Emsisoft Antivirus Review 2024: Is It Worth Using?

Emsisoft has a lot of positive qualities. First and foremost, it’s an excellent malware scanner. A full scan took me about an hour, and it quarantined every single piece of malware I hid on my device. The real-time protection is effective and highly customizable, too.

I also found it very easy to use. I had no issues finding every feature and setting. I’d go as far as to say it manages the tricky task of including many customization options without being too cumbersome.

But a few negative qualities are holding Emsisoft back. For starters, there aren’t many extra features. Unlike top antiviruses like Norton, Emsisoft doesn’t include a firewall, a VPN, parental controls, a password manager, or many other security tools. It has web protection, but it missed several dangerous sites during my tests.

While it isn’t the most comprehensive suite, Emsisoft’s malware protection is flawless. If you’re happy to forgo certain extras, it’s absolutely worth checking out. Since it comes with a 30-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee, you have plenty of time to ensure it works for you.

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Emsisoft Full Review — Strong Malware Protection (But Not Many Extras)

Emsisoft has a powerful malware scanner, but its real-time protection stands out the most. It’s highly customizable and uses a multi-layered approach to improve your computer’s security, stopping threats even without manual scans.

Unfortunately, it lacks many extra features you’d expect in a top antivirus. Norton, for example, comes with a VPN, a firewall, and dark web monitoring on top of a flawless scanner. The price isn’t too bad for a scanner, but it’s disappointing when you consider the missing features. Despite this, Emsisoft can protect you from all types of malware and most dangerous websites.

Emsisoft Plans & Pricing — Simple Plans for Windows & Android

Choosing an Emsisoft plan is simple, as there are only 2 options. There’s one for Android and another that gets you the Windows app. Both include all of Emsisoft’s features for the associated device.

The Windows plan, Emsisoft Anti-Malware Home, can cover either 1, 3, or 5 devices. You can cover a single PC for $39.95 / year. You can also choose to pay upfront for up to 3 years of coverage, but the discount isn’t enough to make this an appealing option. On the other hand, paying for extra device licenses will save you quite a bit on a cost-per-device basis.

To protect your Android phone, you’ll need Emsisoft’s Mobile Security plan ($10.00 / year). It’s one of the more affordable Android antiviruses out there, though I must admit that the best Android antiviruses provide stronger security measures and extras like VPNs. You can also choose to protect up to 3 phones for only a little bit more.

I like the simplicity of Emsisoft having a single plan for each operating system, but this is probably because the company doesn’t offer a range of bundled extras like a VPN, password manager, identity monitoring, parental controls, and so on. It’s understandable, but I can’t see why they don’t give customers an option to get Android and Windows coverage with the same plan. Norton, Bitdefender, and pretty much every other competitor allows for this.

On the plus side, you can try both versions of Emsisoft for 30 days without providing any payment information. They’re also backed by 30-day money-back guarantees, so you have a while to try Emsisoft out.

Emsisoft Security Features — Flawless Scanner + Excellent Real-Time Protection

Emsisoft’s malware scanner detected 100% of malware during my tests. It deploys a pair of scanners to identify threats: an in-house tool and Bitdefender’s scanner. On its own, Bitdefender is flawless, but having the extra protection from Emsisoft’s tool can’t hurt. Emsisoft works against many threats, including trojans, ransomware, worms, and rootkits. You can even scan your removable media for threats alongside your computer’s files or create an emergency kit to clean malware off other computers.

You can choose a full scan to analyze every file on your system, a quick scan to swiftly pass over important data, and a custom scan to check individual folders and files. The full scan took about an hour to find every threat I added to my system, which is average for an antivirus. When Emsisoft detects a threat, it will tell you which of the scanners caught it by marking the malware with an “[A]” (for Emsisoft) or a “[B]” (for Bitdefender). You can also schedule scans to automate the process and regularly search through your computer for viruses.

The real-time protection is powered by a behavioral analysis tool. Enabled by default, this allows Emsisoft to monitor your system for any suspicious changes. If it detects anything, it blocks the app and alerts you to the potential danger. There are a lot of options to tweak, including how it reacts to threats and the thoroughness of its file scanning.

Emsisoft also comes with web protection that blocks malicious websites. These defenses work from within the main app, so you don’t need to install any browser extensions. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that great when I tested it out. Emsisoft detected more phishing sites than Chrome’s built-in web protection but notably fewer than Norton, Bitdefender, and other top antiviruses. That said, it’s easy to whitelist sites you know to be safe from within the app.

Beyond that, Emsisoft comes with a handful of other tools, such as a data log to see your antivirus activity (including what it detected during scans and the results of scheduled scans) and a toggle to turn your Windows firewall on and off. Mobile users can access anti-theft tools such as remote locking, remote wiping, and remote erasing of their phones. You also need to complete a captcha to turn Emsisoft off, which is great as some malware’s first action is to try to lower a victim’s defenses. Finally, there’s a web-based console that you can use to view more detailed logs and control various aspects of your antivirus without needing to open the app.

