Updated on: May 7, 2024
Short on time? Here’s the best free parental control app in 2024:
- 🥇 Qustodio : Its free plan comes with excellent web filtering (that not even top VPNs can bypass), screen time monitoring, time limits, and activity reports. It works on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Kindle, and Chromebook devices, but you can only use it on 1 device at a time. Its paid plans add support for 5 or unlimited devices, app filtering, call and text message monitoring, a panic button, and more — and you can test all features with a free 3-day trial. Qustodio backs all purchases with a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee.
I don’t really like free parental apps as many of them are dangerous. You give them tons of permissions, which allow them to access and control your device, without any real guarantee that they won’t steal your data. In addition, most free parental apps lack essential parental control features like time limits, web filtering, scheduling, and activity reports, so it’s nearly impossible to fully protect your child from online threats and screen addiction.
That said, I understand that some parents are on a tight budget, so a free parental app is the only option. The good news is that I managed to find a few great parental apps that either provide a good free plan or a free trial that lets you fully test the paid services (which are also very affordable). Qustodio, my top pick, has a completely free (but limited) plan, a 3-day free trial, and a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee, which gives you plenty of time to test it and see if it’s the best fit for your family.
Quick summary of the best free parental control apps:
- 1. 🥇Qustodio — Best free parental controls with web protections and time limits but no location tracking.
- 2. 🥈Norton Family — Really good 30-day free trial works on unlimited devices and includes all features.
- 3. 🥉Bark — Great 7-day free trial includes monitoring of 30+ social media apps + location tracking.
- 4. FamiSafe — Free 3-day trial provides access to all features but monitors 1 device.
- 5. Mobicip — Free plan filters 15+ website categories, but there’s no app filtering.
🥇 1. Qustodio — Best Free Parental Control App in 2024
Qustodio has the best free parental control plan in 2024 — it provides essential parental control features that help you keep your kids safe on the web while also providing them with enough online independence. Plus, Qustodio has the only free plan on this list that can monitor a wide range of platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Chromebook, and Kindle.
Upon signing up, Qustodio gives you access to a free 3-day trial without having to enter your credit card details. This includes all of its paid features, so that you can see the paid subscription in action.
When the free trial is over, Qustodio downgrades you to the free plan, which includes access to:
- Web filtering. Restricts access to harmful or distracting websites. Qustodio has 25+ predefined website categories, which is very convenient, and it also allows you to block or whitelist specific websites. I really like that top VPNs can’t bypass Qustodio’s web filtering, and that there’s an option to block unsupported browsers (so that your kids can’t use them to bypass Qustodio’s web filtering). What’s more, there’s an option to block uncategorized websites and enforce safe search on Google, Bing, and YouTube. But, you’d need the paid plan to get notified when your kid tries to access a blocked site.
- Screen time monitoring. Lets you see how much time your kids spend on their devices — if you see that they spend too much time on their device, you’ll know you need to take measures to prevent screen addiction.
- Time limits. Qustodio allows you to set screen time limits for each day of the week in increments of 15 minutes. It’s extremely easy to set time limits, and Qustodio also lets you choose what happens when the time is up — either you block navigation (disable web access or block all apps except basic applications) or lock the device (block apps on Android, hide apps on iOS, and log out of sessions on desktop). Qustodio can even send alerts when your kid uses all of their allocated daily screen time.
- Activity reports. The free plan provides access to daily, weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly reports that include information about your child’s device usage and online activities.
However, Qustodio’s free plan only allows you to monitor 1 device, compared to the paid plan that lets you monitor 5 or an unlimited number of devices. You’ll also be missing on a lot of industry-standard and extra features that are only available in the paid plan, including blocking and setting daily time limits for specific apps your kid often uses like Snapchat and Instagram, and tracking your child’s location.
Plus, Qustodio’s paid plans allow you to monitor your child’s text messages and phone calls, and there’s a Panic Button feature (Android only), which lets your kids send out distress signals to trusted contacts if they’re in danger. I also really like its YouTube monitoring feature that shows you what your kids search for and watch on YouTube, which you can only use with a paid subscription.
