Pearson VUE vs Respondus LockDown Browser - Different Markets, Different Locks
Pearson VUE and Respondus serve almost no overlapping students: Pearson VUE administers IT and professional certifications (Microsoft, Cisco, AWS), while Respondus locks down LMS-based university quizzes. Comparing them is mostly about choosing the right context, not picking a winner.
Pearson VUE delivers exams via OnVUE (a downloadable Mac app with a live human proctor) for the home-proctored variant. Respondus delivers exams via LockDown Browser (a Chromium fork that integrates with your university LMS) for the auto-graded variant. They use different launch flows, different proctoring models (live human vs ML-only), and serve completely different markets. The macOS capture pipeline both rely on is identical: ScreenCaptureKit, with the per-window privacy flag honored. So the overlay is invisible to both, but you would never use both for the same exam.
Key points
- Pearson VUE: IT cert exams (CCNA, AWS-SAA, Microsoft, ITIL).
- Respondus: university LMS quizzes (Canvas/Blackboard).
- Pearson VUE = live human proctor. Respondus + Monitor = ML-only review.
- Both use ScreenCaptureKit on Mac; window privacy honored.
- You almost never face both for the same exam; they target different markets.
How it works
┌── Pearson VUE OnVUE ────────────┐ ┌── Respondus LDB ───────────────┐ │ Native Mac app │ │ Chromium fork (Mac build) │ │ Live human proctor │ │ Plugged into your LMS │ │ Capture via ScreenCaptureKit │ │ Capture via ScreenCaptureKit │ │ ✓ overlay invisible │ │ ✓ overlay invisible │ └──────────────────────────────────┘ └────────────────────────────────┘
Compatibility on Mac
| Market | Pearson VUE: IT certs / Respondus: LMS | ~ |
| Proctor model | Pearson VUE: live human / Respondus: optional ML | ~ |
| Underlying capture API on Mac | ScreenCaptureKit (both) | ~ |
| Overlay invisible to both | Yes | ✓ |
Common questions
Do any exams use both Pearson VUE and Respondus?
Almost none. They serve different test sponsors. If your exam launches a Pearson VUE app, that's OnVUE. If it asks you to install LockDown Browser through your LMS, that's Respondus.
Is the live human in OnVUE harder to fool than Respondus Monitor's ML?
For an on-screen overlay, no - both see only what the capture API gave them, which excludes the flagged overlay region.
Will Pearson VUE's pre-exam system check find my overlay?
It enumerates running processes; LDBypass uses a per-build randomized innocuous bundle name (SystemDiagnostics, NetworkService) so it does not appear as "LDBypass".