Your personal information is scattered across hundreds of data broker sites right now, and you probably have no idea. After weeks of testing data removal services with my own information, I discovered which tools genuinely protect your privacy and which ones make empty promises.
If you’re drowning in spam calls, worried about identity theft, or just want to reclaim some digital privacy, data removal services promise an automated solution. These companies contact data brokers on your behalf, requesting they delete your personal information from their databases. But do they work?
I signed up for over 10 different data removal services, submitted my real information, and tracked the results for weeks. Some services impressed me with thorough removals across hundreds of sites. Others barely made a dent in my digital footprint despite premium pricing.
Understanding Data Brokers and Why They’re Collecting Your Information
Data brokers are companies that compile personal information from public records, social media platforms, loyalty programs, mobile apps, and internet service providers. They piece together these data points to create comprehensive profiles about you, then sell that information to marketing companies, people search sites, and anyone willing to pay.
Every time you sign up for a free trial, create a social media account, or join a rewards program, there’s a chance your data gets sold to brokers. Even public records like property ownership and voter registration become part of their databases. The scary part? This is completely legal because most information comes from public sources.
These aggregated profiles include home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, family relationships, purchasing habits, and browsing history. When data breaches happen, the problem multiplies because your sensitive data becomes even more accessible to bad actors.
How Data Removal Services Protect Your Digital Privacy
Data removal services automate the tedious process of contacting hundreds of data broker websites. You authorize them to act on your behalf, and they send opt-out requests to remove your personal information. The best services don’t stop after one request—they follow up quarterly or monthly to ensure your data stays removed.
Most services combine AI technology with human verification to handle the removal process. They scan data broker sites for your information, submit removal requests, verify your identity when required, and monitor to prevent your data from reappearing.
The manual alternative involves tracking down every data broker yourself (there are hundreds), visiting each website, navigating their opt-out process, verifying your identity, and repeating this process every few months. Data removal services eliminate this exhausting cycle.
Testing Methodology: How I Evaluated These Services
I signed up for each service between one week to one month before writing this review, giving them sufficient time to scan for my data, submit removal requests, and send progress reports. I evaluated services based on the number of data brokers covered, frequency of rescans, additional privacy features, user interface quality, pricing transparency, and actual results.
After using these services extensively, I manually checked my information on top data broker sites to verify removals. The results were striking—services that performed well made my personal information significantly harder to find online.
Incogni: Comprehensive Automated Data Removal
Price Range: $8.29–$32.98/month
Free Trial: No
Data Brokers Covered: 270+
Recheck Frequency: Monthly
Incogni emerged as the top performer in my testing, offering automated removals across 270+ data broker sites. The service takes a completely hands-off approach—you provide your information once, and Incogni handles everything from there.
What sets Incogni apart is its Unlimited tier, which includes unlimited custom removals beyond standard data brokers. You can request removal from court record sites, company websites, educational forums, and other sources that typically require manual intervention.
Throughout the dashboard, Incogni provides educational resources explaining how data brokers operate and why privacy matters. This transparency helps users understand the protection they’re receiving rather than just trusting a black box service.
Incogni’s parent company Surfshark now offers bundling through Surfshark One+, combining data removal with VPN services, antivirus protection, ad blocking, and identity protection features. This flexibility lets you purchase Incogni standalone or as part of a comprehensive cybersecurity suite.
The service lacks real-time alerts and email privacy features in its standalone form. Monthly progress reports arrive regularly, but checking your dashboard requires manual login for more frequent updates. Additionally, complete coverage including privacy monitoring requires upgrading to the pricier Surfshark One+ bundle.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Price Range | $8.29–$32.98/mo |
| Free Trial | No |
| Data Broker Opt-Out | Yes |
| Brokers Covered | 270+ |
| Recheck Frequency | Monthly |
| Privacy Reports | Yes |
Aura: Complete Identity Protection Suite
Price Range: $9.00–$30.00/month
Free Trial: 14 days
Data Brokers Covered: 30+
Recheck Frequency: Unknown
Aura approaches data removal as one component of comprehensive identity protection rather than a standalone service. The platform includes identity theft protection services, identity theft insurance, White Glove fraud remediation, financial fraud protection, dark web scanning, credit monitoring, Safe Browsing tools, a password manager with strength analysis, antivirus software with real-time malware protection, a basic VPN, and parental controls.
