Surfshark Antivirus 2026 Review: Features & Pricing - Cybernews

Surfshark is best known for its VPN services, but it also offers an antivirus as part of the Surfshark One suite. This makes it a complete cybersecurity solution designed to protect your devices through multiple layers of security. Surfshark Antivirus features several types of scans, strong real-time protection, webcam protection, and extra tools like Surfshark Search and Surfshark Alert. Surfshark Antivirus has consistently demonstrated excellent results in independent lab tests, showcasing strong protection capabilities. However, Cybernews’ in-house testing revealed more mixed results, showing that its real-world performance can vary. While the software lacks some advanced features found in other antivirus suites, it still delivers solid core protection that should be enough for most users. In this Surfshark Antivirus review, I take a closer look at how it performs in real-world conditions, assess its effectiveness, and determine whether it’s a good option for your security needs in 2026. ⭐ Rating: 4.4 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 🥇 Overall rank: #4 out of #30 💵 Price: From $33.62/year ✂️ Free version: No 🖥️ Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, FireTV 🔥 Coupons: Surfshark Antivirus coupon 86% OFF + 3 months FREE Get Surfshark Antivirus Surfshark Antivirus pricing: which plan is right for you Surfshark Antivirus is available only through the Surfshark One and One+ bundles. The total cost depends on the subscription length, with the best value offered by the 2-year Surfshark One plan. Compared to other leading antivirus providers, Surfshark’s pricing sits in the mid-range. Bitdefender price starts at $12.99/year for 1 device, Norton at $29.99/year for 1 device, and TotalAV at $19.00/year for 3 devices. While Surfshark antivirus subscription may seem pricier at first, starting at $33.62/year, it protects up to 5 devices, making it a more cost-effective choice if you plan to secure multiple devices. 1-month cost 12-month cost 24-month cost Starter $15.45/month $3.19/month $1.99/month One $17.95/month $3.39/month $2.29/month One+ $20.85/month $6.29/month $4.19/month Each Surfshark plan comes with unique features, which allow you to select the best option based on your specific needs and only pay for what you’ll actually use. Starter One One+ VPN (all features included) ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes Antivirus (real-time protection) ❌ ✅ Yes ✅ Yes Surfshark Alert (data leak protection) ❌ ✅ Yes ✅ Yes Alternative ID (email generator) ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes Surfshark Search (search without ads & no data tracking) ❌ ✅ Yes ✅ Yes Incogni (data removal from databases) ❌ ❌ ✅ Yes Visit Surfshark Antivirus Pro tip The Surfshark One plan offers the best value for most users. It combines a powerful VPN with an antivirus to protect multiple devices, along with handy extras like Surfshark Search and Alert. You’ll also get the lowest price with the 2-year plan. Surfshark Antivirus features Now that you know the differences between Surfshark’s plans, let’s take a look at the features this antivirus offers. The offerings are truly unique and worth trying out, especially since Surfshark combines traditional malware protection with smart, privacy-focused tools that enhance overall digital safety. Device scanning Surfshark Antivirus offers several scanning options – Full, Quick, custom file, and external storage scans. I found the scheduled scan option particularly useful. This feature allowed me to run scans automatically on specific days and times. Surfshark scans all external drives as soon as they’re connected, which adds an extra layer of safety if you frequently use USBs or other removable media devices. If you connect large external drives, the app lets you skip scanning them during quick or full scans – this helps speed things up without lowering your overall protection. Another feature I appreciated was Quarantine auto-delete. Instead of clearing out quarantined files yourself, Surfshark Antivirus will automatically remove them after 60 days. It’s a small touch, but it honestly kept things clean without any extra effort on my part. Real-time protection If you’ve never heard what real-time malware protection is, to put it simply, it monitors your device for threats at all times. This means that the antivirus is constantly running in the background, ensuring that threats are instantly detected. Real-time protection secures your device from various types of malware, including worms, trojans, and backdoors. Surfshark’s Antivirus malware database is updated every three hours to stay on top of the latest threats. You can also manually check for updates at any time to make sure you’re fully protected. In addition, Surfshark’s Antivirus Cloud Protect checks suspicious files against a live threat database, identifying new and emerging risks in real-time without collecting any personal data. It’s a lightweight yet powerful way to block malware that traditional scanners might miss. Ransomware shield Ransomware can be one of the most disruptive threats, locking your files and demanding a ransom to get them back. