Alternatives & comparisons
Proctorio Alternatives: The Privacy and AI Gap, Explained (2026)
Proctorio is an AI behaviour-monitoring system, delivered as a browser extension or, in its Advanced tier, as a desktop app with device-level monitoring. It records webcam footage and behavioural signals, and it now blocks a named list of AI assistants. What no configuration of it reaches: an OS-layer overlay like Cluely or detect a local LLM running in memory with no network traffic.
Aiseptor takes the opposite approach: no webcam, no screen content. What it logs is network-reachability results and device-integrity signals: which hosts a device could reach and whether an exclusion flag was set, not payloads, not footage. See the full data model.
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 Proctorio Does
Proctorio is an AI behaviour-monitoring system delivered as an extension or a device-level app deployed at hundreds of universities. It monitors gaze direction, flags head movements, records screen and webcam, and applies automated AI to flag suspicious behavior for human review. It's deeply integrated into Canvas.
Proctorio's Privacy Record
Documented incidents, factually stated:
Public disclosure of a private conversation: Proctorio's CEO shared a student's private support conversation publicly on social media in 2020, triggering a faculty vote against Proctorio use at the University of British Columbia.
Extension vulnerability: Dutch security researchers at Computest (Sector 7) found a Universal Cross-Site Scripting flaw in Proctorio's browser extension that could let an attacker-controlled site activate a student's webcam and take screenshots without their knowledge. Proctorio patched it within a week of disclosure. Chronicle of Higher Education
Institutional pushback: Multiple universities (UBC, USC) reduced or removed Proctorio citing privacy concerns.
EPIC complaint: EPIC's 2020 complaint cited Proctorio among services engaging in excessive collection of students' biometric and personal data.
The Name-List Trap
Proctorio says it blocks Cluely by preventing unauthorised applications from launching during an exam, and its changelog separately lists AI assistants it detects by name. Both are identity-based, and that is the limit: a control keyed to identity catches what it has already been told about. Rename the binary, run an open-source fork, or switch to a different invisible overlay and the name no longer matches, while the cheating method is identical.
Aiseptor detects the technique instead of the name: every overlay that hides from screen-share must set the same screen-capture exclusion flag, so renamed and never-before-seen tools trip the same control. Proctorio also publishes no detection for on-device LLMs running in local memory — a model answering from RAM makes no request to log and appears in no web-traffic record — which Aiseptor catches through process, model-file, and GPU-memory signatures. The webcam sees the room, not the transparent overlay floating above the exam window.
The Ephemeral Alternative
Aiseptor's architecture on privacy: no webcam, no screen content, no keystrokes. Session-scoped enforcement only. Data kept as a post-exam record that defaults to 90 days and is configurable from 7 to 365 days by the institution, with no footage retained at any point. No browser extension. A lightweight ephemeral enclave tears itself down at session end.
“The enforcement is on the network and device level. The audit record is cryptographically signed metadata about what was and wasn't reachable, not a recording of the candidate.”
See the full data model on the trust page.
Comparison: Proctorio vs. Network-Layer Enforcement
| Capability | Proctorio | Aiseptor (Network Layer) |
|---|---|---|
| Where enforcement runs | Browser extension, or a desktop/mobile app for device-level monitoring | Network and OS layer, no browser dependency |
| Webcam data collected | Yes | No |
| Data retention | Extended (months) | No footage; metadata 90 days (7-365) |
| Named overlay (e.g. Cluely on a denylist) | Yes (process-name match) | Yes (technique match) |
| Renamed / unknown / forked overlays | No (not on the name list) | Yes |
| On-device LLM detection | No | Yes |
| Persistent installation post-session | Yes | No |
Who Should Use What
If your institution needs behavioral monitoring and recorded sessions for audit purposes, Proctorio provides that. If your concern is AI cheating that Proctorio's architecture cannot reach, and if privacy constraints are a factor, Aiseptor fills that surface.
Complementary, not either/or.
See also: Honorlock alternatives · Respondus alternatives
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best Proctorio alternatives?
