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Securly Filtering - Solutions Comparison and Compatibility

This article presents a comparison of Securly's four filtering methods: Extension, SmartPAC, SmartDNS, and GuestDNS. If you plan to implement more than one solution.

Key features and their availability:

Google Chat Scanning: Available only for Extension.
User Authentication: Supported by Extension, SmartPAC, and SmartDNS, but not by GuestDNS.
Off-Campus Filtering: Offered by Extension and SmartPAC, but not by SmartDNS or GuestDNS.
Decryption (Requires Certificate): Supported by SmartPAC and SmartDNS, but not by Extension or GuestDNS.
Think Twice (Securly Aware): Exclusive to Extension.
Wellness Widget (Securly Aware): Available only for Extension.
Full YouTube Controls: Available only for Extension.
Uncategorized Site Blocking: Both Securly Extension and SmartPAC.
Guardrails in third-party AI chatbots like Gemini and ChatGPT, enforced as per Filter policies (Securly AI Chat): Available only for Extension.

Solution Comparison Chart

	Extension	SmartPAC	SmartDNS	GuestDNS
OS Supported (Managed Devices)	ChromeOS Windows MacOS	Windows iOS MacOS	All Device Types	All Device Types
Browsers Supported	Chrome Edge	All Browsers*	All Browsers*	All Browsers*
Google Chat Scanning	✓	X	X	X
User Authentication	✓	✓	✓	X
Off-Campus Filtering	✓	✓	X	X
Requires Certificate	X	✓	✓	X
Think Twice (Securly Aware)	✓	X	X	X
Wellness Widget (Securly Aware)	✓	X	X	X
Full Logging Capabilities	✓	X	X	X
YouTube Controls	✓	X	X	X
Uncategorized Site Blocking	✓	✓	X	X
Guardrails in 3rd party AI chatbots as per policies set in Filter	✓	X	X	X

Device compatibility:

Extension: Chromebook, PC, and Mac (Chrome).
SmartPAC: PC, iPad, and Mac.
SmartDNS: All device types.
GuestDNS: All device types.

Browser compatibility:

Extension: Chrome, Edge.
SmartPAC: All browsers*
SmartDNS: All browsers*
GuestDNS: All browsers*

*Please note that all browsers does NOT include browsers with built-in VPNs that can be used to circumvent the filter.