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Experian’s identity monitoring flagship service
Updated June 18, 2024
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Credit monitoring is a key part of ID theft protection, so it’s not a shocker that Experian offers an identity theft protection service. After all, Experian is one of the three major credit bureaus — they track your financial activity and have all sorts of data on your credit history.1 Since Experian knows when you open a credit card or take out a loan, it makes sense that they can help you detect identity fraud, too.
We’re quite familiar with Experian IdentityWorks. We got to know the service inside and out when we tested it for our full Experian IdentityWorks review. So naturally, we have the scoop on the different plans and pricing options as well.
Did You Know? The three major credit reporting bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — track our financial records and determine our credit scores. And each one offers some type of identity theft monitoring.
Keep in mind that Experian offers other monitoring services, which we’ll discuss in a bit. But IdentityWorks is their bread-and-butter identity protection service. So let’s dive in and take a closer look at the plan options, prices, and any available deals out there. We’ve got everything you need to know about IdentityWorks right here.
What you’ll get through Experian IdentityWorks:
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If you want to sign up with IdentityWorks, you first need to choose a plan that makes sense for you and your budget. Note that IdentityWorks offers two different plans: IdentityWorks Plus is their entry-level option, and IdentityWorks Premium gives you comprehensive protection against fraudsters. And among these plans, you can also choose individual and family coverage options.
We found Experian to be pretty flexible with their pricing and payment options. We had the choice to pay for IdentityWorks by the month or by the year. Sure, paying annually would have saved us some money, but we’d have to pay up-front for the whole year if we went with annual billing. Also, if we decided to cancel halfway through the year, we’d pay a pretty steep price as there are no prorated refunds. So the right pricing option for you depends on your level of commitment.
| Plan | Group | Monthly Price | Annual Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Experian IdentityWorks Plus | One adult | $9.99 per month | $99.99 per year |
| Experian IdentityWorks Premium | One adult | $19.99 per month | $199.99 per year |
| Experian IdentityWorks Plus | One adult and up to 10 children | $14.99 per month | $149.99 per year |
| Experian IdentityWorks Premium | One adult and up to 10 children | $24.99 per month | $249.99 per year |
| Experian IdentityWorks Plus | Two adults and up to 10 children | $19.99 per month | $199.99 per year |
| Experian IdentityWorks Premium | Two adults and up to 10 children | $29.99 per month | $299.99 per year |
Experian IdentityWorks – Account Overview
As we highlighted above, within each IdentityWorks subscription, you can cover up to two adults and up to ten children. That should be plenty of protection to cover your spouse and any little ones in your home. Of course, purchasing identity theft coverage for just one adult is your cheapest option. Then the mid-tier plan offers coverage for one adult and up to ten kids.
So… are family plans worth it? Well, keep in mind that while child identity theft is rare, it does happen.2 If your child’s identity is stolen and used fraudulently, the crime can go unnoticed for years. So we generally recommend playing it safe and paying a little more to protect your kiddos. We think the added peace of mind is well worth the extra $5 per month.
Pro Tip: Child identity monitoring isn’t as essential as adult monitoring, but it’s a good safety net — and it’s usually very cheap! Look for a service that will add child coverage to your plan without costing an arm and a leg.
Thankfully, both of Experian IdentityWorks’ main plans include key features like credit monitoring, recovery services, and insurance. This actually impressed us. In our experience, many brands only provide credit monitoring in their more expensive plans. Even one of our favorite companies, Identity Guard, structures their plans this way (but you can trust that Identity Guard has plenty of redeeming qualities). At any rate, we believe that credit monitoring should be a basic feature included in every plan, so we’re glad to see it here.
All right, now it’s time to put it all on the table and take an in-depth look at Experian IdentityWorks’ packages to see if one suits your tastes and budget!
Starting at $9.99 per month, IdentityWorks Plus includes both credit monitoring and social security number monitoring. And if you opt for a family plan, you’ll also get child identity monitoring. Bear in mind, however, that some ID monitoring features are only available in the Premium plan. Thankfully, the Plus plan offers a fairly strong feature-set considering its just basic coverage.
Pro Tip: If credit bureaus like Experian are already looking at your credit, why not also keep you up to date on your credit score? It only makes sense to us! Credit score tracking is a great personal finance tool, and the best services build it into their identity monitoring dashboards.
If you go with the Plus option, you’ll get credit monitoring from one bureau (Experian, of course). You’ll also have access to your daily credit scores, which is helpful if you’re looking to shore up your credit for a big purchase like a new home. IdentityWorks Plus also gives you access to recovery services in the event you become a victim of an identity crime. Finally, it includes insurance coverage of up to $500,000. Now, $500,000 might seem like a lot of money (and it is!), but the gold-standard for the industry is actually $1 million in coverage.
