Norton LifeLock Review 2024: Is It Still Tried and True?

LifeLock is an above-average identity theft protection service. It has affordable pricing (starting from $7.50/mo (billed annually) for first year), provides up to $3 million in coverage, and offers loads of identity and credit monitoring options.

After extensive testing, we think it’s worth going for the Ultimate Plus plan (LifeLock’s most extensive plan) for additional protection, including three-bureau credit monitoring, reports, and scores. Our primary drawback with LifeLock is its pricing, especially after the first year, and the features that are only available with Ultimate Plus.

Let’s explore our LifeLock identity theft protection review and see if it’s the right identity theft protection for you.

LifeLock review at a glance

Price	$7.50–$38.99/mo for first yr
# of people covered	1 - 2 adults, up 5 kids
Types of identity monitoring	Identity and SSN, dark web, phone takeover, home title, social media
Credit monitoring	Yes
Credit reports	Yes — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion
Credit score	Yes
Identity restoration services	Yes
Extras	Data removal services
24/7 customer support	Yes
Details	Get LifeLock

Our experience

LifeLock's setup process was seamless. There’s nothing to install on a desktop computer; you can access your dashboard after logging in to your account on the LifeLock website. 

As our account was being set up, LifeLock prompted us with questions about specific identity theft concerns so it could toggle these features on or off.   

The dashboard itself is simple to use and navigate. It displays the latest alerts, credit services, Identity Lock, and more on the main page but you can click through a specific section for more details. 

We like that you can customize the different categories of information you want to monitor by simply adding and editing the information straight from your account. For example, your name, SSN, and date of birth are automatically monitored. But you can also monitor your email, address, phone number, driver’s license, credit cards, bank accounts, and more.

Overall, LifeLock had one of the most user-friendly experiences of the ID theft protection services we tested. Plus, it comes with a 30-day free trial and 60-day money-back guarantee so you can try out it for yourself with plenty of time. 

Who is Norton LifeLock best for?

• Recommended for readers who value identity theft insurance

LifeLock offers three different subscription plans — Standard, Advantage, and Ultimate Plus. You can receive up to $1.05 million in coverage with Standard, up to $1.2 million in coverage with Advantage, and up to $3 million in coverage with Ultimate Plus.

LifeLock’s primary services include credit monitoring, dark web monitoring, and suspicious activity alerts for your identity and Social Security number (SSN). You can also take advantage of U.S.-based identity restoration specialists if you’re dealing with an identity theft situation.

The more expensive LifeLock plans also include options like three-bureau credit reports and credit scores, financial account monitoring, and a TransUnion Credit File Lock. 

Whether ID theft protection is worth it for you and your family depends on what you’re looking for. LifeLock pricing is competitive and it provides plenty of useful features. However, several features are limited to Ultimate Plus and its prices increase significantly after the first year. This is worth considering if you plan to subscribe to LifeLock long term.

LifeLock prices and subscriptions

LifeLock costs between $7.50–$38.99/mo for first yr. Your plan price depends on whether you pay monthly or annually, what features you need, and how many people you need covered.

LifeLock's prices are comparable to plans from other identity theft protection providers. Here are some pricing examples from a few popular competitors.

• Identity Guard: Starting from $8.99/mo for individuals.
• Aura: Starting from $9.00/mo (billed annually) for individuals.
• IdentityForce: Starting from $19.90/mo for individuals.

However, annual renewal prices (the price to renew after the first year) are higher than the first-year price. To renew a LifeLock Standard annual plan after the first year costs $124.99, which is about $10.40/mo. So it’s still cheaper overall to go with an annual plan if you know you want the subscription to last at least a year.

Note that paying annually costs less per month compared to paying monthly. We've broken down LifeLock's monthly and annual costs for its individual plans below. 

Plan	1-month cost	1-year cost
Standard Individual	$11.99/mo for first year	$7.50/mo (billed annually) for first year
Advantage Individual	$22.99/mo for first year	$14.99/mo (billed annually) for first year
Ultimate Plus Individual	$34.99/mo for first year	$19.99/mo (billed annually) for first year

Family plans

Norton also provides family plans for LifeLock, which offer all the same features. You still have the option of Standard, Advantage, or Ultimate Plus plans, but you can choose to buy them for two adults or two adults and up to five children.

Similar to the individual plans, you can lower your overall monthly price by paying for your subscription by the year. Keep in mind that the first year is typically cheaper; you will probably have to renew at a higher price.

