9 Best Antivirus for Servers of 2026

Microsoft has a head start on Windows servers because Defender Antivirus is installed and enabled by default on Windows Server 2016 and later, and Microsoft documents how to run it headless on Server Core through PowerShell or Group Policy. Defender for Servers is the paid layer on top. Plan 1 brings the EDR from Defender for Endpoint, with automatic onboarding and alerts in one portal, and it can be switched on per server. Plan 2 adds agentless malware and vulnerability scanning, secrets scanning, file integrity monitoring, just-in-time VM access and 500 MB of free data ingestion. The same plans cover Linux machines and servers in AWS and Google Cloud, which suits mixed estates. The catch is the billing. Prices are listed on the Azure pricing page, which renders them with scripts, so we could not confirm a USD figure, and several Plan 2 features need Azure or Azure Arc. Teams outside Azure should check that onboarding path first.

CrowdStrike Falcon fits server teams because it runs as one lightweight sensor managed from a web console, with no controllers to install, configure or update. Its platform FAQ lists a long matrix of Linux distributions, including RHEL, Rocky, Alma, Ubuntu, SUSE and Oracle Linux on both x86_64 and Graviton, each tied to a minimum sensor version. A separate Falcon for Legacy Systems option reaches Windows Server 2003 and 2008, which is rare and useful for factories or labs that still run them. Pricing is public: Falcon Go is $59.99 per device per year with next-gen antivirus and device control, Falcon Pro is $99.99 and Falcon Enterprise is $184.99, with more modules in each step up. There is also monthly billing and a 15-day trial. The limits are that Falcon Go caps online purchases at 100 devices and larger server fleets that want managed services will need to talk to sales.

GravityZone Business Security is Bitdefender's step up from its small business bundle, and it is the more natural fit for servers. Bitdefender says it covers desktops, laptops and physical or virtual servers, and its modules run on Windows, Linux and macOS endpoints. The included modules are Modern Endpoint Protection, Network Attack Defense and Risk Management. A useful detail for admins is the console choice: you can manage from the cloud, or run the Control Center as an OVA, XVA or VHD virtual appliance on VMware, Citrix or Hyper-V. The published system requirements are modest, starting at 512 MB of free RAM. On the US store the default 10 devices cost $269.49 per year, a 30% discount on $384.99, which works out to about $2.25 per device per month. The online order range stops at 100 devices, and EDR is not among the listed modules for this tier.

ESET Server Security is built for the servers most offices actually run: general file servers, network file storage and multi-purpose boxes. On Windows it adds a server host firewall, Ransomware Shield, Network Attack Protection, Botnet Protection, HIPS, Exploit Blocker, an Advanced Memory Scanner for fileless malware and AMSI support. ESET can also scan OneDrive storage after registering on one server. For Linux, it ships installers for the popular distributions, including Red Hat and SUSE, with LIBC as the only external dependency, which keeps the footprint small. Vulnerability and patch management extends to servers, and ESET LiveGuard Advanced adds cloud sandboxing for an extra fee. The product is bought inside the ESET PROTECT plans. On the US store, ESET PROTECT Core is $549.00 per year for the default 10 devices, about $4.58 per device per month. Some features, such as the host firewall, need the higher Entry tier.

SentinelOne's server story centers on Singularity Cloud Workload Security, which detects and contains ransomware, cryptomining, fileless attacks and lateral movement on servers, VMs, containers and Kubernetes clusters. The company stresses an eBPF-based approach that reduces dependence on kernel modules, which matters to admins who worry that a security agent could crash production. Response is autonomous, so the agent acts without waiting for an analyst, and Purple AI lets you hunt with plain-language questions. Workload data lands in the same console as endpoint and identity data. Pricing is published only for Singularity Complete, at $179.99 per endpoint per year, and Singularity Commercial at $229.99, which adds identity detection and 90-day retention. Those prices are labeled for 5 to 100 workstations and are sold through partners, so expect server and workload pricing to be quoted separately. That makes it the most expensive verified option here.

Sophos sells server protection as Intercept X for Server and Cloud Workload Protection, with one agent for Windows and Linux machines whether they run on-premises, in virtual hosts or in public clouds. Policies can apply across mixed environments, which helps when a team runs both. The Windows side carries Sophos's best known features: deep learning detection, exploit prevention, and CryptoGuard, which rolls back unauthorized file encryption in seconds. Unauthorized File Protection blocks untrusted executables on servers. For Linux, Sophos says its sensor identifies attacks without needing a kernel module, orchestration or system scans, and uses resource limits on CPU, memory and data collection to protect performance. XDR, container runtime detections and a Live Response terminal round it out, and Sophos MDR is available as a managed service. Sophos does not publish a USD price for servers, so you must request a quote, and some capabilities depend on the XDR tier.

Deep Security has long been a staple for data center and cloud servers, and it is still on Trend Micro's US site next to the newer TrendAI Vision One platform. It protects physical, virtual, cloud and container workloads with one lightweight agent, combining anti-malware with machine learning and virtual patching. Virtual patching is the reason many admins pick it: it shields known vulnerabilities on servers that cannot be patched right away. Deep Security as a Service removes the need to host the manager yourself, and Trend says its SaaS option is PCI Level 1 certified. Cloud teams can buy usage-based licenses through AWS Marketplace or bring their own license to Azure, and deployment can be automated with Chef, Puppet, Ansible or CloudFormation templates. Trend maps it to GDPR, PCI DSS, NIST 800-53, FedRAMP and HIPAA requirements. The drawbacks are opaque pricing and Vision One getting top billing on Trend's site, so new buyers should ask which product Trend recommends.

Trellix Endpoint Security, known as ENS, is aimed at large estates rather than a single admin. Its pitch is one agent across on-premises, cloud and disconnected environments, managed from ePolicy Orchestrator, which Trellix notes is FedRAMP certified. The prevention stack mixes machine learning, exploit prevention and heuristics, and admins can harden servers with device control, application control, allow and deny lists and a host firewall. A server-specific feature is NAS protection: ENS can monitor NetApp filers and ICAP storage appliances to stop unwanted changes and data theft. That makes it a fit for government and regulated industries, including air-gapped sites. For smaller teams, ePO is a heavy console, pricing is sales-led with no public figure, and stricter application allowlisting is sold as Trellix Application and Change Control.

ClamAV is the free baseline for Linux servers and the scanner many mail gateways and upload pipelines already call. It ships clamd, a multi-threaded daemon that keeps signatures in memory for fast repeated scans, clamscan for one-off checks, and freshclam to keep the official signature database current. On-access scanning comes through clamonacc, which uses the fanotify API to block a process from opening an infected file at the kernel level. The engine reads archives, ELF and Windows executables, Office documents and PDFs, which suits file servers that store Windows files. ClamAV's docs say it is designed especially for e-mail scanning on mail gateways. What it lacks is everything around the engine: there is no central console, no EDR, no behavior monitoring and no vendor support line. The docs also note that on-access performance may need tuning in clamd.conf, and the project recommends 3 GiB or more of RAM for the Linux server edition.