've seen bank statements with 2-3 antivirus products plus identity monitoring — $300-500/year for redundant protection.

Independent Test Results (AV-TEST, 2026)

AV-TEST is the gold-standard independent antivirus testing lab. Their scores (out of 6):

• Windows Defender: 6/6 Protection, 5.5/6 Performance, 6/6 Usability — FREE
• Norton: 6/6, 5.5/6, 6/6 — $100/year
• McAfee: 6/6, 5.5/6, 6/6 — $120/year
• Bitdefender: 6/6, 6/6, 6/6 — $90/year
• Avast: 6/6, 5.5/6, 6/6 — $90/year

Notice anything? They all score virtually the same. The paid products provide no meaningful protection advantage over the free built-in solution.

The Consolidation You Didn't Notice

Most "competing" antivirus brands are owned by the same companies:

• Gen Digital: Norton, Avast, AVG, Avira, LifeLock
• McAfee: Standalone (owned by private equity)
• NortonLifeLock: Norton 360 + LifeLock identity protection

If you have both Norton and Avast, you're paying the same company twice for essentially the same product.

The Free Security Stack (Replace Everything)

1. Windows Defender — real-time antivirus protection ($0)
2. Malwarebytes Free — monthly second-opinion scan ($0)
3. uBlock Origin — browser ad/tracker/malware blocking ($0)
4. Bitwarden — password manager ($0 for personal use)
5. Credit freeze — prevents identity theft at all 3 bureaus ($0)
6. Credit Karma — credit monitoring and alerts ($0)
7. Proton VPN — free tier for basic VPN needs ($0)

Total: $0/year. This stack provides equal or better protection than any $100-300/year security suite.

How to Audit Your Security Subscriptions

1. Search your bank statement for: Norton, McAfee, Avast, AVG, Trend Micro, Kaspersky, Bitdefender, TotalAV, LifeLock, Gen Digital
2. Check each computer in your household for installed antivirus (right-click the taskbar notification area on Windows)
3. Check email for renewal receipts you've been ignoring
4. Cancel all paid antivirus — turn off auto-renewal first, then uninstall
5. Verify Windows Defender is active on each machine after uninstalling paid AV
6. Set up the free stack above

Mac Users: You Need Even Less

macOS has built-in security (XProtect, Gatekeeper, Notarization) that provides strong baseline protection. Mac malware exists but is far less common than Windows malware. Paid antivirus on Mac is almost never necessary for home users. If you're paranoid, the free version of Malwarebytes for Mac is sufficient as an occasional scanner.