Short on time? Here’s the best parental control app for Windows:
- 🥇 Qustodio: Comes with excellent web filtering (not even top VPNs can circumvent it), can detect and block Windows apps that are popular with kids and teens, and has very in-depth activity reports. Also provides access to easy-to-use time limits and scheduling features. Has the best free plan on the market, affordable paid plans, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
I tested tons of parental control apps for Windows to find the best options in 2023. I found that many of the apps can’t monitor Windows devices (or do a very poor job of it), are difficult to set up, and/or don’t have beginner-friendly parental apps.
But all of the parental control apps mentioned in this article work really well, allowing you to monitor and restrict your child’s web and app usage on Windows.
Quick summary of the best parental control apps for Windows:
- 1.🥇 Qustodio — Best parental control app for Windows in 2023. Excellent web filtering (that not even top VPNs can bypass), very easy-to-use time limits and scheduling features, really good app filtering, in-depth activity reports, and even a dedicated YouTube monitoring feature.
- 2.🥈 Norton Family — Great Windows parental app for large families. Allows you to monitor unlimited Windows devices and comes with good web and app filtering, time limits and scheduling, and a dedicated feature for restricting web usage during school hours.
- 3.🥉 FamiSafe — Good app filtering on Windows. Lets you block apps, set time limits for them, or set specific periods when your kids can use certain apps. Also provides pretty decent web filtering.
- 4. Bark — Decent web monitoring on Windows. Tracks your child’s web searches, website visits, incognito browsing, emails, and image attachments. Also comes with good web filtering.
- 5. Net Nanny — Good web filtering on Windows. Blocks pretty much any inappropriate website and also allows you to create custom filters. Also has user-friendly time limits and scheduling and a dedicated feature that monitors kids’ YouTube usage.
- Comparison of the Best Parental Control Apps for Windows in 2023.
🥇 1. Qustodio — Best Parental Control App for Windows in 2023
Qustodio is the best parental control app for Windows in 2023 — it provides excellent monitoring and filtering features that keep your kids safe on the web while helping them to develop healthy digital habits.
Qustodio provides access to the following features on Windows:
- Web filtering. Qustodio blocks access to harmful sites using VPN technology and also comes with 25+ predefined site categories, which is very convenient. You can also block or allow specific websites. I ran multiple tests using top VPNs and none of them were able to bypass Qustodio’s web filtering. In addition, Qustodio has an option that blocks unsupported browsers, so your kids can’t use them to circumvent the app’s web filtering.
- Time limits. Allows you to set daily screen time limits in increments of 15 minutes. When the time is up, you can choose to either lock the navigation (prevent all browsers from using the internet) or lock the device (logs your child out of their account to prevent both online and offline use).
- App filtering. I really like that Qustodio allows you to block access to specific apps or set time limits for them, as this provides more flexibility — for example, you can set time limits for apps like Steam instead of blocking them to provide your kids with some level of online freedom while also making sure they don’t develop screen addiction. Plus, it’s great how Qustodio only displays apps as your kids start using them, as this shows you exactly which apps your kids use the most (and it’s also convenient because you don’t need to go through a long list of irrelevant system apps).
- Scheduling. This lets you set screen time limits for specific periods. For example, you can prevent your kids from using their Windows devices during bedtime.
- Activity reports. Qustodio provides access to daily, weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly activity reports, which show you which restricted sites your kids tried to access, which apps your kids used and for how long they used them, which words your children used the most in their web searches, and more.
Qustodio also provides access to a YouTube monitoring feature, which can track your child’s activity on YouTube. It will monitor their YouTube searches and show you detailed information about the videos they watched (including the thumbnail and channel name).
I also like that Qustodio’s kids app for Windows runs quietly in the background, so it won’t bother your child. In addition, the app is lightweight, so it won’t slow down your kid’s PC. Plus, I’m happy that the app comes with uninstall protection, which means your kids can’t manually remove it — they’ll need your parental account credentials to do that.
Qustodio comes with the best free plan on the market, as it provides access to web filtering, time limits, and scheduling — but it only lets you monitor 1 device and it limits you to daily and weekly activity reports.
