DeleteMe vs Incogni | Expert review
DeleteMe is a personal information removal service (also known as a data removal service), developed by Abine, that specializes in removing information from data broker sites. It was initially launched back in 2010, making it one of the oldest of its kind and a pioneer in the data removal game.
Nowadays, however, a handful of personal information services are available to consumers who want to take back control over their personal data. Having intimate experience with the challenges and limitations of the removal process, both manual and automated, we delved into the DeleteMe service to evaluate how it holds up.
DeleteMe overview
With several data removal services on the market, choosing the right one for you can be difficult. We took a detailed look at the DeleteMe website and compiled an easy-to-digest review of their service to help you.
Here are some of the key points you may want to consider:
| Starting price for 1 year | $10.75/mo |
| Value* | $0.19/broker |
| Number of data brokers covered** | 58 |
| Types of data brokers covered | People search sites |
| Frequency of records monitoring | Quarterly |
| Frequency of progress reports | Quarterly |
| Billing cycle | Yearly (1 or 2 years) |
| Plans | – Individual – Couple – Family – Business |
| Money back guarantee | Until 1st privacy report is sent |
** We only included the number of data brokers covered by the basic service. DeleteMe provides an extensive list of brokers, including those for premium plans and from one-off removal requests. As these will not be included in data removal for most customers, unless they subscribe to a premium plan or make a specific request, we did not include them in our calculation.
How DeleteMe works
DeleteMe follows a fairly simple and straightforward process that involves the following steps:
- Sign up. You provide your personal information.
- Expert search. Their experts search for your records on data broker websites, based on the information you provided.
- Data removal. DeleteMe starts sending out removal requests on your behalf.
- Repeated removal. DeleteMe monitors data brokers and sends out repeated removal requests.
DeleteMe data collection
As you’re likely looking into data removal to get your personal information off websites, not give more companies your data, the fact that DeleteMe collects personal data might ring some alarm bells. However, this will be the case with any personal information service as they won’t be able to find which companies hold your information without it. You give one company your data in exchange for removing it from dozens of others (with far less concern for your data privacy and security).
The data DeleteMe collects is called your DeleteMe data sheet. Here is a list of data points it will include:
- Name
- Date of birth
- Phone number
- Email address
- Address
- Family members.
DeleteMe data sharing
According to the DeleteMe privacy policy, DeleteMe will never sell your personal information. And as a personal information removal service, it doesn’t make sense for the company to risk its reputation by selling its customer data. However, it’s still worth noting that DeleteMe may be sharing your data (which, legally speaking, is distinct from selling your data) for third-party marketing purposes.
Here’s what their privacy policy has to say about it:
“If you are a California resident, you can request information regarding the disclosure, if any, of your personal information by DeleteMe to third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes.”
While this doesn’t explicitly state that they share your personal information for marketing purposes, it does leave the possibility open. We recommend you read the full privacy policy for yourself before signing up.
You can always ask DeleteMe to remove your personal data, which they will do within 6 months of your removal request unless you specifically ask for immediate deletion. Of course, removing your data will result in the termination of your subscription.
DeleteMe pricing
DeleteMe offers 4 plans: individual, couple, family (4 users), and business. The price depends on your plan and whether you buy a 1-year or 2-year subscription.
Here is a breakdown of the pricing based on the plan and duration of your subscription:
| Plan | Price for 1 year | Price for 2 years |
| Individual | $10.75/mo | $8.71/mo |
| Couple | $19.08/mo | $14.54/mo |
| Family | $27.42/mo | $20.79/mo |
| Business | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed |
Considering the services provided, we find that DeleteMe doesn’t offer the most competitive pricing. Other data removal services offer very similar options at a lower cost. DeleteMe also doesn’t give you the option to pay monthly—you have to pay for a year up-front, at minimum.
Unfortunately, DeleteMe doesn’t offer a great money-back guarantee either. If you aren’t satisfied, they’ll give you a full refund—as long as you contact them before you receive your first privacy report. Unfortunately, this only gives you 7 days to make up your mind about the product, which isn’t enough time from our experience.
DeleteMe pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
| – Custom removal requests – Personal DeleteMe privacy advisor – Variety of plans available – Ongoing and repeated removals – Regular privacy reports | – Pricing is not competitive – Unclear how DeleteMe identifies which brokers hold your data – Only removes data from people search sites – No monthly billing available – Money-back guarantee only until 1st privacy report (7 days) |
Final verdict on DeleteMe
DeleteMe will get the basic job done. It’s reliable and trustworthy. However, the services and options available are a little limited for the price point.
While it boasts an extensive list of data brokers from which it removes data, if you look closely, most of them are either one-off custom removal requests that won’t be included by default in your plan or are part of premium or VIP plans. This is a little confusing as no premium or VIP plans are listed on their pricing page, so it’s unclear what you’ll get when you sign up.
We also spent hours looking into the types of data brokers they cover and turned up only people search sites. While you absolutely want to remove your personal information from these kinds of websites, it leaves out other types of data brokers—financial, health information, marketing, recruitment, and risk mitigation brokers. These can greatly impact your life, including raising your health insurance rates, affecting your ability to receive credit, and even limiting your job opportunities.
Credit where credit is due: DeleteMe paved the way for data removal services. However, it currently lags a little behind some of its strongest competitors.
DeleteMe vs Incogni
So, how does DeleteMe compare to Incogni? Incogni covers a broader range of data brokers (5 different types) than DeleteMe, which only covers people search sites. Incogni also offers its service at a more competitive price than DeleteMe.
