Bitdefender discontinues free version

Bitdefender discontinues free version

Security specialist Bitdefender will stop offering a free version of its antivirus software. Users have to pay or look for an alternative.

For years, Bitdefender has offered a free version of its product in addition to paid versions of its security software. Although this Bitdefender Free was functionally less extensive than the paid Bitdefender products, it enjoyed great popularity among consumers in particular.

In combination with the ever-improving standard security of Windows itself, the extra protection against viruses and other malware was sufficient for them and they were able to save on costs. Overnight, Bitdefender has now decided not to offer the free version anymore. On the Bitdefender website only a brief statement states that “the company is focused on product development of multi-platform protection and is therefore withdrawing the free edition of Bitdefender Antivirus for Windows from the market”.

Download gone

Immediately, the download is gone and users can only opt for a 30-day trial version of Bitdefender Total Security. Bitdefender Antivirus Free users will be personally emailed an offer to switch to paid Bitdefender Total Security at a discount.

Users can still use Bitdefender tech support until January 31, 2022 and existing installations of the program will receive updates until mid-2022. After that, those too will stop and users will have to switch to another product anyway, either a paid version of Bitdefender or another free product.

Good name

Bitdefender has a good reputation in securing both Windows and Mac computers as well as mobile devices. The company has been scoring well with its solutions in comparative tests of the various antimalware labs worldwide for years.

It was also one of the first to provide users with a one-point overview of the security status of all devices in the household via an online portal and an accompanying app. Bitdefender has been asked to comment on the development. It will be added here as soon as it is available.

Related Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *