10 Best Office 365 Antivirus Software [2023 Guide]

Secure your work Office 365 every time you use the service

Reading time icon 11 min. read


Readers help support Windows Report. We may get a commission if you buy through our links. Tooltip Icon

Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help Windows Report sustain the editorial team Read more

Key notes

  • An antivirus is needed to protect your Office 365 even if it already has built-in security options.
  • If you want a free solution to protect you from scams, and identity theft, you can try the free antivirus options below.
  • Also, there are some amazing choices for your business including adaptive tools that can detect and prevent cyber-attacks.
  • Some of the antiviruses below have the feature of scanning emails and websites, so choose the one that fits your need best.
antivirus for office 365

Office 365 comes with antimalware and antispam protection as Microsoft introduced the world to the Advanced Threat Protection feature for Office 365.

Some of the benefits that came with this new solution include antimalware protection, real-time protection against malicious links, as well as rich reporting and tracking capabilities for URLs.

If youโ€™re an Office 365 user with mailboxes hosted on Microsoft Exchange Online, then your email messages, both incoming and outgoing are automatically protected from spam and malware.

Office 365 has a built-in antispam filtering feature that protects inbound and outbound emails from malicious software and spam. This technology is enabled by default.

However, if you still feel the need for another antivirus for Office 365, there are myriad options you can choose from to suit your needs.

BEST ANTIVIRUS WE RECOMMEND

What is the best antivirus for Office 365?

ESET HOME Security Essential – Best set of advanced security features

ESET HOME Security Essential is the best choice one can make, to secure all online activities and as well the Office 365 account.

It is a modern multiplatform solution, that can be used to secure all your devices with a single license. No matter if you run on a Mac, Windows, Android, or Linux.

The Anti-Phishing tool protects your privacy and assets against attempts by fraudulent websites to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, or banking details.

This is a great plus because it protects you from fake news from seemingly reputable sources, and homoglyph attacks (replacing characters in links with ones that look similar but are actually different).

Here are the perks of using Internet Security:

  • Active web-browsing protection
  • Ransomware and spyware shield
  • Gamer Mode
  • Online banking & payment protection
  • Suitable for Windows, macOS, and Linux

The software is available in three extensions: antivirus, basic internet security, and smart security.

Once installed, the solution is lightweight, discreet, and efficient. ESET HOME Security Essential protects your online operations, monitors your connected devices, and works continuously in the background to ensure seamless protection.

ESET HOME Security Essential

Protect your Office 365 with comprehensive security and online privacy solutions from ESET.
Free Trial Visit Website

Bitdefender Total Security – Unbreakable files protection

Bitdefender is the leading antivirus for Office 365, which protects against any sophisticated threats. It is powerful, simple, and ideal for business use, plus it has consistently ranked first in independent tests.

The GravityZone tool is adaptive, layered endpoint security designed for cloud and virtualization, that protects from advanced targeted attacks.

The GravityZone feature executes its protective functions through its monitoring and revolutionary hypervisor introspection architecture.

This endpoint protection against cyber threats can detect advanced persistent threats, offers protection from ransomware, and defeats exploits, and zero-day attacks.

Check out more key features of Bitdefender:

  • Heuristic monitoring
  • Regular updates on malware definitions
  • Autopilot features to adjust defensive posture.
  • Immunize important files from ransomware attacks
  • Password Manager

Youโ€™ll find it easy to install and monitor remotely from a single, powerful cloud console, plus it is also very cost-effective.

Bitdefender Total Security

Use this powerful antivirus compatible with Office 365, with a VPN included and great customer support.
Free Trial Visit Website

TotalAV – Best browsing security and system maintenance

TotalAV is an award-winning antivirus and security software created to protect and maintain your PC running at the highest performance. It offers antivirus protection, safe web browsing, blocking of tracking cookies, and intrusion prevention detection.

All downloads, installations, and executables are checked before opening to prevent malicious scripts from accessing your computer. Reliable protection in real-time.

The software uses Total AV and its intelligent protection system to protect you from viruses, malware, ransomware, and phishing software that try to attack your data.

Total AV offers WebShield in your browser so you can browse the internet safely. WebShield is a line of defense against fake, deceptive, or phishing websites designed to take advantage of unsuspecting users.

For browsers, Total AV also allows you to take control of your browsing experience. Never see annoying ads again with our built-in ad blocker for websites and videos.

