The genuine official bot of Doctor Web, a long-established Russian antivirus vendor — send it a file or link in a private chat or a group and it scans for malware and phishing using Dr.Web's own cloud engine.
Best Telegram bots for Link & file scanning
Scanning bots check a link or a file before you open it: an attachment from an unknown sender, a shortened URL in a group, a script downloaded for a website. Sending it to the bot is faster than uploading to a website, and the bot can sit in a group and check what members post.
The best Telegram bot for link and file scanning is Dr.Web (@DrWebBot): the official bot of the antivirus company scans any file or link you send in a private chat or a group for malware and phishing with its own cloud engine, free. urlscan.io (@URLScanBot) shows what a suspicious page actually does rather than a blocklist verdict, and Revisium PHP ScanBot (@phpscanbot) checks PHP and JS files against 500+ malicious patterns for website owners.
A niche but genuinely useful scanner for website owners — drop a .php or .js file and it checks against 500+ known malicious-code patterns, built by Revisium, a company known for cleaning hacked websites.
64 / 100
Score
A convenient chat front-end for urlscan.io's public URL-analysis engine — send a suspicious link and get back what the page actually does, not just a blocklist yes/no.
62 / 100
Score
An independent developer's bot that wraps VirusTotal's public multi-engine scanning for links and files. Not run by Google/VirusTotal itself — a convenient unofficial front-end, similar in spirit to third-party wrappers around other public APIs.
61 / 100
Score
A simple file-checking bot that also relies on VirusTotal's database under the hood — described plainly in its own profile as checking files "through the VirusTotal database."
59 / 100
Score
Comparison
| # | Bot | Price | Languages | Inline | Groups | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dr.Web @DrWebBot | Free | RU · EN · DE | no | yes | 82 |
| 2 | Revisium PHP ScanBot @phpscanbot | Free | RU | no | no | 64 |
| 3 | urlscan.io @URLScanBot | Free | EN | no | no | 62 |
| 4 | Virus Total (unofficial) @VirusTotal52bot | Free | MULTI | no | no | 61 |
| 5 | Бот-Антивирус @easyantivirusbot | Free | RU | no | no | 59 |
Neighbouring subtopics
How we chose
Every bot received the same set: a known test malware file (EICAR), a fresh phishing link from a public feed, a clean PDF, a shortened link to a clean page and an infected PHP sample. We compared verdicts and detail, measured response time, checked whether the bot works in groups and how it handles files up to Telegram's size limit, and confirmed which engine the bot uses and whether it is official.
Link & file scanning
One engine or many
Dr.Web's bot uses the company's own engine, with the reliability of an official product and a clear verdict. Bots built on VirusTotal, like the unofficial @VirusTotal52bot and Бот-Антивирус, return results from dozens of engines at once, which catches more but also produces more false alarms on obscure files. Use both when a file matters: an official single-engine verdict and a multi-engine overview.
Links versus files
A link scanner checks where the URL leads and what the page does; urlscan.io goes furthest by loading the page and reporting requests, redirects and scripts. A file scanner needs the actual file, which means uploading it to the bot; do not do that with confidential documents, and remember that a clean scan of an encrypted archive says nothing about its contents.
For website owners
Revisium's scanner is different from the rest: drop a .php or .js file and it checks against patterns of web malware, the kind that ends up in hacked WordPress installs. It does not replace a full site scan, but it answers the "is this file the problem" question in seconds. Password managers and 2FA bots are covered in a separate rating.
Frequently asked questions
Can the bot check links posted in my group?
Dr.Web's bot works in groups: add it and it scans links and files members post.
Is a clean result a guarantee?
No. New malware and encrypted archives can pass; treat a clean scan as one signal and keep your device's protection on.
Which bot shows what a link actually does?
urlscan.io loads the page and reports redirects, requests and scripts, not just a blocklist verdict.
Is it safe to send private files for scanning?
The file is uploaded to the bot's servers; scan only files you would be comfortable sharing with a third party.