The Austrian antivirus testing lab AV-Comparatives has released its annual Summary Report highlighting the results for consumer security test for the year 2025 (PDF available here). This report contains awards recognizing individual programs in various categories. Additionally a user-interface review for each tested products is included.

19 different consumer security products for Windows underwent AV-Comparatives rigorous evaluation. Programs were tested for their ability to protect against real-world Internet threats, detect thousands of recent malicious programs, defend against advanced targeted attacks, and provide protection without significantly slowing down the PC or causing excessive false alarms.

The following products where tested in AV-Comparatives Consumer Main-Test Series 2025: Avast Free Antivirus, AVG AntiVirus Free, Avira Free Antivirus, Bitdefender Total Security, ESET HOME Security Essential, F-Secure Internet Security, G DATA Total Security, K7 Total Security, Kaspersky Premium, Malwarebytes Premium, McAfee Total Protection, Microsoft Defender Antivirus, Norton Antivirus Plus, Panda Free Antivirus, Quick Heal Total Security, Total Defense Essential Anti-Virus, TotalAV Antivirus Pro, Trend Micro Internet Security, and VIPRE Advanced Security.

Fifteen of the products from the 19 vendors tested earned the prestigious AV-Comparatives 2025 Approved Windows Security Products certification, showcasing their commitment to delivering high-quality security solutions.

Top-Rated Products

Products that achieve high scores through out all the tests are rewarded with the Top-Rated Product Award. For 2025, Top-Rated Product Awards go to Avast, AVG, Bitdefender, ESET, G Data, Kaspersky, and Norton.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards for Individual Categories

For each individual test type, Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards go to the products that achieved the highest scores. Awards for the individual test types are as follows:

Real-World Protection Test – checks protection against Internet-borne threats

• Gold: Norton
• Silver: Bitdefender
• Bronze: Avira, Kaspersky, McAfee

Malware Protection Test – verifies a program’s ability to detect malicious files

• Gold: Kaspersky
• Silver: G Data
• Bronze: Bitdefender

Performance Test – checks on how much a security product slows down the PC

• Gold: Avast, AVG
• Silver: Norton
• Bronze: McAfee

Advanced Threat Protection Test –optional test looks at protection against targeted attacks

• Gold: Bitdefender, ESET
• Silver: Avast, AVG, G Data, Kaspersky, Norton
• Bronze: Avira

False-Positives Test – assesses whether each program is prone to false alarms

• Gold: Kaspersky
• Silver: Total Defense
• Bronze: Bitdefender

The Summary Report concludes with a detailed user-interface review of each tested product. This analysis gives insight into the everyday usability and covers topics such as installation, security alerts, scan options, quarantine management, logs, access control, etc.

“Our 2025 Summary Report highlights the exceptional quality of most tested security products. The rigorous evaluations cover performance impact and user experience in addition to protection levels. We continue to remain committed to reliable and independent tests of cyber security solutions, empowering consumers to make informed decisions about the products they rely on.“ said Andreas Clementi, CEO and founder of AV-Comparatives.

Like all AV-Comparatives’ public test reports, the 2025 Summary Report is available for free: https://www.av-comparatives.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/avc_sum_2025.pdf