Dr Web Antivirus Review (2026): Is it the right choice?

Full Review

Dr.Web offers an affordable antivirus solution with solid malware protection, combining signature-based detection and heuristic analysis to handle zero-day threats. However, its intrusive firewall, limited advanced features, and outdated interface are drawbacks. Despite these issues, Dr.Web stands out for its low-cost plans, starting at €12.93 per year. While it lacks a money-back guarantee, the Security Space package includes a 3-month free trial, making it a budget-friendly option.

Anti-Malware

Dr.Web’s malware detection system delivers a strong defense by integrating signature-based scanning with heuristic analysis, effectively identifying both known and zero-day threats. During testing, it successfully neutralized nearly all malware samples, including ransomware, worms, trojans, and viruses. Users can select from full, quick, or custom scans, with full scans offering comprehensive coverage at the cost of increased system strain compared to cloud-based solutions like Bitdefender.

The real-time protection component, SpIDer Guard, provides outstanding, configurable defense that surpasses Microsoft Defender in threat interception. It allows advanced users to tailor settings for behavioral analysis, ransomware protection, and detection thresholds. While the interface is generally intuitive, some options require technical expertise due to a lack of in-app guidance.

Dr.Web also provides detailed operational logs through its Statistics page, documenting all malware detections and remediation actions. These reports offer transparency and enable users to monitor performance effectively. Overall, the engine excels in both accuracy and configurability, making it a powerful choice for users who prefer control over their antivirus settings.

Anti-Phishing

Dr.Web’s web protection includes several components: a real-time monitoring system called SpIDer Gate, a browser link-checking extension, and an innovative Telegram bot that scans links on demand. The manual link-checking tools, though creative, underperformed during testing—detecting only a limited number of phishing sites, particularly the Telegram bot, which requires an account and phone verification.

In contrast, the real-time web protection demonstrated strong performance, significantly outpacing Chrome’s native safeguards in blocking phishing and malicious websites. It enables users to manage blacklists and whitelists, toggle specific content filters, and review detailed URL logs from the Statistics menu.

Dr.Web’s email scanner also integrates seamlessly, automatically flagging and isolating malicious attachments into spam folders. Though limited in customization, it effectively neutralized harmful content during testing. Overall, while the real-time defenses are highly effective, the manual link-checking utilities add little practical value compared to competitors such as Norton Safe Web.

Firewall

Dr.Web’s firewall delivers competent protection against network-based attacks and exploits but suffers from usability issues. While it successfully blocked most simulated threats during testing, it frequently misidentifies legitimate applications as unsafe. Each new app typically triggers multiple alerts requiring manual rule creation, which quickly becomes disruptive.

Users can reduce these interruptions by setting the firewall to “Allow unknown connections,” though this compromises security by accepting unverified sources. Maintaining default settings provides stronger protection but risks desensitizing users through excessive notifications. Striking the right balance requires technical awareness and patience.

Despite these shortcomings, Dr.Web’s firewall remains technically robust but lacks the refinement of competitors like Norton’s intelligent firewall. Enhancing its trusted-application database would greatly reduce false positives and improve the overall user experience without diminishing its core defensive capabilities.

Parental Controls

Dr.Web’s parental control suite offers functional, customizable options suitable for families seeking basic online supervision. Integrated directly into the antivirus application, it eliminates the need for separate installations and allows administrators to configure unique settings per user account. These controls include app and website blocking, category-based filtering, and time restrictions for internet access.

Parents can tailor these parameters to match age-appropriate profiles. For instance, internet hours can be limited for younger children, while older users can be restricted by content type rather than time. This flexibility makes the feature set adaptable across household needs.

The parental control system also provides activity reports showing browsing history, app usage, and alerts when a child attempts to bypass restrictions. However, it lacks location tracking, YouTube supervision, and panic-button functions found in more advanced solutions like Qustodio. Despite some missing features, Dr.Web’s implementation remains reliable for basic oversight and protection within an antivirus framework.

Other Security Features

Beyond its core protection components, Dr.Web includes several valuable auxiliary tools that enhance overall system security. The microphone and webcam protection feature monitors unauthorized access attempts, alerting users whenever software tries to activate either device. This prevents surveillance-based intrusions and adds an essential layer of privacy control.

The USB access control feature safeguards data integrity by preventing unauthorized reading or writing to removable media. This is particularly beneficial in shared or corporate environments where portable drives pose infection or data theft risks.

Additionally, Dr.Web provides basic file backup capabilities, allowing users to restore critical data following a malware attack or system compromise. Although its functionality is limited compared to dedicated backup services like Norton’s, it effectively fulfills its recovery purpose for routine protection.

These supplementary utilities, while modest, enhance Dr.Web’s overall value proposition. Together, they form a well-rounded security package offering privacy defense, access control, and resilience against data loss, reinforcing the antivirus’s position as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution.

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:

• The best antivirus for Android.
• The best antivirus for Mac.

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: November 2025).

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.

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: November 2025.