Incogni vs DeleteMe vs Optery vs Leak Check Me: An Honest 2026 Comparison

In August 2025, Deloitte issued an ISAE 3000 independent limited assurance report on Incogni — the first time a data-removal service had submitted its broker coverage and removal counts to a Big Four firm for verification. It is a small thing and a big thing. Small because nobody is required to do this. Big because nobody else has.

That is the state of the data-removal market in 2026. Marketing claims are loud, audited claims are rare, and the gap between "we cover 850 sites" and "we automatically file with 85 of them" is exactly where buyers get confused. This post is our honest read on Incogni, DeleteMe, Optery, and our own service, Leak Check Me. We'll cite numbers, name strengths and weaknesses, and tell you when one of them is a better fit than us.

One-sentence answer: Incogni is the audited mid-market default, DeleteMe is the long-tenured brand with masking add-ons, Optery is the technical favorite with screenshot proof, and Leak Check Me is the only one offering a $20 one-time scrub mission plus the "break the link" framing — pick based on whether you want a subscription forever or a clear job done once.

TL;DR

• Incogni ($7.99/mo annual): ~420 brokers, audited by Deloitte, no à la carte option.
• DeleteMe ($8.71/mo annual): advertises 850+ sites but automates around 85; includes email and phone masking.
• Optery ($3.99–$24.99/mo): tiered coverage from 370 to 635+ brokers, PCMag Editors' Choice four years running, screenshot proof.
• Leak Check Me ($20 one-time + optional $19/mo patrol): one-time scrub mission option, "find the leak, scrub the link" framing.
• All four still file the same kind of opt-out request to the same brokers. The differences are coverage breadth, proof of work, pricing model, and trust posture.

How we picked what to measure

We compared four things any buyer should care about:

1. Broker coverage — what the service actually files with, not what it markets.
2. Pricing — annual rates, what's included at each tier, and whether you can stop without losing the work.
3. Proof — screenshots, audit reports, transparency on response rates.
4. Trust posture — public conflicts, ownership history, regulator actions.

We did not factor in affiliate payouts because we do not take them.

At-a-glance comparison table

Prices and counts as of May 2026. Coverage numbers move; check each vendor's current page before paying.

Incogni: the audited mid-market default

Incogni (owned by Surfshark, which is itself part of Nord Security) ships the most boring product in the best way. You sign up, hand over the name variations and addresses you want scrubbed, and it files removals on a 60–90 day rotation against roughly 420 brokers.

What sets it apart in 2026 is the Deloitte work. The ISAE 3000 report confirmed that by July 2025 Incogni had processed more than 245 million removal requests across that broker list. You can argue about the methodology — limited assurance is not a full audit — but the act of submitting to outside review is the kind of move the industry needs more of.

Where it shines: transparency, simple pricing, no upsell ladder. Where it falls short: narrower automated coverage than DeleteMe or Optery's top tiers, no masking tools, subscription-only.

DeleteMe: the long-tenured brand with masking add-ons

DeleteMe (operated by Abine) has been at this since 2011, which is a lifetime in this space. Their marketing claims 850+ data broker sites, but independent reviewers consistently put the automated portion at around 85 sites with the remainder handled through quarterly manual reports. They are honest about the human-in-the-loop model; some buyers want exactly that.

DeleteMe is also the only one of the four with built-in email and phone masking — disposable addresses and forwarding numbers you can hand out at signup forms so your real ones never enter a broker pipeline in the first place. That is genuinely useful and competitors don't match it.

Where it shines: longest track record, masking add-ons, quarterly privacy advisor reports. Where it falls short: the gap between "850 sites" marketing and ~85 automated, no audited claim figures, pricier than Incogni at the entry tier.

Optery: the technical favorite with screenshot proof

Optery has won PCMag Editors' Choice in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 — four years running, which is rare in any product category. Cybersecurity reviewer Neil J. Rubenking has named it the winner head-to-head against Incogni and DeleteMe.

Their tiered model is the most aggressive on coverage breadth: Core covers ~370 brokers, Extended ~540, Ultimate 635+, and they advertise broader manual coverage on top. The signature feature is screenshot proof — Optery captures before-and-after screenshots of broker profiles so you can see the actual removal. That is the right kind of evidence.

Pricing starts at $3.99/mo (Core), but the catch worth flagging: Core limits you to one name and one city/state. If you've moved or used a nickname, you need Extended ($14.99) or Ultimate ($24.99) for unlimited name variations and past addresses.

Where it shines: broadest automated coverage on top tiers, screenshot evidence, expert reviewer love. Where it falls short: the price ladder is real (Core is restrictive), subscription-only.

