Identity theft is often a crime of opportunity, with thieves targeting those most vulnerable. Reducing the risk of identity theft will go a long way to avoiding identity theft entirely. You can set up complex passwords for each online account you own, shred sensitive documents before throwing them away, or sign up for an identity theft protection service.
Business Insider compared Aura to the best credit monitoring services and the best identity theft protection services and found it to be one of the highest-value offerings with some of the lowest prices in the industry.
Overview of Aura
What is Aura?
Aura offers comprehensive identity protection at some of the best prices on the market.
While we like Aura's three-bureau credit monitoring and antivirus security, what really stood out to us is Aura's White Glove fraud resolution. If your identity is stolen as an Aura customer, an Aura White Glove agent will help you create a plan to prevent additional damage and recuperate losses.
With only one plan available, you'll get everything Aura has to offer when you sign up. This is a double-edged sword, especially for people who only want light identity theft protection. If you just want some light credit monitoring and dark web monitoring without anything else, you'll find cheaper options with identity protection services that have various tiers of protection.
That said, Aura is one of the more affordable identity theft protection services on the market. It offers a 60-day money-back guarantee, 14-day free trial, and couples and family plans.
User Reviews and Ratings
To top it off, Aura has a fairly well-reviewed mobile app. Its android app has an average rating of 4.5 stars across 4,750 reviews while its iOS app has an average of 4.6 stars across 13,500 reviews. It also earned accreditation and an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, though customers didn't rate Aura nearly as well, giving it an average for 1.25 stars out of five across 16 reviews. Its average rating on Trustpilot is much more favorable, receiving an average of 4.7 stars across 472 reviews.
Aura Identity Theft Plans
While most identity theft protection services offer plans based on the level of protection they offer, Aura has one plan with the same level of protection. The only exception is the Aura Family plan, which includes parental controls not included in the individual or couple plans.
| Aura Individual | Aura Couple | Aura Family | |
| Members included | One member | Two members | Five members, unlimited children |
| Identity theft insurance | $1 million | $2 million ($1M per adult) | $5 million ($1M per adult) |
| White Glove Fraud Resolution | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 24/7 Customer support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Anti-Virus | 10 devices | 20 devices (10 per adult) | 50 devices (10 per adult) |
| VPN | 10 devices | 20 devices (10 per adult) | 50 devices (10 per adult) |
| Safe browsing | 10 devices | 20 devices (10 per adult) | 50 devices (10 per adult) |
| Online account monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SSN and personal info monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Spam call and junk mail removal | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Home title and address monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Criminal and court records monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit lock | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bank account monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Financial transaction monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Monthly credit score | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Annual credit reports | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Parental controls | No | No | Yes |
Aura's Key Features and Benefits
Seeing all these features at once can be a lot to digest, so let's unpack some of Aura's offerings.
White Glove Fraud Resolution
White Glove Fraud resolution is a key feature for Aura and its sister service, Identity Guard. The service provides a White Glove case manager to help you recover your identity if you're the victim of identity theft. With this manager, you can create a plan to recuperate any losses due to identity theft and limit the risk of future instances of theft.
Credit monitoring and credit reports
If an identity thief obtains your Social Security number, they will usually try and use it to borrow money under your name. It's important to catch any instances of identity theft early to mitigate damage. Aura reviews your credit report from the three major credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion — and notifies you of any changes it detects. Unlike other identity theft protection services that reserve tri-bureau monitoring for their more expensive tiers, Aura provides monitoring from the three bureaus in its single plan.
Aura also provides annual credit reports from the three major credit bureaus, but consumers can access a free credit report from each of the credit bureaus weekly. You can access these credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com.
On top of credit monitoring, Aura also provides your Equifax credit score.
Dark web and criminal activity monitoring
Dark web monitoring and criminal activity monitoring are two of the services that most identity theft protection services perform that are hard to replicate on your own. Criminal activity monitoring scans public records for your information, indicating criminal identity theft. Dark web monitoring searches for your personal information exchanging hands on the dark web. Aura folds this service into its personal information monitoring.
Cybersecurity features
Aura's toolbox of cybersecurity features includes antivirus software, a VPN, and password manager and vault. These are features not often seen among identity protection services, especially not at Aura's price point.
Parental controls
The only feature that's exclusive to Aura's family plan, this service gives parents control over their kids' devices with screen time limits and internet usage tracking. Parents can also block and filter content for their children. For parents with kids who play video games, Aura also offers monitoring for in-game voice and text chat.
