7 Best Spy Software For PC To Track Someone In Real Time

When you think of monitoring your child or loved ones’ online activities, you mainly focus on their smartphones. But you forget about their computers. This can be a big mistake on your end because just like cell phones, they can use their PC for browsing the internet, using social media, and doing other online activities. So it’s equally important to keep track of their activities on the computer as well.

I have already covered the best spy apps for iPhone and Android, now it’s time I share the list of best spy software for PC and Mac with you. The spy software for Windows and Mac can help you monitor your kids, partners, and employees remotely with ease.

All the computer spy software mentioned are personally tested by me. So basically, you’ll be reading my personal experience on all the PC spy software listed below and not from some backseat driver sharing unnecessary information.

• Computer Spy Software Comparison
• Best Spy Software For Laptop/PC Monitoring
• Which PC Spy Software Is Best For Me?
• FAQs

Computer Spy Software Comparison

Best Spy Software For Laptop/PC Monitoring

1. Spyrix Keylogger

Are you looking for free spy software for PC? If yes then this program will definitely excite you. The next spy software for Windows 10 on the list is Spyrix Keylogger. As you can guess by its name it’s a keylogger program that can track all the words typed by the target person on their computer.

It has one of the best keyloggers for computers I have tried to date, and that too for free. It accurately tracks every keystroke and syncs them to your dashboard almost instantly. Not just the typed words but it won’t spare the copied texts as well. Whatever, the target person copies or pastes somewhere you can see that as well with this software.

Besides that, the free version of the Spyrix Keylogger also remotely captures screenshots of the target computer at regular intervals. This will help you see all the activities of the victim that are missed by the keylogger like with whom they are chatting, what video or picture they are viewing etc.,

The free version of this spying software for PC is great, but the only problem is that it can’t be hidden on the target PC until or unless you purchase any of its plans. If you upgrade to the premium version of the software then you won’t just be able to make it undetectable, but you can also receive the recorded data straight to your email.

If you are fine telling the target person that you are installing a keylogger on their device then this free PC spy software is the best option for you. However, if you want to use it secretly then you have to buy its premium plan. You will also get lots of other features after upgrading like a mic and webcam access, browser history, social media message lookup, and much more.

So overall, both the free and paid versions of this PC spy software are totally worth it and you can definitely give it a try. If you still have second thoughts about this PC activity monitoring software then you can go through my Spyrix review and take a wise decision.

 Pricing

You can download the Spyrix keylogger program on both Mac and Windows PC. The macOS plans are slightly more expensive than the Windows. For both Mac and Windows, you can purchase the program for a single, 3, or 5 PC. The Windows plans start at $59/year whereas the macOS plan starts at $69/year. If you want to monitor more PC then you can add 1 PC for $14/year.

Click Here to Try Spyrix

2. FlexiSPY

If you have read my FlexiSPY review about phone monitoring, you’ll know how perfectly the app works. But does the same perfection is provided by FlexiSPY to its customers who are interested in using it as spy software for Windows 1o PC and Mac? Let’s see.

Compatibility

If the target person uses a Windows PC, here’s the list of compatible versions.

• Windows 7
• Windows 8
• Windows 8.1
• Windows 10

The good thing about monitoring with FlexiSPY is that it works with macOS devices as well.

• Apple macOS Mavericks
• Apple macOS Yosemite
• Apple macOS El Capitan
• Apple macOS Sierra
• Apple macOS High Sierra
• Apple macOS Mojave
• Apple macOS Catalina

Features And Working

Key Logs

When you suspect your child of using bad language or watching malicious content, it becomes necessary to track what they write on various apps or what they search on the internet.

FlexiSPY Keylogger feature can easily track what the target person types on their computer which makes it one of the best keyloggers for Windows.

Once you go to the Key Logs feature, you will see various sections where the Keylogger is used. Just click on the section where you want to check the keystrokes, and all the keystrokes will appear on the screen.

Along with that, the date and time when that keystroke was made will also appear.

App Usage

Checking the app’s usage is necessary to make sure your child is not getting addicted to their PC or any particular app.

