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Incogni and DeleteMe are two of the best-known data removal services. Incogni was launched in 2022 by Surfshark, the company best known for its eponymous virtual private network (VPN) app. Logically, as a VPN provider, Surfshark is interested in helping users maximize their online privacy, and Incogni represented another step towards this goal.
With a monthly or annual subscription, Incogni users can scan the web for their personal data and send automated removal requests to data brokers. After the initial scan, Incogni frequently rescans for the same personal data and sends fresh removal requests, particularly to new data brokers that seemingly don’t cease to emerge.
Founded in 2010, DeleteMe offers a similar data removal service. Users can submit their personal information and run a deep scan to find this information wherever it appears across the web. Then, DeleteMe will send removal requests to data brokers to scrub this information. It’ll also run frequent re-scans and send new data removal requests to ensure your personal information stays off the web.
We’ve covered the surface of these two data removal services, but there’s much more beneath. This guide compares Incogni and DeleteMe across key areas — broker coverage, pricing, features, ease of use, and customer support — to help you choose the best option for your needs.
Broker coverage
Incogni covers roughly 420 data brokers, while DeleteMe covers 750+ data brokers. However, these figures don’t tell the complete story. These numbers represent the number of brokers where both platforms can send automated removal requests. However, users can send custom removal requests to other sites. A custom request involves Incogni or DeleteMe’s team contacting the site on your behalf to request the deletion of your personal information.
Incogni lets you send custom removal requests to 1,000 sites. Notably, custom requests aren’t available on the Standard plan, but require subscribing to the Unlimited plan at a higher cost. DeleteMe also supports custom requests, but only 40 per year on the Standard plan and 60 on the Premium plan.
Based on the number of brokers to which you can send automated and manual removal requests, Incogni is a better option than DeleteMe.
Data insights
Both Incogni and DeleteMe provide intuitive dashboards to track your data removal requests and their status. However, in my experience, DeleteMe offers more detailed, labeled reports, while Incogni offers generalized reports tailored to the risks associated with my data.
On Incogni, I received regular email updates on data removal requests, including when they were formally submitted and when the request was successful. I could also track the progress of my removal requests on the Incogni dashboard, including the estimated timeline for each pending request.
On DeleteMe, I also got frequent email updates about removal requests from start to finish. Likewise, I could always track the progress of each request from my DeleteMe dashboard.
However, DeleteMe stood out with its PDF reports listing each site where my personal information was found, when removal requests were sent to each site, and the progress of each request. Its reports were more personalized than Incogni’s.
DeleteMe sends users their first detailed PDF report one week after signing up. Afterwards, detailed data removal reports are sent to users subscribed to the Standard plan every three months, or to users on the Premium plan every two months.
DeleteMe offers the most comprehensive statistical reports, while Incogni offers simpler, generalized insights. Understandably, not everyone is interested in the minute details DeleteMe provides, but it’s the best option if you want to understand every nook and cranny of your personal data removal.
Extra features
Along with their core features, data removal services often provide some extra functionalities to help users boost their online privacy. From my experience testing Incogni and DeleteMe, the latter is the clear winner in this criterion.
DeleteMe offers a complementary Cyber platform with valuable features. For one, you can search the dark web to see if your email address was compromised in any data leak. If you detect your email credentials on any website leak, it’s a signal to change passwords for the affected website immediately.
For website owners, DeleteMe also offers a service to scan your domain name and detect whether sensitive data linked to it is present on the dark web. Several other complementary features exist, but these are the most notable I can point out.
On the other hand, Incogni doesn’t offer complementary features like DeleteMe. It focuses solely on data removal and excels at that, but don’t expect extra security features like you’ll find with DeleteMe. This lack of complementary features is what makes DeleteMe the clear winner in this category.
Ease of use
Incogni and DeleteMe are generally easy to use, but with key differences. Incogni takes a more automated, hands-off approach, while DeleteMe relies more on manual input.
When testing both, I appreciated Incogni’s “set and forget” approach, where I uploaded my data, initiated a scan, and let Incogni send automated removal requests on my behalf. On the other hand, DeleteMe required me to upload more personal information and relied more on me manually selecting sites to send removal requests to.
That’s not to say Incogni or DeleteMe is wholly better than the other when it comes to user-friendliness. Rather, it depends on your preferred usage mode. If you want a more automated, hassle-free user experience, Incogni is a better fit. However, if you want greater control over data removal requests and to get more detailed reports, DeleteMe is your best bet.
DeleteMe felt slower to use, as manual removal requests take longer to process—it relies on DeleteMe’s staff crafting specific requests for each site. Incogni offered a faster, smoother experience during my test because it relies on automated requests, which are naturally faster to process.
Customer support
Incogni offers abundant support resources, beginning with its self-help FAQs, manuals and user guides. I found these self-help resources valuable when navigating Incogni for the first time.
When Incogni’s self-help resources weren’t suitable, I quickly submitted a support request and got connected to a support staff member via live chat. However, sometimes, live chat wasn’t available, so I had to wait for an email response, which came within 24 hours. Telephone support is available, but only for users subscribed to the Unlimited or Family Unlimited plan.
DeleteMe also offers ample support resources to help users resolve problems. These include self-help resources that provided great help when I needed to resolve mundane problems. When self-help resources weren’t enough, I could contact DeleteMe’s support team via email, live chat, and telephone.
Though they offer similar support resources, I consider Incogni better for consistent availability. It offers 24/7 live support, whereas DeleteMe’s is restricted to business hours. I noticeably waited less for email responses from Incogni than from DeleteMe.
Plans and pricing
Incogni offers four pricing plans: Standard, Unlimited, Family, and Family Unlimited. For $16 per month, the Standard plan supports automated data removal requests from over 420 data broker sites. The Unlimited plan costs $30 per month and supports manual data removal requests from 1,000+ data broker sites, in addition to the automated removal requests of the Standard plan.
The Incogni Family plan, which costs $32 per month, offers the same features as the Standard plan, but covers up to 5 users under a single subscription. The Family Unlimited plan costs $46 per month and offers the same functionality as the Unlimited plan, notably manual data removal requests from 1,000+ sites, with 5 members covered.
Incogni offers a steep 50% discount if you pay annually rather than month-to-month– for example, you’ll pay $96 annually for the Standard plan, which breaks down to $8 monthly instead of the usual $16. Incogni doesn’t offer a free trial, but it does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
DeleteMe has simple subscription-based pricing plans. An individual subscription costs $129 for one year, while a two-person plan costs $229 annually. The Family plan costs $329 annually for 4 people. If you’re subscribing on behalf of a business with many employees, you can contact DeleteMe’s sales team to negotiate a custom deal.
When considering available pricing discounts, Incogni offers a lower price entry point than DeleteMe and more bang for your buck. Yet, DeleteMe’s plans are also reasonably priced, particularly for family and business users.
Which is best?
Incogni and DeleteMe have their respective strengths. Incogni is the best choice if you want a more affordable, easy-to-use data removal service that handles most of the work on your behalf. It’s a set-and-forget service that helps keep your information out of data broker sites.
DeleteMe is the best choice if you want a hands-on approach where you dictate which sites to remove your data from. It’s ideal if you already know the sites your data is present on and want to send manual removal requests, while Incogni is more of a paid companion that finds and removes personal information from the web on your behalf.