The 5 Best Credit Karma Alternatives (Reviewed and Ranked)

Is There a Better Option Than Credit Karma?

Credit Karma offers free credit monitoring, credit score tracking, online checking and savings accounts (through Credit Karma Money™️), and tailored credit card and loan offers to help users make smart financial decisions.

While millions of Americans use Credit Karma to track, protect, and build their credit scores, it isn't the only (or best) option available.

If you’re considering signing up for Credit Karma, you should be aware of these issues with the service:

• $3 million fine from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Credit Karma was fined because of false advertising of “pre-approved credit offers” that customers actually didn’t qualify for.
• Ad-supported “free” tier. Credit Karma is only free because it receives a commission when you sign up for a credit card, loan, or other credit service that the company suggests (based on your credit profile).
• Past security breach that exposed personal finance data. A 2019 “glitch” exposed sensitive user data to other users, including full access to their credit files.
• Poor customer reviews. Credit Karma has a concerning 1.3-star rating on third-party review site Trustpilot, with many users complaining about deceptive marketing, incorrect credit scores, bad customer service, and issues with the company’s online bank accounts.
• Limited credit monitoring features. Credit Karma offers free credit monitoring — but only covers your TransUnion and Equifax credit reports. The lack of monitoring for your Experian credit file can potentially leave you vulnerable to fraud because each agency collects different data.

Credit Karma can still be a good option if you’re looking for basic credit monitoring or you’re shopping around for credit products and interest rates (and want to use the company’s simulator to see how your choices will impact your credit score).

However, many Credit Karma alternatives take financial health and credit safety to the next level by including digital security tools that actively monitor your financial accounts for suspicious changes, protect your online accounts, and help keep you and your family safe against identity thieves. 

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How To Choose a Credit Karma Alternative

Credit Karma offers features and functionalities for different financial goals — from building your credit score and net worth to budgeting, as well as financial management of your cash flow. However, many people still choose Credit Karma for its credit monitoring and credit score features.

When it comes to these features, there are plenty of alternatives that do a better job than Credit Karma.

Here’s what we looked at when assessing the top alternatives to Credit Karma:

• Credit monitoring and scores. Services should offer industry-leading three-bureau credit monitoring and accurate credit scores (updated on a regular basis).‍
• Fraud alerts and credit score change notifications. One third of Americans have found errors on their credit reports. We looked for services that provide quick and reliable alerts about updates to your reports — which helps you protect your credit score and shut down fraud. ‍
• Transparent business model. Most Credit Karma alternatives aren’t free — but they also don’t rely on marketing other products to you or sharing your private data with partners (as Intuit, the company that owns Credit Karma, admits in its privacy policy).‍
• Personal and financial data security. Personal finance apps request sensitive data, such as your banking details and even your Social Security number (SSN). Data security is a must.‍
• Additional credit protection. Credit monitoring is only a small part of keeping yourself and your family safe online. Many alternatives include identity theft protection and digital security services. ‍
• User experience and customer support. We looked for services that provide clear and actionable advice as well as high levels of support.

The 5 Best Credit Karma Alternatives Right Now

1. Aura — Industry-leading credit monitoring and protection
2. Credit Sesame — Basic credit monitoring with premium upgrades
3. Experian free credit monitoring — Backed by one of the major credit bureaus
4. WalletHub — Debt tracking and credit repair
5. myFICO — Premium access to your FICO® scores

Each service offers a slightly different take on credit monitoring and protection. Read our in-depth reviews to decide which Credit Karma alternative is right for you.

1. Aura

Why we picked it: Aura is an award-winning online safety platform that includes three-bureau credit monitoring services with the industry’s fastest credit fraud alerts³.

All plans also include premium credit protection services, including one-click Experian credit lock, AI-powered transaction monitoring for all of your linked bank, credit card, and investment accounts, monthly credit scores, and annual three-bureau credit reports.

Aura has been rated the #1 identity theft protection provider by TechRadar, Nerdwallet, CNBC, Money.com, and more.

