Last Updated on June 2, 2023
Weeks of testing and hours of research showed LifeLock to be superior to 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.
Choosing between these two companies isn’t easy. LifeLock is a household name, and IDShield offers unique features you can’t find anywhere else. I get why you might be considering them to protect your family.
- You are on a budget, but still want to protect your identity.
- You want a product that offers a variety of plans and services.
- Norton Antivirus is always on your computer and you want a complementary product.
- You don’t need more than $1 million in insurance coverage.
- You are looking for an affordable family plan.
- The quality of protective features is really important.
- The dark web really concerns you and you want thorough monitoring here.
- You want more than just good insurance, you want a guarantee your identity will be repaired.
BUT, my testing also revealed something else.
Neither of these identity protection services compares with Aura. Aura gives you award-winning identity theft and credit monitoring. It also provides a knowledgeable threat resolution team available 24/7/365.
On top of that, it offers flexible family plans with increasing insurance coverage – you can add up to five adults, and insurance jumps by $1 million for each one you add. Plus, Aura’s suite of family protection services goes above and beyond.
The best part is that Aura does this for less than LifeLock or IDShield (when you use our discount code).
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.
I get it, though. If you thought you had things narrowed down to IDShield vs LifeLock for your family, you deserve to know how these services fared in testing.
So, read on. I’ll explain exactly what these services do (and don’t do) to protect your assets, your credit score, and your family’s identities. But just know, you’ll probably end up agreeing with me – if you want the best in identity protection, Aura is the better option.
IDShield vs. LifeLock: Head-to-Head Comparison
Aura | LifeLock | IDShield | |
Monitoring | Award-winning identity theft and credit monitoring that’s both comprehensive and accurate. | Comprehensive but less accurate than Aura. | Accurate, but less comprehensive than Aura or LifeLock. |
Threat Resolution | 24/7/365 U.S.-based customer service that’s easy to get in touch with. | 24/7/365 customer service LifeLock claims are U.S.-based but aren’t. | Limited general customer service hours with a 24/7 emergency-only hotline staffed by licensed P.I.’s |
Family Plans | Flexible family plans allow up to five adults and unlimited children with comprehensive parental controls. | Family plans include two adults and up to five children with glitchy parental controls. | Family plans include two adults and unlimited children that must live in your home. Provides restoration and consultation privileges for college-aged kids of members. |
Theft Insurance | $1 million in theft insurance coverage per adult with ALL plans. And, $5 million coverage for a family of five. | $1 million in theft insurance with their top-tier plan only. Lower plans have $25,000 and $100,000 in coverage, respectively, but insurance increases with each adult. | $1 million in theft insurance TOTAL standard with all plans, does not increase with family plan options. |
Ease of Use | A little cluttered and clunky, but usable. | Streamlined, clean, and easy to use. | Good design but a confusing onboarding process. |
Online Safety Features | Decent VPN and antivirus software.
Also, includes data broker removal and smart vault for family file and password sharing.
| Top-notch VPN and antivirus software from Norton. | Includes VPN, antivirus software from Trend Micro, password manager, lost device protection, and data broker removal services. |
Cost | Very affordable (especially when you use our discount code). | Seems affordable, but price increases significantly after first year. | Somewhat expensive, given services offered. |
IDShield vs LifeLock: Pros & Cons
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.
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.
LifeLock vs. IDShield: In-Depth Feature Comparison
Monitoring: Winner – IDShield
Catching threats early is crucial to identity protection.
Think about it – if you know the username for your bank account is on the dark web, you can change it and potentially stop a thief before they get a hold of your assets. For this to work, though, an identity protection service has to have incredible monitoring and alert capabilities.
After testing several services, I’ve found Aura is the best at this (they even won an award for it), but IDShield is far from bad. Its monitoring is accurate, though it doesn’t monitor everything it should.
LifeLock, however, fails the accuracy test. Their monitoring services may look good on paper, but they missed several identity threats.
Credit and Financial
On the credit and financial side of things, LifeLock and IDShield both offer:
While the bank account and payday loan monitoring are essentially the same from both services, their credit monitoring inclusions differ.
LifeLock offers three-bureau credit monitoring with its top-tier plan and one-bureau (Equifax) monitoring with lower tiers. It also includes Equifax reports and scores with daily updates and three-bureau reports and scores on a monthly basis.