Under the app section, you will see the list of all the apps used by the target person throughout the day and for how long.

The time when that app was last used will also appear on the screen.

Although there’s a different section in FlexiSPY that shows the searches made on the browser. But unfortunately, during my usage, I didn’t receive any results in that section.

But tracking the browsing history is possible with the App Usage feature. Just click on Chrome or whichever browser you see on the screen. The results will appear as shown below in the screenshot.

Logon

It’s good that you make sure your child is not addicted to their PC, but it’s equally important to keep a track of time when they use their computer.

If they are using their laptop late at night, then that should immediately be taken care of.

The Logon feature keeps the track of time when the PC was in use and when it was not. When the child turns on the PC, it shows Logon, when the PC is in sleep mode it states Lock Screen and when they use the PC again, it states Unlock Screen.

Alerts

Sitting all day long in front of the computer to monitor your lover or your kid is not possible. But you might be curious to know if your spouse or your kid is using some particular words in their chat or not.

But once you come back online, the list of chats will be huge and it will be difficult to read every message.

So it would be better if you can somehow get specific results for the words that you want to track. After creating an alert, you will receive a notification whenever any of those words are used somewhere.

In the same way, you can create an alert related to File Activity.

Network Connection

When you notice your child using the internet more than necessary, you might change the Wi-Fi password to limit their internet use.

But if your child is not demanding the Wi-Fi password again, this might mean that they somehow got the new password, or using some other Wi-Fi.

Whatever the case, you can know the truth with FlexiSPY.

By going to the Network Connection feature, you will see the names of all the Wi-Fi that the laptop was connected to. In addition to that, you will see the date and time when the connection was on and when it was off.

USB Connection

Although this section won’t help much in tracking the activities, still if you are curious to know the names of devices that your spouse’s phone was connected to via USB, this feature will help you out.

You will know the names of all devices connected to the target computer and their status (connected or disconnected.)

Web Browser

Keeping an eye on the web browser is highly recommended whether you are monitoring your child or your spouse’s PC.

You might find out that your child is accessing some adult content on their PC, or your spouse is accessing sites like Tinder.

After reaching the Web Browser section, you will see the search that was made, and for how long the target person was accessing that site. The last time when the target person accessed the site can also be checked.

Screenshots

While the target person is engaged in their PC for a long time, it makes you wonder what are they doing.

To curb this curiosity, FlexiSPY uploads screenshots of their PC screen.

However, while evaluating the feature, I discovered that it only takes screenshots of the home screen and the lock screen, not while they were using the browser or some app.

Other Features

This PC activity monitoring software offers other features like Web Email, Email Screenshots, Desktop Chats, Web Chats, Social Media, Browser Search, Browser History, etc. All the features are highly useful for a complete monitoring experience.

But after thorough testing, I didn’t receive any data for these features. And the reason for no updates for these features is the antivirus installed on the target laptop.

If there’s an antivirus on your kid’s PC, it will stop you from performing detailed monitoring. But it’s easy to add any laptop spy software to the whitelist of the antivirus. Once you do that, the antivirus won’t stop you from extracting more details from the target device.

Pricing

For PC monitoring, FlexiSPY only has one plan to offer. You can purchase the PC monitoring service of FlexiSPY for $68/month. The 3-month plan will you $99 and similarly, the 12-month plan will cost you $149.

Click Here to Try FlexiSPY for PC

3. iKeyMonitor (EASEMON)

Apart from Spyrix, if there is one more spy software for PC that offers a free trial then it is iKeyMonitor aka EASEMON for PC. Not just Windows but you can also spy on Mac with this PC spyware as it is compatible with both platforms. And since it provides you with a 3-day free trial you can test it before purchasing and make up your mind about whether or not you need to buy it.

I have used lots of spyware but there are only a few spy app software that have such a minimalistic dashboard. The first time I landed on the iKeyMonitor dashboard I was impressed by the way it looked. It is ideal for beginners who have never used PC monitoring software before. You get all the basic monitoring details on the dashboard itself so you don’t have to look for them here and there.

