Last Updated on March 17, 2023
Aura and Costco Complete are two fairly similar products, both in what they offer and price. As a matter of fact, if you looked at both from the surface, it would be hard to tell the difference. Aura however, has consistently been a great identity theft product for the last few years, Costco Complete is still growing and while it has some redeeming qualities, it still lacks in quality compared to Aura or other identity theft protection products.
When it comes to the two products we’ve looked at, Aura and Costco Complete ID, it is really hard to put one over the other. However, for us, Aura gets the nod as the better service. While both products offer similar features and types of coverage, the one thing that sets Aura above Costco Complete ID is that it is available to everyone.
Though the Costco Complete ID is very similar to Aura, in just about every category, it is only available to individuals that are Costco members or who are willing to become Costco members to buy the product. In the end, we think it’s a better value to select Aura over Costco Complete ID.
Being that these two products are so similar, you really must be wondering, which should I pick, Aura or Costco Complete?
The reality is that the Costco Complete ID protection is really not for every consumer. And Aura isn’t the ideal pick for everyone either. They are both good products, but to really narrow these two products down to the better option, we need to take a closer look at each one’s offerings a little more closely.
Follow along with us as we take a closer look at Aura and Costco Complete ID.
Who Should Buy Aura
Aura is one of the most complete identity theft protection products on the market today. It offers the consumer robust protection from criminals and computer hackers. It is also one of the most simple pricing structures that you’ll find. This makes Aura ideal for those of us that don’t want to spend hours trying to figure out what we get in each package.
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We’ll start our deeper look at Aura with the features that are offered in every package. This is really where Aura shines over many other identity theft protection products. Each Aura package comes with three protective products; a virtual private network (VPN), antivirus software, and a password manager. We highlight these first because the real place to start protecting your identity is at home and these products allow you to be as safe as possible when accessing the internet.
When it comes to monitoring, Aura has an outstanding array of monitoring services. Standard in all of the Aura packages are monitoring and regular scans of the world wide web, the dark web, data brokers, and criminal court servers.
Additionally Aura also provides monitoring of your personal financial information. This includes monitoring your social security number, USPS address use, bank account monitoring, monitoring of the three credit bureaus and even monitoring of your home title for misuse.
All of this combined makes for a great base for all of the Aura packages. The really great thing about Aura is that these features are standard for every package, no matter which you select. With many other identity theft products, you won’t get this many protective and monitoring features.
If despite all of these protective features, someone should take advantage of your personal information and you need help reclaiming your identity Aura has you covered with some of the best identity theft insurance you can find on the market today. Each plan offers you up to $1 million in coverage for legal and resolution services, plus and additional $1 million in lost funds coverage. And, with Aura, you don’t have to share the coverage with other members of your family. This coverage is per person. So if you pick the family plan, you get up to $5 million in coverage for any funds lost.
Aura also has what many consider to be “white-glove” customer service and resolution services. If you need assistance resolving an identity theft related issue, Aura has agents available 24/7 so you don’t have to wait for business hours. Additionally, you will be paired with a specific case manager and they will help you through each step of resolution. This is a really great benefit to selecting Aura.
Now that you know a bit about the features that Aura provides, you have a better understanding of how their product might work for you.
Select Aura for your identity protection product if:
You want protective features like antivirus software and a VPN not just monitoring.
You want to make sure that all of your family members have enough coverage.
You value 24/7, high quality customer service.
Family for you includes your adult children.
You want a great product at a reasonable price.
Who Should Buy Costco Complete ID
Previously, Costco Complete was a pretty basic service, with minimal features. However, in the last couple of years, Costco customers have demanded a better identity theft protection product. Today’s Costco Complete ID is a nice product, and when you look closer is very similar to Aura.
We’ll put this out there right away so there’s no confusion. Yes. You do need to be an existing Costco member to purchase this product. Honestly this is really the biggest bummer about the Costco Complete. If you don’t already have a membership, you just cannot access this product line.
Now, with that out there, if you are an existing Costco member, the Costco Complete ID is a product you may want to consider. The product has recently been upgraded to include some of the same features that you’ll find with other identity monitoring products.
Every Costco Complete package starts with some nice protective features. Recently added features include antivirus software, a VPN, a password manager and a secure browser feature. These are decent options, and they do the job. They are not the best on the market, but it is nice that Costco Complete ID does offer them now.
On the side of monitoring and scanning, Costco Complete monitors a number of areas where your identity can be compromised. This includes world wide web monitoring, dark web monitoring, social security number monitoring, payday loan monitoring, criminal court server monitoring, and USPS address monitoring.
We would also like to point out that their “Neighborhood Watch Monitoring” is a bit confusing. We did eventually figure out that this is a service that watches for registered sex offenders and criminals that may be living near you.
The one thing that Costco Complete ID doesn’t keep an eye on is your home title. This is pretty disappointing considering that this is one of the newest and most damaging identity theft avenues.
Now that you know more about Costco Complete ID, you should consider this product if:
You are already a Costco member.
You are a single parent.
You don’t own your home.
You are looking for a good value with robust protective features.
Aura vs Costco Complete ID: Most Important Features Compared
We’ve given you a brief overview of each of these two products. Now, we’d like to give you a closer look at Aura and Costco Complete ID, in a few of the areas that we think are most valuable in a good identity theft protection product.
Monitoring & Alerts
We would love to pick one of these products as a clear winner when it comes to monitoring and providing alerts. However, in this category Aura and Costco Complete ID are fairly similar.
