Credit Karma Alternatives

Searching for credit monitoring tools like Credit Karma? Browse these alternatives and their features. Some of them are free.

Credit Karma gives you free credit reports and allows you to track your credit score for free. You also get curated credit card and loan recommendations based on your credit profile.

However, Credit Karma displays ads in the app (which can be annoying) and lacks crucial features to help protect your credit.

So, it's a good thing there are other credit monitoring apps to choose from. In this guide, you'll find the paid and free alternatives you can try. Read on.

8 Best Credit Karma Alternatives

For each alternative, it's best to consider the pricing and features, pros and cons, and how it compares to Credit Karma.

Experian: Best Overall

Experian is one of the three main credit bureaus, and it offers its own credit monitoring service. Regardless of your plan, you can get identity theft monitoring services such as dark web surveillance and privacy scans.

With paid plans, however, you get more features like alerts for SSN traces, financial account takeovers, and social network monitoring.

Paid plans also have a $1 million ID theft insurance. Plus, you can lock your Experian credit report to block unauthorized access to your credit profile.

Pros + Cons:

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Experian also offers a Family plan that includes all Premium plan features for 1 additional adult and up to 10 children for identity monitoring. The Family plan costs $34.99 per month.

myFICO: Best for FICO Tracking

myFICO offers credit monitoring features tailored for tracking your FICO Score—the most common credit score used by lenders.

This can be a huge advantage since over 90% of lenders use FICO Score to assess your creditworthiness. It's what they use to understand your credit risk and make lending decisions.^[2]

In addition to tracking your FICO score, paid plans include $1 million in identity theft insurance and identity theft restoration. So you get extra protection against fraudulent activities that can drag down your score.

Pros + Cons:

Pricing & Features:^[3][4]

Creditwise: Best Free Plan

Capital One's CreditWise offers free credit monitoring for TransUnion and Experian. You can get alerts and notifications for real-time changes in your credit report.

In addition, CreditWise features limited identity theft monitoring with dark web alerts for your account numbers, login credentials, or SSN. You'll know if your data is floating on the dark web.

And if you're trying to maintain good credit? You can access the CreditWise simulator to know the impact of your financial decisions on your current credit. Credit Wise also provides suggestions to help you improve your score.

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Credit Sesame: Most Similar App

Credit Sesame works most similary to Credit Karma. It features basic credit monitoring for TransUnion for free. Plus, it recommends loans, insurance, and credit cards based on your credit profile.

You can keep track of changes to your credit in the Credit Sesame app. In this app, you'll also get real-time alerts for new accounts, account closures, and account charge-offs.

Pros + Cons:

Pricing & Features:^[6][7]

Credit Sesame's basic account is free but they do have premium subscription options if you want monthly access to your full credit reports from the three major bureaus.

Aura: Best For Families

Aura lets you track real-time changes to your Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian credit reports, with options to lock your Experian file.

In addition, you can get identity theft insurance of $1 million per adult (up to 5 adults in the Family plan). You can also monitor and protect the identity of unlimited kids with SSN alerts, 3-bureau credit freeze, and sex offender geo alerts.

Plans also include VantageScore tracking, where you can get monthly credit scores within the app.

Pros + Cons:

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ID Watchdog: Best Insurance Coverage

ID Watchdog comes from Equifax. And all its plans include basic features like Equifax monitoring, credit freeze assistance, and data breach notifications.

Compared to other apps, ID Watchdog also offers more extensive insurance coverage. You're covered with $1 million identity theft insurance to help you recover from fraudulent transactions.

In addition, ID Watchdog offers a 401(k)/HSA reimbursement. You can get up to $1 million in reimbursement for unauthorized transfers from your retirement and health savings accounts.

Pros + Cons:

Pricing & Features:^[9]

You can add up to 2 adults and 4 children with a Family plan. Identity theft monitoring features are mostly available in the Premium plan.

Identity Guard: Best Discounts

Identity Guard offers the most affordable plans for individuals and families. Family plans include up to 5 adults and unlimited kids. You can save more and get a 60-day money-back guarantee if you select annual payment.

Identity Guard focuses on identity theft monitoring. Regardless of your plan, you'll get dark breach alerts, dark web monitoring, and high-risk transaction monitoring features.

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Identityforce Ultrasecure+Credit: Best 3-Bureau Monitoring

IdentityForce is a credit monitoring service of TransUnion. Its most expensive plan, the UltraSecure+Credit, gets you your reports, credit scores, and credit monitoring for the three credit bureaus.

You also get a full suite of identity theft protection, like advanced fraud monitoring. Plus, you'll get real-time alerts when banks and lenders request your credit report.

You can also monitor change of address, unauthorized use of your name in court records, and dark web monitoring and analysis to prevent unwanted use of your info online.

Pros + Cons:

Pricing & Features:^[11]

Now that you know the best alternatives, here's a refresher on what Credit Karma offers to compare.

What Is Credit Karma?

Credit Karma is one of the most popular credit monitoring tools available. You don't even need to pay anything to start.

With Credit Karma, you can:

• Get weekly credit reports for TransUnion and Equifax
  
• View your VantageScore
  
• Get notifications for changes in your credit reports
  
• Track suspicious or fraudulent activities to your credit
  
• Improve credit with the credit builder
  
• See your likelihood of getting approved for loans and credit cards

Credit Karma even provides personalized offers from lenders and credit card issuers based on your credit profile.

However, Credit Karma falls short of other essential features for keeping your credit profile safe. For this reason, you may opt for one of its alternatives.

If Credit Karma doesn't suit your needs, here's how you can look for another option.

Tips For Choosing A Credit Karma Alternative

Don't know which alternative to choose? Ask yourself the following questions:

• Which credit bureaus are monitored in the app?
  The three main credit bureaus are Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Ideally, you should keep track of the three since not all lenders report to the three credit bureaus.

• Which credit score does the app track?
  Lenders either use FICO Score or VantageScore. However, FICO Score is more commonly used than VantageScore. Most lenders will use your FICO scores to assess your creditworthiness and ability to pay back what you owe.

• Is identity theft essential?
  The unauthorized use of your identity compromises your credit. Having extra identity theft insurance or additional monitoring features can give that extra layer of protection.

• Is the price justifiable for the features?
  Free plans offer limited features. But many credit monitoring apps offer discounts for paid plans. You can maximize annual discounts and promos to make plans more affordable.

• Is credit monitoring only for you or your family?
  A family plan provides better value if you want to extend credit monitoring and identity theft protection to family members.

  Look for the ones with insurance for each member and specialized monitoring for children. This can help with preventing damage to their credit profile, cyberbullying, and unsafe online activities.

Methodology

We selected Credit Karma alternatives that monitored Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. These alternatives also monitor your FICO Score or VantageScore.

Several credit monitoring tools may bundle extra features for additional security. We chose alternatives that may include features like insurance, SSN alerts, dark web alerts, credit report locks, or social media monitoring.

Additionally, these alternatives cost $15–$30 (for one person) or a maximum of $50 (for families). Plans differ by the number of people you can enroll and feature inclusions.

If you can't afford the paid options, we've included free plans with limited credit monitoring.

Bottom Line

You don't have to pay much to monitor your credit effectively. You can maximize free options to do it. Credit Karma already offers basic credit monitoring without fees attached.

However, paid options often include additional features for better credit monitoring and protection. In the long run, paying a few dollars monthly may give you more peace of mind.

If the options in this list aren't enough, you can browse for more comprehensive tools. There are more credit monitoring services with various extra features and plan inclusions.

References