MyFICO: Is It Worth the Cost?

MyFICO offers you access to your FICO credit scores, credit reports and credit monitoring. There’s a free option and three paid tiers starting at $19.95. Here’s the catch: Only the most expensive plan covers all three credit bureaus, so cheaper plans might not show you the full picture.

Whether myFICO is worth paying for comes down to how much detail you need and how often you plan to check it.

What credit score do you get with myFICO?

Each myFICO subscription includes at least a standard FICO 8 score. The paid plans come with additional scores, including those commonly used for mortgages, auto loans and in credit card approval decisions.

Here’s why that matters: You don’t have a single FICO score — you have many.

FICO has several different versions of its scoring model used for different purposes. For example, mortgage lenders still use the older FICO 2, 4 and 5 versions, even as FICO has established newer versions.

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MyFICO plan options and cost

Here are the plan options:

The "+" shows what's new at each tier — each plan keeps everything from the one before it, then adds the feature listed next to the "+".

🔎 The free plan and the Basic plan only cover one credit bureau, which leaves a pretty big gap. In other words, you’re not seeing what lenders might see.

🗓️ Deciding between the Advanced or Premier? It comes down to how often you want your report to be refreshed. Prefer monthly over quarterly? Then go with the Premier.

💲 The one-time report for all three bureaus is more expensive than one month of the Advanced subscription ($59.85 vs. $29.95). The coverage is similar, so only go with the one-time report if you truly can’t be bothered with an ongoing subscription.

Is myFICO worth it?

MyFICO gives you real, accurate FICO scores, since it’s run by the company itself. But you’ll pay for that: even the cheapest plan costs nearly $225 for the first year.

Free alternatives to myFICO

Most people can get similar protection for free by piecing together a few tools instead of paying for one bundled service. Here’s how:

• Free FICO score: Some banks, credit unions and credit card issuers offer customers a free FICO 8 score. It’s usually based on data from one credit bureau, so it won't show the full picture — but it's enough to show whether you’re on track or need to work on building credit.

• Free credit reports: Each of the three credit bureaus provides free weekly credit reports to consumers. Checking all three yourself takes a bit more work than myFICO's Premier Plan, but you'd save about $480 a year.

• Other free score options: Services like NerdWallet’s free credit report are another option. Just check which credit bureaus the free service pulls from — NerdWallet uses TransUnion, for example, so you may want to check Equifax and Experian using another source.

• Identity protection: MyFICO offers some identity theft protection, but it’s not as strong as services built just for that purpose. But you can freeze your credit for free yourself. It's effective because it prevents someone from opening new credit accounts in your name.

» What’s the difference between FICO and VantageScore?

MyFICO pros and cons

Weigh the pros and cons before you subscribe to a myFICO plan: