Have you had your personal data compromised online? Or maybe you want to be proactive in protecting yourself against identity theft. In today’s digital age, we have to realize how important it is to ensure that our sensitive data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
If you’re deciding whether to buy an identity theft protection product, you might have come across various options, including Allstate Identity Protection.
Allstate is a trusted insurance brand, so you might wonder, is its ID theft protection product worth it?
We get you. Our team tried Allstate Identity Protection ourselves! We explored the platform and its features, reviewed official Allstate resources, sifted through dozens of user reviews, and compared it with heavyweights in the ID theft protection space.
In this article, we’ll break down the things we liked and didn’t like, and the ONE key reason why we aren’t a big fan of it – so read all the way to the end!
Key Takeaways
- Allstate Identity Protection is affordable, especially for big families.
- It has a digital footprint feature that’s not available in most ID theft protection products.
- Allstate’s identity monitoring only includes the dark web
- It doesn’t have a single plan that offers three-bureau credit monitoring
- There are better alternatives with more comprehensive features for the same price you’d pay for Allstate plans.
All State Identity Theft Video Review
What does Allstate Identity Protection do?
Allstate Identity Protection offers several features to help monitor your information, protect you against identity theft and fraud and recover from ID theft damages.
Let’s take a deeper look into them.
- Allstate Digital Footprint
Allstate monitors your ‘Digital Footprint’. Most identity protection products don’t have this feature.
For most of us who’ve spent decades living online, we’ve left a trail of personal information on the web that we might not know about (like your friendster account you forgot existed).
Allstate Digital Footprint scans your email box for all the accounts you’ve opened and figures out where your information still lives on the internet.
Allstate sends alerts via text or email when it spots possible threats such as data breaches with your accounts so you can act immediately, safeguard your accounts, and minimize the damage.
- Identity Monitoring
Allstate Identity Protection provides identity monitoring. Using its proprietary technology, it scans the dark web for our personal information and alerts us to fraud. That allows us to respond immediately and prevent any further damage.
But that’s about it—Allstate’s identity monitoring is limited to the dark web and whether someone is using your name fraudulently in credit-related accounts.
Other ID theft protection services like LifeLock or Aura monitor your Social Security Number, date of birth, and address in credit and services applications and publicly available registries.
Because SSNs are critical information thieves can use to steal identity, SSN monitoring is something we hope Allstate can improve.
- One-Bureau Credit Monitoring
Allstate provides credit monitoring, sending us alerts when they notice suspicious activities. It also provides assistance when we want to freeze and unfreeze our credit.
However, Allstate ID protection only provides credit monitoring at one bureau (TransUnion) in its basic and premium plans. You can review your TransUnion report anytime.
This was the MAJOR flaw that we saw in Allstate’s plans. Consider Allstate’s competitors:
 $18.99 / Month | $34.99 / Month |  $46.99 / Month |  $50.00 / Month | |
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Identity & SSN Monitoring | ||||
Dark Web Monitoring | ||||
Credit Monitoring |
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Credit Reports |
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Credit Scores |
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Credit Lock & Credit Freeze | ||||
Address Change Verification | ||||
Credit Card & Banking Transaction Alerts | ||||
Account Takeover Monitoring | ||||
401K & Investment Account Activity Alerts | ||||
Social Media Monitoring | ||||
Identity Theft Insurance Coverage |
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U.S Based Restoration | ||||
Lost Wallet Restoration | ||||
Digital Security Tools |
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Complete ID provides three-bureau credit monitoring for the cheaper price of $8.99 a month compared to Allstate’s $9.99 a month.
Other ID protection products, like LifeLock and Identity Defense, include all three national credit reporting bureaus in their premium plans.
While you could credit reports from all three bureaus annually, it doesn’t come close to having frequent monitoring of your credit.
- Financial Account Monitoring
Allstate monitors our credit-related financial accounts proactively to prevent financial fraud.
You can set transaction alert preferences, so Allstate will only notify you for things like large withdrawals, large card purchases, net worth change, and max credit limit.
We like the rapid alerts it sends when someone tries to open an account under your name. When you get notified immediately, the faster you can take action to secure your other information.
You can also set up a credit fraud alert with Allstate, so creditors will contact you first before approving new credit under your name.
Its premium plan also includes monitoring high-risk transactions, student loan activities, credit card transactions, and bank account activities.
Allstate also monitors 401(k) and investment accounts, which is great because these aren’t commonly included in most ID theft protection products.
- Dark Web Monitoring
The dark web is an intentionally hidden collective of sites that you can’t access using regular browsers. Thieves and fraudsters buy and sell people’s sensitive information, so if you’ve been a victim of a data breach, your details may have ended there.
Allstate scans the dark web for your email address, credit and debit card numbers, web login details, driver’s license, and passport numbers.