Leak Check Me: the one-time scrub option

We're going to be honest about ourselves the same way we've been honest about the others.

Leak Check Me focuses on major broker and people-search sites — narrower than Optery Ultimate or DeleteMe's claimed list, with automation where supported and manual escalation when a broker resists. The workflow prepares eligible opt-out actions after authorization, tracks verified progress, and patrols for relistings on a 30–60 day rotation.

The thing nobody else offers: a $20 one-time scrub mission. You hire us once, authorize eligible actions, and track the cleanup from the dashboard. The optional $19/mo patrol exists for people who want the relisting watch — but it isn't required, and you keep the benefit of the original scrub either way. Subscription-only models lock you into paying forever for a job that, properly done once, holds for months.

The other thing we lean on is the framing in our data leak protection manifesto: we don't claim to erase leaked databases (nobody can), we don't sell "dark web monitoring" theater, and we don't pretend a one-time opt-out is permanent. We help execute eligible opt-out actions, verify progress, and scrub the link between your leaked credentials and your live public profile.

Where it shines: one-time pricing option, honest framing, no affiliate conflicts. Where it falls short: smaller coverage list than Optery's top tiers, newer brand, no third-party audit yet (we're working on it).

The OneRep cautionary contrast

Comparison shopping has a hidden risk most reviews skip: the company you pay to remove your data from people-search sites might own people-search sites.

In March 2024, Mozilla dropped OneRep from its Mozilla Monitor Plus product after Brian Krebs reported that OneRep's CEO Dimitri Shelest had founded roughly 179 people-search domains, including Nuwber — one of the exact kinds of sites OneRep claims to scrub. Shelest acknowledged the history. Mozilla acknowledged the conflict was disqualifying. We cover the full timeline in our breakdown of the OneRep scandal.

The takeaway isn't that you should boycott OneRep forever; the takeaway is that trust posture matters as much as coverage count. Ask any data-removal company three questions before paying: who owns you, do you own any data brokers or people-search sites directly or indirectly, and have you been the subject of any FTC, state AG, or regulator action. Incogni, DeleteMe, Optery, and Leak Check Me would all answer cleanly. Not every vendor will.

When each one is the right pick

We're not going to declare a single winner because there isn't one.

• Pick Incogni if you want the lowest-friction subscription, audited claims, and don't need masking or screenshot proof.
• Pick DeleteMe if you want masking tools, want a privacy advisor in the loop, and don't mind paying for the longest-running brand.
• Pick Optery Ultimate if you want maximum coverage breadth and screenshot evidence, and the $24.99/mo is comfortable.
• Pick Optery Core if budget is the dominant constraint and your name-variation needs are simple.
• Pick Leak Check Me if you want a one-time scrub mission for $20, don't want to subscribe forever, and want a service that's honest about what it can and can't do.

If you're not sure where to start, the cheapest move is to run a free leak check, then file the top 50 opt-outs yourself for free before paying anyone. Most of these services charge you for work you can technically do solo — they're charging for the time savings and the patrol. Both of those are real, but worth what they're worth to you.

What you can do today

1. Search your name on Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, and Radaris. That's your baseline exposure across the four most-searched people-search sites.
2. Check whether any service you're considering has a transparency report or third-party audit. Right now Incogni is the only one with a Deloitte ISAE 3000.
3. Decide if you want subscription-forever or scrub-and-go. That single choice narrows the field by half.
4. Check the California broker registry at the California Privacy Protection Agency — 545 brokers were registered as of January 2026. If your data-removal service doesn't cover most of the registry, ask why.
5. Set a 60-day calendar reminder to re-check Spokeo and Whitepages regardless of who you hire. Relistings are the default, not the exception.

The honest pitch

We built Leak Check Me because the subscription-forever model felt like it was selling a real problem with an expensive answer. The pitch is small: a $20 one-time scrub mission, optional $19/mo patrol if you want the relisting watch, no claims we can't back up. If Incogni or Optery is the better fit for you, use them — they're good products. If you want one job, done once, start a scrub mission at leakcheckme.com.

Find the leak. Scrub the link.

Sources

• Incogni — Deloitte Independent Limited Assurance Report (Aug 2025)
• Incogni — ISAE 3000 Report PDF
• Security.org — The Best Data Removal Services of 2026
• Optery — Wins PCMag Editors' Choice 2022–2025
• Optery — Cybersecurity Expert Comparison vs DeleteMe and Incogni
• Krebs on Security — Mozilla Drops Onerep After CEO Admits to Running People-Search Networks (March 2024)
• California Privacy Protection Agency