I strongly believe upgrading to one of Qustodio’s paid plans is worth it because Qustodio is the best parental control app on the market, so you get excellent value. Plus, Qustodio backs each purchase with a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line:
Qustodio is my favorite free parental control app in 2024. It comes with excellent web filtering (which even top VPNs can’t bypass), screen time monitoring, and easy-to-use time limits and scheduling features. In addition, you also get daily and weekly activity reports over email and can monitor almost any device — but Qustodio’s free plan limits you to just 1 device. Qustodio’s paid plans, which are affordable and backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee, offer monitoring for 5 or unlimited devices and many other excellent parental control features, including YouTube monitoring, geofencing, and the Panic Button feature.
Read the full Qustodio review here
🥈 2. Norton Family — Great 30-Day Free Trial (+ Works on Unlimited Devices)
Norton Family doesn’t have a free plan, but it comes with a free 30-day trial, which doesn’t require credit card details and provides access to all features and offers plenty of time to test the parental app to see if it’s right for you.
One of the best things about it is that it covers unlimited devices, so I think it’s a good pick if you have a large family. However, Norton Family can only monitor iOS, Android, and Windows devices, so if you need to monitor macOS, Chromebook, and Kindle devices, I recommend checking out Qustodio instead.
Norton Family’s free trial gives you access to web filtering, screen time monitoring, time limits, and scheduling. All features are simple to use and work really well — I especially like that the web filtering and time limits allow kids to request access to a blacklisted site or more screen time inside the Norton Family app, which is very convenient because they don’t need to call or message you about that.
Norton Family’s web filtering, which offers 45+ predefined categories, is really good on mobile (even top VPNs can’t bypass it), but it’s not as good on PC. Norton Family filters sites using browser extensions, and there’s nothing stopping your child from deactivating them (you’ll receive an alert if that happens, though). Honestly, if you want to protect your kids on PC you’re better off using Qustodio’s web filtering.
The free trial also includes access to app filtering, activity reports, location tracking and geofencing, and features that track your kids’ searches and the videos they watch on YouTube’s site. There’s also a School Time feature, which allows you to set time limits and blacklist distracting sites during school hours.
Norton Family is available as a standalone subscription, which is priced at $49.99 / year, so it’s very affordable. In addition, it comes included with the Norton 360 Deluxe ($49.99 / year*) and Norton 360 Advanced ($54.99 / year*) subscriptions. These bundles also provide access to Norton 360, which is the best antivirus on the market, and Norton Secure VPN, which is one of the best antivirus-bundled VPNs on the market. Norton also backs all of its yearly plans with a very generous 60-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line:
While Norton Family doesn’t come with a free plan, it has a free 30-day trial that lets you fully test all of its features. The free trial comes with great parental control features, including web and app filtering, time limits and scheduling, location tracking, YouTube video and search tracking, and more. 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.
Read the full Norton Family review here
🥉 3. Bark — 7-Day Free Trial (Good for Monitoring Social Media)
Bark provides really good social media monitoring, which you can test on its free 7-day trial. Unlike Qustodio’s free trial, you will have to provide credit card information, but the trial length is longer and is enough to fully test all of Bark’s features. I really like that it monitors unlimited devices and works on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Chromebook, and Amazon Fire Tablets.
Bark has some of the best social media monitoring on the market, as it can monitor your child’s activities on 30+ social media apps, including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Discord, Steam, TikTok, Instagram, and Kik. Bark can monitor things like your child’s direct messages, social media posts, comments, and the videos they post. In addition, it can monitor kids’ text messages on iOS and Android. 
One thing to keep in mind is that Bark won’t show you everything your child does online — instead, it will analyze messages, images, and videos for harmful content (like bullying, depression, violence, and more) and send you an alert alongside recommended steps if it detects anything concerning. This is great for older kids, but may not be such a good solution for younger children who still need a lot of supervision and monitoring when using the internet.
Bark also provides scheduling features, so you can set different rules on what apps or websites your kid can access when they’re at school or at home. However, it lacks time limits (which Qustodio and Norton Family have).
What’s more, Bark provides parents with access to live location tracking (as long as your kid has internet access). The app lets you track your kid’s location in real-time and set geofenced zones of up to 0.12 miles or 200 meters to get alerts when your child enters and leaves the predefined areas. But I really like that Bark also allows you to only request a check-in, which prompts your child to share their location with you using Bark’s kids app. This is good if your kids are older, and you trust them more.
