DeleteMe Review 2024: How Well Can You Disappear? (2024)

DeleteMe is a straightforward data removal and privacy service that makes it easy to clean up and keep private personal information online. We think it’s a bit pricey compared to some of the other similar services, especially for something you could probably do yourself.

But we also think DeleteMe could be well worth the price, considering you’ll save dozens of hours of time not having to request opt-outs from hundreds of data brokers.

Let’s explore our DeleteMe review to see if this privacy service is right for you.

DeleteMe review at a glance

If you don’t like seeing your personal information show up in Google and other search engines, then DeleteMe can provide you with a useful solution.

DeleteMe is a service that helps youdelete your data from the Internet by scouring the web and requesting that sites remove it.

We think this is more than a novel idea; privacy concerns are real and growing each day as the internet continues to expand. Still, is DeleteMe anything more than a convenience you’re paying for? You can typically request sites to remove your information yourself.

DeleteMe is a convenience, but one that could be well worth the cost. It starts at less than $9 a month (depending on the plan), and you get experts who continuously work to remove your info from hundreds of data broker sites every few months.

Consider how much time it might take you to find all the data broker sites with your information and submit opt-out requests to all of them. Then consider that you might have to stay on top of any follow-ups since data brokers can take weeks to respond to requests.

There's also the task of finding new data broker sites or checking existing ones to see if your information shows up again.

Or you can use a service like DeleteMe to do all of that for you.

DeleteMe pros and cons

What data does DeleteMe protect?

DeleteMe removes the following personal information from different data broker websites:

• Name(s)
• Age
• Email addresses
  
• Phone numbers
• Current and past home addresses
• Photos of your home
• Marital status
  
• Employer info
• Gender
  
• Race and ethnicity information
• Family member information

Please note that you must provide this data if you want DeleteMe to remove your info from Google search results and other sites on your behalf.

DeleteMe prices and subscriptions

DeleteMe provides multiple annual subscription options, ranging from $8.71–$27.42/mo depending on the number of people on the plan and the term length. Here’s how DeleteMe pricing compares to other popular data removal services.

• Kanary: $14.99-$16.99/mo
• DeleteMe:$8.71–$27.42/mo
• Onerep: $8.33-$15.00/mo
  
• Incogni: $6.49–$12.98/mo
• Optery: $3.99–$24.99/mo (for paid plans)
  

The lower range of DeleteMe’s pricing is more consistent with what you find with other services, and the higher part of the range is much more expensive. Keep in mind that these companies don’t all provide the same services, so it might be worth paying more for a certain subscription depending on what you want.

For example, Optery’s most expensive plan (Ultimate) removes information from over 315 websites. But any DeleteMe plan removes private information from 750-plus data brokers and websites, more than twice the number of sites Optery provides.

DeleteMe plans comparison

Our experience with DeleteMe

We found DeleteMe easy to set up and use. You don’t have to do much more than create your account and submit your personal information. DeleteMe does the rest by searching the internet for your personal information and requesting its removal.

We checked out DeleteMe’s other features, including email, phone, and card masking. These are useful if you want to help reduce spam and potential credit card fraud.

Getting started

DeleteMe provides one primary service — removing your personal information from wherever it can find it. According to the DeleteMe website, that’s over 750 data broker sites.

To start the automated process of finding and removing your data from the web, DeleteMe needs some of your personal data. That can sound a bit counterintuitive because we’re trying to not give out our personal information, right?

But it also makes sense because DeleteMe has to know what to look for to start its removal process. Rest assured that this is a normal practice for this type of service, and you can read more about how your information is used in the DeleteMe privacy policy.

Before DeleteMe can get to work, you need to fill out a data sheet with your personal information. Note that you can pick and choose which information you want to provide. For example, you don’t have to give your exact date of birth if you're uncomfortable.

However, it likely makes sense to give as much of your exact information as possible to help DeleteMe find it online. Some of the details you’ll be asked to provide include your full name, current home address, previous addresses, driver’s license photo, phone numbers, email addresses, employer information, and family member information.

Dashboard and reports

The DeleteMe dashboard is easy to navigate and use. The main screen shows information about your last report and your subscription. You'll also see questions from DeleteMe concerning potential personal data exposure.

There aren’t too many different places to explore on your dashboard, with the most important areas likely being your Reports and Data Sheet tabs. Under Reports, you can look at your most recent report to see how many data brokers had your information and how many listings were reviewed.

You typically receive three or four reports per year, depending on when you started your subscription.

DeleteMe says it can send your first privacy report about a week after you submit information. We submitted our data sheet on a Monday morning and received an email that our first report was available on Saturday morning, almost exactly five days later.

Our report statistics showed that over 2,000 listings were reviewed, and 41 were removed. Overall, 39 data brokers had our personal information, and 200 instances of personal data were found.

