Free options compared
Yes — you can remove your personal information from data brokers for free. Three approaches work: a free automated removal service, manual opt-out requests using free DIY guides, or a state-mandated deletion platform if you live in a state that runs one. Paid services such as DeleteMe and Incogni charge roughly $96–$180 per year, and what they sell is automation of the same opt-out requests you can submit yourself.
These are the ways to get your data removed without paying a subscription. Costs, coverage and whether the work is done for you:
| Option | Cost | Who does the work | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| CyberForget | Free, no card | Automated | 400+ broker and people-search sites |
| Optery (free Basic tier) | Free | You, via their dashboard links | Limited free profiles |
| Permission Slip (Consumer Reports) | Free | You, via the app | Major companies that collect data |
| California DROP | Free (CA residents) | Automated, state-run | Brokers registered in California |
| IntelTechniques opt-out workbook | Free | You, manually | Direct links to major brokers |
| DeleteMe / Incogni | $96–$180 per year | Automated | 420+ sites (Incogni Standard) |
Every row above is doing the same underlying thing: sending an opt-out or deletion request to a data broker and following up. The paid services charge for the automation and for re-running the requests as brokers re-scrape your records. If you want that automated and you do not want to pay for it, CyberForget is the free option — it scans 400+ broker and people-search sites, gives you the removal path for each, and requires no credit card.
This is the do-it-yourself route. It works, it is free, and it is what you are paying a service to do for you.
Search the major people-search sites — Whitepages, Spokeo, Radaris, TruePeopleSearch, BeenVerified, MyLife — using your name, your city, and your previous addresses. Old addresses surface more profiles than your current one.
Every broker is legally required to publish one. Do not use a third-party "removal tool" that asks for your personal details — go to the broker's own privacy or opt-out page. Our opt-out guides link to the official page for each site.
Most brokers require you to confirm the request by clicking a link in an email. If you skip the confirmation, the request is discarded and the profile stays live.
Keep the confirmation emails. Brokers re-scrape public records and rebuild profiles, so you will need to re-submit. Re-check every six months.
This is the part a paid service actually sells — recurring re-submission. It is also the reason a one-off manual cleanup drifts back within a year.
DeleteMe and Incogni are legitimate services, and their pricing reflects what they are actually charging for:
Incogni's Standard plan is $7.99 per month billed annually — $95.88 per year — covering 420+ data broker sites. Its monthly plan is $15.98 per month. DeleteMe sits in a similar band. Neither company is charging you for access to a secret removal channel; the removal mechanism is a request the broker is obliged to honour whether it arrives from you or from them. What you are buying is that you never have to think about it again, plus re-runs as your data reappears.
That is a fair thing to sell. It is also a thing you do not have to buy if you are willing to spend an afternoon and re-check twice a year — or if you use a service that does the automation without a subscription.
Being precise about this, because the word gets stretched:
Yes. You can submit opt-out requests to data brokers yourself at no cost — every broker is required to publish an official opt-out page — and free automated services such as CyberForget do the scanning and removal tracking without a subscription or a credit card.
They submit the same opt-out and deletion requests a paid service submits, and the legal obligation on the broker is identical. The practical difference is coverage and how much of the work is automated, not whether the removal is real.
They charge for automation and recurring re-submission — brokers rebuild profiles from public records, so removal has to be repeated. You can replicate that yourself with the official opt-out pages and a six-month re-check, or use a free service that automates it.
It varies by broker: some action requests within hours, others take weeks, and some run deletions on a fixed cycle. Expect the first profiles to come down within days and the full set to take a few weeks.
Yes. If you are in the UK or EU you have a stronger legal basis — the right to erasure under UK GDPR or GDPR Article 17 — and brokers trading there must honour it. The opt-out process is the same; the law behind it is firmer.
Start with the highest-traffic people-search sites, because those are the ones most likely to be the source of your exposure: Spokeo, Whitepages, Radaris, TruePeopleSearch, and MyLife. Our opt-out guides cover each one with the official removal page and the exact steps.
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