Bark Jr. ($49.00 / year) comes with screen time management, web filtering, and location tracking. Bark Premium ($14.00 / month), which is the plan I recommend, includes all of Bark’s features. Unfortunately, Bark doesn’t come with a money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line:
Bark doesn’t have a free plan, but it provides access to a free 7-day trial that gives you access to all of its features. Bark supports unlimited devices, it can monitor 30+ social media apps and also text messages, and provides web and app filtering and live location tracking. Instead of showing you everything your kid does online, it only alerts you if it detects concerning content like violence or cyberbullying. Bark has 2 tier-based subscriptions, but it doesn’t provide a refund.
Read the full Bark review here
4. FamiSafe — Free 3-Day Trial With All Features for 1 Device
FamiSafe’s free trial gives access to all of its paid plan features but only allows 1 device. You get FamiSafe’s unique features free for 3 days on all major platforms, including iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Kindle, and ChromeOS, like Driving Report. This feature shows you details about your kid’s driving habits, including average speed and the number of times speeding and hard braking — but only for the day. You’d have to upgrade to the paid plan to see information from the past week, 2 weeks, and 30 days.
I really like that FamiSafe monitors 10+ popular social media apps, including WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, and Reddit, and alerts you if your kid comes across any inappropriate words on them. You can also add specific keywords for FamiSafe to keep an eye on. But this feature is only available on Android.
FamiSafe’s free trial comes with all the standard parental control features you’d expect from a paid plan — web and app filtering, screen time management, and one of the best location tracking features on the market. FamiSafe’s location tracking is very accurate, is updated every 2–3 minutes, and gives you the option to set up large geofencing zones of up to 3,280 feet (1,000 meters).
The biggest limitation of the FamiSafe free trial is that it lets you monitor only 1 device. This is fine if you have one kid with one phone, but any larger family with more devices will need a paid plan. If you need to monitor a lot of devices, I recommend checking out Norton Family as it covers an unlimited number of devices.
The other drawback of FamiSafe’s free plan is that activity reporting is limited to one day. Like with the driving report, you can only see your child’s location history, browser history, social media activity, and other info only for the current day. The paid plans show all activity for the current day, last week, last 15 days, and last 30 days.
FamiSafe’s plans are reasonably priced, starting at $9.99 / month for 5 devices. It also has a quarterly plan at $19.99 / year for 10 devices and an annual plan at $59.99 / year for unlimited devices. All paid plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line:
FamiSafe’s free plan gives you access to all of its paid features, including Driving Report, web and app filtering, social media monitoring, screen time management, and one of the best location trackers on the market. The biggest limitation of the free plan is that it lets you monitor only 1 device; it also gives you access only to one day’s worth of activity reports. All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Read the full FamiSafe review here
5. Mobicip — Great Free Plan For Web Filtering
Mobicip comes with great web filtering on its free plan, but that’s pretty much all that’s available without a paid upgrade. The app allows you to easily manage the websites your child accesses by setting permissions for 15+ predefined content categories, such as Shopping, Social, and Games, which is very convenient. In my tests, it performed really well — Mobicip blocked all sites that belong to the categories I blocked from the parent app.
I also really like that Mobicip scans web pages in real-time with the help of advanced AI and machine learning technology. This allows the app to consider both the content and context of the pages so Mobicp can keep up with the constant influx of new content on the web.
Mobicip lets you block specific words and phrases for free, too, which worked very well in my tests. There’s also an option to allow or block individual sites and apps that you want to make sure your kid always or never has access to and a button that allows you to pause all devices you’re monitoring immediately.
Mobicip also has a 7-day free trial, allowing you to test the rest of its features (once it ends you automatically get downgraded to the free plan). With the paid plan, you get monitoring for 3 social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat), which is great considering that not many parental control apps include this. That said, it’s still a lot fewer than Bark.
You also get app filtering on the paid plans, an accurate location tracker with a geofencing feature, activity reports, and very good time management tools — these allow you to set time limits for your kid’s device, as well as create custom apps and web filters for specific times of the day. It still doesn’t set specific time limits for individual apps like Qustodio.
Mobicip offers 3 paid plans that come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. The Lite ($2.99 / month) and Standard ($4.99 / month) plans include device monitoring for 5 and 10 devices, respectively, and features like Family Locator, daily screen time limits, and schedules. The Premium plan ($7.99 / month) lets you monitor up to 20 devices and unlocks features like social media monitoring.
