Credit Sesame vs Credit Karma: Which is Better? (2024)

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As a personal finance enthusiast, I try to stay on top of the latest trends and topics related to debt, credit, and other important money management topics. For this post, I signed up to compare Credit Sesame vs Credit Karma to see which was more beneficial and whether one was a waste of my time.

This post was written in partnership with Your Money Geek.

What Is Credit Karma?

Credit Karmais the largestfreecredit monitoring service in America. Created in San Francisco, California, in 2007, Credit Karma provides consumers with access to their credit score.

With Credit Karma, Users Can Access for Free:

The user’s credit score
The information in the user’s credit report from both TransUnion and Equifax
The factors that can improve or hurt a credit score
Actionable steps to improve the user’s credit score
Free tax filing and preparation
High yield savings account
Identity theft monitoring
Find unclaimed money
Vehicle value estimates and recall information

How Credit Karma Makes Money

Credit Karma is acompletely freeservice for users. The company makes its money by pushing lenders and other card services at the user to help with their credit. For each successful signup with a lender orcredit cardcompany, Credit Karma receives a commission.

What Is Credit Sesame?

Credit Sesameis another company founded in California to help people improve their credit scores and save money. Similar to Credit Karma, Credit Sesame also provides users with their credit score, free of charge.

Credit Sesame provides many of the same services as Credit Karma but emphasizing identity theft protection. Credit Sesame offers more active monitoring to fight against identity theft than Credit Karma does.

With the Credit Sesame App, Users Can Access for Free:

The user’s credit score
The information in the user’s credit report only from TransUnion
The factors that can improve or hurt a credit score
Actionable steps to improve the user’s credit score
Identity theft protection and insurance (for free! – up to $50,000 in coverage)

How Credit Sesame Makes Money

Credit Sesame also makes affiliate commission from recommending services and companies to the app userslike Credit Karma. However, Credit Sesame has a tiered monthly payment plan to add additional tools and resources at a price.

Credit Sesame Plans

Credit Sesame provides users with four plans depending on which features they would like to monitor and access.

Free Membership ($0 each month):

1 Bureau Monthly Credit Score Update
1 Bureau Credit Monitoring with Alerts

Advanced Credit ($9.95 each month):

1 Bureau Monthly Credit Score Update
1 Bureau Credit Monitoring with Alerts
1 Bureau Daily Credit Score Updates
3 Bureau Monthly Credit Score Updates
3 Bureau Monthly Full Credit Report

Pro Credit ($15.95 each month):

1 Bureau Monthly Credit Score Update
1 Bureau Credit Monitoring with Alerts
1 Bureau Daily Credit Score Updates
3 Bureau Monthly Credit Score Updates
3 Bureau Monthly Full Credit Report
3 Bureau Credit Monitoring with Alerts
24/7 Live Experts to Help Solve Credit Report Inaccuracies

Platinum Protection ($19.95 each month):

1 Bureau Monthly Credit Score Update
1 Bureau Credit Monitoring with Alerts
1 Bureau Daily Credit Score Updates
3 Bureau Monthly Credit Score Updates
3 Bureau Monthly Full Credit Report
3 Bureau Credit Monitoring with Alerts
24/7 Live Experts to Help Solve Credit Report Inaccuracies
24/7 Live Experts Provide Stolen/Lost Wallet Protection
Black Market Website Monitoring
Public Records Monitoring
Social Security Number Monitoring

The Benefits of Credit Karma and Credit Sesame

After trying both platforms, the Credit Karma App and the Credit Sesame App help keep an eye on your credit report and your credit score. Credit Karma is the winner when youcompare the featuresavailable in the free plan. However, the $50,000 identity theft protection that comes with the free Credit Sesame plan isprecious.

Improving Your Credit

Both credit monitoring companies will suffice if you are only interested in the necessary information or your credit score. However, Credit Karma checks two credit bureaus rather than only one like Credit Sesame’s free plan.

Identifying outstanding debt and making on-time payments is essential toimproving your credit score. Some outstanding debts that appear with one credit bureau may not show up on another bureau’s report. So as far as receiving the most up-to-date reliable information, Credit Karma wins this round.

Identity Theft Protection

Hands down, Credit Sesame, wins out in the identity theft protection area. Their free plan provides you with insurance in the unfortunate event your identity is compromised. If you’re willing to spend a few extra bucks each month, Credit Sesame offers even more protection to include 24/7 live expert help to resolve identity theft issues.

