Best Antivirus For Chromebook in 2021

Protect your Google machine at all costs

Adam Topper

Adam Topper
  • Last Updated Jun 21, 2021
best antivirus for chromebook

Having antivirus software on your PC is very important. Not only can it deal with any potentially harmful malware once it is downloaded onto your PC, but it can also stop viruses at the door so they don’t get onto your computer in the first place.

You might make the mistake of thinking that a Chromebook is safe from having malicious software due to its unique design – but you’d be wrong. Having each application kept within its own separate zone does lower the risk of getting malware. Also, the fact that .exe files won’t work on a Chromebook severely reduces the risk of it crashing or experiencing flaws.

However, Chromebooks are very susceptible to viruses, and you might have experienced this already. You can have trackers upload themselves onto your computer and very quickly compromise the security of your files. It can be downloaded from third-party sources or operate from websites you’re visiting.

Have you suffered from malware attacks on your Chromebook and are looking for that extra level of protection? Well, we understand how hard it is to find software that is compatible with your Chromebook and also software that you can trust.

Where can you find the best antivirus software for your Chromebook? What unique features should your antiviral software have to give you complete protection from many harmful online threats? How much should you have to pay for decent antivirus software?

Well, don’t worry, because we’ve got all the answers to your burning antivirus questions. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best antivirus software currently available on the market, along with what they offer in terms of a subscription and in what ways they’ll help protect your Chromebook.

Then we have a buyer’s guide that will help you to identify what you should be looking for in malware protection for a Chromebook. We then have some frequently asked questions that will hopefully allay some of your concerns when it comes to antivirus software.

Products at a Glance

Editor's Choice
Loading...
More Details
Enthusiast Pick
Loading...
More Details
Mid Range Pick
Loading...
More Details
Loading...
More Details
Loading...
More Details

How We Picked

When it comes to keeping your personal information and your saved files safe online, we know there’s nothing more important than being able to trust what you’re buying. Here’s a short summary of how we picked the products recommended here, so you know exactly what it was that made us believe that these are some of the best options currently available. 

One of the biggest deciding factors when choosing between different antivirus is whether it’s a paid or free service, so we have chosen to include a mix of both options to cater to a range of budgets. We also considered the type of scanning system and it’s VPN capabilities.

Our Recommended

Best Antivirus For Chromebook in 2021

Editor's Choice
Loading...
PROS

This is a great unit to use if you want the app to do a lot of the work for you – perfect if you aren’t technologically literate but you still want first-rate protection.

This will notify you straight away if anyone outside of your home wifi is trying to access your computer.

This has the potential to run on multiple different devices, which is great if you want to check your Chromebook’s protection from your mobile phone.

You can also lock your Chromebook from another source such as your mobile or tablet device, this is great for having that completely hands-free protection.

CONS

You have only 200MB of protected data per day, which will be an issue if you are video editing large sizes of files.

Our first antivirus software is certainly amongst some of the best, which is why it has come number one on our list. This is a great virus protection app for Chromebook, with a notification window that will alert you if it detects any suspicious activity on your device – introducing Bitdefender Mobile Security.

This service has plenty of amazing features, such as the ability to individually protect your apps using a pin code that won’t allow any third parties to access your account. It will automatically recognize your home wifi network and let you alone use your apps, which is a great piece of intelligence protection software.

Enthusiast Pick
Loading...
PROS

This is great for isolating certain apps to check whether or not they are generally compromising your overall system. This is very often the source of any crashing or slow speeds on your Chromebook.

This software is perfect for entry-level computer users who might not be that intelligent when it comes to coding and other complicated firewall setups.

This is a very basic software but it offers you very rounded protection for the Chromebook.

There are a lot of free apps online that will give you that total, password-protected coverage that a lot of the more expensive antivirus software provides.

CONS

This does not have any VPN software, so the outside world will still have access to your connection and activity history, which is not great for keeping out bad actors.