Bottom Line:
Mobicip has a great free plan for managing your child’s browsing activities. It lets you filter websites by 15+ predefined categories, blacklist and whitelist sites, and ban keywords and phrases for free. You can also filter apps, set custom filters for specific times of the day, and use its pretty accurate location tracking feature in the 7-day free trial and the paid version. Mobicip monitors up to 20 devices, and its plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Read the full Mobicip review here
Bonus. Kaspersky Safe Kids — Great Free Plan for Content Control
Kaspersky Safe Kids allows you to manage your kid’s app and web usage on the free plan. You can allow or block 10+ preset app categories, such as Social Networks, Games, and File Sharing, and 15+ web categories, like Profanity and Adult content on iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS devices.
The Safe Search function for YouTube is also available on the free plan, and it’s pretty convenient that on Android, it works in the YouTube app as well. That said, you’ll need to upgrade to the premium plan to see your child’s search history on YouTube. Still, this isn’t as comprehensive as Qustodio’s dedicated YouTube monitoring tool.
Kaspersky’s screen time feature is available for free users, too. You can set a daily time limit for each day of the week and decide whether you want Kaspersky to block the device entirely or show warning to your child that they’ve used up their screen time.
I particularly like that the app lets you decide which individual apps your kid can use when you block their screen, so they can still use their calculator or Word app for their homework. If you want to get app and web statistics to see what your kid spends most time on, Kaspersky offers that, too, but only on the premium plans.
As a free user, you’ll be missing out on Kaspersky’s location tracking and geofencing features, which work really well, its scheduling feature, its social media monitoring tool that works with the Russian social media site VK, and its battery tracker. Plus, Kaspersky doesn’t make it easy to sign up for the free plan — I could only create a free account on the Kaspersky Safe Kids app on my phone.
Kaspersky Safe Kids is available for only $18.99 / year. You can also get 1 year of free access to Kaspersky Safe Kids via the Kaspersky Premium subscription, which costs only $74.99 / year and comes with an antivirus, a password manager, a VPN, and more. Kaspersky backs all purchases with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Bottom Line:
Kaspersky Safe Kids’s free plan is really for content control on your kid’s device. You can block and allow 10+ app and 15+ web categories on your children’s device, set screen time limits for every day of the week, and decide which apps they can use even when their device is blocked. Kaspersky also allows you to enforce Safe Search on YouTube for free. Its paid plans, which include a location tracker, app and web usage, and more, include a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Read the full Kaspersky Safe Kids review here
Quick Comparison Table
Testing Methodology: Comparison & Ranking Criteria
I followed our tried and tested methodology to find and rank the best free parental control apps in 2024. I looked for parental control apps with strong free plans (not all have free plans) with lots of features or free trials of a decent length. I then ran real-life tests that included web and app filtering, screen time monitoring and limits, scheduling, activity reports, ease of use, and customer support. Although few parental control apps have free plans that include all their features (FamiSafe is one of them), all of the apps on this list either have free plans with important features or free trials that give you enough time to test their features. Here are the testing criteria I used to decide which parental control apps to include:
- I looked for strong free plans or free trials. I wanted a free plan that had a decent number of features from the paid plans, and if there wasn’t a free plan, I wanted a free trial of at least 3 days, which would give me plenty of time to check out many, if not all, the apps’ features. All of the apps on this list have a strong free plan or a free trial of at least 3 days, but I really like Qustodio’s free plan because of the many strong parental controls it includes.
- I searched for free plans with key features. An important part of my evaluation was the range of essential parental control features, such as web filtering, time management, and location tracking, offered in free plans or free trials. I prioritized apps that provide a substantial suite of tools at no cost, although I also considered the value of upgrading to premium plans for extended functionality.
- I sought out and tested web and app filtering capabilities. I looked for apps with web or app filtering, or both, included in their free plans or trials; the majority of the ones on this list include at least web filtering. I meticulously evaluated each app’s web filter for its ability to reliably block inappropriate content on websites in various categories. I found that every web filter did at least an adequate job of either blocking inappropriate websites or filtering out search results with undesirable keywords.
- I checked the free plans for screen time management tools. All but one of the parental control apps on this list have some type of time limit or screen time scheduling included in their free plans. I tested how well each app tracked total device time, or in some cases, time spent on individual apps, and in each case found these essential features worked well.
- I tested the features and accuracy of location tracking. The majority of free plans or trials on this list include location tracking and/or geofencing. I assessed the precision and reliability of each app’s location tracking, including the availability of geofencing and alerts for entering or leaving designated safe zones. Apps that demonstrated accurate tracking and useful features in this category, such as FamiSafe, made it onto my list.