Credit Sesame vs Credit Karma – The Winner? It Depends On Your Purpose

While both apps provide you with basic credit information, Credit Karma is the clear winner if your main priority is monitoring your credit score and data reported to the credit bureaus. The information provided by Credit Karma is sufficient to help locate old debts to improve your credit score andsave moneywith lower interest rates.

However, if you are primarily concerned with monitoring your credit for possible identity theft issues, Credit Sesame is the clear winner. It’s apparent Credit Sesame geared their business model approach with an emphasis on identity theft protection.

Credit Sesame vs Credit Karma: Which is Better? (1)

The Best Strategy: Credit Sesame vs Credit Karma

For me, I like the best of both worlds. Because Credit Sesame and Credit Karma offer free plans with different strengths, I will continue to use both apps for their intended purposes. I love the focus on identity theft and the $50,000 protection I get from Credit Sesame.

In contrast, I like the detailed reports and information I get from Credit Karma regarding the information contained in the information reported to TransUnion and Equifax.

Using both of these powerhouses together, I can get the optimum protection from each – for free. For now, I am going to forgo the paid Credit Sesame plans and will stick with the basic protection for my current needs.

FAQs

Credit Sesame vs Credit Karma: Which is Better? ›

Credit Sesame offers better identity protection options. Credit Karma offers a more detailed credit score simulator. Credit Karma provides access to more financial services (like tax prep and the unclaimed money finder). Credit Sesame makes it easier to get an overall view of your situation on its dashboard.

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Who is more accurate, Credit Karma or Credit Sesame? ›

While they both use VantageScore, Credit Karma gives you the score for Equifax and TransUnion. It also has the advantage of giving you full access to your credit reports from both bureaus and updates more frequently than Credit Sesame.

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Is Credit Karma or Credit Wise better? ›

Services such as CreditWise pull from all relevant major credit bureaus whereas Credit Karma pulls from fewer, thus resulting in the potential for less precise credit score reporting.

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Is Credit Sesame accurate with your credit score? ›

Yes. Credit Sesame is trusted with data from TransUnion, a major credit bureau. The company is also FDIC-insured and uses data encryption to protect your information.

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What credit app is better than 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.

Read On ›

Who gives the most accurate credit score? ›

Simply put, there is no “more accurate” score when it comes down to receiving your score from the major credit bureaus.

Know More ›

Why is my FICO score 100 points lower than Credit Karma? ›

Your FICO Score is a credit score. But if your FICO score is different from another of your credit scores, it may be that the score you're viewing was calculated using one of the other scoring models that exist.

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Is there a risk to using Credit Karma? ›

Credit Karma goes the extra mile when it comes to the safe-keeping of our members' personal information. We use 128-bit or higher encryption to protect during the transmission of data to our site and encrypt data at rest. If we suspect any suspicious activity on your account then we'll alert you as soon as possible.

Should you trust Credit Karma? ›

The credit scores and reports you see on Credit Karma come directly from TransUnion and Equifax, two of the three major consumer credit bureaus. The credit scores and reports you see on Credit Karma should accurately reflect your credit information as reported by those credit bureaus.

How off is Credit Sesame? ›

How accurate is Credit Sesame? For identity monitoring, Credit Sesame is accurate. They do a great job considering they are a company primarily focused on credit monitoring.

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Why is my credit score different on Credit Sesame? ›

There are several reasons why your score might differ from what you've seen elsewhere: You may be seeing a different credit scoring model. You may be seeing your score for a different credit bureau. You may be seeing a score that was pulled on a different day.

Learn More Now ›

Is Credit Sesame a hard or soft pull? ›

Using Credit Sesame to refresh your score daily is considered a soft inquiry, which has no impact on your credit score.

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Which app gives you the most accurate credit report? ›

The 6 Best Credit Monitoring Apps for 2024

Aura.
Credit Karma.
Credit Sesame.
CreditWise by Capital One.
myFICO.
IdentityForce.

Is Credit Karma the most accurate? ›

Although VantageScore's system is accurate, it's not the industry standard. Credit Karma works fine for the average consumer, but the companies that will approve or deny your application are more likely to look at your FICO score.

Is Credit Karma higher or lower than actual score? ›

Here's the short answer: The credit scores and reports you see on Credit Karma come directly from TransUnion and Equifax, two of the three major consumer credit bureaus. The credit scores and reports you see on Credit Karma should accurately reflect your credit information as reported by those bureaus.

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