While Macs aren’t immune to malware infestations, antivirus protection for Macs has lagged behind Windows. Many security companies offer minimal antivirus protection for the Mac. With Norton 360 Deluxe for Mac, though, you get a multi-platform security suite. Norton’s macOS edition doesn’t match every feature available on Windows, but it’s much more than a simple antivirus. It also costs more than a simple antivirus, but it’s well worth the price, especially given its excellent performance in lab testing and in our own tests against phishing threats. Along with the excellent Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, it earns our Editors’ Choice award for Mac antivirus.
How Much Does Norton 360 Cost?
You pay $119.99 per year for a Norton 360 subscription, which lets you install protection on up to five macOS, Windows, iOS, or Android devices. McAfee Total Protection costs the same for five cross-platform licenses. Both offer more than simple antivirus protection for that price. With Norton, you get five cross-platform VPN licenses as well.
A Norton AntiVirus Plus subscription can also be used to install protection on your Mac, but naturally, you don’t get as much. In particular, the antivirus doesn’t include VPN protection. It costs $84.99 per year for five licenses, less than Norton 360, but you get considerably fewer features.
It’s Surprisingly Easy to Be More Secure Online
The low end of the price range for Mac antiviruses is precisely zero. You don’t have to pay a penny for Avast, AVG, or Avira Free Antivirus for Mac, for example. As with Windows antivirus, the most common single-license yearly price for a commercial macOS antivirus is $39.99 or thereabouts. Several companies offer three licenses for $59.99, among them Bitdefender and Malwarebytes. There’s quite a spread here, both in pricing and in what you get for the price.
Which macOS Versions Does Norton Support?
A ridiculous number of Windows computers still run antique versions of the OS, even the defunct Windows 7 and the moribund Windows 8. Old versions are much less common on Macs, as most users keep up with the latest iteration. Norton documentation reports support for the current macOS version and the two previous versions. On that basis, you need Sequoia (15), Sonoma (14), or Ventura (13).
Those stuck on an outmoded Mac operating system, perhaps due to antique hardware, should probably consider Intego, which extends support back to 10.9 (Mavericks), or ProtectWorks AntiVirus for Mac, which works with 10.6 (Snow Leopard) or later.
What Is the Gen Stack?
Gen Digital is the name of the company that owns Norton; Gen also owns numerous other security brands, including Avast, AVG, and Avira. Avast and AVG merged back in 2016, and they’ve used the same antivirus engine for years, but Norton and Avira each kept their own separate technology until now.
The developers have merged the best of these technologies into a single antivirus engine that they call the Gen stack. New installations of Norton, Avast, and AVG are built on this engine, and existing users will gradually upgrade to the new version. Avira will follow before long. Whether the different antivirus tools using the stack will perform differently remains to be seen.
Signup and Installation
As with many modern security programs, you manage your Norton subscription online. You create your Norton account (or log into an existing account) during the purchase process. You can then download and install Norton protection on your Mac or email a link to install it on another device.
For nearly a decade, Norton’s protection, both on PC and Mac, kept the same general appearance. Its airy, light-colored main window displayed security status in the top half, while the bottom half consisted of large panels relating to feature areas such as security, scans, and updates. Clicking one of those panels revealed further choices in the selected area.
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The switch to the Gen stack also comes with a complete redesign of the app’s user interface. The home page retains its security status display, but it’s now in the middle of the page. Down the left side, a simple menu offers access to Home, Security, Performance, Privacy, LifeLock, and Settings.
A row of large buttons down the right side roughly replaces the once-separate My Norton app. Here you can access such features as Norton’s password manager and private browser. You also get management-only access to backup and parental control features on other devices—the macOS edition doesn’t include parental control, and backup is Windows-only.
Dark Web Monitoring is a wholly online service, so it doesn’t matter which platform you use. Norton 360 Deluxe doesn’t include a LifeLock subscription like Norton’s higher protection tiers, but the Dark Web feature does get some information from LifeLock. I’ll discuss this feature below.
