Club Benefits
It doesn’t always take a major security breach to put your data at risk. A lost wallet, an invoice mailed to the wrong address, a utility bill that got fished out of the mail.
It only takes one slip up to put your data in the wrong hands, and you may not know anything is wrong until you realize your account has been drained. To stay one step ahead of scammers, you need to make sure you’ve established the proactive protection that one of the best identity theft services can provide.
We used our own personal data to test the top identity theft protection services for dozens of hours — from contacting support and navigating the interface, to triggering alerts and trying out features to see which ones work best for which circumstances.
The best identity theft protection software you can buy today
Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our writers and editors spend hours analyzing and reviewing products, services, and apps to help find what's best for you. Find out more about how we test, analyze, and rate.
Best identity theft protection overall
Lifelock is one of the oldest identity theft protection providers, and it offers some of the most comprehensive coverage around. During testing, we were impressed by its features: you get everything from credit monitoring and alerts to dark web monitoring, scam protection and a large amount of insurance. The service also offers traditional antivirus features like a VPN malware scanning and a password manager courtesy of an add-on with the Norton 360 security suite.
LifeLock offers $1 million each to cover lawyers, consultants, accountants, and experts in order to help you forensically examine and recover from an identity theft, credit card theft or money stolen and personal expenses such as lost work or the cost of getting new documentation like a passport or drivers license.
The service provides necessary features including dark web scanning, credit score access with the Vantage 3.0 rating system, title change check, and sex offender alerts. Our reviewer, Brian Nadel, also mentions more extensive features that help protect users — like the Social Media Monitoring which looks out for account takeovers and cyberbullying, a Privacy Monitor scan that monitors your information against data broker sites and a Computer Tune Up utility.
All these features are nicely organized in an interface that makes them easy to find, with major services highlighted. Brian found it easy to navigate through, adjust settings or find controls. While testing the service, most of the notifications he received were regarding bank transactions though LifeLock will also send alerts over data breaches, sex offenders in the neighborhood, or if a utility is opened in your name (among other issues).
Given that it can be paired with Norton 360 antivirus protection, LifeLock is clearly a product intended for those who want all the features – and who aren’t afraid to pay for it. It provides comprehensive identity theft protection with an amazing array of features, including an antivirus add-on that is known to be feature-rich, and includes utility add-on’s for those who want even more.
- Read our full LifeLock review
Best identity theft protection on a budget
The least expensive identity protection service on our list doesn’t lack in features or protection. Aura offers three tiers: for individuals, couples or families, and all three tiers include monitoring and scores from all three credit bureaus and a Vantage 3.0 rating.
Aura will monitor both bank and investment accounts using Plaid, and sends alerts if it finds any duplicate charges, transactions that go over your preset limit, bankruptcy proceedings in your name, sex offenders in your neighborhood, and more.
Despite its low monthly rate, it also offers a 24/7 White Glove treatment which provides a single case manager to handle an identity theft case from start to finish. That means if you have an issue, you only have to deal with one person to get back any new identity documents or resolve any issues. The plans cover between $1 and $5 million of identity insurance to protect against credit card fraud or someone draining your bank account.
When we tested Aura, we found its interface particularly easy to navigate and we appreciated that it didn’t leave out features. It includes a credit lock button (for Experian), dark web monitoring, malware scanning, a password manager, VPN, sex offender and cyber bullying alerts, a Safe Gaming app which keeps an eye on in-game commenting, and a 24/7 customer support number, among others.
- Read our full Aura review
Best identity theft protection for families
McAfee has paired its antivirus software with TransUnion’s identity services for a comprehensive package for the age of cyber theft. Brian says he found Ultimate to be a well integrated solution with a common look and feel for generally easy use and navigation.
It simplifies combining identity protection with security software and includes antivirus protection for an unlimited number of devices as well as up to $2 million in identity theft insurance and an extra $25K in ransomware funds. There is also daily access to credit changes from all three major credit bureaus with scores, monitoring and freezes.
McAfee’s dashboard has boxes with numbers that clearly indicate any items that may be found in data breaches, as well as other metrics like how many devices are covered and more. It’s built around TransUnion offerings, so it includes features such as a TransUnion credit lock, however the Ultimate tier includes Equifax and Experian credit reporting as well.
