ESET Antivirus Review 2026: Features, Performance, and Value - Cybernews

ESET is a trusted antivirus suite known for strong security and reliable protection. Its standout features include an anti-theft tool for lost or stolen devices, solid performance proven by independent lab tests, and a user-friendly Android app. While not as popular as Norton 360 or Bitdefender, ESET is still used by over 100 million users in more than 200 locations. Most people opt for the ESET Home Security Essential plan, which covers all the core security features the provider offers. Unfortunately, ESET isn't the most budget-friendly option, especially if you need to cover multiple devices. In this article, I review ESET to see whether it's worth its price compared to other antivirus software ⭐ Rating: 4.3 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ 🥇 Overall rank: #6 out of #30 💵 Price: From $49.99/year ✂️ Free version: No 🖥️ Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android 🔥 Coupons: ESET coupon up to 20% OFF Visit ESET ESET pros and cons Pros Great in-house and independent lab test results Handy anti-theft tool for stolen devices Intuitive apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android Offers a secure browser for shopping online Cons No app for iOS Expensive multiple device protection Not ideal phishing protection results Why You Can Trust Cybernews Our team of researchers thoroughly tests antivirus software following a well-established testing process. In unison, our experts combine in-house and independent testing lab findings with first-hand experience to help you make informed decisions about each product. Learn how we test antivirus software. 35+ Antivirus Software Tested 1,300+ Malware Samples Tested 4,050+ Hours of Extensive Testing Recent update In this March 2026 update, I fact-checked the whole article, ensuring that the article is up to date and correct. I also updated the article with the latest lab test results. Is ESET any good? ESET is a safe antivirus that's really good at protecting your devices from malware, phishing scams, and ransomware. While testing the program, we found that it keeps devices completely secure while browsing online. In addition, ESET has some great features to help you recover your device if it gets lost or stolen. It also lets you monitor who’s logging into your Wi-Fi router. However, if you seek to protect multiple devices with antivirus software, then ESET prices become a lot steeper, especially when you compare it to another antivirus leader on the market – TotalAV. It offers excellent protection for more than half the price of ESET for multiple devices. Best alternative to ESET TotalAV is one of the best antivirus products on the market, offering excellent virus detection rates, a great user interface, and one of the best prices among competitors. cybernews® score 4.9 /5 Highest level of security Many additional features One of the cheapest antiviruses Visit TotalAV How much does ESET antivirus cost? ESET plans start at $49.99/year for one device. There are three plans available, each offering a different set of features, so you can pick the one that suits your needs best. ESET Home Security Essential ESET Home Security Premium ESET Home Security Ultimate Starting price $49.99/year $79.99/year $179.99/year Device coverage 1–10 1–10 5–10 Platforms Windows, macOS, Linux, Android Windows, macOS, Linux, Android Windows, macOS, Linux, Android Real-time protection ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes Safe banking and browsing ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes Password manager ❌ No ✅ Yes ✅ Yes File encryption ❌ No ✅ Yes ✅ Yes VPN ❌ No ❌ No ✅ Yes Identity protection ❌ No ❌ No ✅ Yes Compared to other top antivirus providers, ESET is on the pricier side. Norton 360 starts at $29.99/year, TotalAV at $19.00/year, and Bitdefender at just $12.99/year. ESET also falls short on value at the entry level, since most competitors include extras like a password manager or VPN in their basic plans. That said, I appreciate that ESET lets you choose how many devices you want to cover with any plan. This level of flexibility is rare, and it makes it easier to tailor protection for yourself or your family. I recommend assessing your antivirus needs when choosing an ESET plan. If you already use a separate password manager or VPN, the Essential plan should cover the basics just fine. But if you want a full-featured security suite, the Ultimate plan is your best bet. Pro tip While ESET doesn’t offer a free version, there’s a 30-day free trial available that doesn’t require a credit card. Plus, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it out risk-free and get a refund if it’s not the right fit. Getting started with ESET Installing and setting up ESET on my macOS device was