In our opinion, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to identity theft protection, which is why we prefer LifeLock. They offer that ounce of prevention in their monitoring capabilities and a pound of cure with up to $3 million insurance. Zander only offers up to $1 million insurance with minimal monitoring but at a lower monthly cost.
LifeLock and Zander both offer above-average insurance coverage. That’s Zander’s main form of protection. They focus on making you whole again after an identity theft incident instead of preventing it from happening in the first place. Of course, we got some monitoring like Social Security number (SSN) monitoring when we tested Zander, but they only focus on your identity — leaving your credit vulnerable.
While we still got plenty of insurance when we tested LifeLock to help us recover if our identity was stolen, they offer a lot more in terms of prevention than Zander. That’s why they’re our top choice for identity theft protection since they provide the best of both worlds with identity and credit monitoring. But, do you need the prevention LifeLock charges a premium for? Or, is Zander enough? That’s exactly what we’re going to help you find out by putting them head-to-head based on our personal experience testing both services.
LifeLock vs. Zander: A High-Level Overview
LifeLock showed us all the information they were monitoring for us and made it easy for us to add more.
If you’ve looked into identity theft protection, you’ve probably already heard of LifeLock. They’re one of the biggest names in the industry, with their impressive insurance and long list of monitoring capabilities. As part of the Gen Digital family of products, LifeLock also offers bundles with Norton 360 to round out your identity and credit protections with top-tier cybersecurity tools.
Zander Insurance doesn’t have the same name recognition as LifeLock, so they started working with finance celebrity Dave Ramsey. He endorses their identity theft protection service, which became their claim to fame. They also offer solid insurance coverage that reimburses more than just costs, recovering your identity like most of the industry.
Now that you have some background, let’s cover the key similarities and differences between them before we dive into the details.
>> Learn More: A 2025 Comparison of Identity Theft Protection Services
Did You Know? We typically do not recommend bundling identity theft protection with cybersecurity tools. Most bundles either offer subpar cybersecurity tools or subpar identity theft protection. LifeLock is one of the few cases where both sets of tools are high quality.
Similarities Between LifeLock and Zander
To our surprise, these two companies have more in common than we would have thought, with their different backgrounds and approaches. Here are the key similarities between LifeLock and Zander:
- Insurance Coverage: LifeLock offers more money in insurance, but both offer above-average coverage since they both offer stolen funds reimbursement. Most companies in the industry only cover costs to recover your identity, such as lawyer fees.
- Strong Identity Monitoring: Although identity monitoring is the main type of protection Zander offers, it’s actually quite good and close to on-par with LifeLock. They each provide advanced monitoring that most competitors skip on, like home title monitoring and retirement account monitoring.
- Bundles With Cybersecurity Tools: Zander partnered with UltraVPN to offer a VPN and antivirus service in their premium plan. While we prefer the Norton 360 cybersecurity tools that come with LifeLock, we’re glad they both offer digital protections.
- Child Identity Protection: There are family plans from both Zander and LifeLock that include monitoring and insurance for your children. That’s why they both made our list of the best identity theft protection services for families.
- Recovery Specialists: If your identity gets stolen, Zander and LifeLock will provide you with an identity recovery specialist who will help you regain control of your identity.
- 24/7 Support: No matter the time or day, you can always get in contact with Zander and LifeLock by phone, as they both offer 24/7 support. LifeLock also offers a 24/7 live chat.
Differences Between LifeLock and Zander
All of our alerts from Zander were clearly displayed in the home page dashboard.
Of course, there are distinguishing factors between them too, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to have a preference. Here are the key differences between LifeLock and Zander:
- Credit Monitoring: Every LifeLock plan includes some amount of credit monitoring with their premium plan, including three-bureau credit monitoring, whereas Zander does not offer any credit monitoring.
- Pricing: There’s no getting around it: LifeLock charges more for their services than Zander. In our opinion, it’s worth the premium price.
- Child Credit File Detection: If someone uses your child’s identity to take out a line of credit, they’ll also create a credit file. LifeLock monitors for this activity, whereas Zander only monitors their identity.
- Credit Reports: You’ll get a monthly credit report showing you all of your lines of credit from all three bureaus with LifeLock. They also provide you with your credit score. Zander does not offer credit reports.
- Criminal Fraud Detection: Some people commit identity theft by using your name when caught committing a crime. This can result in a warrant out for your arrest due to a crime you didn’t commit. Out of the two, only LifeLock monitors for these instances.
- Fictitious Identity Monitoring: A new approach to identity theft is using some of your information to create a fake identity. Then, the use of a fake identity is less likely to be caught. LifeLock monitors all of your information individually, so if someone uses your name and address, for instance, but a different SSN, they’ll still catch the fraud.