Both products provide a full range of personal and financial monitoring and alerts to any potential threats. Both Aura and Costco Complete monitor:
- World wide web and the dark web
- Social security numbers
- Bank and investment accounts
- Credit bureaus
- Criminal court servers
- Payday loans
- USPS mail accounts
All in all there is minimal difference when it comes to what these two services monitor for. However, Aura does come out ahead here because they do watch your home title. Costco Complete has yet to add this to their list of services.
When it comes to the speed and accuracy of the monitoring and alerts, both of these services do a good job. However, we will give Costco Complete ID an edge here. Their monitoring and scanning process is FAST. It is also super accurate. That’s not to say that Aura isn’t fast or accurate, it is just that Costco Complete was better.
For monitoring and alerts, we give Aura the slight advantage. While it is not as fast at locating threats, we really think that there is more value in keeping an eye on your home’s title than a minute or two more time in locating issues.
Threat Resolution Services
There is minimal difference between the threat resolution services that are offered by Aura and Costco Complete ID. Both products provide their customers with 24/7 customer support services. This is one of the best things about both Aura and Costco Complete ID; they are two of only a small handful of products that have someone to answer your call at any time.
With that said, Aura does seem to have greater longevity of their resolution agents. On average their employees have been with the company for around 7 years. It doesn’t surprise us that Costco Complete’s employees have a shorter tenure, simply because this is a fairly new service for Costco.
Theft Insurance
There is a clear winner when it comes to the coverage of the provided identity theft insurance. Aura is hands down the better product. And when it comes to identity theft insurance coverage there aren’t many other products that can compete with Aura.
To remind you, Aura provides up to $2 million in total coverage for individuals. This coverage is split $1 million for legal and resolution costs and the other $1 million is for replacing lost funds. If you select the family plan with Aura you get $1 million in legal and resolution coverage and $1 million in lost funds per adult on the plan. This means that you could have up to $5 million in coverage for your family with the Aura product.
Costco Complete ID gives you fairly standard insurance coverage. You get $1 million in coverage total. This is a single amount that covers both legal and resolution costs and funds recovery costs. This is pretty typical across the industry. But it still isn’t as good as the coverage offered by Aura.
Ease of Use
If you are looking for a really easy to use website or app platform, we would give Aura a little bit of an advantage. However, both products really suffer when it comes to their websites and apps.
Aura does have a multi-layer dashboard that gives you more information on each monitoring or alert category, one click off the front page. This is handy and keeps the Aura website a bit cleaner. The one downside of the Aura website is that they have tucked your alerts in a corner, which is not our preference. We’d like this dashboard much better if the alerts were front and center.
Costco Complete ID has an equally lame website and app. But for a completely different reason. Like with many other Costco products, the website and app is just a big, long, single page of information. We don’t mind clicking off the front page if it keeps things clean and simple. But the endless scrolling to find what you’re looking for is really antiquated. Costco could really use a better web designer for their Complete ID product.
We don’t give either product a shining star for their ease of use, but if we had to set one above the other, Aura is our pick.
Additional Services
Since both Aura and Costco Complete offer three packages, all with the same coverage, just a higher price for more individuals covered, additional services is not of value for either product.
With previous versions of Costco Complete ID we could have raved about the VPN and antivirus as additional features, but the new Costco Complete ID offers those as well, so this category is a wash for both products.
Price
There isn’t much difference between the price of the Costco Complete ID and Aura plans. That is, if you already have a Costco membership. If you don’t have a Costco Membership, but want the Costco Complete ID, you will need to purchase this on top of the monthly plan cost.
If you don’t have a Costco membership, the price for Aura is really reasonable and you don’t have to worry about added costs for “special features”, or to add-on additional services. Each Aura plan comes with the same options. The one thing that sets Aura above the Costco Complete ID pricing is that the Aura family plan covers up to 5 adults and 5 children. The Costco Complete ID only covers two adults in their family pricing.
One thing that does stand out between the pricing for the two products is that Costco offers a fourth pricing tier that Aura does not. This is a single adult plus up to 5 children level. Honestly this is a unique pricing level that we haven’t found with other identity theft protection products.
Overall, Aura really seems to offer better pricing, even if you have a Costco membership. Here’s how the Aura plans work out:
| Plan Type | Annual Billing | Monthly Billing |
| Individual | $144/year | $15/month |
| Couple (2 adults) | $264/year | $29/month |
| Family (5 adults, unlimited children) | $444/year | $50/month |
The Costco Complete ID plans are listed below. Keep in mind that these are the rates if you already have a Costco membership. If you do not have a Costco membership you will need to add an additional $45 to $75 per year for that fee.
| Plan Type | Executive Members | Gold Star Members |
| Individual Value | $8.99/month | $13.99/month |
| One Adult + Children | $11.98/month | $17.98/month |
| Two Adults | $15.99/month | $25.99/month |
| Two Adults + Children | $18.99/month | $29.99/month |
Final Thoughts on Aura vs Costco Complete ID
When it comes to the two products we’ve looked at, Aura and Costco Complete ID, it is really hard to put one over the other. However, for us, Aura gets the nod as the better service. While both products offer similar features and types of coverage, the one thing that sets Aura above Costco Complete ID is that it is available to everyone.
Though the Costco Complete ID is very similar to Aura, in just about every category, it is only available to individuals that are Costco members or who are willing to become Costco members to buy the product. In the end, we think it’s a better value to select Aura over Costco Complete ID.
