10 Best Safe Link Checker Tools for Online Security in 2022

Why is it recommended to think twice before you click on any link on the Internet? Because malicious or unsafe links are one of the most effective malware delivery methods to execute several online scams and threats. Fortunately, safe link checker tools are there to protect you from such exploits and malware.

You should always know whether the URL you are opening on your browser is safe. If you don’t know where the link will take you, don’t open it until you have a safe link checker to verify the website’s link.

So in this latest post, we are going to share the top URL scanner tools to check a website for any malware presence.

Best Safe Link Checker Tools for Online Security

1 – Norton Safe Web

No other tool can be more reliable than Norton Safe Web. You can easily scan a URL for malware or to check a suspicious link. The Safe Web gives you full browser protection by keeping an eye on what you are doing online and stopping any threats.

Using the Norton Toolbar installed on your PC, you will know how safe a particular Web site might be before you view it. The tool protects you from many online threats like viruses, phishing, and spyware.

Norton’s safe link checker doesn’t let suspicious downloads complete, and phishing pages cause a warning page to appear in front of your screen. This will keep you safe online.

On their browser-based link checker, you just need to paste the URL into the checking field and click the search button. Norton Safe Web will then display a rating and community reviews about the website. Also, you can add your reviews and ratings by creating an account and joining the community of link checkers.

Norton Safe Web offers two tools -Norton Safe Search Extension that adds quick safe search functionality to your browser, and Norton Home Page Extension that brings safe search into all your search engine results.

2 – PhishTank

PhishTank is a free community site where you can easily submit, verify, track and share phishing data. The website shares accurate, actionable information to anyone trying to identify bad links.

PhishTank is operated by Cisco Talos Intelligence Group (Talos) that offers the best available information about phishing websites. You need to register to report a suspected phish. For that, you need to provide a valid email address. After completing the free registration, you can send emails to [email protected] from your registered email address. You can include as much information as possible.

Now how the website operates- enter a URL that you suspect of harboring a phishing operation. PhishTank will check the link. If the link is already “in the tank” then you’ll get instant results. Otherwise, the site will provide a tracking number. PhishTank is a web service only. So you don’t need to install any software.

3 – VirusTotal Safe Link Checker

VirusTotal is another best browser-based multi-function scanning tool that analyzes suspicious files and URLs to detect types of malware. The software is unique as it inspects items with over 70 antivirus scanners and URL/domain blocklisting services.

You can submit a URL or select a file from your computer and send it to VirusTotal. The safe link checker offers a number of file and URL submission methods, including the primary public web interface, desktop uploaders, browser extensions, and a programmatic API. It then detects malicious content by one or more scanners. After that, the results of the scans are shared with the online security community.

It’s a simple tool that will give you instant and detailed results

4 – PSafe Dfndr Lab

PSafe Dfndr Lab is an easy-to-use tool that helps you test a link for safety with a single click. You just need to copy the URL that you want to check(be it from an email, web page, instant message, etc.) and paste it into the search tool. After that, click on Check Link to get the result.

Now, if the website you entered is present in the dfndr lab database, you’ll get to know whether or not you can trust it. If not, you’ll see the message: “The URL entered was not found in our database. Dfndr lab will look into this. Please feel free to come back and check again.” Unlike other link checkers on the list, this tool relies on machine learning to detect “potentially unsafe URLs.”

5 – URLVoid

URLVoid is the next name in the list of best safe link checker tools. The service helps you detect potentially malicious websites and check the online reputation/safety of a website. Using this tool, you can analyze a URL through 30+ blacklist engines and online website reputation services to facilitate the detection of fraudulent and malicious websites.

Also, URLVoid Identifies websites involved in malware and phishing incidents. Many big cyber security companies and IT researchers use this link checker to speed up the process of cyber threat analysis.

After submitting a website for analysis, you can view its safety report, which includes names of blacklists used for scanning and a link to their respective report, details about the website’s IP address, domain creation date, server location, and more.

In addition, you can scan an IP address using its service, IPVoid.

6 – ScanURL

Another popular link checker tool that you must try is ScanURL. Their browser-based service offers information about potentially suspicious, scammy, or dangerous web pages, to help you browse the web more safely.

They don’t scan URLs their own but check the websites with reputable 3rd-party services, such as Google Safe Browsing Diagnostic, PhishTank, and Web of Trust (WOT). ScanURL provides current and accurate reports of website/URL trustworthiness. The status information 3rd-party services return to them, can change from 1 minute/hour/day to the next.

No doubt that this spam link checker is ad-supported but the results it displays are good. You can also help out others by telling them how you saw this URL and what makes you suspicious of it.

7 – Google Transparency Report

Google Transparency Report is one of the popular safe link services offered by Google. Here you can submit the URL you’re concerned about. After that, you’ll have to wait for a few seconds, and then the results will be captured by Google’s web crawlers that will tell you if the site can be trusted.

It checks a lot of URLs per day and discovers thousands of new unsafe sites, many of which are legitimate websites that have been compromised. After detecting unsafe sites, the tool shows warnings on Google Search and in web browsers.

If you have Safe Browsing–enabled browser or app and you’re trying to access unsafe content on the web, you’ll see a warning page explaining that the content you are trying to access may be harmful. Also, when a site that Safe Browsing has identified as harmful appears in Google Search results, it shows a warning next to that site in the results.

Along with malware, Google Transparency Report will alert you to phishing risks which is a greater concern than malware.

8 – Kaspersky VirusDesk

Kaspersky VirusDesk is another best link checker tool that offers free malware scanning for any website. The service even checks for suspicious files for viruses and exploits.

After submitting the doubtful URL, it quickly scans through it and provides a detailed report on the detected threats and other useful information about the site. Kaspersky Threat Intelligence checks objects for threats and offers full results based on the information that was accumulated by Kaspersky over the years.

9 – ThreatCop Link Scanner

Using ThreatCop Link Scanner, you can easily detect malicious links. It is basically a phishing URL checker that offers you real-time results to help you detect if the URL is legitimate or a phishing link. With the help of this software you can protect your important and personal infromation because some links attack to steal user’s data like; login credentials, employee ID/password, and credit card numbers.

So, if you come across any suspicious link, use this safe link checker tool to prevent malicious links, phishing scams, or suspicious websites.

10 – Trend Micro site safety checker

Trend Micro site safety checker is yet another leading name that allows you to verify a site’s rating and category. After submitting a URL, you can get one of four ratings: Safe, Dangerous, Suspicious, and Untested.

The scores are assigned based on factors such as a website’s age, historical locations, changes, and indications of suspicious activities discovered through malware behavior analysis. It helps you check the safety of a particular URL that might seem suspicious.

Final Words

With this safe link checker list, you can find if a link is safe before you trust it. These tools will protect you from link-based security threats and from malware.

Which website are you going to use to check a URL for any malware presence? Let us know in the comments section below.