quick and easy. The whole process took just a few minutes, and it felt similar to installing Norton 360. Right after launching the app, ESET guided me through a simple setup wizard that automatically enabled all the key protection features. Once I completed the steps, the app was fully up and running. Setting up ESET on macOS The main dashboard is clean and intuitive. In the Scan section, Smart Scan is the highlighted default option, but I appreciated that I could easily tweak it in the settings and choose a different scan type. The layout actually reminded me a lot of TotalAV's. It’s neatly organized, and everything is easy to find. The scan menu, for example, offers three options just like TotalAV, which keeps things simple. Scan options on the macOS ESET app That said, I wasn’t a huge fan of the Overview section. While it conveniently shows everything that needs urgent attention, I personally prefer dashboards that show more daily-use tools right upfront, such as scan buttons or quick access to core features. With ESET, you have to click through the left-hand menu to access things like scans or protection settings, which isn’t my favorite layout. Overview section on the macOS ESET app On the plus side, I really liked how easy it was to manage the main protection tools. Features like LiveGrid, real-time protection, the firewall, and phishing protection are all grouped under the Protections tab, which makes them easy to access and configure. Protections tab on the ESET macOS app Overall, despite my personal preferences on the layout, I found ESET simple to install and pleasant to use. It’s a very hands-off setup, and once it’s running, everything is neatly categorized and easy to manage. ESET mobile app ESET is only available for Android on mobile, which is a major drawback for iOS users. The app is easy to find on the Google Play Store, and it took just a couple of minutes to download and install. When I opened it for the first time, the app automatically ran a security scan, which I appreciated. After the scan finished, ESET provided a quick report highlighting any issues and whether I needed to take action. Real-time protection and LiveGrid were enabled by default, so I didn’t have to adjust anything to get essential protection. ESET interface on the Android operating system The interface is functional but noticeably busier than the desktop version. For beginners, it might feel a bit overwhelming at first. The main screen displays several tools, including antivirus scanning, an activity log, and an overall security overview. Once I got used to the layout, though, navigation was straightforward. Compared to Bitdefender Mobile Security or Norton 360, ESET’s design feels more technical. Premium users unlock extra features like payment protection, anti-phishing, app lock, and a call filter. Having these tools in one app is great, though I wish the layout was neater. Still, the mobile experience overall was solid. It installs quickly, runs smoothly, and provides strong protection with very little setup required. Independent lab test results review ESET performed well in recent independent lab tests. In October 2025, AV-TEST awarded it a perfect 6 out of 6 for both protection and usability, and 6 out of 6 for performance, up from 5.5/6 scored in April 2025. This earned ESET AV-TEST's highest Top Product certification. AV-Comparatives also reported strong results. In the real-world protection test run between July and October 2025, ESET blocked 99.5% of threats. In the September 2025 malware protection test, it reached an impressive 100% online protection rate. These results show that ESET offers consistently reliable protection. Our in-house testing results To get a better understanding of how well ESET performs, I ran a series of in-house tests with the help of our Cybernews research team. The tests were carried out on a MacBook Air M2 running macOS 14.8 Sonoma, with a virtual machine allocated 4GB of RAM. We focused on malware, ransomware, and phishing protection and used samples of various threats. Malware detection test We tested both real-time protection and full system scan. For the real-time protection test, we enabled ESET’s LiveGrid feature and used 10 planted malware samples. ESET successfully detected and quarantined 9 out of 10 threats, scoring a 90% success rate. ESET real-time protection malware detection test results While idling with real-time protection enabled, ESET used about 34MB of RAM and 0.1% CPU. After detecting malware, CPU usage slightly rose to 0.3%, while RAM usage stayed the same. The full system scan took under 7 minutes and detected all 10 malware samples, reaching a 100% success rate. During the scan, ESET’s resource usage remained low – CPU usage rose to just 6%, and RAM usage to 82MB. I was impressed by how lightweight ESET