We may earn a commission when you buy software.
Aura Antivirus Review (2025): Is it the right choice?
By Tibor Moes / Updated: January 2025
Aura Antivirus Review 2025
Aura is ranked #22 of the 28 best antivirus of 2025.
Aura is a solid antivirus solution with good malware detection capabilities, and identity theft safeguards for US customers. Sadly, Aura doesn’t offer a firewall or parental controls. And both the VPN and password manager can’t match those of the best antivirus software.
Even more critical, Aura does not participate in the independent tests by AV-Test, which is not a good sign. Without these tests, we have no verifiable benchmark to compare it against. Therefore, we would stick to one of the proven winners, like Norton 360 Deluxe.
In short, Aura is not the best choice for your security.
Norton is the best choice in 2025.
Norton has the best malware protection, excellent features and a fair price. It is the winner in our antivirus test.
- Protection: 100%. Norton stopped all 1,200 malware in our test.
- Features: 100%. Anti-phishing, firewall, VPN, and more.
- Speed: 100%. Norton did not slow down our test PC.
Try it risk-free, thanks to its 60-day return policy.
Full Review
Aura provides strong antivirus protection and excellent identity theft safeguards, especially for U.S. users. During our testing, Aura’s malware detection was effective, although the scanner lacks customization compared to leading competitors.
The identity theft protection features are a standout, offering comprehensive monitoring of bank accounts, credit reports, and social security data, with alerts for any suspicious activity.
However, Aura falls short in areas like its VPN, parental controls, and password manager. It also lacks essential tools such as a firewall, Wi-Fi monitoring, and system tune-ups—features included in more affordable alternatives like Norton and Bitdefender. Additionally, parental controls are only available in family plans.
Anti-malware
Aura’s malware scanner is effective, offering real-time detection and on-demand scans with options for Quick, Full, and Custom scans. It uses a large malware database and machine learning to identify threats, detecting about 96% of malware in our tests, including spyware, trojans, viruses, and ransomware. This is nearly on par with top antivirus programs in 2025.
While Aura’s detection rates are strong, it has some drawbacks. It lacks the ability to schedule scans, which is inconvenient, especially since full scans can slow down your device. Additionally, it doesn’t provide scan logs, making it harder to track security issues over time.
Aura’s protection for Windows is solid, but its real-time protection on macOS is less reliable. Mac users may want to consider alternatives like Intego. Despite its limitations, Aura’s anti-malware capabilities are strong overall, though some improvements are needed in functionality.
Password manager
Aura’s password manager is basic but functional, with a few standout features. It integrates well with Aura’s identity protection, allowing stored passwords, credit card details, and addresses to be auto-filled in forms. However, the auto-fill feature works less smoothly for addresses and credit cards, requiring multiple clicks for completion compared to more streamlined competitors like 1Password.
One of Aura’s stronger features is its email alias function, which generates random email addresses for website sign-ups to protect your real email. These aliases forward emails to your main inbox and can be deleted at any time, offering enhanced privacy. This is a valuable feature, especially since it’s included for free, whereas similar services charge extra.
Aura’s password monitoring is straightforward, providing real-time alerts if your credentials are found on data broker sites or involved in breaches. The built-in auditing tool also flags weak passwords, helping you improve your security.
That said, Aura’s password manager lacks advanced features such as biometric logins, more flexible two-factor authentication (2FA), and the ability to create separate vaults for better organization. Password sharing is limited to family plan users, and unlocking the manager requires your main Aura password, which limits security customization. The browser extension also includes phishing protection, but its effectiveness was mediocre in our tests.
Overall, Aura’s password manager covers the basics and integrates well with its identity protection services, but it falls short compared to more feature-rich competitors. The email alias feature is a nice touch, but the password manager could benefit from more robust functionality and security options.
VPN
Aura’s VPN is simple and effective for basic encryption and privacy on Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows, but it lacks several key features found in top-tier VPNs. It doesn’t allow you to change your location (unlike competitors such as Private Internet Access, which offers servers in 91 countries) and is missing a kill switch—a critical feature that prevents data leaks if the VPN connection drops.
On the plus side, Aura’s VPN can automatically activate when you connect to unsecured networks, and its speeds are impressive. In our tests, the speed reduction was minimal—about 3%—allowing for smooth 4K streaming and fast browsing. It supports Netflix and Amazon Prime streaming but doesn’t work with Hulu or Disney+, and while P2P traffic is allowed, Aura isn’t ideal for torrenting without a kill switch.
Aura’s VPN also includes phishing protection, blocking some malicious websites, though it wasn’t consistently reliable in our tests. However, this protection only works while connected to the VPN, which limits its usefulness.
Overall, Aura’s VPN provides strong encryption and fast speeds but is missing important features like location flexibility and a kill switch, making it less suitable for users seeking advanced security or streaming capabilities.
