In this post, we’ll examine ReasonLabs’ offering, with our main focus being its antivirus engine. We’ll also look at pricing, features, and customer support and rigorously test its antivirus to see if we can recommend ReasonLabs in good faith.
If you have the time, I recommend reading the full ReasonLab review to get all the details. If not, you can read my summary below.
ReasonLabs review summary
ReasonLabs is primarily an antivirus product. However, it performed quite poorly in that regard. It failed many of the tests I subjected it to, so it will be hard to recommend.
The software is difficult to install, as its website has no download links. And the installation repeatedly failed on my system. After multiple retries (and reboots), I could finally install it, but some features simply would not work. For example, I couldn’t enable many of the extra features in the app. Just signing in was a challenge. So, while the app is easy to navigate, it’s somewhat broken.
It’s a rather basic antivirus engine with very few customization options. It’s expensive for what it provides (and compared to the competition). Given that practically nothing is written about the company online (and the numerous failed tests), I don’t feel too confident about the quality of service or the company’s longevity.
ReasonLabs is not recommended. There are just too many available alternatives that cost less and perform better.
ReasonLabs pros and cons
Pros:
- Easy-to-use app
- Decent customer support
Cons:
- Poor antivirus engine
- Clunky setup process
- The app can be unresponsive
- Service is expensive
- Unknown vendor without a reputation
- Provides less functionality than the competition
Compatibility
ReasonLabs Endpoint Protection is only available for Windows. For alternatives, check out our guide to antivirus for multiple devices.
ReasonLabs pricing
You have three subscriptions to choose from:
- RAV Antivirus Premium – $5.90/month
- RAV Antivirus Elite – $8.90/month
- RAV Antivirus Family – $9.90/month
The Elite and Family subscriptions include extras, like a VPN and an adblocker. The Family plan supports up to five devices (the others only support one device).
As mentioned above, ReasonLabs is Windows-only.
While these prices aren’t unreasonable, they’re higher than its competition charges for more features and a better reputation.
The ReasonLabs app
Before we delve into the tests, let’s provide a quick app overview. The first time you open the app, you’ll probably think it’s pretty basic – and you’d be right.
While easy to understand and navigate, the app, like the antivirus, is very basic. The left of the app has four sections that you use to navigate its UI.
Status
The main page is called Status. From there, it appears that you can perform a scan. But clicking the Let’s start button takes you to the Scans section, where you can choose between scan types.
Scans
As far as scans go, you have three options:
- Quick scan
- Deep scan
- Custom scan
The custom scan allows you to select folders to scan.
Protection
In the Protection section, you can enable some of ReasonLabs’ extra features, such as microphone protection (a second mute switch for your mic). But, despite having an Elite subscription, this did not work when I tried enabling it. Many of the extras would simply not enable or install.
I did manage to enable Camera Protection.
Settings
The Settings section allows you to customize a minimal set of settings. From here, you can view your quarantined files, unblock blocked processes, and schedule scans. Like the rest of the app, the settings are pretty basic, but at least you have what you need.
Under Advanced, you can enable real-time scanning. I recommend you do this.
The Antivirus engine
Let’s now look at the antivirus itself.
ReasonLabs Endpoint Protection isn’t listed on AV-Test or AV-Comparatives, so I’m afraid there’s no data to share from those sources – we’re on our own!
Antivirus scans
Real-time scans
To test ReasonLabs’ antivirus, I used malware samples from the European Institute for
Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR). EICAR provides files that simulate a virus infection without damaging your system – they’re commonly used for antivirus testing.
EICAR
| ReasonLabs | |
|---|---|
| Eicar sample 1 | Blocked |
| Eicar sample 2 | Blocked |
| Eicar sample 3 | Blocked |
| Eicar sample 4 | Didn't block |
ReasonLabs blocked all Eicar samples I tested except the second EICAR zip sample. Not great.
After that, I tested ReasonLabs’ scanning engine with three malware samples: zipped executable files (two trojans and one adware). It didn’t detect any of them. Ouch.
Live samples
| ReasonLabs | |
|---|---|
| Live sample 1 | Didn't block |
| Live sample 2 | Didn't block |
| Live sample 3 | Didn't block |
On-demand scans
Below are the results of the tests during on-demand scans.
EICAR
| ReasonLabs | |
|---|---|
| EICAR sample 1 | Blocked |
| EICAR sample 2 | Blocked |
| EICAR sample 3 | Blocked |
| EICAR sample 4 | Blocked |
Live samples
| ReasonLabs | |
|---|---|
| Live sample 1 | Didn't block |
| Live sample 2 | Didn't block |
| Live sample 3 | Didn't block |
Again, disappointing results, to be sure.
