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Dark web monitoring covers SSNs, credit cards, bank accounts, and driver's license info
Premium includes antivirus, VPN, and password manager
All About Cookies is an independent, advertising-supported website. Some of the offers that appear on this site are from third-party advertisers from which All About Cookies receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear).
All About Cookies does not include all financial or credit offers that might be available to consumers nor do we include all companies or all available products. Information is accurate as of the publishing date and has not been provided or endorsed by the advertiser.
The All About Cookies editorial team strives to provide accurate, in-depth information and reviews to help you, our reader, make online privacy decisions with confidence. Here's what you can expect from us:
ID Watchdog offers credit monitoring, dark web scans, and high-risk transaction alerts, and it even bundles Bitdefender antivirus, NordVPN, and NordPass into its Premium plan. But there's no free trial, and no money-back guarantee if you change your mind after signing up.
ID Watchdog starts at $12.50/mo, one of the higher starting prices among the 10+ identity theft protection services we've reviewed. Although Select only includes up to $1 million in identity theft insurance, Premium increases that amount to $2 million and adds $1 million for 401k/HSA stolen funds reimbursement.
Setup isn't always painless. We spent hours on the phone with support just to get logged in, and once you're in, logging back in means answering a security question every time, with no real two-factor authentication.
| Price | Starts at $12.50/mo |
| # of people covered | 1-2 adults, up to 4 children |
| Identity theft insurance | Up to $2 million and up to $1 million in 401k/HSA stolen funds reimbursement on ID Watchdog Premium |
| Types of identity monitoring | Dark web, public records, change of address |
| Identity restoration services | U.S.-based restoration specialists |
| Credit monitoring | 1-bureau or 3-bureau monitoring, monthly or daily credit score updates, annual credit reports |
| Details | Get ID Watchdog |
ID Watchdog’s pricing is on par with the competition, ranging from $12.50–$34.95/mo. Your plan price depends on the number of people you wish to cover, your subscription term length, and your selected plan tier.
| Plan | Select | Premium |
| Annual price | $12.50/mo | $18.33/mo |
| Monthly price | $14.95/mo | $21.95/mo |
| Who’s covered | 1 adult | 1 adult |
| Identity theft insurance | Up to $1 million without HSA | Up to $2 million with HSA |
| 401k/HSA stolen funds reimbursement | Up to $1 million | |
| Financial account monitoring | ||
| Credit monitoring | ||
| Credit reports | Yes — Equifax | Yes — Equifax, TransUnion, Experian |
| Credit score | Yes — VantageScore | Yes — VantageScore |
| Credit lock | ||
| Identity restoration services | ||
| Dark web monitoring | ||
| Social media monitoring | ||
| Home title monitoring | ||
| USPS address change alerts | ||
| Learn more | View plan | View plan |
There are two plan tiers: Select and Premium. The Select plan for an individual is the least expensive option. It offers basic identity monitoring, one-bureau credit monitoring, identity restoration services, and identity theft insurance.
If you want to get in-depth with your ID theft prevention tools, then you’ll want the Premium plan. We found this plan offers more monitoring options, including monitoring across all three credit bureaus and social media monitoring, which keeps an eye on accounts for hacking or fraudulent activity.
The family add-on can be applied to all plans, so you can cover another adult and up to four children. However, we found that this is less than some of ID Watchdog’s competitors, which include anywhere from 10 to an unlimited number of children.
If you’re a big family, you may want to find another service, like Aura, which offers plenty of coverage options for large families.
| Plan | 1-month cost | 1-year cost |
| ID Watchdog Select Individual | $14.95/mo | $12.50/mo |
| ID Watchdog Premium Individual | $21.95/mo | $18.33/mo |
| ID Watchdog Select Family | $23.95/mo | $20.00/mo |
| ID Watchdog Premium Family | $34.95/mo | $29.17/mo |
While we love the dark web and social media monitoring, the most valuable bonus features are the collaborations with well-known and trusted security brands. ID Watchdog offers Bitdefender antivirus, NordVPN, and NordPass password manager.
When we factored in the cost of these other security products, we found buying ID Watchdog cheaper than buying antivirus, a VPN, and a password manager separately.
ID theft protection that monitors your SSN, bank accounts, credit cards, and brokerage and retirement accounts for suspicious activity
Every plan includes the full feature set, so no additional cost to unlock monitoring, insurance, or restoration
Bundles data removal with identity theft protection, antivirus, VPN, and a password manager in one subscription
ID Watchdog checks your social media accounts for takeovers or impersonations, alerts you if someone tries to take out a loan in your name, and scans the dark web for your personal information. In our testing, we confirmed it also monitors bank accounts, credit cards, and 401(k)/investment accounts for suspicious activity, along with public records and registered sex offender proximity alerts.
