What is ClamAV used for?

ClamAV is an open-source antivirus engine for detecting trojans, viruses and other malware, maintained by Cisco Talos. It is a good fit for scanning uploads and mail attachments on servers, and adding malware checks to file pipelines.

Is ClamAV open source?

Yes. ClamAV is open source under the GPL-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at Cisco-Talos/clamav and is written mainly in C.

Yes. ClamAV is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host ClamAV?

Yes. ClamAV can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

Is ClamAV actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to ClamAV was on 27 August 2026. The project has 7.3k stars on GitHub.

ClamAV: open-source alternative to Avast, AVG, Malwarebytes

About ClamAV

ClamAV is an open-source antivirus engine that detects trojans, viruses, malware and other malicious threats. It is written in C, released under GPL-2.0 and developed by Cisco Talos. It is used as an engine that other tools and servers can build on, for example scanning files or mail attachments, rather than as a polished desktop product.

Documentation and an FAQ are hosted at docs.clamav.net, and each release archive includes an offline copy. The project explains how to read and write ClamAV signatures through a signature writing manual, so anyone can create detection rules. News, release notes and a blog track new features, and documentation contributions go through a separate repository.

Installation options include official Docker images, distribution package managers, and downloadable installers: Debian and RPM packages for Linux, a universal PKG for macOS and MSI or portable ZIP packages for Windows. It can also be built from source for Unix, Linux, Mac and Windows. Upgrade notes describe moving from earlier versions.

Key features

Open-source antivirus scanning engine
Detects trojans, viruses and other malware
Signature format with a writing manual
Docker images and distro packages
Installers for Linux, macOS and Windows
Offline copy of documentation in each release

Good fit for

→Scanning uploads and mail attachments on servers
→Adding malware checks to file pipelines

Built with: C
Tags: antivirus; malware; security; virus-scanner; clamav; scanning; open-source; docker

ClamAV: questions and answers

What is ClamAV used for?: ClamAV is an open-source antivirus engine for detecting trojans, viruses and other malware, maintained by Cisco Talos. It is a good fit for scanning uploads and mail attachments on servers, and adding malware checks to file pipelines.
Is ClamAV open source?: Yes. ClamAV is open source under the GPL-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at Cisco-Talos/clamav and is written mainly in C.
Is ClamAV free?: Yes. ClamAV is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host ClamAV?: Yes. ClamAV can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is ClamAV an alternative to?: ClamAV is an open-source alternative to Avast, AVG, Malwarebytes and Norton.
Is ClamAV actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to ClamAV was on 27 August 2026. The project has 7.3k stars on GitHub.