Is LifeLock Worth the Cost? (2024)

Value or scam? Explore if LifeLock's identity theft protection worth its price starting at $11.99/month to $34.99/month.

What Is LifeLock?

LifeLock is an identity theft protection service. It offers three main services:

• Monitors for threats to your identity
  
• Alerts you when threats are detected
  
• Helps you recover from identity theft

LifeLock doesn't actually prevent you from identity theft. It only detects and tells you if there's something suspicious. This way, you can stop it before more damage occurs.

If you do become a victim, LifeLock will help you resolve the issue, reimburse lost money, and restore your record.

How Much Does LifeLock Cost?

LifeLock offers plans, starting at $11.99 per month and going up to $34.99 per month.^[1] If you purchase an annual subscription upfront, you get a discount off monthly prices. After the first year, the plans renew at a higher price. All plans are for one user only.

All annual memberships get a 60-day money-back guarantee.

We'll go over the plans and pricing and what you get. First, here's a chart to compare at a glance:^[1][2]

LifeLock Standard: $11.99 per month

This is LifeLock's most basic plan. The Standard plan monitors one credit bureau and provides up to $25,000 reimbursem*nt for stolen funds.

It has these identity fraud monitoring features:

• One-bureau credit monitoring
  
• Dark web monitoring: Scans the dark web for your personal information
  
• LifeLock Privacy Monitor: Scans people-search websites for your info
  
• USPS Address Change Notification
  
• Lost Wallet Protection: Assists you in canceling your bank cards, checkbooks, driver's license, and more if you lose your wallet

If you do become a victim of identity theft, LifeLock offers a Million Dollar Protection package. The Standard plan includes:

• $25,000 of Stolen Funds Reimbursem*nt: Reimburses your stolen money from fraudulent bank account takeovers, investment account withdrawals, tax return refunds, and more.
• $25,000 of Personal Expense Compensation: Reimburses costs incurred for things like travel and lost wages due to identity theft.
• $1 Million of Coverage for Lawyers: Covers costs for lawyers and experts to help resolve your case. LifeLock will provide the lawyers and other experts if needed.

LifeLock Select: $17.99 per month

This plan also includes Norton 360 services to provide protection for your devices.

You get all the same protection as the Standard plan plus:

• Norton anti-virus software for up to 10 devices
  
• Norton Secure VPN for up to 10 devices
  
• 250GB of PC cloud backup
  
• Ad-Tracker Blocker
  
• PC SafeCam: Prevents hackers from accessing your webcam

LifeLock Advantage: $22.99 per month

The Advantage plan still only gives you one credit report monitoring. But the Stolen Funds Reimbursem*nt and Personal Expense Compensation both increase to $100,000.

Norton security and VPN can protect up to 10 devices. The PC cloud backup is also increased to 250 GB.

You also get a few more protection features, including:

• Bank and credit card monitoring
  
• Alerts on crimes committed in your name
  
• Data breach notifications
  
• Fictitious identity monitoring
  
• Annual credit report and score from Equifax

LifeLock Ultimate Plus: $34.99 per month

LifeLock's highest tier plan offers the most comprehensive protection. This is the only plan that monitors all 3 credit bureaus.

The Ultimate Plan also gives you up to $1 million in Stolen Funds Reimbursem*nt and $1 million in Personal Expense Compensation.

If bundled with Norton 360, you get security and VPN protection for unlimited devices, as well as 500 GB of PC cloud backup.

In addition to all the other protection features, you also get:

• 401(k) and investment accounts monitoring
  
• Bank account takeover and new accounts alerts
  
• File sharing network searches
  
• Sex offender registry reports
  
• Annual credit report and score from all 3 bureaus

LifeLock Identity Advisor: $3.99 per month

If you're not sure about getting one of the monitoring plans, LifeLock offers a restoration service plan. This helps you to restore your identity if you do become a victim of identity theft. You'll get a dedicated Restoration Specialist who will help you through the process.

The Identity Advisor plan costs $3.99 per month for the first year ($4.99 per month after that).^[3]

Note that this plan does not provide credit monitoring, alerts, or the Million Dollar Protection package.

Is LifeLock Worth the Cost?

Starting at $11.99 a month, LifeLock is definitely not cheap. But is the service worth the price?

Remember that LifeLock does not actually prevent identity theft. It only keeps an eye out for any suspicious activity and alerts you, so you can take action before anything worse happens.

Only the highest-tier plan offers total protection. The lower tiers still leave a lot of gaps in coverage, making them essentially half useless. Only monitoring one credit report still leaves a lot of holes for fraud to slip through. You can monitor your credit for free if you're willing to take the time.

You are entitled to one free credit report per year from each credit bureau from AnnualCreditReport.com.

That said, LifeLock Plans bundled with Norton 360 is not a bad deal. For a small extra cost, it's a decent deal to also get anti-virus and VPN protection for your devices.

LifeLock's real value comes if you do become a victim of identity theft. That's already a stressful situation and you may not know how to handle it yourself. LifeLock will provide expert help, reimburse your stolen funds, and help recover your credit.

Bottom Line

LifeLock is worth considering if you want peace of mind that someone is looking out for threats to your identity. And if you do become a victim, LifeLock will help get your life back on track.

Just keep in mind that the lower-tier plans are not comprehensive, so you may still need to do some monitoring of the other 2 credit reports yourself.

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