Safe Lagoon vs Net Nanny: A Page-Reading Filter, or a Free One on Android

Safe Lagoon and Net Nanny show up on the same roundup lists, and they answer different questions. Net Nanny, on its products page, is a web filter for a Windows PC, a Mac and an iPhone. Safe Lagoon, on its price page, is built around an Android phone, and the web filter on that phone is free. This article lines up what each company prints, so you can hire the one that matches the device in front of you.

Figures below were copied on 14 November 2026 and can change. Setup for the phone is in a Net Nanny alternative for Android. The filter question is in the paid filter versus the free list. The wider market is in parental control apps compared.

ChooseThe honest split

Choose Net Nanny if the devices are a Windows PC, a Mac and an iPhone, and the job is a filter that reads the page, not just a domain list. That is the product they describe. A household whose homework lives in a desktop browser, and whose phone is an iPhone, is inside the list they print.

Choose Safe Lagoon if the child has an Android phone. Net Nanny’s own supported-platform list does not include Android. The web filter on that phone is free, and it sits next to schedules and app blocks. That is a different tool on a phone their page does not cover, not a smarter copy of their filter.

You can also keep both. Net Nanny stays on the family PC and the Mac. Safe Lagoon goes on the Android phone.

PlatformsWhere each one runs

Net Nanny, as printed, covers a desktop and an iPhone. One license is “1 desktop (PC and Mac).” The five-device line adds iOS. The twenty-device pass is described with Windows or Mac licenses. A Samsung is not on that page.

Safe Lagoon’s full product is Android. On iOS you can pause and schedule third-party apps, without per-app usage. There is no Windows or Mac child agent. A homework laptop points at Net Nanny. An Android phone points at Safe Lagoon. Write the devices down before you compare a price.

Their strengthWhat Net Nanny’s filter does

Give the filter the credit it has. On the website blocker page, Net Nanny says it scans each webpage in real time, rather than only checking a block list. They use categories. They list 14, including pornography, drugs, gambling, weapons and others. For each category you can Allow, Alert or Block. You can also allow or block a specific site.

They describe AI-based natural language context. Their “chicken breast” example is the plain version: the same words can be a recipe or something else, and they say the filter looks at context instead of banning the phrase. A domain list cannot make that distinction.

The products page also lists screen time, app blocking (their app-blocking page talks about iOS), alerts and reporting, Family Feed, location tracking and a parent dashboard.

These pages do not claim SMS or social-message transcripts. The silence is not a feature list, and it is not a denial. If texts are why you are shopping, that promise is not on these pages.

Our filterWhat the free Safe Lagoon filter is

On the Safe Lagoon price page, web filtering is free. The line they print is “Always. Forever.” There is no end date on that page. The filter lets you see sites and block or allow sites.

“Free” here is not a synonym for “smarter,” and it is not a claim that every page is read in context. The placement is the point: the list sits on the Android phone next to schedules, app blocks, location and optional screenshots, without a subscription just to keep the list.

MoneyPrices as printed

One desktop, PC and Mac, is $39.99 a year, shown beside a $49.99 figure. This article does not invent a story for the second number. See which figure the button uses when you check out.

Five devices, PC, Mac and iOS, are “$11 per device/year.” There is no package total here to repeat. Quote that rate, and multiply it yourself at checkout.

The 20-device Family Protection Pass does not print one checkout price in the text. Net Nanny says 20 individual Windows or Mac licenses, bought separately, would normally cost over $799.99, and the pass saves $700. Check the total at checkout.

Premium is $6.99 a month, or $5.83 a month on the yearly plan, for five profiles. Screen Mirror is $14.99 a month, or $12.50 a month yearly. AI Shield is $19.99 a month, or $16.58 a month yearly. Those two screenshot plans are Android only. The web filter does not require them.

The phoneWhat sits next to the filter on Android

Premium adds the rules around the filter: daily limits, schedules, app blocking, GPS and geofences, a YouTube monitor, Gallery for the camera roll, and My assistant. Call and SMS activity on Android goes through Device Monitor. The price page marks Call and SMS history with an asterisk for a free Android add-on.

Read the text limit the way the price page draws it. Activity on Android, through Device Monitor, is regular SMS. It is not a full chat archive. Deleted messages are not guaranteed. Incoming calls and SMS cannot be blocked. WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat threads are outside it.

Screen Mirror groups screenshots by app and time. AI Shield is an alert plus a screenshot of a risky moment, not the whole day. Both are Android only. The help center splits them from Gallery: AI Shield, Screen Mirror and Gallery.

My assistant takes a plain-language rule, shows a confirmation card, and applies nothing until you tap Approve. Device Owner is optional: uninstall then takes a factory reset (tamper-resistant setup).

BothA PC and a phone in the same house

An 11-year-old can write on a Windows laptop and then disappear into an Android phone. Leave Net Nanny on the laptop. Put Safe Lagoon on the phone. Their desktop license is $39.99 a year for one machine. The phone’s web filter adds no filter subscription. Premium is a second bill only if you want schedules and app blocks.

A Mac plus an iPhone still belongs with Net Nanny when the job is the page-reading filter. On iOS, Safe Lagoon pauses and schedules third-party apps and does not show per-app usage.

If the phone is the only device, use the Android alternative. If you are still weighing the filter, read Net Nanny’s filter versus the free web filter.

QuestionsFAQ

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.

Kate Laverie

Writes for the Safe Lagoon blog · More articles on the blog