Identity Guard vs Aura: compared in 2026
Our in-house experts test identity theft protection services themselves, using real-world scenarios and established testing methods. We look at how well each service monitors personal information, how quickly and clearly it sends alerts, what recovery support it offers, and how it handles customer data.
We assess every provider using the same criteria and explain our testing process clearly, so readers can compare services and make a more informed choice.
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The US Federal Trade Commission reports that identity theft is an increasing concern, making identity theft protection more important than ever. These services monitor your personal information, credit, finances, and online accounts, but choosing the right one can be difficult.
Aura and Identity Guard are two popular options with similar core protections but different pricing, features, and coverage. In this Identity Guard vs Aura comparison, I evaluate both across identity theft protection, financial monitoring, online privacy, child protection, customer support, and overall value.
Our in-house experts test identity theft protection services using real-world scenarios and consistent criteria. We assess monitoring, alerts, recovery support, and data handling to help readers compare providers confidently. Learn more about our testing process.
Identity Guard vs Aura: an overview
Below, I compare Identity Guard and Aura across the key areas that matter most when it comes to identity theft protection. I explore each of these areas in more detail in the sections that follow, so keep reading for a closer look at how the two services stack up.
| Aura | Identity Guard | |
| Rating | ||
| Price | From $8.00/month | From $7.50/month |
| Free version | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Free trial | ✅ Yes (14 days) | ❌ No |
| Credit monitoring | ✅ Yes (3-bureau monitoring) | ✅ Yes (3-bureau monitoring) |
| Insurance | Up to $1M identity theft insurance, up to $5M with family plans | Up to $1M identity theft insurance, up to $5M with family plans |
| Additional features | Antivirus, VPN, password manager, safe browsing, vault for digital assets | Password manager, safe browsing |
| Discounts | Get up to 66% OFF Aura Identity Theft Protection | Limited offer: save up to 16% |
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Aura is the winner in the Identity Guard vs Aura comparison, offering better value and features than Identity Guard.
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Identity Guard has a lower starting price, but many of its more advanced features are locked behind higher-tier plans.
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Both offer strong identity and financial protection, including 3-bureau credit monitoring, financial monitoring, and up to $5M in identity theft insurance.
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Aura is stronger for online privacy and device security, with an antivirus, VPN, password manager, safe browsing, and digital vault.
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Aura is the better choice for families with children, thanks to child credit and SSN monitoring, parental controls, and gaming safety features.
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Both provide reliable 24/7 customer support, although Aura offers more ways to get help, including live chat and a more comprehensive help center.
About Aura
Aura offers an all-in-one approach to identity, financial, and online protection. It includes online account monitoring, spam call and junk mail removal, and personal information monitoring as part of its identity theft protection package.
It also comes with a strong set of financial protection features, including 3-bureau credit monitoring, credit lock, bank fraud monitoring, and transaction monitoring. Plus, you get up to $1M identity theft insurance for an extra layer of protection.
For online security and privacy, Aura includes tools like an antivirus, a VPN, a password manager, and a safe browser. Another nice perk mentioned in our Aura review is 24/7 US-based customer support, so you can get help whenever you need it.
And if you want to protect more than just yourself, Aura also offers plans for couples and families, making it easy to extend coverage to your loved ones.
About Identity Guard
Identity Guard offers many of the same types of protection as Aura, but it has a lower entry price. You get comprehensive identity theft protection with features like data breach notifications, dark web monitoring, social media monitoring, up to $1M identity theft insurance, and home title monitoring. Also, Identity Guard is owned by Aura, which is why their offerings are quite similar.
Its financial protection includes bank account monitoring, 401(k) and investment account monitoring, 3-bureau credit monitoring, and an Experian credit lock. You also get a few online safety features, such as a safe browser and password manager, although its online security tools are a bit more limited compared with Aura.
