Is Softonic Safe, Legal and Legit to Use? How Secure is Softonic Downloads

Since online authorities are cracking down against the websites that offer freeware and pirated content to download without having copyrights, one thing runs through my mind is Softonic safe?

One of the biggest disadvantages of Windows is that it provides freedom to it users to install or download whatever software or content from any platform available online without any authentication.

However, this freedom leads to increase the risk of getting malicious malware and viruses on your device.

And as the online industry is growing exponentially, it is a fact that this malware and viruses are also getting more intense and deadly.

On the other side, there are multiple apps available in the market, and there is no surety that paid apps are completely secure to use.

And due to a limited budget, users are more likely to use free apps that are available on platforms like Softonic and CNET.

To find the answer regarding ‘Is Softonic Safe to use or not’, it is important to discuss its pros and cons.

Therefore this article will help you to find out the answer of is Softonic safe and legal to use with the help of extensive explanation.

What is Softonic?

Softonic is a Spanish website based in California, with an objective to providing free content, apps, and games for online users. Softonic was founded in 1997 and now used by millions of users all around the world to download freeware available on its website.

However the content which is available on Softonic is free, but due to its an open source, I have so many concerns regarding safety issues.

Why do Users Think Softonic is not Safe?

One thing is clear about Softonic is that it is completely legal and legit to use since most of the content, which is available on this online portal are mainly copyright and free third-party apps.

However, there are many cases come to notice by users that Softonic adds malicious malware and infected apps in the software and apps available on their websites.

But the majority of Softonic users reviewed the app with great comments and some of them never seen any abnormal activity or their system performance goes down when they download something from it.

However, these two side reviews make the situation more hard for us to get the answer regarding is Softonic free from viruses.

For this, with my deep concern, I decided to explain some significant pros and cons of Softonic that will help you to decide whether is Softonic safe to use or not.

Pros of Softonic

Authorized by Web of Trust Digits

Web of Trust (WOT) is a browser extension that helps to identify any website is reliable, authentic, and secure via testing it through different security tools and algorithms.

When we test the Softonic website to find out whether it is safe to use, surprisingly we get some amazing results about its safety and reliability.  There is an 85% of trustworthiness of this site according to WOT which is a great number regarding reputation and privacy.

Authorized by Google Safety

There is no denying that Google is considered as a God of search engines due to being greatest at all. This god of search engine recently introduced a tool to list down the websites that are vulnerable to use.

Moreover, this Google tool is known as “Google Safe Browsing.” It is an online tool by which you can analyze any website to check whether it is free from malware and virus or not. And when we check the Softonic website we get the following results:

We found zero percent of the unsafe content, which means all the content that is available on Softonic is completely safe to download.

Majority Softonic Reviews are Positive

According to our analysis and users reviews, we found something weird about users like those who keep criticizing Softonic are also the most loyal users of this website.

On the other hand, on different social platforms we found positive reviews regarding “Is Softonic Safe”:

However, we found one more comment regarding “Is Softonic Secure” of a random person, who thinks that initially Softonic website is totally safe to use but now it is not due to following reasons

Softonic Website Claims 100% Secure Downloads

According to Softonic officials, the files, apps and games their website offer is 100% free of malware and viruses. For this we did an extensive testing to found out whether the claim is true or not and the answer is “Yes”.

It means whenever you download any files or documents from Softonic website, before starting the download, the website scans the particular file to check whether its free from antivirus or not. And then it provides the green signal to start the download.

Cons of Softonic

According to my research, not a single files and the downloading website is malicious free. And that is why sometimes when you download any file from Softonic, there might be a chance that the file is not the original one or contains malware.

Moreover, it is very difficult to make the process of files and apps downloading since the internet is open source, which offers dark entities path to attack users whenever they get a chance.

And for this, I found some serious concerns while testing Softonic whether it is safe to use or not.

Sometime Downloaded Malware infects files

After all the claims stated by Softonic team regarding 100% malware free download, sometimes I found some seriously infected files full of multiple malware.

Moreover sometimes due to some serious attacks from hackers, the website downloader becomes a malware itself. It means it directly downloads malicious malware on your system without any permission.

Offers Outdated Downloads

Due to an outdated version of multiple apps and files, there is a high chance of malware and virus attacks.

The main reason I found while testing website to find an answer regarding “Is Softonic Safe or not,” that non-updated version contains malicious malware.

This is because the main reason to update the apps and files is to make them free and secure from the latest trending malware and viruses.

Additionally, when I was downloading files from Softonic website, sometimes the version mentioned of some particular file is not there, and the previous gets downloaded instead.

Full of Malicious Ads

The third biggest concern regarding “Is Softonic Safe to downloads” is a bunch of malicious ads running on the website.

It means if you found a malware free file or app to download, there is still a chance that your system might get attack due to unintentionally click on any ad on Softonic.

It seems like you need a bomb defusing team to find out to click on the original “Download” button.

Final Verdict: Is Softonic Safe & Legal to Use?

After all the mentioned above features, it is pretty difficult to get a one-word answer regarding ‘Is Softonic Safe.’

However, according to my testing and review, Softonic is safe only if you use paid antivirus software on your system.

In this way, whenever the file or app you are going to download contains some vulnerable malware or virus, you will get the notification and will able to stop or cancel the download on immediate basis.

On the other hand, if you are using Softonic without any reliable antivirus, then it is not safe to use.

In case, if you still have any query, feel free to contact by shouting out your comment below.