This next antivirus software for your Chromebook has great user-friendly capabilities, with an easy-to-understand user interface. You can also schedule malware scans on your device, which is perfect if you want to regularly make sure that there are no unwanted visitors – introducing Malwarebytes.

One of this software’s most useful features is the fact that it runs scans on various apps that you have to see if they are leaking data to the outside world. Sometimes these apps can take on spyware without you knowing, which can then feed data into the wider world. This is a big issue if you are downloading various freeware.

Mid Range Pick
Loading...
PROS

This has a very hands-on approach to virus scanning, allows you to manually instigate scans as and when you need to.

This will scan the entirety of your device, including individual apps that might contain malware that might be leaking data to the outside world.

This will give you a comprehensive list of apps that are displaying suspicious activity, so you can delete them if you feel that they are draining too much power or causing you repeating glitches.

You can use this antivirus will any type of browser, all you have to do is fire up Chrome and it will pre-upload all your websites first before allowing you to access them, virus-free.

CONS

You cannot schedule any virus scans with this software, which might not be that useful for the particularly forgetful Chromebook user.

This next antivirus software is probably very well known to a lot of people, having established themselves as being one of the best on the market. This has a very powerful virus scanner that will do everything that it can to protect you from some of the more malicious adware – introducing Norton Mobile Security.

This will go above and beyond protecting your Chromebook. For example, it will protect your browsing experience by first putting your websites behind a firewall and scanning them thoroughly for viruses before you browse them. This will pre-download every app, scanning it for viruses before putting it on your Chromebook properly.

Loading...
PROS

This gives you protection as you browse, which is perfect if you like the freedom to wander the web without having to worry about malware attacking your computer. This will notify you of any suspicious activity.

There are a few tools that this antivirus software has that will give you everything that you need to scan for vicious code that might be trying to attack your computer.

This comes a VPN, so you can be sure of no connection or activity logging, which will be great if you are wanting that completely secure browsing experience with your Chromebook.

It’s free! – This is probably the main selling point of this software, you can have all the luxury protection of the paid subscriptions for absolutely nothing at all.

CONS

The level of VPN data that you can protect is limited to around 200MB a day, which will certainly be an issue for anyone who is streaming large video files.

This next piece of antivirus software is completely free to use, which will be perfect for anyone that does not have the cash to spend on a subscription service. But is it any good? As you will see, this antivirus does have a lot of the features of some of its paid competitors and function just as efficiently – introducing the Avira Free Security.

This is a reactive rather than proactive type of software, which means that it will give you a high level of privacy to stop people from getting into your Chrome, but it won’t necessarily check any apps that you’ve downloaded. You can scan a new wifi network for viruses before you start using it, which is useful if you are frequently using public networks.

Loading...
PROS

This will scan most apps and websites before and after accessing, which is great if you want to keep track of everything that goes onto your operating system.

This has a very in-depth virus scanner, giving you the ability to be able to translate any malicious coding or software with a quick notification system.

This will stop malware from getting through the gate at Google Play, which is where you can often find malware trying to enter your computer.

It’s free again! – This is another major reason that you’ll want to pick up this software. It is very basic, but it’ll give your Chromebook decent coverage.

CONS

This is very basic antivirus software, so if you want scheduled scanning and VPN protection, then we would recommend that you opt for a paid service.

This next antivirus software has been rated as one of the best scanners that you can get. It will be able to find any number of malicious codes and malware, completely scanning apps in the Google play store before you download them onto your Chromebook. This will automatically stop you from accessing any potentially dangerous sites – introducing TotalAV Antivirus & VPN.

This is another free software that functions just as thoroughly as some of the paid subscriptions. This will scan both websites and apps, making it a more active than passive style of antivirus software. This will prevent any malicious software from getting into your system.

Things To Consider

FAQs

Our Verdict

Editor's Choice
Loading...

We hope that our list of the best antivirus for Chromebook has helped you narrow it down to a few options, depending on what you need. Our top tip for starting is that you get free antivirus software, so you can get to grips with the basics before graduating to a paid subscription if you feel like you need it.

​