Other security features
Identity Theft Protection
Aura’s identity theft protection is a standout feature, offering comprehensive monitoring of personal and financial information. It can track your credit, bank accounts, social security number, dark web activity, and more, but is only accessible via the online dashboard, not through the desktop app. The dashboard is easy to navigate, so this limitation wasn’t too inconvenient.
Key features of Aura’s identity theft protection include:
- Credit monitoring & reports: Monthly reports from a major credit bureau with the ability to lock/unlock your credit file.
- Bank monitoring: Tracks accounts for suspicious transactions.
- Data protection: Sends removal requests to data brokers selling your information.
- Dark web monitoring: Scans dark web sites for exposed personal data.
- Social Security monitoring: Alerts when new accounts are opened using your SSN.
- Gamertag monitoring: Protects your online gaming accounts.
- Lost wallet remediation: Helps secure cards and IDs in case of wallet theft.
- Home title and address monitoring: Safeguards against title fraud and unauthorized address changes.
- Criminal record monitoring: Notifies you if your identity is linked to legal issues.
- 401K & investment monitoring: Scans for financial data leaks.
- Dedicated fraud resolution agents: US-based agents help recover assets if you’re a victim of fraud.
Aura also includes an identity theft insurance policy (up to $1 million) for expenses incurred due to identity theft, such as lost wages, legal fees, and travel costs. However, this is only available in the U.S.
One downside is the limit on how much personal information can be monitored. Even on family plans, each adult user can monitor only 10 pieces of information in each of three categories (identity, health, financial). This limitation may be restrictive for those with multiple accounts or assets to track, but there’s no limit for password monitoring.
Overall, Aura’s identity theft protection is robust, with many useful features, though competitors like Norton offer similar services with fewer monitoring restrictions.
Parental Controls
Aura’s parental controls are user-friendly and work well for Android and iOS, but they only come with the family plan. You can monitor up to 50 devices under one subscription, making it a good choice for larger families.
Parents can:
- Filter websites and apps: Set customizable rules for web content and app access.
- Manage screen time: Set time limits for app usage.
- Safe Gaming: Protects kids from cyberbullying and harmful behavior in over 200 online games.
- Monitor app usage: Block and monitor apps on Android and iOS.
- View reports: Get detailed reports of blocked websites and attempts to access restricted content.
Aura offers two preset content filtering modes: Child (for younger kids) and Teen (for older kids), with options to block content across 25+ categories. However, it lacks key features like location tracking, uninstall protection, and YouTube monitoring—functions available with competitors like Qustodio and Norton Family.
Aura’s Safe Gaming feature is unique, offering protection from cyberbullying and harmful language during gaming. However, this is the only parental control feature available for desktop devices, which limits its utility for children who use computers.
In summary, Aura’s parental controls cover basic monitoring needs well, especially for mobile devices, but they miss some advanced features like location tracking and desktop functionality, which may be important for some families.
Click the links to read the reviews of the best antivirus of 2025:
🥇 Norton 360 Deluxe – The #1 in 2025
🥈 Avast Antivirus One
🥉 TotalAV Antivirus
Or read our complete comparison of the best antivirus for Windows 11.
Test score comparison
We conduct in-house anti-malware tests and review the results from AV-Test, a German lab renowned for its objective evaluations. Below is the average of the last 10 AV-Test results for Windows. Their scoring criteria are:
- Protection (1-6): Effectiveness in blocking malware.
- Performance (1-6): Impact on system speed.
- Usability (1-6): Frequency of errors like false alarms.
We calculate a final score using this formula:
Final Score = 60% Protection + 20% Performance + 20% Usability.
While these results influence our choice of the best antivirus for Windows 11, other factors like privacy and identity protection also play a key role. For a similar analysis for Android or macOS, visit our other comparisons:
Note: Brands not listed in the table either do not participate in AV-Test trials or are tested too infrequently, such as Surfshark Antivirus.
Source: AV-Test (Last updated: December 2024).
Click the links to read the reviews of the best antivirus of 2025:
🥇 Norton 360 Standard – The #1 in 2025
🥈 Avast Antivirus One
🥉 TotalAV Antivirus
Or read our complete comparison of the best antivirus for Mac.
Price comparison
We’ve compared the prices of the top antivirus products for Windows. To make it a fair comparison, we looked at what it would cost us, to protect a single Windows PC with the most essential features:
- Anti-malware
- Anti-phishing (web protection)
- Firewall
- Password manager
- Unlimited VPN (no data limit)
A few notes:
- Some brands are missing features, lowering their value for money.
- Prices are second-year prices in the USA, without first-year discounts.
- Prices are rounded up for readability (e.g., $99.99 becomes $100).
