Companies Like Aura: The Best Identity Protection Alternatives in 2026

Aura’s Individual plan costs $12 a month, billed annually, with $1 million in identity theft insurance. Coveron’s Identity Theft Protection plan comes with $2 million for about $7 a month, and ExpressVPN includes up to $3 million with its Advanced plan. Aura’s March 2026 breach exposed marketing contact records and left Social Security numbers and credit files untouched, so the case for switching rests on price and coverage.

Aura Alternatives Compared

Prices come from each company’s US pricing page, checked in October. The identity features on these services are US-only, so we couldn’t test alerts or claims from Europe. Surfshark’s breach monitoring works worldwide, which made it the one feature we could test.

What the Aura Breach Exposed

In March 2026, an attacker got into an Aura employee’s account through a voice phishing call and breached Aura, copying about 900,000 records. Most came from a marketing database tied to a company Aura acquired in 2021. The ShinyHunters group claimed the attack and published the data when its extortion demand went unpaid.

• Exposed: names, email addresses, home addresses, and phone numbers.
• Not exposed: Social Security numbers, passwords, credit file data, and payment details.
• Customers affected: fewer than 20,000 active and fewer than 15,000 former customers, by Aura’s count.

The practical risk is targeted phishing: a call or email that quotes a real home address. Check your email on Have I Been Pwned, and place a free credit freeze with Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. A freeze stays with the bureaus whichever identity service you use.

Best Aura Alternatives and Competitors

1. Coveron: Best for Insurance per Dollar

Coveron is the identity protection service from Nord Security, the company behind NordVPN, and it was sold as NordProtect until its 2026 rebrand. The Identity Theft Protection plan costs about $7 a month on a two-year subscription and includes $2 million in identity theft insurance, plus $100,000 each for cyber extortion, home title fraud, and online fraud. It monitors one credit bureau, financial accounts, short-term loans, and criminal records.

Three-bureau monitoring requires the Full Protection plan, about $11 a month, which adds a VPN, antivirus, and data removal. The Couple and Family plans, about $18 and $28 a month, cover two or five adults and all children on Full Protection terms. The Scam Protection plan, about $5, has no identity theft insurance or credit monitoring, so it doesn’t replace Aura. Coverage excludes New York residents, and our Coveron review covers the plans in detail.

See Coveron Plans

2. ExpressVPN Identity Defender: Best for the Highest Insurance Limit

ExpressVPN includes Identity Defender with its Advanced and Pro plans for US subscribers, in the same subscription as its VPN. The Advanced plan costs about $4.50 a month over its 28-month first term and includes $3 million in insurance. The Pro plan, about $7.50, goes to $5 million. Cash Recovery covers up to $1 million taken directly from bank and retirement accounts.

Credit data comes from Experian alone, through a Credit Scanner with a monthly report. Home and auto title monitoring, court records, and high-risk transaction alerts require the Pro plan. Identity Defender isn’t sold on its own, and the plans renew at about $120 and $200 a year. Our ExpressVPN review covers the VPN side.

See ExpressVPN Plans

3. Surfshark One+: Best Budget Bundle

Surfshark One+ is about $4.50 a month for its 27-month first term and bundles the Surfshark VPN, antivirus, Incogni data removal, Alternative ID, and a $1 million identity theft policy. Its Alert tool watches email addresses, credit cards, and ID numbers for breaches. Alert works outside the US, so we ran it on one of our email addresses.

It found 7 leaks, some dating back to 2019, and flagged high-severity exposures among them. Alert hides the exposed details until two-factor authentication is enabled on the account. One+ has no credit monitoring from any bureau, so it covers breach alerts and insurance and leaves credit checks to another service.

See Surfshark One+ Plans

4. LifeLock: Best for Investment Account Alerts

LifeLock belongs to Gen Digital, Norton’s parent company, and has sold identity protection since 2005. Its Advanced plan adds three-bureau credit monitoring and savings and investment account alerts for about $200 a year, and the Total plan adds up to $3 million in insurance for about $350. Annual plans come with a 60-day money-back guarantee, and every tier is also sold month to month.

Household pricing climbs quickly: Total for two adults and their children costs about $750 a year. The new plans also dropped Norton’s antivirus and VPN, which now come only with Norton 360 bundles. For one person, the price difference is large: LifeLock Total costs about $29 a month, and Coveron’s Full Protection costs about $11 with three bureaus and $2 million in insurance.

5. Cloaked: Best for Email and Phone Aliases

Cloaked is a legitimate US privacy company with venture backing, in business since 2020. It assigns every account its own email address and phone number, so a breach at one company exposes an alias in place of your real details.

Paid yearly, the Individual plan costs about $10 a month and adds data broker removal, spam call blocking, dark web monitoring, a password manager, a mobile VPN, and a $1 million insurance policy. Plans for two and four people cost about $175 and $300 a year. Cloaked has no credit monitoring, and some payment and banking sites don’t accept virtual phone numbers, so your real number stays in use there.

Identity Guard Belongs to Aura’s Parent Company

Identity Guard is sold by Aura’s parent company and uses the same identity monitoring. Moving from Aura to Identity Guard keeps you with the same company, minus Aura’s VPN, antivirus, and password manager, so it isn’t a true alternative.

Switching From Aura Without Losing Coverage

Sign up for the new service first, confirm its alerts arrive, then cancel Aura. Aura refunds annual plans within 60 days of purchase. Outside that window, the subscription continues until the end of the billing period. Credit freezes and fraud alerts are placed with the bureaus themselves, so they stay in place after you cancel.

You’ll manage them directly with each credit bureau. Coveron, ExpressVPN, and Surfshark offer 30-day money-back guarantees, so keeping two services active for a few weeks costs nothing if you cancel one in time.

Verdict

Aura’s Individual plan is still a complete package at $12 a month, with three bureaus, a VPN, antivirus, and a password manager. The alternatives win on specific points. Coveron doubles Aura’s insurance on a cheaper plan and adds cyber extortion and home title coverage. ExpressVPN goes to $3 million on a plan that includes its VPN, and Surfshark One+ costs the least if credit monitoring can come from elsewhere.

Families are the exception: Aura’s Family plan includes $5 million for $32 a month, next to $2 million on Coveron’s Family plan for about $28. Cloaked fits those who want to stop handing out their real email and phone number in the first place. Our identity theft protection rankings cover more services.

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