Robust malware scanner
Clean, organized dashboard
Lots of advanced options you might not understand
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At first, we were impressed with Emsisoft’s user interface and strong claims of being tough on malware. When we began using the product, we wondered why it hadn’t submitted itself for independent third-party testing in the last five years, as it passed the tests we threw at it with ease. As we dug further into Emsisoft Anti-Malware, we realized that novice tech users might find it difficult to use.
Emsisoft provided us with solid malware protection during our testing. We liked the clean design. We also liked how fast it was and that it didn’t slow down our computer. We weren’t fans of the shoddy browser extension or endless lists of settings and permissions that might throw the average person. Overall, your ability to use this product will likely boil down to your level of comfort in configuring cybersecurity products on your own.
| Price | $10.00 to $79.95/yr |
| Free plan | No |
| # of devices protected | Up to 5 |
| Malware scans | Manual and scheduled |
| Firewall | Yes |
| Phishing protection | Yes |
| Parental controls | No |
| Learn more | Get Emsisoft Anti-Malware |
Emsisoft Anti-Malware has a lot of configuration and permission options that may be outside the scope of capabilities for a lot of users. If you’re a more tech-savvy user who is comfortable with custom permissions, you may find this software very useful. If you’re a less tech-savvy user, we would recommend sticking to the scans or using a different product.
The anti-malware product itself is pretty robust. We were able to scan our computer and delete suspicious files with ease. Some of the other features seemed too technical for the average user to understand, and some things, like the content filtering feature, weren’t even accessible to us. This is definitely a hit-or-miss product.
Malware scanning is simple and easy to use. The scanning options are one of the main icons on the home screen of your dashboard, and even though it bills itself as an anti-malware product, it still works as an antivirus product too. You can perform a quick scan, malware scan, or custom scan, as well as scheduled scans. If it does find something suspicious, you can ignore, quarantine, or delete the file.
Since the anti-malware portion of the product is the company’s main marketing focus, we weren’t surprised to find this to be the most robust tool in the dashboard.
Emsisoft comes with a browser extension that’s supposed to protect you against malware and phishing attacks on the web. The only problem is that it didn’t work, at least not for us. It failed the EICAR test instantly. When we tried to test the extension on our email’s spam folder, it didn’t catch anything. We weren’t super impressed with this feature.
There’s no real effort you’ll need to put into the firewall feature. You can toggle it on or off. It's on by default, which means it will likely disable the standard Windows firewall. If you do choose to turn off Emsisoft’s firewall, make sure you turn on your Windows firewall to maintain protection.
The real-time protection is always active. This was apparent when we were running EICAR tests, and the real-time alerts were flagging the files trying to execute. There’s also a browser extension that’s supposed to flag spam, phishing, and suspicious files, but we didn’t have luck with it when we installed it on our Chrome browser.
Since Emsisoft is billing itself as a next-generation security product that’s anti-malware, it really focuses on protection against all forms of malware, including ransomware protection. It found old EICAR tests on our device that were remnants from other antivirus programs we’d tested; we were pretty impressed with that.
The anti-ransomware protections are supposed to extend to browser security, but we found the extension lacking. If you’re savvy enough, you can configure the behavior blocker to weed out even more suspicious behavior, but we don’t suggest using this unless you are confident you know what you’re doing.
The anti-fraud protection presents itself as content filtering. On installation, we were prompted to let Emsisoft be our administrator and advised that was best if we weren’t advanced users. When we tried to toggle on the content filtering, we were informed by a pop-up that we’d need to contact our “protection administrator” to change the setting, which we set as Emsisoft. We were less than thrilled, especially considering there was no communication about that when we were setting up the product.
The European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) offers tools to help evaluate the effectiveness of cybersecurity products. It tests for malware, potentially unwanted programs (PUAs), and phishing attempts. The samples provided mimic each of these to really give your cybersecurity product a run for its money. This is a great way to get additional information about the effectiveness of your software when there isn’t independent third-party testing information available.
Emsisoft passed all of its EICAR tests except the anti-phishing test. The browser extension was installed and active, but Emsisoft still didn’t catch the phishing test. We weren’t surprised, as we also accessed our email with the browser extension active, and nothing in our spam folder was flagged. Overall, we likely wouldn’t use the browser extension, but everything else passed the tests.
| Test | Emsisoft Anti-Malware score |
| Malware detection | Pass |
| Potentially unwanted apps (PUAs) detection | Pass |
| Phishing detection | Fail |
While our EICAR tests are very recent, Emsisoft hasn’t submitted itself recently for independent third-party testing. Usually, we see this with free products or lite security products that offer protection but no features. It’s kind of concerning that Emsisoft hasn’t submitted itself for testing. Third-party testing does cost the provider, in this case Emsisoft, a fee for submitting itself. This is likely the reason, but since the pricing structure is similar to other cybersecurity software, we’re not sure why this product would purposefully omit itself.
AV-TEST and AV-Comparatives are two of the most-trusted third-party testing sites online. If you’re looking for an antivirus review on any major product, either will tell you about the ease of use, false positives, and functionality of all the major security software suites available. Emsisoft Anti-Malware Home would benefit from submitting itself for testing.