Quick scan
A quick scan looks for viruses/malware in the most common directories rather than the entire drive.
| ReasonLabs | |
|---|---|
| Quick scan time (seconds) | 55 |
| Quick scan # items scanned | N/A (Not displayed for quick scans) |
Deep scan
| ReasonLabs | |
|---|---|
| Deep scan time (minutes) | 21 (Note that the scan hung at 55% for about 30 minutes) |
| Deep scan # items scanned | 49,597 |
Impact on system resources
I was curious about the system resources ReasonLabs’ antivirus consumed while running scans. I tested this for both quick and deep scans. Here are the results:
Quick scan
| ReasonLabs | |
|---|---|
| Control CPU Utilization % (no scan) | 4 |
| Control Memory Utilization % (no scan) | 72 |
| Quick Scan Time (seconds) | 55 |
| Quick Scan CPU Utilization % | 44 |
| Quick Scan Memory Utilization % | 74 |
Deep scan
| ReasonLabs | |
|---|---|
| Control CPU Utilization % (no scan) | 4 |
| Control Memory Utilization % (no scan) | 72 |
| Deep Scan Time (minutes) | 21 |
| Deep Scan CPU Utilization % | 73 |
| Deep Scan Memory Utilization % | 23 |
Those are pretty good numbers regarding memory and CPU usage. While the antivirus engine isn’t the greatest (it failed to detect many of the samples we submitted), it seems to run rather efficiently. I’m just not sure how much you’ll appreciate its efficiency when it fails to detect a virus that infects your computer.
Support
ReasonLabs offers customer support via email only. You can click Contact Us from its website, which will take you to an email form for support requests.
When setting up my account, I initially ran into a few snags preventing me from downloading the software and logging in. I contacted support a few times to sort that out. I got replies between two and 48 hours later. So, it appears to be hit-and-miss.
A two-hour wait is great. The 48-hour wait was not so great.
Still, the replies I got were polite and to the point, and after a bit of back-and-forth, ReasonLabs did sort my issues out. All in all, the support I got from ReasonLabs was decent.
Do I recommend ReasonLabs?
Well, no.
It’s fundamental antivirus advice to recommend buying from a reputable vendor. That’s not exactly what I’d call ReasonLabs. I had never heard of the company prior to this review, and I’d be willing to bet most of you reading this hadn’t either.
Still, an antivirus vendor could be forgiven for not being well-known if its product were good. Again, having failed to detect many of our samples (more than half in some cases), that doesn’t really apply to ReasonLabs either.
ReasonLabs’ pricing is a bit steep, especially considering the product’s performance. And while its customer support may be decent, that won’t be enough to nudge things in ReasonLabs’ favor.
ReasonLabs is not recommended.
Best ReasonLabs alternatives
It isn’t hard to find alternatives to ReasonLabs, as quite literally any reputable antivirus product will serve you better. Here’s a short list of antivirus products I can recommend in good faith.
- AVG: AVG is an excellent all-around antivirus. It even scored a 100% protection rating in the latest lab tests. Its antivirus suite also includes useful tools like a data shredder and webcam protection.
- Bitdefender: Bitdefender is another antivirus product that’s easy to recommend. It adds privacy tools to its scanner, providing a useful self-contained security package. It will help you secure your personal data while running very efficiently. Bitdefender has a meager impact on your device’s performance.
- ESET: ESET is another antivirus product that scored very well in our testing. Its strong performance and its very reasonable price tag make ESET worth considering. Its pricing structure is perfect for those who only want to protect one or two devices.
- Avast: Headquartered in Prague, Avast is yet another easy-to-recommend antivirus package. Optimized for business and home use, Avast is used by millions of people worldwide. Like Bitdefender, it comes with many valuable security tools in addition to its antivirus engine.
Antivirus testing methodology
We’ve structured our antivirus testing methodology to provide reliable data on the software’s effectiveness at malware protection and performance.
Our testing process includes:
- Using malware test samples from EICAR
- Testing live malware samples, including Adware and Trojans
- Comparing our own tests with independent antivirus lab test results
In addition, we measure several PC performance metrics and analyze pricing, ease of use, compatibility, and additional features.
We have a dedicated post on our antivirus research and testing methodology if you’d like to know more about how we analyze antivirus software.