Qustodio’s paid plans start at $54.95 / year. While the pricing is a bit steep, it’s worth it because Qustodio is the best parental app on the market, and it also provides a 30-day money-back guarantee. Depending on your plan, you can monitor 5–15 devices, and get access to app filtering, YouTube monitoring, and bi-weekly or monthly activity reports.
Bottom Line:
Qustodio is the best parental app for Windows in 2023. It provides access to excellent web filtering (which not even top VPNs can bypass), app filtering that saves you time by only displaying the apps your kids use, time limits, scheduling, and in-depth activity reports. It also comes with a really good YouTube monitoring feature and uninstall protection. Qustodio has the best free plan out there, affordable paid plans, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Download Qustodio for Windows Now
Read the full Qustodio review here
🥈 2. Norton Family — Good Windows Parental App for Large Families
Norton Family allows you to monitor unlimited devices, so it’s a great pick if you have a big family and need to monitor tons of Windows devices. It also provides many good features that allow you to monitor and restrict your child’s web and device usage.
Norton Family provides good web filtering, as it comes with 45+ predefined site categories and even predefined web filtering rules by age. I even tested Norton Family’s web filtering with ExpressVPN, which is the best VPN on the market, and I wasn’t able to circumvent it. That said, I don’t like that Norton Family doesn’t use VPN technology to block inappropriate sites on Windows (like Qustodio does). Norton uses VPN technology on mobile, but on Windows it only uses browser extensions, which kids can easily disable. Norton Family will alert you if your child does that, though.
There’s also good app filtering that can detect and block apps like Discord, Steam, GOG Galaxy, and Skype. But Norton Family doesn’t only display the apps your kids use — instead, it displays all the apps installed on your child’s device, so you might need to go through a long list of apps until you find the ones you need to restrict.
Norton Family’s daily time limits and scheduling features are easy to use since you can set time limits using increments of 30 minutes. There are also predefined time limits by age. But I think it’s a shame that Norton Family doesn’t let you set time limits for specific apps (Qustodio does this) — that way, you could reward your child with 2–3 hours of offline games, which is better than whitelisting the games and potentially forgetting to blacklist them when the time is up.
I really like that Norton Family also comes with a School Time feature, which allows you to restrict your child’s web usage during school hours. What’s more, there are features that let you see your kid’s searches on YouTube and search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo!. And Norton Family also displays which videos your kids watch on YouTube and Hulu’s sites. I also like that Norton Family’s kids app for Windows runs silently in the background (so it won’t distract your children) and comes with uninstall protection.
Norton Family is available as a standalone subscription, which costs only $49.99 / year. It also comes bundled with the Norton 360 Deluxe ($24.99 / year) and Norton 360 Advanced ($54.99 / year) subscriptions — those subscriptions also provide access to Norton 360, which is the best antivirus in 2023. Norton backs all purchases with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line
Norton Family is a great parental control app for large families, as it allows parents to monitor unlimited Windows devices. It comes with great web filtering and app filtering, as well as easy-to-use time limits and scheduling features. In addition, there’s a feature dedicated to school hours and a way to track your kids’ searches and the videos they watch. Norton Family is available as a standalone subscription or bundled with the Norton 360 Deluxe and Norton 360 Advanced subscriptions. It also has a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Download Norton Family for Windows Now
Read the full Norton Family review here
🥉 3. FamiSafe — Good for Restricting App Usage on Windows
FamiSafe comes with very flexible app filtering options, providing you with many ways to limit your kids’ access to Windows apps. This parental app can detect and block apps that are popular with kids and teens, such as Steam, Skype, Discord, and even torrent clients.
It also allows you to set time limits for apps or schedule specific times when your children are allowed to use certain apps — for example, you can reward your kids with 2 hours of Minecraft for doing their homework, which is much more convenient than whitelisting the game and having to remember to blacklist it after the 2 hours pass.
FamiSafe also provides decent web filtering since it comes with 10+ predefined site categories, it can enable safe search, it covers most browsers, and it blocks most adult sites. That said, I don’t think FamiSafe’s web filtering on Windows is as good as Qustodio or Norton Family’s web filtering — Qustodio has 25+ predefined site categories and Norton Family has 45+ categories, so they can block way more inappropriate sites by default (with FamiSafe, you need to manually block many sites to keep your child safe online).
