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Best for ID Theft
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Parental controls app that builds a social persona for your kid based on their messaging habits and flags behavioral shifts
Screens for cyberbullying and in-game harassment across apps like Discord and Fortnite without reading DMs
Lets you set per-app time limits for 100+ apps and pause all internet access instantly from the dashboard
Best for Parental Controls
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Robust app blocking and content filtering across 41 categories gives you complete control
Real-time alerts keep you on top of all restricted activity without delay
Location tracking and geo-fencing feature, including scheduling routine check ins
Overall, Norton Family is a better parental control app than Aura's option. Though neither of them can monitor your child's conversations, Norton does track the device's location and allow you to monitor internet searches.
This is an interesting comparison because both companies are focused in other industries — Aura is primarily ID theft and Norton is primarily antivirus. Both products are good on their own, but you have the opportunity to gain a bunch of value by bundling the parental control software with their larger plans.
In this article, we compare Aura’s and Norton Family’s pricing, features, usability, and more to help you decide which is best for your family. If neither works for your household, we also cover a few more of the best parental control apps to help you decide.
Norton is the better parental control app overall because it offers more monitoring features than Aura.
Though both offer website monitoring, activity reports, and screen time limits, Norton is alone in offering location services. On the downside, neither offers text message or email monitoring features.
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Our Pick | |
| Star rating | ||
| Price | $10.00-$32.00/mo | $49.99/mo |
| Free trial | Yes — 14 days | Yes — 30 days |
| Max number of protected devices | Unlimited | 15 children |
| Web filtering | ||
| Conversation monitoring | ||
| Screen time management | ||
| Location tracking | ||
| Activity reports | ||
| Remote lock | ||
| Supported devices | iOS, Android | Windows, Android, and iOS |
| Learn more | Get Aura Parental Controls | Get Norton Family |
Our team has conducted hands-on testing on 10+ parental control apps over several years using a consistent process. We install each app on multiple devices and create both parent and child accounts, evaluating the experience from both perspectives. We also deliberately attempt to bypass restrictions to ensure the apps actually work.
Then, we evaluate each product across eight areas:
We retest all parental control apps at least once a year. To learn more about how we test, read our full parental control testing methodology here.
Aura Parental Controls is a good option for you if your priority is monitoring and restricting screen time. The user interface is easy to use and updated promptly during our tests, allowing us to block or set time limits for every app on the target device.
The main features missing from Aura are the ability to track the device's location and monitor conversations that happen through text or on social media. This may be a deal breaker for you, depending on what aspects of your child's life you're looking to monitor.
Norton Family surprised us during our testing, delivering a well-rounded parental control tool that was able to filter inappropriate content, track the device's location, and manage screen time easily.
The major feature missing from Norton Family is the ability to monitor conversations your child is having, but some parents may not consider this a huge loss. We were also disappointed that we couldn't set separate screen time limits for each app.
Though both products can give you immense value by bundling the parental control features with their other products, Norton Family takes the upper hand here because the Norton 360 bundles are much more affordable than Aura. It also has the superior free trial so you can try it out for a full month.
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Our Pick | |
| Price range | $10.00-$32.00/mo | $49.99/mo |
| Best value plan | Aura Ultimate Family for $32.00/mo | Norton 360 Select for $99.99/first yr |
| Free trial | Yes — 14 days | Yes — 30 days |
| Money-back guarantee | Yes — 60 days | Yes — 60 days |
| Learn more | Get Aura Parental Controls | Get Norton Family |
Aura offers two plans for parental controls — Aura Parental Controls and Aura Ultimate Family. Aura Parental Controls covers one adult and unlimited kids while Aura Ultimate Family covers up to five adults and unlimited kids.
Aura allows a free 14-day trial with a credit card and a 60-day money-back guarantee on annual plans.
Norton’s singular family plan offers services for parents to monitor their child’s online activities, from website monitoring to search history monitoring, setting device time limits, and location tracking. You can also have these features bundled with a Norton 360 plan, which gives you even more protection online.
Norton offers a free 30-day trial with a credit card and a 60-day money-back guarantee. Like Aura’s family plan, Norton’s money-back guarantee is only available with an annual plan.
While neither app monitors conversation, Norton has the upper hand by offering a robust location tracking feature that includes geo-fencing capabilities.
