Identity Guard vs. LifeLock: Which Protects Your Identity and Credit Better?

Overview

Identity Guard and LifeLock are great services if you’re looking to keep your personal information safe from identity thieves.

Identity Guard offers decent identity theft protection with credit monitoring offered at its highest tiers. Plus, all its plans use IBM Watson—Identity Guard’s custom AI that finds where your identity is most vulnerable. But overall, Identity Guard is pricey for the coverage you get.

LifeLock has identity theft protection with decent credit monitoring, but only at its highest tier. And as a bonus, all LifeLock plans include a Norton Security subscription, so you can keep your devices safe from spyware, malware, and other online attacks. But prices go up after a year, making LifeLock an expensive choice.

If you’re looking for a plan with a better value, have a look at our picks for best credit monitoring services and best identity theft protection services. But if you’re curious about how Identity Guard and LifeLock compare, read on.

Identity Guard vs. LifeLock: Credit monitoring

Identity Guard offers credit monitoring at its highest two tiers. Identity Guard’s Total plan gives you basic alerts on your credit file, with three-bureau credit monitoring and access to a monthly credit score. The Premier plan adds a yearly credit report from all three credit bureaus, but it’s not really worth the extra cost: you’re legally entitled to an annual credit report for free anyway.

LifeLock starts with basic credit monitoring at its lowest two tiers and more advanced monitoring at its highest tier. But it’s not a great value: like Identity Guard, LifeLock hikes up the price for its highest-tier membership, offering the annual credit report you can already access for free.

Compare LifeLock and Identity Guard credit monitoring services

*Data effective 6/23/2019. Offers and availability subject to change.

Identity Guard credit monitoring plans and prices

Identity Guard offers a Value plan for $8.99 a month, but it offers no credit monitoring. To get that, you’ll have to bump up to the midlevel plan.

Identity Guard Total

At $19.99 a month for individuals and $29.99 a month for families, Identity Guard’s Total plan offers a monthly TransUnion credit score and three-bureau credit monitoring. That’s a steep price for less-than-comprehensive coverage: to compare, Credit Sesame offers three-bureau credit monitoring plus a monthly credit score and report from all three credit bureaus for only $15.95 per month.

But if you’re going with Identity Guard, Total is the plan we recommend.

What comes with Identity Guard Total:

• Three-bureau credit monitoring
• Monthly one-bureau credit score

Identity Guard Premier

Identity Guard’s highest tier, the Premier plan is priced at $24.99 per month for individuals and $34.99 per month for families. It adds an annual three-bureau credit report (which you can already access for free at AnnualCreditReport.com). IBM Watson also analyzes your social media accounts and gives you tips on how to improve your social image. Overall, we don’t recommend this plan for the price.

What comes with Identity Guard Premier:

• Everything from the Total plan
• Annual three-bureau credit report

LifeLock credit monitoring plans and prices

LifeLock Select

At $9.99 per month for the first year and $14.99 per month after that, LifeLock’s lowest-tier plan, Select, focuses mostly on identity theft protection. It also offers credit monitoring from only one of the three credit bureaus, so you’ll be alerted if there’s any fraudulent activity going on with your credit file.

What comes with LifeLock Select:

• One-bureau credit monitoring

LifeLock Advantage

LifeLock Advantage, priced at $19.99 per month for the first year and $24.99 per month after that, adds an annual Equifax credit report and score.

What comes with LifeLock Advantage:

• Annual one-bureau credit report and score

LifeLock Ultimate Plus has some solid credit monitoring options, but you’ll pay for them: this plan is $29.99 per month for the first year and $34.99 per month after that. You’ll get credit alerts from all three bureaus, monthly Equifax credit score tracking, and annual credit reports and scores.

And an annual credit score may prove helpful: although you’re entitled to an annual credit report by law, that doesn’t usually include a credit score from all three reporting agencies.