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We could also track our medical insurance and government IDs to make sure they aren't being used for fraudulent activity.
We received a comprehensive view of our identity and how it's being used, which can save us time, money, and resources in the future if anyone tries to steal it.
We found identity theft protection tools and credit monitoring information in the main dashboard, as well as in a separate credit monitoring section. In our testing, Select updated credit scores and reports monthly from Equifax only, while Premium updated daily from Equifax and added a yearly report covering all three bureaus.
Additionally, we could request a credit report to better understand what's impacting our score and how to catch issues before they become a problem.
Once it's set up, ID Watchdog mostly runs on its own. We could also lock our credit from the ID Watchdog credit dashboard.
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If you want to buy a car, rent an apartment, apply for a credit card, or sometimes even snag your dream job, you’ll need a good credit score. Keeping an eye on your credit will help you avoid surprises and disappointments in the future.
Depending on the plan, we could check reports from one or all three major credit bureaus and receive updated VantageScore information daily or monthly.
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Identity restoration services are one of those things you never think you'll need. However, if you ever find yourself in a situation where your identity has been stolen, this service is invaluable.
With ID Watchdog Premium, you'll receive up to $2 million in identity theft insurance with a health savings account (HSA), or up to $1 million without one, along with the service's restoration experts to help you with the remediation of identity theft losses. Coverage extends to everyone on a Family Plan, not just the primary policyholder. If you're on an Individual plan, only you're covered.
Our testing confirmed that restoration specialists were available 24/7 and included with every plan, not just Premium.
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ID Watchdog’s privacy statement states your data is shared for the following reasons:
Otherwise, ID Watchdog says it doesn't share your information for joint marketing with other companies or let its affiliates market to you directly. We were disappointed that there's no way to opt out of ID Watchdog's marketing, though.
One more thing worth knowing: the notice states that even after you stop being a customer, ID Watchdog continues sharing your information the same way it did while you were active. Your data doesn't get cut off just because you cancel.
ID Watchdog is also vague about its security measures. Its privacy notice simply states that it protects your personal information using "security measures that comply with federal law," without naming specifics.
As far as account protection, ID Watchdog prompts you to set some security questions upon signing up. Every time we logged in, we had to answer the question. This was even after we selected the option to remember this computer.
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| ID Watchdog compatibility | |
| Android | |
| iOS | |
| Desktop apps | |
| Browser extensions |
ID Watchdog doesn't disclose anywhere on its site that the portal doesn't work in Safari. We only found out after a customer support rep told us to switch to Google Chrome.
We found options in the portal to download the app for iPhone or Android, and could also find them directly in the app store.
| Support type | ID Watchdog |
| Yes — idwatchdogcustomerservice@equifax.com | |
| Phone | Yes —1-800-970-5182 |
| Live chat | |
| Online guides or forums |
ID Watchdog's customer support is truly helpful. We had a lot of issues with creating and logging in to our account. We spent a few hours back and forth on the phone with support, and each time the representative was friendly, helpful, and patient with us.
When we could finally log in, they let us know that there wouldn’t be any information populating in our portals for a while (and no credit information for a month!) because of the nature of the issue we encountered.
The support page also has a button to contact its support by email and a list of FAQs. ID Watchdog's customer care team is available 24/7.
ID Watchdog is highly rated on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Several recent reviews from Android users are brief, but they mention that ID Watchdog is easy to use, dependable, and it updates in real time.
Note that there are no featured reviews from 2026 on the Apple App Store.
Testing ID Watchdog this time around was seamless. We were surprised that elements of the site, like the signup forms, look so dated, but the dashboard is clearly labeled and easy to navigate.
The dashboard provided an account setup percentage and walked us through the next steps to complete. We got to 71% and were prompted to customize our alert settings but it never progressed from there for some reason.
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Once our information began loading in the dashboard, we found ID Watchdog to be similar to many of its competitors. There was a list of alerts broken down by type (credit, identity, financial, and cyber) with dates and description. Below that, we also found a snapshot of our Equifax credit score.
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ID Watchdog is one of our top-rated identity theft protection services, but maybe it doesn't check all your boxes. We've collected some alternative services for you to review if that's the case:
OmniWatch's strengths are in its insurance and scam protection: its Elite plan offers up to $4 million in identity theft insurance (double ID Watchdog's max of $2 million) plus up to $100,000 in scam and ransomware reimbursement. Although ID Watchdog doesn't offer this type of reimbursement, it does offer up to $1 million in 401k/HSA stolen funds reimbursement.
