Finest Identification Theft Safety and Monitoring Providers for 2024

Aura was based in 2017 by CEO Hari Ravichandran after his identification was stolen a couple of years earlier. We imagine Aura provides you probably the most bang on your buck in contrast with the competitors. For an inexpensive month-to-month value, you may get options rival companies make you improve for. We additionally admire its simple pricing mannequin (simply three plans to select from).  

Like most identification theft safety companies, Aura scans the darkish internet on your private data, along with monitoring your Social Safety quantity and felony report exercise for potential indicators of identification theft. Aura subscribers additionally obtain identification theft insurance coverage of as much as $1 million per grownup. 

Every of Aura’s three plans — Particular person, Couple and Household — additionally embody perks like a virtual private network, or VPN, e mail aliases to maintain undesirable emails out of your inbox, and antivirus safety on as much as 10 units per grownup. We additionally like that Aura provides three credit bureau monitoring with all plans. Usually, suppliers solely provide three credit score bureau monitoring by means of their most costly tier. 

With LifeLock by Norton Commonplace, the service’s $11.99 month-to-month base plan, you get the necessities you want in identification theft safety: darkish internet monitoring, information breach notifications, and Social Safety quantity alerts are all included. Subscribers additionally get $1 million in identification theft insurance coverage safety, which is the business customary. LifeLock even throws in an additional $50,000 for stolen fund reimbursements and crucial bills in case you are the sufferer of identification theft. These payouts go up in worth should you go for Benefit or Final Plus. 

LifeLock’s Benefit or Final Plus plans, which value $23 and $34 per 30 days, respectively. provide a wider vary of options, comparable to Purchase Now, Pay Later plan alerts, social media and cellphone take over monitoring, fraud alerts for crimes dedicated in your identify in addition to credit score, checking and financial savings account exercise notifications. 

LifeLock is among the most costly identification theft safety companies on our listing for people, {couples} and households. Fortunately, it additionally provides a beneficiant 30-day free trial for all of its tiers so you’ll be able to attempt it out. 

Whereas researching whether or not LifeLock’s service is q good match, it’s possible you’ll come throughout a couple of scandals within the early years after the corporate’s founding. In 2010, the FTC accused LifeLock of misleading advertising practices after promising it might defend subscribers from every kind of identification theft. In line with the FTC, that was incorrect. LifeLock agreed to pay $12 million because of the FTC criticism. 5 years later, LifeLock was fined one other $100 million for failing to adjust to the FTC’s earlier order. 

LifeLock is now owned by Gen Digital (previously Symantec), which additionally owns cybersecurity firm Norton 360. You will get Norton and LifeLock safety for $99 the first year in the present day.

TransUnion-owned IdentityForce is the very best of each worlds should you’re attempting to determine between LifeLock and Aura. You get an excellent mixture of the distinctive companies LifeLock provides however pay month-to-month or yearly charges which are nearer to Aura’s extra reasonably priced value level. 

That is significantly true for households. LifeLock by Norton’s household plan prices $80 per 30 days. By comparability, IdentityForce’s household plans received’t run you greater than $40 per 30 days.

What makes IdentityForce completely different from most different corporations on our listing is that it provides solely identification theft safety companies with its entry degree UltraSecure particular person and household plans. Credit score monitoring companies, together with three credit score bureau monitoring and quarterly studies, are included in its costlier UltraSecure+Credit score premium plans. Aura’s particular person plan, $15 per 30 days, consists of each identification and credit score monitoring for a lot much less. 

Amongst its prime options, IdentityForce provides you a private identification security rating and makes use of it to plot a personalised motion plan for you. You even get a VPN, however, in contrast to Aura, it’s just for cellular. 

IdentityForce additionally consists of funding account alerts, social media monitoring and a password supervisor. You’ll get $1 million in identification theft safety insurance coverage for UltraSecure plans and $2 million for UltraSecure+Credit score plans.