Like Norton AntiVirus, clicking Security brings up a page with three large panels. Under Windows, these panels represent Scans, Cloud Backup, and LiveUpdate. Backup isn’t a feature of the macOS edition, so the middle panel on a Mac is labeled Antivirus. Clicking it takes you to a simple settings page for real-time protection.
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The security page offers another way to access the not-for-Mac backup and parental control management console. As in the Windows edition, Norton offers both Browser Protection and Browser Extensions. The former steers you away from malicious and fraudulent websites, regardless of your browser. The latter helps you install Norton Home Page, Norton Safe Search, and Norton Safe Web in Chrome and Firefox. For Safari, only Norton Safe Web is available. As in the Windows edition, Norton automates installing extensions for Chrome and Firefox. You just sit back and click, click, click when prompted.
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Between its full malware scan and real-time protection, Norton should take care of any malware attack, but on the off chance it doesn’t, the company’s Virus Protection Promise kicks in. You only qualify for this service if you enable automatic renewal, which seems like a reasonable trade-off. Norton’s tech support experts will analyze your problem and, if necessary, remote control your Mac for a hands-on pitched battle against the persistent malware. In the unlikely event that malware wins the fight, you can apply for a refund. McAfee AntiVirus Plus for Mac offers a similar promise.
You can’t see them, but the macOS edition of Norton 360 has some serious security chops. According to the company, all drivers and components support the platform’s new security standards, and all kernel modules have been replaced with more robust System Extensions. It also supports the M1 through M4 chipsets natively—no emulation required.
One Perfect Antivirus Lab Score
When I test Windows antivirus apps, I evaluate their reaction to real-world malware and to recently discovered URLs that host Windows malware. I have a collection of hand-coded tools to help run tests and record results. None of those tools can function on a Mac, and my malware collection process is specific to Windows, so I can’t apply the same level of hands-on testing to macOS security apps. Fortunately, a couple of the big international antivirus testing labs include macOS antiviruses in their testing.
Two of the labs I follow regularly report test results for Mac antivirus apps, but only one includes Norton in its latest tests. Specifically, the latest Mac-focused reports from AV-Comparatives don’t include Norton.
As with Windows antivirus utilities, AV-Test Institute rates Mac antivirus tools in three categories: Protection, Performance, and Usability. In layman’s terms, that means accurate protection against malware, small effect on performance, and few or no false positive results (valid files or websites identified as malicious).
Programs can earn up to six points in each category, and Norton sweeps the field with a perfect score of 18 points total. In truth, almost all apps in the latest test matched Norton’s perfect score, including Avast, AVG AntiVirus for Mac, and Bitdefender.
Avast Security for Mac, AVG, and Bitdefender also earn the highest scores from AV-Comparatives, making them the lab test darlings.
Malware Scans and Schedules
Like most Mac antiviruses, Norton lets you choose between a full scan of your entire Mac and a quick scan that just looks at common malware locations. The time required for these scans varies wildly from app to app, but Norton is faster than most. Its quick scan proved to be truly quick in my testing, finishing in 20 seconds. Airo took about the same time to finish a quick scan, while Sophos and Malwarebytes for Mac Premium ran even faster.
The average full-scan time for recent Mac antivirus tools is about 26 minutes. Norton finished a full scan of the MacBook I use for testing in 27 minutes, very close to that average. CleanMyMac, Sophos, and Webroot Antivirus for Mac all came in under 5 minutes. At the other end of the scale, ESET Cyber Security for Mac took over three hours, and McAfee about half that.
Do note that a long scan time isn’t really a big deal. The scan happens in the background, so you can keep using your Mac while it’s going on.
I don’t have a collection of Mac-specific malware for testing, but most Mac antivirus tools promise to detect and eliminate Windows malware as well. To test that ability, I copied the malware collection from my Windows antivirus testing to a thumb drive and challenged Norton’s Mac edition to clean up the mess.
