Safeguard your identity, finances, and family on various devices with Aura review.

In 2023, the Federal Trade Commission recorded the highest amount of fraud losses by U.S. consumers, with more than $10 billion lost, and over a million cases of identity theft were logged.

Aura is a comprehensive digital safety solution that provides identity theft protection, spam blocking, antivirus software, and parental controls, among other features. Additionally, the Aura app offers credit score and credit monitoring reports, similar to personal finance apps.

CNBC Select evaluates Aura's features, advantages, and pricing, and compares it to other options.

Overview

Identity theft and credit protection, along with online security features, are offered by Aura in individual, couple, and family plans that vary in the number of users and devices allowed.

Aura's top features include: * Individual plan: One person and up to 10 devices * Couple plan: Two people and up to 20 devices * Family plan: Five adults, unlimited children and up to 50 devices

• Identity theft and fraud protection
• Credit monitoring and credit score
• Antivirus software
• VPN
• Spam blocking
• Password manager and vault
• Dark web monitoring

Aura's family plan includes features such as content filters, screen-time limits, and alerts about in-game threats, in addition to the ability to monitor how long children have been online.

Features

Aura provides more than just identity protection; it also offers comprehensive safeguards for your credit report and online actions. Let's take a closer look at Aura's offerings:

Identity theft protection

• Aura will alert users if their personal information, including Social Security number, driver's license, passport, email, or other accounts, has been compromised or discovered on the dark web.
• Aura's $1 million identity theft insurance policy offers more than just financial coverage and legal fees; it also includes lost wages and child care expenses during the resolution process.
• Aura monitors public records for any unauthorized changes or suspicious activity relating to your deed and title, protecting your home and auto from potential scams.
• Aura's staff is available 24/7 to assist victims of ID theft in initiating credit freezes, collaborating with credit bureaus, notifying creditors, and involving law enforcement.

Credit protection

• Aura monitors your credit by reviewing the three major credit bureaus and notifies you if someone attempts to open a credit card or bank account under your name.
• Aura offers users their monthly VantageScore® update, which can give insight into their financial habits' effectiveness.
• Unusual activity alerts: Aura notifies you about activity in your bank and investment accounts.
• If your wallet is lost or stolen, Aura can assist you in canceling credit cards and other sensitive items and ordering replacements.

Online protection

• Aura is a password manager that generates strong passwords and securely stores them using encryption.
• Up to 1GB of encrypted cloud storage is provided to each plan member for important or sensitive files.
• Aura's VPN safeguards your online activity with military-grade encryption while using public WiFi, and it can also link you to a U.S. virtual location when traveling.
• Aura's AI-driven safe browsing feature safeguards users from accessing dubious websites, including fraudulent or phishing sites.
• Aura will contact data brokers to erase your information, thereby minimizing the number of telemarketing calls and spam emails you receive.

Fees

Aura offers a 14-day free trial for all of its plans, and there is a discount for those who sign up for an annual subscription, which also includes a 60-day money-back guarantee.

The individual plan costs $12 per month or $9 per month if billed annually. The couple plan costs $20 per month or $17 per month if billed annually. The family plan costs $32 per month or $20 per month if billed annually.

How Aura compares to the competition

Aura is compared to two other identity theft protection services in the market.

Aura vs. IdentityForce

IdentityForce's +Credit plan offers twice the identity theft insurance compared to Aura's plan, providing comparable protection against financial fraud and identity theft.

Although Aura's individual plan costs $12 a month ($9 per month with an annual plan), IdentityForce+Credit's monthly cost is $35 ($29 with an annual plan).

Aura's family plan costs $32 monthly (or $20 annually), which is less expensive than IdentityForce+Credit's family plan, which costs about $40 monthly (or $33 annually). However, IdentityForce only allows two adults and 10 kids on its family plan, which may not be suitable for larger families.

Aura vs. Experian IdentityWorks

Experian IdentityWorks℠ offers a free tier for ID protection, which includes monthly access to FICO score, credit report monitoring, and dark web surveillance.

If you want more of Aura's services, such as credit reports from all three bureaus, bank and Social Security alerts, $1 million in identity theft insurance, and identity monitoring for up to 10 children, an IdentityWorks family plan costs $35 per month, with no discount for annual plans.

Bottom line

While Aura offers comprehensive digital security features, including identity theft protection and parental controls, if your primary concern is financial fraud prevention, a credit monitoring service may be a better option.

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Our mission at CNBC Select is to deliver top-notch service journalism and in-depth consumer advice to our readers, enabling them to make well-informed decisions with their money. Each identity theft protection service review we publish is the result of thorough reporting by our team of expert writers and editors, who possess extensive knowledge of personal finance and credit monitoring products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content independently, without any input from our commercial team or external third parties. We uphold the highest journalistic standards and ethics in everything we do.

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