- I examined the apps’ activity reports. I looked at the parental control dashboard’s ease of use and the number of useful activity reports it provides. I also sought out apps that let me filter reports in daily, weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly time periods. The majority of apps on my list have easy-to-digest activity reports with useful information.
Risks & Disadvantages of Using a Free Parental Control App
Be cautious with free parental control apps as they might risk your child’s privacy. Such apps need funds to operate, so if they’re free, they might be selling user data to advertisers. Given the permissions these apps get on your child’s device, there’s a lot of sensitive information at stake.
The free parental controls on this list are great but they have their shortcomings. For example, Qustodio’s free plan lacks app filtering and location tracking, and FamilyKeeper’s free plan doesn’t have time restrictions or web filtering.
Ultimately, the best way to keep your kids safe online is to get a paid parental control app. Luckily, most top apps are pretty affordable — for example, Qustodio starts at $54.95 / year and Norton Family is only $49.99 / year. Plus, most top parental apps provide free trials or generous money-back guarantees, so you can test the service risk-free before you buy it.
Top Brands That Didn’t Make the Cut
- Google Family Link. This parental app is free to use, and it lets you set time limits, block inappropriate Google Play downloads, and track your child’s location. However, Google Family Link has a lot of downsides — it can only track Android and Chromebook devices, and it’s only effective for monitoring children under the age of 13 (you can monitor teenagers, but they can stop supervision at any time).
- Apple’s Screen Time. This parental app is built into iOS and macOS devices (so it can only monitor those platforms), and it allows you to block adult content and apps, set time limits, monitor device usage, restrict downloads, and require purchase approval on your child’s device. Unfortunately, kids can easily bypass Screen Time — for instance, they can change their device’s time zone to circumvent app filtering, and they can use iMessages to access blocked apps.
- Microsoft’s Family Safety. Family Safety’s free plan comes with web and app filtering, time limits, activity reports, and location tracking, and it can monitor Android, Windows, Xbox, and even iOS devices (but only location tracking works on iOS). Unfortunately, Family Safety is pretty buggy and displays frequent errors, its apps are not easy to set up and use, and some of its features don’t work well — for example, its location tracking isn’t accurate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best free parental control app?
I think Qustodio has the best free plan in 2024 — it provides access to really good web filtering, screen time monitoring, time limits and scheduling, and detailed activity reports. It can only monitor 1 device, but I really like that it can monitor tons of platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Kindle, and Chromebook.
Why do you also recommend free trials instead of free plans?
I simply don’t trust most free parental control apps, as they are not safe to use. In addition, it’s actually really difficult to find a free parental app that works well, as many free options have annoying limitations or are very easy to bypass.
So, I chose to also include parental apps like Norton Family and Bark, which have free trials that provide you with full access to their services. Even though the access is only temporary, I really think both apps provide you with enough time to test all of their features and decide if their paid plans are a good fit for your family.
Is there a completely free parental control app?
Not really, as most free parental control apps (like Bark) also have paid plans that provide you with access to more features. There are some built-in parental apps that are completely free to use, but they usually lack lots of essential parental control features, and they’re also easy to bypass — so they barely provide any value.
As for completely free third-party parental apps, there aren’t many out there. The only one that I was able to find is Spyrix Free Keylogger, but I don’t think it’s worth getting. While it can monitor app usage and alert you about specific keywords, it can’t block harmful websites and its missing time limits, scheduling, and location tracking. What’s more, it records your child’s keystrokes and takes screenshots of their screen, which I find extremely invasive and think it’s more likely to damage your relationship with your kids than improve it.
Can’t I just use free built-in parental control apps?
Apple and Microsoft provide free access to built-in parental control apps, but I don’t really recommend using them — it’s either very easy for kids to bypass them, or the parental apps are buggy, difficult to use, or lack essential parental control features.
It’s much better to just try one of the free parental control apps on my list, as they provide significantly better value — Qustodio is my #1 pick because it provides excellent web filtering time limits and scheduling, and activity reports, and it can monitor iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Kindle, and Chromebook devices.
Can I monitor my kid’s device with a free parental app?
Yes, the free parental apps I listed in this article allow you to monitor children’s devices — for example, Qustodio’s free plan lets you monitor what sites your kids access and how long they use their devices for, and it also allows you to set time limits and block inappropriate sites.
However, a free parental control app won’t let you fully monitor your child’s device — you’ll need to upgrade to the paid plan to get access to all monitoring features.
