The best data broker removal services
Updated on: May 23, 2024
If you’re reading this, you’re probably well aware of how your personal information is collected and used online.
Odds are, you’ve also experienced firsthand how time-consuming and tedious removing it yourself can be. Fortunately, there are companies that remove information from sites on behalf of the user. These services can save you a lot of time and work in the background to protect your privacy. However, not all of them operate the same way and some work a little better than others.
Down below, we list our top 5 picks for the best personal data deletion services available on the market today.
Here are the top 5 companies with the best data removal services:
- Incogni: great value at $0.04 per data broker and the widest range of brokers.
- Kanary: good value but does not offer weekly progress reports.
- OneRep: offers only people search site (PSS) removal. Does not offer a 30-day, money-back guarantee.
- DeleteMe: offers only PSS removal. The priciest option.
- Optery: mainly PSS removal. Few scans per year (once every 90 days).
If you’re looking for an affordable and effective solution, each one on this list is a viable option.
The table below covers the basic, individual plans for data broker removal only.
The best data removal services
* We calculated the value based on the cheapest monthly price divided by the number of data brokers covered to help you compare the offering. Please note that your data may not be removed from every broker covered by the removal service as some may not have your data.
**Types of data brokers covered:
- Incogni: Marketing, Recruitment, Risk mitigation, People search.
- Kanary: People search, Marketing, Financial, Recruitment
- Onerep: People search
- DeleteMe: People search
- Optery: People search, Marketing
Incogni
Incogni is a comprehensive data removal service that covers a wide range of data brokers (PSS, marketing, recruitment, and risk mitigation) and offers flexible billing plans at an affordable price with a 30-day money-back guarantee. With an Incogni account, you get access to a dashboard to track your online information removal progress and weekly progress reports to keep you updated. Records are monitored monthly.
By default, Incogni will send data removal requests to all the data brokers in their network for all their customers (there are no tiers). Moreover, this approach allows them to collect only the bare minimum of information about their subscribers as scanning online databases for records before making a request requires the collection of more personal information.
Let us remove your data from Google and 180+ data brokers
We’ll opt you out of 180+ other data brokers and you can watch your data magically being deindex from Google.
- Click “Get Started” and Create an account.
- Pick your plan: Annual Plan or Monthly Plan*. The monthly cost for the annual subscription is $6.49.
- Complete the checkout process. Click “Add Discount” and apply the coupon code DataRemovalNov for an additional 10% discount.
- Provide your personal details: We need this information to locate your profiles on data brokers’ sites.
- Sign the authorization form. This will empower us to opt out on your behalf 💪
- You’re done!
*Why does Incogni use a subscription model? Data brokers re-scrape and re-add your information after we remove it. The best way to keep your info off their sites is to automate recurring removal requests.
Kanary
Kanary is a data protection service that sends opt-out requests within 24 hours after sign-up, followed by monthly online privacy scans. The information on their search results is very transparent and clear, including the list of “harmful sites” and whether deletion requests will be sent automatically or require your approval (which is the case for social media sites).
Kanary’s basic plan is the most expensive among the data removal services listed in this article. It’s $14.99 per month billed yearly and will remove your information automatically from around 210 data brokers (out of the 327 sites it tracks). An extra person can be added to the plan for $7.49/mo. There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can also test it for free for 14 days (no credit card required), during which Kanary will perform up to 3 free data removals.
OneRep
One of the main strengths of OneRep is the feature that allows you to submit unlimited aliases, addresses, and phone numbers so long as they pertain to the same person. However, the major downside is that they’ll remove personal info from people search search sites only. They do not remove your digital footprint from marketing, financial, risk mitigation, or recruitment companies.
OneRep will run a free scan and offers a 5-day trial to encourage you to sign up, but it’s also the only data removal service listed here that does not offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. Their basic subscription is $8.33 (billed yearly) and covers 199 data brokers (people search sites only). After the initial scan, it performs monthly privacy scans and sends monthly reports.
DeleteMe
DeleteMe removes personal data from the most popular people search sites and lists an impressive +750 data brokers. However, a quick look at the domains listed on their page reveals that most of them are almost identical (ex., Peopleswiz.com, peoplewhiz.com, peoplewhiz.net, peopleswhizr.com, etc.), and the overwhelming majority is not included in the basic plan but requires custom removal requests. Ultimately, the number of data brokers in their basic plan is around 75.
