Qustodio and Aunty Bea are not really the same kind of product, which makes this an easier comparison than most. Qustodio is a control tool first: time limits, app blocking, web filtering, location, and on its top plan the ability to read calls and texts. Aunty Bea is a safety tool first: it watches for harm and sends you a plain-English note, and it never shows you the messages. Some families want one, some want the other, and a few will run both.
| Aunty Bea | Qustodio | |
|---|---|---|
| Made in | Sunshine Coast, Australia | Barcelona, Spain |
| Price (AUD) | Social Lock free forever. Complete Protection $9.99/month, whole family, every device. 7-day free trial, no card. | Free plan, 1 device. Basic AU$89.95/year, up to 5 devices. Complete AU$159.95/year, unlimited devices. 30-day money-back. |
| Child devices | iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac (Safari), Chrome and Edge on Windows, Mac and Chromebook | iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, Mac, Chromebook with Play Store, Fire OS |
| What the parent sees | A plain-English note about what looked risky and how to talk about it. Never message content. | Activity reports and AI alerts on concerning messages or searches; on Complete, the texts they send and receive. |
| Reads messages | No | Yes on Complete: calls and SMS on Android and iOS; chat alerts for WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and X on Android, WhatsApp and Instagram on iOS |
| iPhone set-up | App from the App Store. No computer. | App, plus a Mac or Windows computer and a cable for calls, messages and social monitoring |
| Screen time limits | Visibility only | Yes: daily limits, restricted times, pause the internet |
| Location | No | Yes, with saved-places alerts |
| Social media ban | Social Lock, free, built for the Australian list | Block the Social apps category; Social network web category |
| Concerning-content alerts | Grooming, bullying, explicit, self-harm, violence and other harmful content, on the device | AI-powered alerts for concerning messages or searches |
| Where data is processed | United States (infrastructure providers; Anthropic writes the notes) | Sub-processors may be outside the EU; EC model clauses. Specific region not stated. |
Qustodio facts from qustodio.com and help.qustodio.com, checked 13 October 2026. Prices as shown to an Australian visitor.
If the question in your house is how long, not what, Qustodio is excellent. It runs natively on Windows and Mac as well as phones, so one set of time rules can cover the gaming PC and the laptop. It blocks by category of app, game or website. It can pause the internet. It tracks location and tells you when your child arrives somewhere. And on its Complete plan it goes further than we ever will: it can read the texts they send and receive. Some parents want exactly that.
This is the real fork. Qustodio's Complete plan lets you read calls and SMS, and gives chat alerts for a list of social apps. Aunty Bea will not show you a message, ever. It checks on the device, and when something looks like grooming, bullying, self-harm or explicit content, you get a note in plain English and a way to open the conversation. We built it that way because we think a child's dignity and a parent's awareness can both be protected, and because a note you act on beats a transcript you dread.
Qustodio is honest about this in its help centre: calls and messages monitoring for iOS requires a computer, social monitoring for iOS requires a computer, and on iOS you can only block compatible apps, which it does by limiting the app's internet connection. Aunty Bea on iOS is built on Apple's Family Controls framework and works at the network layer and inside Safari, with no computer in the loop. We cannot see inside other apps on an iPhone either, and we say so.
Aunty Bea shows you screen time; it is not a limits product. If time limits are the main thing you want, Qustodio does them well, and so do Apple's Screen Time and Google's Family Link for free. Our guide on screen time limits vs content filtering explains why many families end up wanting both layers.
Aunty Bea Social Lock blocks the platforms age-restricted under Australia's under-16 ban, including Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat and X, free with no expiry and no card. Qustodio can block the Social apps category as a general control. On price, Qustodio Complete is AU$159.95 a year for unlimited devices; Aunty Bea Complete Protection is $9.99 AUD a month, which is $119.88 a year, for the whole family on every device, with a 7-day trial and no card to start. Qustodio Basic is cheaper at AU$89.95 a year but covers five devices and leaves out calls and messages.
Qustodio Technologies S.L. is based in Barcelona. Aunty Bea is built on the Sunshine Coast and is Australian owned and operated; if you need to complain about us, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner is in our privacy policy.
On every device, Aunty Bea checks on the device and sends us only the type of concern it found, the app or site, and a page title. The on-screen text does not leave the device, and your child's name is never sent with it. The plain-English note is written by Claude, made by Anthropic, which keeps what it receives for up to 30 days and never uses it to train its models. Our infrastructure providers process data in the United States. The full detail is in our privacy policy.
Find out what Bea would notice on your kid's device. 7-day free trial, $9.99/month for the whole family, cancel anytime. Social Lock stays free forever.
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