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Identity Guard vs Zander: Which One is Better for You?

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by Calvin Fellows

Topic:  ID Theft

> 3 min read

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Offers some of the most thorough identity theft protection on the market. You can protect the full spectrum of your digital identity, social media accounts, and financial accounts.

  • Protection is offered in a full suite of features.
  • Create a plan that fits your circumstances
  • Monitors all of your financial accounts
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zander

It is an excellent choice for someone who needs essential identity theft protection services while on a budget. Zander provides 24-hour assistance and professional recovery services.

  • Monitors all of your personal information for illicit use
  • Affordable identity monitoring
  • Professional identity recovery experts do the work of recovering your identity
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Home Security Heroes recommends Identity Guard Identity Theft Protection Service because of its comprehensive coverage and reliable service support. All plans have $1 million insurance and a US-based customer care team.  Its basic plan offers top features while its Ultra Plan gives one of the most complete packages in the market. 

Identity theft is the theft of your personal information to gain access to your money or set up new accounts to borrow money in your name. The number of social and financial accounts an average person has is rising, which increases the risk of your information being stolen.

It is challenging to monitor all your accounts yourself. That is why companies such as Identity Guard and Zander have created their identity protection services. In Identity Guard vs. Zander, we’ll discuss the key differences and so you can find the ideal identity protection suite for your needs.

Identity Guard vs. Zander: Comparison

WHAT YOU GET

IDENTITY GUARD

ZANDER

Pricing

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We Recommend Identity Guard

Coverage

  • Individuals and family members
  • Individuals and family members

Cybersecurity/Privacy Tools

  • High-risk transaction monitoring
  • Social media accounts are monitored
  • Data breach alerts
  • Your Social Security number is monitored
  • Banks and investment accounts can be monitored
  • The dark web and regular web are scoured for your information on court documents, sex offender records, home title, and address changes
  • Personal information such as name, address, driver’s license number, Social Security number, and bank account number are monitored on the dark web

Credit Monitoring

  • Value plan - no credit monitoring
  • Total plan - 3-bureau monitoring and 1-bureau monthly credit score
  • Ultra plan - adds a 3-bureau annual credit report
  • Credit card number monitoring only

Funds Monitoring, Replacement, and Insurance

  • Total and Ultra plans only
  • Up to $1 million in insurance
  • Up to $1 million in fund replacement and insurance

Other Services

  • Social media account monitoring
  • Social media insights report
  • Specialists do the work to recover your identity

QUICK FACE-OFF

Similarities

  • Choose between an individual plan for yourself or a family plan that covers you, your domestic partner or spouse, and up to 10 children under 18 years of age.
  • The dark web is monitored to see if your personal information is being exchanged. The dark web includes the sites and places where data is bought and sold so that each provider can scan these areas for your information.
  • Dark web exchanges and information trafficking websites are scanned for your credit card numbers, and alerts are sent to you if they are found.
  • Both providers monitor personal information such as phone numbers, Social Security numbers, address, medical insurance numbers, bank account numbers, and any other numbers that might be linked to your identity.
  • Identity recovery specialists are available to help you get your identity back in case you become a victim.
  • Identity theft insurance covers up to $1 million in stolen fund replacement and fees associated with identity theft.
    Customer support agents are available to assist you with problems.
  • Neither provider guarantees your identity will not be stolen; they only provide alerts and services to assist you.
    Pricing for both providers is reasonable when compared to other identity protection companies.

Differences

  • Identity Guard monitors your credit file and gives you access to credit reports in addition to monitoring your credit card numbers.
  • You can receive an annual 3-bureau credit report and 1-bureau monthly credit score with Identity Guard.
  • Zander doesn’t provide social media account monitoring for you or your family.
  • The social media insights report from Identity Guard analyzes your social media account privacy and identifies potential weaknesses that thieves exploit.
  • Zander’s recovery specialists do the work of recovering your identity for you in both plans.
  • Identity Guard provides recovery specialists, but their services differ between plans, with the best services reserved for the most expensive plan.
  • Identity Guard analyzes your identity theft risk and gives you recommendations on ways to reduce risks.
  • No alerts are provided for suspicious bank account activity by Zander. They provide scanning of the dark web for your bank account number.
  • Identity Guard provides an app that gives you alerts and information, while Zander sends alerts by email only.
    If thieves obtain your information in a corporate data breach, you’ll receive alerts from Identity Guard.
  • Zander offers two plans, while Identity guard provides an individual and family version of 3 different plans, which allows you to tailor plans for your needs.

