In going through the process of evaluating several of the various Identity Protection services I found it to be an incredibly confusing see of marketing materials. At the end of the day, all I really want to know is who will provide me the best coverage at a reasonable price. You are probably in the same boat. This stuff is confusing. As part of my comparison process I'm looking at Lifelock, TrustedID, ID Watchdog, IdentityTruth, and IdentityGuard. There are additional services, but these seem to be the best of the bunch. Check out my comparison checklist to see how these 5 companies compare.
From my assessment, it seems like TrustedID offers the best vaule with their annual family plan, which includes you, your spouse, your kids, adult parents living with you, and any other relative living under your roof.
ID Watchdog seems to be the most expensive of the offerings, but I can't really figure out what makes them worth the money. Of the things I think I should be interested in having, ID Watchdog has fewer of the bases covered.
IdentityTruth and Lifelock both seem to be very similar in service to TrustedID at a slightly higher price.
Identity Guard comes in a few cents cheaper than ID Watchdog, but is a little irritating in their offering a "free ID Vault" aka a USB key with encryption for a mere $7.99 shipping and handling.
I haven't made a purchase as of this writing, but I'm leaning strongly toward TrustedID.
| Fraud Alerts | ![]() |
|
|
|||
| Credit Bureau Monitor |
|
|
||||
| Service Guarantee |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Credit Reports |
|
|
|
|
||
| Credit Score |
|
|||||
| ID Theft Recovery Assistance |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ID Theft Recovery Service |
|
|
||||
| Stolen Wallet Assistance |
|
|
|
|||
| Junk Mail Prevention |
|
|
|
|||
| Scan Internet |
|
|
|
![]() |
||
| Public Record Monitoring |
|
|
||||
| PDA/Laptop Protection |
|
|||||
| Financial Restitution | $20,000 ID Theft Insurance |
$1 Million Warranty |
$1 Million Warranty |
Unknown | Unknown | |
| Cost | Individual plan $14.99 per month 1st Month Free $7.99 S/H ID Vault Family plan None Visit Identity Guard |
Individual plan $99.00 annually $9.00 per month Family plan $99.00 per adult $22.50 per child Visit LifeLock |
Individual plan $84.15 annually $8.50 per month 3-month minimum Family plan $161.49 annually $16.99 per month Visit TrustedID |
Individual plan $179.95 annually $19.95 per month Free 15-day trial Family plan None offered Visit ID Watchdog |
Individual plan $99.99 annually $9.99 per month 3-month minimum Family plan None offered Visit IdentityTruth |
|
Note: I have attempted to compile this information as accurately as possible. This is a working document and I'd be happy to make corrections if there are inaccuracies or if data changes in the future.

