Incogni vs. DeleteMe: How To Choose the Best Option

What Is the Best Data Deletion Service?  

Incogni and DeleteMe are two of the most popular data removal services on the market. Combined, the two services claim to have completed over 345 million data removal requests by helping users delete private information from data broker sites and search engine results. 

While both services offer similar features, you need to be aware of important differences in their approaches as well as the scope of online privacy protection that each offers: 

• Incogni focuses on automated opt-outs at scale. Incogni’s automated data removal process sends opt-out requests to hundreds of data brokers, whether these brokers have your information or not. While this can mean that your sensitive information might be removed more quickly, it can also expose your data to brokers who didn’t already have it. 
• DeleteMe uses privacy experts to power its data removal services. DeleteMe's manual opt-out feature is powered by human “privacy experts,” so you’ll get more detailed reports on what information has actually been found and removed. As a result, however, you could wait longer to see meaningful results.

The choice between Incogni and DeleteMe comes down to whether you want to cast a wider and faster net or take a slower, more hands-on approach to data removal.

Incogni vs. DeleteMe: Features, Pricing, and Privacy Overview

Incogni and DeleteMe share the same primary goal: removing your personal information from data broker websites. This includes your name, email address, home address, phone number, work history, family members, social media accounts, and more. 

Each service advertises removals from hundreds of data broker lists and people search sites — Incogni covers over 420 on all of its plans, while DeleteMe covers up to 850+ (depending on your plan — Standard plans only cover about 86 data broker sites). 

They both also support custom removals from sites that aren’t typically covered by leveraging data protection and privacy laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Incogni and DeleteMe are also similar in pricing, with introductory plans ranging from $7.99/month for Incogni to $10.75/month for DeleteMe (when paid annually). 

Here's a closer look at how the main features of Incogni and DeleteMe stack up:

Note: Product pricing and features change over time. Check each service’s official website for the most up-to-date information. 

Before digging in further, it’s important to ask a bigger question: Do services like DeleteMe and Incogni really work to keep you safe online? 

Both Incogni and DeleteMe claim that removing personal information from data broker lists helps users shrink their digital footprints, reduce spam calls, and safeguard against doxxing and identity theft. But the truth isn’t as clear cut for a few key reasons:

• No service can completely remove your personal information from the internet. Online privacy requires more than just deleting your personal information from data broker lists. With recent data breaches exposing billions of records, and more than 750 registered data brokers operating in the United States alone, even the best data removal service is unable to totally remove your sensitive and personal data from the internet. 
• Some data broker removal services aren’t as effective as they claim to be. A 2024 Consumer Reports Study tested several of the top-rated tools and found that all of them underperformed manual opt-out requests. For example, the study found that DeleteMe only successfully removed 27% of profiles after four months.
• Neither Incogni or DeleteMe can help protect you from how your personal data is used against you. Americans lost over $12.8 billion to fraud and identity theft last year alone. While removing your data from data broker sites can help protect your privacy, it won’t protect you from the numerous ways in which scammers and identity thieves use information that has already been exposed. 

Before you buy into the promises of any service, take an in-depth look at the terms of service to fully understand their features and their limitations.

Incogni Pros and Cons: Who Should Choose Incogni?  

Incogni is a data removal service originally released by Surfshark VPN (and now operated by the same parent company as NordVPN). Incogni is available in the United States, Canada, the European Union, United Kingdom, and various other European countries. 

Incogni is a fully automated service that leverages available privacy laws to send automatic opt-out requests to over 420 data brokers on behalf of its users. 

Follow-up removal requests are sent every 60 days (for people search sites) to 90 days (for data brokers). Users can track Incogni's progress from their dashboards as well as via monthly progress reports. 

The service offers two plan tiers: Standard and Unlimited, with the latter including custom data removals from over 2,000 supported sites, as well as live phone support. You can also protect up to five family members with a family plan. 

Incogni received a “limited assurance” report from Deloitte that confirmed its claims to have completed over 245 million data removal requests from 420+ data brokers and people search sites. 

In practice, Incogni can’t tell you what information has been removed from data broker websites. Plus, its reliance on automation means there is the possibility that it could actually send your information to data brokers who don’t already have it. 

