Credit Karma and FICO are two completely different types of companies, and they provide different types of credit scores. Credit Karma is a personal finance website/app that gives users free access to VantageScore 3.0 credit scores, while FICO (officially the Fair Isaac Corporation) is the company that produces FICO scores.
Below, you can learn more about how FICO differs Credit Karma, as well as how a FICO score differs from the VantageScore credit score you get on Credit Karma. You can also see your free VantageScore credit score right here on WalletHub. You’ll even get daily updates.
FICO vs. Credit Karma
| Company | FICO | Credit Karma |
| Type of Company | Credit-scoring company | Personal finance website/app |
| Purpose | Creates FICO scores to help lenders and creditors measure consumers’ risk | Educates consumers on various personal finance topics |
| Offers Free Credit Scores | Yes | Yes |
| Credit-Scoring Model Used | FICO | VantageScore |
| Frequency of Credit Score Updates | Quarterly, monthly, or whenever your credit report changes (depending on the plan) | Daily |
| Commonly Used By | Lenders & consumers | Consumers |
| Paid Plan With Added Features | Yes | No |
| Credit Monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Identity Protection Tools | Yes | Yes |
| Budgeting | No | No |
These two companies deal in similar subject matter, but their products and services are pretty different. Even the credit scores these companies provide are not the same since they are calculated differently. You can learn more about the differences between the scores they provide below.
FICO Scores vs. Credit Karma Scores
While FICO is a credit-scoring company that helps calculate your FICO credit scores based on information from your credit report, Credit Karma is a personal finance website/app that provides you access to your VantageScore credit score. Credit Karma doesn’t actually calculate credit scores like FICO does.
FICO credit scores and the VantageScore credit scores that Credit Karma provides differ slightly in the factors they consider and how those factors are weighed, and small changes in these areas can lead to different final scores. You can see how each scoring model weighs each credit score factor below.
FICO Scoring Model
| Credit Score Factor | Percentage |
| Payment History | 35% |
| Amounts Owed | 30% |
| Length of Credit History | 15% |
| Credit Mix | 10% |
| New Credit | 10% |
VantageScore 3.0 Scoring Model Used by Credit Karma
| Credit Score Factor | Percentage |
| Payment History | 40% |
| Depth of Credit | 21% |
| Credit Utilization | 20% |
| Balances | 11% |
| Recent Credit | 5% |
| Available Credit | 3% |
Learn more about the differences between FICO and VantageScore.
What Is Better: FICO or VantageScore?
Neither type of credit score is inherently better than the other, and most lenders apply proprietary modifications to whatever scores they use anyway. That means you don't need to seek out a particular type of credit score because you won’t find the exact score you're being judged with regardless.
However, one factor you may use to determine which score is better is which one is used more. FICO says 90% of top lenders use their score, but judging from the pace with which VantageScore has grown (41.7 billion scores were issued in 2024 compared to 14.5 billion in 2021), it is clear that financial institutions – the only ones with the capability for comparison – seem to believe that VantageScores are just as good as FICO scores.
Plus, for whatever it’s worth, VantageScore tends to be more inclusive than the most common FICO scores, as VantageScore can issue a credit score to someone with just one month of credit history. FICO typically doesn’t generate a credit score until someone has at least six months’ worth of credit history.
Can You Convert VantageScore to FICO?
There is no way to accurately convert the VantageScore 3.0 score you get on sites like Credit Karma and WalletHub to a FICO score. Their specifics are corporate secrets, and their differences aren’t consistent from person to person.
What’s more, some of FICO’s industry-specific scores actually use a different scale (250 to 900) than most credit scores (300 to 850). This obviously stands to create some confusion for consumers. After all, a particular score within this scale will mean something completely different than its equivalent based on most other models.
Most Accurate Credit Score
One score is not more accurate than another score. Credit scores are meant to predict a consumer’s likelihood of defaulting on a financial obligation, which means they ultimately serve the interests of financial institutions and not the individuals whose financial lives they encapsulate.
With that being said, there has been no official comparison of the accuracy of VantageScore and FICO credit scores. What you should do is get whichever score is free and updated most frequently. WalletHub was the first website to update free credit scores daily, and you can check your VantageScore 3.0 credit score for free right now.
Learn more about the most accurate credit score.
How to Get Your Free Credit Score
You can get your free credit score in less than two minutes by signing up for a WalletHub account. WalletHub provides you with your VantageScore 3.0 credit score, which is updated daily, and access to your TransUnion credit report. In addition, WalletHub gives you a personalized credit analysis, a credit improvement plan, and access to a credit score simulator and free credit monitoring.
Learn more about how to get your credit score for free.
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