Our series on identity theft protection apps will evaluate the features, pricing options, competition, and also the overall value of using each app. However, these are not full hands-on reviews since evaluating identity theft protection apps is almost impossible. It would require several months of testing, purposefully hacking accounts to see if the protection app works, handing over personally identifiable information, performing multiple credit checks, and risking exposure of the reviewer’s personally identifiable information.
For those who are interested in protecting their online identity, here’s a quick tip. There are quite a few apps available, ranging from the most powerful (Norton LifeLock and IdentityForce) to the most simplistic. Most of these apps offer very similar features including credit reporting and a credit score, alerts related to identity theft, and identity theft insurance. Picking the app you want comes down to two main factors - quality and price. If you want the best app and price is no option, then Norton LifeLock or IdentityForce are the best picks. Most of us strongly consider the second factor - the monthly price. It’s a bit deceiving when you choose a pricing plan that costs $25 per month and think that’s fairly inexpensive, then realize the total yearly fee is $300.
IDnotify is a strange hybrid. It’s not the best ID theft protection app but is also far from the worst. The IDnotify Premier plan costs $25.99 per month even though it’s remarkably similar to the Experian IdentityWorks Premium plan that costs $19.99 per month. (Experian is behind both products, in case that is still a mystery. Note that in our Experian IdentityWorks review we explained how the company experienced a massive data breach a while ago.) Yet, if you use Intuit TurboTax and sign up for the Plus, Max, or Premium plans, then IDnotify is included as part of those bundles. Somewhere in between all of these pricing options is the fact that the product itself is a worthy contender and one of our top picks overall.
Plans and pricing
One reason we like IDnotify is that it’s fairly affordable compared to the best of the best ID theft apps, even if you are not a TurboTax user. The Essential plan costs $9.99 per month but doesn’t include credit reporting or credit scores. The Select plan costs $17.99 per month and includes one credit report. The Premier plan costs $25.99 per month and includes three credit reporting agencies. Even at the top end, that’s still cheaper than Norton LifeLock’s Ultimate plan, which costs $29.99 per month. You can add a child to your plan for $5.99 per month. Oddly, pricing for Experian IdentityWorks uses a different strategy where you pick a family plan you want and can protect up to 10 children for $5 more per month (instead of per child fees).
It’s worth mentioning one of the most compelling reasons to consider IDnotify, however. If you sign up for TurboTax and choose the Plus, Max, or Premium plans, then IDnotify is included for free for the entire year - a big savings from the monthly pricing plans. There is a caveat in that the window for adding these plans is not quite open yet - heading into summer and fall, TurboTax will likely offer IDnotify again as part of the 2020 tax year. We recommend checking the TurboTax site to see if that’s the case and if IDnotify is part of the bundles.
Interface
Any technical user who looks below the surface of IDnotify and IdentityWorks will find that both products likely use the same codebase. They function about the same, although IDnotify has a friendlier, lighter look with more white space and a spacious look and feel. You can find the basics easily enough in tabs along the top. Maybe it’s even the exact same product but the extra polish with IDnotify makes it easier to use than IdentityWorks.
Features
We’re not breaking any new ground here in terms of features. IDnotify includes all of the basics such as credit reporting and credit scores, ID theft insurance up to $1 million in reimbursements (included only in the Select and Premier plans), alerts for when a sex offender moves into your area, and notifications about fraud and someone stealing your identity. The Select and Premier plans do add alerts for changes to your court records.
The competition
We didn’t find a single unique feature with IDnotify, especially compared to Experian IdentityWorks and some of the other leaders in the ID theft protection field. We would have liked something “extra” like the fact that Allstate Identity Protection can alert you about a social media account being hacked or how Norton LifeLock uses wizards and status indicators to show the progress you’ve made on protecting your online identity.
Final verdict
What this means is that IDnotify falls somewhere in the middle or top of the pack, depending on how you pay for it and what you are looking for. It’s not the best or cheapest ID theft app, and it doesn’t really compare that favorably to Norton LifeLock.
Overall, we liked the interface and the pricing is not that exorbitant. The real question is whether you use TurboTax and choose one of the extra plans that lets you adjust your taxes or recover from an audit. It might make perfect sense to pay a little extra for the added bundle in TurboTax and can then start using IDnotify for the entire tax year for no added monthly fees. That’s a great deal and worth considering.
- Also check out our complete list of the best identity theft protection services
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