Aura vs. Experian IdentityWorks 2024: Which Service Has the Best Value?

Aura is the better identity theft protection service between the two, due to its comprehensive protective features. In general, couples and families will appreciate Aura's robust monitoring and alerts. It also has generous identity theft insurance, parental controls, and device protection.

On the other hand, Experian IdentityWorks is operated by Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus in the United States. It has credibility, and offers comprehensive identity protection alerts.

We’ll dive deeper into Aura and Experian IdentityWorks to learn more about what each offers and how they share your data. 

Aura vs. Experian IdentityWorks overview

Budget is often a primary factor in choosing an identity theft protection, and Aura offers the best value. It has affordable plans and provides the monitoring and credit alerts you’d expect from ID theft protection companies. The service gets more affordable with additional people, so it's ideal for couples or families. It even has additional services for preventing children's identity theft.

Meanwhile, Experian IdentityWorks is the more costly option, but it does provide comprehensive identity theft protection. Unlike Aura, it has social network monitoring and change of address alerts. Experian also provides quarterly credit reports, while Aura only does annual reports.

If you’re looking for a free option, Experian IdentityWorks offers a basic plan with minimal identity monitoring features like dark web surveillance, personal privacy scan, and free Experian credit reports and monitoring. It's a good option if you aren't ready to invest in identity theft protection yet but still want to monitor your credit.

• Aura: Best for couples or families
• Experian IdentityWorks: Best for comprehensive identity protection

Aura vs. Experian IdentityWorks compared

Star rating	4.9 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.1 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.
Price	$12.00–$32.00/mo	Free–$34.99/mo
Types of identity monitoring	Dark web, social media, SSN, and home title monitoring	Dark web, social media, and SSN monitoring
Credit monitoring
Identity theft insurance	Up to $5 million	Up to $1 million
24/7 customer support
Learn more	Get Aura Read Aura Review	Get Experian IdentityWorks Read Experian IdentityWorks Review

Aura pros and cons

Experian IdentityWorks pros and cons

Which identity theft protection is the better value?

Aura is a more budget friendly options, and comes with more features for its price. It offers $1 million per person in identity theft insurance, for up to $5 million for a family.

	Our Pick
Price range	$12.00–$32.00/mo	Free–$34.99/mo
Best value plan	Aura Family for $17.00/mo (billed annually)	Experian IdentityWorks Family for $34.99/mo
Money-back guarantee	60 days	14 days
Learn more	Get Aura Read Aura Review	Get Experian IdentityWorks Read Experian IdentityWorks Review

Aura plans

All Aura plans offer a 14-day free trial and a 60-day money-back guarantee on annual plans. Every plan has the same identity theft protection features and digital security tools, including antivirus software, password manager, and a virtual private network (VPN). But, the number of people, devices, and storage allowed increases with each plan.

Aura also provides $1 million in identity theft insurance for each adult on the plan. The insurance policy can make it easier to manage identity theft losses.

The biggest difference between plans occurs with the Family plan. It covers up to five adults and an unlimited number of children. It also includes several family protection features to monitor a child's identity and ensure their safety online. An additional feature of the Family plan is spam call and message protection, which blocks robocalls and other suspicious phone numbers.

• Individual: Covers one adult and the online security features cover up to 10 devices. This plan includes premium identity theft protection, financial fraud protection, and fraud remediation. It also includes a $1 million identity theft insurance and 1 GB of vault storage.
• Couple: Covers two adults, and the online security features cover up to 20 devices. This plan has the same features as the Individual plan, including a $1 million identity theft insurance for each adult and 2 GB of vault storage.
• Family: Covers five adults and unlimited children, and the online security features cover up to 50 devices. In addition to the features included in the Individual and Couple plan, the Family plan also has online parental controls, safe gaming features, and identity protection for children. It also includes a $1 million identity theft insurance for each adult on the plan and 5 GB of vault storage.

Experian IdentityWorks plans

All Experian IdentityWorks plans have a seven-day free trial. Unlike Aura, there's no money-back guarantee. So, you want to maximize your free trial to ensure its features are right for your needs. The paid plans include features like credit monitoring and alerts from all three credit bureaus, financial alerts, identity theft alerts, and access to Experian CreditLock.

Experian IdentityWorks offers a free plan that only offers one-bureau credit monitoring from Experian and limited identity theft monitoring. It's ideal for those on a budget or who might not be ready to invest in full-service identity protection yet.

• Basic: Free plan that provides a credit report and credit monitoring from Experian. It also includes a FICO score tracker, dark web surveillance report, and personal privacy scan. It's good for basic credit monitoring but doesn't alert you to other identity theft signs or how to resolve it.
• Premium: Covers one person with credit monitoring and reports for all three financial bureaus. It also has advanced identity theft monitoring, a $1 million insurance policy, and daily Experian FICO scores.
• Family: Covers two people and up to 10 children. It has all the same features as the Premium plan. The Family plan also provides daily Experian credit reports and daily Experian FICO scores.

Which identity theft protection has the better features?

Both services offer similar protective features, such as SSN monitoring. Aura goes a step further and also offers home title monitoring.