We were notified that most of the listings with our personal information would be removed within a month, but some data brokers could take up to six weeks to honor requests. Then, it could take Google some additional time to remove results from its search cache.

The total time it took DeleteMe to search for and remove listings to compile our first privacy report was about 11 hours. We can assure you that we have little to no desire to spend anywhere near 11 hours searching for our personal information online and submitting removal requests, so the service is clearly appealing.

Note that you can continue updating your data sheet with new information to help DeleteMe find more of your personal data online. We noticed that after receiving our first privacy report, we had an alert in the Data Sheet section of our dashboard asking us to verify whether certain information belonged to us.

Additional features

DeleteMe offers extra features to help protect your information. Here are a few ways that DeleteMe helps keep your data safe.

• Free scan: DeleteMe offers a free scan feature that searches the internet for your personal information. After the free scan, you can see what information is available online. From this point, you can join DeleteMe for assistance in removing the data.
• Email masking: Use DeleteMe to create other email addresses so you don’t share your personal email address. These newly created email addresses still deliver mail to your regular inbox but provide an alternate address to help keep your information secure.
• Phone masking: Similar to email masking, phone masking creates an alternate phone number you can use instead of giving out your actual contact information. This provides an added layer of protection and helps keep your number off the robo-caller lists.
• Card masking:DeleteMe's masked card tool keeps your credit card information secure. This feature creates a disposable card number you can use when paying with your credit card online.

How do you know if DeleteMe works?

An easy way is to search your name in Google before and after using the DeleteMe service to see if your information shows up. DeleteMe even provides a Google search bar in the Privacy Tools tab of your online account to see what the results are.

It’s suggested that you include your city or address along with your name to see if there are any results. You can then request removals from any applicable sites by contacting DeleteMe.

You can also manually check popular data broker sites, such as Whitepages, Spokeo, and LexisNexis, to see if your personal information is still there. If your information shows up, you can opt out of Whitepages and other listings.

Does DeleteMe keep your data safe?

DeleteMe collects a lot of information if you use its service to remove data from different sites. But that’s to be expected because DeleteMe needs your personal information to determine where it’s being used.

Fortunately, DeleteMe generally doesn’t share any of your personal information with third parties without your consent. You can opt out of marketing and promotional emails, for instance. There are, however, a few situations in the DeleteMe privacy policy where your information could be shared without your consent, such as complying with certain government requests as required by law.

DeleteMe doesn’t sell user information and tries to abide by leading security practices, including:

• Making requests using HTTPS connections
• Conducting regular internal audits
• Collaborating with external auditors
• Maintaining compliance with GDPR and U.S. privacy laws like the CCPA
• Using AES-256 and TLS 1.2 encryption

You can also set up two-factor authentication in your online account. Two authentication methods are using an authenticator app or sending a code to your email address.

DeleteMe customer support

You can contact the DeleteMe customer support team by emailing support@joindeleteme.com or calling 833-DELETEME (1-833-335-3836).

We didn’t see this advertised, but we also found a chat button while browsing the main DeleteMe website. We initiated a chat with a live customer service representative and found out the chat option is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST if there’s an agent online and available.

In general, the customer service rep was polite, informative, and responsive. They explained that there wasn’t a free trial but that we could request a full refund before receiving our first privacy report. After receiving the first report, we could still request a pro-rated refund.

DeleteMe alternatives

We believe DeleteMe is one of the best data removal services on the market, but it's not the only one available. We've compiled a list of alternative data removal services you can consider instead:

• Incogni: From the makers of Surfshark VPN, Incogni is a low-maintenance and easy-to-use data removal service. Incogni can remove your personal data from a list of 150+ major data brokers.

  Get Incogni | Read Our Incogni Review

• HelloPrivacy: HelloPrivacy can also help you wipe your information from data broker sites across the web. It even helps you contact brokers for data it can't remove and walks you through what to do if they don't respond.

  Get HelloPrivacy | Read Our HelloPrivacy Review

• Aura: Aura is one of the best identity theft protection services available, but it does so much more than that. Aura can also remove your data from over 20 data broker sites and proactively protect you from identity theft.

  Get Aura |Read Our Aura Review

DeleteMe FAQs

Bottom line: Is DeleteMe a good service?

If you’re concerned about your personal information being available on the internet, then DeleteMe is a good service to use. DeleteMe can remove your personally identifiable information from data brokers and help limit the data online.

DeleteMe’s other features, such as card, phone, and email masking, can also help keep your information more secure. DeleteMe also allows you to be more proactive about removing your information since it automates the process and takes care of the removal requests for you.

If DeleteMe doesn't sound like a fit for you, check out alternatives in our best data removal services review.