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The times are changing and let’s face it; the internet is an essential tool for our kids to use. From completing homework, to attending classes and taking quizzes; as well for our kid’s leisure’s, they play online games and stream their favorite kids tv shows on TV streaming services like Netflix, Cartoon Network GoLatino TV, Disney Channel, and other popular streaming services; kids are online now more than ever before.
As parents, we can’t possibly watch them every second of every day. This is why it’s important to not only teach online safety but choose a service that can help us keep our kids safe online without hanging over their shoulder. To help you parent easier, we’ve put together the top five parental control services available to families in 2021. Let’s go over your choices.
Kaspersky Safe Kids
Price: Free to $14.99 a month
Works with: Windows, macOS, Android & iOS
From the leading internet security software company Kaspersky, Kaspersky Safe kids has been tested and endorsed by leading independent experts around the globe. There’s two versions of their service, the free version and the premium version for $14.99 a month. Parents can block access to adult content, manage screen time, block harmful search requests within YouTube, see where your kids are, get real time alerts and more.
If you’re not sure about Kaspersky Safe Kids, there’s a free version and a 7 day free trial of their premium version. Their premium version has twice as many desirable features that you’ll want to have access to. Our favorites are real time alerts, child locator map and screen time scheduling.
Norton Family
Price: $49.99 a year
Works with: Windows, macOS, Android & iOS
From one of the best in antivirus software, Norton, now has Norton Family. This parental control service helps you keep your kids safe online without having to hang over your kid’s shoulder. As a parent you can block age inappropriate content, see a list of watched YouTube videos, see search terms and phrases, set screen time schedules and limits, and more. We particularly like the access request feature that allows kids to send notes within Norton Family if they disagree with a blocked site or house rule. While yes, you’re the parent, this feature opens a running dialog about internet safety.
If Norton Family sounds like the perfect parental control software for your family, we’re disappointed to report that there isn’t a free trial and it’s an upfront cost of $49.99 a year. However, don’t let this set back dissuade you from choosing Norton Family.
Bark
Price: $5 a month to $14 a month or pay annually
Works with: Windows, macOS, Android & iOS
If you’re looking for a simple, easy to use parental control service, Bark might be right for your family. The service is somewhat limited compared to other parental controls out there, but it does what most parents need; monitor and alert for potential online issues. Bark claims to have prevented 16 school shootings and have detected over 136,000+ possible self-harm situations with their impressively advanced algorithm. With Bark parents can manage screen time, filter websites, enable check-ins, get threat alerts and more. We like Bark for their ease of use, security and unlimited devices. Bark doesn’t charge you more because you have more devices or a larger family.
Bark has won some pretty impressive awards in the past from Mom’s Choice Awards, National Parenting Product Awards and The National Parenting Center just to name a few. Whether you decide to go with the Bark Jr or Bark premium plan, both plans are heavily discounted if you choose to pay annually. Unfortunately, only Bark premium comes with a 7 day free trial at this time.
Qustodio
Price: $54.95 a year to $137.95 a year
Works with: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Kindle Fire & Chromebook
If you’re looking for a parental control service that’s good to use across all popular platforms, Qustodio might be right for your family. We particularly like Qustodio for their smart content filtering that doesn’t require extra work for parents to do it’s work. The service also specifically supports Chromebooks as well where other services don’t.
While Qustodio is a great parental control tool, it’s expensive. They have three plans to choose from with protection from five devices up to fifteen devices. If you’re on a tight budget, then Qustodio won’t be for you. Other parental control tools provide more bang for your buck and don’t limit how many devices parents can set up.
Net Nanny
Price: $39.99 a year to $89.99 a year
Works with: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS & Kindle Fire
Net Nanny is one of the highest rated internet filters available on the market by experts and parents alike. Many parental control services have only whitelists and blacklists for sites your children can and cannot visit that are rarely updated. Net Nanny will review each site based on the context of the search and will either allow or block a site based on how appropriate it is contextually. We like it because it’s content filtering technology works on any site your kids come across without being noticeable to your kids.
Just a note if you decide to go with Net Nanny it works on Android and iOS devices but it cannot monitor calls or texts. If that feature is important to you, you’ll want to choose a different parental control service.
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