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to see that Surfshark Antivirus includes a built-in Ransomware Shield that actively monitors for suspicious behavior. This feature allowed me to manually choose which folder I wanted to protect, and control which apps can access them. I appreciated having that level of control – it lets you focus on protection where it matters most, like your documents or photo libraries. It’s a simple way to reduce the risk of unauthorized encryption and keep your personal files safe. Web protection Web-based threats are one of the most common ways malware spreads, so it’s good to see that Surfshark Antivirus includes a Web protection feature. This feature blocks access to malicious websites and apps, helping prevent infections before they reach your device. It also protects against phishing pages, which can trick you into sharing personal info like login credentials or financial details. Just keep in mind – this feature is only available on Windows. If you're using macOS or other platforms, you won’t have access to it yet. Webcam protection Once I installed Surfshark Antivirus on my device, I also found an option to install Webcam protection via the Antivirus menu in the main panel. The installation of this add-on was very quick, taking less than 5 seconds. I liked that the feature also allows you to whitelist trusted apps, so once you set it up, it doesn’t interfere with your everyday work and simply protects you in the background. In short, Webcam protection ensures that unauthorized apps cannot access your webcam without you knowing it. This is a great security addition for users who are worried about unknown parties spying on them through the connected camera. Review of lab test results Surfshark Antivirus has been evaluated by AV-TEST, a respected independent antivirus testing lab. Compared to the previous year, Surfshark Antivirus has received a lower score in the usability category, scoring 5.5 out of 6. Surfshark Antivirus results on AV-TEST in 2024 and 2025 compared It scored a perfect 6 out of 6 for protection, successfully blocking 100% of zero-day threats (407 samples) and 100% of widespread malware detected in the last 4 weeks (19,213 samples) during the May-June 2025 testing period. It also earned 5.5/6 for usability and 5.5/6 for performance, showing it can run relatively smoothly without heavily affecting system resources. Surfshark Antivirus protection results by AV-TEST As a result, Surfshark Antivirus was awarded the AV-TEST Certified badge, making it a solid antivirus for everyday protection. Our in-house testing results To evaluate how well Surfshark Antivirus performs in real-world scenarios, I tested its protection against malware, ransomware, and phishing threats. Note We performed all the tests on a Windows 10 Virtual Machine with 4 allocated CPU cores from the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 3945WX and 16GB of RAM. Malware and ransomware protection To evaluate Surfshark Antivirus's malware protection capabilities, I used a wide range of threats like ransomware, Remote Access Trojans (RATs), info stealers, mining malware, and malicious scripts. All malware samples were taken from the bazaar.abuse.ch database. For the test, I used 150 malware samples. With the full scan option, Surfshark Antivirus detected 70.67% of them. While that’s not ideal, it still outperformed some well-known providers like ESET and Avast. Running a full scan with Surfshark Antivirus However, the quick scan failed to detect any threats, scoring 0%. The same happened with real-time protection, which also missed all threats during testing. Quarantined files in the Surfshark app Overall, while Surfshark’s full scan can catch most known malware, its quick scan and real-time protection remain unreliable. Phishing protection To test Surfshark Antivirus phishing protection, I used 20 verified phishing websites from phishtank.org. These included both standard domain-based phishing pages and more deceptive subdomain links. Unfortunately, Surfshark Antivirus failed to detect any of them, resulting in a 0% detection rate. This was a major disappointment, especially since in our previous test, it successfully blocked 70% of phishing attempts. Impact on PC performance