8 Best Free Antivirus for Android of 2026

Avast One Mobile gives Android users more for free than any other app on this list. The free tier scans the phone in real time for viruses, spyware and ransomware, and Web Guard checks the sites you open for phishing and fake pages. Avast Assistant, an AI helper, answers questions about a suspicious text or link in a few seconds, which is useful because most phone attacks start with a message rather than a file. The free app also checks Wi-Fi networks, warns when the password tied to your email shows up in a leak, cleans junk files and locks up to 10 photos behind a PIN. The limits show up in scam blocking. Automatic blocking of scam SMS messages and scam calls is a Premium feature, as are App Lock and the VPN. The cheapest paid route we priced is Premium Security at $49.08 for the first year, which covers one Windows PC and one mobile device and renews at $77.99.

Bitdefender Antivirus Free for Android does one job: it keeps malicious apps off the phone. It scans every app the moment it is installed and lets you run an on-demand scan of apps and storage whenever you like. Detection runs in Bitdefender's cloud rather than on the device, so there are no signature downloads and Bitdefender says battery impact is close to zero. The company says the free app uses the same scanning engines as Bitdefender Mobile Security, its paid app. There is nothing to configure, which makes it a good pick for a parent's or grandparent's phone. What it does not include is the layer that catches scams. The free product page lists malware scanning only, while web protection, scam protection across texts and chat apps, call blocking, anti-theft and a 200 MB per day VPN are on the paid Mobile Security page. That upgrade costs $17.99 for the first year, the lowest paid price we found here.

AVG AntiVirus for Android is a free app that pairs malware scanning with a set of privacy and cleanup tools. AVG states plainly that the free version gives you virus scans, malware removal, Wi-Fi security checks and junk cleaning at no cost. On top of that it hides photos in a password-protected vault, warns you if someone compromises your email account, and shows which apps hold which permissions and how much data they use. Cleanup is easy to follow: tap Scan Now, then Remove anything the scan finds. AVG and Avast are both part of Gen Digital, so the two apps overlap a lot, but on the US pages Avast's free tier covers more scam protection out of the box. In AVG, advanced scam protection against SMS messages and emails, App Lock and automatic junk cleaning all need the premium version. AVG's US page does not list a premium price, so check the in-app price before you upgrade.

Google Play Protect is the antivirus most Android owners already have. It is built into the Google Play Store, it is on by default, and Google recommends keeping it on. Before you download an app from Google Play it runs a safety check, and it also looks for harmful apps you installed from other sources. If it finds one it can warn you, turn the app off or remove it. Newer additions target fraud: it sends privacy alerts about apps that gather permissions in breach of Google's developer policy, can reset app permissions, and can stop an unverified app that requests permissions scammers often abuse. Google says Play Protect scans 200 billion Android apps a day. It is also the most limited tool here. It checks apps, not websites, Wi-Fi networks or scam texts, and it gives you few settings or reports. Keep it on whatever you install, and add one of the free apps above if you want web and scam warnings.

ESET Mobile Security splits clearly into free and paid. ESET describes the free version as basic protection with antivirus and real-time scanning, so it watches for malware all the time instead of waiting for you to run a scan. That is more than some free tiers give. Everything else sits in Premium: Anti-Phishing and Anti-Smishing for fake sites and scam texts, Payment Protection around banking apps, Proactive Anti-Theft with remote lock, location tracking and photos of whoever holds the phone, App Lock, a Call Filter, a security audit of settings and permissions, and scheduled scans. You can try all of it free for 30 days from inside the app, which is a fair way to decide whether the scam features matter to you. ESET's US product page does not show a Premium price, so check it in the app. For a free user, ESET is a dependable real-time scanner with less built in than Avast offers.

Avira Security for Android packs the widest set of extras into a free app. Beyond the malware scanner, which Avira says blocks more than 350,000 threats a month, the free tier includes a VPN capped at 100 MB per day, Identity Safeguard alerts when your email turns up in a breach, an App Lock with PIN, a Permissions Manager that rates how much data each app collects, a Network Scanner for smart home devices, and tools to clear cache and duplicate files. The 100 MB VPN cap covers email and messaging on public Wi-Fi but not video. The catch for safety is web protection. Blocking infected and phishing sites before they load is a Pro feature, along with camera and microphone protection, so the free app does less against scam links than Avast or AVG. Pro is sold as an in-app purchase and the US page shows no price. Avira also needs Android 9 or later, which leaves out some older phones.

Malwarebytes Mobile Security is best treated as a free cleanup tool rather than free always-on protection. Malwarebytes' own help center lists what Android users get at no cost: the Malware Scanner, Scam Guard, Text Protection, a Digital Footprint Scan, a Junk Cleaner and Circle Safety, plus a VPN with limited data and servers. Scam Guard is an AI chat companion: upload a suspicious text, link or screenshot and it tells you whether it looks like a scam. Malwarebytes describes its free tier as a tool to clean up a device or check for damage after an attack. Stopping threats before they land needs a subscription. Real-Time Protection, Web Protection and Call Protection are paid on Android, and the cheapest plan, Standard, costs $59.99 a year for 3 devices, which can include a PC or Mac. That is good value if you need those 3 seats, but it is the highest entry price among the paid upgrades on this list.

Norton Mobile Security for Android is here as a benchmark for what money buys. It has no free plan. In return you get the fullest scam protection we looked at: AI Scam Protection that Norton says detects scams in texts and deepfake videos, Safe SMS to filter spam texts, Safe Web for links in browsers, apps, email and social networks, Wi-Fi Security that warns about networks under attack, and App Advisor, which flags malware, privacy risks and intrusive adware before you install from Google Play. A Device Report Card summarizes 30 days of scanned networks, sites and risky apps. Norton says the app was AV-Comparatives Approved Mobile Security in 2026. The cost is the problem for this list. The cheapest US plan that covers a phone is Norton AntiVirus Plus at $59.99 for the first year on one device, Norton trials need a payment method up front, and renewals cost more. Most readers should start with Avast or Bitdefender for free.