Incogni is a web app that automates personal data removal requests from a handful of data brokers. It costs $5.79 monthly (if you pay annually) and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. You’ll likely see results from this service in
Incogni gave me a trial of this product, and I wanted to record my experience. But I won’t hold back.
Throughout this review, I’ll cover the following information:
Let’s get started.
| Price | $6.49-$12.99/mo. |
| Number of Data Brokers Supported | 114 |
| Available in | US, UK, and the EU |
| Time it takes to remove data | Up to 45 days |
Incogni Pros & Cons
Here are the strengths and weaknesses of Incogni Surfshark:
Pros
- Requires a Power of Attorney
- Simple signup process
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Easy to track responses from removal requests
Cons
- No 2FA login
- No family plan
- Only one email per account
- You can’t confirm whether data brokers deleted your data
What Is Incogni?
Incogni is a service that automates data removal requests from hundreds of data brokers. They’ll contact data brokers on your behalf and demand that the companies remove your data from your website.
While you can request data brokers to request your data yourself, this is a time-consuming task. I spent several hours contacting around 10 (I think) data brokers. Half of which I never received responses from.
These companies could also just obtain your data again later and repost it. A service like Incogni would monitor these brokers to ensure they don’t add your data again.
Incogni Features
Surfshark Incogni automates personal data removals from over 114 data brokers worldwide. Otherwise, there aren’t many features.
It’s a tool with 1 purpose. What else would you expect?
Incogni only allows you to add a single email to your account. However, they claim it’s a “high priority” on their roadmap [1]. It appears they add features at a quick rate, so hopefully, this will appear soon.
How Incogni Deals With Data Removal Requests
Incogni uses a mysterious algorithm to use the information you provide them to scour the web for websites with your information.
Information that Incogni will cross-reference includes your name, home address, and email. In my experience, it seems like they blindly send data removal requests, which I’m okay with.
Because I’ve received emails like these:
They claim that they don’t have any of my data on their website.
Anyway:
Incogni sends emails to data brokers and uses the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and other privacy laws to force the company to remove your data.
If you’re not in the E.U. countries, the United Kingdom, or California, this approach may not work. However, some companies may not put forth the effort to look into their request and keep your data.
And if this approach does work, companies adhering to the CCPA must remove data within 30 days. Meanwhile, they must remove E.U. (or the U.K.) citizens’ data within 45 days.
Everyone’s experience with Incogni will differ.
2 days after signing up for the service, they completed 18 data removals. And 10 days later, they completed an additional 10 removals.
I’ll update this review as more requests are complete.
Data Privacy With Incogni
Incogni won’t sell your information, but they WILL share it with partners who deliver their service:
| Mailchimp | Tune Inc. | Cloudflare | Google (Analytics) |
| Paddle.com | Zendesk | DigitalOcean | Sentry |
You can opt-out of Google Analytics by entering this link into your browser’s address bar:
tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
Most websites use Cloudflare. Plus, they’re incredibly secure.
DigitalOcean is their website hosting provider.
Paddle deals with their payments. For instance, your bills will show “Payment to Paddle.com.”
Zendesk is their customer service platform.
They’ll only give Mailchimp your email address. And according to their Privacy Department customer service, Tune gets anonymized data for purchasing statistics.
If you don’t like using Incogni and want to remove your data, you can do so by emailing [email protected] They’re legally required to erase your data unless it’s legally required to keep it.
It took them a couple of days to reply, but everyone’s experience will differ.
Incogni is based in the Netherlands, like Surfshark VPN.
That means it’s within the Nine Eyes alliance. A Nine Eyes means governments can log, monitor, and exchange data. Countries within this alliance include:
- United States
- Netherlands
- France
- Denmark
- Norway
- Australia
- United Kingdom
- New Zealand
- Canada
That means governments can request data from companies and share it with other companies. And Incogni must comply with these laws.
Incogni Price
Incogni’s pricing structure is as follows for one person:
| Frequency | Monthly Cost | Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Annual | $6.49/mo. | $77.88 |
| Monthly | $12.99/mo. | $155.88 |
I recommend getting 1 month of Incogni to test their service. That way, if you’re not satisfied with their results, you can use their 30-day money-back guarantee.
And if you love them, you can transfer to an annual plan.
They accept US dollars, Canadian Dollars, British pounds, and Euros.
You can pay for your subscription using a Visa or MasterCard bank card. If you don’t feel comfortable giving Incogni your card information, use a burner virtual card service like Privacy.
They also accept PayPal.
Incogni Deals and Discounts
Incogni does not currently have any discounts.
