PC Matic antivirus review for 2026

PC Matic stands out with its zero-trust, “default-deny” approach, blocking every unverified app and only allowing those deemed safe by its research team. This strategy makes it highly effective against emerging threats, but everyday users might find it limiting.

Missing features like a password manager, parental controls, and safe search make it feel less like a full suite and more like a specialized tool. If you’re after more rounded protection with modern conveniences, TotalAV might be the better fit for your all-in-one cybersecurity needs.

That said, if you’re curious about PC Matic or think it might suit your specific needs, keep reading my PC Matic review for 2026. With the help of the Cybernews research team, I assessed its performance, security features, and pricing to see whether this unconventional antivirus truly delivers, or if you’re better off with a more traditional option.

⭐ Rating:	3.6 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
🥇 Overall rank:	#22 out of #30
💵 Price:	From $50.00/year
✂️ Free version:	Yes
🖥️ Platforms:	Windows, macOS, Android
🔥 Coupons:	Antivirus coupons

PC Matic pros and cons

Recent Updates

Is PC Matic antivirus safe?

No, PC Matic isn’t a safe antivirus software. While it offers a number of security features and performed quite well in independent tests, our in-house testing showed that PC Matic scans failed to catch and remove 8 out of 10 threats, and real-time protection blocked 0 out of 10 malware samples. These results are very poor when compared to top providers like TotalAV. PC Matic isn’t a good antivirus software, and I cannot recommend it.

Nevertheless, it’s still worth looking into what independent antivirus testing labs have found. In its most recent AV-TEST, it even snagged a Top Product award from this independent testing institute, making it a reasonable candidate to be a leading antivirus on the market. However, I must note that the last tests were done in 2024, which is quite a while ago.

The April 2024 AV-TEST produced chart-topping results for PC Matic in protection and performance. It received a perfect score of 6.0/6.0 in both categories.

To measure protection, PC Matic was tested to see how well it could detect both zero-day threats and older malware. PC Matic didn’t miss a beat – it had a 100% detection rate for both forms of malware.

For performance, PC Matic was tested across several categories to see if it slowed down the computer. For both a standard PC and a high-end PC, this antivirus software performed better than the industry average. It didn’t slow down either system and earned full points for performance.

PC Matic had less notable results in the usability test. It earned 4.0 out of 6.0 possible points in this category. The biggest deviation it had from industry standards was in blocking legitimate software. The standard shows 1 block out of 30 samples, but PC Matic blocked 12.

These results are a bit misleading due to the nature of PC Matic’s whitelist. Since any unknown software is blocked until it can be reviewed by the PC Matic malware professionals, it makes sense that the numbers are initially higher.

Results from the PC Matic malware team can take up to 24 hours, so it’s possible that these blocked programs would be permitted to run once added to the whitelist.

How much does PC Matic cost?

PC Matic is more expensive than most top competitors. It offers a very limited free option, but you can also test the premium plans by using the 30-day money-back guarantee.

The way PC Matic arranges its pricing begins with choosing your plan. There’s a free option and 3 annual plans. After choosing your plan, you can add extra features. You can skip this step if you aren’t interested in any of these offerings. Below is a detailed breakdown of what each plan offers:

Feature / Plan	Free plan	Antivirus Protection	Antivirus Protection + VPN	Antivirus + Identity Protection
Price (first year)	Free​	$50.00/year	$60.00/year	$160.00/year
Device limit	1	5	5	10
Support	Knowledgebase	Knowledgebase and email support	Knowledgebase, email support, and limited phone support	Knowledgebase, email support, and limited phone support
VPN	❌ No	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Privacy protection	❌ No	Malicious ad and scam blocker	Malicious ad and scam blocker, firewall, file shredder, and personal data exposure report	Malicious ad and scam blocker, firewall, file shredder, and personal data exposure report
Identity protection	❌ No	Dark web monitoring	Dark web monitoring	Dark web monitoring, advanced fraud monitoring, $1M identity theft insurance, and $1M stolen funds reimbursement
PC Matic Privacy	❌ No	Available as an add-on, $30.00/year	Available as an add-on, $30.00/year	Available as an add-on, $30.00/year
PC Matic Delist	❌ No​	Available as an add-on, $60.00/year	Available as an add-on, $60.00/year	Available as an add-on, $60.00/year
Support Unlimited	❌ No	Available as an add-on, $100.00/year	Available as an add-on, $100.00/year	Available as an add-on, $100.00/year

Scanning

PC Matic offers a quick and full scan for your device's protection. Our Cybernews research team performed scanning tests on a Windows PC, with Windows Security service and PC Matic real-time protection disabled to get the most accurate results. For testing, the research team used a variety of malware samples, including trojans, adware, ransomware, and similar.

