Kaspersky closing the Free version

[Jonathan95]

I just got an in app notification that says " We're closing Free plan - upgrade to Kaspersky Premium now! "

So, is this for real ?? And if yes how many time until then we have, cause doesn't says anything about that ??

Well it says "48 hours only" but i think that's for the offer.

[harlan4096]

Welcome to Kaspersky Community.

 

I think You can ignore it, and it will automatically renew the Free plan.

[Jonathan95]

7 hours ago, harlan4096 said:

Welcome to Kaspersky Community.

I think You can ignore it, and it will automatically renew the Free plan.

There is no need for a renew right now, there are 269 days left. So, this makes it more strange.

If Kaspersky doesn't retiring the Free plan, then why they are sending this notification ??

Maybe it's a nasty marketing ploy for the premium ?? Who knows....

Edited July 2 by Jonathan95

[william2469]

9 hours ago, harlan4096 said:

I think You can ignore it, and it will automatically renew the Free plan.

I got the same news and could not get one from Kaspersky to tell me anything . Can you affirm this to ignore an obvious news like this ?

It may continue to update the db but not the app itself 

Edited July 2 by william2469

[harlan4096]

I have no news about KFree closing, KFree installers still available...

[Berny]

I also remember the Kaspersky Free yearly renewal plan …

[william2469]

[Jonathan95]

10 minutes ago, william2469 said:

Yeah, mine says "269 days left".

I don't think that it have something to do with that.

Either it's a marketing thing (a bad one) or the Free it's truly gonna be discontinued.

Edited July 2 by Jonathan95

[Manic Man]

something is clearly going on cause I keep getting the message..

The main site now lists only 3 plan types. Standard with his £16 a year, Plus which is £20 or Premium for £21.. though all prices will go up as it's an 'introductory offer'.

 

Okay, free plan doesn't really bring in a HUGE amount of money, in theory (there are some related ways it does but.. oh well) but this kinda seams like Kaspersky trying to kill itself. Not only free plan members, but I can see some paid plan members not thinking this, and how they aren't really explaining things (best I can see) as not a good sign.

 

I guess that bit on the site just saying "Meet the new Kaspersky" is right.. Meet the new Kaspersky, we just want your money!

[Jonathan95]

3 hours ago, Manic Man said:

something is clearly going on cause I keep getting the message..

The main site now lists only 3 plan types. Standard with his £16 a year, Plus which is £20 or Premium for £21.. though all prices will go up as it's an 'introductory offer'.

 

Okay, free plan doesn't really bring in a HUGE amount of money, in theory (there are some related ways it does but.. oh well) but this kinda seams like Kaspersky trying to kill itself. Not only free plan members, but I can see some paid plan members not thinking this, and how they aren't really explaining things (best I can see) as not a good sign.

 

I guess that bit on the site just saying "Meet the new Kaspersky" is right.. Meet the new Kaspersky, we just want your money!

The Free isn't listed on their site since a couple of years at least. You can find it if you search it on google or if you have the link.

I got 3 notifications on total, the last was 2 days ago i think. Now i have zero notifications. Still works and it's available for download. So, i have no idea what's happening but i think it was just a marketing thing. We will see....

[harlan4096]

Free version download links in K. official sites are a bit hidden, but still there, just adding:

 

.com/free-antivirus

 

or

 

/downloads/free-antivirus

 

Some examples:

Quote

ESP: https://www.kaspersky.es/downloads/free-antivirus

UK: https://www.kaspersky.co.uk/downloads/free-antivirus

ITA: https://www.kaspersky.it/free-antivirus

GERMANY: https://www.kaspersky.de/free-antivirus

 

CANADA:
https://www.kaspersky.ca/downloads/free-antivirus

https://www.kaspersky.ca/fr/downloads/free-antivirus

RUSSIA:

https://www.kaspersky.ru/free-antivirus

https://www.kaspersky.ru/downloads/try-free-cloud-antivirus

 

GLOBAL: https://www.kaspersky.com/downloads/free-antivirus

LATAM: https://latam.kaspersky.com/downloads/free-antivirus

 

[Manic Man]

Fair enough, but wondered if that is part of the 'old' thing more then whatever they appear to be trying to claim.. no clue.. but yeah, gonna have to just wait and see..

