DeleteMe vs. Kanary

We live in a digital-first world, and because of that, your online data is susceptible to risk. Securing confidential personal data both online and offline can be tricky, especially when data brokers collect heaps of information from you daily, like birthdays, addresses, phone numbers, and so much more. In fact, data brokers are the primary reason thousands — if not millions — of people receive scam phone calls and phishing text messages daily.

To combat the growing threat these broker sites bring, numerous data removal services like DeleteMe and Kanary have set up shop. Given that these are two of the most popular in the market, we decided to test and compare both to help you make the most informed choice. In this article, we’ll take a look at features, customer support, user experience, privacy policies, cost, and subscription options for each service.

Key Similarities

To start with the obvious, DeleteMe and Kanary are firmly committed to getting your data offline. They each spend copious hours, days, weeks, and months scouring the data brokers and people search sites, and then take due action to get them removed immediately.

Each one scans, inquires, and ultimately requests the removal of the sensitive data that all these broker websites somehow got a hold of. For some data broker sites, removing data is quick and easy and can be done in a few clicks. For others, it can be a slightly longer process that can take up to a few months.

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Through our exploration of DeleteMe and Kanary, both have easy-to-reach customer service options, and both continue to ensure your data is off the web after the initial removal process. While the processes for each service vary slightly, the end result of getting your data offline is fairly similar. Here are the three main similarities between DeleteMe and Kanary:

• DeleteMe and Kanary conduct effective processes to get your personal information from hundreds of data broker websites.
• DeleteMe and Kanary have regular, easy-to-reach customer service resources.
• DeleteMe and Kanary continue to secure your data after initial removals to ensure the data they took offline stays offline.

Key Differences

Where DeleteMe and Kanary begin to differ is in how they get your data removed from these sites. DeleteMe proudly boasts a team of cybersecurity experts who manually search the internet by hand to get your data removed. On the other hand, while Kanary’s methods for data removal aren’t entirely automated, they do use an automated scanning process before getting the data offline. Another big difference is that Kanary removes information from Google’s search engines while DeleteMe does not.

DeleteMe doesn’t offer any sort of free trial apart from a seven-day refund policy, though that means you’d be canceling before getting your initial privacy report. Kanary alternatively does feature a 14-day free trial in addition to a 30-day money-back guarantee for paid subscribers.

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Both platforms also offer the option to add more than one person to an account for an additional discounted subscription fee. However, where DeleteMe only allows one additional member, Kanary allows up to 10 extra people on one account. Here are the three biggest differences that stand out to us:

• DeleteMe’s data removal process is 100% manual while Kanary’s process is a hybrid of manual and automated.
• Kanary has a 14-day free trial while DeleteMe does not.
• DeleteMe allows only one additional member to a single subscription while Kanary allows up to 10 extra members, each for a separate reduced fee.

DeleteMe and Kanary Company Overviews

Even the most reputable data removal websites are businesses at the end of the day. With that in mind, it means something when DeleteMe has made an impact in the legal world of data privacy despite the potential to adversely affect their business. Not long after the company was founded, DeleteMe openly supported two notable bills: The Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Act and the California Consumer Privacy Act. Those two bills put California ahead of the curve when it comes to data privacy, considering that 47 states have weak or nonexistent data privacy laws.

Both bills passed and, in short, made it much harder for data broker websites to keep your data. That move may have rubbed DeleteMe’s stockholders the wrong way, but it inspires confidence in the idea that DeleteMe’s goal of protecting people’s privacy is genuine. DeleteMe also holds a 4.7 out of 5 on SiteJabber.

Through their own system, DeleteMe helps remove all manner of data including names, ages, locations, photos, emails, past addresses, phone numbers, relatives, social media accounts, occupations, marital statuses, property statuses, and more.

The CEO of Kanary is Rachel Vrabec, who you can actually schedule an introduction call with if you’re interested in learning more about Kanary. That’s not something you see very often for any company, let alone a cybersecurity service. We appreciate this personal touch as it’s another example of the level of transparency Kanary exudes. Kanary’s transparency can also be seen in their regular progress reports, which are sent out every single month. That’s even more frequent than our favorite identity theft protection services with credit reporting.

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The effective way in which Kanary successfully and quickly removes your addresses, emails, birthdays, phone numbers, relationships, photos, and more is truly impressive and indicative of the aforementioned praise. The process Kanary uses to remove your data takes a minimum of ninety days. After that, they continue to monitor your data’s safety for the remaining months of your subscription. In our expert opinion, that’s some pretty extensive data removal in a relatively short amount of time that most of its competitors have yet to match.

