Antivirus Statistics 2025: Surprising Market Insights

Introduction

Antivirus software remains a keystone in cybersecurity despite built-in OS protections. As digital threats evolve, both consumers and enterprises continue to invest in layered defense. For example, a major ransomware attack in the healthcare sector in 2024 spurred hospitals to upgrade endpoint protection, while a fintech startup secured funding partly on the strength of its robust antivirus and threat detection stack. Below, you’ll find key numbers that reveal adoption trends, user breakdowns, and growth dynamics, and I encourage you to dive deeper into the full article.

Editor’s Choice: Key Antivirus Statistics

• The global antivirus software market is estimated at $4.23 billion in 2025.
• Projected growth rate (CAGR) through 2029 is about 6.9 %.
• Around 84 % of computer users reported having an antivirus installed in 2025.
• On mobile, 68 % of users have antivirus protection.
• Every day, approximately 560,000 new malware samples are detected globally.
• In a 2025 consumer survey, 75 % of users said antivirus protection effectively keeps them safe.
• In 2024, the antivirus market’s valuation was $4.13 billion, indicating steady year-on-year growth.

Recent Developments in Antivirus Software

• Microsoft is moving antivirus/EDR apps out of the Windows kernel to reduce system instability risks.
• McAfee debuted AI-powered Scam Detector in May 2025 to flag scam attempts across email, text, and video.
• More antivirus providers are integrating machine learning models, but adversarial attacks on those models are increasing in sophistication.
• ClarAVy, a new tool released in 2025, improves malware family labeling accuracy across large datasets.
• Vendors are phasing in cloud‑based scanning to reduce local resource load.
• Security labs are exposing label spoofing attacks that poison malware detection datasets, compromising classifier training.
• Some AV vendors are collaborating with OS makers to shift portions of scanning to kernel-adjacent modules rather than deep kernel hooks.
• In real‑world testing by AV‑Comparatives (Feb–Mar 2025), antivirus products were challenged with 212 test cases.

General Antivirus Statistics

• The global market grew from $4.06 billion in 2022 to $4.25 billion in 2025.
• Daily new malware throughput is estimated at 282,000 samples per day.
• Over 1 trillion malware files are reportedly in circulation across the Internet.
• 95 % of cyberattacks are motivated by financial gain.
• Roughly 54 % of users do not install third‑party antivirus software, relying on built‑in protections.
• In the U.S., 121 million adults use third‑party antivirus software on at least one device.
• Among those users, about half pay for premium versions.
• About 6 % of antivirus users reported a breakthrough malware infection in the past year.
• 88 % of Americans believe antivirus software is effective.

Antivirus User Demographics

• Americans aged 65+ are twice as likely to pay for antivirus than those under 45.
• Only 17 % of adults report running antivirus software on their mobile phones.
• Among U.S. users of third‑party antivirus software, Norton leads in paid share (~29 %) and McAfee leads free share (~19 %).
• Kaspersky usage dropped to ~3 % in the U.S. prior to its sales ban in 2024.
• In U.S. households, 30.5 million use free antivirus software, and 49.8 million pay for it.
• Around 5 % of users plan to switch antivirus providers in the near future.
• Among commercial antivirus users, 74 % experienced malware or virus exposure in the prior year.

Antivirus Usage by Device

• 84 % of computer users have an antivirus installed in 2025.
• 68 % of smartphone users have antivirus protection.
• The desktop/PC segment remains dominant in antivirus installations.
• Tablets and secondary devices tend to lag in antivirus adoption by ~10–20 pp (percentage points).
• Free antivirus options often come preinstalled on Windows machines, contributing to usage figures.
• Some users rely only on built-in OS security (e.g., Windows Defender) and install no third‑party solution.
• In 2024, ~121 million U.S. adults used third‑party antivirus software on one or more devices.
• Antivirus presence on macOS is lower relative to Windows, reflecting the perceived lower risk.

Antivirus Market Financial Insights

• In 2025, the global antivirus market is valued at US$4.23 billion.
• Forecasts indicate growth to $5.52 billion by 2029, implying a CAGR of ~6.9 %.
• Another estimate places the 2024 market at $4.13 billion, rising modestly to $4.19 billion in 2025 (CAGR ~1.5 %) under a conservative scenario.
• IMARC Group puts the 2024 valuation at $4.33 billion and projects a CAGR of 2.8 % from 2025 to 2033.
• In 2025, the enterprise antivirus software segment is expected to reach US $4,155 million (≈ $4.155 billion) globally.
• The enterprise segment is forecast to grow at ~7.4 % CAGR between 2025 and 2033.
• North America is projected to hold around 36 % of the enterprise antivirus market in 2025.
• In that same projection, Europe holds ~27 %, Asia Pacific ~22.5 %, South America ~6.9 %, the Middle East ~4.3 %, and Africa ~3.3 %.
• Gen Digital (which owns Avast, Norton, Avira) expects strong demand, projecting 2026 revenue between $4.70B and $4.80B, above some analysts’ estimates.

