Aura Antivirus 2026 Review — Is It As Good As Other Antiviruses? - Security.org

Aura Antivirus 2026 Review — Is It As Good As Other Antiviruses? Aura’s antivirus provides great malware protection, is easy to use and lightweight, and comes bundled with Aura’s other security services. All of our content is written by humans, not robots. Learn More Brett Cruz, Privacy & Cybersecurity Expert Gene Petrino, Security Advisor; Retired SWAT Commander Last Updated Sep 17, 2025 SecurityScore: 9.5 /10 Select a Plan Links To Aura.com What We Like Great malware detection rate: Aura detected and quarantined all the malware test files we pitted it against, and its web protection also blocked malicious test links and shady sites. Bundled with security services: Depending which subscription tier you choose, you can bundle the antivirus with a VPN, a password manager, identity theft protection, or fraud prevention. Easy to use and lightweight: Aura’s apps feature a very intuitive design, and they didn’t noticeably slow down our devices while running scans. What We Don't Like Lacks extra antivirus features: Aura’s antivirus is missing features that you get with other top antiviruses, like system tune-up tools, a firewall, or webcam protection. No iOS and Linux apps: Aura only offers antivirus protection on Windows, macOS, and Android, so it can’t secure your iOS or Linux devices. Can’t schedule scans: Aura’s antivirus let us run quick, full, or customized scans, but we found the lack of scheduled scans inconvenient. Bottom Line Aura’s antivirus is great at detecting malware, it offers good web protection, and it’s also bundled with extra security services (all antivirus plans include a VPN). We also found it user-friendly, and it didn’t severely impact our device performance. However, it lacks some of the common features we’re seeing from top-tier antivirus software. Contents: Pricing & Plans Features Additional Security Services User Experience Customer Support the security.brief Aura scores near top antivirus levels (~98%), includes ID-theft protection and VPN, but misses firewall, parental tools, password manager, and independent tests. Aura is primarily known for its identity theft protection platform, but it also provides access to other security services. The list includes an antivirus, which we spent a few weeks testing to see how it compares to the best antivirus services in 2026. Overall, we think Aura is a solid choice if you only need a basic antivirus you can pair up with other security services. It is simple to use and really lightweight. Plus, our tests also show that Aura has a great malware detection rate and web protection. However, it also has downsides. We tested Aura’s antivirus software, and we’re here to lay everything we learned down for you – the good, the bad, and the ugly. >> Related Reading: A Complete 2026 Guide to Antivirus Protection EDITOR'S RATING Gene Petrino Security Advisor; Retired SWAT Commander How We Review SecurityScore: 9.5 /10 Excellent malware detection rates Very lightweight apps Great phone and live chat support Aura’s antivirus is accessible from its online dashboard and mobile app, so checking our activity was only a click away. Aura Antivirus Pricing & Plans Aura has multiple security services, and offers different subscription tiers for each one. For the antivirus, the service offers the following tiers: “Antivirus,” “Antivirus Plus,” and “Ultimate.” Each subscription tier only includes an annual plan, and the price renews after the first year. Here’s an overview of the pricing options for the antivirus tiers: “Antivirus” “Antivirus Plus” “Ultimate” Starting Price $35.99/year ($3/month) $47.99/year ($4/month) $59.99/year ($5/month) Renewal Price $69.99/year ($5.83/month) $99.99/year ($8.33/month) $129.99/year ($10.83/month) The renewal price is steep, as there’s an almost 50 percent increase, but this is usually the standard with antivirus pricing. If you’re on a very tight budget and wouldn’t mind dealing with certain limitations, try one of the best free antivirus services in 2026 instead — for example, Bitdefender supports real-time protection via its free version (most free antiviruses don’t offer this). Each Aura antivirus subscription tier covers a different number of devices, and includes additional security services. Here’s a table for reference: “Antivirus” “Antivirus Plus” “Ultimate” Number of Devices 3 5 10 Operating Systems Windows, macOS, Android Windows, macOS, Android Windows, macOS, Android Real-Time Protection Yes Yes Yes VPN Yes Yes Yes Safe Browsing Yes Yes Yes Password Manager No Yes Yes Online Account Monitoring No Yes Yes Fraud Resolution No No Yes Identity Theft Insurance No No Yes (up to $1 million per adult) Credit Monitoring No No Yes (1 Bureau) Home & Auto Title Monitoring No No Yes Criminal & Court Records Monitoring No No Yes We think the “Antivirus” tier