Malwarebytes Pricing 2026: Standard, Plus and Ultimate

Malwarebytes costs $59.99 a year for Standard on 3 devices, $79.99 a year for Plus, which adds the Privacy VPN, and $139.99 for the first year of Ultimate, which adds identity theft protection with $2 million in insurance. Family versions covering 10 devices run from $119.99 to $199.99. Those are the US prices on the Malwarebytes pricing page on 18 October 2026, every plan carries a 60-day money-back guarantee, and the scanner-only Malwarebytes Free costs nothing.

The pricing is simpler than most consumer security suites, with one exception. Standard and Plus show a single yearly price with no "first year" discount next to it, while Ultimate is sold at half its list price, and the page's small print says that discount applies to the first year only. This guide sets out every tier, what each step up buys, and where the Ultimate discount changes the math.

Malwarebytes prices at a glance

Plan	Covers	Price on the page	What it adds
Malwarebytes Free	Scanner download	$0	On-demand scan and removal of existing infections
Standard	3 devices	$59.99/yr	Real-time antivirus, Browser Guard scam and ad blocker, breach alerts
Standard, 1 device	1 device	Check the current price on Malwarebytes' site	Same as Standard, for a single phone, tablet or PC
Plus	3 devices	$79.99/yr	Standard plus Privacy VPN with unmetered data
Ultimate	1 adult, 3 devices	$139.99 first year, list $279.99/yr	Plus, identity protection, $2M insurance, 3-bureau credit monitoring, data remover
Standard Family	10 devices	$119.99/yr	Standard across 10 devices
Plus Family	10 devices	$149.99/yr	Plus across 10 devices
Ultimate Family	2 adults, 10 kids, 10 devices	$199.99 first year, list $399.99/yr	Ultimate for a household
Teams (Sole proprietor, Boutique business, Small office)	3, 10 or 20 devices	Check the current price on Malwarebytes' site	Antivirus, VPN, Browser Guard and priority support for a small business

Prices are in US dollars before tax, read on 18 October 2026 on the Malwarebytes pricing page. The page labels each consumer price "Starts from", and it notes that the Ultimate discount is first year only.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, tracks 866 security tools as of 17 October 2026, and the median cheapest paid plan among the 146 that publish a price is $15.98 a month. Malwarebytes Standard works out to about $5 a month for 3 devices, so it sits well below the middle of the security market even before you split it per device.

What does Malwarebytes Free do, and when do you need to pay?

Malwarebytes Free cleans up; it does not guard. The vendor's own comparison says the free scanner "finds and removes infections that are already on your device", while the paid Premium Security engine works in real time to stop malware, ransomware and phishing before they land. The free version has no real-time antivirus, no ransomware protection, no malicious-site blocking and no exploit protection.

That makes Free a second-opinion tool rather than a primary defense. It is useful when a PC already runs Microsoft Defender and you want to scan a suspicious download, or when a relative's laptop is already infected. If you are deciding whether to pay for any antivirus at all, our guide on whether Windows Defender is enough and the best free antivirus ranking cover that question in depth.

The paid tiers all share the same protection engine. Standard, Plus and Ultimate each include Premium Security on Windows, Mac, Android or iOS, the Browser Guard extension with its scam, ad and tracker blocking, personalized security assessments, and data breach notifications. What changes from tier to tier is the VPN and the identity layer, not the antivirus.

Standard vs Plus: is the VPN worth the upgrade?

Plus is Standard with the Malwarebytes Privacy VPN added, and the difference is $20 a year on 3 devices. The VPN runs on WireGuard, the page says it keeps no logs of your network data, and data use is unrestricted, with no metering. That last point matters when you compare suites: some rivals bundle a VPN with a daily data cap that pushes heavy users to a pricier tier.

Per device, Standard costs about $20 a year and Plus about $26.66. For someone who would otherwise buy a separate VPN, that step for unmetered traffic is cheap, and keeping antivirus and VPN on one bill means one renewal date to watch.

