Rob Gabriele https://www.safehome.org/author/rob-gabriele/

Learn More About Aura Identity Theft Protection

Between these two security systems, our favorite is Aura Identity Theft Protection.

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SecureScore™: 9.7/10

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Aura and LifeLock are pretty tied in terms of value, and they both offer comprehensive identity and credit protection. After putting them head-to-head, however, we gave Aura the higher overall score. It’s more affordable, and the pricing structure is more straightforward. It was also very easy to use during testing.

Of course, when it comes to choosing your identity protection service, you need to make a decision based on more than just the bottom line alone. Yes, Aura may have scored slightly better than LifeLock overall, but there are other aspects you need to compare before putting down your credit card.

In this comparison guide, we’ll show you how Aura and LifeLock compare to each other in key areas such as pricing, identity, credit, and device protections, and most importantly, privacy and data protection. Let’s start!

Aura vs LifeLock: The Main Takeaway

After testing both LifeLock and Aura, we can say that they are two of the best options in the industry. They clearly have different strengths, though.

Why Choose Aura

We recommend Aura to budget-conscious users. Don’t get us wrong, though. It may be more affordable than LifeLock, but the level of protection it provides is top-notch. All plans include full identity, credit, and cybersecurity features, so even with the $12-per-month individual plan, you can get top quality protection from Aura. With LifeLock, you need to be on the highest available subscription plan to get similar features.

We also think Aura is better for large families. Its Family plan starts at $25 per month, and this plan covers up to five adults and unlimited children. LifeLock’s family plan protects up to two adults and five children only.

Why Choose LifeLock

If you’re willing to invest in high-quality identity theft protection service, then LifeLock is a solid choice. We particularly recommend their plans bundled with Norton 360. These plans include cybersecurity tools such as antivirus software, a password manager, and a VPN. And with a name like Norton delivering those features, you can be sure you’re getting top-notch protection.

We also recommend LifeLock if you want a healthy safety net. Its most expensive subscriptions include identity insurance, stolen fund coverage, and legal/personal expense reimbursements up to $3 million. That’s three times the $1 million industry average coverage.

Aura & LifeLock Prices

Comparing their prices side by side, it’s clear that Aura is the more affordable option. There’s more to the story, though. We think Aura and LifeLock offer equal value. They’re both worth it – you get tons of features at affordable prices from Aura, while you get premium, white-glove service from LifeLock’s more expensive plans.

Aura

Aura Dashboard

Aura Dashboard

Aura makes it easy to choose a plan that suits you and your family. Here’s a quick look at Aura’s subscriptions:

Aura Subscription Monthly Cost Annual Cost
Kids $13/month $120/year ($10/month)
Individual $15/month $144/year ($12/month)
Couple $29/month $264/year ($22/month)
Family $50/month $384/year ($32/month)

The Kids subscription only comes with parental controls and other tools for keeping kids safe online. Plus, it lets you monitor an unlimited number of kids and devices. But it doesn’t provide any type of identity theft protection or credit monitoring.

The Individual, Couple, and Family subscriptions all come with the same identity theft and credit protection tools. The only difference is that the Family subscription also includes all features available in the Kids plan. Also, each subscription covers a different number of users — Individual covers one adult, Couple covers two adults, and Family covers five adults and an unlimited number of children.

Aura also comes with a free 14-day trial for all of its subscriptions, which provides enough time to see if the service is right for you. Plus, if you get an annual plan, you’ll also be covered by a 60-day money-back guarantee.

>>Read More: Aura Identity Theft Protection Review

LifeLock

Norton LifeLock Dashboard

Norton LifeLock Dashboard

LifeLock has tiered subscriptions with plans tailored for individuals, couples, and families. But it also has a subscription that’s bundled with some of Norton’s other services. So, its pricing can be a bit confusing.

To keep things simple, let’s start with an overview of the main LifeLock subscriptions:

LifeLock Standard LifeLock Advantage LifeLock Ultimate Plus
Individual Plan (Monthly Cost) $11.99/month $22.99/month $34.99/month
Individual Plan (Annual Cost) $89.99/year ($7.50/month) $179.88/year ($14.99/month) $239.99/year ($19.99/month)
Family Plan 2 Adults (Monthly Cost) $23.99/month $45.99/month $69.99/month
Family Plan 2 Adults (Annual Cost) $148.87/year ($12.49/month) $287.88/year ($23.99/month) $395.88/year ($32.99/month)
Family Plan 2 Adults + 5 Kids (Monthly Cost) $35.99/month $57.99/month $79.99/month
Family Plan 2 Adults + 5 Kids (Annual Cost) $221.87/year ($18.49/month) $359.88/year ($29.99/month) $467.88/year ($38.99/month)

In addition to those subscriptions, there’s also the Norton 360 with LifeLock Select Plus subscription. This plan provides limited identity theft protection and credit monitoring, as well as access to an antivirus, password manager, VPN, and parental controls. It’s only available via an annual plan that costs $99.99/year. Aura also has similar extra security features, but it conveniently includes them on all of its subscriptions, so you don’t need to purchase a separate one.

