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Best budget-friendly service
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Top-rated identity theft protection service
Provides up to $3 million in coverage
Multiple monitoring features including dark web, home title, and social media monitoring
Best for comprehensive protection
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Variety of plans to meet your needs
Unlimited monitoring for children
LifeLock and IdentityIQ are identity theft protection services with features like identity and credit monitoring, as well as insurance coverage.
LifeLock is one of the original identity theft protection services, with its extensive $3 million in insurance coverage from the Ultimate Plus plan. Comparatively, IdentityIQ offers a smaller range of monitoring features but provides access to monthly credit reports through its Secure Max plan.
Keep reading to discover how each service stacks up in this LifeLock vs. IdentityIQ comparison.
Both LifeLock and IdentityIQ can help protect you from identity theft losses. However, LifeLock provides a more comprehensive package, while IdentityIQ has more affordable pricing.
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| Price | $7.50–$38.99/mo for first yr | $5.94–$25.50/mo |
| Identity theft insurance | Up to $3 million | Up to $1 million |
| Credit monitoring | ||
| 3-bureau credit reports | ||
| Credit score | ||
| Identity recovery | ||
| Dark web alerts | ||
| Social media account alerts | ||
| Learn more | Get LifeLock | Get IdentityIQ |
LifeLock offers monitoring services for individuals and couples. It provides alerts on any suspicious activity from your social media accounts, financial institutions, home titles and other areas.
If you discover your identity has been stolen, LifeLock offers between $1.05 and $3 million in identity theft restoration insurance and stolen funds reimbursement depending on your plan tier. It also has U.S.-based restoration specialists to assist with identity theft complications.
While LifeLock provides many valuable features, it can be expensive, especially for the Ultimate Plus plans with more features or if you’re protecting multiple people.
Comparatively, IdentityIQ’s plans are generally more affordable but don’t have as many monitoring services. Its notifications are similar to LifeLock’s, and its Secure Max plan offers monthly access to credit reports, scores, and a credit score simulator.
Still, IdentityIQ doesn’t monitor home titles, social media accounts, or phone takeover schemes. It also only offers up to $1 million in identity theft restoration insurance.
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Our Pick
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| Paid annually | $7.50–$38.99/mo for first yr | $5.94–$25.50/mo |
| Paid monthly | $11.99-$79.99/mo | $9.99-$29.99/mo |
| Best value plan | LifeLock Standard for $7.50/mo (billed annually) for first year | IdentityIQ Secure for $5.94/mo (billed annually) |
| Identity theft insurance | Up to $3 million | Up to $1 million |
| Learn more | Get LifeLock | Get IdentityIQ |
LifeLock is considered one of the best identity theft protection services available. It provides extensive monitoring and restoration access but can be expensive, and prices typically increase dramatically after the first year of service.
LifeLock has three membership plan levels with various features:
LifeLock offers a free 30-day trial when you sign up for one of its plans, although you must provide a credit card at the time of initial sign-up.
If you find that LifeLock isn’t right for you, the company offers a 14-day money-back guarantee on its monthly memberships and a 60-day money-back guarantee on its annual memberships. Just be sure that you cancel within the stated time frame.
IdentityIQ offers four membership plans for individuals. Once you’ve completed signing up, you’ll be given the option to protect a spouse or children for an additional cost.
IdentityIQ’s plans include:
IdentityIQ offers a seven-day trial for $1 when you first sign up, and you’ll need to provide credit card information.
IdentityIQ doesn’t advertise a money-back guarantee, but you can cancel the service anytime by calling IdentityIQ customer service or from within your dashboard under Manage Your Plan.
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Our Pick
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| Credit monitoring | ||
| Financial activity alerts | ||
| 3-bureau credit reports | Available with Ultimate Plus | Available with Secure Max |
| Credit score | ||
| FICO score | ||
| Credit lock and freeze | ||
| Identity recovery | ||
| Dark web alerts | ||
| Social media account alerts | ||
| Social Security number monitoring | ||
| Home title monitoring | ||
| Address change alerts | ||
| Learn more | Get LifeLock | Get IdentityIQ |
LifeLock Ultimate Plus provides many notifications to help you catch problems quickly. However, if you don’t own a home or investment accounts, you might end up paying for services that aren’t of use to you.
