Aura Alternatives: Free and Paid Options Compared (2026)

The main Aura alternatives are LifeLock, Identity Guard and IdentityIQ if you want another identity theft protection suite, or a removal-only service such as Incogni if data brokers are your real worry. Before paying for any of them, the free route covers a lot: a credit freeze at the three bureaus, free credit reports, and do-it-yourself opt-outs from people-search sites.

This comparison is research-based. We haven’t used any of these services; every fact comes from each company’s own pricing pages, plan pages, FAQs and terms, checked in September 2026. Prices change often, so check each company’s pricing page before you buy.

Why people look for Aura alternatives

Aura bundles a lot into one plan. As of September 2026, its Individual plan costs $12 a month billed annually or $15 billed monthly, and includes three-bureau credit monitoring, an Experian credit lock, antivirus, a VPN, a password manager, $1 million in identity theft insurance and data removal from 425+ brokers, people-search sites and junk mailers. That bundle suits some people and not others. The common reasons to look elsewhere:

• You already pay for security software. If you have antivirus, a VPN and a password manager, part of Aura’s price goes on tools you won’t use.
• You want a different refund or trial deal. Aura’s 60-day money-back guarantee covers annual plans bought directly (not through Amazon), and doesn’t cover monthly plans or renewals. Its free trial is 14 days, once per customer.
• You live outside the US or Canada. Aura’s service terms (effective October 1, 2026) limit eligibility to residents of those two countries.
• You only want one part of it. Some people want credit monitoring and nothing else; others only want their address off people-search sites.
• You want control. Many of the same protections are free if you’re willing to do the steps yourself.

Our Aura review and Aura pricing guide cover Aura itself in more depth.

Aura alternatives compared (as of September 2026)

All figures come from each company’s own site. “Not stated” means we couldn’t confirm it on their public pages.

Option	Entry price, one adult	Credit monitoring	Data broker removal	Device security	Trial or refund
Free route (freeze, reports, opt-outs)	Free	Free credit reports; freezes block most new accounts	You submit opt-outs yourself	Not included	Not applicable
Aura (for reference)	$12 a month billed annually, or $15 monthly	Three bureaus	425+ sites plus Google results you pick	Antivirus, VPN, password manager	14-day trial; 60 days on annual plans bought direct
LifeLock Core	$124.99 a year, or $12.49 monthly	Two bureaus (three on Advanced and Total)	Every 90 days; Core page says 60 broker sites	Not in standalone plans	30-day trial; 60 days on annual plans including renewals; 14 days on monthly
Identity Guard Value	$8.99 monthly; annual renews at $107.88	Starts at Total tier (three bureaus)	Not listed on any plan	No antivirus or VPN listed	No trial advertised; 60 days on annual plans bought direct; monthly not refundable
IdentityIQ Secure Basic	$8.49 monthly ($10.49 with VPN and antivirus)	One bureau on Basic and Plus; three on Pro and Max	Described on a features page; not on the plan cards	VPN and antivirus as an option	FAQ says no free trial typically; refund terms not stated
Incogni Standard	$7.99 a month billed annually ($95.88), or $15.98 monthly	None (removal only)	420+ data broker sites	Not included	30-day money-back guarantee

Start with the free options

Free official protections

123 Reputation Management doesn’t offer credit monitoring, identity theft insurance or breach monitoring, and we won’t pretend otherwise. For that side of identity protection, the official tools are free:

1. Freeze your credit at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. A freeze stops most lenders from opening new accounts in your name, which monitoring alone can’t do.
2. Pull your credit reports through annualcreditreport.com and check for accounts you don’t recognize.
3. Use IdentityTheft.gov if something has already gone wrong. The FTC’s site builds a recovery plan and an identity theft report.

Our guide to ways to prevent identity theft walks through each step, and readers in Britain can start with our guide to identity theft in the UK.

Our free Reputation Scanner, launching soon

For the exposure side, our free Reputation Scanner is a self-search tool that will find harmful results about you, rank the top 10 negative results by seriousness and how likely they are to be about you, and draft removal requests, including for personal information and doxxing, that you review and send yourself. It will be free to use, with no account and no billing. It isn’t live yet; see how the scanner will work.

Do-it-yourself opt-outs

Every major people-search site has an opt-out form. It takes time, but it costs nothing. Our guide to removing yourself from people-search sites covers the process, and our data broker opt-out list links each site’s form.

Paid Aura alternatives

LifeLock

LifeLock, owned by Gen Digital, is the closest like-for-like alternative. As of September 2026 its standalone plans for one adult cost $124.99 a year or $12.49 monthly (Core), $199.99 or $19.99 (Advanced) and $349.99 or $34.99 (Total). Identity theft coverage runs up to $1.05 million, $1.2 million or $3 million by plan, Advanced and Total add scam reimbursement ($5,000 and $10,000, not for New York residents), and every plan includes data broker removal that scans and submits requests every 90 days.

• Stronger than Aura on: a 30-day trial (payment method required), refunds that also cover annual renewals (60 days) and monthly plans (14 days), and higher reimbursement tiers on Total.
• Weaker than Aura on: data removal reach (the Core page says 60 broker sites), two-bureau monitoring on Core, family plans that cover two adults and up to 10 kids, and no antivirus or VPN in standalone plans.

See our Aura vs LifeLock comparison, LifeLock review and LifeLock pricing guide.

Identity Guard

Identity Guard is owned by Aura: its plans page says the Identity Guard name and designs are trademarks of Aura Sub, LLC, and its terms refer to “Aura Identity Guard”. It’s a separate, lower-priced line focused on monitoring. As of September 2026, monthly billing runs from $8.99 (Value, individual) to $39.99 (Ultra, family), and annual plans renew at $107.88 to $479.88 a year after a discounted first year that varies with promotions.

