Aura vs. Identity Guard 2024

You can thank Identity Guard for being one of the first companies to usher in the identity theft protection industry. Since the company’s inception in 1996, it has inspired other businesses to specialize in protecting customers from fraud and scams online.

One of those companies is Aura, which is the parent company of Identity Guard. It was created after the founder had his information stolen, and he wanted an affordable and easy-to-use service. So he built his own.

But how does it compare to the OG, Identity Guard? They offer many similar features, but in our experience with both, Aura provided greater value by including digital security tools with all of its plans.

Check out what we discovered.

About Aura

Aura protects over a million members worldwide with its all-in-one identity theft protection.

As part of its service, it includes essentials such as credit monitoring and data breach notifications. It also partners with other brands to power tools that keep you and your family safe online. Kidas’ technology provides gaming and cyberbullying alerts, for example, and Circle’s award-winning system manages parental controls.

>> Check Out: Aura Identity Theft Protection Review

About Identity Guard

Aura is Identity Guard’s parent company. In 2019, the founding company, Intersections Inc., merged with iSubscribed to create Aura.

In 20 years, Identity Guard has resolved over 140,000 fraud cases and helped more than 47 million customers. Instead of being an all-in-one solution like Aura, however, its features specifically target identity theft and credit protection.

>> Learn More: Identity Guard ID Theft Protection Review

Prices and Plans Breakdown

We expected the two companies to have similar plans since Aura is Identity Guard’s parent company, but they have completely different pricing structures.

Aura

The names of Aura’s plans ensure you won’t pick the wrong one. The features in each option are tailored to the namesakes of the plan. Here’s a quick overview of Aura’s pricing.

Aura’s Kids plan is less about identity theft protection and more about keeping your children safe when they’re online. That makes sense when you only want coverage for your kids.

The features in the Individual and Couple plans exclude anything child-related, but they have the standard three-bureau credit monitoring, identity theft insurance, and financial transaction alerts. There are also monitoring services for the dark web, as well as home and auto titles.

The Family package adds child safety features and useful tools such as cyberbullying alerts, child Social Security number monitoring, and child sex offender geo-alerts.

For added confidence, you can test any plan for free for 14 days. There is also a 60-day money-back guarantee when you pay annually.

Identity Guard

Identity Guard’s plans are less about how many people you want to cover and more about how many services you want to pay for. Each package can cover either one individual or five adults and unlimited kids. Here’s an overview of Identity Guard’s pricing before we get into the features of each plan.

The Value plan includes $1 million in identity theft insurance, data breach notifications, and dark web or high-risk transaction monitoring. The Total package adds bank monitoring and some credit protection, whereas the Ultra tier includes everything Identity Guard has to offer.

The company doesn’t offer a free trial like Aura, but it provides a 60-day money-back guarantee for annual payments.

Verdict on prices and plans: It’s easier to know which Aura plan to choose based on the packages’ names. Identity Guard has cheaper plans, but they lack some critical features. Aura’s free trial gives us the confidence to know we’ve chosen the right product.

How Do the Features Compare?

Since they’re part of the same company, many features included in both products work the same way. It’s the services missing from Identity Guard that stand out the most when comparing the two solutions.

Identity Protection

If your identity is stolen, Identity Guard provides up to $1 million in insurance on all of its plans, regardless of whether it’s for you or your family. Aura does the same with its Individual plan, but it offers $2 million with the Couple package and $5 million with the Family option. That comes out to $1 million per adult instead of $1 million total.

The extent of monitoring also differs between Aura and Identity Guard. On all of Aura’s plans, you’ll get home and auto title monitoring, financial transaction alerts, spam list removals, dark web monitoring, and more. Only some of those features are included in Identity Guard plans, and they’re exclusive to the premium options.

Verdict on identity protection: Aura has extensive coverage across all of its plans. Identity Guard offers an excellent entry-level product, but it doesn’t compare to the value Aura provides.

Credit Protection

The way Aura and Identity Guard monitor your credit score is identical, but how closely they observe your details differs. For the most comprehensive protection with Identity Guard, we had to pay for the Ultra plan. Here’s the breakdown and comparison.

Each Aura package provides the same level of credit protection. When we got the second-cheapest Individual plan, we still got full access to Aura’s credit-protection capabilities. We could even take action by instantly locking our Experian file to stop further identity theft or fraud. You can only do that with Identity Guard’s Ultra tier.

Verdict on credit protection: Aura easily wins this category. Identity Guard can alert you to suspicious activity surrounding your credit score, but you’ll need to purchase the top package if you want to take action. Otherwise you’ll have to deal with the bureaus on your own.

Device and Online Protection

This is where the differences between Aura and Identity Guard become more noticeable, mainly because Identity Guard provides only a safe browsing extension and a password manager.

Aura, meanwhile, is an all-in-one security solution that includes the same safe browsing extension and password manager. With our Aura subscription, we also got:

• Antivirus: Protect your devices from malware, viruses, ransomware, and more.
• VPN: With this replica of Hotspot Shield’s VPN, you can log in to one of 1,800 servers in over 80 countries to protect your identity and location online. Check out our review of Hotspot Shield to see our thoughts on the VPN.
• Storage: Store essential files and information in the cloud.
• Ad blocker: Avoid ads using site trackers that monitor your browsing activity.
• Spam call and message protection: A new AI feature for Aura verifies caller details before your phone starts to ring or you receive a message. It’s free with the Family plan, but you can also purchase it as an add-on.

The number of devices you can protect is restricted on the Individual and Couple plans, but it’s unlimited with the Family and Kids options.

Verdict on device and online protection: Aura easily dominates this category with the selection of digital security tools available with all its plans.

Child Protection

Aura creates further separation with the services it provides to keep kids safe online. Identity Guard includes identity theft protection for children under family plans, but it’s missing essential features that come standard with Aura.

We didn’t pay for the Kids plan since we don’t have children, but we like that it’s possible to upgrade our subscription later when we start a family. The child protection features with Aura include:

• Parental controls: Filter websites and set time limits on apps such as YouTube and Snapchat.
• Device management: Monitor what your children use their devices for and track their location when they’re out of the house.
• Screen-time limits: Set a timer, and once enabled, your child’s device will lock when their time is up.
• Usage tracking: Access reports on how long your kids spend online and the apps they use. You can also review their browsing history and social media activity.
• Video game monitoring: Receive instant alerts if your children are cyberbullied via messages or in-game voice chats so you can take action.
• SSN monitoring: Aura monitors everyone’s Social Security numbers, including your children’s, to ensure no one uses them for fraudulent activity.

Verdict on child protection: Aura does a better job of protecting children online than Identity Guard. The latter includes kids in all of its plans, but it doesn’t offer specific features to keep them safe in the digital world.

Final Verdict: Aura or Identity Guard?

With Identity Guard, you’ll need to decide what services you need. You’ll also have to consider how you’ll take action if your identity is stolen. If you want Identity Guard to lock your credit score, for example, your only option is the Ultra plan.

With Aura, however, that service is included in all of its packages. The company also provides other valuable features, including three-bureau credit monitoring, financial transaction alerts, and dark web monitoring. You even get several digital security tools, such as an antivirus app and VPN.

For an all-in-one identity theft protection solution, it’s hard to look past Aura. It provided us with everything we needed to stay safe online, and we think it will for you too.