Best business antivirus

Every business needs an internet security solution. The cost of an attack is simply too great to bear: a data breach could destroy your reputation, and potentially leave you facing huge fines, while malware attacks can take your business entirely offline, or leave you struggling financially with an extortionate ransom.

What's more, the attackers are getting smarter. Today's cybercriminals use sophisticated scams and zero-day vulnerabilities to get into your systems. If you don't want to be caught out, you need a wide-ranging security suite that can identify and block all types of threat. In a business environment, you also need it to have a strong management platform, so you can ensure that all your devices are properly protected, and take prompt, effective action when vulnerabilities are found.

Here's our pick of the best business antivirus tools – although all of them provide much more than simple antivirus services.

The best business antivirus software 2024

Bitdefender Ultimate Small Business Security

Bitdefender's entry-level business security suite is aimed very much at the smaller end of the business spectrum, supporting a maximum of 25 users. However, each user can protect two devices, and the license includes coverage for one or more Windows servers too, so it adds up to an appealingly affordable option.

The software is based on the consumer-oriented Bitdefender Total Security Suite, so it's packed with features – some of which aren't obviously very business-focused, such as the PC optimizer tool or the personal VPN. You also don't get the sort of policy-based central management you might expect from a business security product. However, all registered devices can be monitored from the central dashboard, and general administration is kept simple enough that you can deploy and manage protection for your site without needing specialist IT staff.

You don't need to worry about protection levels, either: Bitdefender Total Security has achieved top marks in multiple independent antivirus tests, and the novel Scam Copilot feature provides an AI-powered analysis of suspicious messages to help staff identify scams. If you want the maximum protection with the minimum of admin, it's a great choice.

Avast Business Security

Avast Business Security comes in three tiers – Essential, Premium, and Ultimate – so you can pay for the features you need and skip the rest. Even the cheapest package includes not only active malware scanning but a smart ransomware shield, privacy protection tools, and a sandbox for trying out untrusted programs in a safe environment.

The Premium package also adds web monitoring and filtering, so you can track what employees are accessing, and block anything inappropriate. And the Ultimate tier brings patch management, with alerts if devices on your network are running outdated apps or OS versions. You also get the Avast VPN, although this doesn't provide a secure connection to your internal network – it only works for routing traffic via Avast's own servers.

Access to all of these features can be conveniently managed from the main web console using device-based policies, and protection levels are excellent: in the most recent tests, experts at both AV-Test.org and AV-Comparatives.org gave Avast an unbeatable 100% protection rating. While not every business may consider it worth paying for the higher tiers, the entry-level Avast Essential Business Security package offers a great baseline level of security and manageability for a very reasonable price.

Eset Protect

Like Avast, Eset offers its business security product in three levels, here dubbed Entry, Advanced, and Complete. However, it's also possible to buy features individually, so while the basic pricing is higher than Avast, you may be able to save money by choosing the Entry package and only adding the capabilities you require. 

Eset also has the distinction of supporting all major platforms: Linux is included at all levels, while Android and iOS are added in the Advanced and Complete packages. You can manage them all from an enterprise-grade console that supports remote deployment, automated configuration, and granular custom policies that allow direct control over every aspect of the software.

And that's a lot of aspects. Eset's endpoint software includes virus detection, a secure browser, intrusion detection, web protection, process monitoring, and web filtering. With almost every angle covered, you can feel confident in your security: in various independent tests, the software achieved protection ratings between 99.1% and 100%.

Eset Protect is pricier than SMB-focused packages, and the extensive management and reporting features mean it's best suited to companies with a specialist security function. However, its power and versatility in those areas also make it a top choice for businesses wanting to go beyond basic antivirus.

Norton Small Business

Norton's Small Business security suite is another option aimed at modestly sized companies, with licensing options for six, 10 and 20 seats. There's minimal central management: instead, you get a high-functioning client app that's based on the standard Norton Security suite.

Key features include malware scanning, an automatic software updater to shut off Windows vulnerabilities, and "dark web monitoring", which can be configured to monitor up to five email addresses and fire up an alert if their credentials are leaked. Users also get a full copy of Norton Utilities and the Norton Password Manager.

Unusually, a cloud backup service is included too, to protect your most critical files from ransomware and hardware failures. You'll need to be a little selective, though, as it only allows 250GB of storage for the standard suite, or 500GB if you go for the pricier Small Business Premium option. The latter also includes Norton's consumer VPN.

Norton has an excellent track record when it comes to malware detection, and it's cost-effective too. A first-year subscription can cost as little as £55 inc VAT for six devices; after that, the renewal price goes up by around 60%, but it remains competitive with alternatives from the likes of Avast and Bitdefender.

Microsoft Defender for Business

The standard Defender antivirus is built into every installation of Windows, but the Business version brings some significant enhancements. Chief among them is centralized management, which enables you to track the security settings and status of every machine on your site and push out updates via policies. The integrated approach also means that any threats and vulnerabilities found on one machine can be isolated before they can spread across your network.

This doesn't mean you need to be an IT security expert to run Defender for Business. It offers simple wizards and default policies to help you set up and administer your protection, with no fancy add-on modules like a VPN or system optimizer to worry about. And when a threat is found, automated remediation takes care of it, leaving you free to focus on the business. 

In AV-Test.org's latest antivirus tests, the Windows Defender engine achieved a 100% protection score, blocking every type of attack. It didn't do quite so well in AV-Comparatives.org's most recent report, but still achieved a very creditable score of 98.4%.

And pricing is competitive: Defender for Business is included in a Microsoft 365 Business Premium subscription, or can be purchased individually for £2.50 per user per month. It supports seat counts all the way up to 300 users, and each user can be protected on up to five devices running Windows, Android, or iOS. There's an option to enroll Linux servers too – the only major platform that's not supported is macOS.