Best identity theft protection of 2023
Protect your identity online
1. The list in brief
2. Best overall
3. Best for families
4. Best package
5. Best for beginners
6. Best for value
7. Best for FICO
8. Best for Costco members
9. Best for social media
10. Best for basics
11. Best budget service
12. How to choose
13. How we test
14. FAQs
The internet has never been a more dangerous place, with hacks and breaches going on all the time. What's more, they are constantly evolving at a rapid pace, with methods becoming ever more sophisticated by the day.
For this reason, it is more important than ever to protect your identity online. Even if you are not targeted directly, data leaks at firms that hold your Personal Identifying Information (PII) can put you at risk regardless. If these fall into the hands of threat actors, they can cause all sorts of damage, including fraud and even blackmail, to name just a few examples.
Fortunately, there are plenty of services out there that can keep your identity protected, even in the worst case scenarios. They can alert you immediately if you fall victim, crawling the dark web to see what intel they can gather on criminal activities that may involve your details. They can also offer other measures to safeguard you online, such as credit monitoring and even security features like a VPN and antivirus protection.
Testing these services personally isn’t feasible; however, we have conducted a thorough analysis of the most prominent and reputable identity protection services around, carefully scrutinizing the kinds of monitoring they conduct, how they notify you and how fast they are. And, of course, we have also taken into consideration their pricing.
We also have a separate guide for the best identity theft protection for families.
In the meantime, below we've listed what we think are the best identity theft protection services currently available.
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TechRadar editors praise Aura's upfront pricing and simplicity. Aura also includes a password manager, VPN, and antivirus to make its security solution an even more compelling deal. Save up to 50% today.
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Quick list
It’s not exactly cheap, but Aura is a feature-packed service no matter what plan you go for, and its unique Identity Guard gives you custom insights into your cybersecurity posture. A VPN, password manager and antivirus are included.
With plans that include child protection features, IdentityForce is a great choice for families. However, it also caters to business and even government organizations. The mobile apps could do with improvement, though.
If you’re looking for an identity protection service that includes industry-leading antivirus protection, then look no further than Norton LifeLock - Norton 360 is here, one of the best antivirus software suites.
Experian will of course be well known to many, and this is one of the firm's identity protection services. Naturally, credit reports form part of the package, monitoring your scores with various agencies.
ADT’s service represents good value for money, but some features are missing that you would find with others. Still, it does include monitoring of your bank account, credit card, the dark web, and more.
As you may have guessed, myFICO is great if you're after FICO monitoring. Regular updates on your score are a given, and you can also buy single reports too. However, there are no family plans, and the prices are quite steep.
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Are you a Costco member? Then good news, because Complete ID will grant you discounts if you are. Identity protections include delving deep into the dark web to detect any leaks. As another Experian-owned brand, credit monitoring is here too.
Allstate monitors your social media profiles, and its digital footprint feature is handy to see what trails you leave behind online. Only TransUnion credit reports are offered on the first plans - the most expensive plan will also monitor Experian and Equifax.
Not the cheapest plan out there, and some of the features are pretty basic, but IDnotify does have some good financial tools, such as offering VantageScore updates and a simulator to let see what would happen to your score in certain scenarios.
This service is more focused on the prevention of identity theft, and includes financial monitoring, social security number alerts, and dark web scanning. You are covered for up to $1mn in losses and expenses, and family plans even up this to $2mn. Credit monitoring is absent, though.
The best identity theft protection of 2023 in full:
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Best identity theft protection overall
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You want all the bells and whistles: Aura has many features to protect your identity, and it also comes with a VPN, antivirus, and a password manager to boot.
✅ You want to block unwanted calls: Its relatively new Call Assistant is included in all family plans, using AI to filter spam and scam calls for you.
❌ You're on a budget: Aura can be quite expensive, and the entry level plan lacks credit monitoring, a fairly basic feature.
🔒 Aura is a very comprehensive package that offers everything you'd need and more to protect you and your family's identity online. The more premium plans can be quite expensive, though. ★★★★½
Though we don't think it's the best budget option, Aura offers a sleek and easy-to-use interface that has an attractive dashboard without excessive details. Across all of the pricing plans the standard features include antivirus protection, a password manager, and a VPN, which we found is more than what some of its rivals offer.
However, keep in mind that an entry-level plan offers basic functionality, lacking some of the more important aspects, such as credit monitoring. However, all plans come with $1 million Identity Theft Insurance and 24/7 US-Based fraud experts & support. Individual protection starts at $9 per month if you opt for annual billing or $12 if you opt for monthly billing.
For more pricing information, take a look at our table below. Note that the Family plan is the only one with child safety tools like parental control, safe gaming features, etc.
Read our full Aura review.
Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing |
---|---|---|
Individual | $12 | $9 |
Couple | $20 | $17 |
Family/Group | $30 | $25 |
Best identity theft protection for families
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
✅ You have a big family: IdentityForce supports an unlimited number of children, and has an add-on called ChildWatch that keeps you abreast of concerns relating to your child's identity.
✅ You want to get rid of junk mail: IdentityForce has a useful junk mail opt-out feature that can save your inbox from getting clogged with useless spam.
❌ You want regular credit reports: Credit reports are only given each quarter with IdentityForce, so not great if you want to stay on top of your score.
❌ You want a good mobile app: Looking at the user reviews, both the iPhone and Android apps appear to need some improvement.
🔒 IdentityForce offers great coverage for families, and has plenty of other great protection features. If you want more regular credit monitoring, though, you may want to look elsewhere. ★★★★½
Massachusetts-based IdentityForce markets its identity theft protection packages for many different use cases, including family plans with added child protection, as well as business and government-focused offerings. We found the web access great, and while there are iOS and Android apps, when we looked at their user ratings, they weren't high on either platform.
Social media monitoring comes with the basic plan, along with a handy junk mail opt-out feature that can help keep your inbox clean and functional. The top plan offers three-bureau credit monitoring, assistance if you need a credit freeze, alerts for the investment account, and numerous other features.
While we’re on the topic of credit scores, keep in mind that IdentityForce delivers the reports quarterly. We don't think this is a deal breaker, though, especially considering how powerful the bundle of credit services is.
Additionally, the smart SSN tracker that comes with the ChildWatch add-on looks great to us, offering comprehensive tools to protect your child’s identity online. To make things better, the plan offers an unlimited number of children, so if you have a big or growing family, we think this feature could be a boon for you.
When it comes to pricing, IdentityForce is not the cheapest solution we found, and offers basically two plans for individual users: the UltraSecure at $17.99 per month per member and the UltraSecure+Credit at $23.99 per month per member. If you want to dip your toes, there is also a 30-day free trial.
Read our full IdentityForce review.
- To speak to an expert about how identity theft protection software can keep you secure online, call IdentityForce directly on this toll-free number 888-266-3930.