There’s a 30-day free trial for all LifeLock-only subscriptions, and a 7-day free trial for the Norton 360 with LifeLock Select Plus subscription. The service backs all annual plans with a 60-day money-back guarantee, and all monthly plans with a 14-day money-back guarantee.

>>Learn More: LifeLock Review: A Hands-On Test in 2025

Aura & LifeLock Feature Comparison

Aura and LifeLock are both very feature-rich. We’ll go over how they handle identity theft protection, credit monitoring, extra security features, and child protection in this section.

Identity Protection

It’s pretty much a draw between the two services since they both have essential and extra identity theft protection features. Here’s a quick look at some of the features Aura and LifeLock offer:

Identity Theft Feature Aura LifeLock
Identity Theft Insurance Yes (up to $1 million per user) Yes (up to $3 million per user)
Identity Restoration Yes Yes
Dark Web Monitoring Yes Yes
Breach Notifications Yes Yes
Personal Information & SSN Monitoring Yes Yes
Home Title Monitoring Yes Yes
Criminal Records Monitoring Yes Yes

Both services provide great identity theft insurance. We have to note that LifeLock’s insurance is more comprehensive. Not only does it go up to $3 million per user, but its Family Plan (2 Adults + 5 Kids) even offers identity theft insurance for children (up to $1.05 million per child) — this is something very few identity theft protection services offer.

On top of all features mentioned in the above table, Aura and LifeLock also come with more tools for keeping your identity safe. They also have USPS address change monitoring, lost/stolen wallet protection, and ID verification monitoring. LifeLock also has a few extras that Aura doesn’t, like social media monitoring, phone takeover monitoring, and file-sharing network searches (this means LifeLock looks for personal data leaks on file-sharing networks). The same goes for Aura; it offers features like auto title monitoring that LifeLock doesn’t.

We do think that Aura is more convenient since it includes access to all identity theft protection features on all of its subscriptions. LifeLock’s subscriptions, however, are tiered — for example, the cheapest subscription (Standard) doesn’t come with phone takeover monitoring and file-sharing network searches.

Credit Monitoring

Both Aura and LifeLock come with essential credit monitoring and protection features. Here’s what you get with each one:

Credit Monitoring Feature Aura LifeLock
Transaction Monitoring Yes Yes
Bank Account Monitoring Yes Yes
3-Bureau Credit Monitoring Yes Yes (only on Ultimate Plus plan)
Monthly Credit Score Yes Yes
401(k) & Investment Account Monitoring Yes Yes (only on Ultimate Plus plan)
Credit Lock Yes Yes

It’s great that both services provide triple-bureau monitoring, but Aura definitely comes out on top. That’s because all of its subscriptions include triple-bureau monitoring. With LifeLock, only the most expensive subscription (Ultimate Plus) offers triple-bureau monitoring — the other plans only provide one-bureau monitoring. And LifeLock’s Ultimate Plus subscription is much more expensive than all of Aura’s subscriptions.

FYI: Three-bureau credit monitoring is the gold standard for identity theft protection services. It provides alerts of any changes that occur on reports from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Check out our roundup of the best credit monitoring services to see which providers meet our standards.

Once more, Aura gets bonus points for providing access to all credit monitoring and protection features on all of its subscriptions. With LifeLock, you’ll need to pay steeper prices to get access to more features. For example, credit reports and scores are only available on the Advantage and Ultimate Plus subscriptions, and 401(k) and investment account monitoring is only available on the Ultimate Plus plan.

Additional Security Features

Aura and LifeLock both provide access to extra security features. This includes an antivirus and a password manager. The antivirus protects your device against malware infections, and the password manager secures your logins. Each service also has a VPN, which secures your internet traffic and hides your real-time location by masking your IP address.

But we think Aura provides a better deal. It includes these security tools on all of its subscriptions. With LifeLock, however, you only get these tools via the Norton 360 bundles, which are more expensive.