On top of this, LifeLock offers credit file detection for children. If someone opens a file in your child’s name, you’ll receive an alert. Given the rising risks of child identity theft, this is a great feature for families with minor children.
IDShield has two pricing tiers – one for one-bureau credit monitoring from Transunion and the other for three-bureau credit monitoring. With both options, IDShield includes continuous monitoring and a monthly score tracker.
When evaluating this category, I like to look at credit lock and freeze capabilities too. IDShield offers credit freeze assistance, meaning you call in, and their representatives help you initiate a credit freeze.
LIfelock outshines IDShield here by providing an in-portal lock switch, allowing you to lock your Transunion credit with ONE click. It also offers freeze assistance with the other two credit bureaus.
LIfelock also has an important inclusion that IDShield doesn’t – it offers investment account monitoring.
Many services fail to offer this. LifeLock and Aura are two of only a handful of companies that do. I’m always happy to see it, though, because it’s a huge plus. Investment accounts include your 401(k) and other retirement savings accounts – something no one wants to leave vulnerable.
Still, given LifeLock’s poor monitoring capabilities, I don’t know that I trust it to find threats to my 401(K), which is why IDShield still wins this category.
Identity
LifeLock and IDSheild both monitor all of the following for identity threats:
LifeLock also includes home title monitoring, and if I trusted LifeLock to find threats, that would be a huge benefit – but I don’t.
Here’s why.
LifeLock found seven identity threats in its initial scan. IDShield found 17 (the same as my top pick – Aura). That tells me LifeLock is missing vulnerabilities it should be able to catch.
IDShield, however, is obviously accurate – it’s just not as comprehensive as I’d like. Missing home title coverage may not seem like a big deal, but if you’re a homeowner, you’ll want it.
For accuracy and a full breadth of monitoring coverage, Aura is the best pick. They offer everything LifeLock and IDShield offer, plus home and auto title monitoring, allowing you to better protect two of your biggest assets.
Threat Resolution: Winner – IDShield
Despite LifeLock’s former advertising claims (which led to a massive FTC lawsuit and settlement), no identity theft protection service can guarantee you won’t become a victim. Even the best monitoring can’t stop a criminal from finding and using your personal information.
That’s why good identity protection services offer threat resolution as part of their plans. Usually, this includes some sort of help in restoring your identity as well as some form of theft insurance.
Neither IDShield nor LIfeLock do everything they should in this area. I like Aura’s threat resolution capabilities much better. Their industry experts are available 24/7/365, and their concierge restoration services are phenomenal.
But, if I had to pick between LifeLock and IDShield, I’d pick IDShield. You’ll see why below, but in a nutshell, LifeLock’s service is terrible.
Customer Service
IDShield offers competent and friendly customer service representatives. When I called, I reached a representative in just over one minute, and they had no issue handling my questions (which is a lot more than I can say for LifeLock).
Unfortunately, IDShield has limited customer service hours – 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST. They do have an emergency hotline that’s 24/7, though, which makes the limited general hours more acceptable.
Calling LifeLock was a lot harder.
First, you have to track down their phone number, and they don’t make that easy. Once you find it, you can expect to sit on hold for several minutes. I’ve tried calling a few times, and at their best, it took 3 minutes to reach a representative. At the worst, it was over 10.
LifeLock claims their representatives are U.S.- based but each time I called, I’m pretty sure I was connected to someone outside the country. They weren’t easy to understand, nor were they very helpful. When I asked questions, I got answers that seemed scripted and were rather vague.
I’m not the only one who feels this way about LifeLock’s customer service. I always read other customer reviews before writing these evaluations because I want to know if my experience was unique. Unfortunately, TrustPilot reviewers agree – LifeLock’s customer service is subpar.
Identity Restoration Services
Both LifeLock and IDShield offer identity restoration services. Of course, given my experience with LifeLock’s customer service team, I’m not sure I’d want them helping to restore my identity. IDShield, though, I’d feel confident with.
Unlike any other service I’ve had the opportunity to test, IDShield offers licensed private investigators to help with identity restoration.
These PIs will use a limited power of attorney to help you restore your identity to pre-theft status – this includes helping with everything from filing credit disputes to setting up conference calls with your bank.
