Zander vs. LifeLock 2024: Which Has the Best Identity Theft Protection?

When comparing Zander vs. LifeLock, we think LifeLock is the more comprehensive option. The monthly cost is higher, but you’ll receive premium security features, including more secure data protection, three-bureau credit monitoring, and up to $3 million in credit restoration.

Zander Identity Theft Protection plans are still a good option for those looking for basic identity theft protection. 

Regardless of which service you go with, identity theft is a growing global issue, and the consequences of identity theft can be devastating. So if you’re wondering if identity theft protection is worth the price, the short answer is yes. 

Read ahead to see which protection plan is best for you.

Zander Identity Theft Protection vs. Norton LifeLock review at a glance

Zander Identity Theft Protection and Norton LifeLock are both excellent identity theft protection products, but they vary in significant ways and are designed with different audiences in mind.

Generally speaking, Norton LifeLock places more weight on data protection. Zander Identity Theft Protection, endorsed by financial professional Dave Ramsey, leans more heavily on the recovery aspect of identity theft, helping users get back on track after identity theft occurs.

• Zander Identity Theft Protection: Best for those wanting basic identity theft protection at a low cost.
• Norton LifeLock: Best for users who are willing to pay a little more for a comprehensive protection plan.

Zander vs. LifeLock comparison

	Zander Identity Theft Protection	Norton LifeLock
Star rating	4.1 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.	4.8 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	$6.25-$21.99/mo	$7.50–$38.99/mo for first yr
Types of monitoring	SSN, dark web, change of address, bank account, and more	Identity and SSN, dark web, phone takeover, home title, social media
Credit monitoring
Identity theft insurance	Up to $2 million	Up to $3 million
Identity restoration services
24/7 customer support
Learn more	Get Zander Read Zander ID Theft Review	Get LifeLock Read Norton LifeLock Review

As the table shows, the two identity theft protection plans are quite different, starting with cost. With Zander Identity Theft Protection, users pay a low monthly cost but sacrifice some privacy since the site has cookies and trackers from third-party affiliates. If users are willing to put in a little extra work to disable those, the budget-friendly price might be worth it.

Norton LifeLock, on the other hand, charges a higher monthly rate but boasts one of the most extensive identity theft protection plans on the market. It offers VPNs, virus protection, triple bureau credit reports, and financial alerts.

Another obvious difference is the lack of credit reporting from Zander ID Theft Protection. With Zander, credit monitoring can be secured through a free, third-party website like AnnualCreditReport.com because it's not offered through Zander itself.

If you have children and want to protect their identity, Zander allows a more economical approach for large families. A Zander ID Theft Protection plan for families covers two adults and up to ten children, whereas Norton LifeLock’s family plan covers two adults and up to five children.

Zander Identity Theft pros and cons

Norton LifeLock pros and cons

Which identity theft protection is the better value?

Overall, Zander provides a better value for your money.

	Our Pick Zander Identity Theft Protection	Norton LifeLock
Monthly price range	$6.25-$21.99/mo	$7.50–$38.99/mo for first yr
Yearly price range	$75.00–$215.00/yr	$99.48–$491.88/yr
Best value plan	Elite Bundle (Individual) for $11.99/mo	LifeLock Ultimate Plus Individual for $19.99/mo (billed annually) for first year
Identity theft insurance	Up to $1 million	Up to $3 million
Learn more	Get Zander Read Zander ID Theft Review	Get LifeLock Read Norton LifeLock Review

Zander Identity Theft plans

Zander ID theft plans provide two levels of protection for families and individuals, the Essential Plan and the Elite Cyber Bundle. Zander doesn’t advertise a free trial, but with rock-bottom monthly pricing, users can try it for a low monthly cost and then cancel if the protection plan doesn’t live up to the hype.

Essential Plan

The Essential Plan is Zander’s basic plan that covers the following:

• All types of identity theft
• Unlimited recovery services up to $1 million for stolen funds and expenses
• Dark web monitoring
• Social Security number monitoring
• Change of address monitoring
• Data breach updates
• Lost Wallet Service that quickly terminates and re-orders the contents of a lost wallet or purse
• 24/7 recovery services

Family plans offer the same coverage for up to ten minor children. Each family member is eligible for up to $1 million in reimbursement for stolen funds.

Elite Bundle

The Elite Bundle offers the same benefits as the Essential Plan plus:

• Home title fraud
  
• Bank and retirement account monitoring
• Transaction monitoring for your debit cards, credit cards, and loans
• New account and account takeover monitoring
• Experian CreditLock
• Password manager
• VPN
• Antivirus

Norton LifeLock plans

All three of Norton LifeLock identity protection plans offer a high degree of account monitoring and features. Individual plans cover one adult, but there are two family plans available. One covers two adults, and the other covers two adults and up to five dependent children.

Try Norton LifeLock for free with a 30-day trial, but come prepared with credit card information as it is required for the free trial. LifeLock also offers a 60-day money-back guarantee for annual memberships, and you should also keep in mind it offers reduced pricing for your first year of service.

