Best IDShield Alternatives & Competitors of 2023

IDShield offers identity protection that’s pretty budget-friendly. It also includes a few unique features that seem worth looking at. But there are better identity protection services available. 

Take Aura, for example. 

It’s my top pick for identity protection services because after testing it in every possible way, I found it excelled in all the areas it should. Its monitoring is accurate and comprehensive. Its threat resolution team is top-notch, and it comes with a bunch of extra online security features you’ll actually use. 

I can’t say the same for IDShield. 

So, if you bought IDShield or are considering it – you’ll want to read this. Below, I explain exactly what IDshield can and can’t do. Then I’ll give you five alternative options, so you can pick a better identity protection service.

IDShield Alternatives Price Comparison

What IDShield Does (and Doesn’t) Offer

IDShield has a couple of appealing features that you may have found intriguing – maybe they even convinced you to buy their product. I wouldn’t blame you if that were the case.

Features like having a private investigator (PI) lead restoration services and reputation management sound great, but in testing, IDShield didn’t hold up. 

Let me explain.

Right from the get-go IDShield was a little disappointing. Their sign-up process is confusing, forcing you to sign-up for LegalShield (their parent company) before letting you log in to your identity protection dashboard.

Once I got in, I found their user interface to be annoying. Each service aspect opens up on a new page with its own dashboard. So, if you click on dark web monitoring or reputation management, an entirely new page opens.

I could probably look past this if their monitoring were accurate, but after a whole week of waiting IDShield failed to find a single dark web alert.

If a service is this poor at monitoring and has an annoying user interface, I don’t want it. But let’s say you’re still sold on its restoration services and reputation management features.

Okay, that’s fair – IDShield offers some of the best identity restoration available. There’s no doubt a licensed PI will be able to help you get your identity back to pre-theft status, and they offer a money-back guarantee if they can’t. 

That’s fantastic. But their other selling feature, that reputation management tool? Yeah, it could be better.

First, it’s a little glitchy. It took me three attempts to connect my social media accounts (I still haven’t gotten it to work with Instagram). Once I got it, it didn’t flag anything. I’m not the most avid social media user, but I’ve been posting things since high school. 

But, nope. 

I will say this. It gives you a convenient way to delete social media posts in one place, and the included LinkedIn profile guides are good. They explain how to optimize your profile if you’re looking for a job.

Overall, though, there are far better services available for identity protection. Let’s take a look at my top five favorites.

Read More: Full Review of IDShield.

Top 5 Alternatives to IDShield Of November 2023

1. Aura Identity Theft Protection
2. Identity Guard Identity Theft Protection
3. Norton LifeLock
4. IdentityForce Ultra Secure+Credit
5. Allstate Identity Protection

If you’re ready to switch from IDShield (or no longer want to sign up), I’ve got you covered. Starting with my favorite service of all time, Aura, I’ll explain what makes each of these services better than IDShield.

1. Aura Identity Theft Protection

How It Compares

In testing, Aura found two dark web alerts on me in a matter of minutes. It also found ten compromised passwords. That makes it the best service I’ve tested when it comes to monitoring my identity (no wonder it’s won awards for its capabilities!). 

So, right out of the gate, Aura is better than IDShield. With accurate monitoring, you can potentially stop problems before they emerge. Simply changing your password could stop a thief from stealing something valuable.

But that’s not the only way Aura stands out over IDShield. It also comes with more comprehensive monitoring, including areas like home, auto title, and investment account monitoring – areas IDShield misses.  

Plus, Aura has more useful tools. Instead of credit freeze assistance, Aura offers an Experian credit lock tool inside your dashboard, so all you have to do is toggle a switch. They also offer streamlined credit freezes for your children if you have a family plan. 

Speaking of which, for families, Aura is a much better option than IDShield overall. With Aura, families with young children get full parental control, allowing parents to block websites, set screen time, and pause the internet across devices with one click. 

They also get safe gaming tools that monitor interactions on over 200 online games, alerting parents to signs of cyberbullying, grooming, harassment, and racism.    

