DeleteMe Review: How Effective Is Data Broker Removal in 2026?

• Best for: Busy individuals or families who want a hands off way to reduce their presence on data brokers and people search sites. Those expecting complete anonymity or full identity theft protection DeleteMe only scrubs public broker listings.
  
• Core privacy value: Deletes your personal info name, address, phone, etc. from hundreds of data broker sites and search indexes. In practice, it removes only a portion of listings ~27% in one test.
  
• Trust level: Moderately high. Abine DeleteMe’s maker claims strong security AES‑256/TLS encryption, SOC 2 Type II compliance. However, their privacy policy allows sharing user data in a corporate sale, which privacy experts have flagged as concerning.
  
• Key limitation: No guarantees. It won’t erase all your info or keep it off the internet forever. Many removals require manual requests, and data can reappear unless you renew. Removal success is far lower than doing it yourself 70% manually vs ~27% with DeleteMe in Consumer Reports.
  
• Overall verdict: DeleteMe is a respectable service for reducing unwanted visibility, but it has important caveats. It can save time users report fewer spam calls and handles the busywork of opt outs, but it’s expensive and partial. Privacy conscious buyers should weigh its real world impact against the cost and understand it only solves one piece of the privacy puzzle.
  

Data broker removal services aim to rescue your personal data from the clutches of advertising and people search companies. With addresses, phones, and family info widely scraped and sold, many people turn to tools like DeleteMe hoping to blunt unwanted contact and tracking. However, not all privacy services are equal. This review examines DeleteMe from a security first perspective focusing on what it actually accomplishes and doesn’t, how it handles your data, and how much you can trust it. We’ll highlight technical safeguards, data handling details, and realistic outcomes with evidence and user reports, rather than rehash marketing claims. Our goal is to help privacy minded consumers decide if DeleteMe’s model fits their needs and threat profile.

What Problem Does DeleteMe Solve?

DeleteMe targets the problem of public personal data exposure through data brokers and people search sites. These are services that collect your name, address, age, phone, relatives’ names, etc., and sell it to marketers, spammers, or even identity thieves. For example, one user reported that after a routine credit check, credit agencies began selling my info, leading to nonstop calls offering loans and mortgages. DeleteMe’s core promise is to reduce that exposure by removing your data from these broker databases. You sign up, submit your PII name, birthday, emails, addresses, etc., and DeleteMe’s team finds and removes your personal information from the sites that hold it. In other words, it automates and handles the tedious opt out requests on your behalf.

Threat model and scope: DeleteMe defends against a specific threat: your data being easily available to anyone who queries data brokers. By deleting your listings on sites like Whitepages, Spokeo, BeenVerified, and others, it aims to lower unwanted spam calls, junk mail, or basic doxxing. In practice, it reduces your digital footprint on these public databases. But it does not magically erase you from the internet. It won’t delete your social media posts, remove arrest records or credit reports, or stop sophisticated targeting on the real web. As one Reddit user cautioned, deletion services are like removing stickers off a wall, they make it slightly more difficult for people to find you, but will not 100% remove you. In short, DeleteMe solves the low hanging fruit of privacy public broker listings but not breaches, hacking, or data you knowingly share elsewhere.

Intended use: The service is aimed at privacy conscious individuals and families in locations DeleteMe supports primarily the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, etc.. You tell it what info to scrub, and for a yearly fee you get an initial scan and quarterly reports. Users report it can significantly cut spam. One said the service cut down on spam calls a lot, leaving only 3–5 a week. Another trustpilot review claimed it stopped 90% of spam calls immediately though such anecdotes vary. This indicates DeleteMe can reduce nuisance spam, which is the observable benefit for many customers.

What it does not protect against: DeleteMe does not stop identity theft from occurring since it doesn’t monitor for breaches or unusual account activity. It does not remove your PII from official or private sources, you still need credit freezes for fraud, etc.. DeleteMe itself notes it cannot erase anything on the dark web and even suggests you do things like use unique passwords and 2FA instead. In summary, the tool only addresses one slice of risk public data brokers. It does not claim to protect you from hacking, surveillance, social media scraping, phishing, or other online tracking methods. Overstating its protection for example thinking you can handle every privacy problem would be misleading.