>> Learn About: 5 Child Identity Theft Statistics Every Parent Should Know
LifeLock vs. Zander: An In-Depth Comparison
We’ve covered the highlights, now let’s dig into the details. There are a lot of reasons to like LifeLock and Zander. Even though we prefer LifeLock, that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. So, we’re going to discuss all the key factors you should consider when deciding between these two high-quality identity theft protection services.
Pricing
When it comes to pricing, we have to give it to Zander. They provide great value, with plans starting at $6.25 per month. By comparison, LifeLock’s pricing starts at $7.50 per month, but it includes one-bureau credit monitoring, which is missing even from Zander’s premium plan. That’s why we think LifeLock’s higher prices are worth it. They also both offer family plans that cover two adults and children for an extra fee.
>> Read More: Best Identity Theft Protection Services for Children in 2025
LifeLock’s Pricing
LifeLock’s plans come with a 30-day free trial that we used to fully test their capabilities.
Like we said, if you’re looking for the lowest cost protection, you won’t be happy with LifeLock’s pricing. But, if you want comprehensive protection for reasonable prices, that’s where LifeLock shines. Here’s an overview of LikeLock’s plans and pricing:
NortonLifeLock Subscription Plans
| LifeLock Services | Standard | Select | Advantage | Ultimate Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Credit Monitoring | Single Bureau | Single Bureau | Single Bureau | Triple Bureau |
| Annual Credit Report and Scores | Not Provided | Not Provided | Single Bureau | Triple Bureau |
| TransUnion Credit Lock | Not Provided | Not Provided | Provided | Provided |
| Fictitious Identity Monitoring | Not Provided | Not Provided | Provided | Provided |
| Home Title Monitoring | Not Provided | Not Provided | Not Provided | Provided |
| Identity Restoration | Up to $1 Million | Up to $1 Million | Up to $1 Million | Up to $1 Million |
| Stolen Funds Reimbursement | Up to $25,000 | Up to $25,000 | Up to $100,000 | Up to $1 Million |
| Personal Expense Compensation | Up to $25,000 | Up to $25,000 | Up to $100,000 | Up to $1 Million |
| Norton 360 | Unavailable | +$0.83 Per Month | +$2 Per Month | +$5 Per Month |
| Price | Starts at $7.50 Per Month | Starts at $7.50 Per Month | Starts at $14.99 Per Month | Starts at $19.99 Per Month |
FYI: Prepare yourself for a higher rate once your first annual subscription with LifeLock expires. Their renewal pricing is about 30 percent higher than their introductory prices. We also recommend subscribing to an annual plan over month-to-month, as it cuts the cost of a subscription by almost half.
Zander’s Pricing
While you won’t get quite as much protection from Zander, mainly a lack of credit monitoring, their prices are attractive. Here’s an overview of Zander’s plans and pricing:
| Service | Essential | Elite |
|---|---|---|
| $1 Million Insurance for Recovery and Stolen Funds Reimbursement | Yes | Yes |
| SSN Monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Dark Web Monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Home Title Monitoring | No | Yes |
| Experian Credit Lock | No | Yes |
| Antivirus and VPN | No | Yes |
| Bank Account and Transaction Monitoring | No | Yes |
| Price | Starts at $6.25 Per Month | Starts at $10.83 Per Month |
Winner: Zander
Monitoring Capabilities
Zander found our email address and our entire shipping address in a data breach from 2018.
Strictly looking at LifeLock and Zander’s identity monitoring capabilities, they’re pretty similar. Zander almost matches up to LifeLock’s impressive monitoring. But, that’s not all we look at. We don’t just want to know if someone uses our SSN, we also want to know if someone takes out a line of credit in our name or uses our name after committing a crime. That’s the type of protection we only get from LifeLock.
Here’s a comparison between LifeLock and Zander’s monitoring capabilities:
| Feature | LifeLock | Zander Insurance |
|---|---|---|
| SSN Monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Home Title Monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Investment Account Alerts | Yes | Yes |
| Bank Account Application Alerts | Yes | Yes |
| One-Bureau Credit Lock | Yes | Yes |
| Phone Takeover Monitoring | Yes | No |
| Fictitious Identity Monitoring | Yes | No |
| Buy Now Pay Later Alerts | Yes | No |
| Social Media Monitoring | Yes | No |
| Three-Bureau Credit Monitoring | Yes | No |
Winner: LifeLock
>> Read About: A 2025 Guide to Identity Theft Protection Services
Pro Tip: If you’re on a tight budget, you don’t need to sacrifice credit monitoring by going with Zander. You can monitor your own credit by pulling free credit reports on a weekly or monthly basis from Annual Credit Report.1
Insurance and Restoration
LifeLock gave us an entire dedicated page to submit and track any identity theft incidents.