With this number of data brokers and the low frequency of their scans and reports, the price tag looks disproportionately high compared to other data deletion services. In fact, it scores the lowest on our value metric. As there’s no monthly billing cycle, you’ll have to pay a year in advance, and a full refund is only possible before your first data privacy report is sent.
Optery
Optery is a personal data deletion service that provides a free scan of your online footprint before you commit to their services. However, that’s only because most of their data brokers are people search sites that make such scans possible. Marketing and other data brokers don’t have publicly accessible databases.
Optery’s basic plan gives access to 110 data brokers and monthly monitoring. Optery offers good value for money, a transparent privacy policy, and a friendly website. However, compared to other data removal services, it has a relatively reduced reach (almost exclusively people search sites), and no reports are sent as part of its basic plan. It’s a steep $14.99 for the extended plan, which buys 205+ data brokers and quarterly reports. A 30-day money-back guarantee covers all plans.
Incogni vs DeleteMe
Incogni is more affordable, at $6.49 per month, compared to DeleteMe at $10.75. However, DeleteMe has plans for two users (at an extra cost). DeleteMe removes data from 75 people search websites, vs the 169 data brokers, including people search sites, covered by Incogni. See the full DeleteMe review here.
Incogni vs OneRep
Incogni is more affordable at $6.49 per month vs OneRep’s $8.33. Unlike Incogni, OneRep offers family and team plans at an additional cost. Incogni covers 169 data brokers across 4 categories (including people search sites) while OneRep covers only 193 people search sites.
Incogni vs Optery
Incogni and Optery are fairly evenly matched in price, with Incogni costing slightly more than Optery but offering an almost identical cost per data broker covered. On the basic plan, Incogni covers more data brokers than Optery. More importantly, Incogni covers a much wider range of data brokers.
Incogni vs Kanary
Kanary is more than twice as expensive as Incogni on a basic plan. With similar numbers of data brokers covered, Incogni represents almost twice the per-broker value. Both Incogni and Kanary cover 4 out of 5 data-broker types, setting them apart from the pack. Incogni ultimately wins out on value.
Questions to ask when choosing a data removal service provider
1) How many data broker sites does the company cover?
There are thousands of data brokers around the world. These companies are responsible for collecting and distributing your personal information far and wide on the internet, jeopardizing both your privacy and security.
Before you panic! Not all of these companies have your data. But, for the average internet user, there will be dozens or hundreds that do.
If you want to remove your personal information from the internet, you’ll have to opt out from as many data brokers as possible.
2) What types of data brokers does the company cover?
Numbers alone aren’t everything, however. For one thing, many of these data brokers form networks. Removing your data from one may automatically remove your data from many others.
Equally important to the volume are the types of data broker sites the removal service covers. Most focus only on people search sites. While you definitely do want to remove your data from these brokers, they aren’t the worst out there.
Here are the 5 data broker types and how they can affect your life:
- People search sites provide access to private data like your phone numbers, home address, marital status, family members, and social media accounts to total strangers on the internet. This can lead to instances of discrimination, online harassment, and fraud.
- Marketing data brokers collect private information such as your email accounts, political affiliations, search history, websites you visit, past purchases, and online accounts and sell them to marketing companies. They’re responsible for spam, robocalls, and the targeted ads you see online.
- Financial data brokers have some of the most sensitive information such as your Social Security number, assets, banks you use, and more. Having this type of personal information online puts you at high risk of fraud and identity theft.
- Recruitment data brokers compile personal profiles that include background information such as employment history, education history, and business contacts. Recruiters can use this information to process your applications.
- Risk mitigation brokers sell financial and health information to investors, financial institutions, and insurance companies. This data can affect your insurance rates and ability to get approved for credit cards and loans.
In the wrong hands, any of the personal information these data aggregators deal in can expose you to serious threats such as online phishing, scams, doxxing, identity fraud, and even bodily harm.
And while you may think this only happens as a result of data breaches (which are common), some data brokers have been known to intentionally sell your personal information to scammers.
3) What is the data removal service cost vs value?
At a glance, many of the companies offering to remove your personal information from the internet may appear to be reasonably priced. However, what might not be immediately clear is the value of their service.
An easy way to assess this is to compare the monthly cost to the number of data broker websites the company deals with. At the same price point, a company dealing with 100 data brokers offers more value than one that deals with 30.
4) Does the company provide an automated data removal service?