The case for Standard is equally clear. If you already pay for a VPN you trust, or you only use one on public Wi-Fi a few times a year, the extra money buys nothing else: Plus adds no identity features, no password manager and no backup. Our cheapest VPN guide prices the standalone options if you want to compare.

Ultimate: what the first-year discount hides

Ultimate is the only Malwarebytes plan the page sells at a discount, and the discount is large. The tier sells at half its list price in year one, with the page's footnote "discount is first year only". On the printed list price, two years of Ultimate cost $419.98 for one adult, or about $210 a year averaged.

The identity layer is what you pay for. Ultimate adds $2 million in identity theft insurance, dark web and breach alerts, bank, credit card and investment account alerts, identity recovery specialists, advanced social media monitoring, credit monitoring across three bureaus, and an online personal data remover. Everything from Plus, including the unmetered VPN, comes along.

The first-year price creates an odd comparison inside Malwarebytes' own catalog. Its identity protection page sells an Essential plan at $129.99 a year for 1 adult and 3 devices, with $1 million in insurance, antivirus and the VPN, but without three-bureau credit monitoring or the data remover. In year one, Ultimate costs $10 more and doubles the insurance. From year two, on the printed prices, Ultimate's list price is $150 above Essential's.

For the household version, the gap closes entirely in year one. Ultimate Family also sells at half its $399.99 list price in year one, which matches the Essential Family plan on the identity page to the cent, and that plan carries only $1 million in insurance. A family that wants identity cover should take Ultimate Family for the first year and decide at renewal whether $2 million in cover is worth twice the money.

If identity theft protection is the main goal rather than an add-on, compare dedicated services before committing. Our best identity theft protection ranking and the Aura vs LifeLock comparison price the specialists.

Family plans: the per-device math

Every family plan covers 10 devices, against 3 on the individual plans. Standard Family costs $119.99 a year, which works out to $12 per device, and Plus Family costs $149.99, or $15 per device. Both cut the per-device price by 40% or more against the individual version.

The break-even is easy to find. Two individual Standard subscriptions would cover 6 devices for $119.98, a cent less than Standard Family. So a household with 4 to 6 devices pays the same either way, and the family plan wins outright from the seventh device. For Plus, two individual subscriptions cost $159.98 for 6 devices, already $10 more than Plus Family for 10.

Ultimate Family is built differently. It covers 2 adults and up to 10 kids for identity monitoring, plus 10 devices for the antivirus and VPN, and the data remover covers the 2 adults. A couple with children gets identity monitoring for the kids included, which no individual plan offers.

How Malwarebytes compares with Norton and Bitdefender on price

Malwarebytes looks expensive in year one because its rivals lead with deep introductory discounts, while its own Standard and Plus prices carry no discount label. Which suite is cheaper depends on how long you plan to stay.

Plan	Devices	First-year price	Renewal price printed by vendor
Malwarebytes Plus (with VPN)	3	$79.99	No separate renewal price shown; no discount applied
Norton 360 Standard (with VPN)	3	$39.99	$94.99/yr
Norton 360 Deluxe (with VPN)	5	$49.99	$124.99/yr
Bitdefender Total Security	5	$59.99	Not printed ("may be higher")

Norton and Bitdefender prices were read on the Norton products page and the Bitdefender Total Security page on 18 October 2026.

Norton 360 Standard costs $40 less than Malwarebytes Plus in the first year for the same 3 devices and a VPN. Its printed renewal of $94.99, however, is $15 above the Malwarebytes Plus price, so the two years together come to $134.98 on Norton's own figures. Bitdefender Total Security matches Standard's price for 5 devices instead of 3, but its renewal is not printed, and the vendor says it may be higher.

The honest summary: Malwarebytes is rarely the cheapest first year, and it is one of the few consumer suites whose page does not tag Standard and Plus as introductory offers. Our Norton pricing and Bitdefender pricing breakdowns cover each rival's full ladder, and the cheapest antivirus ranking lists the lowest-cost options across vendors.

What about Malwarebytes for business?

