Anchor vs Faronics Insight

Anchor is classroom software for schools using managed or bring-your-own-device Windows laptops. A teacher starts a focus session for a class, selects allowed app and website bundles, and watches student states and off-list events on a dashboard. Microsoft 365, Smartschool, and GeoGebra are named selectable bundles, and teachers sign in with existing school Microsoft accounts. Off-list apps are set aside rather than closed; off-list Microsoft Edge pages show a block page with an access-request option. Anchor provides activity monitoring, web filtering, and device controls, but no live screen view or behavior tracking. It observes activity only during an active teacher-started session. During that session, the extension sends off-allowlist visits, unblock requests, integrity signals, and liveness heartbeats to the school backend. Each school runs a single-tenant backend in its own Azure subscription. Anchor is GPL-3.0 licensed, self-hostable, and publicly auditable. It is free, with no licence fee or per-seat charge, though Azure hosting costs may apply.

Faronics Insight is classroom management software for educational institutions. It gives teachers a central view of student devices, with real-time screen thumbnails and indicators such as login status, operating system, Focus Mode, and web restrictions. Teachers can allow or block websites and apps, review web and app history, disable private browsing, and blank student screens. Communication tools include individual or group chat and audio, while screen sharing lets a teacher present their screen or show a student’s screen to the class. Teachers can create tests with true or false, multiple choice, short answer, or essay questions and see results in real time; polls support yes-or-no and multiple-choice responses. Other tools cover class lists, file transfer and collection, remote control, app and website launches, and student computer power options. Insight Cloud offers centralized management and remote access, while Insight NXT is on-premise for local-network or offline environments. In the documented on-premise setup, Insight Connector runs on a network computer accessible to teacher and student devices. Insight is paid, has no free plan, and offers a 30-day trial; pricing is available on request.