Norton 360 Antivirus Review 2024: Is It Still One of the Best?

Norton has a good reputation when it comes to antivirus and malware protection — and we believe its for good reason. Norton’s security suite is one of the best antivirus software you can get, giving you high malware detection rates and comprehensive real-time protection against phishing, spyware, ransomware, and more.

You also have plenty of security features with this software. If options such as a password manager, a virtual private network (VPN), and identity theft protection are items you can get on board with, then Norton may be the antivirus for you.

We’ll look at what you’ll get with the Norton 360 antivirus suite to let you decide whether the options are right for your needs.

Norton 360 antivirus overview

Price	$29.99–$99.99/first yr
Free plan	No
# of devices protected	Unlimited
Malware scans	Manual and scheduled
Real-time protection	Yes
EICAR test results	3/3
Firewall	Yes
Phishing protection	Yes
Compatibility	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
Extras	Parental controls, dark web monitoring, cloud backup, software updater, and more
24/7 customer support	Yes
Learn more	Get Norton 360 Antivirus

Our experience

We installed Norton 360 Deluxe on a Windows 11 laptop. Everything worked exceptionally well and there were no hiccups when we had multiple browser tabs open and we saw no performance issues while running virus scans. Sometimes virus scans can be very taxing on the system, but we didn't notice any major slow downs with Norton.

From the Device Security section, we performed a quick scan and a full scan to test Norton 360. With the full scan, it analyzed over 479,000 files in less a little over 11 minutes. Other full scans can go north of 30 minutes, so this was a good result.

The Quick Scan took less than 90 seconds and flew through more than 13,000 files. No threats were found with that scan, either.

We also tried the disk optimization option in the performance dashboard, which is meant to help clear up some unused disk space. It took the longest amount of time at just over 26 minutes, but claims to have optimized almost 36,000 files in that time, clearing up the 20% disk fragmentation on the drive.

If you have Windows Defender, you should know that it’ll be disabled automatically when you install Norton 360 on your device. That helps with more efficient protection while not slowing down your computer with numerous processes using the same functions.

To test out the mobile functionality, we got the Android app and were pleased with how easy it was to use. Even though you had to set up a million permissions on your phone (as always), Norton made it easy by taking you exactly where you needed to go in your settings. 

Overall, we were very happy with the ease of use of the program and didn't find that it slowed down our computer much at all. The scans were streamlined, the extra features were fun to explore, and the experience was unobtrusive.

Who is Norton 360 antivirus best for?

• Norton 360 is best for those who want additional cybersecurity features to go with its antivirus program. 

Norton offers some budget-friendly options, like Norton Antivirus Plus, which covers one device, and Norton 360 Standard, which protects up to three PCs, Macs, tablets, or phones.

If you're looking to cover lots of devices, you can opt for Norton 360 Select and get even more coverage for 10 devices along with extra cloud backup and LifeLock identity theft protection. There’s also the middle-ground Norton 360 Deluxe plan for people who want something in between.

Norton Antivirus Plus is a great option for those looking for basic antivirus protection. Plus, it comes with 2 GB of cloud backup and the Norton password manager.

However, Norton really shines when it comes to its 360 suites. You'll get options like a VPN, dark web monitoring, parental controls, and LifeLock identity theft protection, depending on how far you climb up the subscriptions. 

Norton antivirus cost

Norton ranges in price from $29.99–$99.99/first yr and comes in three main tiers: Standard, Deluxe, and Premium.

The Standard plan starts at $39.99/first yr, the Deluxe plan starts at $49.99/first yr, and the Premium plan starts at $54.99/first yr. There's also a more basic version, Norton AntiVirus Plus, which costs $29.99/first yr and provides coverage on one device.

Prices for Norton 360 seem to be on par with other antivirus software costs. For example, you can get Malwarebytes for Free–$99.99/yr with coverage for up to five devices.

McAfee offers some similar features with price points that are close to Norton at $29.99–$249.99/yr, but you may find a few more options with Norton 360, such as webcam protection and cloud storage.

