Best Data Removal Service 2026: DeleteMe, Incogni, Optery & Aura Compared

Last updated: 2026-07-24

There are companies selling your home address, the names of your family members, your approximate income, your political affiliation, and your phone number to anyone willing to pay $5 to $30. These companies are called data brokers, and there are more than 200 of them operating legally in the United States.

Data broker profiles are used for background checks, targeted spam, phishing attacks, stalking, social engineering, and political targeting. Removing yourself from these databases is a legitimate privacy action with real consequences — and it is not something you can do once and forget. Brokers continuously re-collect data from public records, and your profile will reappear within months if not actively maintained.

This guide compares five leading data removal services on what actually matters: which brokers they cover, how they verify removal, and whether the data stays gone.

How Data Broker Removal Works

Data broker opt-out is a process, not a one-time action. Here is what removal services actually do:

1. Discovery: The service searches for your profile on known broker databases using your name, address history, and email
2. Opt-out submission: Automated requests are sent to each broker's opt-out system (each has a different process)
3. Verification: After a waiting period, the service checks whether the listing was actually removed
4. Re-submission: Because data reappears as brokers re-aggregate from source records, the service periodically re-checks and re-submits opt-outs

The time from initial submission to verified removal varies by broker: typically 7-30 days for most brokers, up to 90 days for some.

DeleteMe — The Established Standard

Price: $129/year (1 person), $229/year (2 people)

Broker coverage: 750+ brokers

Founded: 2010 (Abine)

Reporting: Quarterly detailed reports showing which listings were found and removed

DeleteMe is the most established name in the consumer data removal space, operated by Abine — one of the earliest online privacy companies. It provides more detailed reporting than competitors, which is useful for understanding exactly what was out there and what has been removed.

What works well:

• Comprehensive quarterly reports with before/after screenshots of removed listings
• Covers major people-search sites (Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, Intelius, PeopleFinder, and 740+ others)
• Manual review team that handles brokers with complex opt-out processes
• Customer support that can escalate difficult removals

What to know:

• The $129/year price is higher than Incogni's equivalent coverage
• Some brokers on their list have lower personal data risk (aggregators with limited public reach)
• International broker coverage (for EU/UK-based listings) is not comprehensive

Best for: Users who want detailed visibility into what was found and removed. The quarterly reports are the best documentation in the category for understanding your exposure.

Incogni — Best Value

Price: $77.88/year ($6.49/month billed annually) — 50% off with promo codes common

Broker coverage: 180+ brokers

Founded: 2023 (Surfshark)

Reporting: Dashboard with real-time removal status

Incogni is operated by Surfshark, the VPN provider. It offers the best price-to-coverage ratio in the category, targeting 180 brokers with continuous removal rather than quarterly batch processes.

What works well:

• Continuous (not quarterly) monitoring and re-opt-out
• Lower price than DeleteMe for comparable core broker coverage
• Dashboard shows real-time status of each removal request
• Simple setup — connects via your email and processes requests automatically

What to know:

• 180 brokers covered vs. DeleteMe's 750+ (DeleteMe's extra coverage includes many smaller, less-impactful brokers, though)
• Owned by Surfshark, which is a VPN provider with a good privacy track record
• Reporting is less detailed than DeleteMe's quarterly reports

Best for: Users who want set-and-forget removal at the lowest cost. If you do not need detailed reporting about exactly which listings were found, Incogni provides strong coverage at the best price.

Privacy Bee — Most Aggressive Coverage

Price: $197/year

Broker coverage: 200+ brokers, with aggressive manual follow-up

Founded: 2019

Reporting: Dashboard with removal tracking

Privacy Bee occupies the premium end of the market with the most aggressive approach to removal, including phone calls and mail to brokers that require human contact for opt-out.

What works well:

• Most thorough opt-out process — follows up by phone when automated opt-outs are not honored
• Covers some brokers that DeleteMe and Incogni handle only partially
• Dedicated removal specialists for complex cases
• Insurance verification opt-outs (a specific category that most services miss)

What to know:

• $197/year is the highest price in this comparison
• Manual follow-up process means removals sometimes take longer than automated services
• Better for users with high-exposure profiles (executives, public figures, people with harassment history)

Best for: High-profile individuals, executives, or anyone who has experienced targeted harassment where the thoroughness of removal matters more than cost.