Security & Privacy Architecture

DeleteMe is a cloud based service run by Abine, Inc. You provide your PII to their servers, and DeleteMe’s team and software act on it. The company claims a robust security posture: their site states they use AES 256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.2 for data in transit, and that they enforce strict access controls with multi factor authentication MFA for accounts and staff. They maintain an AICPA SOC 2 Type II audit report since 2021, which suggests regular third party auditing of processes. On the website, DeleteMe even invites security researchers to report vulnerabilities to security@, indicating some openness to scrutiny.

Encryption and keys: All your data is encrypted on DeleteMe’s servers; however, Abine holds the keys user side key ownership is not mentioned. This means Abine can decrypt your data if needed for example, to process removals. DeleteMe does not use a zero knowledge model, they clearly see all your submitted PII. So trust hinges on Abine’s promises and controls. The company’s security page describes routine code reviews, pen testing, and a 24/7 Security Operations Center, which is reassuring, but we have no independent proof of their effectiveness beyond the SOC 2 claim.

Local vs Cloud: DeleteMe operates entirely in the cloud. You interact via web dashboards; nothing runs locally on your device beyond submitting the data sheet. All deletion actions happen through Abine’s servers contacting data brokers. There’s no client side encryption or user only key, so if Abine were compromised, your submitted data could be exposed see next section for breach history. On the flip side, cloud deployment means updates, monitoring, and backups are professionally managed.

Attack surface: The main attack surface is DeleteMe’s web service and its infrastructure. The security page indicates they use intrusion detection and automated threat monitoring, but the details are generic. There’s no published bug bounty program, though they invite email reports. We found no evidence of targeted attacks or vulnerabilities specifically in DeleteMe. In short, the company claims standard enterprise defenses encryption, pen tests, SOC2, which are best practice but ultimately rely on trusting Abine.

Data Collection, Metadata & Tracking

User provided data: To operate, DeleteMe requires fairly complete personal details. When you sign up, you fill out a datasheet with fields for all information you want, searched e.g. full name, middle name, date of birth, email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, relatives’ names, employers, and even optional details like political affiliation or ethnicity. This is how they locate your records on broker sites. Providing more fields yields broader searches. In sum, Abine collects exactly the PII you give them for removal purposes. They say you retain ownership of it, but in practice that data stays on their servers as long as the service is active.

Other data collection: Like any web service, DeleteMe logs technical metadata. Their privacy policy notes they automatically gather usage information IP addresses, browser/device info, location, pages viewed, etc.. They use cookies and analytics to operate and improve the site including marketing and optional referrals. So yes, DeleteMe tracks how you use their service. In terms of account identifiers, you register with an email/username and password. Two factor authentication is available, and strongly recommended, but not mandatory. The company may also receive your data from public or third party sources for example, if you signed up via a partner or social media.

Data sharing and retention: According to the policy, DeleteMe does not directly sell your personal data to advertisers for ongoing marketing indeed, Abine historically pledged we will never sell your data. However, the current policy’s business transfers clause says they may sell or share your PII in a company sale or merger. This is a notable caveat flagged by Consumer Reports: some privacy minded subscribers might not want their information to be used this way. In practice, it means if Abine is acquired, your data could change hands. Aside from that, DeleteMe shares your data with third parties only as needed to deliver the service: e.g. with affiliates, payment processors, or consultants, and with law enforcement if subpoenaed. They also say they may use anonymized, aggregated data for lawful business purposes, analytics and improvement.

Storage location isn’t explicitly stated, but Abine is headquartered in Massachusetts, USA, so data presumably resides on U.S. cloud servers. For EU users, DeleteMe claims GDPR compliance even mentioning a designated EU representative. Canadian privacy rules PIPEDA and California’s CCPA/CPRA also apply DeleteMe cites adherence to those as well. In any case, your PII is within Abine’s control subject to U.S. and local law. You should assume DeleteMe can access and decrypt all data you gave them at any time since it runs removal processes on it. If you cancel, the policy is not clear on deletion. Typically, companies retain data for a while, so you may want to inquire directly. In summary: DeleteMe collects exactly what you provide plus usage metadata, uses it strictly to request deletions, but could share it under certain business or legal conditions.

Identity Protection & Risk Reduction

DeleteMe’s product is not a full identity theft protection suite. It is narrowly focused on data broker opt outs. As such, it does not include the typical identity theft features dark web monitoring, credit alerts, insurance that some privacy bundles offer. In fact, Abine explicitly states: Unfortunately, you can’t erase info from the dark web. Their guidance on dark web concerns is to secure your accounts’ strong unique passwords, 2FA, credit freezes, etc. rather than trying to remove anything from stolen data sites.

