8 Best Credit Monitoring Services in 2024 (Free & Paid)

Which Credit Monitoring Service Is Best?

Credit monitoring services play a critical role in protecting your financial health by giving you access to your credit history, alerting you to changes in your credit score, and providing you with tools that measure the impact of your credit decisions. 

But perhaps most important, credit monitoring provides one of the only ways to spot early warning signs of potential fraud and identity theft. 

If identity thieves access your personal data, credit monitoring can warn you before they can damage your finances and good credit.

Unfortunately, not all credit monitoring services are equal — and the differences matter. 

Some credit monitoring services, including most free services, only monitor certain aspects of your credit file with just one credit bureau. They may also send out notifications too late — leaving you just as vulnerable as if you had no monitoring at all.  

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What To Look For in a Credit Monitoring Service

Most credit monitoring services appear similar on the surface, but there are differences and nuances between them that impact the level of protection they provide.

Here are five components that we look for when ranking the best credit monitoring services of 2024:

• Three-bureau credit monitoring. Each of the three major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion — collects different credit information. If your service doesn't provide three-bureau credit monitoring, you could miss seeing identity theft red flags. 
• Fast and reliable alerts. Alerts need to be in near real-time, accurate, and detailed. Notifications should cover all suspicious activity, including major changes, mistakes, and inaccuracies in your credit information. We prefer services that publish fraud alert speed statistics and back them up with third-party tests. 
• Cost. Paid credit monitoring providers typically charge a monthly fee that can easily exceed $20. There are free options available, but they usually offer limited features and protection. 
• Credit scoring model used (VantageScore® or FICO®). Each scoring model uses different weights and values when calculating credit scores. For example, FICO® puts more emphasis on credit balance [*], while VantageScore® focuses more on credit mix [*]. 
• Bundled fraud protection. You need more than credit monitoring to defend against identity theft and fraud. We look for services that include preventative antivirus and anti-phishing tools, as well as accessible support and recovery options. 

The 8 Best Paid and Free Credit Monitoring Services (2024)

The best credit monitoring services combine 3-bureau credit monitoring, fast and reliable fraud alerts, and financial account monitoring — plus proactive protection against identity theft along with accessible recovery support if you become a victim.

Most credit monitoring companies hit the mark on some — but not all — of these features. 

To help you find a service that’s suited to your needs, we compiled a list of the eight best paid and free credit monitoring services and credit score apps.

1. Aura

Why we picked it: It hasn't taken long for Aura to become a leader in the credit monitoring space, having only entered the market in 2017. In that brief period, Aura has topped the credit monitoring "best of" lists of Forbes, USNews.com, and CNBC. 

Each of Aura's identity theft packages comes with three-bureau credit monitoring, the industry's fastest fraud alerts³, one-click Experian CreditLock, and up to $5 million in identity theft insurance. 

Aura also offers financial account monitoring (including AI-powered suspicious transaction alerts for linked bank accounts), VantageScore® credit score tracking, and advanced digital security to prevent identity theft. And if you become a victim of identity theft, you can enjoy peace of mind knowing you have 24/7 access to a dedicated U.S.-based support team.

Best plan & average cost: Aura Individual for $9.99/month.

Aura’s protection plans all include the same high level of financial fraud protection, and differ only in the number of people you wish to cover under your plan. The individual plan protects one adult with three-bureau credit monitoring, monthly credit scores (and annual three-bureau credit reports), identity and bank account monitoring, cybersecurity tools for all of your devices, and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance. 

Our verdict: For about the same price that you might pay for a lesser credit monitoring service, Aura gives you advanced device and identity protection on top of its robust credit monitoring — all from a single easy-to-use web or mobile app. Plus, with the industry’s fastest fraud alerts, you’ll be warned first if your data has been used to illegally open new credit accounts or take out loans in your name. 

2. Identity Guard

Why we picked it: Identity Guard has been an identity theft protection leader for more than 20 years, and has claimed to have helped more than 47 million customers and resolved over 140,000 fraud cases during that time [*]. 

Identity Guard offers three-bureau credit monitoring in two of its three plans, along with monthly VantageScore® credit scores, Dark Web scanning, bank account monitoring, device protection, and up to $1 million in ID theft insurance.

Best plan & average cost: Identity Guard Ultra for $25/month.

Identity Guard's Ultra plan features premium credit protection that includes three-bureau monitoring, monthly credit scores, and an Experian CreditLock, plus bank account, investment account, and public records monitoring. 

Our verdict: Identity Guard offers some of the most extensive credit and identity monitoring and protection in the industry, with both individual and family plans available. However, if you’re looking for a true all-in-one provider that includes digital security, Identity Guard may come up a little short. 

📚 Related: The Top Identity Guard Alternatives To Consider →

3. Experian IdentityWorks

Why we picked it: Owned and operated by Experian, one of the three major credit bureaus, IdentityWorks is backed by one of the biggest names in the credit industry. 

IdentityWorks offers a Basic plan with free Experian credit report monitoring and FICO® score tracking. The Premium plan includes three-bureau credit monitoring, an Experian CreditLock, daily Experian FICO® scores, and identity alerts.

Best plan & average cost: IdentityWorks Premium for $24.99/month.

The IdentityWorks Premium plan includes more thorough credit monitoring than the free service, plus identity theft protection and insurance.

Our verdict: IdentityWorks offers reliable credit monitoring, but it lacks the digital security and other protective features that you might expect for the cost. 

Something to consider: When you sign up for a credit monitoring service from one of the credit bureaus (such as ID Watchdog from Equifax and IdentityForce from TransUnion), you may forfeit your right to a class action lawsuit against the bureaus if your data is leaked in a breach [*].