	Our Pick
Social Security Number monitoring
Financial activity alerts
Credit monitoring
3-bureau credit reports	Yes — Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian	Yes — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion
Credit score
Credit lock and freeze
Identity theft insurance	Up to $5 million	Up to $1 million
Dark web monitoring
Social media monitoring
Home title monitoring
Address change alerts
Learn more	Get Aura Read Aura Review	Get Experian IdentityWorks Read Experian IdentityWorks Review

When comparing the paid plans, the differences in monitoring and alerts are minimal and may depend on personal preferences.

The biggest difference is how Aura provides online monitoring for children. Aura is the family-friendly choice if you’re looking to protect your child's identity and ensure their safety online. It offers cyberbullying alerts and parental controls for online browsing.

Another difference between Aura and Experian is how often credit reports are delivered. Aura provides annual credit reports, while Experian IdentityWorks provides them quarterly. And if you’re on Experian's Family plan, you get Experian credit reports daily. However, both services offer ongoing credit monitoring, so you'll always get an alert on inquiries on your credit report.

A notable difference is Aura doesn't provide FICO scores like Experian IdentityWorks. Instead, it shares VantageScore credit scores. While both credit scores are valid, 90% of lenders use FICO to make lending decisions.^[1] Aura not providing a FICO score is a missing part of its financial fraud protection.

Which identity theft protection is more secure?

When you use an identity theft protection service, you need to share your personal information, like your Social Security number (SSNs), financial data, and more. Otherwise, the service can't track your identity and alert you to suspicious activity.

It's unavoidable for Aura or Experian IdentityWorks to collect your personal data. But it does have a responsibility to protect it.

Aura vs. Experian IdentityWorks data security

Both services collect your data to watch for signs of identity theft. However, Experian sells it some of it third parties for marketing purposes.

	Our Pick
Collects data
Shares data with third parties	Yes — as necessary to work with partners	Yes — sells it to other companies
Learn more	Get Aura Read Aura Review	Get Experian IdentityWorks Read Experian IdentityWorks Review

Aura's privacy policy clearly states that it doesn't sell your data. We did spot a red flag in a section stating that Aura collects information to provide its services. It mentions that it may use your information to promote co-branded offers with its partners, but we'd prefer not to received unsolicited advertisements.

Overall, we do like that Aura doesn't allow its partners to use our information for anything other than communicating, evaluating, improving, and administering offers. 

Meanwhile, Experian IdentityWorks has a lengthy table revealing what sensitive personal information it has sold to third parties. Data like SSNs, geolocation, and citizenship/immigration status have been collected and sold, shared, or disclosed to third parties.

Experian also states that you have the right to opt out from "sale, sharing, processing, and use of personal information for sales, certain profiling, or targeted advertising," so at least you have some control over your data.

Both services at least offer you to level up your account security with multi-factor authentication. 

Which identity theft protection has better compatibility and customer service?

Aura offers more customer support options, along with 24/7 availability to help you solve your problems

	Our Pick
Android
iOS
Dedicated restoration specialists
Lost wallet remediation
24/7 customer support
Customer support options	Live chat, phone, email, online guides	Phone, email, mail
Learn more	Get Aura Read Aura Review	Get Experian IdentityWorks Read Experian IdentityWorks Review

As far as compatibility, Aura and Experian IdentityWorks have the same offerings. Both can be accessed from any browser on your desktop, and they offer mobile apps for Android and iOS so you can receive identity alerts on the go. Aura’s VPN and antivirus also have desktop apps for Windows and macOS.

However, Aura and Experian IdentityWorks have noticeably different approaches to customer support.

Aura provides 24/7 customer support. It's possible to contact them via live chat, phone, or email. It also has online guides to help you with problems or questions about Aura.

Experian IdentityWorks doesn't provide 24/7 customer support. It's a bit more difficult to contact them since it doesn't openly share a phone number on its website. Surprisingly, you can get customer support through snail mail, but it's a slow option. Finally, you can contact Experian via an online form. But it's not clear when you’ll get a response back.

FAQs

Aura vs. Experian IdentityWorks: which is better?

Overall, Aura is the better choice. It's more affordable, has robust child protection services, includes device security, and doesn't sell your data to third parties. You can review our identity theft protection and credit monitoring guide to learn more about how a service like Aura can protect you.

Aura offers a single service that covers device security and identity theft protection. It's more user-friendly for families and offers tools to protect your children's identity and online browsing experience.

Experian IdentityWorks is operated by one of the three major credit bureaus. While it does have credibility and all the necessary tools for identity theft protection, it's more expensive than Aura. It also admits to selling your personal information to third parties.

	Our Pick
Value
Features
Test results
User experience
Learn more	Get Aura Read Aura Review	Get Experian IdentityWorks Read Experian IdentityWorks Review

Top identity theft protection alternatives

If you're looking for the best identity theft protection service for you, then you want to research your options. While Aura is a good choice, you may also want to consider these alternatives to determine if their ID theft protection is worth it:

Service
Individual monthly price	Starts at $7.50/mo (billed annually) for first year	Starts at $8.99/mo	Starts at $14.95/mo
Family monthly price	Starts at $18.49/mo (billed annually) for first year	Starts at $14.99/mo	Starts at $29.95/mo
ID theft insurance	Up to $3 million	Up to $1 million	Up to $3 million
Credit monitoring
3-bureau credit reports
Details	Get LifeLock Read LifeLock Review	Get Identity Guard Read Identity Guard Review	Get IDShield Read IDShield Review