How We Test, Rate, and Review ID Theft Software

ID theft software monitors various accounts and information to attempt to detect identity theft before it has a significant impact on your life. ID theft services usually monitor a lot of data, including your name, address, phone number, social security number (SSN), financial account information, social media account information, gamer tags, and many other identifiers.

Any service that collects that much information needs to work as advertised as well as be diligent in protecting your privacy. This is why we personally test all of the ID theft software we write about, using our own money to buy the subscriptions.

Our ratings are based on how each particular service ranks against its competitors. How expensive is the identity monitoring service? What credit features are offered? Does it include a bunch of useful extras? We evaluate and rate all of these aspects to bring you a full picture of the service. Here’s how our testing is broken down:

Read on to find the specifics of each feature we rate for every ID theft software we test.

Identity monitoring (30%)

Identity monitoring includes anything attached to your personal identity. Whether a service scans the internet for mentions of your name and address or checks your social security number against newly opened financial accounts, it all counts as identity monitoring. The more identity monitoring categories offered, the more robust and secure the product.

Identity restoration services

What it is: A feature offered by most ID theft services that provides you with a trained restoration specialist who will help restore your identity if it was compromised due to theft. This service deals with government agencies, financial institutions, legal firms, fees associated with your identity loss, and much more.

How we test it: We verify that the service is included with your subscription. We then find out how comprehensive it is and how much it will do for you.

How we rate it:

• Best: Provides you with white glove service that handles everything without you needing to do much more than verify information.
• Worst: Pays for remediation but leaves most of the negotiation, scheduling, paperwork, and more up to you.

SSN monitoring

What it is: This monitors everything attached to your SSN, including but not limited to new financial accounts, loans, criminal records, information from the Social Security Administration, and more.

How we test it: We enter our personal information and see what it can gather on us.

How we rate it:

• Best: Finds and alerts you to all activity attached to your SSN, explains the alert and why it was flagged.
• Worst: Doesn’t offer SSN monitoring.

Financial account monitoring

What it is: Monitors all accounts you register with the service, including but not limited to banking, credit cards, investment accounts, and more.

How we test it: We hook up our own accounts to see what alerts are available and what they tell us.

How we rate it:

• Best: Includes monitoring for a variety of accounts including investment or retirement accounts in addition to banking and credit.
• Worst: Doesn’t offer financial account monitoring.

Dark web monitoring

What it is: Scans the dark web for your information.

How we test it: We enter our personal information and then evaluate the alerts based on how informative they are.

How we rate it:

• Best: Shows real-time and regularly updated alerts from across the dark web with detailed explanations of what’s been leaked and how to secure your identity.
• Worst: Doesn’t offer dark web scanning.

Home title monitoring

What it is: Alerts homeowners if there’s a home title transfer initiated with their name on it. Home title theft is a real issue and could cost you the house you own. This feature tells you if a transfer request has been made so you can catch this specific type of theft before it’s complete.

How we test it: Since this is not a common issue, we check to ensure the feature is included in your protection.

How we rate it:

• Best: Alerts you immediately if a transfer request is made on your home title and helps you navigate the next steps.
• Worst: Doesn’t offer home title monitoring.

Social media monitoring

What it is: Watches your social media accounts for signs of hackers, unauthorized takeover, or other uncommon behavior.

How we test it: We attach our own social media accounts and read the alerts we receive.

How we rate it:

• Best: Alerts you to any suspicious activity on your social media accounts and explains why that activity set off an alert.
• Worst: Doesn’t offer social media monitoring.

Credit features (30%)

This allows you to monitor your credit score and reports. It could include credit bureau numbers, what’s impacting your credit score, VantageScore or FICO, the ability to lock or freeze your credit, and alerts for new changes on your account.

Credit score monitoring

What it is: Shows your credit score from at least one of the three major credit bureaus and alerts you to any changes.

How we test it: We use our personal information to test this feature and see what information we receive.