is great for single users who are primarily interested in the antivirus. “Antivirus Plus” is a good pick for small families or people who want additional online security on top of the antivirus, including basic identity theft protection. We’d only recommend “Ultimate” for large families and users who want enhanced identity theft protection and basic financial fraud protection in addition to the antivirus. Aura offers a lot of protections besides its antivirus, including a vault for a wide range of personal data. Aura also backs its annual plans with a very generous 60-day money-back guarantee. We believe this should give you enough time to decide if the antivirus is right for you. Expert Insight: If you’re mainly interested in identity theft protection, we recommend checking Aura’s identity theft protection pricing plans instead. They include advanced identity theft and financial protection on top of the antivirus. Aura Antivirus Features Aura’s antivirus protected our laptops and mobile devices. Here it is scanning our Pixel 7 for threats. Aura’s antivirus is overall basic, but its features work very well according to our tests. The antivirus offers the following features: Real-time protection Web protection Malware scans Real-Time Protection This means the antivirus continuously scans your device for signs of malware, while running quietly in the background. It operates as you download from the web, launch apps, or open files and folders. If it detects anything suspicious, it automatically flags and quarantines it. It also sends you an alert every time. We’re happy to see real-time protection, as we consider it to be an essential antivirus feature. It’s convenient because it eliminates the need to regularly scan your computer. We subjected Aura’s real-time protection to multiple antivirus tests and it performed well. For example, we tried downloading the EICAR malware test file1 while Aura was running — this is a file that’s not malicious, but is used to test the effectiveness of antivirus software. Aura stopped us each of the ten times we tried downloading the file. In addition to testing the antivirus on desktop, we also ran AMTSO malware detection tests2 on Android, and Aura passed. AMTSO stands for Anti-Malware Standards Testing Organization, and it’s a non-profit organization that has been developing anti-malware testing methodologies for over 15 years. Pro Tip: Even though Aura offers real-time protection, we still recommend manually running scans once or twice per month. Web Protection (“Safe Browsing”) Aura’s antivirus offers protection against online threats, like malicious links, shady websites, and phishing sites. It does so via “Safe Browsing,” an in-app feature and a browser extension that provides AI-powered filtering. To see how good Aura’s web protection is, we tried accessing test malicious links available via EICAR, AMTSO, and WICAR3 (a collection of online tools for testing anti-malware software). In addition, we tried connecting to a few HTTP websites as well. Aura’s antivirus successfully stopped us from accessing all links. Our only complaint is that Aura’s web protection was a little inconvenient to use. It’s built into the Aura app but as part of the VPN service, not the antivirus. So, you’d need to connect to the VPN to enable it. Most top antiviruses don’t bundle their web protection with their VPN services. On the plus side, desktop users can get around that issue by using the “Safe Browsing” browser extension. It’s available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, and doesn’t require you to be connected to Aura’s VPN for it to work. Expert Advice: For a similar feature that doesn’t require you to connect to a VPN, check out NordVPN’s Plus package. It includes “Threat Protection Pro” that works similarly to “Safe Browsing,” except it runs even when the VPN is off. It’s thanks to that feature that NordVPN made our list of the best VPN and antivirus bundles.  Malware Scans Aura allows you to manually run scans. Like most antivirus services, it offers three types of scans: Quick Scans. This is a type of scan that searches folders where most malicious threats are usually found, like temporary and system files. When we used it, Aura scanned roughly 1,100-1,300 files, and the whole process took just two minutes. Full Scans. This scan is more in-depth, as it checks all files and folders on your device for signs of malware. In our tests, Aura’s full scan took around two hours and 15 minutes, and it scanned over 250,000 files. Custom Scans. This is perfect for targeted scans, as it allows you to scan only selected files, folders, and external drives (like USB flash drives). We found it very easy to run all types of scans — even setting up a custom scan only took a few seconds. The devices we used to test Aura also didn’t experience significant slowdowns while we ran the scans (including