Like the other services on this list, it provides a VantageScore 3.0 but it also gives an explanation of the items that affect that score as well credit improvement advice. McAfee will provide access to lawyers, accountants and detectives to investigate and remediate an identity theft, and provisions for lost wages and travel if needed. Plus, it includes a Personal Data Cleanup tool that can scrub your information from data broker sites.
During testing, Brian found the Online Account Cleanup particularly useful; the feature finds all the accounts associated with your email address. Likewise, he was impressed by the Protection Score that gives an overall safety rating and tells you which features of the program you have enabled.
On the antivirus side, McAfee’s program provides multiple scanning options to check for malware, and doesn’t slow down a system even when the VPN is enabled. Its integrated Scam Detector can warn you about any text, image, video or email scams that are geared toward you. Because of the unlimited devices covered, and the features that can easily improve your online safety, McAfee is a good pick for every member of the family.
- Read our full McAfee + Ultimate review
Best identity theft protection for security
Another service that uses TransUnion credit monitoring, reports and identity insurance, Bitdefender pairs it with its own malware protection in order to cover all the most important parts of a busy online life. The service provides up to $2 million of identity insurance and credit freeze, through TransUnion, as well as malware scanning, a password manager and a VPN.
Bitdefender’s base subscription includes credit reports and monitoring from TransUnion, but the extended account has reports and monitoring from Equifax and Experian as well. Credit reports are available on a quarterly basis, but there is daily access to a Vantage 3.0 score.
The service can track up to 10 bank and investment accounts, and keeps track of key personal accounts like passports, drivers licenses and credit cards. It will send alerts about suspicious activity like address changes and payday loans.
While testing Bitdefender, Brian liked the BreachIQ feature that told him if his data was being exposed and also provided him with an identity Safety Score. It showed data leaks with related dates and a rating; the service then gave actions to mitigate exposure.
Plus, the credit simulator that lets users play out different scenarios for how to best pay off debt. On the antivirus side, another helpful inclusion was the Scam Alert, an AI-powered utility that analyzes texts, images and audio to determine if they’re fraudulent. Bitdefender’s focus on online security makes it ideal for those who want to include identity theft services with their antivirus protection.
- Read our full Bitdefender Ultimate Security Plus review
Best identity theft protection for privacy
IDShield will not only provide the basic needs for identity theft protection, like monitoring credit, limiting rogue transactions and keeping an eye on investments, but it also offers many useful tools to protect your privacy online.
IDShield provides access to a Reputation Manager which can scan your social media accounts for any inappropriate content you may want to clean up. It also has a Privacy Check feature that works with data broker sites to find any instances of your information that may have leaked, and then removes them.
IDShield has four tiers of plans to cover either individuals or families with up to $3 million in identity theft insurance to cover stolen funds. During testing, it did a good job of delivering and monitoring Experian scores, though it doesn’t have access to full credit reports or show scores from the other agencies it does monitor suspicious activities from them and provide a Vantage 3.0 score.
It will also provide lawyers, accountants and investigators to assist with restoration, and includes antivirus software from Trend Micro for malware protection. It can also watch for your information on the dark web and at payday loan establishments, and keep an eye on medical records. IDShield will send you alerts about any bank and investor accounts, for social media monitoring and sex offenders in your neighborhood.
- Read our full IDShield review
Also tested
Not every identity theft protection service can be the best. The ones we've included above are the ones that really stand out for their features and value, but we test plenty more. Here are the services that didn't quite make the list but are still worth your money if you're after more options.
How we test and rate the best identity theft protection services
Our testing and analysis of the best identity theft protection services focuses on how well each one monitors credit information, financial activity and personal information. We also rate each service for how frequently it provides credit reports and credit scores (not including free annual credit reports).
We give extra weight to the services that offer tools to help improve your credit score, and penalize services that do not give you credit reports from all three credit bureaus. We also rate each service for the number of credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts they’ll monitor and paid close attention to whether or not a service provides email or SMS notifications for large changes to account balances or large expenses on a credit card.
We penalized services that didn’t allow us to add any personal information beyond our Social Security number, such as driver’s license number, phone number or multiple email addresses; this is all information that can be used to steal your identity and that is commonly taken in a data breach. We also gave extra points to services that detected any compromised personal information.