Who it’s best for: IdentityWorks Plus is ideal for folks looking for a cost-effective solution that covers the basics of identity monitoring, recovery, and insurance.
Experian IdentityWorks – Add-On Options
Pro Tip: If you’re mostly concerned about identity theft recovery services and insurance, we recommend looking into Zander Insurance. Their affordable plans start at only $6.99 per month.
Who it’s best for: IdentityWorks Premium is a safe bet for individuals and families looking for more extensive coverage, including three-bureau credit monitoring.
Experian IdentityWorks – App Alerts
If you’re interested in signing up for IdentityWorks, you’ll want to look for the best prices. We’ve seen some identity theft protection services offer heavy discounts at certain times of the year. Others announce discounts and special promotions on a rolling basis. Here’s what we found to be the best deal for Experian IdentityWorks right now:
| IdentityWorks Plus | IdentityWorks Premium |
|---|---|
| $9.99/mo | $19.99/mo |
| Services | Services |
| Adult Identity Protection | Adult Identity Protection |
| Dark Web Surveillance | Dark Web Surveillance |
| Identity Theft Insurance up to $500,000 | Identity Theft Insurance up to $1,000,000 |
| Lost Wallet Assistance | Lost Wallet Assistance |
| Identity Theft Monitoring & Alerts | Identity Theft Monitoring & Alerts |
| Social Security Number Monitoring | Social Security Number Monitoring |
| Address Change Verification | Address Change Verification |
| Bank account and credit card takeovers | |
| Payday Loan Monitoring | |
| Social Network Monitoring Service | |
| Monitors all Three Credit Bureaus | |
| Options | Options |
| Child Coverage | Child Coverage |
Remember that you can save a bit more by choosing to pay annually. However, if you go this route, just be sure to keep the service for the full year lest you lose money (no prorated refunds!). While the annual plan helps you save, it’s also less flexible than paying month-to-month.
Experian IdentityWorks plans start at $9.99 per month, which is actually quite cheap for the industry. With that said, plans can get as expensive as $29.99 monthly for the Premium option with coverage for two adults and up to 10 children. And there’s a service at every price point in-between.
After testing the product, we think that IdentityWorks offers a lot of value for the money. We like that even the basic subscriptions cover credit monitoring, even if it is just from one bureau (one is better than none!). From what we’ve seen, IdentityWorks options are very reasonably priced. And the base plans are actually pretty affordable.
IdentityWorks is an identity theft protection service offered by Experian. But it’s not their only service: Experian also runs Complete ID (a service for Costco members) and ProtectMyID (a service for AAA members). IdentityWorks is Experian’s main identity service, though, and it’s the only one that is available to anyone (not just Costco or AAA members).
In our research, we found that Experian has a pretty good reputation for identity theft protection. Our reviews for its services have been mostly positive, and we were quite impressed by IdentityWorks in particular. Overall, we think it’s a solid brand that you can trust.
All of these are identity theft protection services from Experian. However, only IdentityWorks is available to all customers. Complete ID is an exclusive option for Costco members, while ProtectMyID is only available to AAA members.
You don’t necessarily have to, but it’s a good idea. The three credit bureaus get their information from public records, voluntary reporting from financial organizations, and other sources. But they don’t share information amongst themselves.3 That means they could have different data. To get all the data, we need to look at all three.
Not really, but you can use the two adults and up to ten children plan. There’s no separate child-free plan, and uploading children’s information is optional.
No, but that’s typical. Children don’t generally have credit scores to monitor in the first place. Keeping an eye out for a child’s personal information, like their social security number, is always a wise move.4
Privacy features keep things very secure with IdentityWorks. The second adult on your plan will get their own login and will not be able to see information related to your own monitoring. The second adult on a family plan will also not be able to see anything related to the child monitoring features of the account.5
The annual plan will save you money. If you cancel, though, you’ll still be out the annual fee. If you’re not sure you’ll stick around all year, we recommend paying by the month. Canceling either plan means you won’t be billed again and your service will end at the end of your current billing period. But as you know, a monthly billing period is a lot shorter than an annual billing period!
The Balance. Irby, L. (2019, May 14). Things You Should Know About Credit Bureaus.
https://www.thebalance.com/credit-bureau-facts-960693
Federal Trade Commission Consumer Information. (Retrieved May 13, 2020). Child Identity Theft.
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0040-child-identity-theft
Credit.com. Issa, N. (2019, April 18). How Do Credit Scores Work?
https://www.credit.com/credit-reports/how-credit-works/
NerdWallet. Konsko, L. (2020, May 5). How Young Is Too Young to Start Building Credit?
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/how-young-start-building-credit/
Experian. (Retrieved June 9, 2020). Family Identity Theft Protection FAQs.
https://www.experian.com/consumer-products/family-identity-theft-protection.html