While I like these extra features, and some are unique, Emsisoft is missing a lot of tools that are standard in the best comprehensive security suites. It lacks a VPN, dark web monitoring, parental controls, a password manager, or a firewall (all tools included in many Norton and Bitdefender packages).

That said, Emsisoft does a very good job of identifying and blocking malware. The web protections are a bit weak for my liking, but the dual anti-malware engines and behavioral analysis work together to create a multi-layered defense against every form of malware.

Emsisoft Ease of Use & Setup — Beginner-Friendly Interface + Well-Designed Mobile App

Emsisoft is very beginner-friendly. Even if this is your first time using an antivirus, you should have no problem installing it, navigating the UI, and learning how to use its features. It took me about 5 minutes to pick up a plan and install Emsisoft.

The UI is particularly easy to navigate. You can access a specific menu from the homepage by clicking on its icon in the left-hand sidebar or by clicking on one of the large icons in the center. Every feature is where I thought it would be, from scheduling scans to managing web protection.

I did run into one glaring problem. In the various settings pages, there is a little info icon next to each option that should create a pop-up menu to explain what it does. Unfortunately, even after reinstalling Emsisoft, the icons wouldn’t work for me. It’s disappointing because there’s a real depth of customization options, but it’s not helpful if you don’t know what an option does. I installed Emsisoft on a different computer, and the tooltips worked on that one, so there’s no telling whether you’ll experience this bug.

I liked the mobile app UI, which splits its features into 4 tabs. You can access these anytime using the toolbar at the bottom of your phone. I didn’t run into any UI glitches or problems while testing it. It’s also very effective, which is no surprise because it appears to use the same tech as Bitdefender’s excellent mobile app. Still, you can’t get mobile protection by subscribing to the main Emsisoft home plan, which annoys me.

Overall, it’s beginner-friendly, but the UI issues bog down the experience just enough to be noticeable. It’s much easier to use than many antiviruses, but it’s not as intuitive as something like TotalAV (which scores as our most user-friendly antivirus).

Emsisoft Customer Support — Live Chat, Email Support & Comprehensive FAQs

Emsisoft’s customer support options are surprisingly good for a lesser-known antivirus. It offers an extensive FAQ section, email support, and a live chat option. While parts of the website suggest some forms of customer support are only available for paying customers, I had no problems accessing every customer support channel while using the free trial.

The live chat is good. After waiting about 10 minutes, I was greeted by a friendly and knowledgeable staff member who answered my questions. I was confused about why there was a firewall icon on my UI if Emsisoft didn’t come with a firewall, but he quickly explained it’s just to turn your Windows firewall on or off.

Email support was also good. I got a response about an hour after sending my message (which is quite fast for email support). Finally, the FAQ contained dozens of links to informative answers to basic questions. Most common problems can be solved without ever needing to talk to someone.

Is Emsisoft Worth Trying Out?

Yes, Emsisoft is worth trying out. The anti-malware engine can stand up to viruses, trojans, ransomware, and most other threats. The real-time protection tools include customizable behavior analysis, which is a fancy way of saying it scans your apps for suspicious activity to preemptively block anything that looks like it might be about to deploy malware. Another positive is that it’s very beginner-friendly, with a particularly intuitive UI.

That said, it’s not perfect. The web protection is better than Chrome’s built-in protection, but it isn’t nearly as good as what you get with top antivirus programs like Norton or Bitdefender. It also lacks most of the extras that make some competitors so appealing. There’s no firewall, VPN, dark web monitoring, optimization tools, or parental controls.

Overall, though, it’s worth giving Emsisoft a shot. Plans are available as 30-day free trials, and if you do pay up, the prices are good, and all purchases are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can take the time to make sure it works for you before needing to commit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Emsisoft a good antivirus?

Yes. Emsisoft may lack some of the features you’d see in our top-rated antiviruses, but despite that, it’s a powerful antivirus that destroyed 100% of malware in my tests. The real-time protection is particularly good. You can set up its behavior scanner to check for suspicious activity and choose which apps it will scan. After Emsisoft monitors an app, it will block it and alert you if it notices malicious behavior.

Is Emsisoft free?

No, Emsisoft does not offer a free antivirus, but it does have a 30-day free trial for its plans. Emsisoft’s pair of plans, Anti-Malware Home and Mobile Security, are both paid plans, but you can try them for free.  

Does Emsisoft have a VPN?

No, Emsisoft doesn’t come with a VPN or other privacy protection tools. Emsisoft focuses on providing a powerful anti-malware engine. I’d recommend TotalAV if you’re looking for an antivirus with a good bundled VPN. It has high speeds and unlimited data, so you can use it seamlessly alongside your antivirus for better privacy protection.

What extra features does Emsisoft come with?

Emsisoft comes with web protection and a web console manager for Windows, and anti-theft tools for mobile. These features work well enough, though, the web protection wasn’t on par with Norton’s. Honestly, Emsisoft doesn’t have many extra features. Instead, it focuses on delivering a strong malware scanner and customizable real-time protection.