McAfee licenses its software to consumers and very small businesses as annual subscriptions. A subscription gives one person, or one family, the right to run McAfee security software and services on a stated number of devices for as long as the subscription is paid and unexpired. There is no perpetual option, no concurrent-user metric and no negotiated order form: the commercial terms are the published License Agreement, a set of product-specific terms of service, a refund policy and the offer terms shown beside each price.[1]
For software asset management the practical questions are different from those in an enterprise agreement. They are how many devices a plan may cover, who the licensee is, what happens on renewal, and which benefits depend on staying enrolled in automatic renewal. This article is the overview. Four deeper articles cover the License Agreement and terms, the plan lineup, renewals, refunds and the Virus Protection Pledge, and identity, privacy and support services.
Who is the licensor
The License Agreement says the software and services are licensed by one of several McAfee entities, chosen by where the software is downloaded. McAfee, LLC, of San Jose, California, licenses downloads in the United States, Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. A separate Canadian entity, an Irish entity (for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Pacific Rim), an Australian entity and a Singapore entity cover other regions, and for Japan the software is licensed by McAfee, LLC while services come from a Japanese company.[1] McAfee’s corporate page for investors refers to the acquisition of McAfee by an investor group led by Advent International and Permira, and says reporting is made available to noteholders rather than published.[8]
Enterprise products that were once sold under the McAfee name are not licensed under the consumer License Agreement. They are described in Trellix licensing, and the consumer terms described here should not be applied to them.
Editions
McAfee’s current US plan lineup is built from two families.
- McAfee+ Individual has Premium, Advanced and Ultimate plans, each described as unlimited devices for one user. The Basic plan covers one device.[3]
- McAfee Total Protection is shown as the Essential plan for five devices and one user.[5]
- McAfee+ Family has an Advanced Family plan for all devices and six family members and a lower-priced plan for five devices.[4]
- McAfee Business Protection is a small business product described as exclusively available with Dell PCs.[9]
The License Agreement and the offer terms still refer to older product names such as McAfee Total Protection and McAfee LiveSafe, so an estate may hold subscriptions under several names.[2] The system requirements page lists separate requirement sets for McAfee+, Total Protection, LiveSafe, Internet Security, AntiVirus Plus, AntiVirus, Small Business Security, WebAdvisor and the mobile app.[6]
Metrics
Three constructs matter when counting.
- Device. Basic and Essential plans have a numeric device limit. The License Agreement permits use on the number of devices offered as part of the plan or product purchased, provided devices and operating systems meet McAfee’s requirements.[1]
- Unlimited household devices. Premium, Advanced, Ultimate and family plans have no numeric limit. The offer terms limit them to household devices the subscriber owns for personal, non-commercial use, subject to a fair use policy.[2]
- User and family member. Individual plans are sold for one user. Family plans describe up to two adults and four children under 18.[4]
The wiki catalog records these as Supported device, Unlimited household devices, Licensed user and Family member.
Counting and eligibility
A device counts against the plan if it runs a supported operating system. The system requirements page lists Windows 11 and Windows 10 (RS5 and newer), macOS 13.x and above, Android 10 or higher, iOS 16 or later and ChromeOS 102 and higher for McAfee+ and Total Protection.[6] Subscriptions that cover “all” devices are limited to supported devices the subscriber owns.[2]
The licence is personal. It belongs to the subscriber and cannot be transferred, and the agreement prohibits installing on more devices than permitted, including by not deleting the software from a device before it is sold or transferred.[1] An organisation should therefore not treat a consumer subscription as a corporate entitlement. The single exception is the small business paragraph: for small business products, the licence allows use on devices used for internal business operations by people employed by the small business, up to the product’s device or user limit.[1]
Subscription term, renewal and price
A subscription lasts for the length chosen at purchase or, if none was chosen, one year. Subscriptions bought directly from McAfee renew automatically; McAfee emails in advance and charges within 30 days before the term ends, at the price in effect at renewal, which may differ from the first-term price.[1] The advertised savings figure compares the introductory first-term price, available only to customers without an existing McAfee subscription, with the renewal price.[2] Budgets should therefore be built on renewal prices, not on the introductory prices that appear on plan pages. Renewals, refunds and the Virus Protection Pledge covers the mechanics.
Programs
McAfee runs a small number of consumer programs rather than a partner or volume programme.
- A 30-day money-back guarantee, extended to 60 days after an automatic renewal charge, subject to the Refund Policy.[7]
- Free benefits that depend on staying enrolled in automatic renewal, including the Virus Protection Pledge.[2]
- Identity monitoring and identity theft coverage inside the higher plans, described in identity, privacy and support services.
- Retail Card and eCard product keys that are redeemed at mcafee.com/activate.[2]
Audit and compliance
The consumer License Agreement contains no software audit or true-up clause. The agreement states the consequences of breach: McAfee may suspend or end use and may close the account.[1] Disputes by US consumers are subject to individual arbitration or small claims court, with a 30-day written opt-out for the arbitration contract;[1] the details are in License Agreement and terms.
Out of scope
This article does not cover enterprise endpoint, network or cloud security products, which are not sold under the consumer terms and are described in Trellix licensing. It does not cover retailer-specific or mobile-carrier bundles beyond noting that the terms differ by purchase channel. It does not record prices after the date shown in the infobox, because McAfee changes introductory offers frequently and publishes no dated price list.