Aura and LifeLock are two popular digital safety platforms with robust packages for identity theft protection and credit monitoring. While they serve a similar purpose, the two platforms differ in features, privacy and security approaches, pricing structures, and user experience.
In this Aura vs. LifeLock comparison, we’ll explore how the two stack up across key categories, so you can make an informed choice based on your needs.
What Is Aura?
Aura is an all-in-one digital safety tool with powerful features designed to protect users’ identity and information. The platform’s options cover various online security aspects, including credit monitoring, identity theft protection, online data removal, and an advanced password manager.
A significant portion of Aura’s features is dedicated to children’s online safety. Parents can monitor their children’s activity, get personalized insights, and encourage healthy screen time.
What Is LifeLock?
LifeLock is an identity theft protection service designed to monitor your personal and financial data, as well as your credit reports, to alert you in case of suspicious activity. The platform was originally founded in 2005, so it has a long tradition of helping people navigate the digital world with a high level of security.
A wide information monitoring scope, comprehensive identity theft insurance packages, and efficient alerts make LifeLock suitable for individuals who want to prevent data misuse.
Aura vs. LifeLock: A Concise Comparison
To offer an objective comparison of the two platforms, we’ve zeroed in on the following aspects:
- Features
- Data protection policies
- Plans and pricing
- Customer reviews
We’ve specifically focused on features to underline the differences between Aura and LifeLock and explain the value each platform offers.
LifeLock vs. Aura: Features
Aura and LifeLock offer a broad range of functionalities aimed toward protecting online identity and security. We’ve cross-compared the platforms’ following features:
- Identity protection
- Credit monitoring
- Financial account monitoring
- Identity theft insurance
- Parental controls
- Online security features
Identity Protection
Identity protection is at the core of both Aura and LifeLock. The platforms track your personal identifiable information (such as your name, date of birth, SSN, and phone number) and constantly monitor the following for leaks or suspicious activity:
- Dark web
- Data brokers
- Public records
- Bank and investment accounts
- Criminal and court records
- Social media accounts
- Payday loans
- Online sites and forums
LifeLock expands its monitoring scope to include file-sharing networks, which Aura doesn’t monitor. Aura’s advantage lies in the scope of information it monitors. For example, its watchlist includes your address, driver’s license, and passport numbers, while LifeLock doesn’t focus on these data points.
Both platforms send alerts to warn you about unusual activity or fraud attempts, and Aura’s alerts seem more detailed, as they provide information on the next steps, while LifeLock’s don’t.
Credit Monitoring
Aura and LifeLock monitor your credit reports and history to detect and notify you of suspicious activity, which could indicate identity fraud. Both focus on the three major credit bureaus:
- Equifax
- Experian
- TransUnion
The key difference here is that the three-bureau monitoring option is available on all Aura’s plans, whereas LifeLock offers this only on its two most expensive pricing options. If you opt for the most affordable plan on LifeLock, you’ll get one-bureau monitoring.
Financial Account Monitoring
Both Aura and LifeLock can monitor your bank accounts, credit card activity, and 401(k) and investment accounts to warn you of fraudulent transactions or attempts to take out payday loans under your name. If your wallet gets stolen or lost, both platforms offer customer service support to help you take appropriate action.
With Aura, financial account monitoring and alerts are built into every plan. LifeLock offers these features only on its more expensive plans.
Identity Theft Insurance
Identity theft insurance helps you get back on your feet if your identity is stolen and can cover lawyer fees, stolen funds, or child care expenses. Both platforms offer this insurance with a few key differences:
- Aura offers a single $1 million policy for every adult member in the plan, covering many eligible losses and expenses.
- LifeLock offers different insurance amounts depending on the plan and breaks its coverage into three categories: lawyers and experts insurance (up to $1 million), stolen funds reimbursement ($25,000 or $1 million, depending on the plan), and personal expense reimbursement ($25,000 or $1 million, depending on the plan).
Overall, LifeLock’s insurance options appear to be more comprehensive and offer greater flexibility.
Parental Controls
Aura and LifeLock offer family plans that allow parents to:
- Protect their children against identity theft
- Filter the content they see
- Set screen time limits
There are a few key differences to keep in mind:
Aura offers more comprehensive parental control features, while LifeLock provides child identity theft insurance, so the choice ultimately depends on your specific needs.
Online Security Features
All Aura plans offer powerful security and privacy features, such as:
- Google search results removal
- Automatic data broker site removal
- Antivirus
- Password manager
LifeLock doesn’t offer Google search results removal. It does have a VPN, antivirus, password manager, and automatic data broker site removal, but to access these features, you need to get the Norton 360 add-on.
LifeLock vs. Aura: Data Protection Policies
Considering that both Aura and LifeLock require you to provide a lot of sensitive personal and financial information to access their service, you want to ensure their data protection policies shield you from breaches, leaks, and online attacks.
Both platforms have transparent and detailed privacy policies to ensure you understand the following:
- What data is collected
- How your data is used
- Why and how your data is shared
Selling user data isn’t part of either platform’s business model.
