DeleteMe Review & Alternatives [2024]

March 15, 2024
·
3 min
deleteme

Protect yourself from future breaches

Anyone can find your home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, employment information, property value, and marital status, among many other personal information, by simply looking up your name on data broker sites. This threatens your safety and exposes you to identity theft and fraud, which can cause significant financial losses.

Want to remove your personal information from these websites? Apps like DeleteMe promise to find and remove your personal information from data broker’s websites–but how effective is DeleteMe at doing what it says it will do? 

In this article, we review DeleteMe, exploring its product features and service offerings. We also share the pros and cons of DeleteMe and provide you with alternatives. 

What is DeleteMe? 

DeleteMe is a data removal service that removes your personal information from search engines and data broker sites. It uses data removal experts to search through data broker websites for your personal information and sends a request to broker sites that host your information for sale for deletion from their database. 

How does DeleteMe work? DeleteMe first collects your information, such as name, gender, date of birth, home address, contact details, identification documents, and employer information.

 It then combines manual and automatic processes to search through broker websites for your information and sends requests to each website to delete your information. 

However, while DeleteMe claims to remove your personal information from broker sites, it primarily focuses on specific sites, which means that any of your information hosted on other broker sites not included in DeleteMe’s list may not be found by DeleteMe.  

deleteme data sheet

DeleteMe Review

Now that we know a little about DeleteMe, let’s explore its features in more detail.

deleteme dashboard

DeleteMe Features

  • Data encryption: Encrypts user data while in transit and at rest using 256-bit encryption and TLS 1.2 encryption
  • MFA & RBA: Enables multi-factor authentication and role-based access for its users to limit their data exposure.
  • Threat detection: Uses threat detection tools to perform analysis of logs and network traffic to identify security threats and anomalies
  • Custom removal requests: Allows users to request custom removal of their data from specific websites not included in DeleteMe’s list
  • Email masking: Offers users a layer of protection through email masking. This feature gives users placeholder email addresses that they can use to sign up for services online and send messages in place of the real email addresses

DeleteMe Pros

  • Has access to delete customers’ personal information from over 750 data brokers' and scrappers' websites
  • Option to remove personal data from specific websites through custom requests
  • Users get a detailed report on the data removal process
  • DeleteMe has email, phone, and chat support

DeleteMe Cons

  • No free pricing tier to test out the service
  • No support for monthly or quarterly subscriptions
  • After the initial data removal, it takes three months before DeleteMe initiates another data removal process for each user

How much does DeleteMe cost?

Annual pricing

  • 1 person: $10.75/mo 
  • 2 people: $19.08/ mo 

Two-years pricing

  • 1 person: $8.71/mo
  • 2 people: $14.54/mo

DeleteMe Reviews

DeleteMe has a 3.5/5 rating on G2. For some users, DeleteMe is a responsive platform that offers a great service, but a few other users have grievances about how the data they share with DeleteMe is protected and used, as they get even more spam emails from DeleteMe once they start using the app. 

Also, DeleteMe users share that it is too expensive for the service it offers, and some say that they dislike the fact that they have to give out so much data to DeleteMe before they can remove the same data from data brokers' websites.

Here’s a user review from G2:

“It is costly, so everyone cannot afford it, you have to give all information first to remove your information, and the Cleanup report takes many days to receive.”

So, does DeleteMe work?

DeleteMe works using both manual processes involving humans and automatic processes to remove user data from data broker websites. However, its process is limited as using human experts to remove user data from websites causes delays and increases the risk of unwanted data exposure and privacy infringement.

Best DeleteMe Alternatives 

Here are some of the best data privacy platforms for you if you’re looking to switch from DeleteMe or you’re simply looking for a good privacy app to try out:

Cloaked vs DeleteMe 

Cloaked is a privacy-first platform that offers complete invisibility online, giving you optimal security while browsing the internet, shopping online, signing up for newsletters, or performing any other activity online. It creates virtual identities for users that mask details that can be used to identify them online, such as real working phone numbers and email addresses, so that you never have to give out your true email addresses or phone numbers again. You get access to phone numbers with two-way routing that you can use and cloak your personal phone number.

The Cloaked app also offers a password manager, a prominent feature DeleteMe lacks. This password manager integrates with both your browser and your mobile device, syncing perfectly, which means you can set complex and strong passwords to safeguard your online accounts without worrying about whether you will remember these passwords. 