The monitoring DeleteMe provides is continuous scanning of known public databases. Once you’re in their system, they repeatedly check the listed broker sites for any new instances of your data and re-send removal requests as needed, all year long. So in a way, they alert you to and remove reappearances on those sites via the quarterly reports. Users appreciate this ongoing service. However, no alerts are issued for unrelated security events if your email or password leaks in a breach, DeleteMe won’t notify you if other services do that. Also, if a data broker refuses to delete some sites-resist, DeleteMe may not notify you beyond in progress. The removal reports focus on broker listings only.

In short, DeleteMe reduces exposure to opportunistic harvesting of your info by commercial aggregators. This can indirectly reduce spam calls or address targeted ads. Some users say it does cut spam; one person noted far fewer spam calls after using it. But that benefit is anecdotal. DeleteMe offers no coverage of stolen credit card data, criminal database removals, or anything outside of its broker roster. In practice, the risk reduction is moderate: it removes some attack surfaces from data brokers but leaves many others untouched. If your main fear is identity theft via data broker lists, DeleteMe helps. If you want protection from phishing, ransomware, or payment fraud, you’ll need additional tools.

Breach History & Trust Signals

We found no public record of any security breach or data leak involving DeleteMe’s service or servers. Vendor rating sites like UpGuard report No recent security news for DeleteMe. In other words, no breach disclosures have been made. That said, DeleteMe’s parent company Abine did have a notable incident with its password manager product Blur back in 2019. Abine admitted that an AWS storage misconfiguration exposed a file of Blur users’ data emails, names, password hints, IPs, and hashed passwords. No plain text passwords or payment data were exposed, and Abine reported no evidence that the data was actually accessed by attackers. While this was a separate product, it shows Abine has experienced a cloud data exposure. Abine apologized and said it was embarrassing and frustrating. Importantly, there’s no indication DeleteMe was involved. DeleteMe appears never to have suffered a direct hack or leak, but customers should note this history in case of future corporate missteps.

Audits & transparency: DeleteMe markets a high bar for compliance. As noted, they claim SOC 2 Type II attestation and routinely update their security practices. They also display badges on their site for GDPR compliance and SOC 2. However, there are no publicly released audit reports or bug bounty findings that we could find. The SOC2 is not self certification, but beyond the claim, no details are shared. They do encourage vulnerability reports to security@, which is a positive sign of at least listening. No transparency reports e.g. on government data requests are published.

Vendor ratings and reviews: On the plus side, DeleteMe has earned external praise. For example, The New York Times Wirecutter in 2025 named DeleteMe the best data removal service for ease of use and comprehensiveness. PCMag has given it an Excellent rating. It carries an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau BBB. These endorse the user experience and support quality, but recall they focus on usability rather than the nitty gritty of deletion success or data practices. On Trustpilot as of late 2025 DeleteMe has an overall score around 4.1/5 hundreds of reviews, with many users citing good support and fewer spam calls, though a few note that any company can curate reviews. In security focused circles, experts say DeleteMe generally works but is not magic.

Bug bounty: No formal bug bounty program is advertised. The security page simply invites ethical hackers to email issues, but no reward is mentioned. Lack of a structured disclosure program is common for smaller companies, but bigger security conscious firms often do have bounties. This is a mild negative in trust signals: technically inclined users might prefer a service that publicly rewards bug reporting.

Usability & Failure Scenarios

Ease of use: DeleteMe is straightforward. You sign up on the web, fill in your PII datasheet, and the system takes over. The dashboard as seen in  tests is clean and graphical, showing charts of how many listings were found, removed, or pending. In internal screenshots, DeleteMe emphasizes summary stats brokers removed, records deleted. Reports arrive by email the first one in ~7 days and quarterly thereafter. Many users find this simple interface a plus compared to handling dozens of opt out forms themselves.

Failure and lockout risks: There are few catastrophic failure modes. If you forget your password, DeleteMe offers the usual email reset process as in most web services. You can enable 2FA for extra security. If you somehow lose access to your account, say you change email and can’t receive the reset link, you’d need to contact their support team. DeleteMe stores your data only on their servers, so losing your account mainly means you lose control of ongoing removals but your PII is still with them unless you cancel and request deletion.