	Norton AntiVirus Plus	Norton 360 Standard	Norton 360 Deluxe	Norton 360 Premium
Price for first year	$29.99/first yr	$39.99/first yr	$49.99/first yr	$54.99/first yr
# devices supported	1	1	5	10
Compatible with	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS	Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
Manual and auto scan
Phishing protection
Firewall
Real-time protection
Password manager
VPN
Dark web monitoring
Parental controls
Privacy monitor
Cloud backup	2 GB	10 GB	50 GB	75 GB
Learn more	View plan	View plan	View plan	View plan

Norton 360 antivirus features

Norton offers the standard antivirus features, including protection against malware, phishing, hacking, and other cyberthreats, along with Norton's Virus Protection Promise. If your device is infected with a virus that can't be removed by Norton or its experts, then you'll get your money back.

We also love Norton for including lots of additional features, so you can rely on Norton for most if not all of your cybersecurity needs. One of Norton's standout features is the Secure VPN, which is included with every 360 plan. Any time you can get more security while browsing online, that’s an automatic win for cyber safety.

If you use a PC, you also have access to the Power Eraser tool. The tool removes malware threats from your device, but it’s only compatible with computers running Windows OS.

If you have a Mac, there are still plenty of features available, such as phishing protection and the silent firewall. We’ll cover those in depth so you can see how each one works to protect your information.

Malware and antivirus scan

Along with a database of known malware, Norton 360 uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze all files entering your device and then blocks the ones deemed to be malicious. Advanced machine learning gives the software a better chance at catching those stealthy viruses.

You’ll also get behavioral protection when installing new applications. Your Norton software classifies the apps that access your network connection. If one of those apps behaves suspiciously, Norton reports it to you.

Power Eraser

Although Norton 360 doesn’t offer a free antivirus suite, you can get a free standalone malware removal tool. Norton Power Eraser is an app specifically designed to remove even the sketchiest computer viruses. These include malware such as fake security software and scareware.

You don’t have to install this app for it to work. Just note it’s a free download for Windows only, so this option is not yet available for Mac users. You can simply download it and run the program to remove threats from your device.

Phishing protection: Norton SafeSearch

Norton 360 comes with the Norton SafeSearch extension, which analyzes the websites you browse and helps detect spyware, viruses, malware, and other online threats.

You’ll get website safety ratings based on the Norton Safe Web analysis. The best part is that you’ll have a rating before you visit the websites, so it offers more protection by helping you avoid malicious content.

The Norton Safe Web browser extension helps guard your information while you’re online. With this extension, you may see a red warning in your Norton desktop app when visiting unsafe websites. SafeSearch alerts include:

• Green OK: This site is safe.
• Orange exclamation point: Be cautious, this site may not be safe.
• Red X: This site isn’t safe.

The Norton SafeSearch extension is compatible with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge.

With the Norton SafeSearch feature, you’ll also have the Link Guard protection that looks for URL reputations when links appear in your emails and social media pages. If a URL is suspicious, Link Guard gives you a warning before you click the link or share it with others.

Firewall

We were pleasantly surprised to find the Norton Smart Firewall feature for more advanced online threat protection. The firewall monitors your network traffic and keeps unwanted apps and users from accessing your device and information.

The Smart Firewall is also designed to detect cryptojacking attempts and prevent them from running in your web browser.

It also checks for potential data leaks with its Intrusion Prevention System. If a leak gets discovered, it stops the network traffic to keep further damage from happening. You can also adjust your firewall settings based on your preferences.

Real-time protection

Norton 360 offers two layers of security protection to block threats before they have a chance to compromise your device: the Intrusion Prevention System and Proactive Exploit Protection.

Having both of these security layers helps to protect your device against a range of online threats. Norton recommends that you keep these settings turned on for the best security protection.

Intrusion Prevention System (IPS)

The Norton Intrusion Prevention System scans all network traffic for security vulnerabilities. The system analyzes your home network to detect security threats that try to gain unauthorized access to your device. 

The IPS works with your firewall to detect malware and prevent it from accessing your network. Norton makes using this function easy as it’s integrated into the Safe Web Feature, and it also works on Windows and Mac devices.

Proactive Exploit Protection (PEP)

Norton's Proactive Exploit Protection works by recognizing a range of malicious behaviors and then blocking only the software that mimics those behaviors.

