The shortlist
3 things that do it.
Checks a URL, domain or file against over 70 antivirus scanners and URL or domain blocklisting services.
- Free
- Free to end users for non-commercial use under its Terms of Service.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Showing many scanners' verdicts in one place; you can submit via the website, browser extensions or the API.
- The catch
- VirusTotal says it simply aggregates the output of different antivirus vendors and URL scanners and does not produce any verdicts of its own, so a clean result is not a guarantee.
- web
- chrome
- api
A tool in Google's Transparency Report that lets anyone check whether a site contains content Safe Browsing has flagged as dangerous.
- Free
- Free to use; no account shown on the pages we read.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Checking a link against the same Safe Browsing data that Chrome uses to warn people before they visit a dangerous site.
- The catch
- It only reports what Safe Browsing has flagged, so a site that isn't flagged is not proven safe.
- web
Website reputation checker that scans an address against 30+ blocklist engines and online reputation services.
- Free
- Basic website scanning is free; a paid API (URL Reputation API by APIVoid) exists, price not checked.
- Paid
- price not checked
- Best at
- Showing which blocklists flag a site, plus its IP address, domain creation date and server location.
- The catch
- It says data submitted is shared with security companies, so do not paste private links such as password-reset or document-share URLs.
- web
- api
The same shortlist, as a table
| Thing | Free tier | Paid from | Platforms | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VirusTotalrel="nofollow noopener" | Free to end users for non-commercial use under its Terms of Service. | not checked | web, chrome, api | VirusTotal says it simply aggregates the output of different antivirus vendors and URL scanners and does not produce any verdicts of its own, so a clean result is not a guarantee. |
| Google Safe Browsing site statusrel="nofollow noopener" | Free to use; no account shown on the pages we read. | not checked | web | It only reports what Safe Browsing has flagged, so a site that isn't flagged is not proven safe. |
| URLVoidrel="nofollow noopener" | Basic website scanning is free; a paid API (URL Reputation API by APIVoid) exists, price not checked. | not checked | web, api | It says data submitted is shared with security companies, so do not paste private links such as password-reset or document-share URLs. |
How we checked
What we read, and what we haven't tested yet.
On 2026-10-02 we read VirusTotal's How it works and false-positive documentation, Google's Safe Browsing home page and Transparency Report FAQ, URLVoid's home page and the NCSC's phishing pages. Norton Safe Web's own pages and Google's Site Status page itself would not load for us, so Norton is not listed. Nothing was tested hands-on.
If none of these fit
The manual way.
Don't rely on a checker alone. The NCSC says scammers claim authority, create urgency and trigger emotion, so use the details from the organisation's official website, not any numbers or addresses in the message. Forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk and texts to 7726, and report scam websites through the NCSC's process. If you've lost money, contact your bank and Report Fraud (Police Scotland in Scotland).