System performance is one of the most important factors when choosing an antivirus. If a program consumes too many resources for too long, you might find yourself avoiding scans altogether, which defeats its purpose. During my testing, CPU usage briefly spiked to 100% but averaged around 50% for most of the scan. RAM usage stayed between 5.2GB and 6.2GB. These numbers are similar to top-rated antivirus software like Bitdefender and TotalAV, showing that Surfshark Antivirus doesn’t put excessive strain on your system. Surfshark Antivirus impact on performance Other features included with Surfshark One Surfshark One and One+ plans come packed with useful features. In this section, I’ll highlight a few of the most notable ones that I personally use to strengthen my online security. Surfshark VPN Most people know Surfshark for its VPN rather than its antivirus – and for good reason. It’s one of the best VPNs on the market today. Surfshark VPN lets you change your IP address to secure your connection and access to over 4,500 VPN servers in 100 countries. By connecting to different server locations, you can unlock region-restricted content. For example, connecting to a server in Japan allowed me to access an entirely different Netflix library. Surfshark VPN also includes strong security features that, combined with its antivirus, create a comprehensive security suite. Key tools include a kill switch, which safeguards your data in the event of a VPN connection drop, and DNS leak protection, ensuring your connection remains private and routed correctly. Surfshark Alert Surfshark Alert is a data breach monitoring tool that keeps an eye on your email addresses, IDs, and credit card information. It scans the web for signs that your data has been leaked and immediately alerts you if anything is found. I found this feature very easy to set up from the Surfshark account page. In the Alert section, you can add the email addresses, credit cards, or IDs you want to monitor. You can also choose how often you receive reports – either every time a new data breach occurs or only when your personal accounts are affected. The dashboard organizes all detected breaches by their level of importance, making it easy to see what needs attention first. This feature is similar to Bitdefender’s Digital Identity Protection, which also monitors personal data for leaks. However, while Bitdefender charges extra for it (starting at $39.99/year), Surfshark includes Alert as part of the Surfshark One bundle at no additional cost. Incogni I see Incogni as a powerful extension of the Surfshark Alert feature. It’s a service that reaches out to data brokers who collect and store your personal information, such as your phone number, address, and email, and requests that this data be removed from their databases. This add-on is especially useful for anyone serious about online privacy and looking to reduce their digital footprint, not just monitor what data has already been exposed. It’s included in the Surfshark One+ bundle or can be purchased separately. See our Incogni review if you want to find out more. Missing features in Surfshark While Surfshark Antivirus covers essential security needs, it lacks several features commonly found in top-tier antivirus products. Firewall. There’s no integrated firewall to manage incoming and outgoing traffic. Surfshark relies on VPN-based network protection instead. Vulnerability scanner. The antivirus doesn’t include a feature to detect outdated software or weak system settings. Device optimization tools. System cleanup or performance-boosting tools are not part of the package. Cloud backup. There’s no built-in cloud storage for backing up important files. Password manager. Surfshark doesn’t offer a secure way to store or manage your passwords. Web protection on macOS and mobile. This feature is currently only available on Windows. Apps and user experience Surfshark Antivirus currently has apps for Windows, Android, and macOS. The service is a relatively lightweight solution that is reasonably priced for what it offers in terms of security and features. Desktop Setting up Surfshark Antivirus is quick and straightforward on both Windows and macOS. The app is clean and intuitive, which makes the navigation effortless. All core tools, including Antivirus, VPN, Alert, Search, and settings, are neatly organized in a side panel. The Antivirus tab offers real-time protection, scheduled scans, and a drag-and-drop scanner for individual files, giving you flexible and convenient control over your security. Advanced tools like Webcam protection, Ransomware shield, and Cloud protect offer additional layers of threat protection for sensitive data. Windows users can also benefit from Web