IdentityIQ Subscription Plan Pricing

IdentityIQ Subscriptions and Pricing

I appreciated IdentityIQ’s four tiers of service. It let me pick a plan based on my budget. For me, each tier made sense where upgrading felt worthwhile, but there weren’t any features that I’d swap out. IdentityIQ also gave me the choice to bundle Bitdefender with any plan for a couple bucks extra each month.

Anti-malware backs up IdentityIQ’s monitoring features to provide proactive protection against identity thieves so the partnership made sense to me. Combining the two services put me in a good position to defend my identity. But don’t worry; the anti-malware offer from IdentityIQ is completely optional, so if you already have software for that, you’re not obliged to buy from IdentityIQ. That being said, at only about $2 to $3 per month when purchased with an IdentityIQ plan, it makes financial sense to bundle. Although, I’m not sure why it costs an extra dollar when bundled with the Secure Max plan.

IdentityIQ Plans

IdentityIQ Service Tiers at a Glance

That chart might be a little confusing, so let’s break it down even further.

IdentityIQ Secure

With the most basic plan — Secure — you’re going to pay $6.99 per month ($5.94 per month when billed annually) for bare-bones coverage. This is a great entry point, but I saw some gaps in coverage. It included basics like dark web monitoring and Social Security number alerts, but I only got monitoring for one out of three credit bureaus and none of the bells and whistles like crime-in-your-name alerts. For reference, a comparable plan from Zander Insurance lacks credit monitoring entirely, so IdentityIQ’s entry-level plan is not bad at all.

IdentityIQ Secure Plus

For $3 more per month, I got annual credit reports from all three bureaus: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. While those credit reports can help spot signs of identity theft, such as unauthorized credit pulls, wrong information, and credit lines we don’t recognize, requesting weekly credit reports from all three bureaus is free. That being said, like the Secure plan, it only monitors one credit bureau on a daily basis, and the other protections are just as basic as the previous plan. Given that, we don’t think it offers enough features over the Secure plan to warrant the $3 monthly difference.

IdentityIQ Secure Pro

Moving up to the next rung costs $10 more for a total of $19.99 per month, but here we start getting into truly comprehensive coverage. The biggest improvement with the Secure Pro plan is three-bureau credit monitoring meaning IdentityIQ would notify us if they found suspicious activity in our credit report. I also got my credit reports twice a year instead of once a year, but again, I could request credit reports weekly if I wanted for free.

IdentityIQ Secure Max

Finally, we have the marquee service — Secure Max. This includes everything IdentityIQ has to offer including monthly credit reports, a credit score tracking tool, advanced protections, and enhanced monitoring. But I think most of the value comes from their fraud resolution service. They provide an agent with limited power of attorney (LPOA) to resolve fraud for you. That LPOA allows them to handle most of the paperwork without my involvement. All this functionality will cost you, though. It’s $29.99 per month — on par with some of the most expensive services out there. To help offset that cost, IdentityIQ covers family members for free on the Secure Max plan.

IdentityIQ let me track our credit score throughout the year to visualize my progress improving it.

With all this in mind, it begs the question — which IdentityIQ plan packs the most punch?

Which IdentityIQ Plan Is the Best?

This is the question that is asked most often in any discussion about an identity theft protection service. I get it — you want the biggest bang for your buck. For me, I usually go for the top-tier plan. That gives me the full suite of features and a fraud resolution service so I don’t need to lift a finger to resolve any issues. At under $30 per month, that peace of mind is well worth it. But, not everyone wants to spend that much on identity theft protection.

So here’s what I recommend …

The Secure service tier is seriously inexpensive. I recommend it over the Secure Plus plan considering the Secure Plus plan only adds an annual credit report with all three credit bureaus. Starting with Secure gave me a good feel for how IdentityIQ works. I tested it for the full month and spent less than seven dollars. After testing it, you can choose if you want to upgrade to Secure Pro or Secure Max. I recommend at least upgrading to Secure Pro for three-bureau credit monitoring and if you want full fraud resolution services, go with Secure Max. Either way, you’ll be fully protected from a functional standpoint.

While you’re testing the waters, I recommend starting off with a monthly plan. IdentityIQ does not offer prorated refunds so if you cancel an annual plan after only a month of service, you still pay for the full year. But, that 15-precent discount is nice. I recommend signing up for a plan for two months and then committing to a full year if you like it.

IdentityIQ Deals and Discounts

So, here’s the part where I’d normally tell you that you can try at least one tier of service risk-free for a week or so, but unfortunately — no such luck with IdentityIQ. You’re going to have to buy the ticket to take the ride.

Unfortunately, once you bought the ticket, there’s no going back. Even though most of its competitors offer money-back guarantees up to 30 days, IdentityIQ does not offer refunds. That’s one thing to keep in mind. It’s not exactly a deal-breaker, but before committing to an annual plan, make sure you like the service by testing the plan with a monthly subscription first.

That said, you may be able to get discounts from IdentityIQ, particularly around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Also, we always post about deals when we hear about them, so it pays to check back here as you’re shopping around. Don’t wait too long, though. The best time to purchase protection is today.

Final Thoughts: IdentityIQ’s Overall Value

One thing I really like is the way IdentityIQ has structured their subscription plans regarding their options. A lot of times services will give you two choices: their stripped-down cheaper version, or their full-blown service for full price; there’s no middle ground. With IdentityIQ, you really have an opportunity to see which features and functions you need, and pay only for those as you go. It’s the next best thing to à la carte service.

I bought IdentityIQ’s complete identity monitoring features in their Secure Max plan.

That said, you’re going to fork over quite a bit of cash if you want full access to everything IdentityIQ has to offer. And even then, it’s still missing some pretty important functionality that other services with a similar price provide like financial account monitoring. But, it includes some unique features like an agent with limited power of attorney privileges to handle fraud cases for you.

Ultimately, IdentityIQ is an extremely powerful service that will get the job done when it counts. Are there more affordable options on the market? Certainly. Will you get as comprehensive a defense posture if you go with one of them? Probably not.

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