This zero-day protection feature guards against attacks that can happen when new software is released, so there’s no waiting to discover and remove the threat in the future. PEP works with Windows devices but is not available for macOS.

Bonus features

Some of the notable bonus features you’ll find with Norton 360 antivirus are parental controls and the Norton Secure VPN. You also get dark web monitoring and SafeCam, which both protect against unique threats to your data and privacy. We’ll cover these in more detail below.

SafeCam

SafeCam is a feature that helps protect your webcam from being hacked. SafeCam alerts you if there are attempts to access your webcam and blocks unauthorized access. Unfortunately, it’s only offered for Windows at this time.

Norton Family

With the Norton Parental controls, known as Norton Family, you get security protection for the whole family. Parents can see their children’s online searches and video views. There’s also age-appropriate monitoring and settings to control screen time limits during school time. 

This feature is offered for Windows 7+, Android 8+, as well as the current and previous two versions of iOS.

Norton Password Manager

You need a unique password for each of your online accounts to keep your information safe. But with numerous accounts, that can become a hassle, to say the least.

With Norton’s password manager, you can create complex passwords that are harder to hack while storing them securely in your online encrypted vault. This feature is available across platforms so you can enjoy it with a browser extension on desktop or with a mobile app for iOS or Android.

Norton Secure VPN

Norton Secure VPN is included with Norton 360 and helps keep your devices secure when using public Wi-Fi, as many of these networks aren’t safe. The VPN hides the internet data going to and from your device, so your personal information won’t get picked up easily by hackers.

Dark web monitoring

Cybercriminals use the dark web to buy and sell your personal information. With Norton dark web monitoring, you get a notification if your information is found floating around the forums of the dark web. 

The service regularly searches places where information is frequently traded to make sure your data stays secure. You can enter information like email address, phone numbers, credit card details, and more for monitoring.

LifeLock identity theft protection

With LifeLock identity theft protection, Norton scans for the use of your personal information and looks for threats. You’ll get an alert to all possible threats by phone, email, text, or mobile app.

There’s also live, U.S.-based identity restoration specialists available to resolve identity theft issues. With this plan, you have $1 million worth of coverage for lawyers and other experts to help work through identity theft problems as well as up to $25,000 in stolen funds reimbursement.

Cloud storage

Norton Cloud Backup stores and protects your files and documents to prevent data loss in case of hard drive crashes, stolen devices, and possible ransomware. You can create a cloud backup for specific files and even copy files from your computer to the cloud. 

At this time, Norton Cloud Backup only works with Windows OS.

Norton 360 test results

In order to make sure an antivirus can actually protect us in the real world, we look at several different sources to determine performance. Some of these tests are done by our team, including timing scan speeds and using tools from the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) to determine effectiveness.

We also lean on third-party testers to determine how antivirus perform when compared against other options on the market, including AV-TEST, AV-Comparatives, and SE Labs tests. 

Scan speed

• Result: Fast

We're not strangers to antivirus scans that can take over an hour to complete, so the fact that Norton's full scan only took a little over 11 minutes to complete was great.

Despite the blazing fast speeds, the test still seemed thorough, scanning thousands of files across our computer.

Scan type	Time spent
Quick scan	1 minute and 22 seconds
Full scan	11 minutes
Disk optimization	26 minutes

Norton 360 EICAR test results

• Result: 3/3

EICAR offers tools to help evaluate the effectiveness of cybersecurity products. The samples provided mimic malware and phishing attempts to really give your cybersecurity product a run for its money.

Test	Norton 360 score
Manually downloaded malware	Pass
Drive-by malware downloads	Pass
Phishing detection	Pass

Norton 360 passed all three EICAR tests that we threw at it, dedicating and removing the "malicious" file as soon as we downloaded it.

It did also block phishing test webpage, but only with the Norton SafeSearch extension installed.

Unfortunately, this extension also changes your search engine to Norton, which you can't change back without deactivating it. Depending on your preferences, this may be a dealbreaker for you and make the extension virtually unusable.

AV-TEST results

• Windows result: 18/18

Norton 360 was scrutinized by AV-TEST to determine its effectiveness when detecting malware and protecting devices.

