The 5 best Safe Exam Browser alternatives in 2026

Safe Exam Browser was developed in 2008. Today, many institutions run into its limits: exam setups that depend on IT, manual updates for students, technical issues on exam day without a dedicated support line, and restrictions that are harder to enforce on student-owned laptops.

The right choice for an alternative for your institution depends on what you're trying to achieve: greater technical stability, less reliance on IT, secure access to files and desktop applications, or supervision for remote exams.

Compare five alternatives for on-campus and remote exams below.

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Alternatives for in-person exams

1. Schoolyear

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Schoolyear locks down devices (both managed and student-owned) to prevent students from switching to unauthorized tabs, applications or resources during any digital assessment. It stands out by combining this security with secured access to desktop applications and approved files, all within one controlled workspace.

Best suited to: Institutions replacing Safe Exam Browser that want greater technical stability, easier exam setup for educators, less reliance on IT, and professional support.

Why consider it:

• Educators configure exam security directly in their LMS, without IT support.
• Professional support and a service-level agreement reduce the burden on IT.
• Supports BYOD and managed computers, including managed Chromebooks.

Limitation: Designed for in-person exams, not remote proctoring.

Easy exam setup for educators

In Safe Exam Browser, each exam setup is a technical configuration. Even adding one website to the allowlist can mean submitting an IT ticket and waiting for IT to generate a new configuration file.

With Schoolyear, educators make these changes themselves directly in Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard or D2L Brightspace, without IT support.

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Fewer technical difficulties on exam day

With Safe Exam Browser, students must install updates manually, and different exams may require different versions. A configuration file for one exam may only work with a specific version, often creating confusion just before an exam starts.

Schoolyear updates automatically, removing that manual update step for students.

At Amadeus Lyceum, around one in five students had been unable to start their exams while using Safe Exam Browser. After switching to Schoolyear, the institution reported reliable exam delivery, less pressure on invigilators and renewed teacher confidence in digital examination.

Protection against bypasses

Tools that bypass exam security are becoming easier for students to find and use. These let students get around lockdown restrictions, for example by displaying AI answers over the exam or allowing someone else to access the device remotely.

Safe Exam Browser is open source. That brings transparency, but in high-stakes exams it also means anyone looking for a way to cheat can study how its security works. Safe Exam Browser does have a security team, but fixes come without a service-level agreement, and IT still has to roll out each update to every device.

Schoolyear is closed source, and a dedicated security team pushes fixes to every device automatically.

Secure cheating routes inside desktop applications

With the rise of AI, many educators want to move their take-home assessments into the exam room. For this, they want access to desktop applications, while being able to shut off functionalities such as AI, add-ins, and access to personal files.

With Safe Exam Browser, this isn't possible. It only enables you to allowlist an application, but you can't control what happens inside the application. Here's an article on Safe Exam Browser's own website, where they acknowledge that local application whitelisting is not secure on student-owned devices.

Schoolyear solves this issue. Educators can configure assessments to allow approved files and websites for open-book exams, or secured applications such as Word, Excel, SPSS, R and VS Code. Applications run in isolation, blocking unauthorized files, AI assistants and add-ins.

‍Learn more about Schoolyear in a 30-minute demo

2. Respondus

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Respondus LockDown Browser secures LMS quizzes by restricting tab switching, copying and access to unapproved websites and applications. Instructors enable it through their existing LMS. Institutions can add Respondus Monitor for remote exams, combining browser restrictions with recording and automated flagging.

Best suited to: Institutions looking to secure quizzes within their existing LMS, with optional remote monitoring.

Why consider it:

• Students launch LockDown Browser through their LMS.
• No configuration files are required.
• Respondus Monitor adds webcam and screen recording options.

Limitation: Respondus doesn't continuously verify that its restrictions still work, so a bypass during the exam can go unnoticed.

Lock down LMS quizzes

Respondus LockDown Browser restricts tab switching, copying and access to unapproved websites during an LMS quiz. It also blocks applications such as screen-sharing and messaging tools.

If a security block is triggered, for example by blacklisted software, it can affect both the device and the student's account. Staff cannot simply unlock the account or resolve the block by handing over another laptop. In reported cases, they have had to contact Respondus Support or let the student continue without exam security.