Still, LifeLock Ultimate Plus is seriously pricey. Another of our top identity monitoring service picks, IdentityForce, offers daily three-bureau credit monitoring, access to your three-bureau credit report and score, and a monthly credit score tracker for only $23.95 per month.

What comes with LifeLock Ultimate Plus:

• Three-bureau credit monitoring
• Monthly Equifax credit score
• Annual three-bureau credit report and score

Identity Guard vs. LifeLock: Identity theft protection services

As far as identity theft protection goes, both Identity Guard and LifeLock have broader offerings than they do for credit monitoring.

At all three tiers, Identity Guard gives you access to a dedicated case manager, fraud alerts for high risk transactions, plus up to $1,000,000 in stolen funds reimbursement. And with its higher two tiers, you also get bank account alerts, so you’ll know when any changes are made to your checking, savings, or IRA accounts.

LifeLock offers comprehensive identity theft protection at all three tiers. LifeLock Select will give you the basics with lost wallet protection, address change verification, and dark web monitoring. LifeLock Advantage adds bank account and credit card alerts, plus alerts for any crimes committed in your name. LifeLock Ultimate Plus adds some unique features, like checking and savings account application alerts.

Compare LifeLock and Identity Guard identity theft protection services

*Data effective 6/23/2019. Offers and availability subject to change.

Identity Guard identity protection plans and prices

Identity Guard Value

For $8.99 per month for individuals and $14.99 per month for families, Identity Guard’s Value plan offers the basics. You’ll get a risk management score, which measures your risk for identity fraud, plus dark web monitoring, high-risk transaction alerts, and a safe browsing extension to keep your computer safe from malware.

What comes with Identity Guard Value:

• Up to $1,000,000 in identity theft insurance
• Dark web monitoring
• Social Security number monitoring
• Anti-phishing mobile app
• Safe browsing extension

Identity Guard Total

With Identity Guard Total, priced at $19.99 per month for individuals and $29.99 per month for families, you’ll get fraud alerts for suspicious activity with your bank account or credit card. Identity Guard Total will also alert you when it detects your personal information—like the information from your lost driver’s license—being used to open a checking or savings account.

What comes with Identity Guard Total:

• Everything from Value
• Lost wallet assistance
• Address monitoring
• Bank account and credit card monitoring

Identity Guard Premier

At $24.99 per month for individuals and $34.99 per month for families, Identity Guard Premier adds a social insight report. The report uses IBM Watson to get a picture of your online standing and recommend how to improve.

What comes with Identity Guard Premier:

• Everything from Total
• Social insight report

LifeLock identity protection plans and prices

For $9.99 per month for the first year and $14.99 per month thereafter, LifeLock Select offers Social Security number monitoring and Norton Security for up to five devices.

You’ll also get up to $25,000 in stolen funds reimbursement, another $25,000 in personal expense compensation, and up to $1,000,000 in coverage for a lawyer in case your identity is stolen.

What comes with LifeLock Select:

• Up to $25,000 in identity theft insurance
• Dark web monitoring
• Lost wallet assistance
• Social Security number monitoring
• Address change verification
• Credit monitoring from Equifax

LifeLock Advantage, priced at $19.99 per month for the first 12 months and $24.99 per month after that, gives you Norton Security monitoring for up to 10 devices. You’ll also get bank account and credit card alerts, alerts for crimes committed in your name, and up to $100,000 in stolen funds reimbursement and personal expense compensation.

What comes with LifeLock Advantage:

• Everything from Select
• Up to $100,000 in identity theft insurance
• Bank account and credit card monitoring
• Alerts for crimes committed in your name
• Fictitious identity monitoring

LifeLock Ultimate Plus will set you back $29.99 per month for the first year, then $34.99 per month afterward. It ups the stolen funds reimbursement and personal expense compensation to $1,000,000 each.