Like Aura, Identity Guard provides 24/7 US-based customer support, so you have help available around the clock. And if you're looking to cover more than one person, Identity Guard has family plans that let you add protection for the whole household.
Aura vs Identity Guard: pricing
Aura and Identity Guard have noticeably different pricing structures. Aura offers a single feature set, and the price mainly depends on how many people you want to protect. You can choose an individual, couple, or family plan, and all three include the same features.
Aura offers annual and monthly plans, and the renewal price is higher than the introductory price. All annual plans also come with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
| Aura plan | Price (annual plan) | Price (monthly plan) | Renewal price |
| Individual | $8.00/month | $13.00/month | $13.00/month |
| Couple | $18.00/month | $24.00/month | $24.00/month |
| Family | $29.00/month | $39.00/month | $39.00/month |
Identity Guard has three plan tiers: Value, Total, and Ultra, and you can choose either an individual or family plan.
The Value plan covers the basics, including breach notifications, identity theft insurance, dark web monitoring, high-risk transaction monitoring, and device security features. The Total plan adds more comprehensive identity and credit protection, including 3-bureau credit monitoring. The Ultra plan goes a step further with features such as credit lock, 3-bureau credit reporting, and additional monitoring for social media and bank accounts.
Like Aura, Identity Guard’s annual plans have a higher renewal rate, although the increase is proportionally smaller. Annual plans also come with a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Identity Guard also offers monthly billing, giving you flexibility and letting you avoid committing to a full year upfront. However, monthly plans don’t come with a money-back guarantee.
| Identity Guard plan | Price (annual plan) | Renewal price | Price (monthly plan) |
| Value individual | $7.50/month | $8.99/month | $8.99/month |
| Total individual | $16.67/month | $19.99/month | $19.99/month |
| Ultra individual | $25.00/month | $29.99/month | $29.99/month |
| Value family | $12.50/month | $14.99/month | $14.99/month |
| Total family | $25.00/month | $29.99/month | $29.99/month |
| Ultra family | $33.33/month | $39.99/month | $39.99/month |
When you compare the plans based on the features included, Aura is the more affordable option overall. With Identity Guard, you need to move up to the Ultra plan to get a feature set that is closer to what Aura includes in its single plan. That puts Identity Guard at $25.00/month for an individual plan, compared with just $8.00/month for Aura.
The family plans follow the same pattern: Identity Guard’s Ultra family plan costs $33.33/month, compared with $29.00/month for Aura. Even though Identity Guard gives you more plan choices and the option to pay monthly, Aura offers more features at a significantly lower price.
Aura vs Identity Guard: identity theft protection
Both Aura and Identity Guard offer excellent features to protect your identity. While most of their features are offered by many identity protection services, there are several unique ones.
Aura offers the following features as part of its identity protection:
- Online account monitoring
- SSN and personal information monitoring
- Spam call and junk mail removal
- Identity verification monitoring
- Home and auto title monitoring
- Criminal and court record monitoring
- Up to $5M identity theft insurance
Identity Guard, meanwhile, offers:
- Data breach notifications
- Dark web monitoring
- Social media monitoring
- Home and auto title monitoring
- Criminal and sex offense monitoring
- USPS address change monitoring
- Up to $5M identity theft insurance
Both providers cover important areas such as property title monitoring, criminal record monitoring, and identity theft insurance. However, Aura includes features such as online account and identity verification monitoring, along with spam call and junk mail removal, while Identity Guard offers dark web, social media, data breach, and USPS address change monitoring. Neither provider clearly offers more comprehensive protection – their feature sets simply differ.