This time, it detected and quarantined 76% of them, roughly the same as its score when last tested. Some competitors have proven more effective in this test. McAfee detected 96% of these samples and Avast reached 97%. The macOS edition of Aura, challenged with my previous malware collection, reached 100%. It’s true that Windows malware can’t infect your Mac, but eliminating it ensures your Mac won’t be a carrier that infects other devices on your network.
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In theory, once you’ve installed your antivirus and completed a full scan, real-time protection should handle any new infestations that crop up. That being the case, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Sophos Home Premium for Mac, and a few others don’t bother with scheduling scans. Conversely, Norton lets you schedule daily, weekly, or monthly scans, choosing a full system scan, a quick scan, or a scan that targets specific folders.
Excellent Phishing Protection
Phishing websites are convincing frauds that masquerade as anything from financial sites to senior dating sites, hoping to steal login credentials from unwary victims. While malware coders necessarily tune their attacks to one operating system or even a particular operating system version, phishing is totally platform-agnostic. If you fall for a phishing scam and give it your credentials, you’re hosed, whether you succumbed on your Mac or on an internet-aware air fryer.
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To test an antivirus tool’s ability to detect and deter phishing sites, I start by scraping hundreds of reported frauds from phish-tracking websites. I set up four browsers, one protected by the antivirus under test and the other three by the antiphishing built into Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. I launch each suspected fraudulent page in all four browsers at once and note what happens. For this test, any URL that fails to load in all four browsers or doesn’t clearly fit the phishing profile gets axed.
I tested Norton 360 for Mac at the same time as Norton AntiVirus Plus. Results from the two were precisely the same—an impressive 99% detection. Avast, AVG, and Malwarebytes matched that score in their own latest antiphishing tests. Just a few apps made it to a perfect 100% score: Avira, McAfee, and Trend Micro Antivirus for Mac with 100% detection.
All these antivirus apps seriously outperformed the phishing protection built into the three browsers. At the other end of the scale, a quarter of recent Mac antivirus apps lost against all three of the built-ins. A handful, among them ClamXAV and CleanMyMac, don’t attempt phishing protection at all.
Smart Firewall for Your Mac
Like Intego Mac Internet Security X9 and McAfee, Norton includes a firewall on the Mac. It warns when you’re connected to an insecure network and automatically configures protection when you return to a trusted network. By default, it allows all outgoing network connections and blocks unsolicited incoming connections.
In Norton’s old user interface, firewall access was buried in the Settings page. With the new layout, you reach it from a button on the Security page, which is certainly easier. By observation, the firewall works a bit differently from the previous edition.
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The firewall opens to a tab called Traffic Monitor. Here, you can see a graph of your recent internet traffic, a list of apps using the internet, and even a map of where those apps are connecting. It’s fun to look at, but I don’t think it adds much to your security.
Above the app list is a drop-down setting that initially shows Smart Mode. In that mode, the firewall asks you whether to allow network connections by unknown programs, optionally creating a rule to remember your answer for the next time that program tries to connect. You can set it to allow all connections that don’t have a rule blocking them or block all connections that don’t have a rule allowing them. Most users should keep this setting at the default Smart Mode.
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When you flip to the Settings tab, the mode selector remains at the top of the page, and you still see the connections map at the right. You’ll find a few settings to fine-tune how Smart Mode works. By default, Norton allows all access to any app signed by a trusted publisher and allows connections on local and private networks. If you toggle these off, you’ll see more popup queries.
From the Settings page, you can manage the firewall’s rules for specific applications and connections. You’ll get a warning that these are advanced settings and that changing them without expertise can cause trouble. If you respond incorrectly to a popup query, blocking something you should have allowed, this is the place to correct that error.
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Adventurous users exploring the settings will encounter a full history of all firewall actions and options for what traffic to monitor. But as with most firewalls, most users should leave well enough alone.
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Norton’s Windows firewall is vastly more sophisticated. To start, it automatically configures permissions for a huge collection of known and trusted programs. The Mac edition clearly doesn’t. When the Windows version doesn’t recognize a program, it monitors that program closely for suspect behavior and cuts the network connection if it detects abuse. It doesn’t ask the user to make important security decisions.
