Type your name and city into a search engine and you will likely land on a people search page that lists your age, phone number, home address and even your relatives. Data brokers collect these details from public records, old accounts and marketing lists, then sell them to advertisers, background check sites and anyone else who pays.
You can ask each broker to delete your profile, but hundreds of these companies exist and new ones appear all the time. A data removal service takes over that job. It finds your records, files opt-out requests on your behalf and keeps repeating the process so your information stays off those sites.
We compared the leading services on price, coverage, custom removals, reporting and trust. Here is what each one does well and where it falls short.
Best Data Removal Services at a Glance
- Optery: Best overall, with the most detailed proof of removals
- Incogni: Best for wide coverage and families
- DeleteMe: Best for proactive privacy tools like masked emails
- EasyOptOuts: Best budget option at $20 a year
- Kanary: Best for doxxing and high-risk users
Data Removal Services Compared: Price, Coverage and Custom Removals
| Service | Yearly Price (Individual) | Automated Broker Coverage | Custom Removals | Free Option |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optery | $0 to $249 | Up to 640+ on Ultimate | Ultimate tier only | Yes (scan and DIY guides) |
| Incogni | $95.88 to $179.88 | 420+ | Unlimited plan only | Free footprint check |
| DeleteMe | $129 | Core list plus business/international sites | Yes (up to 40 a year) | Free scan |
| EasyOptOuts | $20 | Around 200 | No | No |
| Kanary | $179.88 (premium), up to $600 (Advanced) | 150 to 300+ | Yes | Limited free plan |
Prices change often, and most services run first-year discounts, so check the official pricing page before you sign up.
What Data Removal Services Do and How They Work
Every service follows a similar routine. You create an account and enter your full name, past and current addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. Many services also ask you to sign a limited power of attorney, which lets them demand deletions in your name. A few, like DeleteMe and Optery, request a redacted ID to confirm your identity.
The service then scans people search sites, where profiles are public, and sends removal requests to private brokers that keep their databases hidden. Brokers usually get up to 45 days to comply. Because brokers buy fresh data and rebuild profiles, a good service rescans every few weeks or months and files new requests whenever your records come back.
Automated removals cover the brokers on the service's list. Custom removals cover everything else: you spot your data on a random site, send the link, and the service's privacy team handles the request.
Who Has Your Personal Data? People Search Sites vs Data Brokers
Two kinds of companies hold most of your personal profile, and removal services target both.
Data brokers scrape information from across the web, package it into profiles and sell those profiles to buyers. Advertisers use them for targeted ads, email campaigns and direct mail. Identity thieves can buy them too.
People search sites present themselves as friendly lookup tools for reconnecting with old friends or checking out a date. A free search shows partial details, then asks for your email and a fee to unlock the rest. That gives the site your name, email and payment card on top of the profile it already holds. Many of these pages list relatives, past addresses and phone numbers, which makes them a favorite tool for scammers and stalkers.
Some brokers keep private databases with no public page. Services cannot scan those, so they send periodic opt-out requests based on your region and details instead.
Do You Actually Need a Data Removal Service?
Not everyone does. You can search your name with "address" or "phone number," open each site that lists you and use its opt-out form. Free scans from Optery, DeleteMe, Incogni and Privacy Bee can point you to the right sites and give step-by-step guides.
A paid service makes sense when:
- You lack the hours to repeat opt-outs every few months
- You want ongoing monitoring, since brokers re-list people often
- Someone you want to avoid, such as an ex or a stalker, could use your address or phone number
- You work in a public-facing role where exposure raises your risk
- You want to protect family members under one plan
If you only want a one-time cleanup and have a free weekend, the DIY route works. If you want your profile kept clean without constant effort, a service saves real time.
Optery: Best Overall Data Removal Service
Optery earns the top spot because it proves its work. Each report includes before and after screenshots of the broker pages that listed you, links to your profiles and the exact steps the service took. You never have to guess whether a removal actually happened.
Independent testing backs this up. In Consumer Reports' study, Optery's Ultimate plan removed about 68% of the profiles it found within four months, the highest rate among the paid services tested. Manual removal scored only slightly higher at 70%, so Optery gets you close to DIY results without the hours of work.
Plans and pricing:
- Free: Exposure reports every three months with screenshots and DIY removal guides
- Core ($39 a year): Automates removals from a smaller set of brokers
- Extended ($149 a year): Covers more brokers with less manual work
- Ultimate ($249 a year): Full automation across 640+ sites, plus custom removals
Optery also offers an Expanded Reach option at no extra cost. It sends official requests to around 240 brokers that do not show public profiles. Keep in mind that this option may send your details to companies that never had them in the first place. Optery gives family discounts of 20% for two people, 25% for three and 30% for four or more.
Limitations: Custom removals need links and screenshots from you, which takes more effort than rival services. You also cannot submit custom requests until the 30-day refund window ends.
Best for: Anyone who wants verified results and clear reports.
Incogni: Best for Broad Coverage and Family Plans
Incogni automates removals from 420+ data brokers and people search sites. On the Unlimited plan, it adds custom removals across more than 3,000 additional sites, which gives it one of the widest reaches available. Incogni began inside Surfshark, which also offers the Surfshark Antiscam Hub on iOS for scam protection.