They also provide one-on-one member consultations if you have any security questions. And they offer a restoration guarantee. They promise to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to restore your identity in full.
LifeLock’s restoration services can’t compare to this sort of offering – not when simply getting ahold of their customer service team is SO frustrating. I can’t imagine having to call them if I was actually a theft victim.
Lost Wallet Protection
LifeLock and IDShield both include lost wallet protection in their plans. So, if your wallet is lost or stolen, you can call them for assistance. They’ll help you cancel and replace your “wallet contents,” like your bank cards and ID.
LifeLock also includes up to $500 in cash reimbursement, which is better than most other services. IDShield will not reimburse lost cash. So, LifeLock comes out a bit ahead here, though not nearly enough for me to recommend their services.
Family Plans: Winner – IDShield
When it comes to family coverage, neither of these services excels. Both are missing key features that better services, like Aura, offer.
Still, IDShield is a step above LifeLock for a few reasons.
First, IDShield allows for unlimited children on family plans (as long as they live at home). LifeLock only allows for five kids. Most families have less than five children under 18 at home, so I’d be willing to look past this, but it’s not the only flaw with LifeLock’s family plan structure.
LifeLock also doesn’t provide any protection for college-aged kids. IDShield offers consultation and restoration services for college-aged kids (18 – 26 years old). They don’t include monitoring, but at least they’ll help fix identity theft, should it occur.
Really, though, if you have college-aged kids you want to protect, you should be looking at Aura instead.
Aura allows up to five adults on family plans, regardless of their age. So, you can include your 19-year-old daughter, your 85-year-old mother, or your dependent sibling – whoever you need to protect.
Parental Control Features
LifeLock and IDShield both offer parental controls with their family plans (though they’re not as thorough as Aura’s).
With LifeLock, you get Norton Family. This is a pretty comprehensive service that gives parents the ability to block sites, monitor internet usage, and set screen time limits.
It also helps support remote learning by allowing parents to set which sites children can visit and when. This allows you to ensure kids stay on education-related websites during school hours.
The only problem with Norton Family is that it can be glitchy. It seems to have problems running on Android devices, which makes it hard for many to use.
I don’t have an Android device, personally, so I have to rely on Google app-store reviews for this information, but many parents have reported problems that make Norton Family unusable. For example, they might open it to find a blank screen.
IDShield also includes parental controls that allow you to set time limits and block sites. Rather than focusing on remote learning tools the way Norton Family does, IDShield put their focus on social media safety.
Depending on the age of your children, social media may or may not be one of your biggest concerns. If it is an issue in your family, though, IDShield’s social media suite is worth looking at. With their social media controls in place, parents can monitor for nefarious activity and ensure kids aren’t accidentally exposing private information.
In terms of comprehensive and useful parental controls, though, Aura outshines both of these services. Their parental control suite is powered by Circle, an award-winning app that includes the following features:
Circle works on all devices, including Android phones and with all of the major apps, so parents can set limits on everything from Amazon to SnapChat. That’s more than LifeLock or IDShield can claim.
Safe Gaming and Anti Bullying
IDShield’s social media monitoring watches for signs of cyberbullying, but kids aren’t just on social media. So, it’s not a comprehensive safeguard for kids online.
LifeLock also fails in this area. While their parental controls keep track of what kids do online, right down to the terms they’re searching for, LifeLock can’t monitor the interactions your kids are having with others.
There’s only one service I know of that includes comprehensive parental controls and offers the ability to monitor interactions online – that’s Aura.
For parents, Aura is the best pick because it doesn’t just help you put safeguards into your internet browser, it also uses AI and machine learning to analyze text and voice conversations on over 200 PC games. If it detects signs of racism, bullying, harassment, or grooming, it sends a real-time alert, so parents can stop harmful relationships before they start.
Theft Insurance: Winner – LifeLock
Between LifeLock vs IDShield, LifeLock wins this category, but it’s not my first choice for theft insurance coverage.
Let me explain.
LifeLock offers $1 million in theft insurance coverage per adult and $25,000 in stolen fund reimbursement for minor children, which is fantastic. Few other plans increase their coverage with each adult, and even fewer offer to cover children.
IDShield offers the industry standard $1 million in insurance coverage for both individual and family plans. They also don’t offer anything for minor children.
