I sell a $10 guide to doing this manually. That's a competing product, so read this accordingly — I've tried to be accurate rather than self-serving, and there are cases below where I say to buy the subscription.
The short answer
- Want it handled, budget is not the issue, want humans on the hard cases: DeleteMe.
- Want it handled as cheaply as possible, or you're in the UK/EU: Incogni.
- Want it actually finished rather than perpetually rented: do it yourself once, then keep a ten-minute monthly habit.
Side by side
| DeleteMe | Incogni | Yourself | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | Abine, since ~2010 | Surfshark, since 2022 | You |
| Method | Human-assisted opt-outs | Automated legal requests | Manual, in tiers |
| Price | Higher (~$129/yr at writing) | Lower, often ~half | One-time effort |
| Billing | Recurring | Recurring | None |
| Awkward brokers | Best of the three | Automation struggles | You can phone them |
| Name variants | Good | Inconsistent | You know all of yours |
| UK / EU | US-first | Strong | Strong (GDPR templates) |
| Reporting | Detailed | Dashboard | Your own log |
| Family plans | Yes | Yes | Same method, everyone |
| If you stop | You reappear | You reappear | You reappear |
| Who holds your data | Them | Them | You |
| Search-engine cleanup | No | No | Yes |
| Social media settings | No | No | Yes |
| Zillow / Street View | No | No | Yes |
| Prevention | No | No | Yes |
Pricing changes constantly in this category — check both sites directly rather than trusting any number in a comparison article, including this one.
What they have in common
More than the marketing suggests. Both press the same opt-out buttons you can press. Neither has a special relationship with data brokers or a bulk deletion pipeline. Both cover the brokers on their list, which is not necessarily the site currently ranking for your name.
And both share the four blind spots:
- Cached search results — removing a broker page doesn't clear the Google result, and the order you do it in matters.
- Your social media — your public birthday, hometown and connections keep feeding the machine.
- Property imagery — interior photos on Zillow, your home on Street View.
- Prevention — nothing stops new records forming.
That last one is the important one. Removal without prevention is bailing a boat without patching it — which is, not coincidentally, a business model that bills annually.
Which to pick, honestly
DeleteMe, if…
You want the highest chance that the stubborn brokers actually get removed, you're US-based, you want a real report, and the price difference doesn't matter to you. It's the most mature service in the category and the human element genuinely helps where automation stalls.
Incogni, if…
You've decided to pay and want the cheaper option, or you're in the UK/EU where its GDPR-led approach fits better than a US-first service. Accept that some awkward brokers will survive it.
Neither, if…
You're willing to spend one focused weekend. The first sweep is the expensive part; everything after is a ten-minute monthly check. You'll also close the four gaps above, which no amount of subscription money will.
The hybrid most people should consider
- Do the manual pass once. It teaches you which sites surface you — something no service can know in advance — and what "actually gone" looks like.
- Close the four gaps. Search results, social settings, property photos, prevention. One-time work with permanent effect.
- Then decide about recurrence. After three months you'll know honestly whether you'll keep the habit. If not, subscribe to whichever suits — and you'll be the rare customer who can verify it's working.
The Ghost Protocol: 70 removal destinations tiered by damage, the awkward brokers handled one by one, the search-engine cleanup, the social lockdown, the property photos, and the ten-minute monthly routine. $10 once, rather than a recurring subscription.
Do this before paying anyone
Run the free exposure check. It builds the exact searches across 22 people-search sites and shows you what's genuinely published about you, in about ninety seconds, without collecting anything.
If it comes back clean, buy nothing — not a subscription, not my book. If it doesn't, at least you'll be making the decision with evidence rather than a sales page.