Besides the clean interface, other things that impressed me about iKeyMonitor or I say EASEMON was the features it provides. The feature that I personally liked the most was the Screen Activity. Using this feature, it keeps clicking a screenshot of the target device at regular intervals and syncs it to my iKeyMonitor dashboard. With the help of this feature, I was able to remotely see what they are doing on their screen at a specific point in time.

There’s also an Input Activity feature given on the software which works like a keylogger and provides all the keystrokes pressed on the target computer. The good thing about it was that it categorizes the recorded keystroke source-wise i.e. it tells on which program a specific keyboard input was done. However, in my test, I found that it may take some time to list all the recorded keystrokes so you might have to wait to see all the input activity.

Similarly, you also get the Web Activity feature on this PC spy program which enables you to check their browsing history. Moreover, it even provides clickable URLs of the browsed web pages so that you can visit and see them yourself.

Besides all this, it even shows you the App Usage Report. This report shows you the apps that are frequently used by the target person along with the screenshots and input activity they have performed on that particular app. Moreover, it shows you the time they have spent on a specific app. All in all, in my opinion, it is the best computer monitoring software on the list that also provides a free trial.

Pricing

Unlike other computer spy software which have different price plans for MacBook and Windows PC, iKeyMonitor has the same plan for both. You can get the software for a monthly fee of $29.99/m/device. This means if you want to spy on more than one computer then you can do that by paying some extra amount. It is ideal for situations when you want to use iKeyMonitor as an employee monitoring software for your organization.

Click Here to Try iKeyMonitor

4. MoniVisor

Here comes another spy app that works brilliantly when it comes to cell phone tracking. And now it’s time to see the spy software working for Windows PCs. For cell phones, this app comes by the name KidsGuard Pro, but it comes by the name MoniVisor for PC.

Compatibility

For Windows monitoring, here are the compatible versions.

• Windows 7
• Windows 8
• Windows 10

If you are a Mac user, then, unfortunately, MoniVisor is not for you as it’s a Windows spy app that doesn’t support Mac monitoring.

Features And Working

Web Activity

Checking the web activity is a crucial part of monitoring, especially when you are monitoring teens. They might be accessing sites that include porn, fights, political hatred, and so on.

By clicking on Web Activity, you will see the names of different web browsers and you can check the searches made in each one of them separately.

The links that MoniVisor provides are clickable and will directly take you to the page that the target person was accessing.

The exact title of the search can also be seen including the last time when that page was accessed.

Download History

While using the internet for a long time, the teen might get fascinated by some photos and videos. And they might save those photos and videos locally on their device.

But you should be well aware of those files that teens download on their PC.

This is where the Download History feature helps you out.

Here you will see the URL for the website from where the child downloaded that particular image. Although MoniVisor doesn’t show the downloaded photo, by knowing the website you can figure out if it was some adult content or not.

App Activity

Curious to know which software your partner uses on their PC and if they are using any dating apps or not?

With MoniVisor remote PC monitoring software, it’s easy to check the name of the software used and for how long.

Just go to the App Activity section and you will see the names of all the apps under the Name heading. Along with the names, the total time of use and the last used time will also appear.

Web Mail

The webmail feature of MoniVisor lets you keep an eye on the target person’s received and sent email history. You can obviously see who the email was sent to but you can also read their emails without them knowing.

It tracks all emails that are sent using different email clients like Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo. It’s a great feature if you want to spy on your employees at work.

Keylogger

Most the social media platforms like Facebook, and Instagram are accessible on PC. And your lover might be using these apps to chat with someone you don’t want them to.

So it’s important to keep up to date with the messages they send. Similarly, in the case of kids, it’s important to keep a track of what they search for on the internet.

You will easily find all this data in the Keylogger section.

On the left side, the names of all those software will appear where something is typed. Clicking on any of the software will show all the keystrokes made in that software on the right-hand side.

The Keylogger of MoniVisor works amazingly and shows almost every keystroke that the target person makes. With each keystroke, you will see a date and time stamp for better monitoring.