Detection and Effectiveness Rates

• In AV‑Comparatives tests (Feb–Mar 2025), antivirus products were exposed to 212 real‑world threat cases.
• Some top antivirus software claim detection effectiveness > 99 % in lab malware tests.
• In select tests, certain AVs caught > 99.95 % of threats and flagged less than 0.01 % of benign files.
• False positive rates vary; some AVs generate zero monthly false alarms, others dozens.
• Adversarial malware techniques can increase evasion success by ~15.9 % against top-tier AVs.
• The AV‑TEST Institute logs over 450,000 new malicious programs (malware + PUA) daily.
• DeepStrike reports ~560,000 new malware samples per day globally.
• In mobile/IoT environments, detection tends to drop slightly compared to desktops, due to obfuscation and novel attack vectors.
• In AV tests for Android (July 2025), multiple security apps achieved high detection with minimal false positives.

Antivirus Market Share for Windows

• Windows remains the primary platform for antivirus software deployment, benefiting from the large user base.
• In some AV lab tests, Microsoft Defender and Norton achieved perfect scores (100 %) across protection, usability, and performance.
• Because Windows has a built‑in antivirus (Defender), many users rely on it rather than third‑party solutions.
• In U.S. user demographics, Norton leads the paid AV share (~29 %), while McAfee leads the free share (~19 %) among third‑party AV users.
• Kaspersky’s U.S. share has dropped to ∼3 % (preceding or during policy restrictions).
• Windows’ extensibility allows AV vendors to integrate kernel and user‑space modules, though recent shifts are pushing some scanning out of kernel space.
• The presence of Windows Defender (preinstalled) exerts pressure on third‑party AV pricing and feature differentiation.
• Some AV vendors now collaborate with Microsoft to offload or share scanning tasks to reduce performance overhead.

Malware and Ransomware Trends

• An estimated 560,000 new malware threats are detected daily worldwide.
• There are over 1 billion malware programs in circulation today.
• On average, 4 companies fall victim to ransomware every minute.
• Trojans account for ~58 % of all malware.
• ~90 % of cyber threats employ phishing or social engineering vectors.
• Mobile malware infections have surged; Android devices are ~50× more likely to be compromised than iOS ones.
• In H1 2023, mobile malware represented ~21 % of all malware detections.
• The average enterprise blocks 2,500+ mobile threats per month, a ~15 % increase over prior benchmarks.
• iOS zero-click exploits (like Pegasus-like spyware) were implicated in ~3 % of mobile infections studied in Q2 2023.

Mobile Antivirus Statistics

• In AV lab testing (mid-2025), several Android security apps achieved high detection rates with minimal false positives.
• Detection and protection scores decline slightly on mobile vs desktop due to obfuscation and environment constraints.
• Android receives ~92 % of all mobile malware.
• Many users do not run third‐party mobile antivirus software, relying instead on built-in protections and app permissions.
• In U.S. demographics, only ~17 % of adults report running antivirus software on their phones.
• Among detected mobile threats, smishing (SMS phishing) rose by ~36 % in a recent period (H1 2023).
• The average enterprise blocks > 2,500 mobile threats monthly.
• iOS zero-click exploits remain rare but have a high impact when they occur (~3 % share in the studied period).

Antivirus Feature Adoption

• Many AV products now include cloud‑scanning modules to reduce local resource usage.
• AI/ML-based anomaly detection is increasingly embedded in AV engines, though adversarial attacks challenge them.
• Some vendors offer scam/fraud detection across channels (email, SMS, video) as an AV feature.
• Behavior-based monitoring (rather than signatures) has become more common in AV toolkits.
• Integration of VPNs into AV suites is now standard among major vendors.
• Dark web monitoring and identity protection are bundled in many premium variants.
• Automated patching or alerting of OS/app vulnerabilities is increasingly part of feature sets.
• Parental control and content filtering modules are more common in consumer AV versions.
• Some AV vendors now offer IoT device scanning as part of their core feature set.

Free vs Paid Antivirus Programs

• In 2025 surveys, 27 % of third‑party antivirus users say they use free products, the remaining 73 % use paid ones.
• In IT Security Survey 2025, over two‑thirds of desktop security users reported paying for their solution.
• Some sources suggest 38 % of users pay for antivirus software, while 62 % use free versions.
• Free antivirus versions often lack advanced features like firewalls, automated patching, identity theft protection, and premium support.
• Paid antivirus software commonly includes features such as VPN, Dark Web monitoring, cloud backup, and priority support.
• Free versions usually limit device count (e.g., 1 device) or OS compatibility, whereas paid plans cover multiple devices.
• In real‑world usage, paying users are 17 % less likely to face novel malware infections than free users.
• Free antivirus is seen as a baseline “better than nothing” measure, but most experts argue that comprehensive protection requires paid tiers.