Test type	Windows 11 score	macOS Monterey score	Android 11 score
Protection	6/6	6/6	6/6
Performance	6/6	6/6	6/6
Usability	6/6	6/6	6/6
Date	August 2024	June 2024	September 2024
Link to test	Link	Link	Link

During its latest rounds of tests, AV-TEST gave Norton 360 Windows, macOS and Android products perfect scores for protection, performance, and usability.

During the previous round of testing, it lost points for slowing down devices when loading websites in the performance section. It also gave two false warnings when installing a legitimate app. Having perfect scores this time around shows that Norton improved its product, which is reassuring.

AV-Comparatives test results

• Result: Near-perfect scores for protection, but high performance impact.

AV-Comparatives is another third-party tester that compares many antivirus software performance by putting them to rigorous, real-world tests.

Test type	Mobile security	Real-world protection	Malware protection	Performance impact (Lower is better)
Score	N/A	99.6%	99.97%	7.6
Platform	N/A	Windows	Windows	Windows
Date	N/A	August 2024	September 2024	October 2024
Link	N/A	Link	Link	Link

Norton 360 did very well in terms of protection, having achieved the highest rate of real-world protection and tying with other powerful antivirus programs like AVG, Avira, and Bitdefender. However, it detected 20 false positives, among one of the higher rates.

In the malware protection test, Norton tied for third with its 99.6% protection rate. It was only compromised by the malicious test files at a rate of 0.04%.

However, it came in seventh place on the performance test. This test evaluates the impact of antivirus software on system performance, since they run in the background. The first place antivirus software, McAfee, had only a 2.6 impact score.

Norton was not part of any mobile security tests done by AV-Comparatives yet, but this isn't necessarily a red flag. Third-party testing can get expensive, so Norton may just be focusing on desktop performance overall.

SE Labs results

• Result: 100%

SE Labs is a U.K.-based third-party testing service that releases quarterly reports for both consumers and enterprises on the effectiveness of antivirus protection.

Test type	Home Anti-Malware Protection
Total accuracy rating	99%
Date	2024 Q3
Link	Link

In the second quarter of 2024, Norton 360 received a very distinguished 100% accuracy rating, earning it a AAA award (the highest possible). It deteced zero false positives and it protected against all the general and targeted attacks SE Labs threw at it.

Norton 360 compatibility

Norton 360 is compatible with:

• Windows 7 Service Pack 1
• Windows 8/8.1
• Windows 10
• Windows 11
• Android 8.0 or later
• macOS X 10.10.x or later
• iOS current version and two previous versions

Browser extensions for Norton SafeSearch:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Edge

Norton customer support

Norton’s Help Center features trending topics and a community forum to help get you the support you need.

Outside of using the Norton website, you can also message its support team on Facebook or Twitter. There’s also a chatbot support feature, which is open seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

We reached out via live chat to see if they'd be able to tell us how to tell if the firewall was turned on. We were able to get to a real person eventually, but there was a bit of a maze of options to navigate through first.

Once we were connected, the agent was polite and knowledgeable, but sometimes took quite a bit of time between responses. It was clear they were talking with multiple people at once.

Phone support is also offered seven days per week, 24 hours a day. You fill out a brief form and get a case number to give to the agent. There’s also a dropdown box to select your country and get a toll-free phone number to call.

Top alternatives

Norton is one of our favorite antivirus software, but that doesn't mean it's perfect. It lacks certain features for Mac and it could be pricey depending on your antivirus needs. Here are some other Norton antivirus alternatives to consider:

Norton 360 antivirus FAQs

Bottom line: Is Norton antivirus good?

Yes, Norton 360 is a good antivirus that has consistently high scores across the board when it comes to protection. On top of that, you can also get a slew of cybersecurity products, like parental controls, dark web monitoring, a VPN, and webcam protection. 

The only drawbacks to using this software are some lackluster performance scores, which means you may find it slows down your computer a bit. In our hands-on testing, we didn't notice any slow downs, but it's something to look out for as you try it out on your device.

Of course, the best antivirus software is the one that meets your needs and budget. So if Norton 360 antivirus doesn’t check off all the boxes, other antivirus software may be worth a look instead.

Check out our complete comparisons for more insights:

• Norton 360 vs. Bitdefender
• Norton 360 vs. TotalAV
• Norton 360 vs. AVG