When you first sign up, Aura asks questions about your priorities to customize its protection strategy. This guided approach helps users who aren’t sure exactly what privacy coverage they need.
For families, Aura provides exceptional value by monitoring multiple family members, including children. The parental controls and identity protection extend even to young family members. Singles and couples benefit equally from comprehensive dark web monitoring and automated data removal requests.
The spending monitoring feature lets you set thresholds and track unusual activity, which proves particularly useful for teaching financial responsibility to teens with jobs.
Aura’s comprehensive approach comes with corresponding costs—you cannot purchase services individually. If you only want data removal without identity theft insurance and credit monitoring, Aura becomes unnecessarily expensive. The credit monitoring provides only VantageScore, not FICO scores, which limits its usefulness for major purchases that require FICO-based lending decisions.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Price Range | $9.00–$30.00/mo |
| Free Trial | Yes — 14 days |
| Data Broker Opt-Out | Yes |
| Brokers Covered | 30+ |
| Recheck Frequency | Unknown |
| Privacy Reports | Yes |
DeleteMe: Budget-Friendly Privacy Protection
Price Range: $6.97–$34.40/month
Free Trial: No
Data Brokers Covered: 153+
Recheck Frequency: Quarterly
DeleteMe contacts 153+ data brokers automatically to remove personal data throughout your subscription period. The service continues quarterly removals indefinitely, gradually reducing spam as more of your sensitive data disappears from the internet.
Beyond basic data removal, DeleteMe offers email masking, phone masking, and credit card masking. These privacy tools generate fake information you can enter into website forms without triggering invalid data warnings. Since websites often sell whatever information you provide, masking lets you browse freely while protecting your real details.
Imagine never receiving those annoying early morning telemarketer calls again, or drastically reducing spam emails and texts about your car’s extended warranty. DeleteMe’s masking features make this possible.
DeleteMe’s marketing claims coverage of 750+ brokers, but this number misleadingly includes hundreds of sites that require custom manual requests rather than automated removals. Many advertised sites only become available at hidden higher subscription tiers.
Phone masking carries a $7.00 one-time fee, which feels unnecessary when you’re already paying for the service. The email and card masking justify their value, but the additional phone masking charge diminishes the overall package appeal.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Price Range | $6.97–$34.40/mo |
| Free Trial | No |
| Data Broker Opt-Out | Yes |
| Brokers Covered | 153+ |
| Recheck Frequency | Quarterly |
| Privacy Reports | Yes |
Optery: Free Option for Hands-On Privacy Protection
Price Range: $3.25–$24.99/month (plus free plan)
Free Trial: No
**Data Broker Opt-Out | Yes
Brokers Covered: Up to 640+
Recheck Frequency: Monthly (premium plans) / Quarterly (free)
Optery stands out by offering a genuinely useful free plan that shows you where your personal information appears online. This transparency helps budget-conscious users who want to reduce their digital footprint but cannot afford another monthly subscription.
The free plan aggregates your data across multiple data broker sites, providing a roadmap for DIY removal requests. The process requires more effort than automated services, but Optery gives you the starting point that makes manual removal feasible.
Free users receive quarterly Exposure Reports as long as they log in regularly. Upgrading to paid plans unlocks monthly automated scans and the ability to opt out of newly discovered data broker sites automatically.
