LifeLock vs Identity Force: A Comprehensive Comparison Guide

Last Updated on March 13, 2023

Finding a good identity theft protection product can be a challenging task. There are so many products on the market today, and each one offers a little something different.

We really cannot say a bad thing about LifeLock or Identity Force. Both products are exceptional and offer some of the best identity monitoring and resolution services on the market. Both are backed by a well-known brand in identity protection and monitoring, so you know that the products are good.

However, our pick between these two great products is LifeLock. We don’t mind the slower monitoring speeds. We would much rather have a product that keeps an eye out for our information in more areas. For the money, we put our trust in LifeLock over Identity Force.

Even better, my strong recommendation is to use Aura as it is the successor to Identity Guard and provides superior product and coverage. Get your 50% OFF on Aura.

As the demand for better protection against identity fraud increases, many companies that are known for similar products are jumping into the mix. A good identity theft protection product should offer a robust collection of features, be reasonably priced, and most importantly provide you assistance if your identity has been stolen.

Two of the more popular identity protection products on the market today are LifeLock and Identity Force. Both of these products provide their customers with a broad range of product features. Lots of features don’t really matter if the product isn’t backed by a good reputation. Though LifeLock and Identity Force have different attributes, they both come with a good reputation and happy customers.

If you are in the market for an identity theft product, LifeLock and Identity Force are two that you may be considering. To help simplify your research we have put together this helpful comparison of the two products. As you read on, you will learn a bit about each product, and then we will give you a closer look at some of the features that matter most when selecting an identity theft protection product. 

Who Should Buy LifeLock

When it comes to the reputation of an identity protection product, you cannot get much better than LifeLock. This product is designed by the geniuses at Norton Antivirus. With many years of experience protecting consumers from threats on the internet, Norton and LifeLock are well worth considering.

The features that are included with a LifeLock subscription give you a number of tools to protect your identity. Each plan gives you monitoring of your personal information, alerts if a threat is detected and identity theft insurance. This is the base package from LifeLock. Higher level products offer more insurance coverage, more monitoring options and more robust financial account protection.

Not all identity theft protection products have the ability to monitor where LifeLock can monitor. Not only will LifeLock look for your personal information on the internet but they also scan the dark web and at least one credit reporting bureau. Your personal information is also watched for on criminal court servers and in higher level products in social media posts.

If you should be the victim of identity theft, LifeLock is here to help. Their insurance coverage and customer service will help you work through the process of repairing your name, financials and reputation. 

Every LifeLock subscription comes with up to $1 million in coverage for legal fees. Then, you will get a minimum of $25,000 for lost funds and a minimum of $25,000 for personal expenses. Higher level LifeLock packages increase the available insurance coverage.

If you want additional protection features, LifeLock offers Norton Antivirus 360 and VPN services for an added cost to each package. 

While it may sound like LifeLock products are expensive, many people are surprised to learn that their monthly subscriptions can be very affordable. Plans start at $8.99 and include pricing levels for individuals, couples or families.

You should select Lifelock if:

Who Should Buy Identity Force

Identity Force is another product that comes from a well-known name in personal information monitoring. TransUnion is the name behind Identity Force, and as one of the largest credit reporting agencies, they have many years of experience helping customers who have been victims of identity theft.

One of the selling points for Identity Force is the simplicity of their product. There are no added extras with this product. You get a set of basic protective products, decent monitoring of your information and resolution assistance.

Identity Force does offer all of their customers a VPN for secure browsing, as a standard part of their packages. This is one of the first and best lines of defense against fraud and identity theft. Another feature that Identity Force offers that you may not find with other products is the monitoring the identity of deceased individuals. This is becoming a more prevalent crime where the information for a person that has died is used for criminal activity.

Cost wise, Identity Force is relatively reasonable. Considering the simplicity of the packages it may not be the best value for everyone. But if you don’t mind just some good quality basic services, Identity Force is a good option.

You should select Identity Force If:

LifeLock vs. Identity Force: Most Important Features Compared

Now that you know some basic information about each product, we want to dive deeper into some of the more valuable facets of identity theft protection products. For each of these features, we will compare LifeLock and Identity Force, so you can select the product that is best for you. 

Monitoring

When you are considering the monitoring aspect of LifeLock and Identity Force, you really get quantity with one and quality with the other. It seems to be the standard theme with LifeLock when compared to other products.

We’ll start with Identity Force in our evaluation. This is where you get quality over quantity. Identity Force has a nice basic monitoring package that will give most people just what they need. But, it is missing some of the newer monitoring features that products like LifeLock have added. 

You may notice that their product features do not include credit monitoring.  This is the biggest oddity you’ll find with Identity Force. You can have credit bureau monitoring, but it is added for an extra cost. This seems strange given that this product is from TransUnion. 

When it comes to quality, Identity Force provides one of the best monitoring services you can find. Their product is faster than most, and is probably the most accurate on the market.

LifeLock is the complete opposite of Identity Force. You get so many monitoring features when you purchase a LifeLock subscription. They give you options that you might not find with other products such as sex offender monitoring, 401(k) monitoring, and home title monitoring. 