- Identity Theft Insurance
Allstate offers up to $1 million in identity theft insurance. But based on the terms and conditions we read, Allstate will reimburse your out-of-pocket expenses subject to aggregate liability limits.
That means you will receive less than $1 million in stolen fund reimbursement.
| Allstate Plan | Coverage | Aggregate Limit of Liability |
| Allstate Identity Protection Premier | Expense Reimbursement | $1 million per Single/Family Membership per 12 Month Period |
| Cash Recovery Aggregate | $500,000 (Part of and not in addition to Expense Reimbursement Aggregate Limit of Liability) | |
| Investment & Health Savings Accounts Cash Recovery | $50,000 (Part of and not in addition to Expense Reimbursement Aggregate Limit of Liability) | |
| Allstate Identity Protection Essentials | Expense Reimbursement | $1 million per Single/Family Membership per 12 Month Period |
| Cash Recovery Aggregate | $50,000 (Part of and not in addition to Expense Reimbursement Aggregate Limit of Liability) |
Source: Allstate
Allstate’s identity theft expense reimbursement covers legal fees and losses resulting from the following:
- Fraud or embezzlement
- Theft
- Forgery
- Data breach
- Stolen identity event
Another thing we like about Allstate’s coverage is its stolen tax fraud advance. If someone fraudulently files and claims your tax refund, Allstate will pay you in advance.
You must file your insurance claims within 60 days of discovering identity theft. Otherwise, you won’t be eligible for reimbursement.
It’s also important to keep proper documentation and proof of losses, including receipts from your out-of-pocket expenses after discovering the identity theft.
- Fraud Remediation and Restoration
One crucial thing after falling victim to identity theft is how you can recover. Allstate promises to assist you in restoring your identity from start to finish.
It has a 24/7 customer service team and US-based restoration specialists that fully manage remediation cases. We think this is quite important.
- Solicitation Reduction
Do you ever wonder how you get random calls from telemarketers or texts from scammers? That’s because of the information they can find online and other sources, so limiting the information we make available is an important step in protecting our personal data.
We like that Allstate makes it easier to opt-out of the major sources of junk mail and telemarketing calls. You can opt out of credit card offers, commercial email, commercial mail, telemarketing calls, and commercial coupons through the links provided on the Allstate dashboard.
- Social Media Monitoring
Allstate Identity Protection also includes social media monitoring. You’ll have to tell Allstate all your social media accounts that you want to monitor.
You’ll receive alerts for potential account takeovers, hacking, and other breaches. Allstate can also monitor comments on your YouTube accounts for cyberbullying, threats, and explicit content.
- Lost Wallet Assistance
If you lose your wallet, Allstate will walk you through the entire process of replacing the lost content. That includes canceling credit cards and replacing IDs.
How much does Allstate Identity Protection cost?
Allstate offers two plans: Essentials and Premier. Both options have individual and family plans.
The only difference is that the Premier plan offers more comprehensive credit and financial monitoring.
The best thing about their plans is that you can add up to 10 members to your family plan (up to 10 adults or up to 9 children). Other products only allow up to two adults and five children.
Essentials costs $9.99 a month for individual and $18.99 for family, while Premier costs $17.99 a month for individual and $34.99 for family.
| $9.99 / Month | $17.99 / Month | $18.99 / Month | $34.99 / Month | |
Members | ||||
Identity & SSN Monitoring | ||||
Dark Web Monitoring | ||||
Credit Monitoring | ||||
Credit Reports | ||||
Credit Scores | ||||
Credit Lock & Credit Freeze | ||||
Address Change Verification | ||||
Credit Card & Banking Transaction Alerts | ||||
Account Takeover Monitoring | ||||
401K & Investment Account Activity Alerts | ||||
Social Media Monitoring | ||||
Identity Theft Insurance Coverage |
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U.S Based Restoration | ||||
Lost Wallet Restoration | ||||
Digital Security Tools |
We also like that it offers a 30-day free trial so that you can test the product and see if it’s a good fit.
You’ll be required to enter your credit card details upon signing up, although you won’t be charged yet.
You can cancel anytime within 30 days; otherwise, your plan will renew automatically, and you’ll be charged the regular monthly rate.
What is it like to use Allstate ID theft protection?
Allstate’s main platform is its web-based dashboard, which we like because it’s quite simple and easy to navigate. You can check out our video review here to see it in action.
The dashboard is divided into three sections: Activity, Monitoring, and Resources.
When you log in, you’ll be in the Activity tab, which gives you an overview of your dashboard. It shows your identity health or how at risk your identity is.
It also displays any alerts it has sent you and a glance at your digital footprint based on the number of breaches and items.
The Monitoring section allows you to:
- view the details of your digital footprint
- view your credit score and report
- add items you want to monitor on the dark web
- link your financial accounts and set your alert preferences
- connect your social media accounts for social monitoring
The Resources section is where you can find the links to opt out of spam calls, preapproved credit cards, and junk mail.
