Comparing LifeLock vs IDShield: Which Protection Service is Right for You?

Last Updated on March 13, 2023

More and more people are finding themselves victims of identity theft. This crime is no longer one for the rich and famous to worry about. Normal people, every day, are being attacked by unseen assailants who are after your identity and your money.

When it comes down to which product is best, our preference is LifeLock. We like that they are backed by the reputation of Norton Antivirus. Additionally the level of coverage provided by LifeLock’s insurance is much better than what you get from ID Shield. ID Shield may be a good option for some consumers, but from our perspective you get a better value for your money by selecting LifeLock.  

While this is a comparison between a reasonably good identity theft protection service, I still strongly recommend Aura which offers an even better product and coverage. You can save as much as 50% OFF on AURA today.

One of the most effective ways to prevent your identity is to invest in an identity theft protection product. These helpful tools do the work of monitoring various places for unauthorized use of your name, social security number and even your home’s title.

There are numerous identity theft protection products that you can choose from. The options that they provide come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Most offer options for individuals, and options for protecting your whole family. 

Two popular identity protection products that are often considered are LifeLock and ID Shield. These two products provide you with a variety of features intended to gather information, warn you of potential threats and help you restore your identity should a criminal take advantage of you.

Selecting the right identity theft protection product is a time consuming process. To ensure that you get the right features without spending a ton of extra money, you should spend some time researching products. To help you with your research, we have put together this helpful comparison article of LifeLock and ID Shield. 

Our review will provide you with some helpful information about both products so that you know what each offers for both individuals and families.               

Who Should Buy LifeLock

LifeLock is one of the oldest identity protection products on the market today. Developed by Norton, LifeLock gives you years of knowledge from one of the most popular antivirus software makers.

Besides antivirus protection for your computer, LifeLock offers you a robust package of identity protection features. Their packages offer computer protection, personal information monitoring, and financial monitoring.

One of the most advantageous features of LifeLock is the width of their monitoring programs. Not only do they watch the world wide web, but they also offer you the ability to monitor all three credit reporting agencies, they monitor the dark web and criminal court servers.

If you should be attacked, you do not have to try and figure out how to protect your identity on your own. LifeLock offers 24/7 support from agents that are highly experienced in helping you fix your identity or financial standing. 

Every LifeLock plan comes with one of the best identity insurance products. The base insurance comes with up to $1 million in coverage for resolution and legal services. Higher level packages come with an additional, up to $1 million for replacing lost funds from your account.

Many people are surprised to learn that LifeLock products are actually pretty affordable. Base plans start at just $8.99 a month for a single person. Of course, like most other plans, the cost of LifeLock plans increases with more features and coverage for more than one person.        

You should select Lifelock if:

Now that you know a bit about LifeLock, you should purchase this product if:

Who Should Buy IDShield

ID Shield is a really good identity protection product. On the surface it seems like a stand alone service. While other identity protection products have larger businesses behind them (remember LifeLock is a Norton product), ID Shield on the surface seems to be without additional support. 

However, that is not the case. ID Shield is an identity protection product from Legal Shield. This company provides easy to access legal services for individuals. So, when it comes to knowing how to protect and repair your identity, ID Shield has all of the behind the scenes support you need.

As with other identity protection products, ID Shield offers you a full range of monitoring and protective features. ID Shield actually has one of the fastest and most accurate monitoring and alert features around. Besides good monitoring, ID Shield offers you a $1 million identity recovery guarantee to back up their monitoring and resolution services.

One of the most important things you need to know about ID Shield is that while their price does seem like a real selling point, you don’t get some of the features that other identity protection products offer. ID Shield does not monitor your investments or 401(k). They also do not monitor your home title. For some people this is fine, but if you have investments and a home, you may want to consider a different product.      

You should select IDShield if: 

ID Shield is the right product for you, if:

Lifelock vs. IDShield: Most Important Features Compared

Now that you know a bit about each product, we are ready to delve a little deeper into some of the more critical features of these two identity protection products. Both products seem fairly similar from the outside. 

However, there are some noted differences between the two products. In this section we’ll show you some of these differences, and why one product or the other is better.  

Monitoring

If you are looking for a good monitoring product, LifeLock and ID Shield are both well respected and highly reviewed options. HOwever, there is a difference that you need to be aware of. Between the two products, what you really have is a question of quality over quantity. 

ID Shield is certainly one of the best and most accurate monitoring products. The quality and speed of their monitoring programs are really second to none. However, they really don’t look as deep into your life as other products.

LifeLock on the other hand is a bit slower and does have a few small accuracy issues when it comes to monitoring your identity. However, LifeLock gives you a look at so much more than just your information on the internet. LifeLock digs into your financial information, criminal court systems, and their product even keeps an eye on your home title.      