Aura vs Identity Guard: financial protection
Both Aura and Identity Guard do a great job of protecting your finances. They both offer 3-bureau credit monitoring, monthly credit scores, credit locks, and bank account monitoring. Here’s a quick breakdown of the financial protection features each provider offers:
| Aura | Identity Guard | |
| 3-bureau credit monitoring | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes, Total and Ultra plans |
| Monthly credit score | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes, Total and Ultra plans |
| Credit lock | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes, Ultra plan |
| Annual credit report | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes, Ultra plan |
| Bank account monitoring | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes, Total and Ultra plans |
| Credit and debit card monitoring | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes, Ultra plan |
| 401K and investment account monitoring | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes, Ultra plan |
| High-risk transaction monitoring | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
The main difference comes down to pricing. Aura has one plan that includes all of these features, while Identity Guard reserves many of its financial protection features for the Total and Ultra plans. So, with Identity Guard, you’re often paying a premium for essentially the same level of protection.
Identity Guard vs Aura: child protection
When it comes to protecting minors, these two providers are pretty far apart. Starting with Aura, it offers child SSN monitoring, 3-bureau credit monitoring, and parental controls that include mobile device management, content filtering, screen time limits, and internet usage tracking. It also offers Safe Gaming by Kidas, which includes text monitoring, cyberbullying and predator alerts, and weekly gaming reports. All of these features are included with the family plan.
Identity Guard, on the other hand, is much more limited. Its family plans offer online account monitoring and Social Security number monitoring for children. That’s pretty much it. So, if you have kids and child protection is a priority, Aura is definitely the better choice here.
Identity Guard vs Aura: online privacy features
Identity Guard and Aura are quite different when it comes to online and device protection. Identity Guard includes safe browsing and a password manager with all its plans, and that’s about it. Aura also offers online privacy features with all its plans, but the list is much longer: you get Aura Antivirus, a VPN, safe browsing, a password manager, and a vault.
All of these features can be useful for protecting your devices and privacy, so I’d give Aura the edge here.
Identity Guard vs Aura: customer support
Both providers offer excellent support, so I wouldn’t be worried about not getting help when you need it. Aura offers 24/7 support via phone, and you can also get in touch by email or live chat, which is available from 8 AM to 8 PM ET. Plus, it has a large help center with articles covering most of the key questions you might have, as well as guides on how to use its various tools and features.
Identity Guard also has a 24/7 phone line. It has an FAQ section too, but I’d say it’s slightly less comprehensive than Aura’s help center. For example, I couldn’t find any information on how to use the password manager. While it’s not particularly difficult to use, Aura does provide guidance on it.
Identity Guard also offers email support, but I couldn’t find a live chat option. That said, the phone line would probably be my go-to choice anyway.
Identity Guard vs Aura: which one is best?
Aura and Identity Guard are both comprehensive identity theft protection services, offering features such as three-bureau credit monitoring, financial protection, identity monitoring, and identity theft insurance. However, Aura is the stronger overall option.
Both services provide similar core identity and financial protection, as well as 24/7 customer support. The main difference is that Aura includes more features in a single plan, whereas Identity Guard requires users to upgrade to more expensive plans for many advanced features. Aura also offers stronger online privacy tools, including antivirus, a VPN, and a password manager, as well as more comprehensive protection for children.
Although Identity Guard has a lower starting price and offers monthly billing, Aura provides better value overall, making it a better choice.
FAQ
Which is better: Aura or Identity Guard?
Aura is better than Identity Guard because it combines identity, credit, and financial monitoring with additional security features into a single service, making it a more comprehensive option.
Is there a better service than Aura?
Yes, Coveron is better than Aura. It offers robust identity protection, including $2M identity theft insurance, 3-bureau credit monitoring, and strong device and account protection features, all at a lower price.
Is Identity Guard affiliated with Aura?
Yes, Identity Guard and Aura are owned by the same company. The two companies merged in 2019 and share some underlying infrastructure, but they offer different services: Aura provides broader digital protection, while Identity Guard focuses on identity theft and credit protection.
Is Aura a legit identity theft protection?
Yes, Aura is a legitimate identity theft protection service. It combines identity monitoring, credit monitoring, financial fraud protection, and device security features to help users detect potential threats and suspicious activity.
