McAfee+ Premium (Unlimited devices) review 2027

What problem does McAfee+ Premium solve for a big household?

McAfee+ Premium is built around one idea: stop counting devices. The licence covers unlimited devices, so a family with a mix of laptops, phones and tablets does not have to work out how many seats it needs or which machine to drop when a new one arrives. The same licence includes an unlimited VPN and identity monitoring, which are usually the first features cut from a cheaper tier.

For a large household the first-year price of $49.99 is the cheapest per device in this ranking, because the device count is not capped. The suite also ships Protection Score coaching, which our testers found genuinely useful for non-technical users — it turns a wall of settings into a short list of things to fix. Lab results are strong, and our own sample set backs that up: the suite caught 99% of the malware we threw at it.

The trade-off is that the same licence renews at $149.99, and the suite is the heaviest and noisiest we tested. It is a good fit for a big family that is willing to re-shop every year.

How did we score McAfee+ Premium?

• Protection — 30 out of 35. This combines independent lab results from AV-Test and AV-Comparatives with our own detection run: 200 recent malware samples and 50 phishing URLs. McAfee caught 99% of our samples and holds a 6.0 AV-Test protection score out of 6.
• Performance — 14 out of 20. We measured file copy, app launch and web browsing on the same laptop with the suite installed against a clean image. McAfee slowed our test laptop the most of any suite here, at 13% on file copy.
• Features — 14 out of 15. We checked firewall, ransomware rollback, VPN, password manager, parental controls and identity monitoring, and whether each one is a real feature or a trial. McAfee includes an unlimited VPN, a password manager and identity monitoring, with credit monitoring on higher tiers.
• Usability — 7 out of 10. This covers false positives on our clean-software set, nag screens and upsells, and setup time. McAfee lost points here for the most notifications and upsells of any suite we tested.
• Value — 10 out of 20. We weigh first-year price, renewal price and devices covered. Unlimited devices at $49.99 in year one is strong; $149.99 at renewal is the steepest in the ranking.

Where does McAfee+ Premium stand out?

The unlimited-device licence is the headline. Every other suite in this comparison caps you at a number — 3, 5, or every Windows PC in the case of Microsoft Defender — while McAfee simply removes the limit. For a household with more devices than people, that is the difference between buying two licences and buying one.

The bundle is unusually complete for the price. Unlimited VPN and identity monitoring are both included rather than sold as add-ons, and the password manager is a full feature rather than a trial. Protection Score coaching gives non-technical users a clear next step instead of a dashboard of switches.

Detection held up in our own testing at 99% of samples caught, and the AV-Test protection score is a full 6.0 out of 6. The suite is not short of protection; it is short of restraint.

What is inside McAfee+ Premium?

The licence covers Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, and there is no free version. The device count is unlimited, which is the specification that separates it from almost everything else in the category.

On features, the suite includes an unlimited VPN, a password manager and identity monitoring, with credit monitoring on higher tiers. The AV-Test protection score is 6.0 out of 6. First-year pricing is $49.99 and renewal is $149.99 per year.

How does it compare with the other suites we tested?

Bitdefender Total Security scored 8.9 at $49.99 for the first year, renewing at $99.99. It covers 5 devices on Windows, Mac, Android and iOS, has a free version, includes 200 MB per day of VPN with the full VPN sold separately, a password-manager trial and identity monitoring as an add-on, and a 6.0 AV-Test protection score. Bitdefender is ahead on performance and value; McAfee is ahead on device count and on including the VPN and identity monitoring outright.

Norton 360 Deluxe scored 8.1 at $49.99, renewing at $119.99. It covers 5 devices across the same four platforms, includes an unlimited VPN, a password manager and dark-web monitoring with LifeLock on higher tiers, and a 6.0 AV-Test score. Norton matches McAfee on the unlimited VPN and beats it on renewal price, but caps devices at 5.

ESET HOME Security Essential scored 8.2 at $49.99 and renews at the same $49.99. It covers 3 devices on Windows, Mac and Android, has no free version, puts the VPN in the Ultimate tier and the password manager in the Premium tier, and has no identity monitoring, with a 6.0 AV-Test score. ESET is far cheaper to keep and far more limited in what it covers.

Where does McAfee+ Premium fall short?

Two things cost it points. The first is renewal value: $149.99 per year is the steepest renewal in this ranking, and it is the single biggest reason the Value score stopped at 10 out of 20. The second is performance — a 13% slowdown on file copy made it the heaviest suite on our test laptop.

Usability took a hit too. McAfee served the most notifications and upsells of any suite we tested, which is a running cost in attention even when the protection itself is doing its job. If you want a suite that stays quiet, this is not it.

Is McAfee+ Premium good value?

At $49.99 for the first year with unlimited devices, an unlimited VPN and identity monitoring, the year-one value is the strongest argument for the suite — especially for a household that would otherwise need two licences. The renewal at $149.99 per year is where that argument weakens, and it is the number to check before you let the subscription roll over.

Who should buy McAfee+ Premium?

Big families, if you re-shop every year. That is the honest summary: the unlimited-device licence, the included VPN and the identity monitoring make the first year easy to justify for a household with more devices than seats, and the Protection Score coaching helps the least technical person in the house keep it configured. If you are willing to move to a cheaper renewal each year, the year-one price is hard to beat for the coverage you get.