Trust is a big selling point here. Deloitte audited Incogni and confirmed its broker coverage, its recurring removal process and its claim that it does not sell user data. The audit also verified over 245 million removal requests processed. Separate academic testing found that Incogni removed an average of 76.6% of records per user.
The dashboard ranks each broker with a sensitivity score. Sites that hold health or financial data rank higher than those holding basic demographic details, so you know which removals matter most. Incogni also adds you to suppression lists where brokers offer them, which stops those companies from re-adding your profile later.
Plans and pricing (billed yearly, renewal rates):
- Standard: $95.88 a year
- Unlimited: $179.88 a year, with custom removals and live phone support
- Family: $191.88 a year for up to five people
- Family Unlimited: $275.88 a year
The family plan stands out. It covers five adults for under $40 each per year, cheaper per person than almost any competitor. All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Limitations: Incogni limits how many names, emails, addresses and phone numbers you can add, which can leave gaps if you have moved often or changed your name. It also counts a request as "complete" even when the broker says it had no file on you, so the totals can look bigger than your actual exposure.
Best for: Families and people who want broad coverage with audited claims.
DeleteMe: Best for Email and Phone Masking
DeleteMe launched in 2011, which makes it one of the oldest services in this space. Instead of relying fully on automation, it uses human privacy agents to process many removals. The result is slower at first but thorough, and long-term testers report that it catches up with faster rivals after a month or two.
Setup is flexible. DeleteMe accepts partial addresses, alternate names, nicknames, maiden names and even relatives' names to improve matching. Once you finish, you can step away. Your first report arrives within about a week, followed by fresh reports every quarter.
DeleteMe goes beyond removals with privacy tools that stop data from leaking in the first place. You get masked email addresses that forward to your real inbox, and you can buy masked phone numbers for extra privacy. A Search Yourself tool lets you sort Google results into keep, remove or not me.
Plans and pricing:
- Individual: $129 a year ($209 for two years)
- Couple: $229 a year
- Family (four people): $329 a year
DeleteMe accepts up to 40 custom removal requests a year and prorates refunds if you cancel.
Limitations: Reports skip screenshots and detailed activity history, so you have to trust the process. The standard plan automates fewer brokers than the full list on its website suggests, since many entries apply only to business accounts or custom requests.
Best for: Hands-off users who also want email masking and other preventive tools.
EasyOptOuts: Best Cheap Data Removal Service
At $20 a year, EasyOptOuts costs a fraction of every other paid service here. Low price does not mean poor results. In Consumer Reports' testing, it removed about 65% of found profiles, second only to Optery's top tier.
The service runs fully automated across roughly 200 brokers. You set up your profile once and rarely need to log in again unless you add a new name or address. EasyOptOuts emails reports a few times a year that list which brokers had your data and which received removal requests.
Limitations: You get no custom removals, no screenshots and only a basic dashboard. Data entry feels rigid because the service limits name variations and wants complete addresses. It works only for US residents and has not completed a third-party security audit.
Best for: Budget-conscious users who want a set-and-forget service that still performs well.
Kanary: Best for Doxxing and Social Media Threats
Kanary targets people who face real-world threats such as stalking, harassment or doxxing. Along with broker removals, it scans social media for leaked personal details and offers escalation options when a platform refuses to take down a post. It is also testing a feature that checks AI chatbots for private information about you.
Kanary checks a database of over 1,000 brokers and people search sites and handles tough ones like LexisNexis, TruthFinder and Radaris. Testers praise its clear data policy and helpful support team.
Plans and pricing:
- Free: Mobile scan plus three removals to start
- Premium: $16.99 a month or $179.88 a year
- Advanced: $50 a month or $600 a year, the only tier with fully automated scanning
Limitations: Lower tiers lean on self-guided work through the mobile app. Results also come slowly, with removals building up over weeks rather than days.
Best for: Influencers, executives and anyone dealing with targeted harassment.
Other Data Removal Services Worth Considering
- Privacy Bee: Automates removals from roughly 1,040 sites, the largest list we reviewed, and lets you set trust levels for 180,000 companies. The full plan costs $197 a year, and the interface can feel crowded.
- Aura: Bundles about 200 broker removals with identity monitoring, credit monitoring, antivirus, a VPN and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance from $12 a month. It offers no custom removals.
- PrivacyHawk: A mobile-only app at $74.99 a year. Free users even get 10 automated removals a month. It also finds old accounts and unsubscribes you from email lists.
- IDX Complete: A full identity theft suite at about $355 a year, with its ForgetMe tool covering about 137 brokers. Strong for identity protection, weak on custom removals.
- Permission Slip by Consumer Reports: An iPhone app that helps you send removal requests yourself, with a paid option that handles a preset list of brokers.
Avoid assuming any big brand name means a safe choice. Before you sign up, check who actually runs the removal engine behind the product.
How Much Do Data Removal Services Cost?