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With LifeLock Advantage, you can lock (or freeze) your TransUnion credit report directly, which can help you save a little time. However, you must still lock your credit reports directly with the other two bureaus: Experian and Equifax. IdentityIQ doesn’t offer this feature with any bureau.
Comparatively, IdentityIQ’s Secure Pro and Secure Max plans have data breach and identity theft monitoring notifications, but the key feature is monitoring your credit reports and score with all three bureaus. LifeLock provides monitoring for all three bureaus only with the Ultimate Plus plan.
While you can request your credit report for free every week through annualcreditreport.com, using IdentityIQ can help you save time and hassle by viewing all three on one platform and getting alerts to changes.
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Online security is vital, especially when it comes to your personal information. To ensure your data is as safe as possible, we look for features like two-factor or multi-factor authentication, the type of data collected, and how a company uses your data.
While it’s normal for a site to collect some data for administrative purposes, recurring payments, and, in this case, fraud monitoring, be wary of companies that keep extensive records of your personal information.
It's also important to note that while both companies monitor various aspects of your online life, no identity theft protection service can catch all instances of fraud. To protect yourself, maintain good cyber habits like using strong passwords and multi-factor authentication when available.
Our Pick
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| Two-factor authentication | ||
| Multi-factor authentication | ||
| Collects data | Minimal | |
| Shares data with third parties | ||
| Learn more | Get LifeLock | Get IdentityIQ |
LifeLock uses two-factor authentication, an added safety feature that can help protect you and your data from hackers. IdentityIQ requests your login information, password, and the last four digits of your SSN to complete your login.
According to their online privacy policies, LifeLock and IdentityIQ collect your information for internal and third-party use. Both policies state that customer data is used for monitoring and administrative purposes. However, each company also shares your information with third parties for various reasons, such as third-party monitoring, marketing, and payment processing, among other activities.
Our Pick
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| Windows | ||
| macOS | ||
| Android | ||
| iOS | ||
| 24/7 customer support | ||
| Customer support options | Phone, live chat, online guides | Phone, online guides |
| Learn more | Get LifeLock | Get IdentityIQ |
LifeLock and IdentityIQ are available on a desktop computer or via an iOS or Android app. Both are relatively easy to set up. You must provide your full name, address, SSN, and billing information for monitoring.
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LifeLock monitoring dashboard /images/2023/05/05/lifelock-identity-theft-protection_09.jpg)
Once you’ve completed setup, LifeLock and IdentityIQ will ask if you want to add various features for an additional cost, such as adding family members, utility accounts to your credit report, or antivirus software.
IdentityIQ customer service is available only by phone, Monday through Saturday, during standard business hours. On the other hand, LifeLock offers 24/7 customer service via phone and live chat. Both services do provide online guides for you to learn more about identity theft protection or for troubleshooting.
While LifeLock has multiple features that can be useful in protecting your identity, you may find similar features for less money with another company like IdentityIQ, Aura, or IDShield.
Yes, IdentityIQ can be trusted. It’s a legitimate company that has existed for over 10 years. It provides up to $1 million in stolen fund reimbursement and access to your credit report monitoring and scores.
LifeLock can be very expensive, especially since the price increases after the first year of service. While its services can benefit those who need them, many features available through LifeLock can be found with other services more inexpensively.
IdentityIQ may be worth it if you need monthly access to your credit reports, identity restitution, and identity theft insurance. While it provides similar features as other companies, IdentityIQ may be best if you want to closely monitor your credit reports and scores.
There is little doubt that having identity theft protection is worth it. LifeLock can monitor almost every area of your life, but it’s more expensive than other companies and provides only limited access to your credit report. However, its 24/7 customer service and identity restoration services make it stand out, and its various monitoring services can help you catch problems early.
IdentityIQ offers three-bureau monitoring and scores with every plan. You won’t receive these features with LifeLock unless you opt for the highest tier.
Because of this, IdentityIQ is likely a better fit for most people unless you need the extra identity theft insurance and are willing to pay for it. While IdentityIQ’s customer service is lacking, its features are geared more toward everyday identity protection and management versus LifeLock’s more expensive coverage.
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Variety of plans to meet your needs
Unlimited monitoring for children
If neither LifeLock nor IdentityIQ meets your needs, don’t worry. There are a lot of other identity theft companies available, including:
Top-rated identity theft protection service
Provides up to $3 million in coverage
Multiple monitoring features including dark web, home title, and social media monitoring
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