Malwarebytes sells two business lines. Teams is the small-business version of the consumer suite, sold in Sole proprietor (3 devices), Boutique business (10 devices) and Small office (20 devices) packs. Every Teams plan includes priority support, the 60-day money-back guarantee, the Privacy VPN and Browser Guard, and the page advertised 35% off the Small office pack on the day we read it. For Teams, check the current price on Malwarebytes' site before budgeting.

For managed endpoint security, Malwarebytes sells ThreatDown, its business endpoint line, which our Malwarebytes review prices device by device. A company with an IT owner and more than a handful of machines should start there, or with our best antivirus for business ranking.

Which Malwarebytes plan to buy

• One infected PC you want cleaned: Malwarebytes Free, then decide on real-time protection.
• Up to 3 devices, no VPN needed: Standard, the lowest paid tier.
• Up to 3 devices, regular public Wi-Fi use: Plus, the cheapest way into the unmetered VPN.
• One adult who wants identity insurance: Ultimate for the first year, then compare at renewal.
• A household with 7 or more devices: Standard Family or Plus Family.
• A family that wants identity cover for the kids: Ultimate Family, which costs the same as Essential Family in year one.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Malwarebytes cost per year?

Standard costs $59.99 a year for 3 devices and Plus costs $79.99 a year with the VPN. Ultimate is $139.99 for the first year and lists at $279.99 after that. Family plans for 10 devices cost $119.99 for Standard, $149.99 for Plus and $199.99 for Ultimate's first year, according to the Malwarebytes pricing page in October 2026.

Is Malwarebytes free?

There is a free version, but it is a scanner, not real-time antivirus. Malwarebytes Free finds and removes infections already on a device; it does not block malware, ransomware or phishing as they arrive. Real-time protection starts with the paid Standard plan, and every paid plan carries a 60-day money-back guarantee.

Does Malwarebytes include a VPN?

Only from Plus upwards. Standard has no VPN, while Plus, Ultimate and their family versions include the Malwarebytes Privacy VPN on WireGuard, with no data metering and a no-logs policy. The VPN step from Standard to Plus is $20 a year on the individual plans.

Why does Malwarebytes Ultimate cost more at renewal?

The Ultimate price on the page is a 50% first-year discount on a list price of $279.99, and the footnote says the discount is first year only. On the printed list price, year two costs twice the first year. Standard and Plus show no discount, so their page price is not labeled as introductory.

Is Malwarebytes cheaper than Norton?

Not in the first year. Norton 360 Standard is $39.99 for its first year with a VPN on 3 devices, about half the yearly price of Malwarebytes Plus. Norton's printed renewal of $94.99 a year is higher than the Plus price, so the gap narrows from year two onward.

Can I get a refund from Malwarebytes?

Yes. The pricing page and the Teams page both state a 60-day money-back guarantee. That gives you two months to judge whether the real-time protection or the VPN earns its place on your bill.

Sources and method

We read Malwarebytes' US pages on 18 October 2026: the pricing page, the identity theft protection page for the Essential and Ultimate identity plans, the Malwarebytes Free download page for the free-versus-premium comparison, and the Teams page. Rival prices come from the Norton and Bitdefender pages linked above, read the same day. Every figure is a printed US price before tax; per-device figures divide those prices by the device count, and multi-year totals add only prices the vendor prints. The Toolradar figure comes from the Toolradar security category, and Malwarebytes and Bitdefender each have a profile on Toolradar and Toolradar.

Malwarebytes runs promotions, so confirm the price on its page before you buy. These figures were read on 18 October 2026.

Cite this: Cyberpresso, "Malwarebytes Pricing 2026: Standard, Plus and Ultimate", October 2026.

Cyberpresso covers price changes like these for security buyers in its newsletter at cyberpresso.com.

Related reading: Malwarebytes review, Norton pricing, Bitdefender pricing, Norton review, Bitdefender review, best free antivirus, cheapest antivirus, is Windows Defender enough, best antivirus for Mac and cheapest VPN.

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