How we rate it:

• Best: Monitors your credit score daily from all three bureaus while also giving you scenarios on what could affect your score and how to improve it.
• Worst: Doesn’t monitor your credit score.

Credit reports

What it is: Provides you with a current credit report detailing all of the factors that make up your credit score.

How we test it: We read the reports generated from our own personal information and also evaluate how often our reports are updated.

How we rate it:

• Best: Provides you with multiple detailed credit reports as a free inclusion in the service.
• Worst: Makes you pay extra for a credit report or doesn’t offer one at all.

Credit lock or freeze

What it is: Allows you to lock or freeze your credit so that new accounts can’t be opened in your name.

How we test it: We check to make sure the feature is available, then attempt to apply for subprime loans with it active.

How we rate it:

• Best: Includes a simple toggle on the dashboard that lets you lock or unlock your credit as necessary.
• Worst: Feature isn’t offered or is hard to find and use.

ID Theft insurance (20%)

ID theft insurance is compensation offered through the service to help you finance identity restoration services. It can include emergency cash, legal fees, financial fees, or any other cost associated with a stolen identity.

Max ID theft insurance coverage

What it is: The maximum amount of money your ID theft service guarantees to pay to cover lost funds, legal and financial fees, and other costs associated with identity theft.

How we test it: Since this feature can only be used after identity theft has happened, we confirm the amount guaranteed and how it can be used.

How we rate it:

• Best: Over $1 million guaranteed per covered individual plus easy remediation that guarantees payment for all aspects relating to identity restoration.
• Worst: Less than $100,000 but may also include restrictions as to what the funds can be used for during the identity restoration process.

Number of people covered by the insurance

What it is: How many people are covered by the service under a single price point.

How we test it: When signing up for a service, we see how many people are covered by the ID theft insurance for each plan tier and what the benefits and restrictions are for the service.

How we rate it:

• Best: Guarantees at least $1 million in insurance per person covered under the policy without needing to purchase additional coverage for spouses, children, dependent parents, etc.
• Worst: High monthly cost that covers only one individual in the household and charges per additional person.

Value (10%)

This factor looks at both the price and what’s offered to see if the particular service adds more or less value than its competitors. Some services have a high monthly price tag without offering a lot, while others are reasonably priced on their own and offer extras like an antivirus, a VPN, and a password manager.

Price and plans

What it is: The overall monthly cost of an ID theft service.

How we test it: We compare prices, coverage, features, and offerings against competitors to see who’s offering the best deal.

How we rate it:

• Best: Starts at a monthly cost of less than $10 and offers useful features and coverage for multiple family members.
• Worst: Starts at $25 or more a month for one person without offering much extra.

Ease of use (10%)

This section evaluates how easy it is to use the software. Does the developer use plain language and organize the dashboard so that everything is easy to find, or is the software confusing? We make sure that this is really geared toward the general public.

User interface

What it is: This refers to what you see and how you interact with the product via the dashboard.

How we test it: We look objectively at the dashboard to see if features are easy to find, execute smoothly, and actually work as advertised.

How we rate it:

• Best: Clean, modern, and simple design with features that work seamlessly and are easy to understand.
• Worst: Glitchy features or software that make you go through multiple menus to find what you need or simply doesn’t work.

Customer service

What it is: The support offered to customers by the company.

How we test it: We evaluate all the ways to get in touch and how long it takes to get a response. We contact support for more than one issue and see how quickly they respond and how well they are able to help us.

How we rate it:

• Best: Offers multiple types of support including live chat, phone, and email, as well as helpful online guides so we can troubleshoot easy things ourselves.
• Worst: A phone number with a long wait or just email support with little to no online guidance or troubleshooting guides.

How we calculate our ratings

We’ve included the percentages of how each aspect is weighted when we evaluate the software. We keep a grading rubric where we enter all the information based on a 5-star system. Once the totals are tallied, we input our star rating on our product reviews based on the breakdown you see above.

Testing is not a one-and-done situation. We will retest a product regularly and give updates on if and how the service has changed. This allows us to recommend the best ID theft services so you can make an informed decision.