Most identity theft protection services, including LifeLock, use a separate company to provide their insurance. Zander, however, is an insurance company themselves, so you’re getting your insurance directly from them. In our opinion, that doesn’t make a difference, because either way they need to provide coverage according to their contract. We reviewed both of their contracts, and their identity theft coverage and stolen funds coverage are mostly the same. LifeLock also offers personal expense reimbursement, though, which is missing from Zander’s insurance coverage.
All of Zander’s plans cover at most $1,000,000 per adult covered. LifeLock offers plans with up to $3,000,000 coverage per adult split equally between identity recovery expenses, personal expenses from identity theft, and stolen funds reimbursement. That’s what puts LifeLock at the top of our list of the best identity restoration services.
For restoration, LifeLock and Zander offer the same service. They let us get in contact with their restoration experts 24/7 by phone. So, no matter when an identity event may have occurred, we could get the help we would’ve needed with either service. One thing we will note: LifeLock also offers a live chat for support.
Winner: LifeLock
Did You Know? LifeLock’s high insurance coverage also makes them our favorite identity protection service for businesses. Involving a business in an identity theft incident makes the recovery more difficult and can allow the thief to steal more funds. That extra insurance can keep your business afloat.
Bundles With Cybersecurity
To further protect your identity, LifeLock and Zander offer bundles with some cybersecurity protections. The cybersecurity bundles from both companies come with antivirus software, a VPN, and a password manager. Even though they’re the same services, we prefer LifeLock’s bundle, as Norton 360 provides higher-quality antivirus than UltraAV. We like their VPN more too but not by much. Norton’s antivirus has a virus protection promise, which we appreciate.
Adding Norton 360 doesn’t even add much to a LifeLock plan, either. At most, it adds about $5 per month. Upgrading to a plan with cybersecurity tools from Zander costs about the same, but, in our opinion, for lower-quality protection.
Winner: LifeLock
>> Check Out: Comparing Aura vs. LifeLock in 2025
FYI: A VPN can help protect your identity, as one way identity thieves steal your information is by intercepting your data when you connect to the internet. They spoof networks so you think you’re connected to a safe one, and then when you, for instance, log in to your bank account, they can steal your credentials.
Credit Protection
On top of locking our TransUnion credit file, LifeLock also helped us freeze our Experian and Equifax credit files too.
This is where LifeLock outshines Zander by a lot. LifeLock offers a lot of credit protections, and Zander offers almost none. The only credit protection we could get from Zander is a credit lock feature for Experian in their premium plan. LifeLock offers a credit lock too, except for TransUnion. That’s the extent of the similarities.
On top of a credit lock, LifeLock also includes at least one-bureau credit monitoring with every plan, with the premium plan including three-bureau credit monitoring. That ensures if anyone tries to pull out a line of credit in your name, the monitoring will catch it when the creditor pulls a credit check — i.e., before the line of credit gets approved. This lets you take action before any harm is caused. In addition to credit monitoring, LifeLock’s premium plan includes credit reports and credit scores for all three bureaus. This all makes LifeLock one of our favorite credit protection services.
Winner: LifeLock
NortonLifeLock vs. Zander: Our Recommendation
LifeLock gave us a clean dashboard to manage every aspect of our identity protection.
Even though we like LifeLock more, Zander’s still a solid choice — especially if you’re on a tight budget. We’d recommend their Essential plan, though, if you opt for Zander. Their Elite bundle does not add enough capabilities for almost twice the monthly rate, and, at that point, we’d recommend going for LifeLock.
Zander offers undeniable value, but, if you can afford it, you get a lot more from LifeLock. We find the extra $14 per month for their premium plan compared to Zander’s Essential plan to be well worth it. You’ll get three-bureau credit monitoring and up to $3,000,000 insurance compared to Zander’s $1,000,000 and no credit monitoring.
To sum it up, if you can afford it, go with LifeLock. But, Zander’s a solid, affordable option. For more options, check out our roundup of the best LifeLock alternatives.
FAQs about Zander and NortonLifeLock
- Is Zander more affordable than LifeLock?
Yes, Zander’s individual plan starts at $6.25 per month, while LifeLock’s most basic plan starts at $7.50 per month.
- Do Zander and LifeLock both offer credit monitoring?
No, only LifeLock offers credit monitoring. They offer at least one-bureau credit monitoring on all plans and three-bureau credit monitoring for their premium plan.
- Do Zander and LifeLock offer protection for children?
Yes, both offer family plans that cover children. LifeLock’s family plan covers up to five children, while Zander’s covers up to 10.
- Do Zander and LifeLock offer dark web protection?
Yes, both services scan the dark web for key pieces of identifying information like SSNs and bank accounts.
- Will Zander and LifeLock help if my identity is stolen?
Yes, both offer robust stolen funds reimbursement coverage for legal expenses. They will also both provide you with an identity recovery specialist to provide you with guidance and support.