the full scans). We were able to browse the web, watch online videos, install apps, and play games without our devices freezing, lagging, or experiencing crashes. Checking out our antivirus scan history on Aura’s mobile app. The only thing we don’t like is that Aura doesn’t let you schedule scans, which is something most top antiviruses offer. For example, TotalAV lets you schedule scans every day, week, two weeks, or month — it also lets you pick the day and time when the scan takes place. >> Read More: TotalAV 2026 Review What Is Aura Antivirus Missing? While Aura has all the essential features we’d expect from a good antivirus, it is missing some extra tools that most top antiviruses have. For example, it doesn’t have a system clean-up feature, like you get with TotalAV. This is a tool that scans your device for junk files and removes them, improving device performance. TotalAV’s feature even optimizes startup programs to make your operating system run smoother. Aura’s antivirus is also missing a firewall, which you get with Norton 360. This is a security tool that helps secure your device against suspicious network traffic that could compromise your device. Aura also lacks webcam protection, which Surfshark Antivirus offers. This tool prevents apps from accessing your webcam without your permission, preventing malicious apps and actors from spying on you through it. Aura Additional Security Services On the plus side, Aura bundles its antivirus with extra security services. Depending on which subscription tier you choose, you could also get access to: Identity theft protection A VPN A password manager Aura Identity Theft & Fraud Protection Aura flagged five critical data leaks right away. Fortunately, these were past events we’d already taken care of. Aura’s “Antivirus Plus” tier adds basic identity theft protection via dark web monitoring, which alerts you if your personal information, SSN, or online accounts are breached. The “Ultimate” tier adds more protections against identity theft, and also offers protection against fraud. You can monitor auto and property titles for signs of fraud, and get alerts if criminals steal and use your identity. You also get up to $1 million in identity theft insurance, one-bureau credit monitoring, and a credit lock. However, the antivirus plans ultimately provide basic identity theft and fraud protection compared to Aura’s main identity theft protection service. Consider switching to it if you’d rather get three-bureau monitoring, an instant credit lock service, AI-powered protection against spam calls and messages, and investment account monitoring. >> Related Reading: The Best Identity Theft Protection Services in 2026 Aura VPN Aura’s macOS VPN integrated into the Aura identity theft protection app All antivirus plans include access to Aura’s VPN (Virtual Private Network), which is available in the same app as the antivirus. The VPN protects your online data and privacy. It encrypts your internet traffic, making it unreadable, so that cybercriminals can’t spy on it. It also changes your IP address, preventing websites and malicious actors from using it to find your approximate location. Aura’s VPN is decent, though overall basic. It uses military-grade encryption, it has servers in over 80 countries, it maintains good speeds, and it has apps for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. If you’re mainly interested in the antivirus, then Aura’s VPN is enough for protecting your privacy. But if you’re looking to pair the antivirus with a high-end VPN, Aura isn’t as good as the best VPN services in 2026. For example, NordVPN has servers in over 110 countries, much better speeds, apps for smart TVs in addition to desktop and mobile devices, and better streaming and torrenting support than Aura’s VPN. It also has an antivirus-like feature that protects against malware-infected downloads. Aura Password Manager Aura’s password manager worked better in our browser than it did in local apps, where autofill was hit or miss. The “Antivirus Plus” and “Ultimate” tiers add a password manager, which is a service that securely stores your logins in an encrypted vault. It also protects you from phishing sites by auto-filling your login credentials on legitimate websites. Aura’s password manager made our list of the best password managers in 2026. We found it user-friendly, especially during setup because it syncs passwords across all supported devices, and also allows you to import logins from other password managers. >> Read More: Aura Password Manager 2026 Review Aura Antivirus User Experience Our mobile dashboard on Aura’s Android app kept all our protections in one place. Aura’s antivirus covers three to ten devices, depending on which subscription tier you choose. It also has apps for Windows, macOS, and Android. If you’re interested in also using an antivirus on your