Simple Dark Web Monitoring
Norton acquired the identity theft mitigation service LifeLock in 2017. Since then, the top-tier Norton suites have included varying levels of LifeLock identity theft protection. The Norton app reviewed here doesn’t come with a LifeLock subscription, but LifeLock technology powers its Dark Web Monitoring feature. In fact, you click LifeLock in the left-rail menu to access it.
Just as in the Windows edition of Norton 360 Deluxe, clicking to open Dark Web Monitoring takes you to your Norton account online. Even before you configure this feature, you may get an alert based on your Norton account’s email address. The real monitoring starts when you fill in additional personal data online. You fill in one or more of the following types of personal data: Address (5), Bank Account (10), Credit Card (10), Driver’s License (1), Email (5), Gamer Tag (10), Insurance (5), Mother’s Maiden Name (1), Passport (4), and Phone (5).
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Scroll down the page, and you’ll find alerts generated by the monitoring system. I had several marked as “historical,” and indeed, they were several years old. Opening an alert reveals significant details, including what personal data was exposed and advice on what to do. In some cases, it even offers chat-based help for understanding the alert.
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Basic Password Management
The inclusion of Norton Password Manager isn’t precisely a bonus since you can get it for free, but having it integrated is convenient. Read our review for full details. Briefly, Norton Password Manager handles basic password manager tasks such as password capture, password replay, and filling web forms. It can sync your data across all your Windows, Android, iOS, and macOS devices. It includes an actionable password strength report with automatic password updates for a growing number of popular sites, and it now includes two-factor authentication. However, it lacks advanced features such as secure password sharing and digital inheritance.
Features to Improve System Performance
When consumers turn off security because they feel (accurately or otherwise) that it’s dragging down system performance, that’s a serious problem. Some security apps try to head off this fiasco by building in performance enhancement features. Norton’s antivirus on Windows includes Software Updater, File Cleanup, Startup Manager, and Optimize Disk. Two of those also appear in the macOS edition.
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Like Windows, File Cleanup sweeps away system detritus such as temporary files, logs, and app caches. However, it doesn’t attempt to clean up browser traces (a feature disabled by default on Windows). On either platform, you can set it to run automatically daily, weekly, or monthly.
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The Startup Manager component on Windows lists all apps that launch at startup and allows you to disable automatic startup or set the app to launch after a delay. On the Mac, your choices are simpler—all you can do is reversibly disable the app from launching at startup.
When I last reviewed this app, its Norton Clean feature did more than the current file cleanup. In addition to wiping out junk files, it would search for duplicate files and documents. In addition, it would report on pictures and videos that, while not duplicates, proved extremely similar. In testing, this check for similar pictures often made wildly inaccurate pairings, so I’m not worried about its absence.
VPN for the Masses
Over recent years, consumers have become increasingly aware of the need to enhance local antivirus protection with a VPN. Security companies have responded by creating their own VPNs or licensing VPN technology, and many have begun to add the VPN as a security suite component. However, suite users often get nothing more than the equivalent of the company’s free, feature-limited VPN.
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For example, the entire Panda product line, starting with the free antivirus, includes a VPN. However, in every app except the expensive top-tier Panda Dome Premium, VPN use is limited to 150GB per day. Bitdefender also offers bandwidth-limited VPN support and charges $69.99 per year to lift that limitation.
The biggest benefit you get by choosing Norton 360 over Norton’s plain Mac antivirus is the full power of Norton’s VPN on all five of your devices. After a first-year discount, you’d pay $79.99 per year for Norton Secure VPN as a standalone. Getting it as a fully integrated part of Norton 360 is a bargain.
Using the VPN is utterly simple. If you just turn it on, it chooses the fastest server location. You can also choose from almost 30 countries, which is handy if you’re using the VPN to access region-locked content.
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By default, you turn the VPN on manually when you want to use it. However, you can configure it to automatically connect if the network you’ve connected to is public or known to be compromised. I prefer the configuration style used by some competitors, where the VPN tracks networks you’ve chosen to trust and turns on automatically for all others.