Plan	1-month cost	1-year cost
Standard Family With Kids	$35.99/mo for first year	$18.49/mo (billed annually) for first year
Advantage Family With Kids	$57.99/mo for first year	$29.99/mo (billed annually) for first year
Ultimate Plus Family With Kids	$79.99/mo for first year	$38.99/mo (billed annually) for first year

Plan comparison

LifeLock has three plan tiers: Standard, Advantage, and Ultimate Plus. The Standard plan largely includes identity and SSN monitoring, credit monitoring with Equifax, and identity restoration services like dedicated specialists and stolen wallet protection. You'll also receive up to $1.05 million in identity theft insurance. 

The Advantage plan adds credit reports and scores, activity alerts on your credit, checking, and savings accounts, and identity lock. You'll also receive an increased amount of up to $1.2 million in identity theft insurance. 

Finally, the Ultimate Plus plan adds three-bureau credit monitoring, scores, and reports, additional monitoring for your home title, social media accounts, and more. You'll also receive up to $3 million in identity theft insurance. 

View the features included with each tier in the table below. 

Plan	Standard	Advantage	Ultimate Plus
SSN monitoring
Financial account monitoring
Identity theft insurance	Up to $1.05 million	Up to $1.2 million	Up to $3 million
Credit monitoring	Yes — Equifax	Yes — Equifax	Yes — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion
Credit reports		Yes — Equifax	Yes — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion
Credit score
Credit lock
Identity restoration services
Dark web monitoring
Social media monitoring
Home title monitoring
USPS address change alerts
Details	View plan	View plan	View plan

LifeLock features

LifeLock provides plenty of useful features, especially if you opt for the Ultimate Plus. This includes general credit monitoring of up to three credit bureaus, but you can also monitor financial transactions, social media accounts, dark web activity, and others.

Unfortunately, several features are limited to LifeLock Ultimate Plus. You won't get three-bureau credit monitoring, credit scores, or reports unless you opt for the highest tier. You also won't get any financial transaction monitoring with LifeLock Standard, just identity and SSN monitoring. 

What does LifeLock protect against?

LifeLock helps protect you against these identity theft situations:

• Identity theft: To help prevent identity theft losses and protect you from identity threats, LifeLock monitors things like your credit, personal data related to your identity, your SSN, USPS address changes, the dark web, and data breaches.
• Child identity theft: In addition to helping protect your identity, LifeLock also helps prevent child identity theft through its family plans, which include identity theft insurance coverage for children and guided child freeze.
• Fraudulent activity: LifeLock monitors different types of financial accounts, such as credit cards and bank accounts, to help prevent financial fraud. If you opt for the Ultimate Plus plan, LifeLock also alerts you to any suspicious activity involved with linked 401(k) and investment accounts.
• Phone takeovers: You receive alerts about suspicious activity with your phone number, including if identity thieves use your number to try and access your personal information.
• Home title theft: You can receive alerts from LifeLock related to your home title with an Ultimate Plus plan.
• Social media takeovers: With Ultimate Plus, LifeLock monitors your social media accounts and alerts you if it detects inappropriate content or suspicious activity from hackers.

Identity monitoring

Monitoring services provide alerts to help you act quickly when keeping your identity protected. 

LifeLock provides these types of alerts (availability may depend on your specific plan):

• Identity monitoring: Monitors for any suspicious activity regarding your personal information, such as your name and SSN.
• Credit monitoring: Monitors and alerts you to credit inquiries or changes to your credit report(s).
• Dark web monitoring: Monitors the dark web for any leaked or potentially leaked personal information, which could include data breaches of companies or websites where you have information stored.
• Address change monitoring: Monitors for any USPS address changes.
• Transaction monitoring: Monitors for any suspicious activity related to linked credit, checking, and savings accounts.

• Phone takeover monitoring: Monitors for any suspicious activity regarding your phone number.

• Social media monitoring: Monitors your linked social media accounts for any suspicious activity that might indicate an account takeover. Also monitors for inappropriate content.
• Home title monitoring: Monitors for any suspicious activity with your home title.
• Sex offender registry reports: Monitors sex offender registry reports for any activity regarding your name or personal information.

Credit monitoring

LifeLock primarily uses Equifax for its credit monitoring services, so that’s the only bureau you’ll have access to on the LifeLock Standard and Advantage Plans. The Ultimate Plus plan monitors Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

LifeLock uses credit monitoring to alert you if any new credit inquiries are made in your name, and you can see a list of inquiries straight from the Credit Services tab on the dashboard. If you don’t recognize an inquiry, you can dispute it by selecting “Report an Inaccuracy.”

Credit reports and scores

With LifeLock Standard And Advantage, you'll get unlimited access to your Equifax credit report and score, meaning you can check your report on a daily basis rather than once per year. Access to other credit reports is still limited to an annual check.