All it takes is a single click for your personal information to end up on data broker databases. Yet removing that information is a time-consuming process.
Researchers at Incogni have estimated that it can take hundreds of hours to send out data removal requests manually, just once.
The main point of a data removal service is to manage the entire data removal process on your behalf and save you time. This is why the best data removal services have a fully automated process. Ideally, you should be able to sit back and trust the company to remove your personal data with little to no involvement from your side.
5) What does the company do after sending out data removal requests?
The two biggest issues with data removal are that personal data is re-added to broker databases semi-regularly and many data brokers reject removal requests.
While some opt-out services just send out removal requests and call it a day, a good service will follow up. Similarly, the sites that had and deleted your personal information should be monitored regularly to ensure the records don’t respawn over time.
FAQ
Can you delete personal information from the internet yourself?
Yes. However, the average person generates 1.7 MB of data every second and even more, depending on how much time you spend on the internet. If you don’t want data broker websites to have access to your information, you can send individual opt-out requests to each one.
But it will take time.
You will also have to repeat the removal process regularly to keep your data off the market. Online privacy is an ongoing process that never really ends.
You can find our full guide on removing your personal information from the internet here.
You can also use our opt-out guides to help you remove your information from some of the biggest data brokers on the market.
Can you completely remove personal information from the internet?
No matter what you do, even if you never touch a device connected to the internet again, you won’t be able to keep all of your data offline. The best way to clean up your digital footprint, however, is to use a specialized service.
Is a data removal service worth it?
Automated data removal saves at least 300+ hours a year. That’s how long it takes to keep your data off the market. By doing so, it protects you from inconveniences like spam and serious threats such as identity fraud and stalking.
How should I choose a data removal service?
Before you sign up for the first data removal tool you see, you should consider the price, whether it offers a fully automated service, how many brokers it covers, and the types of data brokers it covers. The best service should have the biggest positive impact on your privacy.
What are data brokers?
Data brokers are companies that collect and sell, trade, or publish your personal information online. These sites are responsible for spreading your data far and wide on the internet, exposing you to phishing, scams, identity fraud, discrimination, online harassment, and stalking.
Can I hire someone to delete me from the internet?
Although there are specialist services that can help people “retouch” their online presence, they are often extremely expensive and overkill for most people. An automated personal information removal service like Incogni can remove your personal data from data brokers, and for most people, this is plenty.
Can I ask a company to delete all my data?
Yes, you can ask a company to delete all of your data. Whether it’s obliged to act on your request depends on what jurisdiction you live in and what data the company has. It’s worth submitting a data-removal request even if your state or country doesn’t have any data protection laws in place.
How much does DeleteMe cost?
A standard DeleteMe plan costs $129 per person per year. There’s also a plan for two people that costs $229 per year and a family plan for $329 per year. There are discounts available if you commit to a two-year plan from the outset. All plans are automatically renewed unless canceled.
How do I stop my name from appearing on a Google search?
The most effective ways to stop your name from appearing in a Google search are to delete your social media accounts and remove your profiles from any people search sites that have your data. If you’re not ready to delete your social media accounts, then at least set them to “private.”
Related: How many times has my name been Googled?
What is the best way to remove address from Internet?
The best way to remove an address from the internet is to remove it from the most prominent websites that are sharing it. Typically, these will be data brokers, people search sites in particular. Follow their opt-out processes or get a service like Incogni to handle everything on your behalf.
How do I keep my address private?
You can keep your home address private by using a PO (post office) box or CMRA (commercial mail-receiving agency) to receive correspondence and packages. Getting your address off the public record is a much difficult task, though. Join Incogni to stop data brokers from sharing and selling your address.
How do I get data removed?
To get your data removed, contact the business, individual, or organization that has your data. Look for links and information concerning “data removal,” “opting out,” or “do not sell my info.” If you can’t find an opt-out form or procedure, email the site owner to request that they remove your data.
What websites have my information?
To figure out which websites have your information, type your full name into a web search engine. Open a new tab and search for your address. Go through both sets of results to see which websites have your information. Know that most data brokers that have your data won’t show up in these searches.
How to remove email addresses from data broker lists?
To remove your email address from data broker lists, you should visit each data broker’s opt-out page, usually labeled “opt out” or “remove my information,” at the bottom of the homepage. Once there, follow the instructions to remove your email address and other data from the data broker list.