Most services charge between $5 and $25 a month, and annual plans cut the monthly rate. The range is wide:
- Under $50 a year: EasyOptOuts at $20, and Optery Core at $39
- $75 to $150 a year: Incogni Standard, PrivacyHawk, Aura, DeleteMe and Optery Extended
- $180 to $250 a year: Incogni Unlimited, Kanary Premium, Privacy Bee and Optery Ultimate
- $350 and up: IDX Complete and Kanary Advanced
The average across the services Wirecutter reviewed came to about $118 a year. Custom removals usually push you into a higher tier, so budget for that if you expect your data to show up on obscure sites. Family plans lower the per-person price, with Incogni and Aura offering the steepest discounts.
Many companies advertise a big first-year discount that rises at renewal. Read the renewal price before you pay, and use the 30-day money-back guarantees that Incogni and Optery offer to test a service risk-free.
How to Choose the Best Data Removal Service
Set your budget first. EasyOptOuts proves you can get solid results for $20, while full-featured plans with custom removals usually cost $150 to $250 a year.
Decide how hands-on you want to be. Some services run silently and send a report every few months. Others show live dashboards and ask you to confirm matches. Neither approach is wrong. Pick the one that fits how much attention you want to give it.
Check for custom removals. Your data will eventually appear on a site outside the service's list. Custom removals fix that, but most companies reserve them for higher tiers.
Look for proof. Screenshots, activity logs and per-broker status updates help you confirm the service is doing its job.
Ignore inflated site counts. Some services count several URLs from one broker network as separate sites, while others list sites they only cover through custom requests. Focus on automated coverage and real removal results instead.
Can You Remove Your Data Yourself for Free?
Yes. Manual opt-outs actually achieved the highest success rate in Consumer Reports' testing. The catch is time. One scan can turn up your data on 90 or more websites, and each opt-out takes a few minutes to over an hour depending on the forms and ID checks involved. That adds up to a full working day, and you need to repeat it every few months.
If you want to try the free route, start with these steps:
- Search your name plus "address" or "phone number" and note every people search site that lists you.
- Use the free scans from Optery, DeleteMe, Incogni or Privacy Bee to find more brokers, then follow their DIY guides.
- Use Google's Results About You tool to request removal of search results that show your contact details. This hides the listings from Google but does not delete them from the broker.
- Register on the FTC Do Not Call Registry to reduce telemarketing calls.
- Install a Global Privacy Control enabled browser or extension to signal that websites should not sell your data.
Are Data Removal Services Safe to Use?
Reputable services are safe, but they need your sensitive details to do the job. You hand over your name, addresses, phone numbers and sometimes a redacted ID, so anyone who breaks into your account with the service sees everything you asked it to protect.
Protect yourself with these checks:
- Look for independent audits. Incogni passed a Deloitte review, and DeleteMe has had third-party audits of its security and finances. EasyOptOuts has not completed one.
- Turn on two-factor authentication. DeleteMe, Kanary and Optery work with authenticator apps. Privacy Bee sends a login code by email and lets you add an authenticator code on top.
- Read the privacy policy. Confirm the company does not sell your data and explains how long it keeps it.
- Check the vendor behind the brand. Some privacy products outsource removals to third parties, so verify who handles your information.
- Revoke access when you leave. Cancel the subscription and withdraw the power of attorney you signed.
Do Data Removal Services Really Work?
Yes, within limits. Independent tests show these services remove a large share of the profiles they find, with the best paid results landing around 65% to 77%. Your profile can also return after removal, because brokers refill their databases from new sources. That is why an active subscription matters.
Set realistic expectations before you pay. These services handle data brokers and people search sites only. They do not remove news stories, court records you can access through official channels, or posts on social media accounts you do not control (Kanary is a partial exception). They also will not block malware, phishing or hackers, so keep using a password manager, two-factor authentication and good antivirus software. Tightening your Windows 11 settings and learning how to delete an Instagram account you no longer use also give brokers less to collect.
Spam calls and junk mail may not drop much either. Marketers pull from many sources, and testers who ran several services at once still received regular spam. Think of a data removal service as a way to shrink your exposure, not a switch that makes you invisible.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best data removal service overall?
Optery offers the best mix of results and transparency, with screenshot proof of every removal. Incogni comes close and suits families and users who want audited coverage.
How much do data removal services cost?
Prices range from $20 a year with EasyOptOuts to around $250 a year for top plans like Optery Ultimate. Most mid-tier plans cost between $95 and $200 a year, and family plans add more people at a discount.
How long do data removal services take to work?
Brokers often get up to 45 days to process requests, and some ignore deadlines. Expect meaningful results after about three months of continuous use.
Do I need to keep paying after my data is removed?
Yes, if you want lasting results. Brokers keep buying fresh data and often re-list people within weeks or months. An active subscription keeps rescanning and refiling requests.
Are data removal services safe to use?
Reputable services are safe, but you do share sensitive details with them. Choose one with an independent security audit, a clear privacy policy and support for two-factor authentication.
Do data removal services work outside the US?
Some do. Incogni and DeleteMe serve customers in several countries, while EasyOptOuts, Aura and Kanary focus on the US. Optery offers international coverage mainly for business customers.
