In this article · 7 sections
Do you pay for a filter that reads the page as it loads, or will a free list you can see, block and allow do the job? Net Nanny sells the first, on Windows, Mac and iOS. Safe Lagoon’s price page gives you the second, on an Android phone, and does not put an end date on the free part.
Prices and platforms for the whole products are in Safe Lagoon vs Net Nanny. If the phone is Android and their products page never listed it, start with the Android alternative. The rest of the market is in parental control apps compared.
Their modelWhat Net Nanny means by a dynamic filter
A block list is a notebook of addresses. A new address tomorrow is invisible until someone adds a line. The web makes addresses faster than a parent can type them.
Net Nanny’s website blocker describes a different pass. They say the filter scans each webpage in real time, rather than only consulting a block list. The scan sorts pages into categories. They list 14, including pornography, drugs, gambling, weapons and others. For each category you choose Allow, Alert or Block. You can also allow or block a specific site.
They go one step past the category. They mention AI-based natural language context, and they use a “chicken breast” example: the same words can be a recipe or a page you do not want open. They say the filter looks at context. If you want a filter that tries to understand the page, this is the description to read, on the platforms they support.
The products page puts that filter on Windows 10 and 11, macOS 10.13 to 11.x, and iOS 11 and higher. Android is not listed, and the system requirements add no Android child app. Screen time, app blocking (their app-blocking page talks about iOS), alerts, Family Feed, location and a parent dashboard sit beside the filter, on the platforms they name.
A listWhat “free” means on Safe Lagoon’s price page
Open the Safe Lagoon price page and read the filter line before you read the paid plans. Web filtering is free. The sentence they print is “Always. Forever.” No end date is stated. What the filter does, in their words, is let you see sites and block or allow sites.
The sentence is small on purpose. You see sites. You block or allow them. You do not get 14 categories or natural-language context. Free is not the same claim as a smarter filter. Wanting the chicken-breast distinction and then taking the free list because it costs nothing is the wrong trade.
Use it for placement. It lives on the Android phone, next to schedules, app blocks, location and optional screenshots, and the list does not require Premium. Premium, when the list is not enough, is $6.99 a month or $5.83 a month yearly, five profiles: limits, schedules, app blocking, GPS and geofences, a YouTube monitor, Gallery, My assistant, and call and SMS activity on Android via Device Monitor.
At a glanceThe two claims, side by side
| Net Nanny web filter | Safe Lagoon web filter | |
|---|---|---|
| How they describe it | Scans each page in real time, not only a block list | See sites. Block or allow sites |
| Categories | 14, including pornography, drugs, gambling, weapons and others. Allow, Alert or Block each one | Not described as a category engine |
| A single site | Allow or block specific sites | Block or allow specific sites |
| Context | AI-based natural language. Their “chicken breast” example | Not claimed |
| Price | Inside the paid plans. One desktop $39.99/year, beside a $49.99 figure. Five devices: “$11 per device/year” | Free. Price page: “Always. Forever.” |
| Where it runs | Windows 10 and 11, macOS 10.13 to 11.x, iOS 11 and higher | On the Android phone, beside the other phone controls |
The 20-device pass prints no single checkout total. Twenty separate Windows or Mac licenses would normally cost over $799.99, and the pass saves $700. Check the total when you buy. The five-device line is only “$11 per device per year.”
Pay themWho should pay for Net Nanny’s filter
Pay when the house is desktop-heavy and the devices are ones they support: a Windows PC, a Mac, an iPhone. You want category blocking, an alert on a category, and the natural-language pass, rather than a notebook you update after the fact.
Pay when new sites are the problem. A list catches addresses you have seen or typed. A scan of the page is built for the address you have not met. That is a fair reason to spend $39.99 a year on one desktop, or “$11 per device per year” across PCs, Macs and iPhones.
Pay when Android is not in the house at all. Their filter is allowed to be the right purchase. Do not pay them for an Android phone. The products page is the stop sign. Keep the filter on the PC, and read the Android alternative for the handset.
Start thereWho can start with the free list
Start free when the device is an Android phone and the browser is a known set of sites. See what opened. Block the ones you mean. Allow the school portal. The price page does not meter that list.
Start free, too, when you mostly need the list plus a schedule, so the browser is not the only control. A child done with homework at 16:00 and still in a browser at 22:00 may need the clock, not a language model. The list handles addresses. The schedule closes the games or the browser.
Premium can wait. If the list is enough, leave it. If the fight becomes a game or a bedtime, add the $6.99 plan and approve the card before it applies.
A split is allowed: Net Nanny on the Windows PC for categories and context, the free list on the Android phone.
Apps and VPNsWhy a filter alone stops being the control
A web filter, paid or free, watches the browser. The moment your child leaves the browser, the filter is no longer the thing in the way.
The common move is an app. YouTube, TikTok, a game, a messenger that loads pictures inside itself: none of those must pass through the page you categorized. Net Nanny lists app blocking, and that page talks about iOS. On Android, Safe Lagoon’s app blocks and schedules are Premium. Pick games, social or media, or block one app. A limit caps minutes (time limits). A schedule turns a category off between two times (schedules). That is a different job from judging a webpage.
A VPN app can carry traffic around the filter. This article does not claim a VPN detector. If you know the app, block it or schedule it, the same way you block a game. That is an app rule, not a promise that every tunnel is found.
A site in Chrome needs a filter. An app icon has to stop opening. The free list plus a schedule is the Android pair. Their page scan plus their app controls is the pair on Windows, Mac and iOS.
Screenshots are not a second filter. Screen Mirror ($14.99 a month, $12.50 yearly) groups shots by app and time. AI Shield ($19.99, $16.58 yearly) is an alert and one risky moment, not the day. Both are Android only (how they differ).
Texts are a third door. These Net Nanny pages do not claim SMS or social transcripts. Safe Lagoon’s call and SMS activity is Device Monitor on Android: not a chat archive, deletions not guaranteed, incoming calls and SMS cannot be blocked, chat apps outside it.
QuestionsFAQ
Is a free web filter worse than Net Nanny’s?
It is a different claim. They scan each page, use 14 categories, and look at context. The price page says you see sites and block or allow them, free, with no end date stated. Free is not a smarter filter. Match the claim to the device.
Can I get Net Nanny’s page scan on an Android phone?
Not from the products page checked on 14 November 2026. Platforms listed are Windows 10 and 11, macOS 10.13 to 11.x, and iOS 11 and higher. The free list on the Android phone does not reproduce that scan.
Will either filter stop a VPN or the YouTube app?
A filter watches pages in the browser. An app, including a VPN app or the YouTube app, can sit outside that. Block the app or schedule it if that is the door you care about. This article does not describe a VPN detector.
Does the free filter turn into a paid one later?
The price page says “Always. Forever.” Premium adds limits, schedules, app blocks and the other phone tools. You can keep the list and skip Premium. You cannot turn the free list into Net Nanny’s category engine by upgrading.
What if I want both?
Use Net Nanny where they support the device and you want the page read. Use the free list on the Android phone. Two filters on two kinds of hardware is a sane setup. Cancel one only when that hardware is gone.
Prices and feature lists were taken from each company's own site on 14 November 2026 and can change. Safe Lagoon is not affiliated with Net Nanny or Norton. Names are trademarks of their owners.
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