Aura vs. Experian: Which Wins? (2024 Update)

Getting your identity stolen is one of those things you want to believe won’t ever happen to you.

But cybercriminals are getting more sophisticated in their tactics. Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes, with over 42 million American adults affected last year alone.

You might not even realize you’ve been a victim of identity theft until your bank accounts are drained or your credit takes a nosedive.

So how can you protect yourself? The solution: an identity theft protection service.

There are a bunch of different options on the market, but Aura and Experian IdentityWorks are two of the most well-known.

Today, we’ll compare how these services stack up against each other so you can decide which is best for you.

Don’t feel like reading to the end? Here’s our final verdict:

💡 Aura is better for those looking for an all-in-one solution with most digital security features for individuals and families. Starting at just $12/month, Aura’s plans are affordable and offer a wide array of features like identity and credit monitoring, online security tools, and 24/7 customer support.

💡Experian IdentityWorks is best for individuals who are primarily focused on monitoring and tracking their credit. They also offer a basic free plan which is a plus for many people.

 

Aura vs. Experian at a glance

At a glance, Aura and Experian IdentityWorks provide similar features, but Aura is better for families while Experian may work better for you if your main goal is improving/maintaining your credit.

It’s also important to note that while Aura’s premium plans start out cheaper, Experian offers a basic free plan that provides access to a handful of credit monitoring tools. This could be a good alternative if you’re on a tight budget, but it leaves you vulnerable to identity thieves in other ways.

Both tools aim to safeguard your personal information, but the features they offer differ in several ways. Here’s how they stack up against each other feature-wise:

 

Aura pros, cons, & pricing

Aura is a highly rated, award-winning identity protection solution. It offers a range of robust features to keep both you and your family safe from cybercriminals.

Here are a few features it offers:

• SSN monitoring
• Dark Web monitoring
• $1 to $5 million in identity theft insurance
• Lost wallet remediation
• 3-bureau credit monitoring
• Credit lock
• Annual credit reports
• Antivirus & VPN
• Sensitive files vault
• Spam call & message protection

Pros of Aura

• Faster fraud alerts: Speed is one area where Aura really shines. In fact, Aura has been shown to send out fraud alerts up to 250 times faster than its competitors.
• Three-bureau credit monitoring: Aura offers credit monitoring with all 3 bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax) on all of its plans.
• Suite of digital security tools: Aura provides a VPN, antivirus, password manager, and Safe Browsing tools so you can proactively protect yourself.
• New Call Assistant feature: Aura recently came out with a new AI-powered feature that screens your calls and messages and uses AI to filter out spam.

Cons of Aura

• Pricier than some other options: Aura’s plans start out at a higher price point than other identity protection services (but it could be argued that this is to be expected since they offer a lot more features as well).

• Not a lot of plan flexibility: Aura doesn’t offer different tiers of protection depending on the exact features you need. The only customization available is whether you want individual or family protection.

Aura pricing

• Individual (1 adult): $15/month ($12/mo billed annually)
• Family (2 adults, unlimited children): $30/month ($24/mo billed annually)
• Ultimate (5 adults, unlimited children): $50/month ($37/mo billed annually)

 

Experian pros, cons, & pricing

Experian is primarily known as one of the three major credit bureaus, but they also offer an identity protection service known as IdentityWorks.

Here are a few features it offers:

• Dark Web monitoring
• Social network monitoring
• Lost wallet assistance
• $1 million in identity theft insurance
• Identity validation alerts
• Court records monitoring
• Payday loan monitoring
• Financial account monitoring
• FICO Score Simulator
• Lock/unlock your Experian credit file

Pros of Experian

• Three-bureau credit monitoring: Experian offers credit monitoring with all 3 bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax) on both of its paid plan options.
• Free plan option: For those not needing a comprehensive identity theft protection service, Experian offers a basic free plan. This plan is primarily for monitoring your credit reports and tracking your FICO score.
• 30-day free trial: If you’re still shopping for identity protection alternatives and aren’t sure if you want to make a commitment, Experian offers a 30-day free trial so you can try out all its features before you buy.

Cons of Experian

• Customer service not available 24/7: Experian doesn’t offer live customer support around the clock, so if you have an issue with the service, you could be stuck waiting hours or even days to get your issue resolved.
• Free plan provides very limited identity protection: While Experian’s basic free plan may be a pro to some, this plan pretty much only focuses on credit while the rest of your personal information goes unprotected.
• No digital security tools: Experian doesn’t offer access to a VPN, antivirus, password manager, or any other online safety tools.

Experian pricing

• Basic (1 adult): Free
• Premium (1 adult): $24.99/month
• Family (2 adults, up to 10 children): $34.99/month

Experian vs. Lifelock compared

Now that we’ve taken a high-level look at Aura and Experian, here’s how their features stack up against one another.

 

Identity monitoring

Identity monitoring tools track your personal information (like your address, phone number, usernames and passwords, SSN, and more) and notify you if it’s been leaked anywhere. That way, you can take action quickly to minimize the damage.