Enterprise Antivirus Adoption Trends

• In a survey of small and midsize businesses, 50 % report using antivirus software as a basic security layer.
• Adoption of enterprise-grade endpoint protection and detection (EDR) is rising in tandem with remote work.
• Many organizations are shifting from signature-based antivirus to AI/behavioral EDR modules.
• Security budgets increasingly allocate to Extended Detection and Response (XDR) suites, of which antivirus is integral.
• Some enterprises adopt zero‑trust segmentation tied to antivirus status checks (device health attestation).
• Integration with SIEM, SOAR, and threat intel feeds is more common in enterprise deployments.
• Cloud endpoint protection (antivirus in the cloud or hybrid) is increasingly deployed to reduce management overhead.
• According to Cybernews, the antivirus market growth is driven in part by demand from enterprise clients.

Regional Antivirus Statistics

• North America controls over 43 % of the security and cybersecurity market share (which includes antivirus) in 2025.
• Europe is often the second‑largest regional market for antivirus software.
• Asia Pacific shows one of the fastest growth rates in antivirus adoption, especially in emerging economies (India, Southeast Asia).
• Free vs paid preferences vary regionally. In the U.S., paid models see stronger adoption than in price‑sensitive markets.
• Regions with stricter data privacy and regulation (e.g., EU) tend to favor AV suites that emphasize compliance and logging.
• The U.S. is a hub for antivirus R&D, procurement, and enterprise security standards.
• Some country bans (e.g., on certain AV vendors) influence regional adoption, e.g., Kaspersky’s reduced share in the U.S. after policy moves.
• Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East show growing interest but lag in paid adoption rates due to cost constraints.

IoT and New Threat Trends

• As connected device counts rise (smart locks, cameras, sensors), antivirus suites increasingly offer IoT scanning modules.
• Adversarial attacks on ML-based antivirus models (e.g., poisoning, evasion) are emerging threats.
• Some malware now targets the firmware layer, bypassing conventional antivirus engines.
• Zero‑day and polymorphic malware remain a core challenge for antivirus detection.
• Attackers are combining AI‑based payloads and dynamic obfuscation to slip past defenses.
• Botnets composed of IoT devices amplify DDoS attacks and require network‑level AI to detect.
• Security for connected vehicles (automotive IoT) is pushing antivirus vendors into embedded systems.
• The rise of supply‑chain malware (compromised software updates) demands behavior‑based defenses.

Antivirus Subscription and Pricing Data

• Many consumer antivirus subscriptions range from $20 to $60 per year per user/device.
• Bundled suites with VPN or identity monitoring can push prices above $100 per year for multi‑device packages.
• Vendors often offer discounts (20–40 %) on multi‑year plans.
• Premium enterprise endpoint protection may cost $30‑$60 per seat per year, depending on features.
• Some providers offer freemium models (basic free + paid upgrade) to attract users.
• Renewal rates often jump 30–50 % above initial pricing, as users fail to cancel.
• Bundling with other security modules (firewall, backup, password manager) is used to raise average revenue per user (ARPU).
• Subscription revenue dominates over one‑time license models in modern antivirus business models.

Recommendations and Insights

• For most users, paid antivirus is worthwhile; the added features and lower risk justify the cost, especially for multi-device households.
• Enterprises should prioritize behavioral and AI‑driven EDR / XDR over legacy signature-only AV.
• In regions with lower spending power, bundled free-to-paid upgrades help widen adoption.
• Vendors should differentiate via support, compliance, and threat intelligence to compete beyond core detection.
• Security awareness training must accompany antivirus deployment; software alone cannot block social engineering.
• Continuous testing and red teaming help validate antivirus effectiveness in organizational environments.
• Collaboration between AV vendors, OS makers, and cloud providers will be key to balancing performance, protection, and system stability.
• Monitoring emerging threats (IoT, firmware attacks, AI malware) must inform roadmap decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Conclusion

Antivirus software remains a critical line of defense in 2025, evolving from signature scanning to intelligent, behavioral, and hybrid systems. While paid versions offer more robust protection and features than free tiers, the right choice depends on device count, threat profile, and budget. Enterprises must adopt next‑gen tools like EDR/XDR, and regions must adjust strategies according to adoption and affordability. Above all, antivirus is not a silver bullet; its power is maximized when paired with training, testing, and strategic planning.