If a data broker refuses to honor a deletion request some sites, especially outside the US, are less cooperative, DeleteMe usually passes along instructions on what else can be done, or marks it as unremovable. In practice, expect a fraction of sites never agreeing. The service has no special backup plan for those cases beyond manual escalation attempts.

One limitation is cancellation: you prepay for a year or two. If you decide the service isn’t working for you after the first quarter, refunds are not guaranteed. In fact, one comparison notes no refund after the first report. You can get a refund only if requested before the very first privacy report is delivered. After that, the money is spent even if you want out. So the risk is that you might pay for a year and find only modest results.

Synchronization issues aren’t relevant since this isn’t a multi device tool. There is no local storage besides your login; all operations are on DeleteMe’s cloud. If the site ever has a downtime, it delays removals but won’t corrupt your data.

Edge cases: If your name is extremely common, DeleteMe might find many false matches e.g. other John Smiths. They encourage you to supply as much identifying info as possible to narrow it. If you later change your name or have children, you’d need to update or add new profiles manually. Also, the service won’t remove data from everyone in your household. Each person needs their own account though they offer family/team discounts.

Finally, keep in mind: once you stop paying, DeleteMe stops scanning. Any data brokers repopulating your information then stay. We tested the process workflow e.g. the datasheet form, the report interface via screenshots and found them logical and complete, but actual removal success varies greatly by individual. The worst failure scenario is financial: you pay for a year’s subscription and see little change in spam volume or search results. That’s possible given the ~27% removal rate reported by Consumer Reports. Always start with the shortest term available to test it on your data.

Pricing & Value

DeleteMe is relatively expensive compared to fully automated competitors. For a single person, the current cost is about $129 for one year. They also sell two year plans around $209 for two years, as noted by some reviewers. Unlike some services, there is no monthly plan; it’s annual or multi year billing. In return, you get quarterly reports and ongoing work by privacy advisors humans plus automation. They claim this labor is part of why the price is higher.

By comparison, some competitors charge $4–8 per month. For example, surfshark’s Incogni, a largely automated service advertises around $50–$100/year as part of package deals. OneRep formerly Onerep charges ~$8.33 monthly or ~$100/year for individuals, but covers fewer countries and site types. Kanary even offers a limited free plan. So the up front cost of DeleteMe is high.

DeleteMe offers family and business plans. Their site and press material mention team options e.g. covers up to 6 or 10 people for teams. Pricing for multiple people is custom quoted, but presumably a modest premium per additional person. There’s no ambush auto renewal: you must explicitly pay to renew.

As for value, it depends on how much you value your time and privacy. If the thought of filling dozens of opt out forms makes you cringe, paying $129/year for automation might be worth it. However, Consumer Reports and some experts argue most users could do a good chunk of these removals themselves with some effort, they found manual opt outs got 70% results in 4 months vs DeleteMe’s 27%. In other words, the service may only achieve a little more than you could do with patience and free effort.

There’s also no add on tiers, the service is pretty all or nothing. You get unlimited updates within your plan, but no extra paid features like identity insurance or password monitoring. Those extras are typically sold by companies like Aura or IdentityGuard, not by DeleteMe.

In sum, the cost is on the high side for what you get. The advantage is the human in the loop approach and customer support. If risk reduction is measured in actual records removed, DeleteMe delivers a modest fraction and competing services may match it at lower price. If risk reduction is measured in less annoyance, fewer calls, and more peace of mind, then many users feel it’s a justifiable expense. It comes down to how much that convenience is worth to you vs. going DIY or choosing a cheaper automated alternative.

Pros & Cons

• Pros:
  
  • Effective Partial Removal: Covers a very large list of data brokers 750+ sites and uses both automated tools and privacy experts to handle opt outs. Often quicker than DIY.
    
  • Transparency & Reporting: Provides clear reports and a dashboard showing what listings were found and removed users and testers found the interface informative.
    
  • Continuous Scanning: Re checks broker sites all year, resubmitting removals if new listings pop up.
    
  • Established Reputation: Been in business since 2011 with A+ BBB rating, positive coverage from NYT Wirecutter and PCMag named Excellent in category. SOC2 audited, strong encryption, and GDPR/CCPA compliance.
    
