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The Best Internet Filters

What is the Best Internet Filter?

More than ever, parents are looking for a reliable internet filter to protect their children from pornography and other explicit content that is readily available online. Harmful content can be found through nearly any platform or gaming site and whether an internet user is looking for it or not, offensive images and information are constantly being programmed to make their way into the safety of your home.

Understanding some statistics about the pornography industry will send nearly any sane person into shock. The industry is grossly manipulative and exists to harm individuals at every age and stage of life through their physical and verbal portrayals of relationships. They often show drug use and illegal activity related to minors.

Tuesday, March 19th

2024 Internet Filter Reviews

Circle Review Top Consumer Reviews Best-In-Class Blue Ribbon Award 5 Star Rating

Circle

5 Star Rating Top Consumer Reviews Best-In-Class Blue Ribbon Award

Circle is a comprehensive system that can be used through an app or their all-inclusive device that manages all systems in the home that connect to Wi-Fi. It has a long list of customizable features that are thoroughly explained on the website. Circle is a good option for families with kids of all ages since filtering is based on age and interests. You can do a 14-day free trial through Circle to see if you like the platform and feel confident in the system before deciding to dive into monthly payments, and the service can be canceled at any time. Circle is well-liked by parents and seems to be the most inclusive platform with the most features, earning our highest rating.

Qustodio Review 4.5 Star Rating

Qustodio

4.5 Star Rating

Qustodio is an easy-to-use platform that monitors all the important activity on a child's phone and helps set healthy limits. It's available for Windows, Mac, Chromebook, Android, iPhone/iPad, and Kindle. Parents can do a free trial of the premium features or use the system free of charge on one single device with basic features. Best of all it's well-liked by parents and rarely are there complaints of glitches or failure of features performing as they should. Qustodio has a helpful website with good resources for parents and we are impressed with what they have to offer.

Bark Review 4 Star Rating

Bark

4 Star Rating

Bark has created a service that's simple for parents to use and set up on their kids' digital devices. It can set internet time limits, block certain websites, and continually comb through information on over 30 apps to detect cyberbullying, sexual content, online predators, suicidal ideation, and other major concerns. Parents can get alerts if Bark identifies anything concerning and will get notified if a child tries to change their passwords. Their pricing is transparent and they offer a free 7-day trial that we highly recommend. It seems like Bark could be circumvented by a smart teenager and isn't going to be the most foolproof option out there, but for young teens and children, this is an option worth looking into.

Net Nanny Review 3.5 Star Rating

Net Nanny

3.5 Star Rating

Net Nanny has been around for nearly 20 years, helping parents monitor their children's activities online and prevent them from accessing dangerous content. You can protect up to 20 devices supported by Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and Kindle Fire, but some people claim there are glitches in the software that make it frustrating to use. Although Net Nanny has a solid list of features that are clearly explained on their website, it seems to need a bit more work before it runs without any issues.

Mobicip Review 3.5 Star Rating

Mobicip

3.5 Star Rating

Mobicip is a good company with the goal of keeping kids safe from internet dangers at home, at school, and in public libraries. Their website lays out their features clearly with pictures of what their platform looks like. They offer a 7-day free trial as well as a money-back guarantee for their service. Mobicip has an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau and mostly good reviews from customers. Although this may not be the most comprehensive or cheap option, it's still got a lot of potential, especially for younger teenagers and kids. We recommend looking into Mobicip for your family.

PureSight Review 3.5 Star Rating

PureSight

3.5 Star Rating

PureSight offers a child protection app called Surfie. The company could have added more details to their website to make their product shine over competitors, but luckily it gets good reviews and seems promising. Potential customers can request a demo of the system to get a solid overview of how it works and how intensive the filtering tools are. Unfortunately, PureSight doesn't list a satisfaction guarantee or return policy, so this is something to ask customer service about before purchasing. PureSight seems like a good company, but we suggest customers do more of their own research before signing up.

Canopy Review 3 Star Rating

Canopy

3 Star Rating

Canopy's approach to protecting family devices from pornographic materials is to allow them freedom and privacy while removing threatening images from their screens in real-time. Their program instantly replaces inappropriate images with white squares rather than combing through all their texts, apps, emails, and other information for threatening content. Canopy seems to take a safe but hands-off approach to internet blocking, which might not be for everyone. They have mixed reviews from customers, but thankfully offer a 30-day free trial for parents to try out. If you're interested in Canopy's approach to internet filtering, we recommend taking advantage of this. However, this company is too limited to merit our highest rating.

