Is McAfee+ Identity Theft Protection Worth It?

Can McAfee Plus Protect You Against Identity Theft?

McAfee+ moves beyond the brand’s well-known antivirus offering to include protection against more modern cybersecurity threats, including identity theft, online scams, and financial fraud.

But does it offer the same level of protection as more established identity theft protection providers?

Here’s what users and tech reviewers like and dislike about McAfee+:

• What people like about McAfee+: Users and reviewers appreciate McAfee+’s unlimited device protection, strong antivirus features, malware and ransomware protection, and the simplicity of the “Protection Score.”
• What people dislike about McAfee+: Many users complain about McAfee’s difficult cancellation policy, obtrusive upsell pop-ups, and slow VPN. Some reviewers also found that McAfee missed real-world ransomware attacks.

Before you sign up for or upgrade to McAfee+ identity theft protection, you need to know what you’re getting — and if it’s worth your money.

The bottom line: McAfee offers a similar level of protection to other identity theft protection services — but at a higher cost. For protection similar to Aura, you need to sign up for the Ultimate tier plan, which costs $199.99 for your first year and $279.99/year after that.

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McAfee Plus Identity Theft Protection Review: What You Need To Know

McAfee+ offers three different plan tiers — Premium, Advanced, and Ultimate. Each tier includes McAfee’s virtual private network (VPN), antivirus, and other security software, but differs in the additional identity protection and credit monitoring features and identity theft insurance that’s included.

The lowest priced McAfee+ Premium offers essentially the same features as McAfee Total Protection, but with antivirus protection for unlimited devices and some very basic identity monitoring.

The Advanced and Ultimate tiers add on additional identity theft protection features as well as either one- or three-bureau credit monitoring, plus financial account monitoring, and insurance.

Here’s a quick rundown of the features and pricing for McAfee+’s different plans, as of June 2025:

On paper, it looks like McAfee+offers a similar feature set to established identity theft protection services, including Aura, Identity Guard, and LifeLock. However, there are specific standout features and limitations you need to be aware of.

Let’s start by digging into the top features that come with McAfee+ plans.

Antivirus protection for unlimited devices

One of the major selling points of McAfee+ is that this plan provides the only way to get McAfee antivirus protection for unlimited devices.

McAfee offers real-time virus protection against common malware — including spyware, ransomware, and trojans. McAfee’s antivirus works across Windows, MacOS, iOS, Android, and Chrome operating systems.

For years, McAfee has been rated as one of the best antivirus software providers through independent testing by organizations such as AV-Comparatives and the AV-Test Institute.

However, more recent tests have shown McAfee lagging behind competitors — such as Avast, AVG, Bitdefender, and Avira. Specifically, AV-Comparative’s March 2025 test ranked McAfee 5th for online protection against viruses.

💡 Related: Do You Actually Need Antivirus Software? [Answered] →

McAfee Protection Score®

McAfee scans for your personal information on the Dark Web and data breach announcements, and then provides a high-level view of your vulnerability through a personalized protection score of 0 to 1000. You’ll also get advice on how to increase your score, such as by changing compromised passwords or setting up credit monitoring and other security features.

Scam detector

Every Mcafee+ plan includes a built-in “scam detector” that provides real-time protection and alerts for suspicious texts, emails, and deepfake videos — but not phone call scams. You’ll also get access to the McAfee browser extension that can warn you of potential phishing websites. 

One reviewer found that McAfee was able to block just 32% of phishing sites tested.

Note: You can also get McAfee’s Webadvisor extension for free, which offers the same features.

Social privacy manager

McAfee+ takes a unique approach to online privacy by scanning your social media privacy settings and suggesting changes, based on the category of social media user that you fall into. For example, it will suggest ways to hide more of your personal content if you’re an “unplugged” user versus a “socializer.”

Personal data cleanup

McAfee+ also provides data broker opt-outs. After entering your name, date of birth, email address, phone number, and address, McAfee will scan data broker sites to see if they’re selling your personal information.

Unfortunately, McAfee+ only scans around 40 common data brokers — far fewer than other services, such as Aura, DeleteMe, and Optery.

The Premium and Advanced tiers only inform you if your information is present on data broker websites. For automated removal requests, you need to pay for the Ultimate tier.

Credit monitoring (one or three bureau)

McAfee+’s Advanced and Ultimate plans include credit monitoring with either one credit bureau (TransUnion) or all three of the major bureaus (TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax). Credit monitoring is one of the most effective ways to catch early warning signs of serious identity fraud — and three-bureau monitoring is recommended in almost all scenarios.

The Ultimate tier also includes a one-click TransUnion credit lock, along with guidance on how to freeze your credit with the other major bureaus as well as other agencies, including Innovis, CoreLogic, and DataX.

Up to $2 million in identity theft insurance

If you become the victim of identity theft, McAfee+ offers different levels of insurance coverage to help pay for eligible expenses and losses — such as legal fees, replacement documents, and even lost wages. However, there are low limits on many categories of coverage, and the Premium plan doesn’t include any coverage at all.

