Incogni vs. Optery for Data Removal Champion

Two heavyweights of the privacy world are battling over who can delete more of your personal information from people-search engines and data brokers. Like Incogni, Optery automates the opt-out process across large lists of brokerages, but they diverge on pricing, proof, and family coverage — and those differences matter if you’re looking for results without spending more than necessary.

Now that regulators are cracking down and tightening rules around the sale of data (California’s privacy law requires a response to a data request in 45 days; it’s 30 days under the European Union’s GDPR), these have gone from nice-to-have to essential hygiene. Here is how the two contenders truly stack up on these measures.

Pricing and plans compared for value and automation

Incogni gains an edge over most competitors on basic arithmetic. Its Standard plan costs $95.88 per year, while the Unlimited plan is $179.88. The main difference: custom takedown requests fall under the Unlimited tier.

Optery has more steps on the ladder:

• Basic: free scan that lists brokers profiling you and provides DIY instructions.
• Core: $39 yearly.
• Extended: $149 annually.
• Ultimate: $249 a year.

As with Incogni, custom removals are also reserved for the top tier.

Value verdict: Incogni’s Standard subscription is a better bet when comparing the annual prices of both offerings, and Unlimited is less expensive than even Optery Ultimate. If you want full automation without the frills, Incogni’s pricing is hard to beat.

Coverage breadth and removal methods across brokers

Numbers can be notoriously squishy — brokers rebranding, merging, and operating across multiple domains tend to muddy the water — but size still counts. Incogni intentionally focuses on 400+ brokers and segments them by sensitivity and geography; of these, some 60% fall into the category of people-search sites. It also claims to have found a similar number of additional custom-removal targets.

Optery casts a wider net on people search by default, scouring about 630 such sites (and more if you switch on an “Expanded Reach” mode that sends legally grounded, broker-agnostic takedown demands — essentially, “if you have my data, delete it”). Optery also reports significant victories on custom-only destinations, which takes its overall reach to the low thousands.

And in practice, both work toward the same goal: to submit formal requests and keep track of compliance. With the churn in broker ecosystems, coverage is practically a draw — Optery leans broader on people search, Incogni leans wide with suppression relationships and automation.

Family protection options and useful plan add-ons

And here is where Incogni scores a pretty easy win. The family plan for five people is $191.88 a year, or roughly $38.38 per person, and the Unlimited plan is $275.88. That transparent pricing is what makes multi-person cleanup internationally so affordable and predictable.

Optery takes a family approach to its pricing, offering a standard set of discounts that increase as the number of subscribers increases:

• 20% for two subscribers
• 25% for three subscribers
• 30% for four or more subscribers

Vogel said these discounts are applied to whatever tier each person elects to use. You can make it flexible, but costs add up quickly if everyone wants Ultimate.

If you are covering a family, Incogni’s flat family plan is easier and usually much less expensive.

Verification transparency, evidence, and helpful tools

Optery stands out for receipts. Wherever possible, it provides before-and-after screenshots to confirm that a profile existed — but was deleted. Progress is broken down quarterly in reports that are helpful for auditors, executives, or those who simply want a way to prove impact.

Optery is also a member of the Global Privacy Control initiative, which counts Mozilla and a variety of publishers among its ranks, to signal opt-out preferences as you make your way across the web. It’s not a panacea, but it complies with duties under GDPR and CCPA and can help limit the risk of recurrence.

Incogni’s strategic value-add: suppression lists. When brokers put you on these lists, they agree not to resubmit your information after it has been removed, lessening the whack-a-mole effect over time. For users who care more about staying out of trouble than proving out every deletion, that’s pretty compelling.

Security protections and handling of custom requests

Both services also integrate with authenticator apps — a must, considering your address history, aliases, and contact details are all contained in one portal. Both also manage custom takedowns for high-end clients, such as VIPs who want to be sure their personal info doesn’t show up in any search result — with the same caveat: public records and social posts generally still can’t be erased.

Timelines depend on broker compliance. Organizations have about a month to respond under GDPR; under California law, 45 days is typical. Expect waves of removals to fall in weeks, not hours, with occasional follow-ups for stubborn listings.

Regulatory environment and real-world expectations

No service can wipe everything completely from everywhere. Brokers listed in state databases, like those by the California Privacy Protection Agency and the Vermont Attorney General, are required to honor requests, but scrappy gray market sites, scraped forums, and reposts complicate the picture.

The best defense is layered: automated removals, browser-level opt-out signals, and periodic rescans. This persistence is the result of business incentives for data brokers rather than incompetence, and indeed re-emergence is quite typical; only steady suppression along with periodic requests keep your footprint small.

Final verdict on choosing between Incogni and Optery

If price and family coverage top your priority list, then Incogni is the practical choice there, providing extensive automation for a more reasonable cost per head. If detailed evidence and broader people-search reach — not to mention extras like Global Privacy Control — matter most, Optery wins the nod.

The bottom line: It’s more or less a draw. Incogni wins for cost and simplicity; Optery wins on verification and scope. Pick based on what you value more — lower overall cost to get out or stronger evidence that no one is there anymore.