The Ultimate Plus plan also lets you access Norton Security for an unlimited number of devices and adds checking and savings account application alerts—so you’ll find out if anyone is using your information to apply for a new account.

What comes with LifeLock Ultimate Plus:

• Everything from Advantage
• Up to $1,000,000 identity theft insurance
• 401(k) and investment activity alerts
• File sharing network searches
• Sex offender registry reports

Identity Guard vs. LifeLock: Features and flaws

Identity Guard features and flaws

Although Identity Guard isn’t super comprehensive, it has a few features that set it apart from the competition.

Family plans

Unlike LifeLock, Identity Guard offers family plans for every tier, which is great if you want to cover your spouse or partner and any children. It’s pretty generous, too: all family plans cover an unlimited number of adults and children, as long as you all reside in one household.

IBM Watson AI

IBM Watson technology is unique to Identity Guard. It’s an artificial intelligence service that acts as an early warning system, letting you know whether you’re at risk for identity fraud before anything happens. It looks at data points to see where your identity is most vulnerable and alerts you if it detects anything out of the ordinary. That way, you can lock or freeze your credit before identity thieves get to your credit file.

Identity theft recovery

Identity Guard focuses more on identity theft prevention than identity recovery. If you become a victim of identity theft or data breach, Identity Guard will give you $1,000,000 in restoration costs and access to a case officer who can answer your questions, but otherwise you’re on your own. If you want a service that will walk you through getting your identity back on track, we recommend Zander.

LifeLock features and flaws

LifeLock stands out from the competition with added security for internet-connected devices and its mobile app.

Norton Security

All LifeLock plans come with access to Norton Security. It’s a thoughtful addition that will keep PCs, Macs, mobile devices, and tablets safe from viruses and other malware.

Mobile app

LifeLock offers a free mobile app for iOS and Android, so you can get notifications of any suspicious or fraudulent activity no matter where you are. The app also lets you view your credit information and—if you have the LifeLock Ultimate Plus plan—track your credit score.

No family plan

LifeLock doesn’t offer any family plans, so your spouse or partner will have to purchase their own plan. Fortunately, if you have a child or a senior parent living with you, LifeLock offers add-on plans to protect those loved ones.

For $5.99 per month per child, LifeLock Junior monitors your kid’s personal information and credit for suspicious activity. And for an additional $19.99 per month, LifeLock Senior monitors an older adult’s bank accounts, credit cards, investment accounts, home titles, and more.

Either way, the cost will really add up if you have a bigger brood, especially compared to the competition: Identity Guard covers an unlimited number of adults and children in its family plans.

Identity Guard vs. LifeLock: Customer service

Identity Guard customer service

Identity Guard’s customer service is available via telephone Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays. It’s closed on Sundays.

Overall, customers say that IBM Watson gives Identity Guard an advantage, specifically when it comes to early detection. But many also agree that Identity Guard’s plans are a bit pricey for how much service is included.

LifeLock customer service

LifeLock’s customer service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week via phone and through the LifeLock mobile app’s convenient messaging feature.

Judging by customer feedback posted on the web, reviews for LifeLock are mixed. Many customers like the services and support that LifeLock offers. But others are frustrated with poor customer service, lack of transparency with the cancellation process, and the price hike after the first year.

Which is better, Identity Guard or LifeLock?

Both Identity Guard and LifeLock offer services with thorough identity theft protection with some basic credit monitoring thrown in. If you’re looking for identity theft protection for your family with great customer service to boot, we recommend Identity Guard. Its plans are pricey, but it’s a solid choice for ID theft prevention. Read more about Identity Guard in our full review.

>>Protect your identity with artificial intelligence. View Identity Guard’s plans here.

If you want more comprehensive coverage and don’t mind the price hike, go with LifeLock. You’ll get some basic credit monitoring, comprehensive identity theft protection, plus protection for your internet-connected devices. You can read more about LifeLock in our full review.

>>Get the power of protection. View LifeLock’s plans here.