is. Ransomware test We ran similar tests for ransomware. With real-time protection and LiveGrid enabled, ESET again detected and quarantined 9 out of 10 ransomware samples, achieving a 90% success rate. ESET real-time protection ransomware detection test results During the full system scan, the antivirus successfully identified and deleted all 10 ransomware threats, scoring a 100% success rate. Phishing test For phishing protection, we used verified phishing links from phishtank.org. ESET managed to detect and block 7 out of 10 samples, resulting in a 70% success rate. This is a worse result than Norton 360 and Bitdefender, but better than TotalAV. Phishing page blocked by ESET ESET antivirus security review ESET provides almost flawless antivirus protection by offering a really sophisticated suite of security features. Let’s take a look at what these are and how well they perform. Multi-platform protection ESET offers comprehensive protection for Windows, macOS, Android, and Linux, which means you can protect a wide range of devices. Depending on which plan you choose, you can protect multiple devices with the same license. Thus, you can use it on your laptop, smartphone, and tablet. A license for ESET NOD32, for example, can be used to activate ESET Cyber Security or ESET Cyber Security Pro on a Mac. So you know that, no matter what operating system or device you use, you get a comprehensive suite of security features tailored to the platform you’re using. Banking and privacy secured ESET promises to keep your banking details more secure, so you can shop online without worrying about your payment details being compromised. This feature activates automatically whenever you visit a recognized financial site. It will help you switch to a secure browser in order to protect your payment data. Once you set up the secure browser feature for a financial website, it will automatically open in a secure browser whenever you visit it. Anti-theft ESET includes several smart anti-theft features to help you recover a lost or stolen device. You can track your device’s location using Wi-Fi networks in range, access webcam snapshots and screen activity, and even send messages to the thief. A Phantom account lets them log into a fake profile, keeping your data safe. You can also view browsing history and see the IP address for more clues. I found the anti-theft optimization really useful, as it allows you to change auto-login settings and account passwords on your stolen device. These tools are especially helpful for laptops and mobile devices, making ESET a great choice for users who want an extra layer of protection. ESET Password Manager ESET offers a password manager as part of its premium plans. It’s a secure and convenient option for storing and syncing logins. The feature uses 256-bit AES encryption and works smoothly as a browser extension on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. During testing, it auto-filled and saved passwords without issues and synced across devices with the ESET app installed. The password manager also has a leak checker, which shows if your information has been exposed. Plus, you can conveniently import passwords from major browsers or in a .csv file format. It also supports emergency access. Overall, I believe this password manager is a solid option, but it lacks some features like password sharing. Browser Privacy & Security ESET launched the Browser Privacy & Security feature with four crucial functionalities: Secure Search. This feature allows you to check Google, Edge, and Firefox for phishing links that may be hidden in search results. Browser Cleanup. Using this tool, you can easily clean browsing data and cookies. It offers one-time and regular cleanups, which you can schedule. Metadata Cleanup. This feature removes metadata (GPS location and camera type) from pictures uploaded online. The feature is available for ESET Home Security Ultimate plan subscribers. Website settings review. You can now review and change website permissions like location and microphone access using your ESET antivirus. The feature is available for ESET Home Security Ultimate plan subscribers. Identity Protection Another great feature that comes with ESET antivirus is Identity Protection. Unfortunately, it’s only available to those who subscribe to the ESET Home Security Ultimate plan. The feature performs monitoring, delivers alerts, and offers recovery services to help protect against identity theft. Here’s what the feature covers: Credit and credit score monitoring Social security number tracking Dark web monitoring Social media monitoring Insurance coverage up to $1M Identity restoration services VPN A virtual private network (VPN) is an essential privacy and security tool for internet users. It encrypts traffic to ensure your search history remains