Also, the key features of TotalAV are:

  • Great real-time protection
  • WebShield for browser protection
  • Data breach monitoring
  • Compatibility with Mac, Android, and iOS
  • Blocking of tracking cookies

Smart protection for all your devices with simple yet clever antivirus online and offline protection across the internet.

TotalAV

Try this complete package of protection and security with plenty of additional features.
Free Trial Visit Website

Avast Free Antivirus – Best free antivirus option

Avast Free Antivirus is a solution to protect your computer and Office 365 account, against viruses, malware, and your home network against intruders.

This antivirus protects your devices against havoc-wreaking ransomware so you donโ€™t become the victim of digital extortion.

One of the most interesting features is Behavior Shield. With this feature, Avast monitors the behavior of individual apps on your computer to counter any suspicious activity.

Avast Omni, Premium Security, and Free Antivirus have a CyberCapture feature that automatically detects suspicious files and sends them to the cloud for inspection.

The Game Mode now called Do Not Disturb Mode, will block distracting popups whether youโ€™re gaming, watching movies, or presenting a PowerPoint document on full screen.

Here are Avast’s key features:

  • Protection of public Wi-Fi and threat prevention
  • Limited resource footprint
  • Tune-up tools for your computer
  • AntiTrack for protecting your privacy online
  • Works silently during gaming and movie-watching sessions

Avast scores first in malware blocking and anti-phishing testing, as well as scanning the network.

Avast Free Antivirus

Protect your Office 365 with a free solution against viruses, malware, and network intruders.

Avira – Great free protection against threats

Avira antivirus is another freeware security solution that will protect you from online scams, identity theft, and any possible risks that you might be exposed to when online.

Avira takes free protection to another level, offering VPNs, ad blockers, even password managers, and system backups. Plus, it blocks all online threats like malware, ransomware, and spyware.

In addition, it has a comprehensive interface, which was designed for non-tech enthusiasts that have no background knowledge, having a pretty simple and integrated interface.

Your Office 365 mailbox as well as your social network accounts will be protected from phishing with the Anti-Scam tool.

Letโ€™s have a look at Aviraโ€™s main features:

  • Premium tune-up tools
  • Integrated Free VPN and ad-blocker
  • Advanced web & ransomware protection
  • App locker

Avira also has a built-in PC Cleaner that erases your digital footprint from your browsers and apps so no one can track you.

Overall, Avira Free Security offers real-time protection with very low memory usage. Optimize some aspects of your PC and protect against all threats.

Avira

Check this amazing free antivirus with a great anti-scam feature for your Office 365 mailbox.

Emsisoft Anti-Malware – Great dual-engine scanner

Emsisoft Anti-Malware is the perfect security extra-layer for your PC or laptop. It works perfectly on any hardware configuration and supports both x32 and x64 platforms.

This tool has a dual-engine scanner that keeps safe all your files and reacts instantly when a file has an unknown modification or source.

Its anti-malware and anti-ransomware security will keep you safe while surfing. Another great feature is its Behaviour Blocker. This tool detects even not-yet-known threats and unknown signatures.

Emsisoft Anti-Malware is a great tool that comes at a great price, around $20, which is a better price than other popular antiviruses.

Some of Emsisoft’s main key features are:

  • Web protection that blocks any malicious website
  • File guard so every downloaded file is scanned
  • Behavior Blocker to detect and block new malware
  • Finds and removes unwanted programs
  • Remote management

It also has great rankings in many independent tests. You can find more information and download it in the link below.

Emsisoft Anti-Malware

With multiple protection layers, Emsisoft will block any online threats and protect your Office 365 app.
Free Trial Visit Website

Panda – Simple and intuitive interface

router antivirus

Pandaโ€™s Cloud Protection is an antivirus for Office 365 that comes with endpoint cloud-based antimalware and firewall protection, plus email traffic filtering.

It also guarantees the highest protection for endpoints and emails, using its collective intelligence tool that ensures files are constantly and automatically updated.

The firewall is personal or managed, plus it has cloud-based antispam filtering.

It is easy to use, has minimal maintenance costs, and optimizes the consumption of bandwidth and endpoint resources while avoiding inoperative traffic and minimizing server load.

Features include a hosted web console, profile-based protection, flexible installation, detailed email reports, vulnerability and threat assessment, plus management delegation among others.

