Top 10 Best Keyloggers for Mac 2024

The original purpose of a keylogger used to be keystrokes capturing on a monitored device, but modern programs have long outgrown it. Today a keylogger is an elaborate tool that tracks almost all activity on a computer or a phone: browser history, clipboard history, running programs and much more. Such rich functionality opens many opportunities to use keyloggers in various spheres of life and work. For example, you can track the computer you lent to someone or ensure that your children stay away from inappropriate websites. With Covid-19 still affecting the global society, keyloggers are one of the most effective ways to keep an eye on your remote employees.

Why You Need a Keylogger for Mac?

1. Parental control. If you are a parent, a monitoring app is the first thing you should remember when you allow your child to use the computer. A keylogger will record everything the child chats about on social media, websites they visit, applications they use (including games) and other activities. Having this information, you can protect your child from the dangers of the Internet, such as cyberbullying, grooming and scams.
2. Employee monitoring. Most companies track their staff in the workplace in one way or another. A keylogger is a perfect tool to control office workers — it delivers detailed reports of what they do during their workday. These reports may give you insights on how to boost productivity and optimize the workflow. Advanced keyloggers have DLP systems that can help to minimize the risks of data leakages and employees’ unlawful actions.
3. Keeping personal data safe. Keyloggers are a great solution if you want to keep an eye on your computer when someone else uses it. For example, you may want to ensure that no one pokes around your personal files or financial data when you give the computer to an IT service.
4. Self-control. Got nothing done for the whole day again? Keyloggers may actually help to solve the personal productivity problem. Modern keystroke capture software can track active and idle time and analyze what apps and websites you use most of the time. If they turn out to be social media and Youtube — well, you have something to think about.

The market offers plenty of keyloggers for Windows, but the choice is not so rich for Mac owners. Besides, many Mac keyloggers have only limited functionality compared to Windows ones. I have picked the eight best keyloggers for macOS to help you choose the right one for your needs.

1st Place Winner — Spyrix Keylogger for Mac

Every website will claim that its product is the best of the best, and Spyrix is no exception. But Spyrix Keylogger for Mac truly matches these praising descriptions. It is by far the most powerful and multifunctional tool suitable for any purpose, from parental to employee monitoring. Here are some of the most notable features of the program:

• Online monitoring via a secure web account. Receive logs remotely to your account without getting access to the target Mac;
• Live Viewing. Watch everything that happens on the screen of the target Mac in real-time;
• Screen Recording. If you don’t have all day to sit and watch Live Viewing, you can record the screen of the Mac and watch the videos later;
• Live Webcam. Turn the webcam of the target Mac into a security cam — watch it in real-time;
• Webcam recording. Make recordings from the target Mac’s camera to see who accesses the computer or what happens in the office during the workday;
• Screenshots. Take regular snaps of the target Mac’s screen and view them on your online dashboard;
• Keylogger. Record everything that is typed, including messages, search queries and texts.
• Websites tracking. See the user’s whole browser history even if they have cleared it.
• Apps monitoring. Get a report of all opened and closed applications. Block unwanted ones if necessary.
• Clipboard control. See everything that the user copied to the clipboard.
• Email log delivery. Receive logs by email at set intervals.
• Call Recording. Record calls in the most popular messengers (Zoom, WhatsApp, Telegram and more).

Spyrix earned its top place on this list as one of the few programs that offer Live Viewing and Live Webcam. Its wide range of features is also second to none. You will get sweeping reports of activity. Thanks to them, you can ensure that the productivity level of your staff stays high, your child is safe online, or your partner is not up to anything risky.

You can use Spyrix Activity Monitoring for Mac. The program has all the features of Spyrix Keylogger for Mac. You can download it from the App Store.

2nd Place — KidInspector for Mac

It is not hard to guess by its name that KidInspector’s ultimate purpose is parental monitoring. All its features are focused on monitoring any child’s activity on the computer: from visited websites and running apps to every word they type. The software offers the following functionality:
live viewing of the screen and webcam;

• regular screenshots;
• keystroke capturing;
• tracking applications;
• clipboard monitoring;
• recording visited websites;
• tracking IMs and social media activity;
• websites blacklist.

One of the main benefits of Kidinspector is remote monitoring via an online account. You can receive collected data conveniently on your computer or mobile device. So, you don’t need to access the target device every time you want to check logs. Remote access also allows you to manage the settings remotely, switching on and off the monitoring or blocking unwanted websites on the spot.

3nd Place — Actual Keylogger for Mac

Actual Keylogger concludes our top-3 list as one of the best solutions in terms of features and price. Its feature range does not concede to that of its top competitors:

• keylogging
• screenshots
• clipboard monitoring
• programs and printer activity tracking
• Internet activity monitoring
• social networks and messengers tracking
• and much more.

The software will be perfect for both parental and employee monitoring as it captures all the notable activities on the computer. The activity report can be received via email as a CSV or HTML document or viewed online in your secure account. Furthermore, Actual Keylogger comes at a very attractive price.