Both Aura and Experian offer identity monitoring and give you the ability to run a Dark Web scan at any time. While both services send you alerts if it thinks your identity has been compromised, Aura’s alerts are faster.

✅ Winner: Aura

Aura’s fraud alerts have been shown to be up to 4x faster than competitors (including Experian), so they have the leg up here.

 

Credit monitoring

Credit monitoring involves regularly reviewing your credit reports and notifying you of any suspicious activities. A good identity protection service can help alert you of new accounts opened in your name, credit inquiries you didn’t make, etc.

Aura offers monitoring with all three bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, Equifax) on all of its plans. Since Experian is one of the three major credit bureaus, it makes sense that they offer credit monitoring as well. Experian offers 3-bureau monitoring on its paid plans as well as single bureau monitoring on its basic free plan.

✅ Winner: Experian

Both Aura and Experian offer 3-bureau credit monitoring on paid plans, but Experian also offers a free plan with 1-bureau monitoring, which is helpful if you’re not ready to fully invest yet.

 

Financial Account Monitoring

A good identity theft protection tool will monitor your bank accounts, credit cards, and investment and retirement accounts.

If you’re on the Premium plan, Experian will monitor your bank accounts and any credit cards you have. You’ll receive notifications if there’s any suspicious activity on your account, like wire transfers or charges that may be fraudulent.

Aura monitors transactions through your bank account, credit cards, and investment accounts on all of its plans. It’ll alert you quickly if a fraudster manages to get access to your account.

✅ Winner: Aura

Both Aura and Experian monitor bank accounts and credit cards, but Aura also monitors investment accounts.

 

Online & device security

If you browse the internet a lot or use public wifi outside of your home, you’re at increased risk for getting your identity stolen. Fortunately, there are tools out there that can help protect you.

Aura provides a VPN, antivirus, password manager, and Safe Browsing tools so you can keep your devices and data secure. Experian doesn’t provide any of these tools

✅ Winner: Aura

Experian doesn’t provide any kind of device security tools, so Aura comes out on top here.

 

Identity theft insurance

Dealing with identity theft can be expensive, especially if your bank accounts are drained before you realize something’s gone wrong.

Most identity protection services offer insurance just in case the worst does happen. Aura offers up to $1 million in ID theft insurance per adult on all of its plans. So, if you have 5 adults on the highest-priced plan, you’re covered for up to $5 million.

✅ Winner: Aura

Aura offers up to $5 million in insurance per adult, while Experian only offers up to $1 million total.

 

Identity restoration

If your identity is stolen, not only will you be covered by insurance, but most services will do what they can to help you recover your identity.

Both Aura and Experian assign U.S.-based fraud resolution specialists to their customers who have been affected by identity theft. They can help you restore your accounts, recover assets, and secure any additional cards or ID information you may have.

✅ Winner: Tie

Both Aura and Experian have U.S.-based fraud resolution specialists to deal with identity theft cases. Plus, they each offer lost wallet assistance, so they tie in this category.

 

Ease of use

Any new tool is going to have a learning curve, but in general, Aura is easy to use while Experian is medium difficulty.Aura has a 4.7 star Trustpilot rating and seems to be easy for most users to set up and use. Experian, on the other hand, has a 3.8 star Trustpilot rating, with mixed reviews from customers about its ease of use.

✅ Winner: Aura

Overall Aura is higher-rated and seems to be easier to set up and use.

 

Customer support

If you run into any issues while using your identity protection tool, you should be able to rely on customer support to walk you through it.

Luckily, Aura offers 24/7 customer service and has a team of U.S.-based support specialists to help you out. Experian, on the other hand, does not offer 24/7 live customer support. Some users have complained that trying to get help from an actual human can be difficult.

Here are a couple excerpts from Trustpilot reviews that drive the point home:

• Aura: “I spoke to three different people between 5 different phone calls, they communicated so well together I didn’t have to repeat what was going on. They were all so kind and respectful.”
• Experian: “Their customer service seems pretty good, as long as your topic fits into their computer-generated options available to select. Otherwise, you are out of luck. There does not appear to be any way possible to speak with a person.”

✅ Winner: Aura

Aura’s customer service is 24/7 while Experian’s is not, so Aura is the clear winner here.

 

The final verdict on Aura vs. Experian

To recap, these are the winners of each category we discussed:

• Identity monitoring: Aura
• Credit monitoring: Experian
• Financial account monitoring: Aura
• Online & device security: Aura
• Identity theft insurance: Aura
• Identity restoration: Tie
• Ease of use: Aura
• Customer support: Aura

Which leads us to our final verdict: Both Aura and Experian are solid choices if you’re looking for a credit monitoring service, but if you’re also looking for identity monitoring, Aura is superior.

Even on their lowest-priced plan, you’ll receive comprehensive identity and credit monitoring, plus a suite of digital safety tools to protect you while you browse and shop online.

If you want to see how Aura shapes up next to other identity protection solutions, you might also enjoy these articles:

• Aura vs. Lifelock: Which Is Best in July 2023?
• Identityforce vs. Lifelock: Which Wins? Why Aura Beats Both