Check out more impressive features that are included in Panda antivirus:

  • URL, web monitoring, and filtering
  • Automatic USB protection
  • Lightweight and easy on the systemโ€™s resources
  • Antispyware and antivirus engines
  • Parental control
  • It supports multimedia mode and gaming as well

For email protection, you get hosted email spam filtering, guaranteed availability, quarantine management, unlimited domain alias, plus so much more.

Panda Dome

Keep your Office 365 secure with real-time monitoring and personal firewall from this great antivirus.
Free Trial Visit Website

AVG Antivirus – Great scanning options and virus prevention

Another solid antivirus software that you might want to consider is AVG Antivirus. This antivirus offers protection against standard threats including viruses, spyware, and ransomware.

In addition, this tool will block unsafe links, downloads, and malicious email attachments. It also supports real-time security updates, and it can even scan your PC for performance problems.

Another great feature available is an Enhanced Firewall, so you can easily monitor your online traffic and choose which applications have access to the Internet.

AVG Internet Security also has anti-phishing protection so it can easily detect malicious websites and prevent them from stealing your data.

Itโ€™s worth mentioning that this tool is available on the Android platform as well, so if you need to protect your Android device, you might want to consider this tool.

The benefits of using AVG are:

  • Verify any Wi-Fi network security and connect safely to it
  • Block all unsafe websites before entering them
  • Improve storage and performance with built-in tune-up tools
  • Use the AVG VPN to maintain your privacy when browsing
  • Block any phishing attempts

Overall, AVG Antivirus offers solid features, and if youโ€™re looking for basic protection, you might want to try the Free version. But if you need full system protection along with some advanced features, you might want to consider getting the Internet Security version.

AVG Antivirus

AVG will block unsafe links, downloads, and email attachments, assuring great protection for your Office 365.

Kaspersky Standard – Great anti-malware protection

With Kaspersky antivirus for Office 365, you are able to protect your mailboxes managed through this cloud app.

Your email messages are also scanned for viruses and other malware threats that may be transmitted via email, including spam and phishing.

Kaspersky for Microsoft Office 365 features antivirus, antiphishing and antispam protection, and attachment filtering.

It can scan incoming and outgoing mail for malware, filter spam from user mailboxes, scan email messages for phishing and malicious links, and filter attachments in email messages.

The perks of using Kaspersky are:

  • Light resource usage
  • Transaction protection
  • Built-in password manager
  • Works for PC, Mac, and mobile devices
  • Ease-of-use and intuitive interface

Additionally, it will move messages to backup to prevent data loss risks, notify the system admin about messages with malicious objects or filtered attachments, and display app activity statistics.

Kaspersky Standard

Use this reliable antivirus for your Office 365, and prevent crypto mining malware infections from affecting your device.
Free Trial Visit Website

Norton – Amazing overall protection of Windows

This antivirus for Office 365 protects your sensitive data from loss or theft, protects user accounts, prevents threats in your emails, and blocks advanced attacks.

It works quietly in the background, minimizing the strain on your system’s resources. This can be verified with tools such as Task Manager.

Besides, it allows you to respond quickly to security incidents with comprehensive log data.

What sets Norton apart is its multi-layered approach to protecting your device from attacks by identifying dangerous files, preventing downloads, and removing viruses, and malware such as worms and Trojan horses.

Here are some of the perks of using Norton antivirus products:

  • Efficient real-time protection
  • Built-in VPN to enhance privacy
  • Parental control features
  • Built-in password manager
  • Low system impact

There is a VPN included to protect your privacy while surfing online and also multiple layers of protection for your devices, game accounts, and digital assets.

Norton

With continuos malware scanning and a power eraser that blocks suspicious files, your Office 365 will always be safe.
Free Trial Visit Website

Furthermore, to make sure your Outlook mailbox is safe, you can use any of these best email-scanning software to remove malware.

Does Office 365 have built-in antivirus?

Primarily, yes. You can benefit from integrated anti-malware, phishing attack protection, or no spam shield.

Is Microsoft Defender free with Office 365?

Yes, you have Microsoft Defender included in specific subscriptions but not in all of them. It is possible to get it for free if you purchase the plans that include it.

Are you ready to secure your business with any of these best antiviruses for Office 365? Share your favorite and why by leaving a comment in the section below.

More about the topics: antivirus, Microsoft Office