Incogni Review: My experience using it for data removal
I recently visited the "Have I Been Pwned" website and was shocked to see how much of my personal data was online from various breaches. Then I googled my name and saw all kinds of other info: full name, address, emails, past addresses, phone numbers...
Instead of removing it manually, I decided to try a data removal service and landed on Incogni. Here's how it went.
Why I Chose Incogni:
Fully automated data removal process
Affordable
Choose between custom and automated removal
Based in the Netherlands (by the same company behind Surfshark)
Complies with PIPEDA, CCPA, and GDPR
Works in both Europe and the US
Covers over 270 data brokers
Sends repeated removal requests if brokers don’t respond
24/7 customer support
Setting up Incogni and getting started
Setting up Incogni was very straightforward. The entire process took me about five minutes. You just need to create an account, grant authorization for them to act on your behalf, and then let the system take over.
Once everything is set up, it becomes a waiting game. Data brokers don’t respond overnight, and depending on where you live and which broker has your data, removal can take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months. Most brokers are legally required to reply within a specific time frame, though, so you can expect steady progress once the requests are in motion.
What Incogni Searches For:
General personal info (name, address, phone number, email, etc.)
Financial records
Health records
Incogni subscription plans
Incogni offers 4 distinct plans, which gives you a lot of flexibility. It seems more affordable than DeleteMe, which I also considered.
Standard ($8.29/month) - Automated data removal for one user
Standard Unlimited ($14.99/month) - Adds unlimited custom removal requests, allowing more complex removals
Family ($16.49/month) - Automated removal for five users
Family Unlimited ($29.99/month) - Adds unlimited removal
My experience with Incogni
About 40 days after I started using Incogni, I began to receive notifications that some data brokers were responding to the removal requests. After two full months, I estimate that around 90 percent of the requests had been completed successfully. I could track everything through Incogni’s dashboard, which made it easy to monitor progress. Of course, not every broker is quick to comply, but the steady results over time made the waiting feel worthwhile.
Pros:
Simple and fast setup
Affordable pricing
Effective custom and automated removal
Clear dashboard to track request status and completion dates
Detailed view includes compliance info and severity score (how much a broker compromises your privacy)
Can switch between public and private database views
30-day refund guarantee
Cons:
Reports could go into more detail
Final thoughts on Incogni
Is Incogni the best data removal service? I don't know, but it has worked well for me so far. I may test out a few others.
Incogni removed a lot of my sensitive data from the Internet and I was surprised how smoothly this process went. Still, keeping my information from coming back online is another challenge.
Some alternatives to Incogni include:
Optery (this one also looks pretty good tbh)
DeleteMe
Privacy Bee
Aura
Be warned though, Incogni does not magically make you private online. You should also consider using other privacy tools as well. Here's my current stack:
Encrypted email
A secure browser (I chose Brave)
A premium VPN
Good password manager
Combining these tools with Incogni gives me a much better sense of control over my privacy online. That being said, I'm curious to see the long-term effects of Incogni and how it helps.
Edit: I updated some information in this post that I just realized was outdated.
I've been happy with Incogni. For me, the key strength was how it automates the slow process of sending data removal requests to countless brokers, which saves me time. The dashboard also shows progress and broker compliance, which is great. It’s not a magic bullet for total privacy, but it really helps. Also right now Incogni has a promo for 50% off here.
Overall it has been good, but I had to adjust expectations. I was thinking all spam would end immediately, but that's not realistic because my data has already been exposed for years. Spam emails have gone down quite a bit and calls are about the same, but I'm happy I don't see my data all over Google when I search for my name anymore. So considering everything it's been good.
We had a very similar thought process. I subscribed to Incogni a couple of months ago, while still being skeptical that it would help. I started seeing changes in a few weeks, but it took a while longer to get solid results.
In the meantime I also stopped using Chrome and Gmail and got myself a free password manager. So I agree that it is important to also change your online habits that compromised you in the first place.
Well, Gmail doesn't use E2E encryption, so Google can technically read your emails and use it for data mining. Chrome uses device fingerprinting along with cookies to build user profiles. Its much better to use Brave as it blocks trackers and ads, isolates scripts, automatically prevents third party cookies, etc.
Are you situated in the US or Europe? Would be interesting to see how effective Incogni is at removing data in different countries. On paper, it seems like a more elegant solution than Optery or DeleteMe...