4th Place — Clever Control

Clever Control’s original purpose is employee monitoring, so keylogging is only one feature of the many. The software offers blue-chip features that include:

• clipboard monitoring
• screenshots
• external storage devices control
• Internet activity monitoring
• live streaming of the screen and webcam of the computer
• remote monitoring via the online account
• call recording in popular messengers such as Zoom, Discord, Telegram, etc

You may think that such a powerful program should be hard to operate — but in reality, the program is super simple and user-friendly. All you need to do is to create an account on the CleverControl website and install the agent on the computer you want to monitor. The system will do all the rest, and you will see the first data coming in just a few minutes.

Thanks to all the above, CleverControl is suitable for more purposes than employee tracking. However, the minimum license package is 5 computers — such a limit makes it less advantageous for home use.

5th Place — Refog Keylogger for Mac

If you are looking for a keylogger for personal use, you may want to check out Refog Keylogger for Mac. As its developers claim, the software is designed specifically for home computers. REFOG will be perfect for parents who are concerned about their child’s online safety. The software tracks keystrokes (including messages on social media and chats), takes screenshots, monitors the child’s Internet and social media activity and more. Thus, parents can keep a very close eye on their children’s behaviour on the web and detect and prevent any dangers almost immediately.

Modern children are very tech-savvy and can easily find and tamper with any software they find suspicious. Luckily, REFOG has a solution for that. The program runs undetectably and is password-protected for additional security. The best part is that REFOG is easy to install and use, so you don’t need to be a computer guru to get the hang of it.

6th Place — MacKeylogger

MacKeylogger is another universal keylogger suitable for almost any purpose, from personal to business use. The software offers convenient centralized monitoring via an online account. There you can view all the collected monitoring data, such as:

• screenshots
• keystrokes
• clipboard data
• Internet usage info
• emails and attachments
• application usage info
• data about operations with files
• graphic reports
• and more

Extra perks include unlimited data storage, monitoring all users on the target Mac and free support. The program is user-friendly and takes up very little space on the target device, so its work does not affect the system performance.

All in all, MacKeylogger is a good choice if you want an all-in-one solution for monitoring your computer. The only disadvantage is that the program is quite expensive — the price starts at $24.95 per computer per month.

7th Place — Elite Keylogger for Mac

A limited budget is not a problem with Elite Keylogger for Mac. The program offers a basic set of features suitable for any purpose:
keylogging

• clipboard capturing
• screenshots
• Internet activity tracking
• idle time monitoring
• smart filtering

Another advantage of the program is the convenient log delivery: you can either export the data as an HTML document or receive the data by email. The best part is that Elite Keylogger offers all the above for free. Yes, you read it right!

If you want some extra perks, you can get the PRO version which adds password capturing, chat recording, the invisible mode, and premium customer support.

Elite Keylogger employs a peculiar protection technology. While most hidden software requires a hotkey combination to unhide, this program uses a secret configurable word or phrase. You should type them right on the desktop to reveal the interface. Such a method minimizes the risk of the accidental discovery of the program if the user occasionally hits the right hotkey combination.

8th Place — Perfect Keylogger for Mac

Perfect Keylogger claims to be the best solution for concerned parents, suspecting spouses and everyone who needs their computer monitored. But is it truly so perfect? The software indeed has a full set of features one may need to monitor activity on the computer:

• capturing messages and chat logs
• screenshots
• tracking browsing history — you will see what websites the user visited
• website blocker — limiting access to blacklisted websites
• application monitoring — the complete list of applications which are used on the target Mac
• email alerts — create a list of unwanted keywords and receive email notifications whenever the word is typed.

Perfect Keylogger is compatible with all the latest macOS updates and offers a user-friendly experience.

However, there is no limit to perfection. The software does not have live monitoring features such as live streaming of the screen or a live webcam. So if you are looking for a way to see what your child or employee is doing at this very moment, Perfect Keylogger may not be the solution you are looking for.

9th Place — Hoverwatch Keylogger for Mac

Keylogger for Mac covertly tracks the Mac computers of your children or staff members. It records all pressed keylog strokes, catches passwords, websites, chats and takes screenshots.

This app is available for Mac OS X. It requires 3 steps to install your Mac tracker: sing up, downloand/install, start monitoring. Actual 2024 Howerwatch Keylogger price per month for 1 device is from $29.95.

10th Place — Kidlogger for Mac

This app relates to parental control more. The features offered help to protect kids in the web surroundings. Finally, parents have been aware about your child’s Internet life. Besides, sometimes, it may be used as an employee monitoring software. An employer, supplied with this software, can monitor personnel activity and productivity. The reports will be recorded on an online dashboard.

• laptop or phone location
• pressed keys
• time-tracking
• screenshots saving
• Internet history monitoring
• phone location tracking (Android, iOS, BlackBerry, MAC OS X), GPS or WiFi coordinates
• SMS (Android, Nokia, BlackBerry)
• chat monitoring (Windows and Mac)

What conclusion we can draw from all this? Since 2017, the first three places persist. 2024 shows Pryrix Keylogger for mac, KidInspector, and Actual Keylogger for MAC take leading positions on the keystroke logging software market. I go on watching this industry and will renew the list, if something innovative appears.