And if you have older children, Aura is still a great choice. Because Aura’s family plan options allow you to include up to five adults, your college-aged kids won’t age out of your plan. You can also choose to protect your parents, in-laws, and anyone else you need to. 

Best of all, Aura’s insurance policy increases by $1 million with each adult you have on your plan. Even if it’s just you and your spouse, that’s better than the shared million you’ll get with IDShield. And if you’re protecting the five adults Aura allows – that’s $5 million in coverage! 

I’m not a huge fan of Aura’s interface. It reminds me of a social media feed, and I don’t think that’s the best way to organize identity protection. But it’s still better than IDShield’s interface. At least with Aura, every part of the service doesn’t open up a whole new dashboard to navigate! 

Plus, Aura is less expensive than IDShield when you use our discount code. So, you’re getting a better service at a lower price, making Aura the best choice.

2. Identity Guard Identity Theft Protection

How It Compares

Though I wouldn’t recommend it to most people, Identity Guard might be a good option if your budget is exceptionally tight. 

Here’s what I mean –  Identity Guard isn’t a bad service. It’s similar to Aura in a lot of ways (the same company owns them). But it’s missing a lot of the features Aura provides. So, though it beats IDShield, it’s not my first choice as an alternative – except in one scenario. 

Identity Guard offers a very low-cost value plan. This plan doesn’t include much. You don’t even get restoration services. But it does offer exceptionally accurate monitoring and $1 million in identity theft insurance coverage. 

So, if identity protection is something you struggle to afford, it might be worth looking into. 

At its top tier, though, Identity Guard, while better than IDShield, is slightly worse than Aura while costing significantly more. 

In testing, its monitoring was just as accurate as Aura’s, and its customer service team is top-notch. But it offers limited customer service hours and very few extra features (there’s a password manager and safe browser, but no VPN or antivirus software). 

Identity Guard does have a better user interface than either Aura or IDShield, but that’s not enough to win me over. So again, Identity Guard is only a good alternative if you need the lowest price option.

Read more: Identity Guard vs IDShield – The Comparison.

3. Norton LifeLock

How It Compares

When thinking of alternatives to IDShield, LifeLock might be the first to come to mind. It’s certainly the most well-known identity protection company. But that doesn’t make it the best choice for most people. 

LifeLock offers lots of features, and on paper, it seems just as comprehensive as Aura and far more comprehensive than IDShield. It also includes many extra tools like parental controls, a VPN, Norton antivirus software, and more. 

However, LifeLock review and in testing, it left a lot to be desired. 

It failed to find as many threats as Aura did. For me, it found one dark web alert (Aura found two). Its customer service team is notoriously hard to reach, and its insurance coverage is misleading. 

If you’re able to afford LifeLock’s top-tier plan, you’ll get a ton of insurance coverage- $3 million total per adult and over $1 million per child on your plan. But that’s only at the top tier. 

Lower-tier options cut that insurance coverage significantly. The lowest level plan only offers $25,000 each for expenses and stolen funds.

Yet LifeLock still advertises million-dollar protection. They get away with this by including $1 million in legal fee coverage with every plan. Legal coverage is great, but you also need coverage for expenses and stolen funds. So, I find their “$1 million plan” advertising to be misleading. 

And that’s not the only area that LifeLock is deceptive. 

Though their pricing is attractive, you have to read the fine print. LifeLock is the only service I’ve tested that pushes a substantial price increase upon renewal.  

So, if you’re willing to pay a lot for subpar monitoring but great insurance coverage with LifeLock’s top-tier plan, it may be a good alternative to IDShield. But otherwise, I suggest looking at Aura.

Read More: IDShield or LifeLock.

4. IdentityForce Ultra Secure+Credit

How It Compares

IdentityForce is a great option for identity protection and is a good alternative to IDShield. In testing, its monitoring services were just as accurate as Aura’s. It found two dark web alerts on me just as quickly as Aura did, putting it a mile ahead of IDShield.