Standard

The Standard plan offers:

• $1 million in lawyer and expert coverage
• $25,000 in stolen funds reimbursement if you become a victim of identity theft
• $25,000 in personal expense compensation
• Identity and SSN alerts
• One-bureau credit monitoring

Advantage

An Advantage plan by Norton offers an increased amount of coverage at $1,200,000; $1 million in lawyer and expert fees, and up to $100,000 in both stolen funds reimbursement and personal expense compensation.

In addition to the benefits of the Standard plan, the Advantage plan offers:

• Crime alerts in your name
• Buy now, pay later alerts
• Phone takeover monitoring

Ultimate Plus

The Ultimate Plus plan is the best value for your money, offering all the benefits of the previous plans and up to $3 million in coverage.

The Ultimate Plus plan also gets you:

• Three-bureau monitoring
• Credit reports and scores
• Dark web monitoring
• 401(k) and investment account alerts
• Home title monitoring
• Social media monitoring

Which identity theft protection has the better features?

When zooming in on the features each service offers, Norton LifeLock wins because of its built in credit monitoring options.

Feature	Zander Identity Theft Protection	Our Pick Norton LifeLock
Credit monitoring
Financial activity alerts
3-bureau credit reports		Yes — Experian, Equifax, TransUnion
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 Zander Read Zander ID Theft Review	Get LifeLock Read Norton LifeLock Review

Norton LifeLock plans also allow users to try the product in a free, 30-day trial, whereas Zander Identity Theft Protection plans immediately start charging for services.

Another glaring difference is obviously the price. The discrepancy between the two monthly prices cannot be ignored. But while Norton LifeLock plans start at a steeper price, they also offer more services and features to protect your identity. And the premium plan offers more restoration coverage to help you deal with the consequences of identity theft.

Which identity theft protection is more secure?

Both companies are trustworthy, which is a must since they need to have access to some of your most personal information in order to make sure it's not on the web. That said, Norton doesn't sell your information to third-parties, whereas Zander does (though to a reasonable degree — nothing too shady).

	Zander Identity Theft Protection	Our Pick Norton LifeLock
Two-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication
Collects data
Shares data with third parties
Learn more	Get Zander Read Zander ID Theft Review	Get LifeLock Read Norton LifeLock Review

Out of necessity, both providers collect a reasonable amount of data as part of enrollment for services. If you want your information monitored, you have to provide it in the first place. Zander and Norton collect identifying and sensitive information like Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank information, passport numbers, and insurance information. This allows Norton LifeLock and Zander ID theft protection plans to monitor your identity.

Both Zander and Norton offer added security through two-factor authentication, which is great since a lot of your sensitive information will be on your account. That said, we wish we could see more biometrics and other multi-factor authentication options included as well.

According to Norton LifeLock’s privacy plan, it doesn’t sell your data and only uses your information to provide services. Zander, on the other hand, does share your information with third parties, and the site allows third-party cookies and trackers — though you do have the option to block cookies and opt out of data sharing.

Which identity theft protection has the better compatibility and customer service?

Platform	Zander Identity Theft Protection	Norton LifeLock
Windows
macOS
Android
iOS
Learn more	Get Zander Read Zander ID Theft Review	Get LifeLock Read Norton LifeLock Review

Both services offer easy-to-use, intuitive websites and mobile apps for both Android and Apple products. We had no problem setting up an account with Norton LifeLock's identity protection service. There is no need to install anything on your browser, as the dashboard is available by logging into your account. The dashboard was intuitive and easy to navigate with an alert notification prominent on the main page.

Similarly, a Zander Identity Protection account is easy to set up, and we encountered no issues accessing the web portal. Like Norton LifeLock, the main dashboard displays alerts and notifications.

	Zander Identity Theft Protection	Our Pick Norton LifeLock
24/7 live chat
Phone
Email
Support forums
Online guides
Learn more	Get Zander Read Zander ID Theft Review	Get LifeLock Read Norton LifeLock Review

Our customer experience with Norton LifeLock customer service agents left a lot to be desired. We found Zander ID Theft’s customer service equally disappointing.

We contacted Norton LifeLock customer service representatives via the live chat option on their website, and when we asked about specific monitoring, the customer service agent responded with unrelated information. 

Eventually, the representative told us the LifeLock Advantage plan provides monitoring for both Equifax and TransUnion bureaus, which isn’t correct, as the website claims that plan only offers Equifax. The rep then ended the chat.

We opened another chat and got the same customer service rep, who then changed their answer to Equifax, which is correct, but the entire experience didn’t instill the level of confidence we’d like to see.

Zander Identity Theft doesn’t offer a live chat, instead offering a Contact Us form and a phone number for customer service inquiries. Just finding Zander’s support center proved to be a challenge, as the website routed us to multiple pages before we finally found a Contact Us page. It took us more than 24 hours to receive a non-helpful response, but the representative was polite.

FAQs

Which is better?

A Norton LifeLock protection plan may cost more, but the extra security features and protection makes it the better service overall.

That said, a Zander Identity Theft Protection plan is a more budget-friendly option that still provides some benefits of identity protection and monitoring, so it's not a bad alternative.

While some protection is better than none, if your budget permits, we recommend investing in a Norton LifeLock protection plan. If you want to look at all of your options, check out our full best identity theft protection list.

Top alternatives

If Zander and LifeLock don't fit your needs, there are other options out there. Here's what we recommend checking out next: