Bitdefender Free will be retired on December 31, 2021

Bitdefender Free, a free security solution from Bitdefender, will be retired on December 31, 2021. Customers using Bitdefender Free will receive support for Bitdefender Free until June 30, 2022.

The downloads have already been removed from the Bitdefender website and customers find listings of the company’s commercial products on the page. Downloads hosted elsewhere on the internet are still available and continue to work, at least for now. A quick trial download and installation of Bitdefender Free was successful on a Windows 11 PC.

The company confirms that it will close the free antivirus product in December on the page:

We are focusing on product development around cross-platform protection, and as a result, we will be retiring Bitdefender Antivirus Free Edition for Windows from December.

All free Bitdefender users 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 its user base; All our Bitdefender Antivirus Free users will receive privately (by email) a special discounted offer for Bitdefender Total Security.

Bitdefender Free is also available for Android devices from Google. The Android version does not appear to be retired like the Windows version.

Bitdefender administrator Mike notes on the official Community forum that the Free Antivirus product no longer meets the company’s high standards.

We constantly review our product portfolio to ensure that the technologies we bundle into these products are sufficient to keep the user safe in all circumstances. Unfortunately, our Free Antivirus product no longer meets our highest standards than ever and will be retired as of December 31st. And we will continue to offer technical support for our Bitdefender Free Edition users until June 30, 2022.

Closing words

Microsoft’s decision to improve the Windows Defender embedded security solution may also have influenced the decision. The security solution has been significantly improved, and since it is built-in by default, it seems that more and more Windows users are keeping it as the default option and skipping the installation of third-party antivirus solutions.

There are still plenty of free options available to Windows users, for example Kaspersky Free Antivirus or Avast Free Antivirus, but it remains to be seen whether some of the other companies will withdraw their free solutions as well.

Now you: Is Microsoft pushing other developers out of the market?

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