My issue with LifeLock is that this level of coverage is only really available with its top-tier plan. Lower options provide $25,000 and $100,000 per adult for expenses and fund reimbursement, respectively (as shown below).
Of course, they advertise as though all plans include $1 million in protection because all plans include $1 million for legal fees only. But legal fees aren’t the only thing you need coverage for in the event of identity theft.
Aura offers $1 million in theft insurance coverage per adult. This isn’t just $1 million for legal fees, it also goes towards expenses and fund reimbursement. And since Aura allows up to five adults on a plan, you get up to $5 million in insurance coverage. That’s a HUGE benefit!
Ease of Use: Winner – LifeLock
I like IDShield’s interface, but LifeLock’s is better.
It’s clear that Norton LifeLock put some big money behind their design. It’s seamless and intuitive, with eye-catching graphics.
LifeLock’s app is easy to navigate, too. It’s nice that you can manage just about everything you need to from your phone or tablet rather than having to switch to a laptop.
IDShield’s interface is also clean and modern. It’s far from clunky, though I don’t love the way they sort their alerts. Each type of alert has its own page, rather than grouping them into a main alert dashboard.
My real issue with IDShield, though, is in its onboarding process. Granted, you only have to go through it once, but it’s annoying enough that I have to mention it.
First, it takes IDshield a full 24 hours to process your payment, which seems strange.
Then, once you receive a welcome email, you’ll find a link that takes you to what appears to be the main dashboard…only it’s not. It’s your LegalShield dashboard – IDShield’s parent company.
There, you’ll input a customer number, and eventually, you’ll reach IDShield’s interface. Once you’re there, it’s great, but the onboarding process could be a lot smoother.
Online Privacy Features: Winner – LifeLock
It would be hard to surpass LifeLock when it comes to online privacy features. This is really LifeLock’s main (and arguably only) selling point – it comes with Norton Antivirus software and a VPN for unlimited family devices.
Also, included are an ad blocker, a privacy monitor (for adults on the plan only), ad tracker, and an anonymous browsing service.
IDShield may not offer privacy features to the extent LifeLock does – they include a VPN and virus protection for mobile devices only – but they do have one feature that deserves a discussion…
Reputation management.
This service combs your social media accounts, looking for anything that you might not want online. It flags incriminating photos, unprofessional comments, and offensive content so you can review and remove anything that might hurt your reputation.
This is a fantastic service if you’re applying for a job or running for an elected position, and for some, it might be a good reason to consider purchasing IDShield.
Cost: Winner – IDShield
IDShield isn’t exactly inexpensive. Their prices are on the high side, given what they include.
Though the one-bureau monitoring package looks attractive, you’ll probably want three-bureau monitoring, and that comes with a significant price increase. I can’t say that increase is justified given the number of free credit monitoring tools there are.
However, IDShield’s pricing is still far better than LifeLock’s.
LifeLock plans start at $18.99 per month for families – sounds okay, right?
Here’s the issue. LifeLock’s lowest-level “Select” plan doesn’t offer everything you need to protect yourself and your family. To get it all, you’ll need their top-tier “Ultimate Plus” plan. That one runs a steep $40.99 per month for family protection – for the first year.
And, that’s where LifeLock really bothers me. Its renewal prices are ridiculous. That $40.99 per month jumps to $68.33 when the plan renews! Ouch!
Honestly, if you want the best value in identity protection services, Aura is the better choice. It offers better family protection at a better price when you use our discount code.
IDShield vs. LifeLock: Final Thoughts
LifeLock wins if we’re only comparing them against IDShield, and it has some great features.
The ability to consult with a licensed P.I. in the event of a theft event and their reputation management services are unique and useful.
However, IDShield isn’t the best protection out there. I’ve tested many services at this point, and Aura remains my top choice for several reasons.
Aura offers award-winning identity theft and credit monitoring. It’s fast, accurate, and covers everything from your Social Security number to your car’s title. They also offer incredible insurance coverage that increases by $1 million with every adult on the plan, and you can include up to five adults!
If that wasn’t enough, Aura includes a full suite of parental control features, including the ability to monitor your kids on gaming platforms. And Aura does all of this at a better price than LifeLock or IDShield (when you use our discount code).
If you want the peace of mind that comes with comprehensive identity protection for you and your family, you want Aura. IDShield and LifeLock simply can’t compare.