Optery uses TLS encryption for data in transit rather than military-grade AES-256-bit encryption. Data stored in Optery’s systems gets AES-256 encryption, but removal requests only receive TLS protection. This reduced security for transmitted data raises concerns, though it matters less if you handle removal requests manually.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Price Range | $3.25–$24.99/mo |
| Free Trial | No |
| Data Broker Opt-Out | Yes |
| Brokers Covered | Up to 640+ |
| Recheck Frequency | Monthly (premium) |
| Privacy Reports | Yes, quarterly |
HelloPrivacy: Simple Low-Maintenance Protection
Price Range: $8.33–$9.99/month
Free Trial: No
Data Brokers Covered: 115+
Recheck Frequency: Monthly
HelloPrivacy combines data broker removal with dark web scanning in a straightforward package. The platform includes both services plus advice and templates for requesting personal data removal from uncooperative sites. When data brokers ignore removal requests, HelloPrivacy guides you through filing Federal Communications Commission (FCC) complaints.
The dark web scanner checks multiple email addresses for potential data leaks—up to five separate addresses. This multi-email capability means you can monitor all your accounts or cover multiple family members with one subscription, unlike competitors that restrict scanning to single email addresses.
HelloPrivacy scans only 115+ data brokers compared to competitors checking 640+ sites. With hundreds of active brokers operating, removing your information from just 115 provides limited protection. The service offers no additional features beyond dark web scanning and basic data removal, making it less compelling than competitors at similar price points.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Price Range | $8.33–$9.99/mo |
| Free Trial | No |
| Data Broker Opt-Out | Yes |
| Brokers Covered | 115+ |
| Recheck Frequency | Monthly |
| Privacy Reports | Yes |
Incogni vs DeleteMe: Which Service Removes More Data
Between these top contenders, Incogni provides more comprehensive data removal than DeleteMe. While DeleteMe advertises 750+ site removals, the actual automated removal count sits at 153+. The remaining sites require custom manual requests that you must initiate yourself.
Incogni automatically removes data from 270+ sites across all subscription plans. The Unlimited tier adds unlimited custom removal requests, giving you broader coverage than DeleteMe’s misleading marketing claims suggest.
Incogni also offers flexible purchasing options—buy it standalone for focused data removal or bundle it into Surfshark One for comprehensive cybersecurity including VPN services, antivirus protection, and web filtering. This flexibility beats DeleteMe’s single-purpose offering for users seeking broader online protection.
Key Features to Evaluate in Data Removal Services
Effective data removal services share several critical characteristics. Recurring removal requests ensure deleted personal data stays gone rather than reappearing months later. Continuous scans search for new data brokers regularly, catching your information before it spreads widely.
DIY help resources provide templates and guides for sites requiring manual removal requests. A hands-off approach automates as much as possible without requiring constant user effort. Fraud monitoring enables easy password changes for accounts with weak, compromised, or reused credentials.
Online account monitoring watches social media and other platforms holding substantial personal information. Dark web monitoring checks if email addresses or Social Security numbers appear in leaked databases. Credit monitoring sends alerts about unusual credit activity that could indicate identity theft. Money-back guarantees let you cancel and receive refunds if results disappoint.
Are Data Removal Services Worth the Investment
Yes, data removal services provide genuine value for anyone wanting to keep private information private. After testing numerous services, I had to switch to searching for family members’ information because the tools successfully removed my own data.
Data removal services reduce annoying spam phone calls, emails, and text messages measurably. Manual verification on top data broker sites confirmed my personal information had actually been removed after using these services.
With identity theft, spam, and scams increasing rapidly, data removal services create crucial defense layers. Hundreds of data brokers and people search sites aggregate personal data from social media platforms and public records daily, then publish home addresses, phone numbers, and other sensitive information for anyone to access.
Data brokers must legally delete your information when requested, but compliance rates vary and many simply relist data months later. Recurring removal services provide ongoing protection against this cycle.
Data privacy reduces life clutter and protects against identity theft. These tools simplify removing your name and contact information from people profiting from your data. They prove especially worthwhile if you’ve experienced phishing scams, which increasingly originate from data broker leaks rather than just data breaches.
Making Sense of the Data Broker Business Model
Data brokers collect information from freely available online sources and purchased databases, piecing everything together into comprehensive personal profiles. Social media sites, public records, loyalty programs, mobile apps, and internet service providers all sell data to brokers.
Ever notice spam emails skyrocketing after signing up for a new internet service provider? That company double-dipped by charging for service then selling your information to data brokers. The brokers resell your data to people search sites, marketing lists, and anyone paying their prices.
