Credit Sesame vs. Credit Karma 2025: Top Free Credit and Financial Monitoring Services Compared

Credit Karma is the best overall service compared to Credit Sesame’s free plan. However, Credit Sesame’s paid Sesame+ plan might be the better option for anyone looking to improve their credit score.

While Credit Karma offers more features, including a live chat for customer service, Credit Sesame is more protective of your data. It collects only what it needs to provide its services and doesn’t share your info with third parties. Credit Karma can’t say the same.

Check out our comparison below for a full side-by-side breakdown of our experience testing these two, including the features Credit Sesame offers with its paid plans. And keep reading to find out what we think are the best credit monitoring services.

Credit Sesame vs. Credit Karma review at a glance

Credit Sesame and Credit Karma allow you to monitor your credit, give you actionable insights into your credit health and score, and include ways to improve your credit.

Credit Sesame offers a paid tier with identity theft protection and a debit card to improve your credit score. Credit Karma monitors two bureaus on its free plan, while Credit Sesame includes only one.

• Credit Sesame: Best for improving your credit score
• Credit Karma: Best for light credit monitoring

Credit Sesame vs. Credit Karma

		Our Pick
Star rating	4.4 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.	4.9 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.
Price	Free-$19.99/mo	Free
Free plan
Financial account monitoring	Yes (Sesame+)
Credit score	Yes — TransUnion on free plan, all three on Premium plans	Yes — TransUnion and Equifax
Credit score update frequency	Daily	Daily
Credit report	Yes — TransUnion on free plan, all three on Premium plans	Yes — TransUnion and Equifax
Credit report update frequency	Monthly (Sesame+)	Daily for TransUnion, weekly for Equifax
Credit lock
Credit analysis
Credit building
Extras	Identity theft insurance, rent reporting (additional credit building), ID fraud alerts, dark web surveillance	Identity monitoring, free-to-open checking account, and helps you find insurance policies, loans, and credit cards
Learn more	Get Credit Sesame Read Credit Sesame Review	Get Credit Karma Read Credit Karma Review

Credit Sesame pros and cons

We liked the Sesame Grade, which gave us useful insights into our credit score and how to improve it. We were also impressed with the daily credit updates from all three bureaus that we received with our Sesame+ trial.

The Sesame+ plans offer more advanced features, such as identity theft insurance, assistance resolving fraud, a credit simulator, three-bureau credit monitoring, smart credit reports, and more. Credit Sesame is geared more toward its paid plans, but it can still be used for free if you are only looking for simple monitoring features.

Credit Karma pros and cons

We liked that all of Credit Karma’s features are available since this service is free and doesn’t offer paid tiers. It monitors two of the three bureaus with its free credit monitoring, which is better than most free competitors. We also enjoyed the regular updates to our score and the educational tools geared toward helping us have better credit.

Because Credit Karma is free, it collects and uses data for marketing purposes. It also pushes credit card and loan offers on you, making money if you sign up. This feels counterintuitive to improving your credit score, so we weren’t thrilled with these features.

Which is the better value?

Credit Karma wins because it’s free, which means none of its features are locked behind a paywall.

		Best Value
Price range	Free-$19.99/mo	Free
Best value plan	Sesame+ Complete for $19.99/mo	Free
Money-back guarantee		N/A
Learn more	Get Credit Sesame Read Credit Sesame Review	Get Credit Karma Read Credit Karma Review

One of our biggest issues with Credit Sesame was that its most useful credit-building features — like credit builder, credit simulator, and credit calendar, to name a few — were locked behind the Sesame+ paywall. Our Sesame+ trial allowed us to test these features, and they were valuable, but other services will offer them with their free products.

On the other hand, Credit Karma doesn’t have any paid tiers. That meant we could use all of its features without worrying about getting blocked. Credit Karma monitored more than Credit Sesame’s free tier, showing two of the three bureaus, while Credit Sesame showed only one. Overall, we feel Credit Karma is a better value.

Which has the better features?

Credit Karma offers more features than Credit Sesame’s free plan.