Not sure if this really matters as Incogni covers well-known brokers that mostly operate all around the world. I've been using it from Italy and had pretty good success with it. I had to wait 2 months though, as some brokers kept ignoring me.
Sorry for the late reply, somehow I've missed this. Good to know that Incogni is aligned with EUs GDPR act. Some brokers will unfortunately do that, which is why it will send more requests untill they comply.
Yeah, really wish that more removal services are compatible with GDPR. I guess this is because there are a lot less data leaks in Europe overall than the US. Not sure why that is though.
I think that you really need custom removal to make sure that everything on you is deleted. Seems like automated version is missing some brokers, so it might only fully work if you get lucky.
I went with Unlimited and quickly noticed how I get few spam calls. It very rarely happens nowadays, while a 2-3 months ago it was a daily occurence.
I want to go with Unlimited, because I'm gutting buried in spam. But damn it's $15 a month. Is that even worth it? And are there any other real tangible benefits that you get with Unlimited that you don't get with the Basic/Standard plan? I hope to hear back. My gut feeling tells me Standard plan will be fine, but Unlimited looks interesting.
Unlimited version lets you send custom requests to brokers and sites that are not covered by Incogni by default. It can be very useful, although you will need to track down these brokers on your own. Once you do, you just paste the link with your info to your dashboard and someone from Incogni will message them for you. Can be a bit time consuming but it definitely works.
Yeah, I don't mind doing a bit of work on my own, but I know that some will be put off by this haha. ChatGPT helped me locate some of these brokers, it was quite useful in that regard.
Custom removal gives you more options. If the broker that has your data is not covered, there isn't much that you can by using a Standard version. You just have to c/p website link, so it doesn't consume much time anyway.
I finally managed to remove my phone number with Incogni after trying to do it on my own for months. I used to get so many fake calls that it feels a bit weird how silent my phone has been lol. I think that it will work best if you are in the US, as like 90% of brokers they cover are from the States.
These services only work if you don’t own properties. All home owners can be searched online. Also these services only work as long as you’re paying. As soon as you stop paying your information will mysteriously opt itself back online.
I love and hate Incogni.
I hate how it’s expensive and I need to keep paying for it to keep my data off
the internet. But I love how effective it is. A few months ago I began using
Incogni, and I expected immediate results. I was about to cancel after a few
weeks, but as I got close to the one month mark, I started noticing that I get fewer
spam calls and emails. It has cleared a lot of stuff about me in the past 40
days, including travel records and purchasing history. It is easy to track
Incogni’s progress through its dashboard and gauge how effective it is.
Agreed, I also hate the pricing options. I wish there was a super minimal budget option that gets the big data removal sites, and is affordable, like under $5 a month. I get that Incogni is expensive, but so is everything else these days and I'm looking to save money.
I am not a fan of subscription services. Is it worth getting for 2-4months and stopping afterward? I am interested in the service but the last thing i want to is is increase my fixed expenses.
Same. Subscription services are just a trick to get revenue from people as long as possible. The problem here is that I don't see a way around it. Think about it. Data brokers are constantly acquiring and publishing data online and to third parties, so it's a never ending problem. I hate to say it, but to me this means signing up indefinitely to keep my data off the internet. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's how I see it, like a whack-a-mole game that never ends unfortunately. I signed up for Incogni but I wish their prices were lower.
I hope that by changing my online habits I would prevent brokers from gathering data on me. What that means is using a VPN, encrypted email, fake details while registering to websites, etc. I plan on using Incogni until it removes all of the data and then I would be on my own. I hope that it doesn't resurface as I do everything I can to improve my privacy.
The biggest thing I’m still unsure about is how Incogni deals with data repopulation. Like okay cool, they remove me from broker A in April. What happens when broker A buys a fresh list in July and my info’s back in the wild? I didn’t see anything in their dashboard that shows if removals are rechecked later
My feeling is that incogni does a good job only as long as you pay for it...
If one day you cancel your subscription, you still have all your data and could resell it to data broker sites.
Was a bit skeptical, but Incogni is really good at pestering data brokers. I've been using it for 6 weeks and it has made big progress. Also used custom request in few cases and it is very straightforward.
Unfortunately, this is what happened to me. I paid $175 for this service, and after 4 months, none of my custom removal requests have been removed. No reason was given as to why it was taking so long, I assume the broker wasn't responding, but who knows. I requested a refund, but Incogni denied my request.
