Alternatives & comparisons
Examity Alternative for the AI Cheating Era (2026)
Examity pairs live and AI proctors with ID verification and a browser lockdown extension. It does identity and visible behavior well. But Cluely isn't visible to any of it. Here is what sits below the observation layer.
Other exam-security alternatives to consider
No single tool covers every layer. Here is how the rest of the lockdown-browser and proctoring-service field compares on the same AI-cheating threat model.
What Examity Does
Examity is a proctoring service used widely across higher education and corporate certification, offering a tiered model: live proctors watching in real time, AI-only automated monitoring, AI monitoring with a live authentication check, or record-and-review after the fact. Every tier starts with identity verification (photo ID matching and, in some configurations, knowledge-based authentication), followed by a browser lockdown extension for the exam window. It works well for the things identity checks and a proctor can observe: confirming the right person is testing, a second person in the room, obvious browser misuse.
In short: Examity is built to confirm who is testing and watch the browser window they're testing in, not what else is running on the machine underneath it.
What Examity Cannot See
Identity verification answers a question upstream of the exam: is this the right candidate? It says nothing about what runs on that candidate's machine once the session starts. An invisible AI overlay like Cluely runs at the OS layer, above the browser lockdown extension, and marks itself excluded from the screen-capture APIs any proctoring tier (live, AI, or record-and-review) relies on. A correctly identified, browser-locked candidate can still be reading answers off a surface none of Examity's proctoring modes were built to capture.
The same gap applies to on-device LLMs. A model running in local memory produces no browser-extension artifact and no network traffic to intercept. Aiseptor detects the technique instead of the appearance: a screen-capture-exclusion flag, GPU VRAM deltas, and DNS/SNI to AI endpoints, regardless of process name.
Confirming identity and locking a browser window solve real, separate problems. Neither one reaches the OS layer where these two techniques actually run.
Comparison: Examity vs. Network-Layer Enforcement
| Capability | Examity | Aiseptor (Network Layer) |
|---|---|---|
| Live / AI proctor + ID verification | Yes | No |
| Browser lockdown extension | Yes | Complementary |
| Invisible AI overlays (Cluely, Pluely, unknown forks) | No | Yes |
| On-device LLMs (Ollama, LM Studio) | No | Yes |
| OS-wide network / DNS enforcement | No | Yes |
| Data collected | Webcam, ID document, browser activity | Network access signals only |
Complementary Architecture
Examity = identity, proctor, and browser-lockdown layer. Aiseptor = network and device layer. Aiseptor sits beneath Examity, not in place of it. Examity's identity verification and live/AI proctoring catch fraud Aiseptor does not address: a wrong test-taker, an obvious environment violation. Aiseptor catches the device and network AI surface none of Examity's proctoring tiers can see: the overlay running at the OS layer, the local model in memory. We don't claim to replace identity verification or physical proctoring.
See also: ProctorU alternatives · Pearson OnVUE alternatives
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Examity detect Cluely?
Examity's proctors, whether live, AI-only, or record-and-review, watch the candidate through a webcam and the exam window through a browser extension. Cluely is an OS-layer overlay that excludes itself from the same screen-capture APIs a proctor or reviewer would see. Whichever proctoring mode is selected, none of them observe a surface the overlay was built to be absent from.
Does Examity detect AI cheating generally?
Examity's live and AI proctors can flag AI-assisted behaviors that are visible to a webcam or browser extension: looking off-screen, a second person in the room, suspicious tab activity. They cannot see an OS-layer overlay that hides from screen capture, or an on-device language model running in local memory with no network traffic.
Why can't Examity's ID verification catch AI overlay use?
ID verification and knowledge-based authentication confirm who is sitting the exam, not what else is running on their device once the exam starts. Those are separate problems: identity fraud and AI-assisted cheating during a legitimately-authenticated session require different controls.
Is there an Examity alternative without webcam?
Yes. Aiseptor enforces exam integrity at the network and device layer: no webcam, no browser extension, no keystrokes. The audit record is metadata about what was and wasn't reachable during the session, not a recording of the candidate. Full data model on the trust page.
Where Aiseptor Fits: Beneath, Not Instead Of
Aiseptor is a layer, not a rip-and-replace. It sits beneath Examity, and beneath any lockdown browser or proctoring service, owning the device and network layer those tools architecturally cannot reach. Keep what you have for browser control or webcam proctoring; add Aiseptor for the OS- and network-level AI threats it was built to stop. The exam page can open in a normal browser while Aiseptor enforces the machine boundary.
What Aiseptor does not do: physical and environment security is out of scope. Aiseptor does not verify identity, watch the room, or catch a phone, a paper note, or an in-person accomplice off-camera. For those, pair Aiseptor with a live proctor or an identity-verification step. Aiseptor secures the device and the network path, not the physical room around it.
Identity confirmed. The device, still unwatched.
Aiseptor pairs with Examity's identity and proctoring layer to close the network and device gap underneath. The audit record is metadata about what was and wasn't reachable, not a recording of your candidates.