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Our Pick | |
| Website filtering | ||
| App filtering | ||
| Social media monitoring | ||
| Text message monitoring | ||
| Email monitoring | ||
| Internet search monitoring | ||
| Screen time limits | ||
| Remote lock | ||
| Cyberbullying and online predator alerts | ||
| Location tracking | ||
| Geo-fencing | ||
| Activity reports | ||
| Learn more | Get Aura Parental Controls | Get Norton Family |
Both products are able to filter websites by category as well as restrict access to apps. You can also set screen time limits with this app, though Norton doesn't allow you to set limits by app, which gives Aura the step up here.
On top of having the extra feature of location tracking, Norton is also able to monitor internet searches, which is helpful in making sure your child's search history is safe and healthy. Aura does allow you to force safe search, but not see what was searched.
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The main feature Aura has over Norton Family is their cyberbully monitoring powered by ProtectMe by Kidas. This is limited to Windows devices, but monitors all text and voice activity in over 200 popular games and apps. It's important to note that we weren't able to get this monitoring to trigger during our testing, unfortunately.
The apps are equal in terms of support access, but Norton has the extra benefit of being available on Windows devices.
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Our Pick | |
| Windows | ||
| macOS | ||
| Android | ||
| iOS | ||
| Other devices | ||
| 24/7 customer support | ||
| Customer support options | Chat, phone, email, guides | Guides, phone, live chat, forum |
| Learn more | Get Aura Parental Controls | Get Norton Family |
While both apps are available on both iPhones and Android devices, only Norton is available on Windows computers and neither are available on macOS. This may be a dealbreaker for you, depending on where your child spends most of their time.
In terms of support, both Norton and Aura offer 24/7 access and live chat capabilities, which is the fastest way to reach an agent. They're pretty equal here, though we do like Norton's forum for extra community help.
Parents looking to keep their kids safe online can gain peace of mind by purchasing parental control plans like Aura Family or Norton Family. But if you’re looking for a more comprehensive parental control app to help keep your kids safe on social media, you may want to check out Bark or Qustodio.
| Service |  Qustodio |
 Aura Parental Controls |
 Bark |
| Best for | Best for location tracking | Best for teens | Best for social media monitoring |
| Star rating | |||
| Starting price | Free or $4.99/mo | $10.00/mo | $6.00/mo |
| Max # of people covered | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Screen time management | |||
| Content filtering | |||
| Conversation monitoring | |||
| Location tracking | |||
| Details | Get Qustodio | Get Aura | Get Bark |
Yes, Aura is a reputable company. According to the Better Business Bureau, Aura has an A+ rating and a strong reputation in identity theft protection.
Aura Parental Controls costs $10.00/mo while the comprehensive Ultimate Family plan costs $32.00/mo. Aura is more expensive than traditional parental control apps because, in addition to basic parental control features, you get comprehensive identity theft protection for the entire family.
Parental control apps are worth the expense for parents worried about their kids staying safe online. Despite some shortcomings (Norton’s parental control software isn’t compatible with macOS and only offers limited social media monitoring and app filtering features for Android), Norton Family is a reputable service that offers robust website filtering and location tracking features.
If you’re looking for a standalone parental control app, Norton Family is better at monitoring what’s happening with your child online. For families looking for bundled cybersecurity protection, Aura Parental Controls would be a better fit. To get comparable coverage through Norton, you’d have to spring for Norton 360 Select with LifeLock.
When it comes to parental control features, Norton Family is better than Aura. This matchup was pretty tight, but Norton offers better monitoring capabilities thanks to its location tracking, geo-fencing features, and internet search history.
That said, Aura still provides a surprisingly good product for a company specializing in ID theft. You'll get slightly better screen time management controls with Aura and both apps can allow you to block inappropriate websites and apps.
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Our Pick | |
| Value | ||
| Features | ||
| Compatibility & customer support | ||
| Learn more | Get Aura Parental Controls | Get Norton Family |
We consider Aura Parental Controls and Norton Family to be good products; it really just comes down to what you’re looking for and which features are more important to you and your family’s needs.
Robust app blocking and content filtering across 41 categories gives you complete control
Real-time alerts keep you on top of all restricted activity without delay
Location tracking and geo-fencing feature, including scheduling routine check ins
Parental controls app that monitors texts, email, and social media for signs of bullying, self-harm, depression, and predatory contact
Works across Android, iPhone, Chromebook, and gaming consoles, not just phones
Uninstalling requires a code from the parent dashboard, so kids can't quietly remove it themselves
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