Also, Cloaked has an Identities feature, which can be used to create pseudo identities with working email addresses and phone numbers for your online accounts, and an AutoCloak feature that automatically changes passwords on your several online accounts in one click and at the same time. This is particularly useful in case of a compromise.

cloaked page

Key Features: 

  • Identity creation: Allows users to create unlimited online identities by supporting the creation of disposable email addresses and phone numbers hosted by Cloaked
  • Password manager: Cloaked has a password manager that creates, saves, and auto-fills passwords securely. This feature also enables the secure sharing of usernames and passwords to your online accounts via secure passworded links
  • Dedicated inbox: Each user has a dedicated inbox where they can receive emails sent to them through their quasi/masked email addresses
  • AutoCloak: Ensures that you are secure while browsing online with its AutoCloak feature that can change the passwords and account information on several online accounts (Shopify, Netflix, Spotify, and Target) at the same time
  • Client-side encryption and zero-knowledge access: Your data is inaccessible to Cloaked, ensuring privacy through client-side encryption and a zero-knowledge framework
  • One-time passcodes: As an additional layer of security, Cloaked offers time-based OTPs to users
  • Additional information storage: Cloaked users can also store additional information on the platform, such as API keys, addresses, and bank account information

What makes Cloaked Different: 

While DeleteMe is a retroactive privacy action, Cloaked protects your privacy proactively. Cloaked has robust features for user data privacy, ensuring that your private information never gets exposed again.  From masked email addresses and phone numbers, which automatically create quasi-identities for users, to dedicated inboxes that protect users from email spam, Cloaked completely revolutionizes online privacy. 

 

Cloaked also serves as a password manager app that creates unique passwords for users and manages users’ online accounts, identifying and changing weak and overused passwords to multiple accounts at once. 

Try the best app for online data privacy

Incogni vs DeleteMe 

Incogni is a data removal platform that uses an automated process to remove user data from data broker sites. It covers all types of broker websites, from people search sites to recruitment and marketing data brokers. 

Unlike DeleteMe, Incogni does not use human experts in its data removal process or offer custom data removal to its users.  

incogni dashboard

Key Features: 

  • An algorithm to determine which data brokers are likely to have your data
  • Automated data removal process, including regular opt-out requests sent to new brokers on your behalf
  • Data removal progress updates
  • Tracks broker responses to follow up on brokers who decline your opt-out requests

Optery vs DeleteMe 

Optery is a user data removal service that uses a US patent search technology to search for user data on multiple broker sites at the same time. It also has a dashboard that shows users the progress of their data removal progress, displaying completed removals, those in progress, and those that are still pending.

Optery, however, only has about 300 data broker websites that it scans for your information, while DeleteMe has a list of over 750 data broker websites.

optery dashboard

Key Features: 

  • Personalized exposure report that shows the extent to which your data has been exposed on broker websites
  • US patent search technology to run search queries on multiple websites at once
  • Custom removals based on user request
  • Detailed DIY removal steps that users can follow on their data removal
  • Dashboard to help users track the progress of their data removal

Onerep vs DeleteMe

onerep logo

Onerep is an AI-powered data removal service that uses fully automated processes to remove user data from broker sites. This data removal platform also allows users to enter their nicknames and aliases as part of the search information for a more in-depth search.

While Onerep is AI-powered, DeleteMe uses a mix of manual and automatic processes to remove user data from broker websites.

onerep profile

Key Features: 

  • Free scan tool to see which broker websites your data is exposed on
  • Automated listings search and removal
  • Monthly report on user data removal via email
  • Monitoring for new data listings on broker websites

Kanary vs DeleteMe

kanary logo

Kanary is a data removal service that supports collaboration between their team and users, allowing users to be involved in the data removal process. It also has a personalized dashboard that displays data removal progress and status.

Kanary gives you a progress report in 48 hours, while DeleteMe takes about 7 days. Also, Kanary scans broker sites for your information every month, while DeleteMe scans every 3 months. 

kanary member page

Key Features: 

  • Fast user data removal process
  • Automatic data removal from Google’s search engine
  • A personalized dashboard that shows completed removals, pending requests, and historical progress
  • A progress report on user data removal 

More About DeleteMe

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions on DeleteMe:

Is DeleteMe free?

DeleteMe is not free, and for the service it offers, it is one of the more expensive user data removal services. If you want something with more robust functionality at an affordable price point, then you should try Cloaked, which starts at $15/mo and has a 14-day trial period.

What is better than DeleteMe?

Cloaked has more features included than DeleteMe particularly for proactive privacy management. Cloaked has a password manager that generates strong passwords for users’ online accounts. It also offers users invisibility online through quasi-emails and phone numbers that support anonymous texts and calls. 

How long does DeleteMe take to work?

DeleteMe takes seven days to complete your data removal process and send you a report.

Does DeleteMe sell your information?

DeleteMe claims not to sell your information, but it shares your information with third-party apps that provide services such as customer support, analytics, and email delivery, among others.

Choose the Best DeleteMe Alternative 

DeleteMe can be a good option for removing your data online, but it comes at a cost that is too expensive for just removing your personal information from data broker sites–a process that is not even automated and is done only once in three months. But with Cloaked, you don’t even have to worry about your information getting exposed.

Cloaked offers several features for managing your online identities, such as an AutoCloak feature that automatically changes your passwords on several websites at once. It also has a feature for proxy identities by creating disposable emails and unlimited phone numbers for users that can be used everywhere online instead of using their true email addresses and contact details.

Want to stay completely secure online? 

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