Zemana Antivirus Review: Is It Worth It in 2024?

Zemana does a decent job of finding malware but has some serious issues. For one, the official website is not secure, and there’s a lack of updates. Even worse, Zemana suffers from vulnerabilities that hackers can use to access your computer. Moreover, it seems likely that the software has simply been abandoned. To put it bluntly, I don’t recommend trying Zemana at all.

With this aside, Zemana is a”second opinion” scanner, meaning it’s meant to be used alongside another antivirus to double-check its malware scans. A decent antivirus program should be strong enough to find threats on its own, but some users like to have a secondary scanner on hand. If you’re one of those users, I recommend trying something like Outbyte AVarmor rather than Zemana.

As a ‘second opinion scanner,’ Zemana is light on features. It comes with real-time protection and very light web protection (in the form of a browser cleanup feature), but that’s about it. Even those features had a few issues, as I’ll get into later.

Zemana is okay at being a backup malware scanner. It will never replace Norton, Bitdefender, or another top antivirus suite, but it can complement one. However, I wouldn’t recommend it due to the above mentioned issues — it has concerning vulnerabilities and a questionable future. It’s a little expensive, too, but you can try it using its 15-day free trial. It also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee (assuming you can get in contact with support).

Zemana Full Review — Supplementary Antivirus (But You Should Stay Away)

Zemana is a malware scanner best used alongside a full antivirus like Norton. Its on-demand malware scanner is pretty good and caught most of the malware samples I tested.

But some serious problems are going on behind the scenes. The real-time protection barely worked during my tests, and the browser cleanup feature isn’t a true form of web protection. Even worse, the software suffers from security vulnerabilities and a lack of updates, indicating that it may be abandoned. You can use a 15-day free trial, and Zemana promises a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Zemana Plans & Pricing — 2 Plans That Can Cover up to 15 Devices

Zemana antivirus has 2 premium plans, Anti-Malware and Anti-Logger. I don’t recommend either, but at least Anti-Malware is more affordable. It includes Zemana’s on-demand malware scanner and real-time protection. Anti-Logger adds keystroke protection tools and SSL protection, but there’s more evidence of hackers exploiting this version, so steer clear.

Just remember that Zemana is a second-opinion antivirus scanner, meaning it doesn’t come with decent real-time protection or any extra features that would make it capable of protecting you from online threats. You need to pair Zemana Anti-Malware with something like Norton to protect your computer.

Zemana’s plans have a 1-year annual subscription by default, but you can pick up a 2-year or 3-year subscription. You choose between 1, 3, 5, 10, or 15 device licenses with your plan, but be warned that if you want to cover 10 or 15 devices, you can only choose a maximum subscription of 1 year.

Plans are a bit pricey for what they offer, but you can try Zemana using its 15-day free trial. It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, but be warned: with Zemana’s provider, refunds for debit cards can take up to 6 weeks. And you’ll need to get a response from Zemana before beginning the process. I tried and never heard back.

Zemana Security Features — Blocks Most Malware, but It Has Serious Security Vulnerabilities

Zemana offers a lightweight malware scanner that’s best used alongside another antivirus suite. The malware detection isn’t bad, but it’s weighed down by a ton of problems. Some features don’t seem to do anything; it doesn’t receive frequent updates, and the malware scanner doesn’t even come with a custom scan option.

Worst of all, Zemana suffers from serious security vulnerabilities. If you use it, hackers may be able to stop your computer’s security processes, mess with its memory at will, disrupt your network, and more. This could lead to the same sort of malware infections Zemana is supposed to prevent, so it simply isn’t worth the risk.

Though Zemana blocked most of the malware I tested it against, it still has lots of issues. For one, Zemana says it uses multiple engines to check for malware, but it doesn’t say what engines these are. It also looks like Zemana hasn’t been updated since 2021, meaning it won’t be effective against newer threats. Ultimately, I wasn’t very impressed. Norton and Bitdefender have better scanners and are way more transparent.

Regardless, I had to test Zemana out. You have the option to choose between full scans and quick scans. A full scan took me about 45 minutes, which is fast for an antivirus. Quick scans took less than a minute, which is faster than most top antiviruses. Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to scan a custom folder or file, so you’ll want to use your regular antivirus for custom scans.

I had a recurring problem where Zemana would sometimes crash mid-scan, requiring me to re-open the app and try again. I tried troubleshooting, reinstalling, and contacting support, but I could never figure out why it would sometimes quit during full scans. None of my favorite antiviruses suffer from these sorts of stability issues.

Zemana also comes with real-time protection, but I was less than impressed. It detected some of the threats I tested it with, but it failed a few basic tests. In some cases, it caught malware that Windows Defender didn’t, but sometimes it failed to catch some that Defender caught on its own. Overall, it’s a mixed bag.

There’s a browser cleanup tool that’s supposed to protect your browser from malicious extensions, adware, and pop-ups, but I eventually gave up trying to get it to work. I tried installing the shadiest, most obviously scam browser extensions I could, but it never flagged, removed, or blocked them. I couldn’t find any noticeable differences in pop-ups, and adware appeared on my screen like normal. Since I had my browser security turned off, I could even freely click on and install sketchy extensions. Frankly, the browser cleanup tool will not keep your browser safe and pales compared to TotalAV’s similar feature.

Zemana also provides a report showing when your last scan was, the results, and any actions the antivirus took. There’s a page that displays all of your quarantined files so you can take action on them. Finally, there is a tool to whitelist specific files during your scans.