Who should choose Incogni? Incogni doesn’t cover the largest number of data brokers when compared to alternatives, and its automated services could expose your information to sites that don’t already have it. That said, it offers a high number of custom removals and may remove information faster than services that rely on manual opt-out requests. 

Choose Incogni if your primary concern is to remove your information quickly from a significant number of data brokers — and if you already pay for other digital security services, such as a virtual private network (VPN), antivirus software, credit monitoring, and additional online safety tools. 

How much does Incogni cost? 

Incogni offers relatively simple plans and pricing, including Standard and Unlimited tiers for individuals and families on monthly and annual plans. Like most services, Incogni advertises a lower monthly fee that requires you to sign up and pay for a full year in advance. Annual plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee. 

Here’s a breakdown of Incogni’s plans and pricing (as of November 2025):

What are the downsides of using Incogni?

Incogni charges a higher price than some of its stand-alone data removal competitors, but this is not the only issue that users may have with the service.

• “Blind” opt-outs. Incogni scans public databases for your information and sends automated opt-out requests to the brokers that house your data. Since the tool cannot scan private databases, however, it sends "blind" opt-opt requests to all data brokers, whether they have your information or not. This could expose information to a data broker that didn't have it before.
• Lacks proof of success. Incogni's privacy reports show requests completed for data brokers who have agreed to remove user information, but it doesn't tell you what information was removed (as DeleteMe does) and it doesn't provide proof via screenshots (like Optery does). Users must simply trust that the process is working as described. 
• Coverage gaps. Incogni covers 424 data brokers (at the time of this writing), but there are some major people-search sites missing, including WhitePages, Truthfinder, and Intelius. 
• No protection against identity theft, hacking, or malware. Incogni can’t warn you if your private data was leaked in a data breach, nor can it help protect you from how your data is used against you by cybercriminals.  
• Minimal customer support. Incogni offers 24/7 support, but only through its live online chat. To speak with a human, you'll need to upgrade to the Unlimited plan and call between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. (EST), Monday to Friday. Email support is available as well, but responses take up to 24 hours. 
• No free trial. The lack of a free trial means that users need to pay upfront to test out Incogni's services. The company does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. 
• Questionable at reducing spam. Incogni says that it helps reduce spam by reducing the number of data brokers that have your information, but the company offers no spam-blocking or Safe Browsing tools. This means that if your information has already been leaked, Incogni can't do anything to stop spam from getting to you. 

Is Incogni a legitimate company?

Yes, Incogni is a legitimate service owned and operated by Surfshark. Users can get Incogni as part of the Surfshark One+ bundle or with NordProtect’s Platinum plan. 

📚 Related: Aura vs. Incogni: What You Need To Know Before You Buy →

DeleteMe Pros and Cons: Who Should Choose DeleteMe? 

DeleteMe is one of the original data removal tools. Launched by privacy company Abine in 2011, DeleteMe is now available to users in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, and several European countries. 

Unlike most data removal services (including Incogni), DeleteMe employs privacy experts to manually send opt-out requests to its list of supported data brokers. About a week after signing up, you’ll receive a detailed report including examples of where your data was found. DeleteMe’s experts then start sending requests and provide quarterly reports on their progress. 

DeleteMe advertises that it sends opt-out requests to over 850 data brokers; but if you read the fine print, you’ll see that the Standard plan only covers around 86 data brokers for customers in the United States. The larger number of covered brokers is only seemingly available to business customers.

Another limitation is that while DeleteMe claims to cover over 400 websites with custom requests, Standard plan members only get 40 custom removal requests per year, and Premium plan members get 60.

It's also important to note that many of the additional protection features that DeleteMe promotes are only available on its business plans. Privacy tools like email masking, search yourself, and image removals are restricted to only the highest-paying corporate accounts. 

Who should choose DeleteMe? DeleteMe offers detailed reports, and its human-led approach can help prevent your data from accidentally landing in the hands of other data brokers. However, DeleteMe covers fewer than 100 data brokers on its Standard plan, costs more than many alternatives, and still doesn’t include cybersecurity or identity theft, fraud, and phishing protection. 

How much does DeleteMe cost? 