Allstate also has a mobile app, which looks and feels like its web platform. It’s quite handy when you want to check alerts and status on the go, but if you want to navigate more through the details of the information, it’s better to log on to a computer.
What are the alternatives to Allstate Identity Protection?
Allstate Identity Protection is an affordable ID theft product but lacks key fraud detection and digital security tools that other companies offer.
You might want to consider the following alternatives:
ID Watchdog
 $34.99 / Month | $34.99 / Month | |
Members | ||
Identity & SSN Monitoring | ||
Dark Web Monitoring | ||
Credit Monitoring | ||
Credit Reports |
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Credit Scores |
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Credit Lock & Credit Freeze | ||
Pay Day Loan Alerts | ||
Ficticious Identity Monitoring | ||
Public Records Monitoring | ||
Credit Lock & Credit Freeze | ||
Address Change Verification | ||
Credit Card & Banking Transaction Alerts | ||
401K & Investment Account Activity Alerts | ||
Social Media Monitoring | ||
Identity Theft Insurance Coverage |
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U.S Based Restoration | ||
Lost Wallet Restoration | ||
Digital Security Tools |
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While you’re paying cheaper per member with Allstate, ID Watchdog is a better alternative if you’re looking for a family plan with comprehensive features.
Some of its features that Allstate doesn’t have are:
- Public records monitoring
- Fictitious identity monitoring
- Payday loan alerts
- Three-bureau monitoring
- SSN monitoring outside the dark web
- VPN protection
- Password manager
ID Watchdog’s Premium family plan costs $34.95 a month, just about the same price as Allstate’s Premier family plan. You can add up to two adults and four children.
Aura
If you only want to sign up for an individual plan, you might find Aura a better alternative to Allstate.
| $17.99 / Month | $15.00 / Month | |
Members | ||
Identity & SSN Monitoring | ||
Dark Web Monitoring | ||
Credit Monitoring | ||
Credit Reports |
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Credit Scores |
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Credit Card & Banking Transaction Alerts | ||
Identity Theft Insurance Coverage |
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Digital Security Tools |
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Some features that Aura has but Allstate doesn’t are:
- SSN monitoring outside the dark web
- Payday loan alerts
- Criminal identity theft alerts
- Changes in property ownership
- Three-bureau credit monitoring
- VPN protection
- Password manager
- Antivirus
- Security browser
At $15 a month, it’s cheaper than Allstate’s $17.99 per month premium plan. Yet, Aura offers more comprehensive coverage to protect your identity.
Lifelock
Another comparable alternative to Allstate Identity Protection is Lifelock if you want a customized solution. Lifelock monitors more personal information than Allstate, even when you sign up for its mid-tier plan option.
| $18.99 / Month | $34.99 / Month | $46.99 / Month | $50.00 / Month | |
Members | ||||
Identity & SSN Monitoring | ||||
Dark Web Monitoring | ||||
Credit Monitoring |
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Credit Reports |
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Credit Scores |
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Credit Lock & Credit Freeze | ||||
Address Change Verification | ||||
Credit Card & Banking Transaction Alerts | ||||
Account Takeover Monitoring | ||||
401K & Investment Account Activity Alerts | ||||
Social Media Monitoring | ||||
Identity Theft Insurance Coverage |
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U.S Based Restoration | ||||
Lost Wallet Restoration | ||||
Digital Security Tools |
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Some features that Lifelock has that Allstate is lacking are:
- Fictitious identity monitoring
- Identity verification monitoring
- Payday loan alert
- Criminal identity theft alerts
- Phone takeover monitoring
- Child SSN monitoring
- VPN protection
- Password manager
You can benefit from these features from LifeLock’s Advantage plan, which costs $17.99 a month, the same price as Allstate’s Premier plan.
Our verdict
Is Allstate Identity Protection worth it? Yes, it’s an affordable identity protection product, especially for big families. It has a cool digital footprint feature that allows you to monitor various accounts associated with your email. You can also add up to 10 family members, which is way more than what others offer.
We also like its web interface and how Allstate keeps it simple, easy to navigate, and easy to link the accounts that you want to monitor.
However, while it’s cheaper, it lacks some key fraud detection and digital security features that other companies offer. Allstate Identity Protection’s credit monitoring and identity monitoring are not as robust as other products.
Its identity monitoring is also limited to the dark web, while other products monitor more personal and financial information in public resources and other platforms.
So, if you’re looking for more comprehensive protection, you might be better off with Aura, ID Watchdog, or LifeLock. You’ll pay about the same price as Allstate but benefit from more features.
Aidan has been writing about personal finance for over 6 years. Prior to this, he worked as a Corporate Finance Analyst where he specialized in Due Diligence, Company Valuations and more. He is a CFA charterholder.