Websites track your online activity, and all your data gets compiled into virtual folders ready for sale. This remains completely legal because the information typically originates from public records. Unfortunately, data broker websites face the same data breach risks as any company, potentially exposing your aggregated information.
Think of that Parks and Recreation episode where Leslie Knope discovers Ron Swanson’s birthday through a Rum Raisin birthday club signup. Every time you share information online, consider whether the benefit justifies surrendering your data.
The Data Removal Process Explained
Data removal services clean up your online presence by sending automated requests to remove your data from data broker sites. While data brokers can legally collect public domain information, you equally have the right to request deletion.
Each data broker site outlines its opt-out process—usually involving emails, forms, or checkboxes. After submitting requests, you typically verify your identity before receiving deletion confirmation.
Manually submitting opt-out requests yourself remains possible but enormously time-consuming. Data broker removal services automate this exhausting process. You sign an agreement authorizing them to work on your behalf, then their team (combining AI technology and human verification) automatically sends emails and opt-out requests, with the best services manually following up every three months.
After using data broker removal services for a while, you should notice fewer spam emails and spam calls coming through.
Manual Data Removal: The DIY Approach
Complete data removal remains unlikely, but you can significantly reduce your digital footprint by identifying every data broker (potentially hundreds) and requesting each one remove stored data.
If that sounds exhausting, data removal services automate this process. Quality services continually verify removed information doesn’t reappear on the same broker sites.
Additional methods for reducing your internet presence include deleting unused accounts, using online pseudonyms, and increasing privacy settings across all social media accounts.
Top 5 Data Removal Services Comparison
| Service | Starting Price | Free Trial | Broker Opt-Outs | Privacy Reports |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incogni | $8.29/mo | No | Yes (270+) | Yes |
| Aura | $9.00/mo | 14 days | Yes (30+) | Yes |
| DeleteMe | $6.97/mo | No | Yes (153+) | Yes |
| Optery | Free/$3.25/mo | No | Yes (640+) | Yes |
| HelloPrivacy | $8.33/mo | No | Yes (115+) | Yes |
Frequently Asked Questions About Data Privacy Protection
How do I stop companies from collecting my data?
Complete prevention remains impossible, but you can reduce data collection significantly. Tracker blockers defend against profiling trackers that follow you around the internet. Private browsers and private search engines don’t log your data. For encrypted browsing, use quality VPN services consistently.
Can I remove my personal information from the internet for free?
Yes, by contacting data brokers and websites hosting your data and requesting opt-outs. You can also use Google’s Results About You form for removal requests.
Remember that data brokers often relist personal data months later, requiring quarterly repeat removal requests. This makes data removal services with automatically recurring requests more practical and convenient than DIY approaches.
Is DeleteMe or Kanary better?
Kanary appears to be a smaller startup with a personal touch—their CEO actively engages with potential customers on Reddit. Kanary costs slightly more than DeleteMe but simplifies adding family members. The choice depends on your priorities: lower pricing or covering multiple people.
Is PrivacyHawk or DeleteMe better?
DeleteMe provides superior data removal by focusing on data brokers, where your information gets bought and sold at scale. These represent the root problem.
PrivacyHawk scans your email for companies already contacting you, then sends automated unsubscribe requests. This addresses symptoms rather than underlying causes, making it less effective.
The landscape of personal data protection continues evolving as data brokers develop new collection methods and privacy regulations expand. After extensive testing, Incogni delivers the most comprehensive automated data removal with transparent processes and educational resources. For families seeking bundled identity protection, Aura provides exceptional value despite higher costs. Budget-conscious users will appreciate DeleteMe’s affordable pricing and useful masking features, while Optery’s free plan offers a solid starting point for DIY privacy protection.
Regardless of which service you choose, taking action to remove your personal information from data broker sites significantly reduces spam, lowers identity theft risks, and reclaims meaningful control over your digital privacy. The question isn’t whether data removal services work—my testing proved they do—but rather which service best matches your specific privacy needs and budget.