The quality and value of a personal information removal service can be assessed based on several factors:
| Incogni | DeleteMe | |
| Starting price for 1 year | $6.49/mo | $10.75/mo |
| Value* | $0.04/broker | 0.19/broker |
| Number of data brokers covered | 159 | 58 |
| Types of data brokers covered | – People Search – Marketing – Financial – Recruitment – Risk mitigation | People Search |
| Frequency of records monitored | Monthly | Quarterly |
| Frequency of progress reports | Weekly | Quarterly |
| Billing cycle | MonthlyYearly | Yearly (1 or 2 years) |
| Money-back guarantee | 30-day | Until 1st privacy report is sent |
Number of data brokers
DeleteMe claims to remove personal information from hundreds of data broker sites. However, most of these are one-off removals from niche data broker sites, meaning your data won’t be removed from them unless you check whether they have your data and ask DeleteMe to remove it. The base service actually covers 58. If you pay for a premium or VIP service and include international companies, that still only adds a handful to that number.
Incogni currently covers 159 major data brokers and checks every single one for all customers.
Types of data brokers
After some extensive digging, we found only people search sites on the list of data brokers DeleteMe covers.
Incogni currently removes personal information from people search sites and marketing, financial, recruitment, and risk-mitigation brokers. This will protect you from a wider range of negative consequences associated with data collection, including:
- Spam
- Telemarketing
- Robocalls
- Fraud
- Identity theft
- Online harassment
- Stalking
- Doxxing
- Increased insurance rates
- Denial of loans and credit cards
- Difficulty renting properties
- Loss of job opportunities
- Digital redlining.
Vigilance in monitoring and reporting
DeleteMe checks data brokers for your records once every 3 months. They also send you privacy reports with the same frequency. These reports are quite thorough, offering details such as the removal time of each broker, monthly searches on each site, and more.
Incogni checks data brokers for your personal information every month and sends you privacy reports weekly. To avoid overwhelming users with heaps of information, we opt for a more streamlined progress report, letting them know how many removal requests have been sent, how many are in progress, and how many have been completed. Of course, customers are able to access their dashboard to view more details at any time.
Price and value
The cost of a basic 1-year DeleteMe subscription for an individual is $10.75 per month (billed annually). If we divide this by the number of brokers covered in this plan, it’s roughly $0.19 per data broker.
The cost of a 1-year Incogni subscription for an individual is $6.49 per month (billed annually), which works out to $0.03 per data broker.
Plan and billing-cycle options
DeleteMe offers a good variety of plans. You can select an individual, couple, family, or business plan. On the other hand, you have to make a long-term commitment if you want to use DeleteMe. They only offer 1-year or 2-year subscriptions. And while they do have a money-back guarantee, it’s only possible to claim this before you receive the first privacy report, which comes in 7 days.
Incogni currently offers an individual plan and you can choose to pay monthly ($12.99 per month) or annually ($6.49 per month). You can also get a full refund within 30 days.
Data broker sites and the problems they pose
Data brokers are companies that collect personal data from all over the web, compile detailed personal profiles on individuals, and then exploit that data for profit.
Regular data broker sites usually sell personal data in bulk to third parties such as private businesses, marketing agencies, and even government entities. Aside from the discomfort associated with such an invasion of privacy, this can lead to a variety of consequences—from an influx of targeted advertising to increased insurance rates.
People search sites sell profiles to individuals on the web, sometimes even publishing basic information such as addresses and other contact details for free. Just about anyone can access these websites.
What is a data removal service?
A data removal service is a solution to the problem data brokers present. While, in theory, it’s possible for individuals to contact these brokers and request their data be removed, in practice, it’s a deliberately challenging process.
First, you have to do extensive research to uncover which companies hold and sell your personal information. Then, you have to contact each data broker site and people search site individually with your opt-out requests. Not only does every broker have a different process, requirements, and processing times, but you’ll have to opt out repeatedly from most of them.
We’ve done this ourselves, manually, many times. A single round of removal can take hundreds of hours. A hassle, but doable. But most data broker websites simply add your profile again after some time has passed, making it necessary to go back and start all over again periodically. This makes removing your data too much of a time commitment for the average internet user.
Personal information removal services like DeleteMe and Incogni make all of this much more manageable by taking the burden off the individual. Most personal information removal services automate the process, eliminating the need for you to do any research, find new data broker sites that have gotten a hold of your information, and send repeated opt-out requests manually.
DeleteMe FAQ
Is DeleteMe legit?
Yes, DeleteMe is a legitimate personal information removal service with a solid reputation and over a decade of experience dealing with data brokers. The company does what it claims to do and handles users’ personal data with care, according to a fair privacy policy.
Does DeleteMe actually work?
DeleteMe does actually work. It removes your personal information from dozens of people search sites, resulting in fewer spam and scam attempts and an overall improved level of data privacy.
Does DeleteMe sell your information?
According to its privacy policy, DeleteMe doesn’t sell your personal information.
What does DeleteMe remove?
DeleteMe removes personal information, such as your name, address, phone number, email, family members, and more from people search sites.
How long does DeleteMe take to work?
According to DeleteMe, you can expect an average of 15 people search sites to remove your data within days (number not specified). However, the compliance times of individual brokers vary wildly, from instantaneous to several months.
Are services like DeleteMe worth it?
If you value your online privacy, personal information removal services like DeleteMe are worth it in the long run. These companies help reduce spam, phishing, and robocalls and keep private details such as your political affiliations and home address away from prying eyes.
How often does DeleteMe scan?
DeleteMe scans data broker sites once every 3 months to ensure your data stays off their databases.
Deleteme vs Onerep
Whether OneRep is better than DeleteMe depends on what’s important to you. OneRep claims to cover 193 data brokers, while DeleteMe only claims to cover 37. OneRep is also less expensive than DeleteMe, starting at $8.33 per month compared to $10.75 per month for DeleteMe.