One notable exclusion in Aura's coverage for parents is the lack of social media monitoring.
Pricing and Plans
Since Aura offers one protection plan, its price tiers only change based on how many people sign up for identity protection. The displayed price on Aura varies based on how you access its website. Listed below are the best prices we found.
| Monthly | Annually | |
| Individual | $12-$15 | $144 |
| Couple | $29 | $264 |
| Family | $50 | $444 |
Prices may vary depending on how you access Aura. We've been able to find monthly prices as low as $12 for individual plans, but we've also found prices as high as $15 monthly.
How to enroll in Aura Identity Protection
When you sign up for Aura, you can usually find a discount floating around. You can try searching for "Aura discount," which will often yield a better deal than if you click Aura's "Pricing" tab.
Usually, you'd have to choose between plans that vary in protection and pricing, but your plan with Aura depends on who you want to cover. Once you make your choice and get started with the sign-up process, you'll have to be prepared to input the following information:
- Name
- Home address
- Phone number
- Date of birth
- Social Security number
You'll need to decide if you want to pay monthly or commit to the annual billing cycle, which will save you money but locks you into the service.
After you've completed your account, your 14-day free trial will commence. If you signed up for the annual membership, you'll have 60 days to cancel the service for a refund. Your 60-day refund window begins at the start of the service, not the end of the 14-day trial.
Aura vs. Competitors
Aura offers some of the strongest identity protection for some of the lowest prices on the market. For one, it's one of the cheapest plans that offers tri-bureau credit monitoring, which is usually reserved for some of the most expensive services.
Compared to other identity theft protection services, Aura stands out as one of the cheapest.
| Company | Cost |
| Aura All-In-One | $15 monthly or $144 annually |
| Norton 360 with LifeLock Select | $17.99 monthly or $179.99 annually |
| IdentityForce Ultra Secure+Credit | $29.95 monthly or $299.50 annually |
| IDShield 3 Bureau Plan | Starting at $14.95/month |
| PrivacyGuard Identity Protection | $9.99 per month |
| Complete ID | $8.99 monthly for Executive members, $13.99 monthly for Business and Gold Star members |
Note: Complete ID is potentially the cheapest service, but you must pay for an Executive Costco membership to qualify for the lowest price, which costs $120 annually.
Aura vs. LifeLock by Norton
The most noticeable difference between Aura and LifeLock is that Aura's single plan is nearly the same price as LifeLock Standard, its cheapest plan. In Aura's one plan, you get identity theft monitoring, tri-bureau credit monitoring, identity theft recovery services, and even some device and online safety software.
To get the same level of security with LifeLock, you have to subscribe to its most expensive plan. Even then, you still wouldn't get the same level of cybersecurity as you would with Aura unless you sign up for Norton 360 with LifeLock, which made our guide to the best identity theft protection services.
Read our LifeLock review.
Aura vs. IdentityForce
At their best, Aura and IdentityForce both offer comprehensive identity protection with cybersecurity features and tri-bureau monitoring. However, Aura's best is much cheaper than IdentityForce's, costing less than half than IdentityForce UltraSecure+Credit.
IdentityForce does have some notable benefits. For one, IdentityForce offers a 30-day free trial and a pro-rated refund for unused services. Notably, IdentityForce also offers a credit score simulator which roughly predicts how certain actions may affect your credit score.
Read our IdentityForce review.
Frequently Asked Questions About Aura Identity Theft Protection
Aura offers identity theft protection, credit monitoring, fraud alerts, and financial tools.
Aura offers a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate.
Yes, you can cancel Aura. There is a 60-day money-back guarantee on Aura annual plans. If you signed up for a free trial, your 60 days start on the day your trial began.
Yes, Aura offers customer support via phone, email, and live chat.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Evaluate Identity Theft Protection Companies
Most identity theft services follow the same tiered pricing system, offering more features for more money. Because these companies also offer similar services for their premium service, we rate companies based on what they offer at what price point. Along the way, we note exceptional inclusions and exceptional exclusions. We pay particular attention to public records and dark web monitoring as those services are difficult to replicate on your own.
Using these criteria, Aura stands above other identity theft protection services by including every feature it offers in a single plan with a low price. You don't need to upgrade for more protection or downgrade for a more reasonable price.
While this is our primary consideration when we rate identity theft protection companies, we also look at a company's Better Business Bureau rating to see how responsive it is to its customers. We consider aspects such as return policies and free trial offerings.
Read our full explanation of how we rate identity theft protection services.