		Best Features
Credit score monitoring	Yes — TransUnion on its free plan, all three on Premium plans	Yes — TransUnion and Equifax
Credit report	Yes — TransUnion on its free plan, all three on Premium plans	Yes — TransUnion and Equifax
Financial account monitoring	Yes (Sesame+)
Credit lock
Credit analysis
Credit dispute resolution support	Yes (Sesame+)
Credit builder account
Money management tools (bills, budget, etc.)	Yes (Sesame+)
ID theft insurance	Yes — $1 million (Sesame+)
Extras	Identity theft insurance, rent reporting (additional credit building), ID fraud alerts, dark web surveillance	Identity monitoring, helps you find insurance policies, loans, and credit cards, free-to-open checking account
Learn more	Get Credit Sesame Read Credit Sesame Review	Get Credit Karma Read Credit Karma Review

Credit Karma offers credit dispute assistance and money management tools on its free plan, while Credit Sesame makes you purchase its Sesame+ plan to get those features. Neither service includes financial account monitoring or identity theft insurance on the free plans, but Credit Sesame does offer credit lock on its free plan, whereas Credit Karma doesn’t.

Credit Sesame does have some helpful features on its paid plan, but we want to point out that you have to pay for them. Its paid plans offer financial account monitoring, which allows you to catch fraud with alerts, while a credit lock can protect your identity by stopping new accounts from being allowed to open. We found Credit Karma to have better overall features if you’re comparing free plans. Paid plans will always give you more, but the services with robust free plans are worth your time.

Which service is more secure?

Credit Sesame wins hands down here. Because Credit Karma is completely free, it makes money when you use its third-party partner services, but it also harvests your data and shares it to increase its revenue.

	Our Pick
Two-factor authentication
Collects data	Minimal
Shares data with third parties
Learn more	Get Credit Sesame Read Credit Sesame Review	Get Credit Karma Read Credit Karma Review

There’s a saying in tech: If you aren’t paying for the product, then YOU are the product. This is definitely true with Credit Karma. Credit Sesame has a plain language privacy policy explicitly outlining how your data is only collected to provide its service. Credit Karma’s policy is also easy to read but clearly lets you know it will share your info.

Both services include advanced authentication methods, which only help when protecting yourself against hackers. If the service is selling off your info (like Credit Karma), enabling two-factor or biometric authentication won’t protect you against that.

Which has the better compatibility and customer support?

Credit Karma offers more when compared to Credit Sesame’s free plan. We’re suckers for a live chat option, and Credit Karma is the only one of the two that offers it.

		Best Support
Android
iOS
Credit dispute resolution support	Yes (Sesame+)
24/7 customer support
Customer support options	Email, online guides	Live chat, email, online guides
Learn more	Get Credit Sesame Read Credit Sesame Review	Get Credit Karma Read Credit Karma Review

When comparing free plans, Credit Karma offers more. It includes credit dispute resolution support and a live chat option. Neither service offers 24/7 support, but Credit Karma’s live chat during business hours means you won’t be wasting most of the day waiting for an email or trying to sift through online guides.

Both services have apps that are rated well in their respective app stores. Customers don’t report many functionality issues when using the apps, which means you can take your credit monitoring on the go whether you’re home or not.

FAQs

Credit Sesame vs. Credit Karma: Which is better?

Credit Karma offers users more when comparing free plans. Credit Sesame can help you monitor accounts and will provide fraud alerts, but only with a paid subscription.

		Our Pick
Value
Features
Privacy and security
Customer support
Learn more	Get Credit Sesame Read Credit Sesame Review	Get Credit Karma Read Credit Karma Review

We are fans of Credit Sesame, especially considering it doesn’t sell your data, but it doesn’t offer as much as Credit Karma does. If you’re looking to improve your credit score, Credit Sesame’s Sesame+ paid plan will help you get there, especially considering it includes identity theft protection. Credit Karma is the way to go if you’re looking for casual credit monitoring with an abundance of free features.

Keeping track of your credit score will help you save money. Lenders give better rates to folks with good credit. Knowing what’s on your report and applying helpful tips to improve your score can keep your overall payments low when you’re looking for anything from a new car to an apartment.

Top alternatives

Credit Sesame has a paid plan that helps you clean up and build your credit, while Credit Karma includes various monitoring tools and credit services. If you’re looking for something different or want more features not covered here, you can find some of our tested favorites below. We love a good credit monitoring service that also includes identity theft protection.