The Best Driver Updater Software for Windows

Choosing the best driver update software

What defines the best driver updater? When putting our list together, we considered this question from a variety of angles. Is it easy to use? Does it detect outdated drivers automatically and update them for you? Can it update all the drivers on your computer? Does it check and verify the authenticity of new drivers before installing them? If it’s a premium product, does its value justify the cost? And if it’s a free driver updater, is it worth using at all?

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The best driver updater software will automatically detect outdated drivers on its own and update them with as little manual input from you as possible.

This list of driver updater reviews of several of the top options out there — both premium software and the best free driver updaters — will help you choose a driver updater that fits your needs so you can start enjoying a fully updated PC immediately.

Note: While we’ve provided costs for all the premium products on this list, these rates can change over time. Always check the manufacturer’s official website for the current price of any driver updater you’re about to get.

Avast Driver Updater

Avast Driver Updater is a fully automated driver updater with millions of drivers in its database. No matter what’s in your computer, Avast Driver Updater will source the latest driver to keep everything working smoothly. Reduce crashing, enhance performance, and repair bugs and vulnerabilities with the most current drivers for all your hardware.

As with any software you install on your computer, it’s important to source your driver updater from a reputable and trustworthy provider. At Avast, we’ve been protecting people all around the world for over 30 years — so you know we’ve got you covered when it comes to online security.

Cost: Free 30-day trial (no credit card required); $39.99/year per PC

Pros

• Supports over 5 million drivers for 300,000+ devices from more than 1,300 leading brands.

• Uses real-time scanning to ensure your drivers always stay updated.

• All driver updates are closely inspected by the Avast Threat Labs team before they’re installed, to make sure everything is safe.

• Backs up your current drivers so you can easily revert back to earlier versions if a manufacturer issues a faulty driver update.

Cons

• Available only for Windows.

• Requires multiple reboots during your first update cycle.

• While there’s a free trial, there’s no free version available.

AVG Driver Updater

AVG Driver Updater is a dedicated driver updater tool from AVG, one of the world’s leading cybersecurity providers. Boasting a freshly redesigned interface, AVG Driver Updater is easier to use than ever.

After scanning your computer in real time for outdated and malfunctioning drivers, AVG Driver Updater lets you install new drivers easily, with just a single click. And it’ll install them one at a time to minimize the risk of any hardware conflicts. 

Since updating your drivers is all about performance, AVG Driver Updater quietly monitors your computer in the background to minimize its impact on your system. Only when it’s time for an update will it issue an alert.

Cost: Free trial; $39.99/year per PC

Pros

• A simple interface makes it super easy to use and understand.

• Installs drivers only after they’re checked by security experts for safety.

• Supports over 5 million drivers from more than 1,300 major hardware brands.

Cons

• The free trial scans for outdated drivers, but updating is a premium feature.

• Available only for Windows.

• Requires multiple reboots during your first update cycle.

IObit Driver Booster 8

Driver Booster 8 offers a clean interface and many of the core features you’ll want in any driver updating software. It’ll scan your computer for old drivers, source new ones, and install them for you. And if you’re without internet, Driver Booster 8 can even update your drivers while your computer is offline.

Cost: 14-day free trial; $22.95/year for 3 PCs

Pros

• One subscription covers 3 PCs.

• Can update drivers on computers without internet access.

• A database of more than 3.5 million drivers.

• 60-day money-back guarantee.

Cons

• The free version is limited to 2 updates daily, and it lacks most major features.

• Upsells other IObit products.

Device Doctor

Device Doctor offers a simple and free driver scan that identifies your outdated drivers, but it’s not a full-fledged free driver updater. To actually fix your drivers, you’ll need to register with your email address and upgrade to the Pro version.

It’s also a bare-bones updater, lacking many of the features its more polished competitors have. Unlike many of the other updaters in this list, Device Doctor won’t automatically create a backup point before installing new drivers, nor will it automatically install new drivers after downloading them — you’ll have to take care of installation yourself.

Cost: Free driver scanner; $35.99/year for a one-year subscription

Pros

• Simple and straightforward driver updater.

• Offers the option to schedule regular scans.

• Checks for outdated drivers when your computer is idle.

Cons

• Most features are limited to the paid version, including updates and automated scans.

• Won’t automatically create backups or restore points before updating a driver.

• Doesn’t install new drivers automatically after downloading them.

Driver Genius 20 Platinum

A three-tiered driver updater, Driver Genius will fit a variety of budgets. The free trial version offers a range of handy features, while Driver Genius 20 Professional is a dedicated driver updater tool priced at $29.99 annually. The premium version, Driver Genius 20 Platinum, boasts a complete driver update suite along with several other performance optimizers for $59.99 annually. 

Driver Genius 20 Platinum offers automatic driver scans and downloads, and it lets you back up any or all of your current drivers in case you need to revert back. It’ll also clean out any unneeded drivers from your system to potentially remove bloat and free up storage. 

With the Platinum version, you’ll also get a specialized SSD optimization utility, a tool to help you clean up your PC, and a performance booster.

Cost: Free trial; $59.99/year with a 60-day money-back guarantee

Pros

• Comes with several performance and maintenance utilities.

• Nice range of driver tools to update, clean up, back up, and restore your PC.

• The free trial is fully functional.

Cons

• Doesn’t find or support as many drivers as its competitors.

• The platinum version is expensive, especially if you don’t need the extra tools.