We spent months trying out all the services on this list with actual personal information. During this testing period, our reviewer used his own credit cards and bank accounts to sign up for each service then used his accounts as usual to look for signs of identity theft. He also opted into all email, SMS or phone alerts and regularly checked credit reports to monitor for changes.
Additionally, he tried out all the available features of each service to see which ones proved useful, helpful or clunky, poked through the user interface on both desktop and mobile to see how user friendly it was, and contacted customer support to see if they were responsive.
How to choose the best identity protection service for you
The services we’ve reviewed in this guide often overlap — many of them monitor your information with the three major credit bureaus and will alert you if something concerning shows up. All of them watch the dark web, and some will search data broker sites, for mention of your name, Social Security number, credit card and bank account numbers.
Each of these services sends alerts, usually via text or email, and all of them are accessible via desktop or mobile apps on Android or iOS.
If you have your identity stolen while paying for one of these services, each service covers up to $1 million or more to restore your reputation and credit, sometimes including reimbursement for stolen funds and lost wages.
However, the differences between them are in how frequently you receive credit reports and scores, and which bureaus you’ll get credit scores from. Not every service monitors your bank, credit card and investment accounts. Not every one of these services will offer home title change alerts either.
Some offer better features around cyberbullying, sex offender alerts and parental controls, like game modes. Also, some of these services will offer two-factor login authentication to protect your account while others may not — and 2FA is a recommended step in protecting your accounts against hackers and account break-in’s.
FAQs
What is identity theft insurance?
Much in the same way that an auto insurance policy will cover costs associated with problems that arise with a car accident, identity theft insurance will cover problems that arise from being a victim of identity theft.
Victims of identity theft and fraud may have a variety of issues from fraudulent charges to their accounts, damages to their credit history or reputation, financial damages and they may require other legal assistance. Identity theft insurance can cover a variety of the costs for identity restoration specialists such as legal fees for attorneys, court hearings, costs to replace personal documents, lost wages, fees charged by banks or costs for placing fraud alerts.
Sometimes identity theft insurance is offered as part of a bundled insurance policy for new homeowners insurance, or as part of an add-on to an existing policy for another service (like antivirus protection).
The amount and range of the coverage will vary from insurer to insurer but usually aims to cover the costs it will take to complete the recovery process you’ll go through once becoming a victim of identity theft.
However, it may not cover everything. Many policies do not cover stolen money or direct financial losses like unauthorized credit card purchases.
Can you protect your identity for free?
Any of the above services are worth paying for – especially if your personal information has been compromised in a data breach or data leak. However, you can take steps yourself to protect your identity and monitor your credit, all of which are completely free.
Frequently check your bank, investment and credit card statements for unusual or suspicious activity. Go to annualcreditreport.com for free yearly credit reports from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.
Then ask the credit reporting agencies to put a free credit freeze on your files, but be aware that while it is in place, it will keep any new accounts from being opened (even by you)
Do I really need to pay for identity protection?
Not necessarily. If you know that your data has never been compromised in a data breach or leak, and you’re vigilant about keeping a watch over all your accounts, you might be okay without it. Just remember to use strong, unique passwords on all your accounts, or use a password manager, and enable two-factor or multi-factor authentication whenever possible.
Credit freeze vs. ID protection: which is better?
These are two different services with two different functions. A credit freeze is ideal for preventing new fraud and works by blocking access to your credit reports, which keeps any new accounts from being opened in your name. Identity protection, meanwhile, monitors your personal and financial information to alert you to suspicious activity and let you know if your information is being misused
Can ID protection actually stop theft from happening?
No, but no service can guarantee or stop a theft from happening. However, an identity theft protection service is designed to help you do two things: first, alert you to suspicious activity so you can stop any damage to your account quickly, and second, recover from fraud and identity theft after it has occurred, which can be a difficult, expensive and complicated process to do on your own.
Why should I buy ID protection if my bank watches my money?
While your bank can watch your accounts for potential fraud, identity protection can proactively protect your personal information on the dark web, alert you if someone attempts to open a payday loan in your name, watch your medical information in case of medical fraud, check on your home title for any potential changes, alert your for address changes in your name or new utilities being opened in your name, or let you know if a sex offender has moved into your neighborhood. Basically, an identity theft service offers many more features than just watching your financial accounts.
