VirusTotal AI
Google's threat analysis service with AI-powered code explanation and malware report generation.
Overview
VirusTotal is Google's internet security service that allows users and organisations to scan files, URLs, IP addresses, and domains against 70+ antivirus engines and website scanners simultaneously. Since 2023, VirusTotal has integrated AI capabilities — primarily Code Insight, which uses AI to generate plain-English explanations of potentially malicious code — making its threat analysis more accessible to less-experienced security analysts.
The Code Insight feature uses Google's Generative AI to analyse script files (PowerShell, Bash, etc.) found in suspicious submissions and provides a plain-English description of what the code does, what threat behaviour it may exhibit, and what indicators of compromise (IoCs) to look for. This makes the deep technical analysis accessible to tier-1 SOC analysts who may not be reverse engineering experts.
VirusTotal processes 1 million files per day submitted by users worldwide, creating one of the most comprehensive threat intelligence databases in existence. The collective intelligence approach — where submission data is aggregated across all users — means that a newly submitted malware sample is immediately available for all users to scan against. The service is free for individuals with API access available for enterprise integration.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 11 Jul 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
- File & URL scanning
- Public API (rate-limited)
- Community features
- Advanced search & YARA hunting
- Private API access
- Direct file downloads
- Full feature set
- Highest API quotas
- Premium community intelligence
Use cases
ASEAN Perspective
VirusTotal AI in Southeast Asia
ASEAN-region availability and pricing notes coming soon. Drop the editorial team a note via /contact/ if you can supply local context (Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia/Thailand/Vietnam).
VirusTotal remains the reference point for multi-engine scanning — 70-plus antivirus engines over the largest crowd-sourced malware corpus — with Gemini-powered Code Insight explaining in plain English what suspicious scripts and binaries actually do. Since October 2025 it lives inside Google Threat Intelligence: the Community tier stays free with public API access, but paid access was repackaged (Lite from about $5,000/year) and legacy VirusTotal subscriptions couldn't be renewed past 2025. Triage teams get real speed-ups from the AI summaries, though they can be confidently wrong and need verification. The hard rule stands: anything uploaded is shared with the community, so never submit confidential files. The free tier is still the best deal in security tooling; enterprise budgets should plan around GTI packaging.
What people say
October 2025 changed the deal. VirusTotal restructured access around Google Threat Intelligence: a free Community tier survives (file and URL scanning, public API), a new Contributor tier rewards engine partners, and paid access now starts at roughly $5,000 a year for the Lite tier — with legacy VirusTotal subscriptions unrenewable after 31 December 2025. For the individual analyst nothing broke; for small teams on cheap grandfathered plans, budgets moved.
The core service is what it's been since 2004: submit a file, URL, IP or domain and get verdicts from 70-plus antivirus engines at once, pooled into the largest crowd-sourced malware corpus in existence. The AI layer on top has matured fast. Code Insight, launched in 2023, uses Gemini to produce plain-English explanations of what suspicious scripts and binaries actually do; through 2025 it gained an API endpoint, a VT-IDA plugin for reverse engineers, and SWF and SVG support, and by February 2026 it was scanning AI agent skill packages for supply-chain threats. The sandbox now uses AI to click through samples so evasive malware detonates fully.
Working analysts treat the AI summaries as a triage accelerant, not a verdict — they can be confidently wrong, and anything that matters still gets verified by hand. The other permanent caveat: submissions are shared with the whole community, including security vendors and researchers. Uploading a confidential document to 'check if it's safe' is a data leak, and companies keep doing it anyway.
As a free tool it remains unmatched. Enterprise buyers should evaluate it as Google Threat Intelligence packaging now, and ask data-residency questions explicitly — there are no region-specific guarantees for ASEAN.
Summary of public user & expert reviews, compiled by RECATOOLS.
Notable facts
- VirusTotal was founded in 2004 by a Spanish cybersecurity researcher and acquired by Google in 2012 for an undisclosed sum.
- The service processes over 1 million files per day and maintains one of the world's largest malware databases with over 3 billion unique samples.
- VirusTotal's Code Insight AI feature can explain what a 200-line obfuscated PowerShell script does in 3 sentences — a task that would take a trained analyst 30 minutes.
Frequently asked questions
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including VirusTotal AI's official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with VirusTotal AI unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
For the latest details, please refer to VirusTotal AI directly →
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