On top of that, Aura also comes with other security features:

  • Email Alias. Lets you create and use a fake email when you sign up on certain websites. This protects you from spam emails and scams.
  • Data removal. Aura requests the removal of your data from data broker databases. Data brokers add your personal data to those databases, and then sell it to advertisers.
  • Spam call and message protection. Aura uses AI to protect you from robocalls and phone scams. This tool is included for free with the Family subscription, and is available as a paid add-on on the other subscriptions.

Child Protection

Both services are among the best identity theft protection services for families on the market. Aura and LifeLock both scan billions of public records to determine if someone else uses your child’s SSN. In addition, they both offer help with freezing your child’s credit.

They also both provide access to parental controls, which let you filter content and sites, schedule screen time, and monitor device locations. But Aura is more convenient since it includes the parental controls in its Family subscription. With LifeLock, parental controls are only available via the Norton 360 bundles.

Aura also has some extra child protection features that you don’t get with LifeLock:

  • Safe Gaming. Receive alerts when kids are threatened via in-game voice or text messages on over 200 popular PC games.
  • Sex offender geo-alerts. Aura alerts you about new or known sex offenders that are present within a one mile radius of your address.

>> Read About: 5 Child Identity Theft Statistics Every Parent Should Know

Comparing Aura & LifeLock’s Privacy Policies

To keep you safe, identity theft protection services need to collect a lot of your personal information. But before we started handing it over, we looked into what Aura and Norton do with it.

Aura

You won’t need a lawyer present to decipher Aura’s privacy policy. It’s presented well and easy to read.

But one line that stands out is that Aura can use your data to promote co-branded offers with partners. This may include contacting you about services from companies it thinks you might be interested in. However, it restricts the usage of your details to communicating, evaluating, and improving offers.

FYI: While Aura may share your data with partners, it clearly states in its privacy policy that it does not sell your information as defined by the Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA).

This line didn’t surprise us, as some of Aura’s services are white labeled. Its VPN is a reskin of Hotspot Shield, and Circle powers the parental controls. Even the gaming and cyberbullying alerts are backed by ProtectMe by Kidas. So, some of your details are shared with these partners to power them.

LifeLock

LifeLock’s privacy policy is very straightforward about what data the service collects. This includes account data, device data, identity data, service data, and more. The privacy policy makes it clear that LifeLock only uses this data to authenticate your account, deliver you the services you have selected, communicate with you, troubleshoot issues, and improve the LifeLock service.

Since LifeLock is a Norton product, we also checked out Norton’s general privacy policy. We found that the company shares your data with:

  • Data analytics providers
  • Payment processors
  • Public authorities and legal proceedings
  • Social media and internet platforms
  • Restoration services

But none of these raised alarm bells for us, as most identity theft protection services partner with third-party providers to improve their services.

Did You Know? LifeLock experienced a data breach in December 2022.3 It didn’t affect other Norton products, but customers using the password manager had financial and personal information leaked.

Bottom Line: Our Recommendations

There’s no doubt in our minds that Aura and LifeLock are two of the best identity theft protection services. Our latest head-to-head testing proves this. However, your choice depends on what exactly you’re looking for.

Overall, we think Aura is better. It’s able to go toe-to-toe with LifeLock’s mid-to-high level offering while maintaining a very budget-friendly pricing. If you want to pay as little as possible for comprehensive identity protection, then Aura is definitely the better choice.

LifeLock, on the other hand, outpaces Aura in some areas, like identity theft insurance. In order to enjoy those better benefits, you should be willing to pay a higher price. LifeLock is a premium service that lives up to its name.

Both are great options, but which identity protection service is right for you?

FAQs

  • Is Aura a good identity theft protection solution?

    Aura offers an extensive list of identity theft protection and credit monitoring features. And you get access to them no matter what subscription you pick. What’s more, it also comes with extra security tools, like an antivirus and a VPN.

  • What is the downside of LifeLock?

    LifeLock only has triple-bureau monitoring on the most expensive subscription. It also has too many plans, making it confusing to pick the right one for your needs. The price of the packages also increases significantly in the second year.

  • Has Aura been hacked?

    As of this time of writing, Aura has not had any hacks or reported breaches.

  • Can LifeLock be trusted?

    Yes, as its privacy policy makes it clear it doesn’t compromise your personal data. Plus, the service also offers great identity theft protection features.

  • Does Aura sell your data?

    Aura’s privacy policy clearly states that it does not sell information as defined by the CDPA.


Our Pick
Our pick is Aura Identity Theft Protection
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SecureScore™: 9.7 / 10 This rating is derived from our editorial team's research, hands-on product testing, and customer surveys.
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