Add monitoring for remote exams

Respondus Monitor adds recording and automated flagging for instructors to review afterward. This gives institutions a remote supervision option alongside the browser restrictions.

Allow Word and Excel during assessments

Respondus can whitelist locally installed Word or Excel, letting students work in those applications during an assessment. The applications are not isolated: students may still open personal files or use built-in AI.

Alternatives for remote exams

3. Proctorio

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Proctorio combines browser restrictions with automated remote proctoring. It records webcam, microphone and screen activity during web-based exams and flags potentially suspicious behavior for instructors to review. Institutions use it through an LMS integration, with controls delivered through a browser extension and companion components.

Best suited to: Institutions running remote, web-based assessments with recording and automated flagging.

Why consider it:

• Browser restrictions combined with webcam, microphone and screen recording.
• Automated flagging of potentially suspicious activity.
• LMS integration through a browser extension, with additional features available through companion components.

Limitation: Instructors still need to interpret flagged activity, which can add hours of review per exam session at scale.

Combine quiz restrictions with remote monitoring

Proctorio can enforce full-screen mode, restrict navigation and limit browser functions during an exam. It combines these controls with recording, allowing institutions to supervise students taking assessments remotely. Browser restrictions alone do not isolate applications running elsewhere on the device.

Review flagged exam activity

Proctorio analyzes recorded activity and flags potentially suspicious behavior for instructors to review. Staff use that evidence to decide whether an incident warrants further action. Institutions should allow time for this review and establish how recordings will be stored and retained.

4. Honorlock

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Honorlock combines browser restrictions and automated monitoring with live proctor intervention for remote exams. Its system flags potentially suspicious activity that can be escalated to a human proctor during the session, giving institutions both automated oversight and live supervision.

Best suited to: Institutions looking for remote proctoring that combines automated flagging with live supervision.

Why consider it:

• Webcam, screen and AI-based behavioral monitoring.
• Live proctors can intervene when suspicious behavior is detected.
• Browser restrictions, with additional desktop controls in some configurations.

Limitation: Monitoring does not provide an isolated environment for desktop applications. For exams in Excel or VS Code, you rely on behavioral detection and manual review rather than prevention.

Combine automated monitoring with live support

Honorlock records exam activity and uses AI to flag potentially suspicious behavior. Incidents can be escalated to live proctors, who can intervene during the session. This combines automated monitoring with human supervision for remote exams. Institutions still need to consider privacy and recording retention.

Restrict access during remote assessments

Honorlock's browser extension limits navigation, restricts browser functions and blocks unauthorized websites. Some configurations include a desktop component that extends controls beyond the browser. For exams using local applications such as Excel or VS Code, institutions should check which activities are blocked and which are monitored instead.

5. SMOWL

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SMOWL focuses on identity verification and evidence collection for remote exams. It captures periodic images and compiles flagged activity into reports for institutional review. Its optional desktop component, SMOWL CM, extends monitoring to applications and other activity on the student's computer.

Best suited to: Institutions using identity verification and recorded evidence to supervise remote, web-based exams.

Why consider it:

• Identity verification and exam monitoring.
• Periodic snapshots of the student's face, screen and environment.
• SMOWL CM for additional visibility into computer activity.

Limitation: Desktop activity monitoring records unauthorized application use rather than blocking it. Reviewing evidence for every student is hard to scale in large exams, and filming students raises privacy questions.

Verify identity and collect exam evidence

SMOWL captures images during the exam and analyzes them for potential irregularities, such as the student leaving the screen or another person appearing. It compiles the evidence into a report for institutional review. Staff remain responsible for interpreting flags, and institutions must consider recording privacy and retention.

Extend monitoring beyond the browser

With SMOWL CM installed, institutions can monitor active applications, browser tabs, connected devices and clipboard activity. This adds information about what happens on the student's computer alongside browser-level restrictions. The desktop component logs application activity for review; it does not isolate or actively block those applications.