Family Zone Review 2.5 Star Rating

Family Zone

2.5 Star Rating

Family Zone is an inexpensive way for parents to monitor and restrict digital access on their kids' smart devices. It has the ability to limit online gaming, set screen time schedules, block websites, filter out inappropriate content, and more. However, Family Zone doesn't dive deep into how their features work and what their service can or can't do. We wanted more from their product description before deciding whether or not to make a purchase. Luckily, Family Zone is extremely inexpensive: just $1.99/year with a 30-day money back guarantee (although no information about this is provided). The company has mixed reviews and the main complaint is that it's easy to get around the system, which renders it completely useless. Family Zone doesn't earn a very high rating.

Norton Family Review 2.5 Star Rating

Norton Family

2.5 Star Rating

Norton is known for their anti-virus software as well as 12 other systems to keep parents and children safe online. Unfortunately, their parental control product doesn't come with a free trial or pictures to show what their app is like. It seems like they made an effort to add a parental control product to their inventory, but didn't put enough work in to clearly explain how it works or make it void of glitches and issues once installed. Norton Family has low ratings from customers, so we can't give this internet filter a positive recommendation.

McAfee Safe Family Review 2 Star Rating

McAfee Safe Family

2 Star Rating

McAfee was founded in 1987 and has a list of device protection services to prevent viruses, identity theft, phishing, and more. Their Family Safe product allows parents to monitor their kids' device usage, limit screen time, track them on GPS, block and restrict websites. There is little information given about their features and you can't view a demo or pictures of their platform from the website. McAfee has a 30-day free trial, which is nice, but most people are unsatisfied with this service. Complaints of glitches, easy system deactivation, poor customer service, and more are just some of the reasons that McAfee hasn't earned a high rating from us.

ClevGuard Review 1.5 Star Rating

ClevGuard

1.5 Star Rating

ClevGuard has a list of products meant for viewing data on someone else's phone or computer. Their KidsGuard products can read messages, view photos, track GPS location, view Safari history, and access nearly every other app to view information. The company has an "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau and seems to focus more on spying than on limiting and setting boundaries for digital use. They claim to have a return policy, but there are so many exceptions to it that it doesn't seem to be helpful. Although KidsGuard can do a lot, we aren't thrilled with their features and are skeptical of how private people's data is, earning this internet filter one of our lowest rankings.

SentryPC Review 1.5 Star Rating

SentryPC

1.5 Star Rating

SentryPC is an online monitoring solution that seems best suited for schools. It can monitor everything happening on a person's screen in real-time without them knowing. There are website blocks, app blockers, and a few other features that are commonly found in parental control systems, but SentryPC is not set up well to help families. In addition to only working on Mac and Windows computers, the cost for the platform is expensive and meant for people buying licenses in bulk. SentryPC doesn't have a Better Business Bureau rating or a reputation with families, so this is one of our least favorite options for internet filtering.

Compare the Best Reviews

Continued from above...

Over $3,075 is spent on porn every second on the internet - and nearly 35% of all downloads are related to pornography. 34% or more (we would gamble that this statistic is much lower than reality) of people say they have been exposed to unwanted content through ads, misdirected links, popups, and emails. It is especially dangerous for children who are learning to use the internet, as they trust innocent-looking games and chat rooms online, then quickly become addicted to explicit content.

Thousands of new porn sites are created every week and the amount of easily-accessible, inappropriate content is staggering. To protect families, it requires a combination of strict rules and expectations for internet use as well as top-rated internet blockers to filter out content. Thankfully, there are quite a few companies working hard to develop systems to combat the harmful effects of the pornography industry and other individuals who seek to hurt members of your family.

Since there are many companies that offer internet filtering services, we have provided important information for you to consider when shopping around:

  • Features: How specific can you get with the content you want blocked? Are you only able to block certain websites or are you able to limit file-sharing services, chatrooms, gaming sites, and more? Are they child-proof in that you'll be able to stay in control of the settings you choose?
  • Customer support: If you need help setting up the internet blocker, do they have assistance readily available for you? Make sure their team is committed to helping you use their product to its fullest and cover all your bases with your filters.
  • Cost: Your family is worth every penny you'll spend on an internet blocker, but be sure to do your homework by comparing the cost of one service to another. Are you locked into contracts for months or even years? Do you have to pay extra if you need help with questions about the service?

TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked the best internet filter services today. We hope this information helps you find a solution you're confident with to protect you and your family.

