Last Updated on June 2, 2023
Identity theft was once a worry of people that had lots of money or a large presence on the internet. Today however, identity theft can happen to anyone. Even your children. To protect consumers from these unseen threats, many companies have developed identity protection products.
When you look at both LifeLock and Costco Complete ID they seem very similar. However, we think that LifeLock is the clear winner between the two products. Not only do you get a more robust monitoring product, but LifeLock also gives you a better insurance product.
If you are a Costco member already, we think that you would be fine with the Complete ID product. However, for those of us without a Costco membership, LifeLock is a great product and gives outstanding coverage and customer service without a fancy membership card.
But, if you’re looking for a more advanced and comprehensive identity theft protection service, my top pick is Aura which offers superior product features and coverage. Get 50% on Aura today!
LifeLock is one of the oldest identity theft products on the market. But that doesn’t mean that it is the right product for every consumer. In this article, we will take a closer look at LifeLock and compare it to another popular identity theft product, Costco Complete ID.
If you are trying to find the best identity theft product for you or your family, you have probably already done a ton of research. And who has time to spend hours looking up information on the internet?
To reduce your research time and effort, we have compiled this handy comparison of LifeLock and Costco Complete ID. While these products seem similar, there are plenty of differences that could make a huge impact in how your personal information is protected.
Who Should Buy LifeLock
LifeLock is one of the best known identity theft products on the market. The reason so many people are familiar with this product, and trust it with their personal information is because it is made by Norton. Norton has been around for years as an antivirus software company.
This long track record as a reliable company makes Norton and LifeLock attractive options for identity protection. Their product does a nice job of monitoring a range of locations for your information and they provide helpful tools to help you protect your information so that it doesn’t end up in the hands of the wrong people.
LifeLock from Norton is also one of the few identity products that offer you the opportunity to also protect your financial accounts including bank accounts, credit cards, and even your investment and 401(k) accounts.
One of the most impressive features of LifeLock is the width of their monitoring product. Not only do they keep an eye out for your information on the internet, but they also watch for your information on the dark web, the credit reporting agencies, and even criminal court servers.
LifeLock offers some great protection products for its members as well. We like the access to Norton’s reliable antivirus software as well as a VPN that is available on their higher level packages. These two protective products allow you to safely surf the internet, even when you are traveling abroad.
If your identity should be compromised, LifeLock offers you one of the best identity theft insurance products. Every LifeLock customer is covered with $1 million in legal expense coverage. Depending on the package you purchase you will receive between $25,000 and $1 million in coverage to reimburse any personal expenses for repairing your identity as well as the same coverage window for reimbursement of lost funds.
LifeLock is one of the more affordable identity theft products on the market. Individual plans start as low as $8.99 per month. They also offer packages for families.
You should select LifeLock if:
Thinking about LifeLock? It is a good pick for your needs if:
Who Should Buy Costco Complete ID
Now that we’ve covered LifeLock, here is a little bit of information about Costco Complete.
Costco Complete ID got a bad wrap for a long time. It used to be a very basic product with the most minimal of features. It was actually one of the most disappointing identity theft protection products on the market. However, in the last few years, with more Costco members demanding a better product, and the increased instances of identity theft, Costco Complete ID has been reimagined, and is a fairly robust product.
Before we jump into the details of Costco Complete ID, we will let you know that you do need to be a Costco Member to access this product. It is a bit of a bummer, and is perhaps the most disappointing feature of this product.
Now, let us look closer at the Costco Complete ID. Costco Complete ID comes with some great features in every level of coverage. Every package offers antivirus software, password manager, secure browsing, and a VPN. These features are not the fanciest on the market, but they work fine, and give you better protection than having nothing at all. Considering that these features have only been offered for the last couple of years in the Costco Complete ID packages, we’re just happy that they are available.
When it comes to monitoring your identity, Costco Complete looks at wide range of locations where your personal information might pop up. This includes the world wide web, the dark web, and data broker sites. Their monitoring products also keep an eye on your social security number, address changes associated with your name and criminal court servers.
One of the features that Costco Complete ID offers that is confusing at first is their “Neighborhood Watch Monitoring”. It took us a while to figure out what this meant, but eventually we figured out that this feature looks for criminals and sex offenders that may live in your area.
The one bummer, other than the Costco membership thing, is that Complete ID does not monitor your home title. With so many other, similarly priced products providing this monitoring service, it is a disappointment that Costco Complete ID does not offer this feature.
You should select Complete ID if:
If you are considering Costco Complete ID, you will like this product if:
LifeLock vs. Costco Complete ID: Most Important Features Compared
Now that you know a little about each product, it is time for us to look a little deeper at some of the defining features of each identity protection product.
Monitoring
There is some noticeable difference between the monitoring services that are offered by LifeLock and Costco Complete ID.
Dark Web Monitoring
The dark web has recently become less of a mystery for the average consumer. While most of us know nothing about what goes on, in the dark web, we do know that it is where criminals hide. Both LifeLock and Costco Complete ID monitor for your information on the dark web. There is not much difference between the two services here. If something is found they will alert you, so you can lock down your identity.
Address Monitoring
This is another place where there is little difference between LifeLock and Costco Complete ID. But it is a relatively new offering to the Costco Complete ID product. This feature watches the internet for address change records that are associated with your name.