Identity Guard Features and Services 

ID Theft and Cyber-Security

It seems as if new advances in technology are always exploited to take advantage of others. We are all connected to our favorite service providers, merchandisers, and online retailers, who store our information for our convenience. Thieves find easy prey in these circumstances.

It is difficult to monitor all your personal information on your own. It’s been reported that the average consumer has close to 90 online accounts, with an unknown amount of personal data stored at each one.

Identity Guard identity theft protection scans the internet and the dark web for your personal information, sending you alerts via its app. Data breaches, bank and investment accounts, and your social media accounts are all monitored with Identity Guard’s services. You can also add the accounts of your entire family to ensure their information is safe as well.

Fund Replacement and Insurance

Identity Guard is similar to most protection providers in that it offers up $1 million in insurance coverage for financial losses that result from someone stealing your identity. Lawyer fees, official document fees, and stolen funds are all covered by this insurance.

Credit, Bank, and Investment Monitoring

Identity Guard provides monitoring of your credit files. You have a credit file at each of the 3 credit bureaus which store your active loan information, credit payment, and history. If there are any changes to your credit file or bank and investment accounts, you’ll receive notices.

Plans and Pricing

Value Plan

The Identity Guard Value plan has two options, one for individuals and one for families. The individual plan can be subscribed to for $7.50 per month, while the Identity Guard family plan runs $12.50 per month. Each plan offers up to $1 million in theft insurance, provides a risk management report, and provides cyber-security features.

Total Plan

The Total Plan is Identity Guard’s second-tier plan and can be purchased for $16.67 per month. You can also subscribe to the family plan for $25 per month, protecting your children, domestic partner, or spouse's information. The Total Plan includes bank account monitoring, Identity Guard credit monitoring of 3 bureaus, and a 1-bureau monthly credit score.

Ultra Plan

The Ultra plan offers the most coverage for families or individuals. A monthly fee of $25 (individual) or $33.33 (family) grants you all of the lower-tier packages’ benefits plus investment and retirement account monitoring, tracking of court records and documents, address change monitoring, and more.

Pros and Cons

PROS

  • You have 3 plans with 2 options each, giving you more choices.
  • Your identity theft weaknesses are identified for you in the risk management report.
  • Your bank accounts are monitored for high-risk transactions such as large-sum transfers or wire transfers.
  • Identity Guard covers all known identity theft techniques, adding more as they are found.
  • If you have family members, you can add their bank and investment accounts.
  • Identity Guard app works on both Android and iOS devices.
  • The dark web and internet are scoured for your information by artificial intelligence platforms.
  • You’ll receive alerts if you or your family’s social media accounts are tampered with.

CONS

  • Technical support is not available 24 hours a day.
  • The included browser extension is only available on specific browsers.
  • Installing extensions on browsers can be risky because they can be faked or altered.
  • Ransomware can be hidden in browser extensions, which can hijack your device.
  • You might have to find additional insurance if your assets total over $1 million.
  • Someone recovering from a theft might need more than one 3-bureau credit report.
  • Identity Guard is more expensive than Zander.
  • Mobile app technical support is not reliable, and updates are infrequent.
  • Consumers can accomplish much of the monitoring offered by Identity Guard themselves.

Zander Features and Services

ID Theft and Cyber-Security

Zander identity theft protection is less comprehensive than other providers. This is not to say that the protection offered is ineffective — it’s quite the opposite. Zander’s scans include as much of your personal information as you’re willing to give the company. It uses this to scan across the dark web’s known exchanges and information trafficking sites.