What Are the Downsides of Using McAfee+?

McAfee+ leans heavily on the brand’s history of antivirus and online security. However, when it comes to all-in-one protection against identity theft and other modern threats, there are downsides that you should be aware of.

Poor customer support reviews

McAfee has a 1.2-star rating on third-party review site Trustpilot. Many customers complain about long hold times, unhelpful support agents, not being able to get through to customer support, or never receiving a callback.

Aggressive upsell tactics

Many customers have also complained about upsell pop-ups and “scare tactics” that pressure users into upgrading their services or paying for additional features.

Here’s how one user described their experience with McAfee:

“This software was preinstalled on a brand-new Lenovo, and it immediately started blowing up my screen with pop-ups, alerts, and shady upsell tactics trying to force a subscription. It felt less like antivirus and more like a hostage situation.”

Limited identity theft monitoring

McAfee+ scans for 60 pieces of personally identifiable information (PII) across the Dark Web, and sends alerts when it finds anything. While this can help you know if you’ve been the victim of a data breach or identity theft, it misses many of the other places where cybercriminals may use your PII.

For example, Aura scans the Dark Web, data breaches, public records, court records, and more for over 140 pieces of PII.

💡 Related: The 7 Best McAfee Alternatives Right Now →

High renewal costs (and no monthly plan option)

McAfee+ advertises low initial membership fees that increase significantly after your first year of service.

For example, McAfee+ Advanced costs $89.99 for the first year and $199.99/year after that — an increase of over 122%.

McAfee+ also requires users to pay for the entire year of service upfront (or pay in installments via PayPal).

Auto-renewal required for some features

Certain features are only available if you sign up for auto-renewals on your account, including McAfee’s Virus Protection Pledge, which refunds your subscription amount if McAfee’s security suite misses a virus and is unable to remove it from your device.

VPN may cause device slow down

McAfee’s VPN and firewall include basic features to hide your IP and protect your privacy when using Wi-Fi. However, some users have complained that it is slow to connect or can even crash during the process, requiring you to reboot the software.

Low insurance limits for certain expenses

While McAfee advertises at least $1 million in identity theft insurance on the Advanced tier plan (and $2 million on the Ultimate tier), there are limits to this coverage. For example, the summary of benefits calls out that you’ll only receive a maximum of $1,000 coverage each for an initial legal consultation and CPA costs.

McAfee will also cover lost wages if your identity theft case requires you to take off time for work, but only to a maximum of $1,500 per week for eight weeks total.

Insufficient coverage for families

Children and elderly family members are regular targets for identity thieves and online scammers. McAfee+ offers “family plans” which extend coverage to two adults and include parental controls for children.

The cost for family plans also increases significantly after your first year. Even the most basic Premium plan jumps from $69.99 for your first year to $169.99 after that — an increase of a whopping 142%.

How Does McAfee+ Compare to Aura?

McAfee isn’t the only option available for identity theft protection. There’s a host of alternatives to consider that provide a similar “all-in-one”protection package, including Aura, Identity Guard, IdentityForce, Norton Lifelock, and others.

Aura is consistently rated the #1 identity theft protection platform from reviewers at TechRadar, NerdWallet, USNews.com, and more.

The main difference between Aura and McAfee+ is that Aura was built from the ground up to provide powerful identity theft protection, while McAfee+ is mostly an antivirus and anti-malware service with some identity protection features layered on top.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of how Aura and McAfee+ compare head-to-head:

The Bottom Line: McAfee+ May Not Be Enough for Identity Theft Protection

If you’re looking for protection against identity theft and more modern online threats, even McAfee+’s most expensive Ultimate plan tier may come up short. Instead, you’re better off choosing Aura for these reasons:

• Better value for money. To get the same coverage as Aura’s $9.99/month plan, you’d need to sign up for McAfee+ Ultimate at $199.99/year (with an increase to $279.99/year after your first year!).
• More in-depth monitoring and identity protection. Aura monitors more of your sensitive data in more places with detailed alerts and support available to help if you’re the victim of a data leak, breach, or identity theft.
• Faster fraud alerts. A 2025 mystery shopper survey found that Aura provided more reliable and faster fraud alerts than competitors. Shoppers reported that Aura’s fraud alerts were 232x faster than those from McAfee³.
• Better reviews for customer support. Aura has a 4.3-star rating on Trustpilot, with many real customers calling out Aura’s attentive and knowledgeable U.S.-based customer support team.
• Stronger family protection. Aura takes family online safety seriously with child identity theft protection features, powerful parental controls, Safe Gaming and online predator alerts, and new online balance features. Aura’s family plans cover up to five adults and unlimited children.‍
• Risk-free trial and money-back guarantee. You can try Aura for yourself with no obligation by signing up for a 14-day free trial. All annual plans also include a 60-day money-back guarantee (McAfee only provides a 30-day money-back guarantee).