private even if you live in a country where internet users are heavily monitored and content is censored. It can also help you access foreign streaming platforms and securely share files. ESET’s VPN allows you to create a secure and private connection over public networks. All data transmitted between your device and the VPN server is encrypted and hidden from anybody who tries to intercept it. Customer support ESET makes it easy to reach customer support, with a phone number available to resolve most questions and issues. Support hours are Monday through Friday, from 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM PT. While that’s fairly standard, it’s not ideal if you need assistance outside those hours. A chatbot is also available on the website, but there’s no option to contact a live agent there. Instead, the chatbot recommends calling if it can’t resolve the issue. ESET claims to offer 24/7 email support, although in our experience, replies typically came during business hours. On the plus side, the support page also includes a solid collection of help guides and FAQ for those who prefer solving issues independently. ESET video review Want to know all the ins and outs of ESET? Check out our ESET video review: Which antivirus is better than ESET? In case you’re not sure whether ESET is the right antivirus for your device and want to see how it compares to other top products on the market, check out some of the ESET alternatives below. TotalAV TotalAV is one of the best antivirus software providers on the market right now. It offers excellent protection against both known and zero-day threats and includes several additional security features. Best of all, it comes at a very reasonable price. When comparing ESET vs TotalAV, TotalAV is a much more reliable and secure option that includes a VPN, password manager, and identity theft protection features. Bitdefender Bitdefender is yet another great antivirus solution. It’s inexpensive and packs lots of security features that will help protect your devices. When it comes to ESET vs Bitdefender, Bitdefender offers more advanced features like anti-webcam hijack, a VPN, and Profiles. Norton 360 When comparing ESET vs Norton, it’s quite apparent that they are close competitors when it comes to virus detection rates and app quality. However, Norton 360 has a slight edge on ESET in terms of the selection of features. For example, it has webcam protection, AI-powered Scam Protection dark web monitoring, and a VPN in lower-tier plans. Also, the basic Norton 360 package is cheaper than the standard plan of ESET. Is ESET antivirus worth getting? Based on our in-house tests and evaluations, ESET is a worthy antivirus. It offers good protection against various threats. Plus, ESET performed well in independent lab tests. However, ESET isn’t perfect. The secure browser that claims to encrypt all your traffic sounds great, but I found that it doesn’t add much protection. After all, it doesn’t keep you safe from screen loggers. Notably, its spam filter is also quite limited. The feature only works with Microsoft Outlook, which isn’t a popular email service. Overall, ESET is a good option for those looking for decent online protection. Its features, including anti-phishing, firewall, and Wi-Fi monitoring, are useful for everyday use. However, if you’re looking for something more robust, Norton 360 or TotalAV might be better options. FAQ Is ESET legitimate? Yes, ESET is a legitimate and trustworthy antivirus. Our in-house test showed good protection rates, while independent labs have shown similar results over the years. What is ESET? ESET is an entry-level antivirus software package. ESET Home Security Essential is more limited than competitors’ basic plans. NOD23 is lighter on your device’s performance and space, as well as provides basic security features to ensure your protection from malware. Is ESET Antivirus safe? Yes, ESET is one of the safest antivirus programs on the market. It offers really strong protection against all forms of malware, ransomware, spyware, and phishing websites. Is ESET better than Norton? No, ESET isn’t better than Norton 360. Norton offers a 100% protection guarantee, uses many sophisticated protocols to eliminate zero-day attacks, and is cheaper. Is ESET or McAfee better? ESET is better than McAfee. It delivered stronger results in malware protection during testing. Additionally, ESET is more affordable, making it a better value overall. Is ESET free? No, ESET doesn’t offer a free version. However, you can use its 30-day free trial version to see whether this antivirus program is right for you. Recent Updates 07-14 12:00 UTC I fact-checked the whole article to ensure it’s up to date and no misleading information is present. I have updated the pricing and the independent lab test results.