📚 Related: Is Identity Theft Protection Worth It In 2024? Only In These Cases →

4. CreditWise by Capital One

Why we picked it: Administered by Capital One, CreditWise allows users to monitor their financial health for free. 

CreditWise features two-bureau credit monitoring (TransUnion and Experian), a VantageScore® credit report tracker, and credit alerts. Users can request their credit reports 24/7 and get a better understanding of how financial decisions impact their credit scores.

Best plan & average cost: CreditWise has only one plan, and it's free.

Our verdict: CreditWise makes credit monitoring easy and accessible, but it won't do much for protecting your identity or your devices. 

5. LifeLock

Why we picked it: For nearly 20 years, LifeLock has been providing users with identity theft protection and credit monitoring. In 2017, when Symantec acquired the company, it added Norton’s digital security tools to some of its packages. 

While LifeLock Standard plans only include one-bureau credit monitoring, its Ultimate plans feature three-bureau credit monitoring, unlimited VantageScore® updates, a TransUnion credit file lock, and up to $3 million in identity theft insurance. It also includes substantial identity and financial account monitoring.

Best plan & average cost: LifeLock Ultimate Plus for $19.99/month.

The Ultimate Plus plan includes three-bureau credit monitoring, unlimited credit score access, and identity monitoring with alerts. Be warned that the price you pay for your first year as a LifeLock customer will increase upwards of 40% in your second year and beyond.   

Our verdict: LifeLock has one of the most recognizable names in the industry, but the confusing plans and significantly increased renewal rates may hurt users in the long term. 

📚 Related: Is LifeLock Worth It? What You Should Know Before Buying →

6. MyFICO®

Why we picked it: Developed by the company that invented FICO® credit scores, MyFICO makes it easy for users to track their credit scores and monitor their financial health. 

MyFICO offers three plans, including a free option; but only the paid plans offer three-bureau credit monitoring, identity monitoring, mortgage and auto loans interest rate updates, and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance.

Best plan & average cost: MyFICO Premier for $39.95/month.

The Premier plan includes three-bureau credit monitoring, monthly FICO score® updates, and limited identity monitoring — but at a higher price than almost any other service.

Our verdict:  MyFICO claims that its tools give you a more accurate picture of the credit score more commonly used by lenders — but you’ll pay dearly for that privilege. Plus, FICO® scores can be obtained for free from over 200 lenders [*].

7. Credit Karma 

Why we picked it: Brought to you by the well-known financial software company, Intuit, Credit Karma offers a free credit and financial health monitoring tool. 

Credit Karma provides free credit monitoring of TransUnion and Equifax credit reports, unlimited VantageScore® credit scores, and credit alerts. When you sign up, Credit Karma builds a credit profile for you so that you can track your credit score and improve your financial health. 

What you should know about Credit Karma’s “free” services: The only way Credit Karma is able to offer its services for free is by promoting credit cards and other products (and taking a cut when you sign up for one of them). 

In the past few years, Credit Karma has also been hit with a $3 million fine from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over false advertising of “pre-approved credit offers” [*] as well as a security glitch that exposed personal finance data to other users [*].

Best plan & average cost: Credit Karma offers only one plan, which costs you nothing.

Our verdict: Credit Karma makes credit monitoring free and accessible for everyone, but the service does not prevent or protect you from identity theft. It has also faced fines and scrutiny over how its business operates and its lack of data protection for customers. 

📚 Related: The 6 Best Credit Karma Alternatives (How To Choose) →

8. Credit Sesame

Why we picked it: Credit Sesame provides users with a credit management tool that tracks VantageScore® credit scores and credit reports from TransUnion — for free. 

Credit Sesame allows users to monitor and better understand their credit scores, which can help them make more informed personal finance decisions.

Best plan & average cost: Credit Sesame Free plan.

While Credit Sesame offers a Premium plan with three-bureau credit monitoring and restoration support, it doesn't have enough features or protection to make it more valuable than the free plan.

Our verdict: Credit Sesame offers free basic credit tracking and paid credit monitoring, but neither plan provides any digital or identity protection.

Do You Really Need To Pay For a Credit Monitoring Service?

The truth is that you can track your own credit file and scores mostly for free. For example, every American is entitled to access free credit reports from all three major bureaus every week at AnnualCreditReport.com. 

Some banks and credit cards also offer free credit monitoring as an incentive for signing up, or you may even get free credit monitoring after a company or service you use is impacted by a data breach. This is often offered through specialized companies like Kroll or IDX.

However, monitoring your own credit or using free tools can come with serious downsides, such as: 

• Limited scope. Free tools almost never include identity theft protection, insurance, or three-bureau credit monitoring. 
• Reliability. Many services only alert you to major credit changes — missing many of the smaller and earlier identity theft red flags. 
• Slow alerts. Fraud alerts often arrive well after an event, which doesn't give you enough time to prevent damages. 
• Lack of customer support. Companies may not provide the type of support you need, and it may not be available when you need it.

The bottom line: Monitoring your own credit is too much work for the average person. Even with a free tool, you’ll still need to potentially monitor your credit reports with other bureaus that aren’t covered on your plan. Plus, you’ll have no control or protection over how scammers use your stolen information — such as for hacking, identity theft, or worse.

For peace of mind, protection against scams, and support when you need it most, it’s worth paying for a credit monitoring solution. 

Aura Keeps You Safer Than Stand-alone Credit Monitoring Services

You'll find no shortage of credit monitoring services to choose from, but very few can offer the same level of protection as Aura. 

With Aura's robust identity theft protection package, you receive identity, credit, and financial account monitoring along with the industry's fastest and most reliable fraud alerts. You also get extensive digital security, 24/7 U.S.-based support, and up to $5 million in identity theft insurance coverage. 

Ready for award-winning all-in-one protection? Try Aura free for 14 days.