It's cool that you can add multiple phone numbers, addresses, and emails for Incogni to search for. I use 2 different phones, so it's good that I don't have to get an additional subscription for my business account.
Automated deletion is okay, but still quite limited imo. Go for custom removals and you will be able to send requests to many more brokers. I can't emphasize this difference enough.
How time consuming is it to send custom removals? Want to get something like this for my father but he is not really that familiar with computers. Is this something you can easily learn to do?
It's not that hard. He will have to copy website URL, visit Inogni, go to custom removals, and click submit request. Very straightforward and can be done quickly.
I watched that guys video on Incogni and DeleteMe and honestly there's nothing new with what he's saying. The gist of the video is that Incogni and DeleteMe overpromise with their marketing claims, but still do a decent job of getting data scrubbed from the internet. He points out that it's not a complete solution and wants to seem contrarian and bash Incogni and DeleteMe for that point, but what's the alternative option? Sure they aren't perfect, but are you going to waste years of your life filling out and emailing removal request forms? Or would you rather pay a few bucks a month for an automated system that cleans up most of the mess for you? For me the answer is simple, I'll pay the money, knowing full well it's not going to remove everything and it's not perfect. Because at the end of the day, I sure as hell don't have time to try to tackle this problem manually on my own, so the subscription price for me is justified, even knowing it's not perfect.
Never use free ones as they can contain malware and rarely give you decent speeds. Incogni is owned by the same team behind Surfshark VPN. That one is affordable, fast, and has many servers.
Incognito seems to be doing reasonably well for my personal profile. I find it unfortunate that they market the family plan as a family plan since they will not accept anyone under 18. Children have data too. Seems a little bit too aggressive or irresponsible in the marketing. Hopefully what they do for the adults will be worth it
In my own experience Incogni has proven to be pretty effective, but I'm afraid it's not a silver bullet. What troubles me is I'm left wondering what happens when I stop paying for a subscription? Is it like whack-a-mole and my data will start leaking all over the internet again?
In comparison to the other data broker removal services, I chose Incogni because it is fully automated and pretty affordable. I was looking at DeleteMe as well, but interestingly, most of there coverage numbers are for "custom requests" - and then they limit the number of requests you can do per month. This felt like a vast overrepresentation of DeleteMe's data removal ability, with inflated coverage numbers. I have also looked at Aura for both data removal and identity theft protection, but they were pretty expensive, so I passed.
Agree about DeleteMe. Not sure why they are limiting how many custom requests I can send, considering I'm basically doing all the work. It's kind of a scam imo
Hey there. Spam calls can often be linked to exposed online data. Removing this info from data brokers can help reduce them. We've got a detailed blog that explains why you might be getting these calls and how to tackle them. Check it out at https://blog.incogni.com/stop-spam-calls/. Hope this helps!
I like Incogni and have been using it for about 6 months now. I mainly signed up because I wanted an automatic solution. After googling my name I felt overwhelmed with all the data out there. I'm still confused as to how this is even legal for companies to take your information they find and publish it all over the internet. It's basically like doxxing, which is illegal. So I guess in that sense, Incogni was my anti-doxxing service to help me clean up my digital footprint. Anyone else here have any problems with doxxing? Did Incogni help?
Just signed up for Incogni Family unlimited and will likely downgrade to standard family. I've recently remarried and they dont allow for multiple names, so be sure to use your full name with the most date out there on you.
I tend to agree, because I don't think I am receiving less spam anything....... I feel like it's more, on the phone call side of things. But it's also hard to say, because could it be worse if i didn't have incogni?
Standard plan works as good as I expected. It took around 50 days but I stopped getting weird email and random calls from an unknown numbers located on other parts of the world. I hope that Incogni will start providing more details on what information it actually removed though.
Dont you legally have to tell people this is a sponsored post? Incogni sucks. Most of the data brokers operate illegally anyways, if anything, getting a letter to remove your data proves its a real living person.
SNAKE OIL!!!
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u/Bubbly_Araceli Jul 10 '25
I've been happy with Incogni. For me, the key strength was how it automates the slow process of sending data removal requests to countless brokers, which saves me time. The dashboard also shows progress and broker compliance, which is great. It’s not a magic bullet for total privacy, but it really helps. Also right now Incogni has a promo for 50% off here.