2 days agao I let my renewel go through
I am a professional programmer and my love of computing funds my love of flying.
I let it go through because I need to be covered - do the free things such as avg work just as well then I would say yes probably.
As an IT pro I would say if your running a business then pay for it as if you ever are misfortunate in being hacked you have taken appropriate precautions, if not then use the free stuff.
I wont say one is better than the other as in the arena of anti-virus they are all really good and take it serious.
It is worth paying for antivirus software if you professionally using it, if not then use the free stuff,
Cheers
jof