• Stronger than Aura on: a lower entry price if you only want monitoring and alerts.
• Weaker than Aura on: no data broker removal, antivirus or VPN listed; three-bureau credit monitoring only from Total up; white glove fraud resolution only on Ultra.

Our Aura vs Identity Guard comparison and Identity Guard review go further.

IdentityIQ

IdentityIQ, from IDIQ in Temecula, California, is a credit-focused suite. Its four plans cost $8.49 (Secure Basic), $11.49 (Secure Plus), $21.49 (Secure Pro) and $31.49 (Secure Max) a month on monthly billing as of September 2026, or $10.49, $13.49, $23.49 and $34.99 with VPN and antivirus added. Every plan lists $1 million stolen funds reimbursement, underwritten by AIG, and Secure Max adds fraud restoration with a limited power of attorney. Its FAQ says it doesn’t typically offer a free trial, and you cancel by calling 877-875-4347 during business hours or with the dashboard button where available.

• Stronger than Aura on: more credit tools, such as a score simulator and tracker on Secure Max and the rent and utility payment reporting its FAQ describes, and a lower entry price.
• Weaker than Aura on: one-bureau monitoring on the two cheaper plans, no stated refund policy on its public pages, and data broker removal that isn’t clearly tied to a plan.

Our IdentityIQ review covers the plans in detail.

Incogni (removal only)

If the part of Aura you actually want is data removal, a dedicated service costs less. As of September 2026, Incogni’s Standard plan is $7.99 a month billed annually ($95.88) or $15.98 month to month, covering 420+ data broker sites, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. It has no credit monitoring, insurance or device security. See our Incogni vs Aura comparison.

Our guides on whether data removal services are worth it and how data broker removal services work explain those limits in more detail.

A worked example

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client.

Marcus is a freelance designer. He already pays for antivirus and a password manager, and he’s been getting more spam calls since his details turned up on a people-search site. He’s weighing Aura against something cheaper.

1. He freezes his credit at all three bureaus first, which costs nothing and covers the biggest identity risk.
2. He lists what he’d actually use. Credit alerts would be nice; device security he already has. Data removal is the thing he wants most.
3. He compares a removal-only service like Incogni with Aura, and notes that Aura’s price includes security tools he’d be paying for twice.
4. He tries the free route for a month: opt-out forms for the biggest people-search sites, then a check to see which listings came down.
5. If the listings keep coming back, he’ll pay for a removal service on an annual plan with a refund window, and set a reminder before the renewal date.

Someone who wants everything in one app, including antivirus for a family of five adults, could reasonably decide Aura is the better fit.

How to choose an alternative to Aura

1. Do the free steps first. A credit freeze and free reports cost nothing and work alongside any service.
2. Decide which job you’re hiring for. Identity and credit monitoring, data removal and device security are three different products that suites bundle together.
3. Check where you live. Aura’s terms cover the US and Canada. LifeLock’s scam reimbursement excludes New York residents. Identity Guard and IdentityIQ price in US dollars.
4. Read the refund terms before you pay. They differ a lot: LifeLock covers renewals and monthly plans, Aura and Identity Guard cover only annual plans bought direct, and we couldn’t find IdentityIQ’s refund policy on its public pages.
5. Compare renewal prices, not first-year prices. Identity Guard’s first year is discounted; the renewal price is what you’ll pay after that.
6. Read the insurance terms. Every “up to” figure is a ceiling, underwritten by a third party, with exclusions. Our guide to identity theft insurance explains what it usually pays for.

For a wider view, our guide to the best identity theft protection compares more services, and our explainer on identity theft protection services covers what the category can and can’t do.

Common mistakes when switching from Aura

• Canceling before the new service is set up. Keep one running until the other is verified and monitoring.
• Assuming “identity protection” includes data removal. Identity Guard’s plans don’t list it, and LifeLock Core’s coverage is much narrower than Aura’s.
• Missing the refund window. Aura’s 60 days count from the trial sign-up date if you started with a trial. Our guide on how to cancel Aura covers the steps.
• Paying twice for security software. Check what you already have before choosing a bundle.

When the problem isn’t identity theft

If what worries you is a news article, a review or a post that shows up when someone searches your name, none of these services will touch it. That’s a reputation problem, and our personal reputation management service starts with a free audit.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to Aura?

It depends on what you’d use. LifeLock is the closest full suite, with a longer trial and broader refund terms. Identity Guard and IdentityIQ cost less but leave out some of Aura’s features. If you only want data removal, a removal-only service such as Incogni is cheaper. The free route (credit freeze, free reports, DIY opt-outs) covers a lot on its own.

Is there a free alternative to Aura?

There’s no free service that does everything Aura does, but the most important parts are free: credit freezes at the three bureaus, free reports at annualcreditreport.com, IdentityTheft.gov for recovery, and opt-out forms on people-search sites. Our free Reputation Scanner, launching soon, will also help you find harmful results about you and draft removal requests.

Is Identity Guard the same as Aura?

No, though Aura owns it. Identity Guard sells separate, lower-priced plans focused on monitoring, and as of September 2026 its plans don’t list Aura’s data removal, antivirus or VPN.

Is LifeLock cheaper than Aura?

For one adult, LifeLock Core is slightly cheaper as of September 2026: $124.99 a year against Aura Individual at $12 a month billed annually. LifeLock’s Advanced and Total plans cost more. Check both pricing pages for current prices.

Can I get a refund if I switch away from Aura?

Aura’s 60-day money-back guarantee applies to annual plans bought on its website or through its support team, and excludes monthly plans, Amazon purchases and renewals. Check Aura’s refund policy for the current terms before you cancel.