Optery — Best Free Starting Point

Price: Free (limited) | Core ~$4/month | Extended ~$13/month | Full ~$25/month

Broker coverage: 30 sites (free tier), 100+ (Core), 200+ (higher tiers)

Founded: 2020

Reporting: Monthly, with screenshots of your actual listings

Optery is the only service in this comparison with a genuinely useful free tier — not a trial, but ongoing free monitoring of 30+ data broker sites with screenshots showing exactly what those sites have on you and a direct link to each one's opt-out page.

What works well:

• Real free tier, no credit card required, that shows actual listings before you commit to anything
• Paid tiers scale from light automation (Core, ~$4/month) to full-coverage automation (Full, ~$25/month) across 200+ sites
• Screenshots of found listings give a concrete before/after view most competitors do not provide
• Clean, uncluttered dashboard

What to know:

• The free tier still requires you to manually click through and complete opt-outs yourself — automation only kicks in on paid plans
• 200+ broker coverage on the top tier is solid but below DeleteMe's 750+

Best for: Anyone who wants to see the scope of the problem — exactly which sites have their data — before paying for a removal service.

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Aura — Best If You Want Data Removal Bundled with Identity Protection

Price: ~$12–$15/month (individual) | ~$30–$37/month (family)

Broker coverage: 1,000+ sites (as part of a broader identity-protection package)

Founded: 2017

Reporting: Ongoing real-time alerts

Aura is not a standalone removal service — it is an all-in-one identity protection app (credit monitoring, dark web monitoring, VPN, antivirus, $1 million identity theft insurance) that includes data broker removal across 1,000+ sites, more than any standalone service on this list.

What works well:

• Largest broker coverage of any service reviewed here (1,000+ sites)
• One subscription instead of managing separate removal, VPN, antivirus, and credit-monitoring tools
• Real-time alerts rather than periodic reports
• $1 million identity theft insurance included

What to know:

• Costs more per month than a standalone removal service, because you are also paying for the other bundled features
• If you already have antivirus, a VPN, and credit monitoring you are happy with, paying for Aura just for removal is not the most efficient choice

Best for: Anyone starting from scratch who wants one subscription covering data removal alongside broader identity and device protection, rather than stacking several point solutions.

Affiliate Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we genuinely believe in. This helps support our work and allows us to continue providing free content.

The Honest Assessment: What No Service Can Do

Before purchasing any removal service, understand its structural limitations:

Re-aggregation is inevitable. Data brokers pull from property records, voter rolls, court filings, and other public sources. As long as those sources are public, your data will reappear. Removal services maintain this through continuous re-opt-outs, but there is no permanent solution.

No service covers all brokers. There are estimated to be 200-400 data broker sites in the US. No service covers all of them. The most harmful ones (Spokeo, Whitepages, Intelius, BeenVerified, Radaris) are covered by all five services reviewed here.

Corporate data is different. Data brokers are distinct from the companies you have directly shared data with (banks, retailers, social media). Removal services cannot delete your account data from companies you have done business with — only the accounts themselves can do that.

Credit bureaus are separate. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are not covered by any of these services. Your credit file is a separate legal framework.

Do-It-Yourself Option

If you want to save money and have time, here is the DIY approach:

1. Start with the highest-traffic people-search sites: Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, Intelius, Radaris, PeopleFinder, PeopleSmart, TruthFinder, FastPeopleSearch
2. Opt out of each using their opt-out pages (search "[site name] opt out" — each has one)
3. Set calendar reminders to re-check every 90 days
4. Use the r/privacy wiki's data broker opt-out guide for the comprehensive list

Estimated time: 3-4 hours initially, 1 hour per quarter for maintenance. The premium removal services cost less per hour than most people charge for their own time.

Recommendation

Best for most people: Incogni — covers the most impactful brokers at the lowest cost with continuous (not quarterly) monitoring. The Surfshark parent company has a solid privacy track record.

Best reporting: DeleteMe — quarterly reports with screenshots are useful if you want to understand your historical exposure or document removal for professional reasons.

Best for high-exposure individuals: Privacy Bee — the manual follow-up process is worth the premium price for executives, public figures, or anyone who has faced targeted harassment.

Best free starting point: Optery — its free tier shows you exactly which sites have your data, with screenshots and direct opt-out links, before you spend anything.

Best if you want it bundled: Aura — the broadest broker coverage (1,000+ sites) of any option here, folded into a single subscription alongside credit monitoring, dark web alerts, VPN, and antivirus.