# GlassWire review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Windows network monitor and firewall with a traffic time machine Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. GlassWire is a Windows network monitor and personal firewall that graphs which apps your PC talks to, keeps a history of past activity and alerts on new connections or new devices on your network. A free edition covers basic monitoring; Premium adds firewall controls and unlimited history. - **Category:** Desktop Utilities - **Made by:** GlassWire - **Website:** https://www.glasswire.com/ - **Runs on:** Windows, Android - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you want to block apps on the free edition, as the firewall needs Premium. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, GlassWire has a free plan, and paid plans start at $2.99 per month, paid annually (Personal). - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Free edition: traffic monitoring and network time machine limited to 24 hours of history, 1 day of bandwidth data and 1 remote connection. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | Basic network monitoring: 24 hours of network history, current-day alert logs and 1 remote connection. | | Premium (Personal) | $2.99 per month for 1 license, paid annually | Adds the click-to-block firewall, Ask to Connect, unlimited history and more; the page also sells 2, 5, 10 and 20 licenses. | Read from https://www.glasswire.com/pricing/ on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with GlassWire before buying. ## Key features - **Network activity graph:** Shows which apps and hosts your PC connects to, with usage broken down by app, IP or host and traffic type. - **Network time machine:** Lets you go back in time to see what a PC was doing while you were away; the free edition keeps 24 hours, Premium keeps unlimited history. - **Firewall controls:** Ask to Connect, click-to-block, lockdown mode and firewall profiles let you allow or deny each app's connections. - **Alerts on changes:** Warns when a new app accesses the network, when an unknown device joins your WiFi or when an app changes in a way that could suggest malware. - **Data usage limits:** Tracks data use on a PC or phone and alerts you before you reach a limit. - **Remote monitoring:** Monitors other PCs through remote GlassWire connections: 1 on the free edition, unlimited on Premium. ## Good for - Seeing which programs use your internet connection - Home users who want per-app firewall prompts - Spotting new devices on a home network ## Worth knowing - Firewall features such as click-to-block, Ask to Connect and lockdown mode need Premium. - The vendor lists Windows 10 or later as the requirement for the PC edition; no Mac or Linux version is shown. - Multi-license prices on the pricing page load by script and were not readable; discounts there use codes. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. GlassWire graphs which apps your PC talks to, keeps a history and alerts you to new connections, with a free edition and a Premium firewall. The free edition keeps 24 hours of history, and the firewall controls are Premium only. - **Value for money: C.** Premium is $2.99 a month for one license, billed annually, which lands in the middle of this category. Multi-license prices were not readable. - **Free plan and trial: C.** A free edition with 24 hours of history, 1 day of bandwidth data and 1 remote connection. You will hit these caps. - **Features: C.** Activity graph, time machine, firewall, alerts, data limits and remote monitoring. The gap the listing shows: click-to-block, Ask to Connect and lockdown mode are Premium only. - **Ease of use: B.** No store rating is on record, but you install it and the graph starts filling in with nothing to set up. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** A Windows PC program plus an Android app, for the remote and alert side. Nothing for Mac. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from GlassWire's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among desktop utilities - GlassWire's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 35 of the 186 other desktop utilities we grade, and level with 33. - It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 172 of 186) and worst on features (C, above 2). - Its paid plans start at $2.99 a month, against a middle price of $2.99 for the category: 18 of the 36 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/utilities ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace GlassWire you would be making an engine that recognises new malware as it appears. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 118 of the 186 other desktop utilities grade higher. It costs $35.88 a year. - You could make: Reports: an app builder makes this well. - You could not: An engine that recognises new malware as it appears. - You could not: Readings from inside the operating system. - You could not: Blocking that reaches every browser and app and is hard to switch off. - You could not: Apps for Windows and Android that stay in step with each other. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. **Tags:** System monitor, Site & app blocker, Reports, Malware protection ## Alternatives - [NetLimiter](https://toolgpa.com/tools/netlimiter): Per-app internet bandwidth limits and monitoring for Windows. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/glasswire-vs-netlimiter) - [TripMode](https://toolgpa.com/tools/tripmode): Mac app that blocks background data use on slow or metered networks. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/glasswire-vs-tripmode) - [LuLu](https://toolgpa.com/tools/lulu): Free open-source Mac firewall for outgoing connections. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/glasswire-vs-lulu) - [Radio Silence](https://toolgpa.com/tools/radio-silence): Mac firewall and network monitor that blocks apps from going online. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/glasswire-vs-radio-silence) - [Process Lasso](https://toolgpa.com/tools/process-lasso): Windows process automation for CPU priorities and affinities. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/glasswire-vs-process-lasso) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://www.glasswire.com/ - https://www.glasswire.com/pricing/ - https://www.glasswire.com/download/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/glasswire Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).