Brands have different prices outside the USA. See those on their website.
Click the links to read the reviews of the best antivirus of 2025:
🥇 Norton Antivirus Plus – The #1 in 2025
🥈 Avast Antivirus One
🥉 TotalAV Antivirus
Or read our complete comparison of the best antivirus for Android.
User reviews
We’ve compared the user reviews of all antivirus brands. We’ve used the scores and review count of TrustPilot, a leading user review platform.
We consider scores above 4.0 very good. Lower scores indicate that the brand might have a poor product or customer service. McAfee’s scores, for instance, are worrying.
Source: TrustPilot. Last Update: December 2024.
Click the links to read the reviews of the best antivirus of 2025:
🥇 Norton 360 Advanced – The #1 in 2025
🥈 Avast Antivirus One
🥉 TotalAV Antivirus
Or read our complete comparison of the best antivirus for iOS.
How we test antivirus software
At SoftwareLab, we provide thorough and unbiased antivirus reviews to help you make informed cybersecurity decisions. Our comprehensive testing covers all critical aspects of antivirus performance. We assess each product in six key categories, weighted by importance:
For even more details, visit our blog posts on how we test antivirus software.
Anti-Malware Protection (30%)
We evaluate how well the antivirus detects and removes various malware types like viruses, trojans, ransomware, and spyware.
In-House Testing: Using 1,200 diverse malware samples, we conduct real-time attack simulations to assess detection and neutralization of known and emerging threats through signature-based and heuristic analysis.
Independent Lab Results: We incorporate findings from respected institutes like AV-Test, SE Labs, and AV-Comparatives to validate our results.
Security and Privacy Features (30%)
We assess additional tools that enhance cybersecurity:
Web Protection: Testing the software’s ability to block phishing sites and web-based threats by accessing known malicious websites.
Firewall: Evaluating effectiveness using intrusion simulations and the ShieldsUP! test to secure network ports and monitor traffic.
Password Manager: Assessing capabilities to generate, store, and auto-fill complex passwords, plus features like two-factor authentication and biometric login.
VPN: Evaluating security protocols, encryption, speed, server locations, data limits, and support for streaming and peer-to-peer sharing while hiding IP addresses.
Parental Controls: Testing screen time management, content filtering, location tracking, and resistance to bypass attempts to protect children.
Identity Theft Protection: Assessing monitoring of personal info and responsiveness to potential identity theft alerts.
Secure Cloud Storage: Evaluating capacity, security, usability, and features like file encryption and secure sharing.
Anti-Ransomware: Simulating attacks to test detection and blocking of unauthorized encryption via behavioral detection and exploit prevention.
Dark Web Monitoring: Checking effectiveness in scanning the dark web for personal info and providing timely alerts.
System Performance Impact (10%)
We measure how the antivirus affects device performance during everyday tasks:
Resource Usage: Monitoring CPU and memory during scans and real-time protection.
Performance Tests: Evaluating impact on launching apps, downloading files, browsing websites, and copying data, aligned with AV-Test criteria.
False Positives (10%)
Accuracy is crucial to avoid interruptions:
False Positive Detection: Assessing how often legitimate applications or files are incorrectly flagged.
Usability Tests: Referencing AV-Test evaluations to gauge false positive frequency for effectiveness and user-friendliness.
Price and Value (10%)
We analyze overall value by comparing features to cost:
Cost Analysis: Considering subscription prices, device coverage, and multi-year plans.
Feature Evaluation: Assessing if included features justify the price compared to competitors.
Ownership and Reputation (10%)
Trust is essential in cybersecurity providers:
Company Background: Researching history, industry track record, mergers, or acquisitions.
Privacy Policies: Examining data handling, privacy commitment, and compliance with regulations.
Ethical Conduct: Investigating past unethical behavior, data breaches, or controversies.
Sources and tools
- Apple Platform Security
- AV-Comparatives Consumer
- AV-Test Android
- AV-Test macOS
- AV-Test Windows
- GRC Firewall Test
- Microsoft Defender
- SpeedTest VPN
- Trustpilot Security Software
Click the links to read the reviews of the best VPN of 2025:
🥇 NordVPN – The #1 in 2025
🥈 Surfshark
🥉 Norton VPN
Or read our complete comparison of the best VPN of 2025.

Author: Tibor Moes
Founder & Chief Editor at SoftwareLab
Tibor has tested 28 antivirus programs and 25 VPN services, and holds a Cybersecurity Graduate Certificate from Stanford University.
He uses Norton to protect his devices, NordVPN for his privacy, and Proton for his passwords and email.

Aura Antivirus
Rating: 3 of 5
Save on the best antivirus of 2025:
🥇 Norton Antivirus (60% off) 🔥
🥈 Avast Antivirus
🥉 TotalAV Antivirus