Think about Zander if you need identification theft safety however don’t wish to break the financial institution. The corporate primarily operates as an insurance coverage dealer promoting auto and residential protection for carriers like Nationwide, Allstate and Progressive. Nevertheless it additionally gives identification theft safety on a budget. 

With its Important Plan, you get what we view because the three pillars of identification theft safety: Social Safety quantity monitoring, darkish internet monitoring and identification theft insurance coverage of as much as $1 million for people and $2 million for households. Zander’s Important Plan additionally consists of alerts on important information breaches that will impression your private data.

Like IdentityForce, Zander makes you pay for its most costly tier for credit score and transaction monitoring options. Elite Bundle consists of all the things within the Important Plan, and provides Experian credit lock in addition to financial institution, credit score, mortgage and retirement account monitoring.

Identification Guard provides three subscription plans for each adults and households: Worth, Whole and Extremely. We discover that there’s a noticeable leap in protection between the tiers to justify this.

Worth provides companies like darkish internet monitoring and information breach notifications, whereas Whole provides credit score safety and three credit score bureau monitoring. Extremely tacks on social media and checking account monitoring in addition to alerts in case your US Postal Service dwelling handle is modified with out your information, amongst different options.

The internal workings of Identification Guard are nothing to write down dwelling about (the options are fairly customary all through within the business) but it surely may very well be an excellent match for households. Identification Guard’s household plans cowl 5 adults and limitless youngsters — even should you select Identification Guard’s least expensive household plan, at $10 per 30 days. 

Aura, which additionally covers 5 adults and limitless youngsters, costs $50 per 30 days below its lone household plan. By comparability, IdentityGuard’s prime household plan is simply $33.

For the worth, IDShield packs fairly a punch. IDShield provides 4 plans (two for people and two for households) that go up in value relying on what number of credit score bureaus you need monitored — one or all three. Particular person plans with one credit score bureau monitoring included prices $15. It prices $20 per 30 days to have Equifax, TransUnion and Experian all monitored.

Regardless of which you go for, all particular person and household plans embody darkish internet, Social Safety quantity and public information monitoring in addition to credit freezing and laborious inquiry alerts.

However the place the IDShield actually shines in our opinion is with its identification restoration instruments. IDShield works with licensed personal investigators which are assigned to your case in case your identification is stolen. It additionally provides identification theft session companies, limitless buyer assist and as much as $3 million in identification theft insurance coverage protection for members to cowl legal professionals and specialists wanted to revive identities.

IdentityIQ isn’t an excellent match for households on the lookout for an easy plan — there isn’t one marketed on its web site. It’s additionally not preferrred for you if paying for add-on companies isn’t your cup of tea. However should you’re on the lookout for a plan you’ll be able to customise to your wants, IdentityIQ is likely to be the suitable match.

IdentityIQ provides 4 plans, starting from $7 for its Safe Plan to $30 for Safe Max. You may as well add antivirus safety and a VPN for an extra payment to any plan. All IdentityIQ plans embody credit score bureau monitoring, darkish internet surveillance and as much as $1 million in stolen funds reimbursement. 

Whereas IdentityIQ doesn’t provide a delegated household safety plan we might discover, Safe Max does embody $25,000 ID theft insurance coverage for household safety. In case you pay for VPN or antivirus safety, any plan can even then embody superior parental controls for web shopping.

There aren’t many free identification theft safety choices. No different corporations on our listing even provide one. However Experian does.

With Experian IdentityWorks Fundamental, you get a free Experian credit score report, plus monitoring and alerts. You additionally get darkish internet surveillance studies and a private privateness scan. The latter entails Experian looking out individuals finder websites and informing you what private data is accessible to potential dangerous actors or robocallers. The free tier additionally features a FICO rating tracker and FICO rating monitoring.

Paid tiers of Experian IdentityWorks embody options like three bureau credit score monitoring, quarterly credit score studies, Social Safety quantity tracing and as much as $1 million in identification theft insurance coverage.

Experian IdentityWorks’ Premium and Household plans are practically similar, with the exception that the Household plan provides little one identification monitoring for as much as 10 youngsters.