[bob77]

Unless they are extremely well hidden, I can't get the links to Kaspersky Free, quoted by harlan4096, to work any more. They now only link to 30 days free for the paid versions. I'm based in the UK.

Edited Wednesday at 10:00 AM by bob77
additional detail

[harlan4096]

Where do You come from?

[bob77]

I have edited my post to clarify I'm based in the UK but I have also tried to access the global site using an Asian VPN with the same result: links to 30 days free only.

[harlan4096]

If even using the proper KFree installer, You still get a trial 30 days version, then something wrong with the account You are using linked to My Kaspersky, try with creating a new My Kaspersky account / different email address.

 

Also, I'm not sure, but I recall there is a limit of the devices You can assign to Your address for a Free Subscription 🤔

[bob77]

Sorry, harlan 4096, I don't understand. My Kaspersky Free is working perfectly. What I am saying is that if I accessed the the sites you quoted, I used to be able to download a KFree installer, now I can't. There isn't one available on that link.

[harlan4096]

Sorry, my fault, now I got, and yeah You are right, the link I posted does not work anymore for KFree 🤔

As I just checked, They removed all of KFree accesses from all the country sites, They were working properly when I posted...

[Vitalik93]

Russian site still allow to download Free version here https://www.kaspersky.ru/free-antivirus Just switched today from Standart to Free so I hope K doesn't shut Free version.

 

[Jonathan95]

So, maybe it's true that they are closing the free plan.

If not then why they removed all the links except the russian one ??

Is there someone that knows better what's going on ??

[Jonathan95]

@harlan4096 Why are you "confused" with my comment ??

Isn't this a sign that they are closing the free plan ??

First the notifications and a couple of days later they removed the links for downloading.

[harlan4096]

I have no info about KFree shutdown 🤷‍♂️🤔

[Jonathan95]

1 minute ago, harlan4096 said:

I have no info about KFree shutdown 🤷‍♂️🤔

I didn't say that you specific have any info about that but it's clear that something going on here. I hope that I'm wrong.

Maybe they are making some changes to the downloading links or maybe it's a bug on their system. I don't know.

[Jotapelb]

I was looking for information and I'm following it here. I registered just to say that I was also worried about the situation... I didn't want it to be discontinued, but I thought it was disrespectful not to have any information.

[bob77]

I agree with Jotapelb that it is disrespectul to its customers for Kaspersky to not provide information about the future of K.Free. I would have hoped Kaspersky staff would monitor these forums and want to close off this speculation, not least because if they were open about closure plans and gave a decent amount of time for people to think about their options, it would likely increase the rate of conversion to paid products. What they actually did was show popup notifications on our computers that were, in effect, a crude attempt to force us into paying within 48 hours. These tactics made me less not more likely to stay with Kaspersky. 

Vitalik93 has pointed out that K.Free was available to download from the Russian site (and no other country sites). To restrict K.Free to Russia only is an extraordinary decision. Firstly they would be maintaining a product for one country alone and secondly, and far more significantly, they would be re-opening the whole debate about its continued safety that followed the US decision to ban its sale in the US. Kaspersky proudly announced its Global Transparency Initiative including the relocation of data processing to two data centres in Zurich. It did this to stress it was not an arm of the Russian state and its Security Services. To have a product that is restricted to Russia only doesn't seem to be the action of a company wishing to stress its Global reach and freedom from intervention by the Russian state. 

Perhaps this story is now getting interesting enough for the press and the company's rivals to get interested enough to prod Kaspersky into coming clean with its plans. Avast haven't been reluctant in the past...