Aura also includes award-winning identity theft protection, powerful digital security tools to protect you against hackers and online scammers, 24/7 access to U.S.-based certified support specialists, and up to $5 million in identity theft insurance.

You can try Aura free for 14 days (all annual plans also include a 60-day money-back guarantee).

Best plan and pricing: Aura individual at $9.99/month (using this special discount link).

Aura’s plans all include the same high level of credit monitoring and protection features — you just choose how many people you want to protect. The Couple plan protects two adults for $17.99/month, while the Family plan protects up to five adults and unlimited children for $24.99/month.

Aura’s Family Plan includes additional features such as parental controls, Safe Gaming tools to protect against predators and cyberbullies, online balance reports, and child identity monitoring.

How does Aura compare to Credit Karma?

When it comes to credit monitoring and protection, Aura is a vastly superior product that offers three-bureau credit monitoring (versus Credit Karma’s two), the industry’s fastest fraud alerts, generous insurance coverage, and personalized support. 

Aura also does a better job of protecting you and your family from identity theft and fraud. 

However, Aura doesn’t offer some of the same consumer features that you may be looking for — such as credit and insurance product comparisons or an online bank account. For the best of both worlds, you can use Credit Karma to compare credit products and Aura to protect you and your family from fraud, scams, and identity theft. 

Get the industry’s most reliable and fastest credit monitoring and alerts. Aura’s direct connections with all three credit bureaus means it provides more reliable fraud alerts that are up to 250x faster than other services³. Learn more about how Aura keeps your credit and finances safe →

2. Credit Sesame

Why we picked it: Credit Sesame is a free alternative to Credit Karma that provides monthly updates about your TransUnion credit score as well as insights into the five factors that are influencing it. You can also sign up for the Credit Cash Credit Builder debit card to help you improve your credit score with daily purchases.

Credit Sesame’s free services make money in a similar way that Credit Karma does — by taking a commission when you sign up for a bank account or credit product that they suggest. However, Credit Sesame doesn’t sell user information to third-party advertisers.

For people willing to pay for a service, the Credit Sesame+ plan offers one- or three-bureau credit monitoring.

Best plan and pricing: Credit Sesame+ with three-bureau credit monitoring for $24.99/month.

While full feature lists for the premium Credit Sesame+ plans aren’t publicly available, they do advertise a three-bureau credit monitoring option.

How does Credit Sesame compare to Credit Karma?

Credit Sesame’s free tier is a decent Credit Karma alternative for people who want basic information about their credit scores. And as a bonus, the company won’t sell your personal information. However, the high cost and limited features of the premium Credit Sesame+ plan mean Credit Sesame is still lacking when compared to Aura’s all-in-one solution. 

💡 Related: Are Free Credit Reports Safe? How To Avoid Free Score Scams →

3. Experian free credit monitoring

Why we picked it: Along with being one of the three main credit bureaus, Experian also offers products to help protect your credit and identity.

Experian’s free credit monitoring plan lets you monitor changes to your Experian credit score via a mobile app. You’ll also get alerts about changes to your credit file, your credit utilization ratio, and FICO® scores.

Additionally, Experian offers basic identity theft protection features, including a free Dark Web scan, Experian credit freeze, personal privacy scan, and insights on your credit score.

Best plan and pricing: Experian free credit monitoring.

Experian’s free plan is a great option for getting free access to your Experian credit history and FICO® credit score. However, for full credit protection, you’ll want to opt for a three-bureau monitoring service — such as Experian’s premium identity protection plan at $24.99/month.

How does Experian compare to Credit Karma?

Experian is the only one of the major credit bureaus that Credit Karma doesn’t monitor for free — meaning you could get full three-bureau coverage by signing up for both services. Experian also doesn’t rely on advertising to make money, so you’ll have a less distracting experience when using its app. Still, the free version is lacking some features for identity and credit protection.