Where Safe Exam Browser still works well

Safe Exam Browser still does what it was built for. It can be a good fit for institutions that:

• run exams mainly in computer labs, on devices IT fully manages
• have IT specialists who configure and maintain every exam setup
• treat digital exams as a service run entirely by IT

With Safe Exam Browser, IT doesn't just set up the exam. It also owns everything that goes wrong on the day of the exam.

There is no vendor to call and no service-level agreement. If students can't launch their exam at 09:00, your IT team is on its own, searching documentation and community forums while the room waits. For a low-stakes quiz, that may be acceptable. For a high-stakes exam with hundreds of students, it's a risk your IT team carries alone.

What should you look for in a Safe Exam Browser alternative?

Most institutions we speak to mention similar frustrations when they're looking for an alternative to Safe Exam Browser. Below are the main reasons, and what to look for in an alternative if you recognize the frustration.

Before you go over any of these, first decide whether you're looking for exam security for in-person exams or for remote exams. Both require a different solution. For in-person exams, you can consider tools like Schoolyear and Respondus. For remote exams, you can consider proctoring solutions like Proctorio, SMOWL and Honorlock.

1. Technical stability on exam day

With Safe Exam Browser, students need to install updates themselves, and a configuration file for one exam may only work with one specific version. "There's always somebody who hasn't downloaded the right version," says Kicka Lindroos, ICT Coordinator at Hanken School of Economics. At Amadeus Lyceum, it went further: "During some exams, around one in five students couldn't even get the exam to launch on their device at all."

At Amadeus Lyceum, this affected the trust educators had in digital exams. "If it goes wrong once, they immediately think it's a bad idea," says Gijs Bos, teacher at Amadeus Lyceum.

What to look for: automatic updates, so every student runs the same version without doing anything. Students should also be able to run a laptop check before exam day, so issues surface while there's still time to fix them. And proof that the solution runs reliably on the mix of laptops your students actually bring.

2. Less dependence on IT for exam setup

In Safe Exam Browser, every exam is a technical configuration. The many settings are manageable for an IT specialist, but easy for a teacher to get wrong: "With so many options, there is always room for teachers to accidentally tick the wrong box," says Kicka Lindroos.

In practice, this means educators have to request exams long in advance, and every change, such as allowlisting an extra website, means IT has to generate a new configuration file.

That knowledge of how the entire setup works also tends to sit with one or two IT specialists. If one of them leaves, much of the knowledge of your exam setup leaves with them.

A compelling argument for many institutions to choose Safe Exam Browser is that it's free. But because it requires so much configuration and maintenance, the IT costs add up quickly. They come from configuring every exam, troubleshooting on exam day and keeping security up to date, exam after exam.

What to look for: educators who can secure their own exams directly in their LMS, choosing the websites, files and applications students may use, without config files or IT involvement for each change.

3. Control inside desktop applications

With AI tools more accessible and powerful than ever, many institutions want to take their practical assessments into the exam room. They want to assess their students' skills in applications like Excel, VS Code or SPSS.

Safe Exam Browser can allow an application to run, but simply allowing it doesn't secure what's inside it. Personal files, cloud storage, the internet and built-in AI such as Copilot stay within reach if you don't go further than allowlisting. This means you can run practical assessments with Safe Exam Browser, but you can't control the cheating routes students might use.

What to look for: applications that run in isolation, where you decide per exam which files, resources and AI features students can use, on both managed and student-owned devices.

4. Support on exam day

Safe Exam Browser is open-source software that IT teams can install and maintain themselves. There is documentation and a community forum if you need help, and for some institutions that is enough.

But if something goes wrong during an exam, there is no time to go through documentation or wait for a reply on a forum. If you can't get an exam to start, you want to fall back on a support team with an agreed response time you can count on.

What to look for: a dedicated contact for technical and security issues, clear availability during your exam hours, and a service-level agreement that covers response times.

Give educators more control over secure exams

Schoolyear takes the frustrations of Safe Exam Browser off your team. Educators secure their own quizzes, open-book and desktop application exams right inside the LMS. Schoolyear updates itself, checks every device until the exam ends and blocks bypass attempts on managed computers and students' own laptops. And when something goes wrong on exam day, our team picks up the phone.

See how Schoolyear would work for your institution in a short demo.