Capture Screenshots

Wouldn’t it be great if you can get the screenshots from the target PC while they are currently using it? The Capture Screenshots feature makes it possible.

Under the Capture Screenshots feature, you will see two more options, one is Screenshot Settings and the other one is View Screenshots.

To start getting screenshots, first, you need to enable the feature by going to Screenshots Settings. Just click on Start and the app is ready to click screenshots.

After that, it’s time to switch to View Screenshots and wait a few minutes while the app is taking screenshots and uploading them to the portal. You can even download the sent screenshots to keep them locally on your device.

File Activity

If your teen has some adult videos or photos on their device then they might usually be kept hidden so you cannot access them.

But MoniVisor keeps a track of all the files that the child opens on their device. The feature shows the name of the file, the location of the file, the date of creation, and if it currently exists or has been deleted.

Other Features

There are some other important features of MoniVisor that make it one of the best Windows spy software for PC. The list of these features includes Web Chats, which make it possible to read messages from WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and so on. However, when I put this feature to the test, it didn’t work for me. You need to install a special extension in the Google Chrome browser in order for this feature to work, I installed the extension using the steps provided by ClevGuard but unfortunately, it tracked nothing.

Then there is the Login Activity feature which shows the time at which the target PC was opened and shut down. With this feature, you can keep a check on your kid’s screen time and also make sure that they are not using the computer at odd times.

Apart from that, there is a Print Activity and USB Connection feature which shows what documents are printed from the target computer and what all devices are added or removed from the computer’s USB port. These are great features for an office setup and employee monitoring.

Pricing

MoniVisor has 3 different plans for its users intended to monitor PC devices and these plans differ based on the time for which you need the app.

The 1-Month Plan will cost you $49.95 for one month, then comes the 3-Month Plan which costs $26.65 for one month, and finally, the 1-Year Plan which costs $10.82. So basically the app has an economical price. Before purchasing its plan you can see what I think about this Windows spy software in my dedicated MoniVisor review.

Click Here to Try MoniVisor

5. Hoverwatch

Don’t let your kids misuse their laptop or PC and monitor everything going on in their device with Hoverwatch. With its screenshots-taking capabilities, Hoverwatch can enlighten you about everything that the target person is doing on the target device.

Compatibility

Hoverwatch is compatible with almost all versions of Windows PC and laptops. This also includes Windows 10.

The app provides a solution for Mac devices as well, including compatibility with the newest Mac version, that is, macOS Catalina.

Features And Working

Screenshots

Hoverwatch works on the concept of taking remote screenshots of the target PC screen. And your loved ones will never get to know about these screenshots.

These screenshots will be taken by Hoverwatch anytime while the user is surfing the internet, using Skype, playing games, or doing whatever you can think of.

These screenshots will then be uploaded to the online portal of the app where you can check them whenever you want remotely.

I have tested the app and experienced that it takes about 4-5 minutes to sync the new data to your account which is quite normal for Windows spy software.

As the screenshots are of high quality and large in size, you won’t face any trouble understanding them. With a single click, the screenshot will open in full size so you can check the content of the screenshot properly.

Browser History

While the PC is in the hands of teens, you will always be in worry if they are using the device as it should be or not.

With Hoverwatch installed on their device, you can monitor all the websites they access 24/7.

The title of their search can be seen clearly on the top and below that, you have the clickable link. Just a single click on the link will take you directly to the website that was being accessed by the child.

Internet surfing is not something that’s done once in a blue moon. In fact, it’s the thing that is most commonly done on a PC. This means that the number of searches made on the browser every day is going to be countless.

But you don’t need to worry about missing something important no matter how huge the bundle of browser history is there for you to check. With a single click, you can delete the unnecessary links and only keep the ones on the portal that you actually need.

Camera Access

Now suppose you find your child surfing something they should not. This can be something like brutal killings, how to consume drugs, porn, or any other concerning stuff.

