Inspera vs Respondus LockDown Browser - European vs US Lockdown
Inspera dominates Norwegian, Dutch, UK, and increasingly Spanish university exams; Respondus dominates the US. They share the goal (deliver a locked-down exam in a browser) but split on architecture, distribution, and how aggressively they monitor.
Inspera Exam Portal on Mac is a Chromium-based shell that points at your institution's Inspera URL and disables app switching for the session. Live proctoring, when enabled, comes from a separate vendor (Examity, ProctorExam, IRIS Connect) over WebRTC. Respondus is more vertically integrated: LockDown Browser handles both the lockdown and the proctoring add-on (Respondus Monitor) in one stack. The capture surfaces are different on paper but identical in practice on Mac: both go through ScreenCaptureKit, both filter out flagged windows.
Key points
- Inspera Exam Portal = Mac desktop wrapper for Inspera exams.
- Respondus LockDown Browser = Chromium fork with built-in lockdown.
- Inspera proctoring is delegated to partners (Examity, ProctorExam).
- Respondus proctoring is in-house (Respondus Monitor).
- Both honor window privacy on macOS; overlay is invisible to either.
How it works
┌── Inspera + partner ┐ ┌── Respondus LDB ┐ │ │ │ │ └────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────────┘
Compatibility on Mac
| Geographic dominance | Inspera: Norway/UK/EU / Respondus: US | ~ |
| Vendor model | Inspera: thin shell + partner / Respondus: vertical | ~ |
| Capture path on Mac | ScreenCaptureKit (both) | ~ |
| Overlay invisible to both | Yes | ✓ |
Common questions
My uni in Spain uses Inspera. Is the overlay support different from US-Respondus support?
Practically identical. Both share the macOS capture privacy mechanism the overlay relies on.
Does Inspera Exam Portal block global hotkeys?
It tries to block app-switching shortcuts, but the overlay's Carbon hotkey (Ctrl-Cmd-L) registers below the application layer and survives.
Can I use Inspera Exam Portal alongside LockDown Browser?
Universities pick one or the other; you would not run both. The overlay supports either.