Driver Reviver

ReviverSoft’s Driver Reviver is available in both free and paid versions, with the free version containing almost the full feature set. The most notable difference is that Driver Reviver’s free version makes you update your drivers one by one, while the premium version lets you update all your drivers simultaneously. 

Still, many other free options don’t even include driver updates at all — making this one of the best free driver updaters available.

Driver Reviver will scan your computer for outdated drivers, and then update your PC with current versions from your hardware’s official manufacturers. Like many of the other best driver updaters on this list, it automatically creates System Restore points that you can return to if anything goes wrong.

Cost: Free; $36.29/year per PC

Pros

• A simple interface that won’t confuse new users.

• Automatically creates System Restore points before installing new drivers.

• The free version lets you update drivers, even if only one-by-one.

• Includes a Backup Manager to save all your current drivers.

Cons

• Limited feature set compared to competing products.

• No offline update mode.

DriverFinder

Another contender for the best driver updater software for Windows, DriverFinder is designed to scan your computer, identify old drivers, and offer updates. And its clean interface makes it easy to use.

While you can install DriverFinder for free, you’ll need to purchase a license to scan your computer and update your drivers. You can choose between two yearly plans or get a one-time lifetime license for $199.97.

Cost: From $29.95/year per PC

Pros

• Supports driver updates for external hardware (such as webcams), even if they’re not connected to your computer.

• Includes Driver Restore and Backup tools to revert back to previous driver versions if something goes wrong.

• Intuitive user interface.

Cons

• No trial version available, so you can’t try before you buy.

• Can’t install updates at once.

• Doesn’t let you schedule scans and updates.

FAQs

Do you have any lingering questions that need to be cleared up? Keep reading to find out more about why driver updaters are worth using, how to know when your drivers are outdated, and whether or not driver updaters are safe to use.

Why should I use a driver updater?

Drivers are essential bits of software that let your computer’s operating system communicate with all the hardware components connected to it, like your graphics card or printer. All hardware in your computer has a driver, and without that driver, the hardware won’t work.

When your drivers become outdated, things will begin to go wrong — from little hiccups all the way to regular computer crashes. Thankfully, many new drivers will improve the performance of your hardware.

Without a driver updater, you’d need to manually check all your drivers one by one and update them as you go. And you’d need to do this regularly, maybe once a month, because hardware manufacturers constantly issue driver updates.

Driver update tools remove this drudgery by handling the whole process for you. An app like Avast Driver Updater will scan your computer, identify your outdated or malfunctioning drivers, find new ones, and install them, all without you needing to do a thing. Current drivers help your computer perform at its best, and driver updaters ensure that all your drivers stay current.

How do I know if my drivers need updating?

Since outdated drivers can cause computer performance problems, one way to know if your drivers need to be updated is if things start to go wrong. If your audio keeps cutting out while you’re listening to music, it could be a sign that your sound card’s driver is too old.

Here are three easy ways to check to see if your drivers need updating:

Check for outdated drivers using Windows Update

Windows Update can show you if your drivers need updating. Open the Start menu and type Windows Update, then click Windows Update settings to open it. With Windows Update open, click Check for Updates.

If Windows identifies any outdated software, including some types of drivers, it’ll let you know.

Check for outdated drivers using Device Manager

The Device Manager utility can also detect outdated or malfunctioning drivers. Open the Start menu and type device manager, then open it from the search results.

After opening Device Manager, look for any exclamation mark icons — these indicate a problem, such as a driver that isn’t working correctly.

Check for outdated drivers using Avast Driver Updater

Avast Driver Updater will scan your entire computer to find any outdated drivers. Download it here to get started.

You can easily scan for outdated drivers with the free trial — just click Scan Drivers to begin.

Avast Driver Updater will check all the drivers on your computer and let you know which ones need to be updated. From here, you’ll be able to update them once you’ve activated your subscription.

Avast Driver Updater will monitor your computer in real time, and it’ll alert you whenever you have new driver updates.

What drivers should I update regularly?

The simple answer is all of them. But if you aren’t using an automated driver updater, this can take a lot of time and be quite a hassle. Focus on the drivers that affect your everyday computer use the most. 

• Learn how to update your graphics driver, because it controls everything you see on your screen.

• Learn how to update your audio driver, because it’s responsible for your computer’s sound.

• Learn how to update your Windows drivers, because Windows won’t work without them.

Also pay close attention to your network drivers, as these allow your computer to connect to the internet.

Are driver updaters safe to use?

As long as a reliable and trustworthy provider made the driver updater, it’s safe to use. Before installing any app on your computer, it’s important to do your research, such as reading driver updater reviews like this one. This is especially important for driver updaters, because they can source and install additional software — your new drivers — on your machine.

What is the best driver updater for Windows 10?

The best driver updater for Windows 10 is Avast Driver Updater, which will scan your computer to detect outdated or malfunctioning drivers and update them automatically.

At Avast, we know how frustrating it is if your computer keeps crashing, and how painful it can be to have to sort out the problem on your own. That’s why our in-house team of performance experts built Avast Driver Updater. 

So if you’re looking for a driver updater that can access all the drivers you need, and that installs only verified drivers — and does so automatically — then look no further than Avast Driver Updater.

Keep your drivers updated automatically

When it comes to computers, your drivers make the world go round. Outdated and malfunctioning drivers leave the door wide open for all sorts of performance, reliability, and security issues. 

Avast Driver Updater easily optimizes your computer with the latest drivers for all your hardware, and only with verified drivers. With a massive database that includes more than 5 million drivers from over 1,300 of the most popular hardware manufacturers, you’ll never have to search for another driver again.