And now you wonder with whom they actually enjoy watching all this explicit stuff. The answer to this question is that you can use the laptop webcam as a spy camera.

Hoverwatch will get remote access to the webcam of their computer and click a remote photo and upload it on its portal from time to time. This way you can always know with whom your child likes to watch those things.

Location Tracking

The main work of Hoverwatch is screenshot based but that’s not all this amazing laptop spy software has got. Just like all the amazing spy apps, Hoverwatch can track the location of the target PC continuously.

To check the current location of the device, you need to go to the Location section of the app.

Here you will see a pointer indicating where the target person is located right now. The location is updated every few minutes so it’s like you are tracking the person in real time.

Pricing

The services of Hoverwatch can be purchased using the 3 plans offered by the app. These plans are Personal, Professional, and Business.

The Personal plan costs $24.95/month and allows the tracking of only one device. If you purchase one year plan then you just need to pay  $99.95.

The next one is the Professional plan that starts at $49.95/month and allows you to track 5 devices at a time. Choosing the 12-month plan will only cost you $199.95.

Coming to the Business plan, it can monitor 25 devices at a time and costs $149.95/month. A 12-month plan of the app will cost you $499.95.

Click Here to Try Hoverwatch

6. Qustodio

The next stealth computer monitoring software on the list is Qustodio. It is a multi-platform parental control software for computers that work well on both Windows and Mac.

Compatibility

• Windows 7
• Windows 8
• Windows 10
• Windows 11
• macOS 10.10 to macOS 11

Qustodio is a perfect computer spying program for parents who want to keep a keen eye on their kid’s browsing history. This PC spy software not just tracks their searches made on different browsers but also monitors the websites visited in the private tab.

But every other computer spyware can do that, what’s so special about Qustodio? The main advantage of Qustodio computer monitoring software is that it also shows you which sites are mostly accessed by the target person and for how long. Not just websites, but this computer spying program can also track computer applications and their usage.

If you feel that your child is accessing some mature websites then you can remotely block them with Qustodio. Also, you don’t have to be active on Qustoduio all the time to monitor your child because it will send you an alert whenever your kid visits specific web pages. It can block the websites by categories and you can even manually add specific websites to block.

In my test, I found that this desktop spy app redirects the blocked website to Google.com whenever the target person searches for it online. Meaning that they will not be able to access restricted websites without your permission.

You can also set a daily time limit if you want to restrict your child’s screen time. This feature also works very well and instantly locks the device as soon as the time runs out.

Moreover, with this laptop monitoring software, you can remotely spy on Windows PC or Mac from literally anywhere. Because you can use your cell phone as a parent’s device using the Qustodio app.

Other Features

The features I discussed above are available with the free version of Qustodio. If you want more features like social media monitoring, location tracking, call logs, etc. then you have to purchase the premium plan of Qustodio.

Pricing

Qustodio offers 3 plans under its premium package which are Small, Medium, & Large. The plans are divided on the basis of the number of users you want to track. For example, with the Small plan you can monitor 5 devices, the Medium plan will let you track 10 devices and the Large plan will track 15 devices. You can get these plans at the price of $4.58, $8.08, and $11.50/monthly.

Click Here To Try Qustodio

7. pcTattletale

Let’s end the list with a computer spying program that offers a completely unique monitoring style. pcTattletale keeps a keen eye on all the PC activities of the target user by recording their device screen.

Let’s discuss everything about one of the best computer spy software in detail now.

Compatibility

The excellent features and working of this spy software for laptops might excite you to purchase it, but its incompatibility with your device might change your excitement to disappointment.

So it’s better to know beforehand if the Windows spy app works for your device or not. And read about its features after confirming its compatibility with your device.

pcTattletale is ready to use with these Windows versions:

• Windows XP
• Windows Vista
• Windows 7
• Windows 8
• Windows 10

So these are all the desktop devices that you can monitor with pcTattletale. Unfortunately, Mac devices are not compatible with this spy software.

Features And Working

Now that you know if pcTattletale is compatible with your device or not, let’s discuss further, the features and working of the computer/laptop spy software.