Dark Web Monitoring

Dark web and internet monitoring is where ID Shield really shines. This product will quickly scan for your information across the dark web. The speed of results and the accuracy is really amazing.

LifeLock has a good level of accuracy when monitoring the web and the dark web. However, it is pretty slow. If you would rather have speed, LifeLock is probably a better option.     

Credit Monitoring

What each product offers in terms of credit monitoring is kind of a wash. Both products offer credit monitoring from one credit agency in their lower level packages. And both offer an annual credit report along with monitoring from all three credit reporting agencies in their higher level packages.

Threat Resolution Services

Both LifeLock and ID Shield offer their customers identity resolution services. If someone should access your personal information and use it fraudulently, you are going to need help fixing things.

ID Shield offers its customers identity restoration services that include a private investigator and a designated resolution expert. ID Shield has 24/7 customer support so that even if you notice that your identity has been compromised at 2:00 AM, someone can help you.

LifeLock also offers fraud resolution and 24/7 customer service. The one difference between ID Shield and LifeLock in their threat resolution service, is that LifeLock does not pair you with a single expert to help you through the process. You will speak with a different person each time. This can be frustrating for some people. 

Theft Insurance

Fixing your identity and your finances after you have been attacked can make you feel like a different kind of victim. Fortunately, both LifeLock and ID Shield offer you identity theft insurance.

Both ID Shield and LifeLock provide you with up to $1 million in coverage for legal and resolution services. This is the only similarity between the two products when it comes to ID theft insurances.

LifeLock has a more robust insurance product. Their insurance offers you up to $1 million in coverage for lost funds and up to $1 million in coverage for personal expense reimbursement. However, this highest level is only available in their Ultimate Plus plan. Lower plans offer these three coverages, but in some cases as much lower rates.

ID Shield does offer you $1 million in coverage for expenses and lost funds. It is a single pool for both, so if you have a lot of cash and you may want a product that gives you a larger pool of lost funds coverage.

As with the monitoring feature, the insurance feature with these two products is a choice of quantity over quality. 

Additional Services

The real selling point with LifeLock is that it comes from Norton, the well-known antivirus company. This backing allows LifeLock to offer some protective products that you know come at a higher quality. Once you get out of the basic LifeLock product, all plans offer you a VPN, password manager, antivirus software and TransUnion’s Identity Lock service.

ID Shield was pretty lacking in their additional features a few years ago. Today however, their additional services compete well with other identity theft protection products. The one thing we should note is that while LifeLock only offers many of their additional services to higher level plans, ID Shield offers the additional features to all of their plans.  

Great additional features include antivirus protection, lost device coverage, lost wallet protection, VPNs, and password manager.    

Ease of Use

LifeLock offers you the ability to access your account via the web or their mobile app. Both platforms are easy to use, and feel very intuitive. LifeLock has one of the more organized dashboards that we have seen from identity theft monitoring programs. This is nice because you don’t have to dig and dig to find what you are looking for.

ID Shield also offers a nice platform on their website and mobile app. One thing that you will notice is that the ID Shield dashboard is very simplistic. There is nothing fancy here, and that appeals to many people. We don’t like individual tabs for each alert on the ID Shield page. It would be much easier to work through if they would just make a single list on their front page.

When it comes to ease of use, we give LifeLock the advantage. Though the simplicity of ID Shield is sort of refreshing.     

Price

Price is always something you should consider when you are shopping for an identity theft protection product. Not all products out there are good values, so make sure that you know what you get for each level of plan that is offered.

LifeLock is a pretty reasonable option for most consumers. Their base plan is less than $10 per month for the first year of service. While the basic option doesn’t give you a ton of features, it is a good place to start if you just need some monitoring and basic protection.

One thing that should be noted about LifeLock is that their prices do increase after the first year of service. While you will pay less than $10 for the standard plan in the first year, the price goes up to $11.99 in subsequent years. Below, we’ve listed the monthly and annual prices for your second year of service.

ID Shield has a fairly unique pricing structure. They offer two plans (individual and family) and each plan has two levels. The single difference between the features offered in the two levels is the number of credit reporting agencies that they monitor. You can either get monitoring of one or all three agencies. 

For many people this simplicity is a great selling point to the pricing structure that is offered by ID Shield. And for what you get, their prices are reasonable, and not outside of the industry norm.

ID Shield’s family plans cover you and your spouse or domestic partner and an unlimited number of minor dependents.

Final Thoughts on Lifelock vs IDShield

When it comes down to which product is best, our preference is LifeLock. We like that they are backed by the reputation of Norton Antivirus. Additionally the level of coverage provided by LifeLock’s insurance is much better than what you get from ID Shield. ID Shield may be a good option for some consumers, but from our perspective you get a better value for your money by selecting LifeLock.