Public Records Monitoring
Criminals love to use a name other than theirs if they should get caught. Both LifeLock and Costco Complete ID will monitor public records, including court servers and arrest records to ensure that your identity is safe. This is another new offering for Costco Complete ID, so it may not be as reliable as LifeLock.
Social Media Monitoring
Social media monitoring is available on all LifeLock plans. However, you will only get social media monitoring for your children if you purchase a family Costco Complete ID plan.
Alerts
The speed and accuracy of alerts to potential threats to your identity is really important for all identity theft protection products. When comparing LifeLock and Costco Complete ID, we give a bit of an advantage to Costco Complete ID in this area. Costco Complete ID has one of the fastest, most accurate alert notification systems.
Actually there are few products that do better. With that said LifeLock does this just fine, and it is comparable to most other products on the market when it comes to the speed and accuracy of alerts to fraud and threats to your identity.
Threat Resolution Services
When you do get an alert that someone has actually stolen your identity or accessed your financials, the last thing you want is to deal with difficult customer service. Fortunately, both LifeLock and Costco Complete ID give you relatively good customer service.
Both products offer 24/7 access to customer service. The difference between Costco Complete and LifeLock is when you call the customer service line for Costco Complete ID, you are assigned to your own resolution expert. LifeLock does not offer this personalized service.
However, LifeLock does offer you better insurance coverage should you need to work to resolve an instance where your identity has been compromised. LifeLock offers all of their customers up to $1 million in coverage for legal expenses, and an increasing range of coverage for loss of funds and personal expenses that start at $25,000 to $1 million.
Costco Complete ID offers the same coverage for legal expenses, but they only offer up to $1 million to cover both lost funds and personal expenses. If you are dealing with multiple members of your household that have been compromised, this may not be enough coverage.
Theft Insurance
We just looked at this briefly, but it is important to delve deeper into the insurance coverage offered by both LifeLock and Costco Complete ID. Both products provide you with identity theft insurance. So you don’t have to worry that you won’t have coverage. HOwever, LifeLock is really the winner when it comes to the question of insurance coverage.
Both products offer you $1 million in coverage for legal expenses. This is generally sufficient to cover the costs should you need to hire a lawyer. So, we cannot offer a winner on this feature.
LifeLock and Costco Complete also both offer up to $1 million in expense reimbursement. However, this is where the two products start to differ.
LifeLock also offers their customers up to $1 million in coverage for lost funds. Sure, their lower level plans only offer up to $25,000 in lost funds reimbursement and an additional $25,000 for expense reimbursement, but they do give you both. Keep in mind that higher level LifeLock packages provide higher levels of coverage.
Costco Complete ID, lumps your personal expense reimbursement and lost funds reimbursement into a single $1 million coverage line. For some people this might be fine. For others, this amount may not handle the lost funds and expenses.
When it comes to picking a preferred option in regards to theft insurance, we give LifeLock the advantage.
Ease of Use
There is little difference between LifeLock and Costco Complete ID when it comes to ease of use. Both products offer an individualized website and app dashboard for monitoring your information.
Both products are fairly easy to sign up for. LifeLock only asks for you to provide your government issued ID and a credit card. Costco Complete ID asks for the same information but also requires that you provide your Costco membership number.
LifeLock and Costco Complete ID also have mobile apps for their products. This is handy, and allows you to monitor your identity no matter where you are. The LifeLock app is a bit more intuitive and user friendly.
The membership requirement and the less impressive app for Costco Complete ID, gives LifeLock a clear advantage when it comes to ease of use.
Price
Price is one of the features of these two products where LifeLock may not have the advantage. However, you do get what you pay for. So, while LifeLock may be more expensive, it does offer you a wide variety of options and differing levels of protection.
Our biggest complaint about the LifeLock pricing is that the multiple packages for each plan type can be confusing. We do like that LifeLock offers a specific level of pricing for couples. This is a pricing option you won’t find from many other identity protection products.
| Plan Type | Annual Billing | Monthly Billing |
| Individual Standard | $89.99/year | $11.99/month |
| Individual Advantage | $179.88/year | $22.99/month |
| Individual Ultimate Plus | $239.88/year | $19.99/month |
| Family (2 adults) Standard | $149.87/year | $23.99/month |
| Family (2 adults) Advantage | $287.88/year | $45.99/month |
| Family (2 adults) Ultimate Plus | $395.88/year | $69.99/month |
| Family (5 adults) Standard | $221.87/year | $35.99/month |
| Family (5 adults) Advantage | $359.88/year | $57.99/month |
| Family (5 adults) Ultimate Plus | $467.88/year | $79.99/month |
The one thing we can rave about with the Costco Complete ID is that it is one of the more affordable products on the market – given you already have a Costco membership. For the monthly subscription, Costco Complete offers a reasonable level of protection and monitoring. You do miss out on some monitoring features like home title monitoring, but all in all, for the price, Costco Complete ID is a decent value.
We’ve listed the prices for each plan offered by Costco Complete ID, and the different prices for the Executive and Gold Star member levels. If you are already a Costco member you have likely paid your annual membership. If you do not have a Costco membership, you will need to include the $45 to $75 per year membership cost to the values below.
| 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 Lifelock vs Costco Complete ID
When you look at both LifeLock and Costco Complete ID they seem very similar. However, we think that LifeLock is the clear winner between the two products. Not only do you get a more robust monitoring product, but LifeLock also gives you a better insurance product.
If you are a Costco member already, we think that you would be fine with the Complete ID product. However, for those of us without a Costco m
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