After identifying some of the most widely used credit monitoring apps, I tested them with a number of criteria in mind. Since there are three major credit bureaus, one important consideration is how many scores each app provided. While no one app had all three for free, it is possible to use multiple apps to get all three scores for free. That said, some people may prefer to pay to have everything in one place, so finding the app that offered all three for the lowest price was a consideration as well.

Since a simple numerical credit score can be opaque, I looked at how well each app broke down the score and explained what contributed to it. I considered how much information each app gave about different accounts and how they impact credit scores. 

Visual presentation was important here, as well, since clear images can convey more information than text. Explanatory resources were important criteria, since credit scores and improving credit can be confusing.

I also looked at what resources each app offered for improving credit, including tips and special offers. While some users just want to keep an eye on their credit in case of errors or fraud, many people are looking to improve their scores, so this is an important feature. 

Credit Karma is one hundred percent free. In many apps, even if you don’t use in-app purchasing, you’re deluged with invitations to upgrade or buy something, but not here. Credit Karma makes money by presenting you with personalized offers for credit cards, loans, and other financial products. These offers can save you time and help your finances since the app suggests things that you’re likely to qualify for or that might improve your credit or lower your payments. 

Credit Karma provides scores from two of the three credit bureaus: TransUnion and Equifax. Since Experian offers the third for free, you can check all three if you use both apps. Credit Karma performs daily score checks to help you stay on top of your credit. In addition to protecting against fraud, these constant updates help you understand how different decisions impact your credit. 

The app is packed with educational resources. If you want to understand how credit works and how to improve your scores, the articles in the app provide the information you need in a clear and digestible format. 

Once you've learned all you need to know, Credit Karma can help you take action to build or improve your credit. They have credit card suggestions with approval odds, so you can find a likely fit before applying. They also have info and offers for personal loans and other financial products. You can simulate personal loan situations to get a sense of whether your loan will be approved and how much monthly payments might be. The app also suggests things like balance transfers that may improve your credit. 

If you just want to monitor your finances, Credit Karma is great for that too. You can view your accounts, check your credit utilization, score history, and more. Seeing all accounts in one place -- bank, credit cards, loans, etc. -- can give you a clear picture of your financial situation. 

Credit karma looks for ways to help you save money by refinancing loans or transferring balances. They can suggest ways to improve your credit or make more progress without increasing monthly payments. There are a number of additional features as well, including free tax filing. 

Credit Karma is that rare free app with no sacrifice. The features are as good or better than anything on a paid app, so there’s really no downside here.

As noted, Credit Karma does not have Experian credit scores. You can see that score for free on the Experian app, but if it's important to you to be able to see all three scores in one app, you'll need to pay for an upgrade on the Experian app or another credit monitoring app.

The personalized offers that allow Credit Karma to offer such extensive features for free may not appeal to everyone. Even though they're carefully targeted and relevant to the user, "personalized offers" are still fundamentally ads. If you don't want to see offers, you may want to try Wallet Hub, which is also free. It has ads, but they are less prominent on the site (and not personalized).

Another totally free and high-quality app, Wallet Hub, offers free TransUnion credit reports, as well as lots of information about your score and suggestions to improve it. With well-designed charts, useful tools, and all your account info in one place, Wallet Hub is a great app for staying on top of your financial health. 

Wallet Hub provides an incredibly detailed breakdown of your credit report. You can see all the factors that are contributing to your score, how important each is, and where you stand. The app displays payment history, collections accounts and public records, credit utilization, debt load, account age, and more. 

Armed with that information, you can use some of Wallet Hub’s features to decide what to do next. With the score simulator tool, you can try out different actions to see how they are likely to impact your credit. The simulator shows you what effect different actions will have. You can simulate opening/closing accounts, making/missing payments, changes to balances and credit limit, and bankruptcy/collections. For instance, the simulator can tell you how many points opening a new credit card is likely to add to your score. 

The app has really effective (and attractive) visual displays. Charts and graphs help you understand different aspects of your score. These design elements are more than just aesthetic since text-only reports can be more difficult to understand than a thoughtful chart. 

Account breakdowns show balances, the next payment date, and how much each debt is hurting your credit score. This can help you consider how to prioritize your payments. One interesting data set wallet Hub provides is how your scores compare to other people, both overall and in the same region, age group, and income bracket. 

The app has credit card offers, but they are not targeted and don't have approval odds. Offers are subtle, not intrusive, and they contain ad disclosures. 

