Experian Review 2025: Is the Free Credit Monitoring Service Good? [Tested]

Experian is a superior free credit monitoring service because it provides your FICO® Score. Along with daily updates to your Experian score, you'll also get tools to help build your credit, tips on how to improve your score, and an analysis of your current credit standing.

However, Experian's free service includes pushy prompts to upgrade to its paid subscription, open new credit cards, or take out a loan. You'll have to weigh your tolerance of these prompts against the importance of checking your credit score. 

Read on to learn about our experience testing Experian's free credit monitoring service. 

At a glance

Price	$4.99-$24.99/mo
Free plan	Yes
Financial account monitoring	Yes
FICO® Score	Yes
Credit score	Yes — Experian
Credit score update frequency	Daily
Credit report	Yes — Experian
Credit report update frequency	Not specified
Credit lock	No
Credit analysis	Yes
Credit building	Yes
Extras	Free dark web scan, checking account, score simulator, score planner, and more
Learn more	Get Experian

We last tested Experian on July 22, 2025.

Our experience

Experian gave us a lot with our free credit monitoring service, but we were a little annoyed by the push to sign up for credit cards and loans.

We appreciated the tools that helped us understand our credit better. Even though there weren’t a ton of action items from the credit evaluation, Experian did give us better insights to make smarter money decisions.

Signing up for Experian was similar to signing up for many other credit monitoring services. We had to input our Social Security number (SSN) and provide basic information. 

The Experian dashboard displayed our credit score and some offers for raising our score and getting a better rate on car insurance.

We were able to explore a few other areas. The Money section monitored our accounts and gave us practical advice, while the Protection section mostly wanted us to upgrade to the identity theft protection service.

We also had the opportunity to peruse credit cards, loans, auto, and insurance. Each category’s main focus was to sell us something, which is likely how Experian makes revenue since credit monitoring is free, but it felt a little predatory.

This push to apply for additional lines of credit or to upgrade to the paid identity theft protection service popped up repeatedly during most of our actions on the site. When we logged back in, we were immediately met with a screen prompting us to upgrade. Another login yielded a bevy of credit card offers.

Overall, the service is an easy way to keep an eye on your daily credit fluctuations and spending, but the pushiness to sign up for new accounts and services was off-putting.

We liked the credit analysis tools but wished there was a way to freeze our credit with the service. Experian is worth using, but we suggest ignoring all the upsells.

Experian prices and subscriptions

Experian credit monitoring is a free service with some useful features. There are upgrade options if you want to add identity theft protection services. 

We’ve extensively tested Experian IdentityWorks services if you want to learn more about the paid product.

Experian features

This free service offers plenty of features to monitor and improve your credit. They include:

• Experian reporting and alerts
• Credit monitoring
• Credit analysis
• Credit building tools

• FICO® Score 

• Money management
• And more

Credit monitoring

The credit monitoring feature was ready as soon as we logged in to our dashboard. The top displays our Experian credit score, recent changes, as well as our Equifax and TransUnion scores. 

Credit reports and scores

We could check our free credit reports from all three bureaus, but only if we upgraded to IdentityWorks. While it didn’t tell us how frequently we could see our Equifax and TransUnion reports, our Experian report was updated daily. 

In fact, Experian Alerts notifies you about real-time changes to your credit report, so you’re always in the know.

Credit analysis

Experian offers line items on what’s affecting your credit and a breakdown of your debit, utilization, and other factors. Since each credit item is listed separately, it was easy for us to check for anything we may want to dispute.

Credit builder

Experian Boost aims to help raise your credit score by counting things you do every day, like paying your bills, rent, and other accounts.

Experian does mention that not all creditors will check this FICO® Score, nor will they always pull your Experian report. There could be a discrepancy between what you see on your credit report and what a potential creditor may see.

Money management tools

By linking our bank and credit cards, Experian could track our spending habits and make suggestions on how to save some money. 

It’s also a central dashboard for us to see charges, so we can dispute anything fraudulent that may pop up.

Bonus features

There aren’t a ton of bonus features with this service, outside of applying for new lines of credit or doing a privacy scan. The privacy scan is aimed at getting you to sign up for the identity theft protection service.

Is Experian safe to use?

Unlike Credit Karma, Experian didn't advertise which encryption method it uses. After doing some research, we found that Experian uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) 128-bit encryption. We consider AES-256 to be the gold standard of encryption, considering SSL is easier to crack. 

Experian at least offers two-factor authentication (2FA) during login by sending you a code via text or phone call. You’ll then need to input that code when you log in. 

As far as its privacy policy, Experian collects lots of information including:

• Contact and identity information
• Information provided for identity verification and/or to use features in products and services
• Payment information
• Application, user registration, third-party account login credentials, and other information from applying for insurance products/services
• Information provided during customer support communication
• Device information

This is a lot of information, though we're not shocked because Experian is providing a free service. Beyond providing you with its services, Experian also uses your data for marketing purposes, which is also to be expected from a free service. 

If you want to opt out, Experian outlines how to opt out of promotional emails, push alerts, and texts. 

Experian customer support

Support type	Experian
Email or live chat
Phone
Online guides or forums

We spent a decent amount of time clicking through the Contact Us prompt in the help center, only to be met with online guides. There are numbers available, but they’re more geared toward specifics like your Experian membership. For the most part, you’re on your own.

Top alternatives

If you need more robust identity theft protection than Experian offers, consider one of our other tested recommendations below. Staying on top of your credit means getting the best interest rates and deals when you need your credit score to work for you.

FAQs

Bottom line: Is Experian good?

Despite the constant prompts to upgrade or apply for new credit, Experian credit monitoring provides useful tools and information. This is a good service if you’re serious about monitoring your credit and want helpful tips on improving it. The best credit monitoring services always offer base features for free. 

Upgrading to identity theft protection is a choice, but keeping an eye on your credit should be something you do regularly. Experian makes this easy. To see how two free credit monitoring services compare to each other, read our Experian vs. Credit Karma comparison.