Best data removal services (2026) — honest comparison

Optery is one of the services that provides screenshot before/after removal evidence. It ranked first in the Consumer Reports test at 68% of listings removed within four months (52% at 1 week, 58% at 1 month). PCMag has also recognized it as an Editors' Choice.

The catch: coverage is tiered. Optery currently lists Core at $39/year for 380+ sites with Expanded Reach, Extended at $149/year for 560+, and Ultimate at $249/year for 635+. Without Expanded Reach, the published totals are lower; Ultimate also advertises custom removals across 950+ total sites after 30 days. These are provider-defined counts, so compare the included roster as well as the headline total.

Best for: People who want visual proof that their data was actually removed and are willing to pay for the strongest independently-tested service.

EasyOptOuts is the value champion. At $19.99 a year, under two dollars a month, it delivered the second-best independent removal rate (65%, just 3 points behind Optery) in the Consumer Reports test. Privacy Guides also rated it favorably.

The trade-off is minimalism. No dashboard, no screenshots, no family plan. You get an email summary after each scan cycle, which runs every 4 months. The company deliberately limits its broker list to sites it can actually scan and remove from, refusing to inflate counts with blind mass-emails. A principled approach, but the 4-month gap between scans means re-listings go undetected for long stretches.

Best for: Budget-conscious buyers who want proven, no-frills removal at the industry's lowest price.

Disclosure: this is our service. We weren't part of the Consumer Reports study (we launched after it concluded), so we have no independent effectiveness data to cite yet.

What we do differently: we verify every removal by re-scanning after we submit the opt-out. A removal isn't marked complete until the profile is confirmed removed. We don't work from a fixed list of sites. The scan searches the open internet for wherever you appear, across people-search, marketing, B2B, and AI-training data services, and it also shows what AI assistants surface about you. The free scan shows your exposure before you pay.

Where we're still building: we have not published a fixed coverage count or independent effectiveness study yet. We are upfront about which brokers need a manual step, like a CAPTCHA or phone verification, and we tell you when one needs you.

Best for: People who want verified removals across more than people-search alone, and value transparency from a newer service.

DeleteMe (Abine, Inc.) is the oldest data removal service, operating since 2010-2011. It uses human "Privacy Advisors" to submit opt-outs on your behalf, with quarterly reports showing per-broker status. US-based phone/chat/email support.

Two things to note. First, DeleteMe's current pages publish differently scoped coverage figures: a May 2026 pricing article says Standard includes 30+ data-broker sites, while broader marketing describes a 750+ site network. Those figures should not be compared as though they count the same thing. Second, Consumer Reports measured 27% removal in its limited 2024 field test, compared with 70% for its manual control, 68% for Optery, and 65% for EasyOptOuts.

Best for: Buyers who prioritize human oversight, detailed reports, and a long track record, and who value support over raw removal rate.

Incogni (owned by Surfshark / Nord Security) is the strongest budget option for automated, set-and-forget removal. Its "420+" broker count is the only independently verified figure in the industry: Deloitte Lietuva UAB issued an ISAE 3000 assurance report (August 2025) confirming coverage of "at least 420 data-broker websites" and verifying resubmission cycles of 60 days (public brokers) and 90 days (private brokers).

The gap: Incogni was not included in the Consumer Reports effectiveness study, so that study provides no removal-rate result for it. The Deloitte audit verified process and claims, not outcomes. Incogni's current annual prices run from $95.88 for Standard through $275.88 for Family Unlimited; Unlimited advertises human-assisted custom removals across 3,000+ additional sites.

Best for: Set-and-forget buyers, families, international users, and Surfshark bundle owners who want audited coverage at a reasonable price.

Kanary now positions its service for higher-risk individuals and teams. Core includes monthly scans and managed-removal requests; Advanced adds weekly scans, unlimited custom removals, and broader source types such as social media and AI/LLMs. Family members are 50% off, and some advanced configurations may cost extra.

Consumer Reports measured Kanary at 34% removal within four months in 2024. That result remains useful historical evidence, but the tested offering predates Kanary's current plan structure and should not be treated as a test of today's Core or Advanced plans.

Best for: Higher-risk individuals and teams that want configurable managed removals and broader monitoring on Advanced.

Aura is an all-in-one identity protection suite: 3-bureau credit monitoring, VPN, antivirus, password manager, dark-web monitoring, up to $5 million identity-theft insurance, and data removal. 24/7 US-based support.

Aura's current official page says it submits requests to 200+ broker and people-search sites, re-scans daily, helps request removal from Google results, and offers assisted workflows for stubborn sites. Its dashboard reports completed, in-progress, and pending requests. Aura was not included in Consumer Reports' 2024 controlled removal-rate study, so that study supplies no directly comparable outcome result.

Best for: Buyers who want a single identity-protection subscription covering credit, devices, insurance, and data removal.

OneRep is fully automated with a "True Scan" feature that checks each broker's database before submitting an opt-out and re-checks to confirm removal. Clean dashboard, family plans covering up to 6 people.

Trust caveat: In March 2024, KrebsOnSecurity reported that OneRep CEO Dimitri Shelest founded dozens of people-search sites and retains an ownership stake in data broker Nuwber. Shelest acknowledged the Nuwber stake but said there was "zero cross-over or information-sharing with OneRep." Mozilla ended its OneRep-powered Monitor Plus partnership over the conflict, shutting down the paid removal tier on December 17, 2025. OneRep has no independent effectiveness test; the company claims roughly 90% success.

Best for: US users who want simple automated removal and who weigh the trust question for themselves.

Privacy Bee publishes a broad tiered source roster spanning people-search sites, marketing data brokers, B2B databases, and other privacy workflows. Its current pricing page lists 518 sources on Essentials and 1,118 on Pro and Signature. Pro and Signature also advertise support for requests to a much larger custom-site directory; that is a separate category from the included source roster.

Essentials is about $8 a month when billed annually and focuses on people-search sites and affiliates. Pro is about $16 a month annually and adds broader categories; Signature is about $67 a month annually and adds higher-touch service. Privacy Bee says it provides screenshot evidence for completed removals. Consumer Reports' 2024 controlled field study did not include Privacy Bee, so it provides no directly comparable removal-rate result.

Best for: Privacy maximalists and enterprises who want the widest scope and will pay the premium, understanding that effectiveness is unverified.

ReputationDefender (now owned by Gen Digital / NortonLifeLock) focuses on broader online reputation management rather than pure data-broker removal. Services include search-result suppression, review management, and privacy monitoring.

In the Consumer Reports test, ReputationDefender removed only 6% of listings within four months, the second-worst result among the seven services tested and far below the mid-level performers. At premium pricing, that's hard to justify for data-broker removal specifically. It may fit broader reputation-management needs that go beyond broker opt-outs.

Best for: People who need broader reputation management (search suppression, review management) rather than data-broker removal specifically.