Qustodio is a mature, well-reviewed parental control app, and on several buying criteria it is the stronger product — it covers more platforms and costs less per device. The difference is narrower than most comparison pages pretend, and it comes down to one question: whether you want a tool that can read your child’s messages.
Reviewed September 9, 2026 against Qustodio’s own published pages. Competitor products and prices change.
Different approach
Does not display message contents to a parent. Wellbeing signals are designed to work without turning conversations into a parent report.
The Complete plan advertises calls & SMS monitoring — "Read the texts they send and receive" — plus chat alerts for WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and X on Android, and WhatsApp and Instagram on iOS.
SmartProtect differs by design
No hidden mode exists. The app is visible on the child device and shows the rules in force.
Offers an opt-in "Hide Qustodio" setting on Windows and Mac, which removes the icon from the task bar and replaces the blocked-page screen with a redirect to Google. Its own help pages state this is not available on Android, iOS or Kindle, and recommend agreeing rules with the child.
SmartProtect differs by design
A companion view showing the active limits, what is restricted and how much time is left, plus a route to request more.
Blocked-content screens and time-limit notices on the device; no equivalent child-facing dashboard is advertised.
Broadly comparable
Visible daily limits, schedules and per-app rules, with child requests a parent approves.
Daily allowances per weekday, app and game blocking by category with time limits, custom routines.
Broadly comparable
WebShield category filtering, custom domain rules and SafeSearch enforcement.
Category-based blocking of sites, apps and games, plus YouTube monitoring across every supported platform.
Different approach
Visible safe zones and arrival/departure events, with location protection shown on the child device.
Map view of current and historical location on Android and iOS, plus a panic button.
Qustodio is stronger here
iOS, Android, macOS and Windows from one dashboard.
Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, Chromebook and Kindle — a broader list, and the wider coverage is real.
Qustodio is stronger here
Free for 1 device. Pro $6.99/month for 3 devices, Family Guardian $12.99/month for 10 — $69.90 and $129.90 billed annually.
Free for 1 device. Basic $59.95/year for 5 devices, Complete $104.95/year for unlimited devices. Cheaper per device at every tier, and unlimited devices has no SmartProtect equivalent.
Qustodio is stronger here
A newer product. Fewer integrations, a shorter track record and a smaller review footprint.
An established product with years of independent reviews and a large installed base.
Both products do the core job well: screen-time limits, category web filtering, app rules and location. If that is your whole requirement, the comparison is close and Qustodio’s wider platform support and lower per-device price are real advantages that should count.
The products separate on message content. Qustodio’s Complete plan advertises reading SMS and surfacing chat alerts from social apps. SmartProtect does not display message contents at all, and that is a deliberate limit rather than a roadmap gap — the reasoning is set out in our piece on where the line between monitoring and spying actually sits, which is also why there is no hidden mode on any platform.
It is worth saying plainly that Qustodio is not a spy app, and its own help pages recommend agreeing rules with your child rather than concealing the software. Its “Hide Qustodio” setting is opt-in, desktop-only, and something it documents openly. The difference between the two products is one of default and of what is possible at all — not a difference between a trustworthy vendor and an untrustworthy one.
Qustodio descriptions summarise its own published feature, pricing and help pages on the reviewed date, not hands-on testing of every capability. Independent review sites disagree with each other about which messaging apps Qustodio covers, so only Qustodio’s own wording is used here. SmartProtect capability descriptions are limited by the release gates documented in this repository.
Also compare: SmartProtect vs Bark and SmartProtect vs ClevGuard.