The quick scan took a little above 6 minutes, with the CPU load being exceptionally light – just 55%. However, the overall performance was poor – the quick scan detected only 2 out of 10 threats. The scan report also provided information on the overall state of the device, including driver status, whether any performance tweaking or updates were needed, and how many junk files were found.

The full scan took a little above 16 minutes, with the CPU load being only 45%. Unfortunately, the full scan found only 4 out of 10 malicious files. The scan additionally removed 2 temporary files.

In conclusion, the overall PC Matic malware detection rate is only 30%, which is a very poor performance for antivirus software, especially when compared to 100% detection rate providers like TotalAV or Norton. While the overall device status reports are nice to get, they lose any meaning if the software cannot even catch and prevent malware.

PC Matic features

PC Matic doesn’t have as many features as its competitors. Its basic plan lacks such features as a firewall or parental controls, while top providers like TotalAV and Norton antivirus have these and then some more. On the other hand, PC Matic offers an ad blocker and a unique script-blocking feature for fileless malware. Continue reading to find out more about PC Matic features.

Whitelist

One of the most unique features of PC Matic is the whitelist technology. Typically, antivirus software uses a blacklist, or a list of known malware, to protect your device. Most antivirus software, like TotalAV or Bitdefender, use blacklists. A whitelist, on the other hand, is a list of approved programs that won’t cause a threat to your system. When a whitelisted program is detected, it’s allowed to run. Any other program is considered suspicious and temporarily blocked. PC Matic’s whitelist stops any new and unknown programs, treating them as hostile until proven otherwise. While a whitelist might sound safer in theory, it means that plenty of legitimate software will be flagged as unsafe if they haven’t yet been added to the whitelist. While it keeps your device safe from anything new, it tends to result in more false positives than its competitors.

Devices

With PC Matic, you can easily choose the devices you want to connect. With just a click, you can get started adding a new device and scanning it for protection. You can also clearly see when the last test was performed on each device and when the next test is scheduled to run.

I found this feature quite nice – it’s always good to have a concise summary of the security state on each of your devices, and get recommendations on whether any scanning should be scheduled. Nevertheless, the security overview feature is nothing out of the ordinary – Norton also offers the same tool.

Dark Web Monitoring

PC Matic also offers Dark Web Monitoring, although it might be limited depending on the plan you choose. With the basic plan, PC Matic will continually scan for one adult’s identity on the dark web. It will check known marketplaces to see if a third party is selling personal data. When I tested this feature, I found that adding my personal information to be checked was easy. My account wasn’t associated with any personal information leaks, so I didn’t get any alerts, but in theory, the alert dashboard looks functional and easy to understand in case anything does happen.

Dark web monitoring also includes identity theft alerts provided by IdentityForce, which will send notifications to your phone or email when something suspicious is detected. If your credit card information is detected and you are notified right away, you can cancel your card before anyone else can use it. However, this feature is only available for US users and on higher-tier plans.

PC Matic’s Dark Web Monitoring is similar to what some other providers like Norton or TotalAV offer, including identity theft protection. However, unlike PC Matic, TotalAV offers a much more comprehensive identity and personal data protection plan, which not only includes monitoring and alerts but also full assistance in case of identity theft, as well as identity theft insurance.

SuperShield

PC Matic’s SuperShield is the real-time protection feature, and it is supposed to detect malicious files and block them in real-time. Our research team tested this PC Matic feature by downloading 10 malware samples from selected libraries. The SuperShield feature detected and blocked 0 out of 10 samples, which resulted in a 0% real-time malware detection rate.

Comprehensive updates

PC Matic will keep an eye out for any needed updates. If any new drivers or security patches become available, PC Matic will automatically update them. This includes third-party apps, ensuring you’re never accidentally left with a weak link in the system that cybercriminals could take advantage of.

Script blocking

To give you the best defense against tricky fileless malware, PC Matic provides a script-blocking agent called Script Enforcement. Fileless malware poses an extra threat since it doesn’t even need to be downloaded to the system to infect it. Script blocking is designed to detect unusual scripting activity and protect you from it immediately.

Ad blocker

PC Matic, like many other antivirus providers these days, offers an ad blocker. It’s a browser extension that is automatically installed together with the main software. I found the main ad blocker interface too small to navigate comfortably, but it was still fairly usable.

Our research team tested the PC Matic ad blocker capabilities with several different ad blocking tests. The results were somewhat disappointing: the PC Matic ad blocker couldn’t block a variety of ads, including flash banners, error monitoring, push notifications, video ads, banner ads, direct link ads, tracking ads, and invisible trackers. It also didn’t block YouTube ads.

