Online proctoring is priced in four main ways: per exam or session, per seat or subscription, live proctoring by the hour, and record-and-review, where software flags sessions and a person reviews the flagged ones. The licence fee is only part of the cost. Reviewer time, appeals, install support and compliance work often decide the real total.
This guide explains the models, lists the prices vendors publish themselves (as of 6 November 2026), and works through a transparent cost model you can rerun with your own numbers.
The four pricing models
Per exam or per session. You pay for each proctored attempt. It scales with use, suits irregular exam calendars, and makes the cost of each exam visible. Watch for what counts as a session: is a restarted attempt charged twice?
Per seat or subscription. You pay a fixed fee for a number of students, seats or exams per period, often annually. It is predictable for steady volumes, but you pay for unused capacity in quiet months, and the definition of a "seat" varies between vendors.
Live proctoring. A person watches candidates in real time, usually several at once, and can intervene. The price reflects staff time, so it scales with exam length and the ratio of candidates to proctors.
Record-and-review. Software records or monitors the session and flags anomalies, and a human reviews the flagged parts afterwards. The vendor may do the review, or your own staff may.
These models are often combined: a subscription with a per-exam overage, or automated monitoring with paid human review on top.
What drives the cost
- Human time. Anything involving a person watching or reviewing is the largest variable. Live proctoring pays for it on every session; record-and-review pays for it only on flagged ones.
- Exam length. Live and hourly pricing scale with duration. Per-session pricing usually does not.
- Data storage and retention. Storing hours of video costs money and creates obligations. Approaches that keep video on the candidate's device and send only events store far less.
- Integration and support. LMS integration, install support for extensions or desktop apps, and exam-day helpdesk cover all cost staff time.
- Contract shape. Minimum volumes, multi-year terms and regional pricing all change the effective per-exam price.
The hidden costs
Buyers often compare licence fees and miss the costs that fall on their own staff:
- Review workload. If 20% of sessions are flagged and each takes 15 minutes to review, 1,000 exams generate 50 hours of reviewer time. A tool that flags too much is expensive even if its licence is cheap.
- False flags and appeals. Every wrong flag a student contests costs academic and administrative time, and some reputational cost on top. Signal quality and clear evidence reduce both. Telling candidates about a problem while it is happening, so they can fix it, is one way to cut them.
- Install support. Browser extensions and desktop apps fail on managed devices and unusual setups, usually minutes before an exam.
- Legal and DPO time. A data protection impact assessment is commonly needed before proctoring. The more data a tool collects, the longer that assessment and its sign-off take.
- Migration. Switching vendors costs project time; our migration guide lists what to plan for.
Prices vendors publish (as of 6 November 2026)
Only prices published on vendors' own websites are listed here, checked on 6 November 2026. Prices change; follow the links for current terms.
| Vendor | Published price | Model |
|---|---|---|
| Respondus Monitor | Initial flat-rate licence $4,950; tiered from $5,950 for 1,000 seats, then $1,950 per further 1,000 seats; student purchase $15 for 12 months | Institutional licence, North American pricing; requires LockDown Browser |
| AutoProctor | $0.10 per test attempt in credits; plans from $15/month for 150 attempts | Subscription with credits; extra features cost extra credits per attempt |
| Honorlock | Not published | Flat-rate annual licensing or volume tiers; custom quote |
| Smowl | Not published | Custom quote; offers 25 complimentary licences to try |
| Talview | Not published | Unit-based; quote on request |
| Proctorio | Not published | "Talk to sales" |
| Meazure Learning (formerly ProctorU) | Not published | "Contact Sales" |
| TestWe | Not published | No price list shown |
Two observations. First, published prices are the exception, which makes like-for-like comparison hard; ask every shortlisted vendor for an all-in per-exam figure at your volume. Second, check what the unit is. "Per seat" may mean one student per course for a year; "per attempt" may count a restart as a new attempt.
How to compare quotes like for like
Because so few vendors publish prices, most comparisons happen through quotes. Ask every shortlisted vendor the same questions, in writing:
- What is the all-in price per exam at our volume? Include platform, review, storage, support and any per-feature add-ons.
- What exactly is the billing unit? An exam, an attempt, a student per course, a student per year, an hour? Is a restarted session charged again?
- Who reviews flagged sessions? If the vendor does, what is included and what costs extra? If you do, how many sessions does the vendor typically flag, and what does a reviewer see?
- What happens at the edges of the contract? Minimum volumes, overage rates, unused credits, price changes at renewal, and data export when you leave.
- What do candidates install? Every install is a support cost; ask for the vendor's own figures on exam-day failure rates if they have them.
- What does the price exclude? VAT, regional surcharges, onboarding, LMS integration, training.
Then run each answer through the same cost model, below, rather than comparing headline fees.
When live proctoring is worth paying for
Live proctoring is the most expensive model because it pays for a person's attention throughout. That attention buys one thing automated approaches cannot: an immediate intervention, such as asking a candidate to show their desk or ending an exam on the spot. For a small number of very high-stakes exams, such as professional licensing where a single fraudulent pass has serious consequences, that can justify the cost. For coursework exams and large cohorts, the same budget usually buys more by reviewing flagged sessions properly.
A worked example: 1,000 exams under three approaches
The model below shows its formula and every assumption so you can replace them with your own. The platform fees for approaches A and B are illustrative assumptions, not any vendor's price. All figures exclude VAT.
Shared assumptions: 1,000 exams a year, each 2 hours. Staff time (proctor or reviewer) costs €35 an hour fully loaded. 20% of sessions are flagged for review, and a review takes 15 minutes.
A. Live proctoring. One proctor watches 6 candidates at a time. Assumed platform fee: €2 per exam.
Cost = exams × hours ÷ candidates per proctor × hourly rate + exams × platform fee = 1,000 × 2 ÷ 6 × €35 + 1,000 × €2 ≈ €13,700
B. Record-and-review with video. Assumed fee: €8 per exam. Your staff review flagged sessions.
Cost = exams × fee + exams × flag rate × review hours × hourly rate = 1,000 × €8 + 1,000 × 0.20 × 0.25 × €35 = €8,000 + €1,750 = €9,750
C. Signal-based, per exam. Using ProctorSafe's published pay-as-you-go price of €3 per exam (see below), with the same flag rate and review time as B.
= 1,000 × €3 + 1,000 × 0.20 × 0.25 × €35 = €3,000 + €1,750 = €4,750
The review line is identical in B and C on purpose: we have not assumed that one kind of evidence is faster to review than another. In practice it is the variable most worth testing in a pilot. Halving the flag rate in any model saves €875 per 1,000 exams at these rates; doubling the review time adds €1,750. Add your own estimates for install support and DPIA time, which tend to be higher for tools that install software or upload video.
ProctorSafe pricing
ProctorSafe publishes its prices on its pricing page. As listed there on 6 November 2026, one proctored exam uses one credit with AI analysis included, and a retry after a failed setup is not charged again. Pay as you go costs €3 per credit with no minimum purchase, valid for 12 months. Monthly plans run from Starter (€100 a month for 50 credits) to Scale (€1,000 a month for 1,000 credits), with extra credits billed at the plan's rate. Prices are in euros and exclude VAT, and a free trial gives you 20 credits, valid for 30 days.
To compare ProctorSafe with other vendors feature by feature, see how ProctorSafe compares. You can also try the candidate demo, or contact us for a quote at your volume.