The 3 Best Data Removal Services of 2024

1. Incogni - Fastest Results

SecurityScore:

9.2 /10

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How We Review

Product Specs

Site Removals	180+
Free Plan	No
Family Plan	Yes
Monthly Cost	$12.98

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Why I Picked Incogni

I tested quite a few data removal services in my quest to scrub the internet of my personal information; during that trial, Incogni was my favorite service. It’s well rounded in the sense that it works quickly and its price point is affordable; plus, its user interface is so easy even your least tech-savvy family member can use it.

Another interesting piece of information is that Incogni was developed by one of the best VPN providers in the business, Surfshark, as an add-on service. Due to its success, another well-known name in the privacy game, NordVPN, started offering it as a supplement as well. That gave me confidence going into my Incogni review that I was going to like what I found.

User Experience

Purchasing and setting up Incogni couldn’t be easier. Once you select a plan, you’re asked to set up an account and digitally sign some paperwork; the latter allows Incogni to act as a proxy on your behalf. Once that’s done, all you have to do is click “Start Data Removal,” and you’re off to the races.

We’ll talk about how effective Incogni is below, but I also wanted to point out how easy to use — and useful — its dashboard is. If you go into the detailed view of the records the service found on you, you can get a clear picture of the company that’s selling your information; plus, you can see how long the average request for removal takes and Incogni’s threat assessment of said company. Out of all of the services I’ve tested, this is by far the most detailed breakdown I’ve seen.

With that in mind, let’s talk about how effective Incogni was at making these sites delete my data.

Effectiveness

Right off the bat, Incogni found 79 files containing my personal information and got to work removing them. After the first week, it tracked down 129 files and removed 100. By the end of my test period, 101 total files were completed; also, Incogni suppressed 29, meaning that those companies would not collect or publish any more data about me. That’s a feature I’ve found missing from other services.

Now, there’s something to note about how Incogni keeps score: If they reach out to a site that is likely to have information on you and the company says they don’t have a file, Incogni counts that as “complete.” While some might argue that that pads the numbers a little, I’d say it’s the service being thorough. You might consider it semantics, but it’s definitely worth pointing out.

Price

One of the biggest considerations of any service is, of course, the price. Luckily, Incogni is keeping that figure pretty low at just $13 if you pay month to month. If you sign up for a year, though, that price nosedives to $6.49; this basically cuts your costs in half. Here’s the breakdown:

If you’re interested in removing your data from sites, preventing its regathering, and removing new files as they pop up, I’d definitely recommend signing up for an annual subscription. It will save you money in the long run; plus, since most of these companies have up to 45 days to respond to removal requests, you need to keep the service running for a few months to see significant results. It’s something to consider.

2. Kanary - Biggest Reach

SecurityScore:

8.4 /10

How We Review

Product Specs

Site Removals	300+
Free Plan	Yes
Family Plan	Yes
Monthly Cost	$16.99

Why I Picked Kanary

There’s no telling how far-flung your personal information is on the internet; this is why I like that Kanary checks against a database of over 1,000 different data brokers and people-finder sites. It can be difficult to remove yourself from sites like LexisNexis, Truthfinder, and Radaris, but Kanary handles them with ease.

User Experience

When I put Kanary to the test, I was excited with what I found. They start you off with a free initial scan — more on that in the pricing section — so you can see what the service initially finds on you. In my case, Kanary located 20 exposures and got to work deleting them. When you compare Incogni to Kanary, you can see that the way the two services tally up these exposures and completions makes a pretty big difference.

Before we talk about how effective Kanary is at removing these exposures, though, I did want to point out how transparent this service is. I appreciated that Kanary is up-front about the data they collect on you — spoiler alert, it’s not much — how they store it, and how they handle a subscription cancellation. It’s clear this service cares about their customers’ privacy, which I really appreciate.

Effectiveness

Kanary scans over 300 different data brokers and people-finder sites for your information; this makes them one of the most comprehensive services. After about a month of testing, I’ll say that Kanary is effective at removing their customer’s information. However, you need to be patient.

After two weeks, Kanary had only removed six profiles for me. Keep in mind what I said above, though: A lot of these sites have up to 45 days to comply with deletion requests, so it takes some time to see meaningful results. About a month and a half into using the service, eight profiles had been removed. My exposures over time were trending down, and my removals over time were trending up. This is exactly what you want to see while keeping in mind that it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Price

Kanary keeps things pretty simple when it comes to their pricing. You can purchase a monthly plan for $16.99, or you can pay $179.88 annually. For those of you who don’t have a calculator handy, the annual price breaks down to $14.99 monthly — or two bucks a month in savings. They’re a little more expensive than Incogni, but not significantly so.

The last thing to keep in mind with Kanary is that they offer a “free” plan, but that only serves to get your foot in the door. With this plan they’ll scan for your information, tell you how many exposures you have, and set three removals into motion for you. After 14 days, you’ll have to upgrade to the premium service to keep things going, which, as I said above, is important. If you want to see meaningful results from any of these services, you need to use them for at least a few months.

3. Optery - Most Flexible

SecurityScore:

8.8 /10

How We Review

Product Specs

Site Removals	100-300
Free Plan	Yes
Family Plan	Yes
Monthly Cost	$3.99-$24.99

Why I Picked Optery

The majority of data removal services that I tested only offered one tier of service — meaning if it was out of budget, you were out of luck. More on this in the pricing section. However, when I reviewed Optery, I was pleased to find that they offer flexible subscription options; this makes it easier to tailor things to your individual needs.

User Experience

At the end of the day, I’d say that Optery is one of the better services for staying anonymous on the internet. Its Ultimate plan deals with a comparable number of sites to Kanary, and it’s effective at what it does. I also like that Optery doesn’t automate everything; at the Extended and Ultimate levels of service, they bring in human privacy agents for QA with removal reports and screenshots of your data disappearing every 90 days.

They also offer a unique feature that allows users to request custom removals. If you find your information on a people-finder or data brokerage site that isn’t in Optery’s database, you can request them to manually remove it. That’s interesting functionality, and it allows for a lot of flexibility.

Effectiveness

Optery is similar to Incogni in the sense that it works quickly — checking and tallying every site in its database for your information. If you aren’t found on a likely site, though, that’s counted as a removal. After I set up the service, I checked back 14 hours later and found that 180 removals were in progress, with 146 completed. These are impressive numbers, no doubt, but things did slow down after that initial bump.

Price

Like I said above, Optery is one of the very few data removal services that offers multiple tiers of service. Here’s a breakdown of what that looks like:

It’s also worth pointing out that Optery is similar to Kanary in the sense that it also offers a “free” version; however, all you get with it is a report of your exposures. If you want to actually remove anything, you’ll need a paid account.