The Best Internet Filters Compare Internet Filters Compare Internet Filter Reviews What are the best Internet Filters Best Internet Filter Reviews

Internet Filter FAQ

Internet filters are useful for anyone who wants to ensure that illicit content is not available to users of their Internet connections and services. Customers of Internet filtering solutions tend to be parents, with the remainder being libraries, religious and community organizations, and businesses.
Internet filtering solutions are more commonly designed and implemented on an individual basis, particularly for parents who are concerned about their children accessing problematic content online. However, businesses are also customers of Internet filtering software companies because they have specific liabilities they want to avoid when it comes to employees accessing pornography, gambling, or engaging in other online activities that are not part of their job descriptions.
Internet filtering software costs differ depending on the pricing and subscription models each vendor follows. They can range from under $10/month per device to $70-$150 for multiple computers. Cost will also vary depending on the number and complexity of the features involved in the software.
There are many different kinds of filters: software, hardware, DNS, proxy, and Virtual Private Network (VPN). Each of these has a different way of detecting and blocking access to sites known to contain or link to undesirable content. Some rely on "allow lists" of good online resources and block lists of bad online resources. Others have sophisticated programming that scans and analyzes a site prior to allowing or blocking access to it on screen.
Setting up an Internet filter should only take a few minutes if the software is designed well. The best Internet filtering software typically has a configuration "wizard" routine that will walk you through all the default and recommended settings to get you started right away. Once the software is set up, it shouldn't take any further configuration or intervention beyond the occasional adjustment for newly problematic websites.
No internet filtering solution is perfect. Users have been able to successfully interfere with almost every internet filtering software solution in existence. They often get "cheats" and special code or passwords from friends or online resources where such things are published. It is important for the administrator of the software to regularly review access logs and determine whether a particular user is abiding by the rules and agreements around the devices and use of the internet connection they have access to.
Internet filtering software should include such features as remote and local administrator controls, time management, profanity masking, alerts and notifications, reports about a user's online activity, individual user profiles, and controls to fine tune the specific websites that might have been blocked but that the user should still have access to. It should also have good support from the software vendor, the very least of which should be email and chat with a customer service representative at extended hours.
At times, internet filtering software can be either over or under aggressive in blocking specific types of content. For example, information about the human body, which may include reproductive organ descriptions, could be blocked when a student is doing a science report for an anatomy class. That would be an example of overblocking. An example of underblocking is when a website for a video game is mainly graphical and changes often, thus not providing enough current information in a textual format that is easy for the software to interpret and execute a blocking routine on.

Compare Internet Filters

Select any 2 Internet Filters to compare them head to head

best-internet-filters
  • Circle
  • Qustodio
  • Bark
  • Net Nanny
  • Mobicip
  • PureSight
  • Canopy
  • Family Zone
  • Norton Family
  • McAfee Safe Family
  • ClevGuard
  • SentryPC
Circle vs Qustodio Circle vs Bark Circle vs Net Nanny Circle vs Mobicip Circle vs PureSight Circle vs Canopy Circle vs Family Zone Circle vs Norton Family Circle vs McAfee Safe Family Circle vs ClevGuard Circle vs SentryPC Qustodio vs Bark Qustodio vs Net Nanny Qustodio vs Mobicip Qustodio vs PureSight Qustodio vs Canopy Qustodio vs Family Zone Qustodio vs Norton Family Qustodio vs McAfee Safe Family Qustodio vs ClevGuard Qustodio vs SentryPC Bark vs Net Nanny Bark vs Mobicip Bark vs PureSight Bark vs Canopy Bark vs Family Zone Bark vs Norton Family Bark vs McAfee Safe Family Bark vs ClevGuard Bark vs SentryPC Net Nanny vs Mobicip Net Nanny vs PureSight Net Nanny vs Canopy Net Nanny vs Family Zone Net Nanny vs Norton Family Net Nanny vs McAfee Safe Family Net Nanny vs ClevGuard Net Nanny vs SentryPC Mobicip vs PureSight Mobicip vs Canopy Mobicip vs Family Zone Mobicip vs Norton Family Mobicip vs McAfee Safe Family Mobicip vs ClevGuard Mobicip vs SentryPC PureSight vs Canopy PureSight vs Family Zone PureSight vs Norton Family PureSight vs McAfee Safe Family PureSight vs ClevGuard PureSight vs SentryPC Canopy vs Family Zone Canopy vs Norton Family Canopy vs McAfee Safe Family Canopy vs ClevGuard Canopy vs SentryPC Family Zone vs Norton Family Family Zone vs McAfee Safe Family Family Zone vs ClevGuard Family Zone vs SentryPC Norton Family vs McAfee Safe Family Norton Family vs ClevGuard Norton Family vs SentryPC McAfee Safe Family vs ClevGuard McAfee Safe Family vs SentryPC ClevGuard vs SentryPC
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