Choose Incogni if you want the cheapest automated cleanup of data broker sites and never want to think about it again. Choose DeleteMe if you want a person in the loop, a detailed report of what was removed, or coverage for a whole household at a lower per-person cost. That is the short answer to DeleteMe vs Incogni, and for most readers it is enough to decide.
The longer answer matters if your situation is more specific: you are a public-facing executive, you have a stalker or an angry former client, you live outside the US, or you need proof of removal for a security team. The details below cover how each service works, what it costs in 2026, what the coverage numbers mean, and where each one falls short.
How each service works
Both services do the same core job. Data brokers and people-search sites compile your name, addresses, phone numbers, relatives, age and sometimes more, then sell or display it. You have the right to opt out of most of them, but each broker has its own process, many require verification, and listings come back as brokers buy fresh data. A removal service handles that cycle for you.
The difference is in how.
Incogni, which is owned by the VPN company Surfshark and is also bundled into Surfshark’s One+ package, is built on automation. After you sign up and authorize it to act on your behalf, it sends removal requests to its list of brokers, tracks responses, and resends on a schedule. Its homepage cites more than 245 million removal requests completed and says its broker numbers were verified by Deloitte. Most users never interact with it after setup beyond checking a dashboard.
DeleteMe, made by the privacy company Abine, uses a mix of automation and human privacy specialists. Its team searches for your information, files removals, and documents the results in reports, typically four a year. Reviewers often describe DeleteMe as the more hands-on of the two, with the trade-offs that come with that: more transparency, fewer brokers on the base plan, and a higher individual price.
If you think of it as a service model, Incogni is a machine that runs in the background, and DeleteMe is a small team that checks in quarterly.
Setup and day-to-day experience
The setup process is the first real difference you will feel in a DeleteMe vs Incogni trial, and it says a lot about each product’s philosophy.
Incogni’s setup takes a few minutes. You enter your name, the addresses you have lived at, phone numbers and email addresses, then sign a digital authorization that lets Incogni contact brokers on your behalf. That authorization is what makes the automation possible: brokers receive a legally framed request from an agent acting for you, so you rarely need to verify anything yourself. After that, the dashboard fills in over the following weeks as brokers respond. Most people check it once or twice and then forget about it, which is the point.
DeleteMe’s setup asks for similar details, plus any aliases, previous names and additional emails you want searched. Its specialists then run an initial search and begin filing removals. Because humans are involved, the first report takes a little longer to arrive, but it is more readable: you see the specific sites where your data was found and the status of each. Some users find that first report alarming, because it shows how widely their information was spread. That is useful information in itself.
Both services occasionally need something from you. A broker may insist on verification that only you can provide, or a custom removal request may need a link to the exact page. DeleteMe tends to surface those requests through its reports and support team. Incogni handles most cases automatically and flags the rest in the dashboard.
On support, DeleteMe has a reputation for responsive human service, which fits its model. Incogni’s support is generally rated well, but most users need it less often.
One practical tip applies to both. Give the service every address and phone number you have used in the last ten years, not only your current ones. Brokers link old and new records together, and a removal that misses a former address can leave a full profile in place.
Pricing compared
Prices change often in this category, and both companies run frequent promotions, so confirm on their sites before you buy. Here is the standing structure as of 2026.
Incogni’s Standard plan for one person costs $7.99 a month billed annually, which is $95.88 a year. On a rolling monthly plan it costs $15.98 a month. The Unlimited plan, which adds custom removal requests handled by its privacy team for sites outside the automated list, costs $14.99 a month on an annual plan. Incogni offers a money-back guarantee and lets you cancel anytime.
DeleteMe’s Standard plan costs $129 a year for one person, $229 a year for two people and $329 a year for a family of four. Two-year plans cost $209, $349 and $499 respectively. DeleteMe does not offer a month-to-month plan, so you are committing for at least a year. Its Standard plan includes up to 40 custom removal requests a year, and its Premium tier raises that to 60 and adds more broker sites.
On a single person’s annual cost, Incogni is cheaper: about $96 versus $129, or roughly 26% less. On a two-year commitment, DeleteMe’s individual price drops to about $104.50 a year, which narrows the gap. For households, the picture flips, as we show below.