IdentityForce also offers comprehensive protection, including investment account monitoring. Though it doesn’t offer home and auto title protection the way Aura does, it still monitors far more than IDShield. 

IdentityForce also comes with effective online privacy features, including a VPN and password manager. And it offers its award-winning ChildWatch tool. 

ChildWatch provides full identity protection for children and helps parents monitor their social media usage. It flags signs of bullying, violence, and racism. And it’s available with family plans or as a low-cost add-on to any individual plan, which is great for single parents!

On top of all of this, IdentityForce offers a suite of credit monitoring tools, including a credit simulation and tracking feature. But this is where I have an issue with IdentityForce. 

While its credit monitoring tools are decent (and far more than IDShield provides), they’re not amazing. There’s not a credit lock switch like Aura includes, for example. Yet, IdentityForce charges a lot more to include its credit monitoring suite. 

There are several free credit monitoring services out there – technically, you can monitor your credit yourself without a company’s help. So, IdentityForce’s pricing doesn’t really make sense.  

That said, IdentityForce is still better than IDShield for identity protection. Though I’d still recommend Aura first, I’m certainly not against IdentityForce.

Read more: IDShield versus IdentityForce

5. Allstate Identity Protection

How It Compares 

On paper, Allstate Identity Protection knocks IDShield (and almost every other service on this list) out of the water. Its top-tier Cyber Blue plan includes just about everything. 

It offers comprehensive monitoring, including niche services like investment account monitoring. It also includes a full family digital safety suite featuring parental controls and location alerts. 

And Allstate offers some of the best fund reimbursement policies I’ve ever seen, including up to $500 in cash reimbursement for a stolen wallet and up to $2 million in home title fraud reimbursement. 

Unfortunately, during testing, Allstate didn’t do so hot. It failed to find any dark web alerts on me – which means this service isn’t very accurate. 

The interface is brilliant, and many of its services are top-notch. I’m a big fan of its missing and stolen device tools, which let you remotely lock and erase the data from items like your cell phone or tablet. 

I also like that Allstate offers family plans with flexibility, as Aura does. With Allstate, you can include up to ten family members, and their definition of family is generous – allowing you to include adult children, in-laws, and so forth. 

So, Allstate is far better than IDShield for most people.

Of course, all those features bump the price, making it slightly less affordable than other options. And given its inaccurate monitoring services, it’s certainly not my first pick. I’d still choose Aura instead.

How We Choose The Best Identity Protection Services 

If you’re looking for an alternative to IDShield, it might help to know what to look for in an identity protection service. When we’re testing and recommending services, we look at five key areas: 

• Monitoring – It should be accurate, comprehensive, and near real-time. Slow, inaccurate, and non-comprehensive monitoring services leave you more vulnerable to bigger identity theft issues.
• Threat resolution – The service should offer an expert team that’s available 24/7 to help you resolve threats and restore your identity if needed.
• Insurance – The standard for theft insurance coverage is $1 million. That $1 million should cover legal fees, expenses, and stolen funds. The best services offer more than this by adding coverage for each adult (and sometimes each child) on your plan.
• Added features – The best identity protection services offer more than just monitoring and threat resolution. They also include online security features like VPNs, antivirus software, and password managers. They may also include parental controls or other features to help monitor family safety online.
• Cost – We think value is more important than cost, but ultimately a plan needs to fit your budget. Plans with many features might justify a higher price point, but if a service offers less and charges more, it’s a problem.

Final Verdict

IDShield has great features – who doesn’t want a licensed PI at the helm should they lose their identity? And the reputation management tools sound amazing if you’re looking for a job or applying to schools. 

But, for most people, IDShield isn’t the best choice. Each of the alternatives above is better in some way. But my top pick, Aura, is better in every aspect. 

So, if you want accurate monitoring, an amazing threat resolution team, insurance coverage that increases with each adult, and every added feature you could possibly want – you want Aura.

And with our discount code, you can get Aura for far less than you’d pay for IDShield. So, don’t sign up for IDShield; if you already have, it’s time to cancel your plan. For absolute identity protection, opt for Aura instead.