The Best Identity Theft Protection With Fraud Detection 2024

We looked at several identity theft protection services and determined that Norton LifeLock, Aura, and Identity Guard offer the best fraud detection alerts to give you the peace of mind you want.

On top of protecting you with up to $3,000,000 in ID theft insurance, these three services will alert you whenever there's an issue with your Social Security number (SSN), financial accounts, and more. 

Here's how three of the best ID theft protection services can keep you safe with their best-in-class fraud detection alerts.

The best identity theft protection services with fraud detection

One of the best ways to protect your identity is by proactively monitoring activity tied to your SSN and other personal information. Several companies offer identity theft protection solutions to help you actively monitor your credit report, social media, and other areas to help you avoid identity theft.

• LifeLock: Best for fraud alerts and coverage
• Aura: Best for overall protection
• Identity Guard: Best for simple and inexpensive protection

Top 3 ID theft protection services with fraud detection compared

Service
Starting price	Starts at $7.50/mo (billed annually) for first year	Starts at $9.00/mo (billed annually)	Starts at $8.99/mo
# of people covered	1 - 2 adults, up to 5 kids	1 - 5 adults, unlimited kids	1 - 5 adults, unlimited kids
ID theft coverage	Up to $3,000,000	Up to $1,000,000	Up to $1,000,000
Financial activity alerts
Credit monitoring
Dark web alerts
Social media account alerts
Social Security Number monitoring
Home title monitoring
Address change alerts
Details	View Plans Read our Norton Lifelock review	View Plans Read our Aura review	View Plans Read our Identity Guard review

LifeLock: Best for fraud alerts and coverage

Who it’s best for

One of LifeLock’s standout features is its identity theft coverage. LifeLock’s Ultimate Plus plan includes up to $3 million in identity theft insurance to help you recoup any identity theft losses.

If you opt for the Ultimate Plus plan, LifeLock’s identity theft insurance coverage includes:

• Up to $1 million in stolen funds reimbursement
• Up to $1 million in personal expense compensation
• Up to $1 million in coverage for lawyers and experts

To get the most out of LifeLock’s insurance and the most protection, you’ll need to select LifeLock’s highest plan, the Ultimate Plus.

What we liked

With LifeLock’s highest plan, Ultimate Plus, you gain access to a ton of monitoring features that we liked. With Ultimate Plus, you can monitor your home title, 401k and investment accounts, and social media accounts. You’ll also receive alerts for bank account takeovers, checking and savings account applications, and other instances of potential cybercrime.

With LifeLock, you also gain access to your credit report more consistently than other solutions. With LifeLock’s Unlimited Plus plan, you get unlimited access to your credit report from Equifax and monthly access for Experian and TransUnion.

What we didn’t like

LifeLock offers several plan tiers, which can be confusing for someone new to identity theft protection. You’ll also need to decide how many people you need to cover with your plan and whether you wish to pay monthly or annually.

The entry-level Select plan offers the least features and the least insurance coverage. With the Select plan, you only receive access to one-bureau credit monitoring and identity and SSN alerts. Identity theft coverage also only goes up to $1.05 million.

The Ultimate Plus plan gives you the most access to LifeLock’s features, including up to $1 million in stolen funds reimbursement, and you can access all three credit bureaus. It’s the most expensive plan, so you’ll need to determine if it’s within your budget.

LifeLock pros and cons

Read Our LifeLock Review

Aura: Best for overall protection

Who it’s best for

Aura is a great service, and it makes choosing an identity theft protection plan simple. Its plans are based on whether you need coverage for one individual, a couple, or a family. Besides that, all three plans offer the same features, making it easy to choose a plan if you’re signing up to use the service.

Aura also offers a 14-day free trial and a 60-day money-back guarantee for annual plans, which can help give you peace of mind in the selection process.

What we liked

Aura is packed with features to help you and your family protect themselves against ID theft, including all of the fraud alerts we look for. 

On top of that, each Aura plan also comes with additional cybersecurity products, including antivirus software, a virtual private network (VPN), and a storage vault, which makes it a great deal for a comprehensive security suite.

With Aura, you can protect up to five adults and unlimited children to help prevent child identity theft. Each adult also receives up to $1 million in identity theft insurance.

All of Aura’s plans provide access to a fraud resolution team that can help remediate situations if your identity is compromised. Aura’s team also offers lost wallet remediation, which can help mitigate damage from identity thieves outside the web.

A few other monitoring features we liked include:

• Home and auto title monitoring
• Identity verification for transactions like payday loans
• 401k and investment accounts

What we didn’t like

One disadvantage of Aura is that you only get access to your VantageScore as part of your credit monitoring. Aura doesn’t provide a FICO score, which is the credit score most commonly used by lenders.

In addition, you can only access your credit report once annually. The LifeLock Ultimate Plus plan allows you to access Equifax credit reports daily.

Aura pros and cons

Read Our Aura Review

Identity Guard: Best for simple and inexpensive protection

Who it’s best for

Identity Guard is great if you’re looking for a simple solution for identity theft protection that doesn’t come with a high price tag. Its starting plan, Identity Guard Value, offers basic identity theft protection features, including $1 million in insurance, dark web monitoring, data breach notifications, and high-risk transaction monitoring.

If the Value plan isn’t sufficient, Identity Guard’s Total and Ultra plans can offer more features to help protect your identity online, including credit monitoring and credit scores.

What we liked

Overall, Identity Guard is a great choice for identity theft protection. For the most robust features, the Ultra plan is the best deal. With the Ultra plan, you can access fraud resolution and monitoring for your social media, credit and debit cards, and bank accounts.

With all of Identity Guard’s plans, you also receive access to a password manager and a safe browsing tool that can be used to help protect your personal information while online. With an annual plan, you also get a 60-day money-back guarantee.

What we didn’t like

Identity Guard doesn’t offer a plan for just a couple. If you don’t have children you’d like to protect, you’ll have to sign up for two individual or family plans, which can cover up to five adults.

Identity Guard also includes several different plan tiers, which can be confusing, like LifeLock. And unfortunately, the Identity Guard Value plan doesn’t come with any credit features at all.

Identity Guard pros and cons

Read Our Identity Guard Review

What types of fraud protection do identity theft services offer?

Identity theft protection tools should come with a series of alerts that will notify you if any of your important accounts have been breached or altered. This can include everything from your bank account to your Facebook account.

Here's a list of fraud alerts we like to see offered by every ID theft service we review:

• Financial activity alerts:  Sends notifications when there are suspicious changes to or transactions on your connected bank accounts.
• Credit monitoring: Alerts you to new inquiries on your credit file, like if someone is trying to open a new loan in your name.
• Dark web alerts: Monitors the dark web to see if your important information was leaked that could give bad actors access to your accounts.
• Social media account alerts: Monitors your social media accounts for any suspicious changes to your account settings.
• Social Security Number monitoring: Alerts you of fraudulent use of your SSN for credit applications.
• Home title monitoring: Receive notifications when there are changes to properties under your name.
• Address change alerts: Alerts you if your address with the USPS changes.

FAQs

Bottom line: The best ID theft protection with fraud detection

We found that Norton LifeLock had the best offering of fraud detection alerts combined with the highest amount of ID theft protection (up to $3,000,000 per adult).

That said, all of the identity theft protection services we evaluated will alert you if they find an issue with your credit report or discover your information on the dark web. You’ll find the biggest difference between the three services when comparing additional alerts, cybersecurity extras, and family plan offerings.

Aura offers the most simplistic plan options based just on the number of people you need to monitor. It’s also packed with monitoring features to give you extra protection.

Identity Guard is our final pick for the best identity theft protection services with fraud detection. Identity Guard offers several different plans, and you can select an individual or a family plan. Identity Guard has the most affordable plan if you’re looking for basic ID theft protection.

3 best ID theft protection services with fraud detection 2024

	Starting price	Best for	Learn more
	Starts at $7.50/mo (billed annually) for first year	Best for fraud alerts and coverage	View Plans Read LifeLock Review
	Starts at $9.00/mo (billed annually)	Best for overall protection	View Plans Read Aura Review
	Starts at $8.99/mo	Best for simple and inexpensive protection	View Plans Read Identity Guard Review