Running on macOS, Norton’s VPN can use the venerable IPSec protocol or the Mimic protocol, which has been associated with Avast. By default, it chooses the best protocol for security and stability. The VPN also has the ability, enabled by default, to block access to internet addresses associated with ad trackers.
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Recently, Norton introduced Norton Ultra VPN Plus, a suite that combines device-level security with advanced VPN protection. Yes, that sounds like the description of Norton 360 Deluxe. The difference lies in emphasis. Ultra VPN Plus is a powerful and highly configurable VPN with device security as a bonus. Security configuration details prominent in Norton 360 don’t appear in Ultra VPN Plus. And VPN fine-tuning features available in Ultra VPN Plus don’t appear in Norton 360. For example, in the Norton 360 VPN, you select a country for your VPN connection. With Ultra VPN Plus, you choose the desired city and, in some cases, the desired server. Definitely read our review of the VPN-centric product for full details.
The VPN component in Norton 360 is simple but effective, with a decent number of servers in various locations. There are hardly any settings to consider, and the company maintains a no-log policy for your privacy. If VPN is what you want most, you should probably choose Ultra VPN Plus instead of this suite. A VPN expert might also prefer Proton VPN or another top-tier standalone VPN, but the average consumer won’t go wrong using the VPN built into Norton 360.
Ineffective Privacy Monitor
You can access the VPN by selecting Privacy from the left-side menu. The other big panel on the Privacy page takes you to the Privacy Monitor feature, new since the last time I reviewed this product. You may also see links to Norton AntiTrack and Privacy Monitor Assistant, but these require separate subscriptions.
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Like Dark Web Monitoring, Privacy Monitor is an online feature managed through your Norton account. It’s a very limited personal data removal tool. First, you give it a few elements of personal information—your full name, city, state, and birth year. It then checks several dozen data brokers and reports where it found your information. Given that I recently evaluated Optery, which clears personal data from over 600 broker sites, it’s unsurprising that Norton’s much more modest search found nothing.
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If the scan finds your data exposed, you can click Request Removal from any of the brokers who have your info. At this point, it’s a DIY process—Norton just gives you the link and leaves you to make the request.
If you want Norton to handle removals automatically, you must spring for the Privacy Monitor Assistant, a separate subscription at $109.99 per year. Yes, that’s almost the price of Norton 360 Deluxe. It’s also worth noting that you don’t even need Norton 360 to get a free scan. You can do it online from the Privacy Monitor Assistant web page.
As far as I can tell, this feature is significantly less effective than dedicated data-broker opt-out services like Privacy Bee and Optery. Both offer a free scan, like Norton’s. Optery handles over 600 broker sites at its top pricing tier, and Privacy Bee manages over 900. Optery’s lowest paid tier is barely over one-third the price of Norton Privacy Monitor Assistant. Privacy Bee costs more, $197 per year, but it checks vastly more sites than Norton. I don’t see this feature adding a lot to Norton 360 Deluxe.
Verdict: More Features Than Most Mac Protectors
With Norton Security 360 Deluxe, you get the antivirus protection your macOS devices need—and quite a bit more. At $119.99 per year, the suite looks expensive, but the price gets you five licenses, including five installations of Norton’s powerful VPN. Considering the $79.99 standalone price of the VPN, the suite is a bargain. One lab has tested and certified it as thoroughly effective, and you can also use your licenses on your Windows, Android, or iOS devices. Similarly, Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac earns perfect scores from two testing labs and includes a dedicated ransomware protection component, among other bonus features. As such, Norton and Bitdefender remain our Editors’ Choice winners for macOS antivirus.
Norton 360 Deluxe for Mac
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The Bottom Line
Norton 360 Deluxe delivers lab-certified Mac antivirus protection along with a two-way firewall, a password manager, and a full-powered VPN, making it a top choice for Mac protection.
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About Neil J. Rubenking
Lead Analyst for Security
