An OurPact Alternative for Families Who Don't Want to Monitor: Earnimals vs OurPact
OurPact is one of the best-known parental control apps, and it's good at what it's built for: blocking and monitoring your kids' devices. But a lot of parents who find it are actually looking for something else — a way to stop the nightly screen-time fight by letting kids earn their screens. Those are two different jobs, so here's an honest look at both.
Full disclosure: we make Earnimals. Prices below are from OurPact's own pricing page and ours, as of October 2026.
The short version
- Choose OurPact if you need limits physically enforced on each kid's own phone or tablet — app and internet blocking, schedules, location, and (on Premium+) screen captures.
- Choose Earnimals if your kids share an iPad, TV or console and you want them to earn screen time by reading, doing chores and finishing their morning routine — without monitoring anyone.
Side by side
| Earnimals | OurPact | |
|---|---|---|
| Core idea | Kids earn screen time; brain food first, screens after | Parents block, schedule and monitor devices |
| Earning time | Built in: reading, chores, routines, live timers, bonuses | No built-in earning; parents add time by hand |
| Device setup | One shared iPad (plus parents' phones and the web) | Installed on each child's device (management profile on iOS) |
| Monitoring | None — no tracking, no screen captures | Location, geofencing; screen captures on Premium+ |
| Enforcement | Honor system; you flip the actual TV/console limit | OS-level blocking of apps, internet and texting |
| Platforms | iPhone, iPad, web | iOS and Android |
| Price | $29.99/yr or $3.99/mo per family, unlimited kids | $69.99–99.99/yr or $6.99–9.99/mo, up to 20 child devices |
| Free trial | 14 days, no card | 14 days |
Where OurPact is stronger
If a kid has their own phone and you need it locked at bedtime no matter what, OurPact does real enforcement that Earnimals deliberately doesn't. It covers Android as well as iOS, and it can block specific apps, websites and texting. One caveat worth knowing: OurPact's own pricing page notes that on iOS 26 and later, Apple no longer lets its management profile be locked, so its tamper protection is strongest on older iOS.
Where Earnimals is different
Earnimals starts from a different question: not "how do I stop my kid using screens?" but "how do I make the good stuff come first?" Kids tap their face on the shared family iPad, check off their morning routine, and log what they did — 30 minutes of reading might earn 30 minutes of screens, a chore pays an instant bonus. Their balance shows up as a jar of critters, and when the jar's empty, screens are done. Everyone already knows it, so there's nothing to argue about.
It also handles the thing per-device apps can't: shared screens. Several kids can each have a session counting down on the same iPad, for the family TV or the Switch, with a time's-up alarm.
Can you use both?
Yes, and some families do: OurPact (or Apple Screen Time) sets the hard limits on a teen's own phone, while Earnimals runs the earn-and-spend routine on the shared iPad for the younger kids and the family TV.
Try the earn-it approach for 14 days
Earnimals turns all of this into a system your kids run themselves. They earn screen minutes by reading (reading pays double), doing chores, and finishing their morning routine — then the family TV or console unlocks. No monitoring, no nagging, one plan for the whole family. Brain food first, screens after.
Want to start on paper? Grab the free printable earn-screen-time chart.
Frequently asked
- Can kids earn screen time in OurPact?
- Not directly. OurPact gives each child a daily time budget and lets parents block apps and the internet on a schedule. A parent can add extra time by hand, but there's no built-in way to tie that time to chores, reading or a routine. Earnimals is built around exactly that.
- How much does OurPact cost compared to Earnimals?
- As of October 2026, OurPact Premium is $6.99/month or $69.99/year and Premium+ is $9.99/month or $99.99/year (both with a 14-day trial, up to 20 child devices). Earnimals is $3.99/month or $29.99/year for the whole family after a 14-day free trial, with unlimited kids.
- Does Earnimals block apps like OurPact does?
- No. Earnimals is honor-system by design: it's the source of truth for what each kid has earned and when screens are allowed, and a parent still sets the actual device or console limit. If you need an app to physically lock a device, OurPact is the better fit.