Bitdefender Free, a free security solution by Bitdefender, will be retired on December 31, 2021. Customers who use Bitdefender Free will receive support for Bitdefender Free until June 30,2022.
Downloads are already removed from the Bitdefender website, and customers find listings for the company's commercial products on the page instead. Downloads hosted elsewhere on the Internet are still available and they continue to work, at least for now. A quick test download and installation of Bitdefender Free was successful on a Windows 11 PC.
The company confirms that it will shut down the free antivirus product in December on the page:
We are focusing product development around multi-platform protection and as a result, we are retiring Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition for Windows starting on December.
All free users of Bitdefender will receive a special offer for a discounted version of the company's Total Security application according to the information:
Bitdefender values its customers and user base; all our Bitdefender Antivirus Free users will receive privately (via email) a special discounted offer for Bitdefender Total Security.
Bitdefender Free is also available for Google Android devices. The Android version does not appear to be retired like the Windows version.
Bitdefender admin Mike notes on the official Community forum that the Free Antivirus product is no longer meeting the company's high standards.
We constantly revisit our product portfolio to make sure the technologies we bundle in these products are enough to keep the user safe in all circumstances. Unfortunately, our Free Antivirus product no longer meets our higher-than-ever standards and will be retired starting December 31st. And we will continue to offer tech support for our Bitdefender Free Edition users until June 30th 2022.
Closing Words
Microsoft's decision to improve the built-in security solution Windows Defender may have played a role in the decision as well. The security solution has been improved significantly, and since it is integrated by default, it seems that more and more Windows users keep it as the default option and skip the installation of third-party antivirus solutions.
There are still plenty of free options available for Windows users, e.g. Kaspersky Free Antivirus or Avast Free Antivirus, but it remains to be seen if some of the other companies will retire their free solutions as well.
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