FamiSafe’s paid plans are pretty affordable, as they start at $10.99 / month, and they can monitor 5–10 devices. FamiSafe backs all of its paid plans with a 7-day money-back guarantee. There’s also a free plan that provides access to all features, but it limits you to 1 device.
Bottom Line
FamiSafe provides very flexible app filtering on Windows — you can choose to block apps, set time limits for them, or schedule specific times when kids can use certain apps. Its web filtering is also pretty decent since it works on most browsers and can block most inappropriate sites. FamiSafe has affordable paid plans and a 7-day money-back guarantee.
Download FamiSafe for Windows Now
Read the full FamiSafe review here
4. Bark — Decent Web Monitoring on Windows Devices
Bark provides pretty in-depth web monitoring on Windows, and it’s also a good pick for large families because it allows you to monitor unlimited devices. On Windows, Bark can monitor stuff like website visits, searches, and incognito browsing on Chrome and Edge, sent and received emails, and image attachments.
However, keep in mind that Bark won’t display everything your kid does on the web — instead, it will scan messages, images, and videos for harmful content and alert you if it detects anything concerning. Due to that, I think Bark is more suitable for parents of teens who have a lot of trust in their kids.
Bark also provides good web filtering — in my tests, it was always able to block my access to adult sites on my Windows device. That said, Bark’s VPN (which Bark routes your internet traffic through to block websites) is easy to disable, meaning savvy kids may be able to bypass your restrictions.
Unfortunately, unlike Qustodio and Norton Family, Bark can’t block access to Windows apps (so I only recommend using it for web monitoring and filtering).
Bark comes with 2 tier-based subscriptions — Bark Jr. ($49.00 / year) provides access to screen time management, web filtering, and location tracking, and Bark Premium ($99.00 / year) adds access to all features. Unlike the other parental apps on this list, Bark doesn’t come with a money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line
Bark provides tons of information about your child’s web browsing on Windows — like what they search for, which sites they access, and what emails they send or receive. But instead of showing you everything your kid does online, it only alerts you if it detects concerning content. It also allows you to monitor unlimited devices and provides decent web filtering. Bark comes with 2 tier-based subscriptions and doesn’t have a money-back guarantee.
Read the full Bark review here
5. Net Nanny — Great Choice for Web Filtering on Windows
Net Nanny provides good web filtering as well as other helpful web and screen time monitoring features. I really like that Net Nanny’s web filtering uses a VPN, making it harder for kids to bypass restrictions.
However, Net Nanny only has 10+ predefined categories, which is fewer than Qustodio’s 25+ categories and Norton Family’s 45+ categories,
That said, Net Nanny has an option to mask profanity on websites — it replaces all profane words with “######.” I tested this by visiting 10+ web pages that contained swear words, and Net Nanny always censored them.
Unfortunately, Net Nanny can’t detect and block Windows apps (like Qustodio and Norton Family), so you can’t use it to prevent your kids from playing offline games.
On the plus side, Net Nanny has a daily time limit feature, which lets you set limits in increments of 15 minutes. Whenever I reached these limits in my tests, Net Nanny blocked access to the internet and minimized all windows. When I tried opening new windows, Net Nanny wouldn’t let me. It works well, but it’s a shame Net Nanny doesn’t let you set time limits for apps like Qustodio does.
Net Nanny also lets you schedule downtime and curfews, provides activity reports, and has a dedicated YouTube monitoring feature that shows you what your kid is watching.
Net Nanny has 3 paid subscriptions, which all provide access to the same features but monitor a different number of devices. The basic subscription ($39.99 / year) covers 1 Windows device, and the Family Protection Pass subscriptions cover 5 devices ($54.99 / year) and 20 devices ($89.99 / year). Net Nanny plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line
Net Nanny provides good web filtering on Windows and can censor profane words. It also provides time limits, scheduling, activity reports, and a dedicated YouTube monitoring feature. Net Nanny has 3 paid subscriptions and a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Download Net Nanny for Windows Now
Read the full Net Nanny review here
Comparison of the Best Free Parental Control Apps for Windows
How to Choose the Best Parental Control App for Windows in 2023
- Can monitor Windows devices. The parental app needs to either have a kids app for Windows or a browser extension, so that it can monitor and restrict your child’s web or app usage.
