Optery Review – A Comprehensive Buyer’s Guide

We have to be honest—it’s not easy reviewing competitors.

Especially if you want to be fair, unbiased, and still be genuine.

That’s why we’ve attempted to base this and all our reviews on objective criteria, focusing on data rather than opinions.

Our goal is to give you the most accurate assessment of the factors that truly matter when choosing a data removal plan that fits your needs.

Adam Grucela

As of the time of writing, Optery claims to offer data removal services from 615 data brokers.

The majority (375) are people search sites, but at no additional cost, you can also have your records removed from marketing, B2B lead generation, and other types of data brokers.

To expand the coverage to the brokers listed above, every paying customer can activate the Expanded Reach feature. This option adds 240+ more brokers to the list.

But here’s the thing—

Optery describes those brokers as ones that “do not yet meet Optery’s rigorous removal verification standards,” leaving doubts as to what those brokers really are and why they’re there. 

Still, credit where it’s due—Optery’s removal coverage is pretty impressive.

There’s just one more catch.

To access all that coverage, you need to purchase their most expensive plan—Ultimate. That’s because the number and type of data brokers you can access depend on the plan you choose. In other words:

The less you pay, the less coverage you receive.

And the differences are quite noticeable.

Here’s a closer look at how their plans and add-ons compare.

Not all people search sites are equal.

In fact, there are relatively few major players in the field with detailed databases spanning the entire nation. The rest have a very limited reach.

And it’s the latter that’s true for most data brokers listed by Optery as well—our analysis shows that over 80% of the brokers included in each plan are low-impact. These focus on just one state or a very specific niche, like arrest records.

If you live in California, chances are you’re not too worried about your data showing up in a New Jersey property database.

So, opting out of hundreds of smaller sites—especially those in the Core and Extended plans—might not make much of a difference.

That’s where Expanded Reach really comes in handy.

While the brokers included in the standard plans mainly deal with public people search sites, Expanded Reach adds access to private-database brokers.

People search sites are mostly used by individuals, so the privacy risk depends on how visible the site is.

But private-database brokers operate differently. They don’t sell to everyday users—they sell marketing data to other companies, which can make your personal info even more valuable and vulnerable.

If we had to recommend one Optery plan, it would be the Ultimate plan with Expanded Reach turned on.

Otherwise, you might not see the results you’re hoping for.

Optery has four plans: Basic, Core, Extended, and Ultimate.

The Basic plan gives you access to a free tool that checks your data exposure, but it doesn’t remove any info on its own. Incogni also offers similar free scanners for checking which public databases expose your sensitive information.

Optery has a unique approach to pricing.

With other data removal services like DeleteMe or Incogni, all plans give you access to every data broker for automated removals, and the plans differ only in extra features. So, you get the same protection no matter what you pay.

But with Optery, only the Ultimate plan gives you full data removal power. This means the protection you get depends on how much you’re willing to pay.

Here’s a closer look at what each plan offers:

Optery doesn’t have a dedicated family plan.

Instead, you can buy extra plans for family members at a discount. These extra accounts will be connected to your main account and payment method.

The good thing is you can add as many people as you like—so it’s a good match for both couples and larger families.

The downside is that it can become pricey because each person needs their own subscription, and the discount maxes out at 30% if you have four or more users.

So, how does that actually work?

Let’s say you’ve got a family of five, and you want everyone on Optery’s Ultimate plan. Each person needs their own subscription, so that’s $20.70* per person—times five.

But Optery offers a 30% discount on all plans, which brings it down to $14.49* per person.

Now, compare that to Incogni’s Unlimited Family plan, which covers all five people for just $5.10* each.

*All prices are calculated as per month if you purchase a one-year subscription plan.

Cancelling and getting a refund with Optery is similar to other services.

They don’t offer a free trial, but you can request a refund within the first 30 days of signing up.

Let’s take a look at the basic features and extra options.

Optery requires some of your personal details to locate your profiles on people search sites. 

You can share standard information like your name, address, email, phone number, and relatives—Optery uses this data to track which data brokers have shared your information.

If you choose the more expensive plans (Extended or Ultimate), you can add different versions of each detail, such as various names, nicknames, and aliases.

Their ads mention that with the Extended and Ultimate plans, you can add Ultimate name and address variations. 

However, if you misuse this feature, such as by adding other people’s information, Optery will remove the extra data.

Optery offers some extra features as well.

One feature that might interest you is “custom removal,” which allows you to request the removal of your information from people search sites that Optery doesn’t fully support yet.

Another handy feature is Optery’s assistance with removing outdated content from Google search results.

Google updates its search results periodically, so content deleted from the source site may still show up there for a while.

With this tool, you can request that Google refresh its search page sooner to reflect recent changes, like the deleted content.

This tool is available to everyone, but Optery simplifies the process by providing all the necessary information on your behalf.

While it’s not a revolutionary feature, it’s definitely a useful one.

Optery works in the US and can only handle requests from US residents. 

If you need a data removal service that deals with brokers outside the US, you might want to look at other options, like Incogni.

Regarding legal compliance, Optery clearly states that they often use the CCPA, a California privacy law, to remove their customers’ information from data brokers.

As for other regulations like the NY SHIELD Act, CPA, or CTDPA, they don’t clearly confirm or deny their use.

Optery offers four types of data removal:

• Manual opt-outs for the free plan: You need to perform all the work yourself. Optery will show you which sites expose your information, but how you handle it is up to you.
• Automated opt-outs for all paid plans: Optery will send out data removal requests on your behalf to all people search sites supported in your plan—these are machine-generated requests.
• Human support for the Extended and Ultimate plans: You’ll receive additional support from a human agent to help resolve more complicated opt-outs.
• Custom removals: Exclusively for Ultimate plan users, Optery offers the option to request removals from people search sites not covered in any of their plans.

This division is somewhat of a niche standard these days, offered by most removal services.

Below, you can see some more details.

Upon upgrading to a paid plan, Optery will initiate its scanning procedure to identify which people search sites have exposed your data.

Optery will then automatically send out removal requests to all websites covered that publish your data. According to their website, the first effects should be noticeable after 7 days, although some data brokers may take longer to comply.

To ensure your data has indeed been removed, Optery will perform additional scans every 30 days to check if your profile still appears.

Once they’re certain your information has been removed, Optery will continue performing scans, but we couldn’t find any information regarding the frequency.

Users and experts generally have a positive view of Optery.

Key features that make Optery stand out in reviews include its free plan, effective removal-confirmation system, and the large number of data brokers it supports.

While some reviews highlight these features as extraordinary, we’ve discussed them in previous sections to provide a balanced perspective.

In short: not everything that shines is gold.

Nonetheless, Optery is one of the most popular data removal services, and users are satisfied with it.