protection, which blocks malicious websites in real-time. This feature is not yet available on macOS, though. Overall, Surfshark Antivirus on desktop provides a lightweight, user-friendly experience with robust security controls that don’t compromise your system's performance. Mobile apps Surfshark Antivirus isn’t available on iOS due to the limitations of the operating system. However, on Android, the antivirus is conveniently integrated into the Surfshark VPN app, keeping all features in one place. The interface is well-organized, with separate submenus for VPN, Alternative ID, Antivirus, Alert, and Search. Within the Antivirus menu, you can run scans manually or enable daily automatic scans, allowing you to stay protected without interrupting your phone usage. The app also provides real-time protection, scanning all downloaded files to ensure they are free of malware. The app also scans both internal and external storage, providing comprehensive protection. You can also exclude specific apps from scans, which helps speed up the process. Overall, it’s surprisingly full-featured for a mobile antivirus. Customer support Surfshark customer support is quick and knowledgeable. You also have multiple options for receiving help or contacting the team. Support option Availability 24/7 live chat ✅ Yes Phone line ❌ No Knowledge base ✅ Yes First, if you prefer to figure things out on your own, you can utilize its extensive knowledge base. Once you open Surfshark’s customer support page, you can use the help center search bar to find guides to resolve any issue. Many guides also include a video tutorial, making it much easier to troubleshoot specific problems. If you need human assistance, scroll down to Submit a request or select the Chat with us option. If you choose to submit a request, you’ll need to fill out a quick questionnaire about the issue and provide your email address. I’ve found that I usually receive a follow-up in less than a day. However, the live chat option is much quicker, since the support team is available 24/7. When I contacted Surfshark’s agents, they were super friendly and answered all of my questions in no time. While it did take some time to receive a response via email, which is only to be expected, the live chat support was speedy and professional. Video review Have a look at our video Surfshark Antivirus review. Final verdict After extensive research and testing, we found that Surfshark Antivirus isn’t the strongest antivirus software on the market. Independent labs have reported fairly good protection results, but in our in-house testing, it lagged behind other top industry options. While it successfully caught most malware samples, it failed the phishing, real-time protection, and quick scanning tests. That said, when paired with Surfshark VPN, Alert, Search, and other add-ons, it becomes a promising solution for comprehensive everyday protection across devices. Despite the test results, it can still offer adequate protection for an average user. It’s lightweight, works well on PC, budget-friendly, and provides good overall value. In summary, I would recommend Surfshark Antivirus for users seeking simple, all-in-one protection for everyday tasks. However, keep in mind that its phishing protection is unreliable, and its malware protection isn’t foolproof. FAQ Is Surfshark's antivirus available as a standalone product? No, Surfshark Antivirus isn’t available as a standalone product. It comes bundled with the Surfshark One and Surfshark One+ plans, including a VPN, breach monitoring, and other privacy tools. You must subscribe to one of these packages to use the antivirus. Is Surfshark Antivirus good? Yes, Surfshark Antivirus is good at protecting against malware. The app ensures real-time protection without compromising your device’s performance. Surfshark Antivirus comes as part of the Surfshark One bundle, which means it is automatically paired with a powerful VPN and other cybersecurity tools. Is Surfshark One good? Yes, Surfshark One is a great cybersecurity bundle. While the antivirus could use some improvements in terms of feature variety, the Surfshark One bundle includes a market-leading VPN service. It also offers a very secure and private search engine and a data breach monitoring tool. Does Surfshark antivirus work on Mac? Yes, Surfshark antivirus works on macOS. The app is quick and easy to both install and use. Its navigation is intuitive, and the minimalistic design is enjoyable to work with. How many devices can I use with Surfshark One? The simultaneous connections allowance differs with Surfshark One features. When using a VPN, you can connect unlimited devices at once. Meanwhile, Surfshark Antivirus works on up to 5 devices simultaneously.