We tested Emsisoft Anti-Malware on our old Windows 10 machine. It was easy to install, and the dashboard was clean and pleasant looking. Upon installation, we were asked if we would like to make Emsisoft our “protection administrator” (it was the recommended choice), so we agreed. As soon as the download and installation were complete, we ran a scan. The initial scan took less than five minutes, which is nice, as some can take upwards of an hour, depending on the software. The average time is about five to 10 minutes.
We did notice there are a lot of features and configurations that might confuse users who are not tech savvy. And when we tried to toggle on the content filtering feature, we were told we needed permission from the “protection administrator.”
We also decided to install the browser extension, but it just flat-out didn’t work. We threw an EICAR test for phishing at the extension, and it failed. We went into our email inboxes and scoured our junk folders, and there were no notifications or warnings given. In general, we don’t feel the browser extension is worth the bother.
Based on the extensive lists of permissions available throughout the product, we would suggest Emsisoft for someone who is a little more tech-savvy. The settings menu alone offers exclusions, permissions, and an advanced section that could negatively affect your computer or browsing experience if you configured them incorrectly. If you want Emsisoft and aren’t tech-savvy, we recommend sticking to the scans and not bothering with the browser extension.
Emsisoft currently supports both Windows PCs 10 and 11 and Android mobile devices 5.0 (Lollipop) and newer. The mobile app is a separate purchase from the PC version and is available for purchase from the Emsisoft website or the Google Play Store.
If you’re a macOS or iOS user, you won’t be able to use this product. We suggest using Mac-specific security like CleanMyMac if you’re looking for anti-malware support for your Apple device.
Emsisoft offers email and live chat support. The support page is extremely user-friendly, with the chat and email options presented at the top of the page. We love it when software doesn’t make us play detective to find the support options.
Emsisoft also has an entire Help site that offers self-serve troubleshooting. We suggest performing a search or clicking on a topic. If you can’t find what you need, definitely reach out. We love a good chatbox, and we’re glad to see it offered.
If you visit the purchase page, you may notice three separate categories. The first one is for home users, while the other two are for business or enterprise customers. Coming from a software background, we can promise you that the Anti-Malware Home product will be perfect for you (even if you have a one or two-computer small business.) There’s no tiered pricing in the sense that you get more features. The tiered pricing refers strictly to the number of devices you’ll be covering.
The Home plan allows you to cover one, three, or five computers on a single license. You’ll be paying per computer, so make sure you choose the one that fits your needs. It does become less expensive per device the more devices you add. It’s possible that splitting your licenses with a few friends could help you snag a cheaper yearly subscription.
If you’re looking at Emsisoft Mobile Security, it includes the following:
| Mobile Security | Anti-Malware Home | |
| Price for first year | $10.00-$16.66/yr | $10.00-$16.66/yr |
| # devices supported | Up to 3 | Up to 5 |
| Compatible with | Android | Windows |
| Manual and auto scan | Auto | Manual and scheduled |
| Phishing protection | ||
| Firewall | ||
| Real-time protection | ||
| Ransomware protection | ||
| Parental controls | ||
| Performance optimization tools | ||
| VPN | ||
| Details | View Plan | View Plan |
Not all software is made the same. Great products can be right for some people while they don’t meet the needs of others. If you’re finding Emsisoft isn’t checking your boxes, try one of these other tried and tested antivirus programs. These all guarantee protection from viruses, malware, and other nasties floating around the web.
Yes, Emsisoft is safe to use. Even though it hasn’t undergone independent testing in the past five years, it did pass the EICAR tests we ran (with the exception of the anti-phishing technology.) We would caution not messing with any of the configurations or permissions if you aren’t a tech-savvy user.
We don’t believe Emsisoft is better than Malwarebytes. Malwarebytes is friendlier to those who are less technically inclined. It also submits itself for regular testing by independent third parties, which Emsisoft hasn’t done in a while. Finally, Malwarebytes has Browser Guard, which is a Chrome extension that is proven to work, while we struggle to get any response from Emsisoft’s browser extension.
No, Emsisoft is not free, but it does offer a 30-day free trial. The trial is available for both Windows and Android and doesn’t require a credit card on file to begin. You receive the full product for trial, not a lite version, so you’ll be able to evaluate if it’s a good choice for you.
Emsisoft is good in the sense that it protects you from malware. It passed all of our EICAR tests and even picked up remnants of old EICAR tests still on our system from testing other products. As far as user-friendliness, we gauge that based on how much time we’d have to spend on the phone with our mom if we encouraged her to use the product. Since there are so many permissions and customizations available that the average person might not be familiar with, we guess we’d spend a very frustrating day trying to explain them all.
Overall, this is a good product for protection against malware, but you’d need to be fairly tech-savvy to get all of the usefulness you’re paying for from the software. If you’re looking for something less technical, check out our alternative selections, which are some of the best antivirus programs around.
Robust malware scanner
Clean, organized dashboard
Lots of advanced options you might not understand