One reason we recommend the Ultimate Plus plan is because it offers three-bureau credit monitoring, reports, and scores. We tested with the Ultimate Plus plan and were able to view our TransUnion and Experian scores and reports almost immediately, but it could take several days for those to populate. 

Identity restoration services

All LifeLock plans include identity restoration services. You'll receive a personal, U.S.-based restoration specialist who can help you resolve fraudulent activity. 

You'll also receive stolen wallet protection. LifeLock will help you cancel or replace credit cards, driver's license, and other personal documentation if your wallet is missing. 

There's also LifeLock's identity theft insurance offerings. Depending on your plan, you'll receive anywhere from $1.05 million to $3 million in coverage for stolen funds reimbursement, personal expense reimbursement, as well as lawyers and experts. 

Identity restoration support is available via phone. You can contact them Monday through Friday, from 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST. You can find all this information on the Restoration tab in your dashboard.

Bonus features

LifeLock is primarily focused on identity monitoring and credit features. However, all LifeLock plans include Norton Privacy Monitor. 

Norton Privacy Monitor scans common data broker and people-search websites for your personal information. It will provide you with step-by-step guidance on how to request removals of your information.

Does LifeLock keep your data safe?

LifeLock logs any data that you give it, which could be a lot since it is a service that provides identity theft protection. LifeLock can’t monitor something if it doesn’t have enough information, so the more information it has, the better.

When signing up for Norton LifeLock, you have to provide your name, email address, phone number, birth date, and SSN. Depending on what you want monitored, you might have to connect bank accounts, social media accounts, investment accounts, and as well as others.

Fortunately, only LifeLock appears to use your personal information to provide you with its services. According to its privacy policy, Norton doesn’t sell your personal information.

Note, however, that Norton LifeLock might have to share your information for certain features to work correctly. It may disclose personal data about you (with your consent) to the following groups: 

• Partners
• Distributors or resellers
• Advertising partners
• Data analytics providers
• Service providers
• Payment processors
• Public authorities and legal proceedings
• Restoration services
• Third-party service providers
• Social media and internet platforms
• Corporate affiliates
• Business transfers

This is common for identity theft protection services, as they sometimes use other providers for specific purposes.

LifeLock also shares personal data for marketing and other purposes, which we weren't as pleased about. You do have the right to opt-out of sharing your personal data for advertising by selecting the privacy settings link in the Norton footer. 

Note also that LifeLock offers two-factor authentication (2FA) as an option in your account settings; it’s not turned on by default. It’s easy to set up and provides an added layer of security, which we like.

Compatibility

You can access your Norton LifeLock account by using a web browser on any compatible device, such as a computer or tablet. Or you can use the LifeLock Identity by Norton app on your compatible smartphone.

The LifeLock Identity Android app has an excellent 4.6 out of 5 rating on the Google Play Store, while the LifeLock Identity iOS app has a 4.8 out of 5 rating on the Apple App Store.

Previously, the iOS app was rated slightly lower than the Android app, so we took it for a test run. We found it was easy to set up and log in, and it had a clean, intuitive interface. We didn’t notice anything too different from using Norton LifeLock on the app versus a web browser other than the screen size.

Customer support

Norton provides multiple customer support options.

• 24/7 live chat
• Phone support at 1-800-416-0599
• Online guides and forums

We typically prefer using live chat features to talk to customer service representatives, as they’re often a quick and easy way to get answers to our questions. When we contacted chat support, the chatbot let us know that it could take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes to receive a response due to a high volume of messages. 

It ended up taking about 20 minutes to receive a response. We asked about LifeLock's encryption, since it wasn't specified in its policy. The agent was quick to respond and willing to continue helping us if needed. 

Top alternatives

There are a lot of strengths to LifeLock, but it's not the only option on the market. We've compiled a list of alternatives with budget-friendly plans, extensive features, great customer support, and more to consider if you're still on the fence:

LifeLock FAQs

Bottom line: Is LifeLock good?

We think Norton LifeLock provides an above-average identity protection service based on our testing and research. The Ultimate Plus plan easily provides the best monitoring solutions of their available options because you get three-bureau monitoring and up to $3 million in coverage.

We also found that LifeLock is generally affordable when compared to other popular providers, especially if you choose an annual plan. Just take note of the price increase after the first year and the features you need if you decide for a plan lower than Ultimate Plus. 

If you're not sure LifeLock is the right service for you, take a look at our guide to the best identity theft protection companies. You can also review how LifeLock compares: 

• LifeLock vs. Aura
• LifeLock vs. Identity Guard
• LifeLock vs. IDShield