DeleteMe's plans are relatively straightforward, with Standard plans available for individuals, couples, and families, on either one- or two-year terms. There's also a Premium plan (for individuals only) that adds 15 additional data broker sites, 60 custom requests, and bi-monthly reporting. 

Note: DeleteMe is only available on an annual plan. While the company advertises monthly prices, you’re required to pay the full yearly amount upfront. 

Here’s a breakdown of DeleteMe’s plans and pricing (as of November 2025):

What are the downsides of using DeleteMe?

DeleteMe's privacy expert-powered data broker removal service isn’t cheap, and some users may want more bang for their buck. However, there are other issues that you should be aware of, including:

• Poor effectiveness scores. DeleteMe was one of seven services tested in a 2024 Consumer Report study, in which it was found to only successfully remove 27% of profiles after four months of service (vs. 70% for manual opt-out requests). Only two services scored worse than DeleteMe. ‍
• High initial cost. DeleteMe doesn’t offer a monthly plan or free trial, which means users have to commit to one or two years upfront. DeleteMe does offer prorated refunds for unused subscription time, but it's unclear how much you’ll actually get back.‍
• Limited scans and reports. DeleteMe offers more detailed reports than some of its competitors; but they only come four times per year, which may not be enough for some users. That means that members only get four scans (six for Premium plan members), only four updates, and only 40 custom requests (60 for Premium plan members) per year. ‍
• Slow removals. The trade-off with DeleteMe's human-led removals is that the process takes time. Even though DeleteMe claims to remove an average of 15 search engine results within days, it doesn't provide much information about its removal timeline. Some DeleteMe reviews from Reddit users claim it's no faster than doing it yourself.

📚 Related: The Top 7 DeleteMe Alternatives Right Now →

Aura vs. Incogni vs. DeleteMe: Why You Should Choose All-in-One Safety

Tools like Incogni and DeleteMe are effective at automating the process of sending opt-out requests to data brokers and people search sites, but they lack the online safety and monitoring features that give you peace of mind. 

Your truly sensitive information — such as your Social Security number (SSN), account passwords, and financial account details — won’t be found in data broker databases. But they could be leaked in a data breach and end up on the Dark Web. 

Aura is an all-in-one online privacy and safety solution that combines data broker removal and other privacy tools with award-winning protection against identity theft, fraud, hacking, and scams. 

Aura received CNET’s 2025 Editor’s Choice award for best identity theft protection, as well as Security.org’s “Best Comprehensive Protection” award for data removal services. 

Aura will automatically remove your data from over 140 data brokers, as well as help you remove sensitive information from Google’s search results. You can even use Aura to scan your emails and uncover old, unused accounts that should be deleted. 

All Aura plans include online privacy and safety tools — including an ad blocker, anti-tracker, military-grade virtual private network (VPN), and antivirus software — to protect against malware. You’ll also get powerful identity and three-bureau credit monitoring with the industry’s proven fastest and most reliable fraud alerts³.

Here’s how Aura compares to Incogni and DeleteMe:

It's difficult to compare Aura to Incogni and DeleteMe because they're such vastly different services. Incogni and DeleteMe focus entirely on data broker removals, while Aura offers data broker removal as a complementary service to its robust identity theft protection package. 

All three services have value, but Aura makes the most sense for people who want multi-faceted protection against modern threats to their online privacy and safety.

Is There a “Best” Data Removal Service? 

A recent survey from the Pew Research Center found that nearly all Americans believe we need better data privacy protections and regulations in place — but until that happens, the responsibility falls on the individual. 

Americans can opt out of most data broker sites on their own, but it takes time. Data broker removal services automate this time-consuming process, which, while important, is still only a small piece of the online safety and privacy puzzle.  

Ultimately, there is no perfect data removal service. Each option has strengths and weaknesses, and your choice will come down to your specific needs and budget. In general, you might:

• Pick Incogni or DeleteMe if you want focused data broker removal services.
• Pick Aura if you want all-in-one identity theft and online privacy protection.

For those wanting protection that reaches beyond just data brokers, Aura offers award-winning online privacy tools and robust safety features that secure your personal data and help make sure that it can't be used against you.