Overall, the PC Matic ad blocker might be able to block some ads like pop-ups, but it’s not very good, especially when compared to top ad blocker providers such as Total Adblock or any other ad blockers that the best antivirus providers offer.

Quarantine

When the scan is complete and suspicious files are detected, PC Matic will put them in quarantine. This gives the user a chance to check the files before they are deleted forever. If a file was placed in quarantine, but the user knows it isn’t malicious, they can restore the safe files while removing the rest.

Ease of use and setup

Getting PC Matic up and running is straightforward and doesn’t require advanced technical knowledge. For your computer, simply download the software after purchasing your plan. Once you launch it on your device, it’s pretty easy to find what you need.

Keep in mind that PC Matic is currently limited in its apps for mobile devices. It supports smartphones using Android Version 4.4 or higher and iOS devices running iOS 13.0 and higher.

For iPhone users, we have gathered a dedicated list of iOS antivirus apps that won’t leave you without protection.

PC Matic interface

Upon opening the PC Matic Windows app, you see a homepage featuring large icons for different features, as well as a button to scan your device, and some quick stats about the app’s performance and scan history. The overall interface is a little bit outdated but ultimately easy to navigate and understand, and quite similar to what you would find on TotalAV or Bitdefender’s desktop applications.

For example, to activate the real-time protection, you can click on the SuperShield icon. Subsequently, the scheduler will allow you to schedule scans for your devices. In the Devices tab, you will find the option to link more devices to the antivirus software. If you want to see the scan results, you can click on the reports tab. In the accounts and support tab, you will be able to manage your account and subscriptions and contact the support team, respectively.

In the options tab, you can find the same features as on the home page, plus the quarantine section, whitelist management, and language settings.

Other features, such as the ad blocker and the identity theft protection feature, come either as a browser extension or a separate application, respectively.

The layout for the macOS app is a bit different but consistent in clarity and design style. One major difference is the portal that is required for macOS users. When you open your PC Matic on Mac, you need to proceed to the web portal to access all your settings and features.

The menu on the left side of the portal will give you access to scans, SuperShield, file manager, and more. Once you select what you want, it’s easy to take action with the clearly labeled icons on the main screen.

Overall, the Windows and macOS versions have decent functionality. They can’t quite keep up with the sleek design and enhanced customization of their competitors, such as Norton or TotalAV, but they offer a comprehensive overview of the software.

PC Matic mobile apps

The PC Matic mobile apps don’t have the most impressive design, but they are user-friendly and serve their purpose of protecting your mobile devices pretty well. In comparison to desktop apps, mobile apps lack a few features and the interface may appear outdated, but they are good for some basic device scanning and light performance optimization.

I could only test the Android app in this PC Matic review since there isn’t technically one for iOS. The iOS version is a content blocker rather than a malware scanner since Apple has restrictions when it comes to these types of apps.

The Android app is a malware scanner, but it's rather limited in features and has an outdated interface. Although it doesn’t compete with the design and functionality of some of its competitors, it’s still easy to use.

To use the Android app, simply download and install the app on your mobile device. It'll need permission to manage phone calls, even though it’s unclear why.

Once you grant that permission, you can scan your files and applications for threats. When the scan is complete, it'll display a report with the total number of scanned items and how many threats were located. It will also clear your cache while conducting the scan.

From the app, you can schedule your next scan. You can also set it to only update over Wi-Fi if you’re looking to save mobile data.

Customer support

24/7 live chat	✅ Yes
Email	✅ Yes
Phone support	✅ Yes, but limited to higher-tier plans and US-based only
Guides or articles	✅ Yes
FAQ	✅ Yes

When it comes to customer support, the level of assistance you receive depends on the plan that you have. Users with the basic Antivirus Protection plan are limited to solving issues with the chatbot or email system. The chatbot is available on any page of the website and displays common questions for you to choose from. While its answers are helpful, the chatbot is only really useful for basic product information.

On the website, you can fill out a form that will be sent to the tech support team. They will respond to you via email. Responses from the tech support team are usually prompt and detailed. Depending on the problem, the response might include step-by-step instructions, comprehensive explanations, and links to additional video tutorials.

Is PC Matic good, and why do we not recommend it?

While PC Matic has a few appealing qualities, such as support for multiple devices and some useful additional features, it ultimately falls short where it matters most: protection and usability. Its whitelisting-based approach aims to prevent unknown programs from running, but this method provides only limited real-world defense compared to top competitors. Brands like TotalAV consistently achieve near-perfect protection rates and offer more comprehensive features and smoother user experiences for a similar cost.

In short, PC Matic may be good in theory, but it simply doesn’t match the reliability, performance, and value offered by today’s leading antivirus programs. That’s why I don’t recommend it.

FAQ