AV-Comparatives: Review of Free Antivirus Software 2017 Review of 15 free antivirus solutions https://www.av-comparatives.org/single-product-reviews-tests/
Basically, a free AV is a stripped-down version of the paid AV product. Consumers are free to decide whether the additional features available in the paid product are worth the cost of upgrading to it.
Don't forget the ads ^^ Some of them including ads which causes network traffic + possible attack vectors to MITM them to add malware within the advertisements. I see this critical, so far from what I know the Kaspersky Free solution doesn't even offer ads (except the same 'newslater' as from the pro versions which can be a disabled).
Nice overview, but it would have been nice if they also focused on which AV's collect private data, like "URLs visited and search queries made by the user, to be sold to a third party for advertising purposes." That would be reason enough for me to stay away of these free and paid AV's.
https://www.av-comparatives.org/data-transmission-internet-security-products/ AV-Comparatives - Data transmission in Internet security products https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thr...mission-in-internet-security-products.363276/ ----------------- Are Anti-Malware products Uploading Your Private Data? https://www.ivpn.net/blog/are-anti-malware-products-uploading-your-private-data