If you have all of these needs, LifeLock is a better choice than Identity Force. However, you do need to be aware that LifeLock really struggles to compete with many other products on the market when it comes to speed and accuracy of their monitoring. 

If you are OK with a slower product, and perhaps a less robust monitoring across more areas, LifeLock is a good value for the money.        

Alerts

There is nothing special to compare when it comes to alerts. Most every identity theft protection product offers alerts of some sort. LifeLock and Identity Force are no exceptions to this standard.

Both products offer a website and mobile dashboard where you can access all of the information you need regarding monitoring and alerts.  

Threat Resolution Services

One place where we really see the difference between Identity Force and LifeLock is with their customer and threat resolution services. Both products offer good customer service. Both also have customer service representatives with a decent amount of experience. 

The real difference between the two products is in their customer service hours. We give LifeLock the edge when it comes to the services they provide for threat resolution. You can reach someone at LifeLock 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

This is a great benefit, especially if you notice fraudulent activity in the middle of the night, and want to get the process of resolution started quickly. The one thing we will note about LifeLock’s hours is that you won’t get a resolution expert on the phone during non-business hours.  You will talk with a human, but they will only be a normal customer service representative.

Resolution services with Identity Force are just as good as LifeLock when it comes to the quality of their employees. Many of Identity Force’s resolution experts have been doing this sort of work for many years. 

So when you call you get great care. However, they are not available 24/7. You can call seven days a week, but you will find that their hours are just 8:00AM to 5:30PM, seven days per week. This isn’t bad, but it would be nice if they had 24/7 support.    

Theft Insurance

Repairing your identity after it has been stolen is not an inexpensive process. You will be shocked at how much you will spend on lawyer fees, and the time spent opening new accounts and filling out the stacks of paperwork. Besides being so time consuming, the cost to fight fraudulent activity can be mind blowing. A good insurance product is a must for any identity theft protection product.

LifeLock offers their customers theft insurance that is similar to the industry norm. All of their packages have $1 million in legal fee coverage. They also provide a minimum of $25,000 in personal expense coverage, as well as at least $25,000 for lost funds reimbursement. The amount of coverage you receive depends on the LifeLock plan you select.

Identity Force also has a decent insurance product. Their plans offer $1 million in legal expense coverage and $1 million in lost funds reimbursement. It is pretty simple, but it gets the job done. Also, this is the standard offering across all Identity Force plans.     

Additional Services

Identity Force gives you two features that you won’t get as a standard offering from LifeLock. This isn’t really an “additional service”, but since LifeLock does not offer this as a standard feature, we’ll call them an add-on. These features are the VPN and a library of forms and resources to help you get your information out of unreliable locations.

LifeLock’s additional services are really their standard credit bureau reporting, which is standard on all of their packages, but is not offered by Identity Force. LifeLock does offer a VPN and antivirus software, but this is an additional cost on top of their monthly subscription fees.

It’s hard to pick a winner in this category. We really wish that both had a VPN and credit monitoring as a standard feature.    

Ease of Use

This is another category where picking a clear winner is hard. Both LifeLock and Identity Force have fairly easy to navigate web and mobile user platforms. There is nothing that stands out with either product. They both work fine and provide you with all the information you need to keep track of your identity.

We will note that the Identity Force pages are a bit cluttered. They offer a lot of information, but it isn’t as well organized as the LifeLock site. We also are not a fan of critical information hidden under tabs on the Identity Force homepage. It’s not a problem, just a small annoyance.     

Price

Price is one place where there is a noticeable difference between LifeLock and Identity Force. We think you get what you pay for when you are shopping for identity theft protection products. LifeLock is the more expensive option here, but it also offers you more features for your money.

One complaint that we do have about the LifeLock product is their pricing structure. It is one of the more complex on the market. With four plan levels (Standard, Select, Advantage and Ultimate Plus) and different prices for individuals, couples or families, it can be confusing to figure out what you will pay for your subscription.

Though Identity Force offers a more simple product, it really does give you everything you need, plus one of the best monitoring and alert systems on the market. If you are really looking for a product that keeps a close watch on your information and lets you know really quickly about threats, the cost of Identity Force will seem reasonable. 

However, many people think that the basic packages with minimal extra features come with too high of a price tag from Identity Force. 

There are a couple of things to point out about Identity Force pricing. First, they do not give their pricing for family plans on their website. If you are looking for a family plan, you will have to call and speak with a customer service representative.  Second, if you want to check out their plans without the commitment, Identity Force does offer a free 30 day trial which is a nice option.

Final Thoughts on LifeLock vs Identity Force

We really cannot say a bad thing about LifeLock or Identity Force. Both products are exceptional and offer some of the best identity monitoring and resolution services on the market. Both are backed by a well-known brand in identity protection and monitoring, so you know that the products are good.

However, our pick between these two great products is LifeLock. We don’t mind the slower monitoring speeds. We would much rather have a product that keeps an eye out for our information in more areas. For the money, we put our trust in LifeLock over Identity Force.