It’s messy out there. Every click, every signup, every casual google search leaves a crumb trail. You aren’t just browsing. You are being cataloged.
CNET spent 30+ years figuring this stuff out. They tested 2026’s top scrubbing services. Not for ads. Just the truth.
The goal? Vanish from people-finder sites.
It’s not magic. You won’t become invisible. But you can trim the fat. Manual removal works better—Consumer Reports said so in 2024. It just sucks doing it. These services automate the headache.
Optery: The clear winner
Score: 8.3/10.
It costs $250. That stings. But Optery actually shows its work. Most rivals are black boxes. Optery opens the lid.
You see exactly where they found you. You see the takedown requests. You see the after. It builds trust because you can verify the results yourself.
Third-party data backs this up. In Consumer Reports’ testing, Optery removed 68% of exposed profiles. Manual did 70%. Hardly a difference when Optery did it without your fingers typing forms at 2 AM.
“It had the highest removal success rate.”
There are caveats. The “Expanded Reach” feature can backfire. It might ping brokers who don’t have your data, accidentally seeding your info where it didn’t exist. Data retention laws keep that email. Breaches happen.
Custom removals are a hassle too. You submit screenshots. It’s work. But for sheer efficacy? Optery wins.
Incogni: The heavy hitter
Score: 8.0/10.
It covers more than 3,00 sources. Three. Thousand. That’s more than anyone else.
Optery edges it out only because we don’t have third-party test scores for Incogni. Consumer Reports didn’t test it. Does that make it bad? No. Deloitte audited it. They verified the claims. No user data sold. Recurring removals actually happening.
It ranks sites by risk. Financial data gets a higher priority score than random demographic info. Smart prioritization.
But you have to work for it. Many of those 3,000 sites require custom opt-outs. Non-family plans restrict how much info you can scan. Move too much? Change your name? Gaps will appear.
And the support? Slow. Emails sit.
Kanary: For the doxxed and the famous
Score: 7.6/10.
Most people don’t need this. If you aren’t getting stalked or harassed, skip it.
Kanary monitors social media. Real-time alerts when someone posts your address, phone, or private docs. It’s the only service that tackles doxxing directly.
Great for public figures. Terrible price tag. $50 a month. $600 a year? Ouch.
The free version works, but only on mobile. It’s a beta, mostly. The automation? Locked behind the Advanced tier. Additional privacy tools cost extra. It feels like nickel-and-diming.
DeleteMe: Set and forget (mostly)
Score: 7.6/10
Proactive. That’s the pitch.
Mask your email. Mask your credit card. Stop the data from leaking in the first place instead of chasing it down later.
The catch? Opacity. You can’t see what they removed. You can’t verify the takedowns. You have to trust them.
They offer a ton of free tools with the sub, though. The community subreddit helps both users and non-users navigate the messy world of opt-outs. Customer support is fast.
But there is no activity history. And their data retention policy? Long. They hold onto your stuff longer than they should.
EasyOptOuts: The budget pick
Score: 6.6/10
$20. For a year.
Can’t argue with that price.
It’s surprisingly effective. Consumer Reports gave it the second-best score (65%), right behind Optery. Better than half the market.
No custom removals. No fancy dashboard. You set it up. It runs. You forget.
Is the interface helpful? Barely. Are the security reports frequent? No.
But it gets the job done. For $20? That’s hard to beat.
So, what do you buy?
You don’t need a service. But do you want to spend Sunday mornings emailing data brokers to beg them to drop you?
If you want proof. If you want peace of mind backed by screenshots. Pay for Optery.
If you need breadth. If you live in many cities and want the net cast wide. Look at Incogni.
If people are hunting you online. If your safety is the issue. Kanary.
If you’re broke but careful. EasyOptOuts.
Most tools fail at 40%. These get you to 65-68%. That’s the gap between being a target and being background noise.
Which do you choose? The transparency or the price?
The data is always out there, waiting for the next leak. You’re just picking which bucket holds it best.