Coverage: why the broker counts don’t match
Coverage is where most comparisons get confusing, because the two companies count differently and reviewers report different numbers.
Incogni is clear about its figure: more than 420 data brokers covered with automated removals on every plan, including both public people-search sites and private brokers that do not display data publicly but sell it to other businesses. On the Unlimited plan, it says it covers more than 3,420 sites in total, counting custom removals from websites outside its automated list. Coverage can also shrink. Business Insider noted in 2026 that RocketReach, a significant data broker, was no longer on Incogni’s list.
DeleteMe’s numbers vary by source. Security.org’s comparison lists 750 brokers, describing it as more than 100 data broker sites plus custom requests. CNET’s 2026 roundup says over 400 brokers and more than 560 sources. Some reviewers note that its entry plans cover a narrower set of broker sites, with additional sites added on higher tiers. The honest summary is that DeleteMe’s automated base list is smaller than Incogni’s, while its custom requests and human review fill some of the gap.
What matters more than the headline count is whether a service covers the brokers where you appear. The biggest people-search sites (Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, Intelius, Radaris and similar) are covered by both. Before you choose, search your own name on five or six major people-search sites, note where you appear, and check each service’s published broker list for those names.
Reports, proof and transparency
If you need to show someone that the work happened, this is the category that separates them most.
DeleteMe’s reports are detailed. They list the sites searched, where your information was found, and what was removed, and they arrive on a regular schedule. Security teams, executive protection firms and people dealing with harassment often prefer that paper trail, because it lets them confirm specific listings are gone.
Incogni gives you a dashboard showing requests sent, pending and completed, with regular status updates, but no periodic reports in the same format. Independent reviewers have generally found that Incogni does what it says, and CNET noted that an independent assessment of its claims about coverage and process backed them up. Still, if you want to see a specific screenshot of a specific listing before and after, DeleteMe is closer to that experience. (Optery, a third competitor, is the strongest of the three on screenshot evidence.)
The Household Math
When clients ask us which service to buy for a family, we run a quick calculation we call the Household Math: divide the annual plan price by the number of people covered, then compare per-person costs at the household size you have.
For DeleteMe’s annual Standard plans, the math looks like this. One person pays $129. A couple pays $229, or $114.50 each. A family of four pays $329, or $82.25 each. On the two-year family plan at $499, the per-person cost drops to about $62 a year.
Incogni’s individual Standard plan works out to $95.88 a year, which beats DeleteMe for a single person. Incogni also sells family coverage, but its pricing scales more closely with the number of people, so the per-person discount is smaller. That is why several independent comparisons in 2026 concluded that DeleteMe becomes the better value once you are covering four people.
Run the numbers for your own household before you decide. A single professional and a family of five are buying different products, even if the marketing pages look the same.
Where both services fall short
Neither service removes negative news articles, court records hosted on government sites, social media posts, or reviews. If your problem is a search result about something you did, or something written about you, a data removal service is the wrong tool, and you need a reputation or legal approach instead.
Neither can guarantee permanence. Brokers buy new data constantly, which is why both sell subscriptions. Expect some listings to reappear between cycles.
Neither can remove data that you keep publishing yourself. If your home address is on a public business filing, a domain registration or a conference speaker page, a broker can pick it up again. Pair either service with a habit of tightening what you share: use a business address or registered agent where you can, turn on domain privacy, and review old profiles.
And both depend on regional law. Removal rights are stronger in some places, such as the EU under GDPR or California under its privacy laws, than in others. Incogni markets broader regional coverage outside the US. DeleteMe also serves several countries beyond the US, including Canada and Australia. Check that your country is supported before you pay.
Who should pick which
Pick Incogni if you are one person, you want the lowest annual cost, you value automated coverage of 420+ brokers on the base plan, and you do not need detailed reports. It is the best fit for someone who wants to set it and leave it.
Pick DeleteMe if you are covering a couple or a family, you want human-reviewed removals and quarterly reports, or you need a paper trail for safety or security reasons. It is the better fit for executives, public figures and anyone who has been targeted.
And if you are still unsure, start where you appear. Search your name on the big people-search sites today, count the listings, and pick the service whose list covers them. The DeleteMe vs Incogni decision gets much easier once you know what you are trying to remove.