Why is it free?

This software is backed by the same high quality threat detection as our business-class software - so will detect, clean-up and quarantine to the same standards, it is not watered it down. However this is restricted just for home use.

Until recently I was an Administrator for Sophos for Mac, the paid version. I can state this is not the same software. I never had the issues with the Sophos client for Mac that I am having now.

While it may be true there is a component at its core that is the same as the business-class, it is NOT the business-class software I knew. If Sophos for Mac had been this buggy we would have ceased using it immediately. This necessarily begs the question - why didn't Sophos just release the existing Mac software?

Had Sophos done that, it would have been a much better experience for Sophos and its customers. There may be valid business reasons for not doing so, but in light of the tech costs that Sophos has to be accruing on a 'free' product it would seem this was not a great move for Sophos. I daresay that even at $99, Sophos for Mac (home edition) would have been an incredible bargain, at least based on my experiences with the Enterprise version of this software and how good it was. It just makes more sense to me than a clearly inferior product given away for free.

This software is backed by the same high quality threat detection as our business-class software - so will detect, clean-up and quarantine to the same standards, it is not watered it down. However this is restricted just for home use.

Until recently I was an Administrator for Sophos for Mac, the paid version. I can state this is not the same software. I never had the issues with the Sophos client for Mac that I am having now.

While it may be true there is a component at its core that is the same as the business-class, it is NOT the business-class software I knew. If Sophos for Mac had been this buggy we would have ceased using it immediately. This necessarily begs the question - why didn't Sophos just release the existing Mac software?

Had Sophos done that, it would have been a much better experience for Sophos and its customers. There may be valid business reasons for not doing so, but in light of the tech costs that Sophos has to be accruing on a 'free' product it would seem this was not a great move for Sophos. I daresay that even at $99, Sophos for Mac (home edition) would have been an incredible bargain, at least based on my experiences with the Enterprise version of this software and how good it was. It just makes more sense to me than a clearly inferior product given away for free.