DeleteMe vs Optery: Which Is Better in 2026?

Side-by-side comparison

Feature	DeleteMe	Optery
Our score	7.1/10	8.8/10
Free plan	No, one-time free scan	Free Basic, no time limit, no card
Paid plans per year	$129 (1 person), $209 for 2 years	Core $39, Extended $149, Ultimate $249
Renewal price at checkout	Not shown, “current or full retail rate”	Not shown, terms say “then-current non-promotional rate”
Total and tax before the card	$129.00, no tax line	Not shown until a card is added
Domains on the published list	957	944
Named sites on the entry plan	91 marked Standard	152 on Core (380 with Expanded Reach)
Control people-search sites, entry plan	10 of 16	4 of 16 on Core
Control people-search sites, top plan	10 of 16 (Standard)	13 of 16 on Ultimate
Custom removal requests	40 a year	Ultimate only, from day 30
Removal frequency	Scans 4 times a year	Monthly automated scans and removals
Refund	Full before the first report, prorated after	30 days on the first purchase
Account deletion	Dashboard button, per the help center	In Account, by typing DELETE (screen seen in a free account)
Support	Phone, chat, email. Email answered in about 6 minutes	Chat said to be 24/7. Answered in about 20 minutes
Who can sign up	U.S. plans, separate international plans	U.S., Canada (not Quebec), Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. 18+
Price	See planAffiliate link · how it works →	See plan

Prices verified on 10/08/2026 on DeleteMe’s and Optery’s sites. Coverage numbers are from the Data Removal Coverage Index.

Price and value

Optery is cheaper to start, and DeleteMe is cheaper for the big sites. On 10/08/2026 Optery Core cost $39 a year and Extended $149, against $129 for DeleteMe’s 1-person plan. But the plans don’t cover the same sites. Whitepages, FastPeopleSearch, TruePeopleSearch and PeopleFinders are on DeleteMe’s Standard plan, and on Optery only in Ultimate at $249 a year.

Optery has a real free plan. Free Basic scans brokers and shows where your profiles appear, with screenshots and links, and you send the opt-outs yourself. DeleteMe’s free scan checks about 30 sites once and blurs the results.

Checkout honesty

Neither shows the renewal price before payment. DeleteMe’s checkout showed $129.00 with no tax line for a New York address, and its terms say the plan renews “at either the current or full retail rate.” Optery’s Core checkout showed no total, tax or renewal amount before a card was entered, and its terms say plans renew at the “then-current non-promotional rate.” DeleteMe’s checkout gave more information before the card step.

Coverage: which brokers each one removes you from

Both lists are long, and both split them by plan. DeleteMe’s list had 957 unique domains on 10/08/2026, with 91 marked for its Standard plan. Optery’s list had 944, and its pricing page says Core removes from “380+ Sites (or 150+ Sites without enabling Expanded Reach).”

On our 16 control people-search sites, DeleteMe’s Standard plan covers 10. Optery Core covers 4 (Spokeo, MyLife, That’s Them and Acxiom), Extended adds BeenVerified and PeopleLooker, and Ultimate reaches 13, including Intelius, TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate. DeleteMe’s help center says those three PeopleConnect sites don’t accept its requests at all.

Results: what independent tests found

One independent test measured both. Consumer Reports and Tall Poppy checked 13 people-search sites for 32 volunteers from May to September 2023, with four volunteers per service. After four months, Optery’s Ultimate plan had removed 68% of the volunteers’ profiles and DeleteMe 27%. After one week the numbers were 52% and 13% (Consumer Reports, “Data Defense,” published 08/08/2024). The test is three years old, used Optery’s top plan at $249, and both services may have changed since.

A 2025 peer-reviewed study at PoPETs compared broker lists collected in 2024 and found DeleteMe’s and Optery’s were the two largest, with 759 and 743 brokers. It didn’t measure DeleteMe’s removals.

Data handling and cancellation

Optery asked for less at sign-up: name, country, email, password, state, city and birth year. DeleteMe asks for your full name, date of birth, current and past addresses, phone and email for its datasheet. Neither asks for a Social Security number. In Optery’s free account, the deletion screen in Account asks you to type DELETE to confirm (10/08/2026). DeleteMe’s help center describes a “Delete my account” button. Optery’s refund window is 30 days on the first purchase. DeleteMe refunds in full until your first report and prorates after.

What people say

I found 6 threads comparing the two between 10/2024 and 10/2026, plus 4 removed by moderators. Two reasons passed our threshold, and I didn’t verify each case:

• Cost over time: 5 mentions describe using Optery for a month or two and then canceling because the ongoing price didn’t feel justified. One Hacker News user wrote, “I couldn’t justify paying for it monthly but if I was a semi-important person it might be worth it” (Hacker News, 08/13/2025).
• Listings come back: 3 mentions say profiles reappear after Optery’s removals, “an eternal whack a mole game” (r/IdentityTheft, 04/16/2026).

Claims that Optery simply beats DeleteMe came up twice, below our threshold.

What it’s like to be a U.S. customer

	DeleteMe	Optery
What you’ll pay at checkout	$129.00, no tax, renewal not shown	Core $39, total and tax shown only after the card
What’s in the plan	91 Standard domains, 40 custom requests	Core 152 named sites, monthly removals
How to cancel and get a refund	Renewal toggle. Full refund before the first report	Cancel Plan in Account. 30-day refund
Personal data asked	Name, DOB, addresses, phone, email	Name, city, state, birth year, email
Who can sign up	U.S. plans, separate international plans	U.S. and four other countries, 18+
Support	Email answered in about 6 minutes	Chat answered in about 20 minutes
Inside the account	Not opened, payment required	Free account opened: first scan in about 25 minutes

Full details are in the DeleteMe review and the Optery review.

Who should pick DeleteMe

• You want Whitepages, FastPeopleSearch and TruePeopleSearch covered without paying $249.
• You want staff to take custom requests and phone support on the basic plan.

Who should pick Optery

• You want to see where you appear before paying, with links you can opt out of yourself.
• You’re on a budget: Core is $39 a year.
• You want monthly removals and are willing to pay for Ultimate to reach the most people-search sites.

Verdict

Optery wins overall, 8.8/10 against DeleteMe’s 7.1: the free plan shows your exposure, and Core is cheap. DeleteMe is still the better mid-price buy if the big people-search sites are your problem. In the only independent test with both, Consumer Reports’ 2023 study, Optery’s top plan removed far more profiles, but that plan costs $249 and the data is three years old.

What we checked

• Test accounts: Optery Free Basic opened 10/08/2026, first scan finished in about 25 minutes. DeleteMe has no free plan, so only its free scan was run
• Checkout: both taken to the payment step on 10/08/2026. DeleteMe showed $129.00, no tax, no renewal amount. Optery showed no total, tax or renewal amount before a card was added
• Coverage: both published lists counted on 10/08/2026 (DeleteMe 957 domains, Optery 944), plus 16 control people-search sites by plan
• Vendor pages: pricing, terms, privacy policies and help centers of both — captured 10/08/2026
• Support: one question to each on 10/08/2026. DeleteMe answered by email in about 6 minutes, Optery by chat in about 20

FAQ