Privacy Policies

Without reading too much into any policy, we noticed a major difference in mere seconds. DeleteMe’s policy was long and had all the traditional sections of your average privacy policy.1 On the other hand, Kanary’s policy was short and displayed in six sections — think blurbs with little icons.2 Each section had four sentences max — we counted. While Kanary’s FAQ page called it a privacy policy, we couldn’t find that verbiage anywhere else on the site.

Although we liked this modern approach, we couldn’t shake the feeling that a lot more should be included. Call us old school, or security nerds, but there’s something that makes us feel safe about all those details in a privacy policy. Overall, we learned that both take security and user privacy very seriously. And, most importantly, neither service sells or trades your data for any reason.

User Experience

Getting your private and personal information removed from the internet can be a walk in the park with the right help and resources. Being able to understand what’s going on with your data is important, so having a sleek dashboard, clear reports, and helpful customer support are things we look for. Especially since Americans tend to get an F on their digital privacy knowledge. So, after using both DeleteMe and Kanary, we found several areas where they either differed or offered the same quality. Here’s our first impression of their navigation, reporting, transparency, and customer service.

Navigation

Both DeleteMe and Kanary’s websites are easy to use and easy to navigate, with each having straightforward and organized menus. Between the two, DeleteMe’s site is a bit more comprehensive, featuring plenty of resources for anyone looking for them. On the other hand, Kanary’s website also has a lot of resources to offer, but searching for anything specific was more of a challenge.

Reporting

DeleteMe offers regular privacy reports that include the status of your data. When you first start your DeleteMe subscription, you’ll receive your initial privacy report within seven days. It not only includes what sites your data has been found on, but also a complete breakdown of just about everything you’d like to know about the current state of your digital footprint on these broker sites.

Unlike DeleteMe, Kanary doesn’t feature detailed reports. Instead, it regularly updates the status of your data’s removal every few weeks. It might not sound as intensive as DeleteMe, and in many respects, it isn’t, but Kanary makes up for the lack of detailed reports with the speed at which they get your data taken down.

Transparency of Information Provided

DeleteMe’s breakdown of the data and what they’ve removed is detailed and clear. Even before you sign up they tell you how many brokers are included in each plan, when you can expect reports, and how soon you can expect results. With Kanary, we struggled to find that same level of transparency. Even after creating a free account and a paid account, we never got a solid number of how many brokers were covered in our plans. We also didn’t get the same level of detail provided in our reports. In fact, we had to manually count how many brokers they listed on a hard-to-find landing page of theirs.3

Customer Support

Most reputable data broker sites have a variety of customer service options that are easy to find. DeleteMe offers multiple avenues of support like live chat, email, and web contact forms. They have customer support down.

On the other hand, Kanary’s customer support was a bit harder to nail down without having an account. We couldn’t find a live chat, chatbot, phone number, or something to click on that said “contact us” anywhere on the site. Although that might prevent chatbot scams, it definitely annoyed us. We had to dig through their FAQ page to find a contact email. With a free account, the most we got was an automated message at the top of our dashboard from the CEO with the option to email her with any questions. Still, we couldn’t help but feel distant from any sort of real or immediate help.

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Features

We’ve covered how DeleteMe and Kanary go through and remove all of your data. Where they differ in crucial areas is how fast they get your data removed and how frequently they update you on the data’s removal. For a more detailed breakdown of the various features each service offers, take a look at our table below:

Cost and Subscription Plans

The payment methods for DeleteMe and Kanary vary in some notable ways. Plans for DeleteMe depend on how many years you want the subscription for and how many people you want on an account. DeleteMe also only allows annual billing for their subscriptions.

As for Kanary, you’ll have the option to pay either monthly at the standard rate or yearly at a reduced rate. Kanary also gives its users the option to add up to 10 other people to a single account.

You can check out the full details of each payment plan below:

Recap: DeleteMe vs. Kanary

DeleteMe and Kanary are two truly stellar data removal platforms. Each one goes above and beyond to ensure unwanted eyes don’t have access to your personal information, even if their methods differ in some ways. If you don’t mind waiting, DeleteMe’s manual process is a far more thorough service that’s well worth the extra time. If you want similar results in about a hundred days, Kanary is one of the best services for getting large chunks of your data removed in a timely manner.

Pick DeleteMe if You’d Like:

A comprehensive, detailed, and thorough look into who has your data and how to get rid of it. Their easy-to-use dashboard, helpful reports, and manual process for finding your data make it a more than viable option. The main drawbacks are DeleteMe’s fairly strict payment options and the service being unable to purge your data from Google searches.

Pick Kanary if You’d Like:

An extremely fast and hands-on way to tackle data brokers at the core of the issue. Kanary promises to get your data removed within a few months, ensures it’s off those sites for the months that follow, and even offers a two-week free trial to showcase its acclaimed skills. Unfortunately, you’ll need to be in the U.S. to utilize the service, as Kanary isn’t currently available internationally.