Despite a comprehensive privacy policy and commitment to providing online safety and privacy, LifeLock has experienced a data breach. In 2022, hackers breached Norton Password Manager accounts through credential-stuffing attacks, compromising approximately 925,000 accounts.
The company claimed that its systems weren’t breached and that the attack was caused by account compromise on other platforms, but that still doesn’t deny the fact that thousands of users were affected.
At the time of writing, Aura hasn’t been associated with any data breaches or security incidents.
Aura vs. LifeLock: Cost and Available Plans
Aura offers four plans, with one specifically designed for children. Below is an overview of the plans and their prices:
- Individual: $12/month
- Couple: $22/month
- Family: $32/month
- Kids: $10/month
*All prices are based on annual billing
All offer more or less the same features, with key differences being in the number of users, level of insurance coverage, and number of children-oriented options. With each plan, you get a 14-day free trial.
LifeLock offers a more comprehensive pricing structure:
*All prices are based on annual billing
At first glance, LifeLock seems like a more affordable option, but it’s worth noting that the Standard Individual plan is quite basic. It only offers identity theft insurance, one-bureau monitoring, and identity and social security alerts. For comparison, Aura’s Individual plan offers everything in LifeLock’s plan plus a VPN, password manager, instant credit lock, antivirus, and a range of other features.
If you’d like to access LifeLock’s more advanced functionalities, you’ll need to get more expensive plans or the Norton 360 add-on for many of the features that are built into Aura’s plans.
Another important consideration is that LifeLock changes prices after the first year. For example, your first yearly subscription for the Standard individual plan would cost you $89.99, but it would renew at $124.99 per year.
Aura vs. LifeLock Reviews
Which service has better customer reviews, Aura or LifeLock? If we judge by TrustPilot, LifeLock takes the win, with a 4.8 rating and nearly 10,000 user reviews, compared to Aura’s approximately 900 reviews and a 4.3 rating.
Users are generally happy with both platforms, highlighting the following advantages:
- Prompt alerts in case of suspicious activity
- Responsive customer support
- Reliability
Although rare, LifeLock and Aura have received some negative feedback. LifeLock’s Achilles heel seems to be customer support. Several users mentioned that they had trouble reaching a rep, and even when they did, the team wasn’t helpful or knowledgeable.
Aura is praised for its customer service but lacks in another department. Users often had trouble getting refunds and canceling subscriptions. For example, one user stated that they had canceled the subscription during the trial period but were still charged.
LifeLock vs. Aura: The Final Verdict
Both LifeLock and Aura are excellent options for anyone who is concerned about their online security and wants to prevent identity and data theft.
LifeLock may be more suitable if you:
- Want robust identity theft insurance
- Don’t mind paying more for extra features
- Prefer a platform with a long tradition
- Don’t need robust parental controls
Aura could be a better fit if you:
- Want to protect yourself and your family, including children, from online threats
- Need more comprehensive security features
- Want an all-in-one digital privacy solution without having to get the most expensive plan
Ultimately, you can’t go wrong with either platform; it all comes down to your personal preferences and priorities.
Enhance Your Protection With a Privacy-First Mobile Carrier
Aura and LifeLock keep you safe by alerting you to suspicious activity involving your personal or financial information. While they help you act quickly to potential threats, these platforms don’t deal with prevention and aren’t designed to address a crucial question: How was your information compromised in the first place? In many cases, the culprit is the one you’d never suspect—your mobile carrier.
Most carriers collect a significant amount of your information, and poor security practices paired with outdated infrastructure can lead to data leaks and breaches. We’ve seen this in practice more than once; all major U.S. carriers, including T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T, have experienced breaches in recent years, jeopardizing the security of thousands of subscribers.
To enhance your online security and privacy, combine Aura or LifeLock with a privacy-first mobile carrier, such as Cape.
Meet Cape: The Secure Carrier Designed for Today’s Threats
Traditional carriers collect detailed records of your calls, texts, and locations. That data becomes a liability, fueling surveillance, breaches, and leaks.
Cape takes a different approach. We’re a privacy-first carrier that collects only the bare minimum required to keep your service running. What little data is necessary is stored briefly, never shared, and never sold. With less data to compromise, you’re better protected from the start.
At the core of our network is Cape’s own cloud-native, software-based mobile core. A mobile core is the backbone of a cellular network that controls the complex systems to connect people across endpoints. By running our own network, we can control how data flows through your device and implement modern security protocols.
Other security-first features of Cape include:
Cape offers all the benefits of a premium carrier, even with the added security and privacy safeguards. At $99/month (taxes and fees included, no hidden costs), you get:
- Unlimited 4G and 5G with fast speeds
- Unlimited talk and text
- Free international roaming (for eligible countries and devices)
Secure Your Communications With Cape
You can sign up for Cape using our anonymous onboarding process here.
We’ve partnered with Proton to help you build a privacy-first ecosystem. You can choose between Proton Unlimited and Proton VPN Plus when you become a Cape subscriber, and you only pay an extra $1 for six months.