Recorded Videos

Like other spy software for Windows 10 which I have used so far, pcTattletale does not carry a list of plenty of features as you can see from my pcTattletale Windows review. Rather, it only has a few features, with the main feature that will record the screen of the target person’s laptop.

Once the installation of the computer spy software is done, this employee monitoring software records the screen remotely without giving any hint about that to your employee.

You can see the recorded activity remotely anytime you want using the given play button.

Now suppose you didn’t get time to view the PC activities of your lover/spouse yesterday. So does that mean now you can’t see what all was going on their device yesterday?

No, that’s not how pcTattletale works. While evaluating pcTattletale, I discovered that even if you’re not using it, this PC spy software will still record the activities while working in the background.

So it means that even if you were not able to monitor the target person on a particular day, you can still check the activities for that day later.

To watch past activities, you need to access the calendar feature given at the top-left corner. Now simply select the date for which you want to check the recordings.

Downloading the activities for every single day is also possible.

Live Viewing

Now let’s discuss the most impressive feature of pcTattletale.

No matter how far you are from your loved ones, if pcTattletale exists on their PC, you can track their device activity in real time.

It means you will actually see what they are currently doing on their PC. The time difference between the actual activity and live recording will be about 10-15 seconds which is quite negligible.

The live recording might not show an accurate result while the user is playing any video on their laptop. In the case of the video, I noticed that pcTattletale got stuck at a particular screen while the user was continuously watching a video. pcTattletale just shows some particular frames from a video.

But still, these few frames might be enough to know what kind of stuff your teen watches on the internet.

If the target person is watching the video on some video streaming platform like Netflix, or Amazon Prime, you won’t even see the few frames that you got for YouTube.

But this is not a limitation of pcTattletale. These streaming services are built to prevent piracy. So they don’t allow such recording services to work on their platform.

Activity

This section distributes the total activities done in the target device into different sections for easy monitoring.

The video that this PC monitoring software makes might be too long. And if you need to check how your little ones talk to their friends online, you will find it difficult to extract the part of the video where they were using WhatsApp or other chatting apps.

This is where the Activity section plays a major role.

With the list of all the keystrokes in one place, you don’t need to watch the long video for extracting keylogger activities.

Just type Keylogger in the given search bar and the app will filter the Activity section and show all the keystrokes in one place.

Similarly, to check all the Chrome activities, and YouTube activities, just type that keyword in the search bar and check the results.

Click Activity

This section can be a great deal if you are using pcTattletale for monitoring your kids.

One of the main side effects of smartphones and computers on Kids is addiction and it is something that we all fear. But you can tighten the reins if you see the signs of addiction at its early stage. And this best spy software for PC will help you know if your child is becoming a victim of addiction or not.

With pcTattletale, you can easily check the total number of clicks made on their device from hour to hour. Based on this data, you can figure out the engagement of your child with their PC.

Top App Usage

Click Activity section will reveal the amount of PC usage of the child and the Top App Usage section will show you the name of the most used app on the PC.

So if you are curious to know what makes your child stuck to their device for hours, here’s the answer.

Pricing

Earlier pcTattletale had 3 plans that started at $99 and went up to $297. Currently, they are offering a single pricing plan which costs $99 and it allows you to track 3 devices for a year. You can add more devices to it by paying $33 per device. You can track both Android and Windows devices using the same plan.

If you want to try the app for free before spending your hard-earned bucks on it, that too is possible. With the free trial of the spy app, you can see how the app actually works. And once you are sure that the app works perfectly, then you can purchase it.

Which PC Spy Software Is Best For Me?

As this is a list of the best spyware for Windows, all five PC spy software provide top-notch services. But you just need one computer spy software to monitor your loved ones, so it needs to be the best out of the best.

Well, my first suggestion for you will be Spyrix. Live Viewing, Keylogger, App Activity, every feature just hit the bull’s eye.

And when it comes to FlexiSPY, MoniVisor, or Hoverwatch all three apps work decently well, but not anywhere near the working of Spyrix.

FAQs