The only difference with Zander is that it does not have access to your credit card file or bank accounts to alert you. It only provides alerts if it finds your account numbers being exchanged. 

The scanning services are conducted daily and look for such information as your credit card, bank account, and license numbers. If you purchase a Zander family plan, it scans for their information as well.

Fund Replacement and Insurance

Similar to Identity Guard, Zander provides identity theft insurance and fee coverage of up to $1 million. The aspects of the coverage remain the same as well — the money can be used to replace stolen funds and cover fees from lawyers, experts, from acquiring legal documents, or other theft-related expenses.

Credit and Bank Accounts

Your bank account and credit card numbers are all that is monitored. There is no Zander credit monitoring besides the cards. In truth, many consumers do not need much more service than receiving alerts for these accounts. 

Pricing and Plans

Individual Plan

The individual plan covers 1 person and will cost you $6.75 per month, or $75 per year. The individual plan includes identity recovery, monitoring, and alerts of your personal information, 24-hour customer service, and insurance. 

Family Plan

The Zander Family Plan is all of the services provided by Zander, but for an entire family. You can cover as many as 10 children up to the age of 18. You can also include adult dependents living in your home, but they have limited coverage. The family plan costs $12.90 per month or $145 per year. 

Pros and Cons

PROS

  • Price is low, with services designed for consumers that need the essential protection.
  • Services are kept minimal to ensure that you are only receiving services you need.
  • 24-hour customer support means you can always ask questions or report an identity theft.
  • Zander’s professional recovery experts do the identity recovery work for you.
  • An affordable family plan lets you protect the identities of your entire family for less.
  • The plans focus on recovery instead of prevention.
  • Monitoring is provided as an enhancement.
  • Each person receives monitoring on five (each) credit cards, bank accounts, emails, and medical numbers.
    five phone numbers, one driver license, and one social security number monitored per person.

CONS

  • Investment and retirement accounts cannot be monitored.
  • If you have more than $1 million in financial assets, you might need more insurance.
  • You cannot link the monitoring services to the credit bureaus for convenient reporting.
  • Court and public records do not appear to be included in the scans or searches.
  • Consumers that need more identity protection or assistance have to choose another provider.
  • There is no Zander app. You receive notices and alerts via email.
  • The black market/dark web is the only place that is monitored for your information.
  • Regular internet accounts and social media accounts are not scanned.

Conclusion

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It is increasingly easier for thieves to steal identities due to the digitization of our information, interactions, and culture. Since our information is readily available to people that want to profit from it, we need to be more vigilant when ensuring our information is secure.

However, there is only so much you and your family members can monitor on your own. If everyone in your 4-person family has 45 accounts online, you’d all need to spend a lot of time checking them every day for security.

No one has that kind of time, so it helps to have someone specializing in identity monitoring do it for you. While Zander’s essential services check known places for your information and notify you if it is found, IdentityGuard’s complete monitoring and alert services monitor all of your financial and social accounts. The dark parts of the web are also scanned for your information. The app alerts you via your mobile device so you can receive it wherever you are.

While Identity Guard’s services might be more expensive, you get a full-family, complete-identity surveillance suite that lets you spend time doing the things you love to do without worrying about thieves damaging your credit. Identity Guard wins this comparison due to the robust and all-inclusive security features its plans offer individuals and families.

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* The score you receive with Identity Guard is provided for educational purposes to help you understand your credit. It is calculated using the information contained in your TransUnion credit file. Lenders use many different credit scoring systems, and the score you receive with Identity Guard is not the same score used by lenders to evaluate your credit.

** Identity Theft Insurance underwritten by insurance company subsidiaries or affiliates of American International Group‚ Inc. The description herein is a summary and intended for informational purposes only and does not include all terms‚ conditions and exclusions of the policies described. Please refer to the actual policies for terms‚ conditions‚ and exclusions of coverage. Coverage may not be available in all jurisdictions.

About the Author

Calvin Fellows’ time on the force was a learning experience, showing him the darkest sides of humanity. What stuck out to him most was how preventable most crimes were; a couple of little things often stood between the loss of someone’s life or property, that simply wasn’t there.

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