If you appreciate a little encouragement, Wallet Hub has achievement trophies. This is a cute way to gamify the potentially stressful and boring process of improving your credit score.

The official app for the Experian credit bureau, the free version of the app, offers only that score for free. You can get all three on the app by upgrading to premium (for $20 per month or $200 per year). The other scores are available for free on Credit Karma, however, so you may want to save money by using the free score on Experian to supplement Credit Karma. But if it's important to you to have all your information in one app, the Experian upgrade may be worth it. 

Experian offers clear and useful data visuals to help you understand your credit. A credit summary is shown in a pie chart that tells you how much different factors are contributing to your score. If you want to dig more deeply into that data, Experian offers more detailed scores, with specific numbers for things like home and auto. You can see whether certain items are helping or hurting your score. However, they don't provide a lot of context for understanding these scores. 

While the free version of the app is the best way to monitor your Experian score, paying for the premium version is probably not worth the price for most people. Most of the premium features are available for free on other apps, and checking your scores regularly (which you can do for free) is probably all you need to do to monitor your credit. 

Experian has two upgrades. The Plus option ($9.99 per month) offers a credit lock feature, a score simulator, up to $500,000 identity theft insurance, and some other identity protection features. In addition to providing all three credit bureau scores, the $20 per month premium version offers even more robust identity theft protection. If you’re looking for identity protection services, this may be one to check out, but we didn’t compare it to others since credit monitoring was the focus of this article. 

Through the app, you can access some other features (although the app will send you to a website). One unique feature is the Bill Negotiator. If you send them your bills, they will try to get you a lower price. If successful, they take a portion of the savings, so you only pay if you also save.

While in most cases, it's not necessary to pay for credit monitoring, The Credit Pros offer assistance at a much higher level than the other options on this list. 

The service is expensive, but if you're in need of credit repair, it may be worth it. The Credit Pros offer highly personalized assistance for improving credit. For a $119 start-up fee and $69 per month thereafter, they dig deep into every negative item on your credit report and work to get it removed. The price is high, but so is the benefit to you and the amount of work they do. 

Before you can access the app, you'll need to schedule a personal consultation with an advisor. They'll talk you through your credit report and what they can do to help improve it. That might include clearing hard credit checks, getting late fees removed, and fixing other damaging items. They work with all three credit bureaus to help fix your credit. The app offers the typical credit score monitoring, and it also shows you the progress they are making with disputes and removing dings. 

The membership is expensive, and they can do quite a bit in the first few months, so it would be possible to receive help with your score and then cancel. However, it might be worth sticking around after that point because The Credit Pros offers a lot of tools to keep you on track. You can speak to your advisor any time, and they encourage you to do so before big decisions like getting a mortgage or opening a new line of credit. Getting guidance like this can help you make decisions that will keep your credit score high. They also offer lots of resources for building credit, which could be helpful if you're building back from a bad credit score or if you have a limited credit history. 

Because The Credit Pros makes disputes on your behalf, they need lots of identification information. You'll need to upload things like your social security card and driver's license or ID. The process is involved and expensive, but if you're really struggling with bad credit, The Credit Pros can help you improve your score and peace of mind and put you on the path to a financially secure future.

Credit Sesame offers a free TransUnion credit score and tools for understanding and improving your credit. For $19.99 per month, you can access all three scores. But since you can see all three for free using our top picks, there's no reason to pay for this. 

Credit Sesame sends tons of emails and frequently pushes the user to sign up for their Sesame Cash Account. With free products out there without such intrusive advertising, there's no reason to use this one. 

Credit.com is a free credit score and report app comparable to some of the others on the list. It is less app-oriented, and you have to visit the website to sign up. If you're already a Credit.com user, you may want to check out the app, but if you're looking for something new, some of the other apps on our list are more user-friendly. 

TransUnion is the official app for the TransUnion bureau. But unlike Experian, which gives you one score for free, TransUnion requires a paid subscription of $19.99 per month to view any information. With a subscription, you gain access to all three credit scores, but since you can find these elsewhere for free, there's no reason to pay for this. 

MyFICO offers access to all three credit scores, but it will cost you a hefty $29.99. This is more expensive than other paid subscriptions, and these scores are available for free elsewhere. There's no reason to pay such a high price, even if you want all three scores in one app.

ScoreSense is another paid app. There's no free option, although there is a free trial. The subscription price is $29.99 for access to all three credit scores and daily credit monitoring. Since this is all available for free elsewhere, there's no reason to subscribe to this service.