iOS device, we recommend trying TotalAV or Norton 360 instead. >> Related Reading: Do iOS Devices Need Antivirus Protection? Aura Antivirus Setup Installing and setting up Aura’s antivirus is very straightforward. Just download the installer from your account dashboard or the Android app store, and wait one or two minutes for the installation process to finish. We noticed that Aura didn’t provide us with any options to configure during the installation process. This makes the installation much more user-friendly, though advanced users might not like the lack of customization. Once the app is installed and set up, you’ll get a prompt to run your first scan — we recommend doing this. While the scan takes place, you should read Aura’s antivirus tutorials to familiarize yourself with the service. Aura Antivirus Ease of Use Aura’s apps have a very sleek design, and we find the interface overall intuitive. It’s simple to run scans, and also easy to customize them. The quarantine tab also makes it very simple to whitelist files that are not actually malicious. We also like how all settings and features come with quick, helpful explanations. What’s more, the desktop and Android apps share the same design — this made it very easy for us to switch between the apps. It’s also good that the antivirus and VPN are available in the same app, as having to install a separate VPN app would have been inconvenient. There are only a few minor drawbacks, really. For example, you can’t adjust the app’s user interface. You’re also stuck with the app’s light theme, which could be a bit annoying if you’re accustomed to dark themes. Aura Antivirus Performance Aura’s antivirus didn’t significantly impact device performance when we used it. Our tests show that the antivirus only uses up 15 to 18 percent of CPU power while running full scans. For reference, other antiviruses we tested used up to 25 percent of CPU power, so Aura is definitely very lightweight. While we ran scans, we were able to use our desktop and Android devices like we normally do. We didn’t experience freezes or crashes while playing games or streaming videos. And our Android device’s battery usage only increased by around two percent while the antivirus was performing scans, which isn’t bad. Aura Antivirus Customer Support Aura provides many customer support channels. Aura offers very good customer support. We like how it offers dozens of support channels, including in-depth tutorials, helpful FAQs, live chat support, and 24/7 phone support. We followed Aura’s setup guides when we installed its app on our devices — we found them easy to follow thanks to the reader-friendly structure. We also checked out its FAQs, which helped us familiarize ourselves with how the service works. We also tried out Aura’s live chat support over the course of a week. Live chat is available daily from 8 AM to 8 PM EST. It usually took less than a minute to get connected to an Aura rep. Most of the reps we talked with were knowledgeable and helpful. However, we also came across three live chat reps who took very long to answer our questions, and who also didn’t provide detailed answers. Aura’s live chat reps are overall friendly and helpful. We tested Aura’s phone support a few times too, and we were really happy with it. It usually took less than 30 seconds to start talking with a phone rep. Plus, all the reps we talked with were very friendly, and were also able to accurately answer all of our questions. Video Review Go behind the scenes with our identity theft expert, Corey Birnstengel, and see how Aura’s latest features and protections really work — from dark web and credit monitoring to Aura’s customer support experience. We break down what the day-to-day experience is like, and the pros and cons to help you decide if Aura is the right identity theft protection service for you. Bottom Line: Is Aura Antivirus Worth It? We mainly recommend Aura if you’re looking for a basic, but very intuitive and lightweight antivirus that also comes bundled with other security services. The cheapest antivirus plan also includes access to a VPN. And the higher tiers add additional security services, including a password manager and identity theft protection. However, Aura’s antivirus lacks additional features that you get with other top services. For example, it doesn’t offer a system clean-up tool, webcam protection, or a firewall. It also doesn’t have an iOS app, and it doesn’t let you schedule malware scans. If any of those drawbacks is a dealbreaker for you, we recommend trying other top antiviruses instead, like TotalAV, Surfshark Antivirus, or Norton 360. Frequently Asked Questions Is Aura a good antivirus? Is Aura’s antivirus bundled with its other services? Does Aura protect against all malware? Does Aura’s antivirus offer web protection? SecurityScore: 9.5 /10 Select a Plan Links To Aura.com Citations