  • Customer Support: Dedicated support team; many users note polite, helpful service. Offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee meaning they claim to address any issues you have.
    
• Cons:
  
  • High Cost: Around $129/year individual significantly more than some automated rivals. No monthly option unless part of an expensive enterprise.
    
  • Incomplete Coverage: Independent tests found DeleteMe removes only a minority of broker listings CR found ~27% in 4 months. Many sites require manual follow up and only 40–60 custom requests per year are included in higher plans.
    
  • Ongoing Need: No permanence. Brokers often reacquire your data, so you must renew yearly or lose all gains. Not a set and forget once and done solution.
    
  • Privacy Policy Caveats: Their policy now allows sharing your data in a merger or sale, contrary to earlier promises. Some auditors warn this may unsettle privacy purists.
    
  • Limited Scope: Only removes data from public brokers; it won’t touch anything on social networks, credit bureaus, dark web, or anything not in the broker list. No identity theft insurance or credit monitoring, you must buy those separately if needed.
    
  • Refund Policy: Essentially non refundable after the initial report. If you’re unsatisfied, you can’t easily get your money back mid term.
    

Who Should Use DeleteMe?

Ideal users: Privacy conscious individuals who value time savings. For example, busy parents, professionals, or seniors who want fewer spam calls and less risk of casual doxxing by strangers or distant relatives. People with uncommon names or who have been targeted by spammers may benefit more easily from pinpoint data. Residents in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, etc., where DeleteMe actively removes info. Families can use it, each member needs an account, so small households wanting broad protection might subscribe collectively. Also, anyone who tried DIY removal and found it frustrating would appreciate the assistance. In short: if you hate paperwork and want to set it and forget it, feel remembering only to renew, DeleteMe is for you.

Poor fit: People on a tight budget or who are comfortable doing opt outs themselves all federal opt out information is public and free to submit. If your main concern is high tech threats hacking, stalking, surveillance, DeleteMe is the wrong tool you’d need a VPN, password manager, or identity guard instead. Also, if you expect complete privacy or plan to engage in dubious activities, crime, whistleblowing and think DeleteMe can erase all traces, that’s a false expectation. Data brokers are just one frontier; don’t use DeleteMe as a shield for illegal or unethical behavior. Lastly, if you live outside its supported countries, many sites won’t apply delete lists, mostly US/English brokers.

False sense of security: Be aware that DeleteMe is not a magic bullet. We must warn buyers not to assume total safety. If someone is specifically targeting you and already has your info e.g. an ex or a criminal hacker, DeleteMe won’t stop them. Data can reappear, and DeleteMe won’t stop you from appearing in places it doesn’t touch like health or court records. Use DeleteMe as one layer of defense, a valuable one against casual mass scraping, but supplement it with strong passwords, privacy settings on social media, credit freezes, etc.

FAQs

DeleteMe is a legitimate and generally effective data removal service, but it’s not a magic privacy genie. It does automate and simplify the tedious process of opting out from dozens of data broker sites, and many users report meaningful reductions in spam and unwanted exposure. The company backs its service with serious security measures, encryption, SOC2 audits and responsive support. On the other hand, it solves only one part of the privacy puzzle. Its removal rates are middling, the scope excludes many types of data, and you must keep paying to stay gone. Importantly, DeleteMe’s privacy policy now allows sharing your info in certain corporate events, which is worth noting for the most paranoid users.

In the end, DeleteMe earns a cautious recommendation: use it if you’re serious about reducing your public footprint and willing to pay for convenience. It’s especially suitable if you’ve already tried and struggled to manually opt out or if spam calls have become unbearable. However, don’t overestimate its powers. Continue practicing other privacy best practices alongside it. As one user put it, DeleteMe helps by shaving off a chunk of data exposure, but it won’t render you invisible. Treat it as a time saving tool, a helpful guardrail, not a fortress.

About the Author

Mohammed Khalil is a Cybersecurity Architect at DeepStrike and the owner of CyberTrustLog.com. Specializing in advanced penetration testing and offensive security operations, he holds certifications including CISSP, OSCP, and OSWE. Mohammed has led numerous red team engagements for Fortune 500 companies, focusing on cloud security, application vulnerabilities, and adversary emulation. His work involves dissecting complex attack chains and developing resilient defense strategies for clients in the finance, healthcare, and technology sectors.