- Has essential parental control features. The parental app should provide you with access to industry-standard parental control features on Windows, such as web filtering, app filtering, time limits, scheduling, or activity reports.
- Good performance. The parental control app’s features should work without any issues — for example, VPNs shouldn’t be able to bypass its web filtering, and its app filtering needs to be able to block Windows apps that are popular with kids and teens like Discord, Steam, and Netflix. Also, the provider’s kids apps should be lightweight, so that they don’t consume too many resources (which can slow down your child’s PC).
- Ease of use. Each one of my top picks has parental apps that have a very intuitive interface, so that even non-tech-savvy parents can easily use them. Also, it doesn’t take more than a few minutes to set up the kids app on your child’s Windows device.
- Good value. Some of the parental apps in this article also provide access to additional features, such as YouTube monitoring and uninstall protection (like Qustodio and Norton Family). What’s more, all of my top picks have affordable plans and come with free plans, free trials, or generous money-back guarantees, so that you can test their services risk free.
Top Brands That Didn’t Make the Cut
- Microsoft’s Family Safety. This parental app comes with many features, including web and app filtering, time limits, and activity reports. That said, its apps are glitchy and often display errors, and some of its features don’t work — for example, its time limits often don’t disable access to kids’ devices. Plus, Family Safety can only block sites on Edge, so your kids can use other browsers to bypass the filtering (unless you use Family Safety’s app filtering, which is inconvenient to use on Windows).
- KidLogger. KidLogger shows you how much time your kids spend on the PC, monitors web and app usage, and can block sites. But it also takes screenshots of your child’s screen, which I honestly think is too invasive and will only damage your relationship with your kids instead of improving it. Plus, KidLogger can’t block Windows apps, doesn’t let you set time limits, and its parental apps are not user-friendly.
- OpenDNS. This parental control service is free to use, but it can only filter inappropriate websites. So, you can’t use it to set time limits, block apps, or monitor your child’s YouTube activity. What’s more, OpenDNS doesn’t have a kids app for Windows — instead, you need to manually set it up on your router, which is time-consuming and inconvenient.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best parental control app for Windows?
I think Qustodio is the best parental app for Windows in 2023 — it provides excellent web filtering (not even top VPNs can bypass it), really good app filtering, time limits and scheduling, in-depth activity reports, and a dedicated YouTube monitoring feature.
Are there free parental control apps for Windows?
I don’t normally recommend using free parental apps because they’re either dangerous to use (since you give them tons of permissions to access sensitive data) or they lack essential parental control features. That said, if you insist on using a free parental app for Windows, I’d go with Qustodio’s free plan, as it’s the best on the market — it comes with web filtering, time limits and scheduling, and daily and weekly activity reports, but it only allows you to monitor 1 Windows device.
But, overall, I only recommend using a free parental control app to test the service to see if it’s right for you — you get significantly better value by upgrading to a premium paid parental app, like one of Qustodio’s paid plans.
Can’t I just use built-in parental controls on Windows?
Windows comes with built-in parental controls called Family Safety, but I don’t recommend using them — while it has many features, most of them don’t work well. What’s more, web filtering only works on Edge, so your kids can use unsupported browsers to access inappropriate sites (you can block them using the app filtering feature, but it’s time-consuming because it’s not user-friendly).
I honestly think you’re much better off using a premium parental app like Qustodio — it provides excellent web and app filtering on Windows, and also comes with time limits, scheduling, in-depth activity reports, and even a dedicated YouTube monitoring feature.
Can I monitor my child’s PC from my Android or iOS device?
Yes, as most parental services have apps for parents that run on Android and iOS devices — for example, Qustodio has parental apps for iOS and Android that are very intuitive, so you’ll have an easy time getting used to them even if you’re not tech-savvy.
