DeleteMe Review – A Comprehensive Buyer’s Guide

DeleteMe’s claims about the number of data brokers they cover can be a bit misleading. They advertise that they remove your data from over 750 data brokers.

But if you take a closer look, you’ll find that more than 600 of those are actually custom removals, and only around 130 data brokers are part of their default plan.

So, your data won’t be removed from 750 data brokers unless you go through their custom removal tool yourself and request them one by one.

And given the limits as to how many custom removal links you can submit each year—40 in standard plans or 60 in the Premium plan—that would take 10+ years to complete.

If you were hoping for an automated, hassle-free process, think again—only around 150 data brokers are handled automatically.

But we have to hand it to them—

Even though the automated removal numbers might not blow you away, they do cover most of the big people search sites.

You’ll see some major players like Whitepages, Spokeo, and BeenVerified on their list.

Getting your data removed from these sites is already a pretty big win for your privacy.

The catch is, that’s where it ends.

DeleteMe doesn’t cover private-database brokers in their basic plan, which make up most of the brokers in the US.

That is: 

• Marketing data brokers 
• Risk-mitigation brokers 
• Recruitment data brokers 
• Financial information brokers 
• Health information data brokers.

And even if you do upgrade to their Premium Protection plan, it comes with fewer than 20 private-database brokers.

For broad coverage that includes both people search sites and over 150 private-database brokers, Incogni may prove to be a more suitable option.

DeleteMe offers two subscription options: a one-year and a two-year plan. Unfortunately, there’s no monthly protection available.

Each subscription type comes in three variations, depending on the number of people covered:

• The Single plan for one person.
• The Couple plan for two people.
• The Family plan, which covers up to four people.

The Couple plan is a nice touch, and—as far as we know—DeleteMe is the only service offering this option.

However, the Family plan is a bit limited, covering only four people, which is fewer than some other major data removal services.

But that’s not all.

Although it’s not easily accessible from DeleteMe’s pricing page, there’s a Premium Protection option individual users can buy.

It comes with some additional features, like extra data brokers, private-database brokers, more custom removals, and bi-monthly reporting.

While it sounds like quite a deal, the Premium plan comes with some limitations.

For one, the number of additional brokers isn’t all that impressive—based on what we found on DeleteMe’s website, it adds around 27 extra brokers.

Some of those are private-database brokers, which is a plus, but still a relatively small boost.

The Premium plan also increases the number of custom removals you can request. The Standard plan allows 40 custom removals per year, while Premium bumps that up to 60.

But is it really worth the extra $80?

When compared to what other data removal services offer, the added value doesn’t quite measure up.

Take Incogni’s Unlimited plan, for example:

It removes your data from 150 private-database brokers and gives you unlimited custom removal requests—all for a similar price.

Here’s a breakdown of DeleteMe’s subscription types, plans, and more:

DeleteMe doesn’t offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, but you can still get a refund.

You’re eligible for a full refund until you receive your first Privacy Report, which usually takes about 7 business days to prepare.

This means you can request your money back, but you have a much shorter and uncertain window in which to do so, as your report might arrive anywhere from 5 to 10 days after you subscribe.

After that period, you may still receive a pro-rated refund based on the time remaining in your current subscription.

When you factor in the lack of monthly plans, the situation becomes even less appealing.

To try the service risk-free, you have to pay for at least a year upfront and have only about 7 days to decide if it’s right for you—otherwise, you might end up stuck with a yearly subscription for a service you don’t really like.

DeleteMe searches for profiles on people search sites using standard data points, such as your name, address, email, and phone number.

You can add multiple variations of some of these details, like names, addresses, and phone numbers—up to 6 of each.

DeleteMe offers some interesting additional features.

While custom removals, privacy agents, and DIY instructions are now industry standards, DeleteMe stands out with two unique features: email and phone masking.

These tools allow you to create disposable email addresses and phone numbers to use instead of your personal ones.

Although these add-ons have many benefits, there are some drawbacks as well. The main issue is that, unfortunately, you can’t use the disposable phone number for most verification codes as of today.

DeleteMe primarily operates in the US, but they do offer a separate international service.

However, the international service is currently quite limited and, according to their own information, only works with about 20 data brokers.

To complicate things further, the service is divided by individual countries, such as France, Canada, and Germany, rather than by regions, like Europe.

Each country-specific service costs the same as the full US service and there’s no one plan to cover multiple locations.

DeleteMe offers three types of data removals:

• Manual removals: You handle the process yourself. DeleteMe provides tutorials on how to opt out from people search sites. This option is available to everyone, with no account needed.
• Automated removals: DeleteMe sends data removal requests on your behalf to about 130 people search sites. These requests are machine-generated and require no action from you. This is available with all plans.
• Custom removals: You can request removals from specific people search sites. DeleteMe will handle the opt-out process, but you need to request each removal individually; it’s not automated.

This setup has become somewhat of a niche standard, offered by most removal services.

Below, you can find more details.

DeleteMe starts by scanning to identify which people search sites have exposed your data.

They then automatically send removal requests to all the websites in their coverage that have published your data. According to their website, you should start seeing results after about 5 weeks, although some data brokers might take longer to comply.

To make sure your data has been removed, DeleteMe conducts additional scans every 90 days to check if your profile still appears on the given people search sites.

Users and experts generally have a positive view of DeleteMe.

Much of the praise it receives is for its solid coverage of major data brokers. While it’s easy to inflate numbers with low-tier brokers, it’s the big names like Whitepages, Intelius, and Radaris that really matter, and DeleteMe can remove your data from many of these.

Criticism mainly focuses on their pricing and the lack of monthly subscription options. Without a 30-day money-back guarantee, users take on risk when purchasing their annual plan.

Their Trustpilot page has a modest number of reviews—174, compared to nearly 2,000 for Incogni—so it might not be the most reliable benchmark.