ID Watchdog is more suitable for families, as it covers up to four children, while OmniWatch's Family plan tops out at two adults with no children included. Learn more in our OmniWatch review.
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ID theft protection service with up to $2M in insurance on the Standard plan and up to $4M on the Elite plan
Elite plan adds up to $100K in scam and ransomware protection, plus dedicated scam resolution specialists
Scans texts, emails, URLs, and images you upload to flag potential scams and phishing emails
Aura offers broader monitoring, financial account tracking, USPS address change alerts, and home title monitoring, none of which ID Watchdog offers, plus family plans that scale up to five adults and unlimited children versus ID Watchdog's cap of two adults and four kids.
On the other hand, ID Watchdog has stronger bundled value: its Premium plan includes Bitdefender, a NordVPN, and a NordPass, three of our top recommendations for antivirus software, VPNs, and password managers. Aura includes proprietary versions of these tools, but they are a lot more basic than ID Watchdog's offerings. Learn more in our Aura review.
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ID theft protection that monitors your SSN, bank accounts, credit cards, and brokerage and retirement accounts for suspicious activity
Every plan includes the full feature set, so no additional cost to unlock monitoring, insurance, or restoration
Bundles data removal with identity theft protection, antivirus, VPN, and a password manager in one subscription
LifeLock's Total plan offers up to $3 million in identity theft insurance, well above ID Watchdog's Premium maximum coverage of $2 million with an HSA. LifeLock also covers home title monitoring, which ID Watchdog doesn't offer at all, and its family plans scale up to 10 children, compared to ID Watchdog's cap of four.
ID Watchdog Premium has value as a bundle, though: Premium includes a NordVPN subscription and NordPass password manager alongside Bitdefender antivirus, extras LifeLock doesn't include on any plan. Learn more in our ID Watchdog vs. LifeLock comparison.
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ID theft protection with U.S.-based restoration specialists and data removal services included on every plan
ID theft insurance on all plans, with the Total plan covering up to $3M
Dark web, home title, and social media monitoring available, with coverage expanding by plan tier
Yes, ID Watchdog is a robust service with many useful features. Whether you're looking for identity monitoring or want the peace of mind of having remediation services for identity theft, ID Watchdog will provide both. Even though we experienced problems setting up the service, once we were in, it was comprehensive.
If you’re considering an identity theft protection service, ID Watchdog may be a good choice for you, especially if you'd rather bundle your security tools than pay for each one separately.
Our team has conducted hands-on testing on 10+ identity theft protection services using a consistent process. We sign up several days before formal testing begins, giving each service time to populate our dashboard with real monitoring data.
Then, we evaluate each product across six areas:
We retest all identity theft protection services at least once a year. To learn more about how we test, read our full identity theft protection testing methodology here.
ID Watchdog has a solid star rating of 4.4 due to our seamless experience while testing the service, full suite of useful identity theft protection features, and friendly customer service.
ID Watchdog received a lower score in the value category because it has a more expensive starting price and no free trial.
| Decision factor | Weight | Verdict |
| Our experience | 20% | 5.0 |
| Value | 25% | 4.0 |
| Features | 45% | 4.7 |
| Customer service | 10% | 5.0 |
ID Watchdog earned a solid star rating, but setup took some patience. We spent hours on the phone with support just to get our account working, which isn't the strongest first impression for a security product.
Once we were set up, the service held up well. Select covers the basics at $12.50/mo, one of the higher starting prices among the identity theft services we've reviewed. Premium costs more, but it's the plan that adds the bundled antivirus, VPN, and password manager.
No, there's no ID Watchdog free trial. There are no 30-day money-back guarantees and no partial month refunds. If you do decide to purchase and then change your mind, you'll only receive a refund for fully unused months.
ID Watchdog offers the product through an employer program, so you may be able to snag a free plan or discount through your employee benefits.
You can contact ID Watchdog’s customer service via phone at 1-800-970-5182 or email at idwatchdogcustomerservice@equifax.com
ID Watchdog is owned by Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus, so it has the infrastructure and experience of a large financial institution behind it.
That said, Equifax suffered a major data breach in 2017 that exposed the personal information, including SSNs, of roughly 147 million people, so its track record isn't spotless.
Dark web monitoring covers SSNs, credit cards, bank accounts, and driver's license info
Premium includes antivirus, VPN, and password manager
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