4. WalletHub

Why we picked it: WalletHub is a free credit score app that lets you check your credit information and learn how to improve it. You can also use the app to access your TransUnion credit report and receive promotional deals from banks, lenders, and other financial service providers.

However, where WalletHub stands out the most is in providing information about why your credit score changed and advice on how to build it back up — including a budgeting app, credit-improvement plan, and debt payoff plan.

WalletHub also offers several tiers of paid plans that include premium budgeting and credit monitoring features, identity theft protection (provided by IdentityForce), Dark Web monitoring, and identity theft insurance.

Best plan and pricing: WalletHub Premium+ at $5.24/month (or ~$63/year for your first year only).

While WalletHub offers a decent free service, the Premium+ plan includes identity theft protection, $1 million in identity theft insurance, and other premium services at an attractive price. The Premium+ plan also includes auto-updates from your synced accounts for more accurate data.

How does WalletHub compare to Credit Karma?

WalletHub is a decent Credit Karma alternative for people who want free access to their credit scores and not much else. Like Credit Karma, WalletHub provides education about financial topics and makes recommendations for financial products — but in a much more transparent way.

While the Premium+ plans provide a decent level of protection against credit and identity fraud, they’re still lacking when compared to dedicated services such as Aura.

5. myFICO

Why we picked it: myFICO provides you with instant access to your FICO® credit score. This is different from the VantageScore 3.0 scoring model that many other apps use, but it draws on many of the same criteria. It still offers three-bureau coverage through its Advanced and Premier plans, and updates this information either monthly or every three months.

However, the free tier only offers basic scores and credit monitoring. You’ll need to pay a serious premium if you want access to separate FICO scores for mortgages, auto loans, and other common scenarios — plus identity monitoring, restoration, and identity theft insurance.

Best plan and pricing: myFICO Advanced for $29.95/month.

myFICO Advanced comes with three-bureau credit monitoring, individual FICO® scores, 24/7 identity restoration services, identity monitoring, and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance. But it comes at a cost of $29.95/month, and only updates credit scores every three months. If you want more regular updates, you’ll need to upgrade to the Premier plan at $39.95/month.

How does myFICO compare to Credit Karma?

myFICO doesn’t offer a tool to lock your credit reports in response to fraud, nor does it provide proactive protection against scams. However, myFICO does offer 24/7 access to identity recovery specialists and a $1 million insurance policy against identity theft. If scammers steal your identity, the company has the resources to help you in ways that Credit Karma can’t.

What About Budgeting Apps Like Mint? 

For years, Mint was one of the best Credit Karma alternatives. However, Intuit — the owners of both Mint and Credit Karma — announced that they were shutting down Mint's services in January 2024. Now, many of Mint's features have been integrated into Credit Karma.

The Bottom Line: You Can Do More To Protect Your Financial Health

Credit monitoring services empower people to take control of their financial health and protect against fraud and scams. However, there are still steps you need to take on your own to stay safe:

• Review your free credit reports. Every American is entitled to free online credit reports from all three bureaus every week at AnnualCreditReport.com. Take advantage of these reports to make sure there aren’t any inaccuracies or unauthorized accounts or inquiries on your files.
• Dispute all unfamiliar activity. If you see anything unfamiliar on your credit files or bank statements, report it immediately. You can contact the credit bureaus’ dispute departments online directly (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion).
• Secure your online accounts. Keep your accounts safe from hackers by using strong and unique passwords, two-factor authentication (2FA), and login alerts. If you’re not sure how to do this, contact your bank.
• Monitor your sensitive information online. Hackers use stolen and leaked data to take out credit in your name. Run a free Dark Web scan or sign up for identity monitoring to receive warnings if you’re at risk.

Credit Karma may provide useful information about your credit score, but its lack of security features and bad track record demonstrate that there are better options available. Safeguard your finances with Aura, and get access to near real-time credit monitoring, 24/7 U.S.-based Fraud Resolution support, and up to $5 million in insurance protection against identity theft.