Back to the problems, Zemana does not come with a firewall, thorough web protection, a VPN, dark web monitoring, a password manager, or other advanced security features. This is inconvenient but not necessarily a deal breaker. The more significant issue comes from one of Zemana’s drivers. It’s known to have vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit to access your device. Needless to say, this is hugely concerning.

Overall, Zemana can be used as a second-opinion scanner, but I don’t recommend it. If you’re looking for a backup antivirus, you’ll be better off with Outbyte Avarmor, which has a strong security record. Zemana simply isn’t powerful or reliable enough and doesn’t have enough features to merit being your primary antivirus. You’re making a mistake even if you plan to pair Zemana with something like Norton or TotalAV. Given the security issues, you should keep your distance.

Zemana Ease of Use & Setup — Crashes Frequently (Very Buggy)

Zemana has a clean user interface, but using it is far from as easy as it should be. Not only does the website give you a security warning every time you visit it, but in the app itself, I experienced frequent crashes, bugs, and even features that didn’t seem to do anything.

To start, whenever I accessed the Zemana website and attempted to install the antivirus, my browser would warn me and try to keep me away. It claimed that the website wasn’t secure. There were plenty of dead links to discontinued products or redirects back to the website’s homepage. The website is also vulnerable to hackers who could replace the antivirus with malware. And just as the antivirus hasn’t been updated, the website’s certificate has expired.  Also concerning is the fact the other antiviruses marked Zemana as a threat, likely due to the driver issue that hackers have exploited. There’s no telling what’s going on behind the scenes.

After I moved past the website, I had problems using the antivirus. As I mentioned, I had constant bugs and crashes, and many of the features I tried using didn’t do anything. That said, organization isn’t the issue. You can find most features using the bar on the left. Besides a few settings, a quarantined file list, and your recent logs, all your security features are on the homepage. The app is well laid out; it’s just very unstable and crashes nearly every time you try running a full scan.

A complete beginner could pick up Zemana without issues if it weren’t for the crashes. The UI is intuitive, and customization options aren’t confusing. It’s just a shame about all of its other issues.

Zemana Customer Support — Unlikely to Reply & No FAQs

Unfortunately, Zemana has no customer support. There are no FAQs, forums, phone support, or live chat options. There are pages for FAQs on the website, but those redirect you to email support. There’s also a link to an old help center that no longer exists in the app itself.

I never received any response from Zemana’s email support. It’s been over two weeks since I wrote to support, and I doubt I will ever hear back. Considering there’s no other support option, this is a big problem. You need to contact support to take advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee, so you shouldn’t count on ever getting your money back.

Zemana’s customer support is terrible. Other lightweight malware scanners like Malwarebytes have FAQs and a fleshed-out customer support section.

Is Zemana Worth Using?

Absolutely not. You could use Zemana as a second-opinion malware scanner (meaning it’s best to use it alongside a top antivirus like Norton or Bitdefender), but I don’t even recommend it. The malware scanner performed relatively well during my tests, but the real-time protection failed to detect most threats. Finally, hackers have exploited issues with the software, and it seems that Zemana may have been abandoned by its developers. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Zemana won’t be able to protect you from most online threats. It lacks a web protection tool (opting for a light browser cleanup feature instead),, a VPN, a firewall, or other top security features. That’s not necessarily a drawback because Zemana is intended to be used alongside an antivirus with those features — but it’s still not good enough.

Plans are pricey for what you get, too. You can get a subscription to Norton’s entry-level plan that includes more features than Zemana for cheaper. Given that you’re supposed to use Zemana alongside another antivirus, this is a serious problem.

Overall, Zemana fills the role of an on-demand scanner but has serious problems, namely vulnerabilities and a lack of updates. It’s not nearly as good as the best fully-featured antivirus suites. Until it fixes the security problems with its website and drivers, I don’t recommend using it at all.

Frequently Asked Questions

What features does Zemana come with?

Zemana has an on-demand malware scanner, real-time protection, and ransomware protection. There are also a few other helpful tools, such as detailed scan reports and a browser cleanup tool. My only problem is that besides the on-demand scanner, these features all have limited functionality. The real-time protection and browser cleanup tool only detected some of the threats I tested and even failed to catch some that my regular computer’s built-in security tools caught. Neither were as powerful as Norton’s protections.

Is Zemana free?

No, but you can try Zemana’s premium plan for free for 15 days using its free trial. You can test all of Zemana’s features during this time and see if it works for you. You can also use its 30-day money-back guarantee to ensure it works for you.

Is Zemana safe?

Zemana isn’t safe. My tests raised some serious concerns. I tested Zemana for about a week, and during that time, the website was repeatedly flagged as not secure. I tested this using multiple browsers and devices, but it always said my connection wasn’t secure. There are reasonable explanations for this that aren’t malicious, but it’s worth noting. What’s not acceptable is the fact that Zemana has a track record of using vulnerable drivers that hackers have exploited. Google even removed the Android app for being potentially dangerous.

Zemana is also less transparent about its malware engine than I’d like to see. Previously, it listed which other top antivirus scanners it used alongside its in-house scanner. Now, there’s very little transparency about which engines it uses. Alongside that, there are fewer virus definition updates than there used to be.

Does Zemana have a mobile app?

Zemana does not currently have a mobile app. In the past, it had an antivirus app available for Android, but it’s been since discontinued due to not meeting Google’s security standards. If you’re looking for an excellent mobile antivirus, check out our list of the best antiviruses for Android or iOS.