The right alternative depends on what gap you're filling. For AI cheating tools that operate at the OS layer (invisible overlays, local language models), network-layer enforcement is the architectural complement to browser-based proctoring. Aiseptor is the production deployment of that approach.
Does Proctorio collect webcam data?
Yes. Proctorio records webcam footage, screen activity, and behavioral signals. Data retention practices have been a documented concern for institutions subject to FERPA or GDPR, and the EPIC Privacy Coalition raised concerns about excessive biometric data collection in 2020.
Is Proctorio privacy compliant?
Proctorio operates under a privacy policy, but compliance depends on your jurisdiction and institutional requirements. Multiple universities have reviewed Proctorio's data practices and chosen to reduce or end their use based on privacy concerns.
Can Proctorio detect Cluely?
Proctorio says it does. In its own words, it “blocks tools like Cluely by preventing unauthorized apps from launching during exams. If Cluely can't start, it can't be used.” Its changelog separately lists AI assistants it detects by name, including Microsoft Copilot, Google Lens, Grammarly and Coda.io, and notes that detection requires the Record Web Traffic setting to be switched on. Both approaches need the tool to be identified first. A renamed build, an open-source fork, or an overlay nobody has catalogued yet uses the same screen-capture-exclusion architecture under a different name. Aiseptor keys on the exclusion flag itself rather than the identity, so a tool it has never seen trips the same control.
If Proctorio added Cluely to a denylist, is the overlay problem solved?
No. A denylist is reactive: a tool must be known and named before it can be blocked, and invisible overlays are trivial to rename and fork. Aiseptor keys on the invariant every hiding overlay shares (the WDA_EXCLUDEFROMCAPTURE screen-capture-exclusion flag) plus install-path, Electron renderer-tree, and GPU-memory signals, so it does not depend on having seen the tool before.
Is there an exam proctoring tool without webcam?
Yes. Aiseptor enforces exam integrity through network and device-layer controls with no webcam, no screen recording, and no behavioral surveillance. The security model is: control what the device can reach, not what the camera can see.
What does Proctorio actually record, and who decides?
Your institution decides, and Proctorio states it has no default settings. An exam administrator can enable webcam, microphone, browser and desktop monitoring, a scan of your surroundings, screen recording, web traffic recording and a periodic desk scan triggered at random intervals. Facial and gaze detection can be disabled separately while still recording the session. Proctorio also states it does not track eye movements and does not use keystroke fingerprinting, though it does track keystroke anomalies.
Who holds Proctorio recordings, and for how long?
Your institution holds them, and Proctorio says it cannot read them. It describes zero-knowledge encryption in which only the institution maintains and controls the decryption keys, so Proctorio cannot decrypt the audio, video and screen recordings it stores. Retention is set by the institution on the order form; where none is specified Proctorio applies six months, and it notes retention can be as little as seven days. This is a stronger custody position than the category is usually credited with.
Does Proctorio detect AI tools?
A named list of them. Proctorio's changelog records detection of AI assistants used as a browser side panel, including Microsoft Copilot, Google Lens, Grammarly and Coda.io, and blocking of the Comet Perplexity and Atlas AI browsers. That detection requires the Record Web Traffic setting to be enabled. The design constraint is inherent rather than a criticism: a list catches what is on it, and a tool that has been renamed, forked or not yet catalogued is not.
Does Proctorio require a browser extension?
Not any more, or not only. Proctorio publishes four implementations: Standard Integrity delivered through a browser extension on Chrome, Edge, Brave and Opera; Advanced Integrity, which adds device-level lockdown and monitoring beyond the browser; a mobile app for iOS and Android; and live proctoring. If you have read that Proctorio is a Chrome extension, that described the product accurately for years and no longer describes all of it.
Where Aiseptor Fits: Beneath, Not Instead Of
Aiseptor is a layer, not a rip-and-replace. It sits beneath Proctorio, 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.
Exam security without the surveillance model.
No webcam, no screen recordings, no persistent extension. The audit record is cryptographically signed metadata, not footage of your candidates.