Data Broker Companies Incogni Will Deal With
Here’s an extensive list of data broker companies that Incogni will send requests to:
| AccuData |
|---|
| Aged Lead Store |
| All Web Leads (AWL) |
| ASL marketing |
| Belardi Wong (BW) |
| BidSwitch |
| Bookyourdata |
| Censia |
| Compast |
| Complete Mailing Lists |
| Complete Medical lists |
| Contacts411 |
| Cowen (Kyber Data Science) |
| DecaData |
| Degree.Me |
| Digital Media Solutions (DMS) |
| donorBase |
| Emsi |
| EproDirect |
| Fetchet |
| Firefly |
| FourLeafData |
| Growbots |
| Gunderson Direct |
| Homeowners Marketing |
| InfoPay |
| Intalytics |
| Lead Me media |
| ListsOnline |
| Little Brook Media |
| MediaWallah |
| Nexxa |
| PacificEast |
| PitchBook |
| PubMatic |
| PushHint |
| RecruitBot |
| Remodeling |
| RocketReach |
| SalesEngine |
| SalesIntel |
| Sawyer Lists |
| SentiLink |
| Swordfish |
| Tech target |
| Terrain Advisors |
| Traackr |
| UpLead |
| VenPath |
| W2O |
| Yansi |
| Yello |
| Zenrin |
| Exactag |
| adbility |
| Appier |
| Dailymotion |
| Cydersoft |
| Hashtag |
| Bandsintown |
| Ermes |
| adsquare |
| Cint |
| Confiant |
| Habu |
| AdDefend |
| Fifty |
| GlobalWebIndex |
| AdElement |
| Arkeero |
| GfK |
| Marfeel |
| PubWise |
| Smartology |
| VUUKLE |
| ThatsThem |
| GADSME |
| Sonobi |
| Public Record Search |
| StateRecords |
| Shopalyst |
| Mobsuccess |
| Mars |
| Alesco |
| Applecart |
| IntelliCorp |
| Milestone Marketing Solutions |
| PeopleLooker |
| The Data Group |
| Carney Direct |
| SearchQuarry |
| Semcasting |
| Site Impact |
| Sync.me |
| FullContact |
| Smart Traffik |
| MediaSoft |
| Optimal Fusion |
| Entelo |
| Dice |
| Giant Partners |
| Findmypast |
| True Influence |
| Cybba |
| Bliss Point Media |
| Connext Digital |
| ID5 |
| IntentMacro |
| Statara |
| List Service Direct |
| Pop Acta Media |
| ContactOut |
There are over 4,000 data broker companies worldwide [2]. While this list includes 2.85% of these companies, they don’t have some big players like Whitepages, Spokeo, and BeenVerified.
It appears that Incogni frequently adds new brokers. So they may add these websites later. But it is not guaranteed.
Either way, it helps to remove your information from as many sources as possible. Otherwise, no matter your effort, your information will still float around the internet.
Where Is Incogni Available?
Incogni is only available in Switzerland, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.
That’s because they can only legally request data removals in areas covered by laws like:
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- UK GDPR
- California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)
- Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)
As more regions enact data privacy laws, Incogni will expand its coverage.
How To Get Started With Using Incogni
Visit incogni.com and click the ‘Sign Up’ button. You can create an account for free, but you can’t do anything with it until picking a subscription.
Anyway:
They’ll first ask you to enter your email and password.
Ensure you use your most used email. Because this is the email, they’ll hunt for when removing information.
Upon landing on the dashboard, click ‘Start the Process.’
They’ll request personal information such as:
- Your full name: first, middle, and last (I didn’t see a ‘middle name’ field)
- Country of residence and billing
- Full address
Click ‘Next’ and they’ll have you read a ‘Power of Attorney’ contract.
Ensure you THOROUGHLY read through this. Then use your mouse (or a tablet) to sign your name.
Proceed to the next page, then check the inbox of the email address you provided. Click on the email received from Incogni, and it’ll redirect you to the dashboard. From there, you’ll choose your payment plan and payment method.
If you have a coupon, ensure you click the hyperlink text that says ‘Add Coupon’. Once added, you want to see text stating “BLANK coupon has been added.”
Upon successful payment, Incogni will automatically start hunting for data brokers.
Why Do I Need a Power of Attorney With Incogni?
A Power of Attorney authorizes Incogni to request data removal requests on your behalf. Without this document, anyone could request data removals from you.
How Do I Cancel Incogni?
Email [email protected] within 30 days of starting your subscription and ask them to cancel your account.
Upon completing your account cancellation, message [email protected] and ask them to delete all your personal data. In case they didn’t already.
If you have removal requests pending, the requests that Incogni sent to the data brokers will remain. Because data brokers have 45 days to respond to data removal notices [3]. So it’s not like Incogni can withdraw their requests.
What Is a Data Broker & Why Should You Care?
A data broker is a company that aggregates people’s personal information from various sources. From there, they will license your information to other companies.
In short, they find your information and sell it to other companies. From there, companies like telemarketers will have a way to blow your phone up with robocalls.
Unfortunately, most governments don’t care about them and enact laws to prevent them from operating.
Have you tried Googling yourself? If so, you may have found your name on a website like Whitepages. And you’re likely wondering, “How did they get my address?”
It’s dangerous to have your information online. As it could empower doxxing, stalkers, and other criminals. Imagine if they had a way to find out where you live by just knowing your name.
You can send data removal requests to these companies yourself. But it’s time-consuming. And even after they remove your data, they may add it later.
That’s why I’m testing services like Incogni. And hence, it’s why I want to spread awareness of the vile practices that data brokers engage in.
Incogni Customer Service: How To Reach Them
For general inquiries, refunds, and account support, message [email protected]. You can also use Incogni’s contact form.
But I’ve found that contact forms don’t offer the quickest results.
To exercise your data rights with Incogni, you can email [email protected]. However, they don’t appear to have the quickest response rate.
Their Twitter is @Incogni_aid, but I don’t believe it’s meant for customer support.
They have a frequently asked questions section that covers many questions for simple questions. Like “How to get started” or “Getting a refund.”
Incogni User Experience
The dashboard’s easy to read and visualizes the progress that Incogni made on removing your data. Then you’ll see ‘Helpful tips’ that answer commonly asked questions.
The ‘Detailed view” showcases every data broker they support and information like:
- Description: information about the company
- Category: shows what type of data they sell
- Status: how far along Incogni is with removing your data
- * Data sensitivity: the scale of 1-10 that shows what type of data brokers collect
* Higher sensitivity ratings means they have less information. A 10 would mean they only have phone numbers and names.
The account security worries me. At least with Surfshark VPN they have Time-based one-time password (TOTP) two-factor authentication. This is when you receive a randomized code from an app like Google Authenticator.
I’d prefer they use a security hardware key (like YubiKey). As that offers the most security.
It’s a bit stressful not having another layer of account security on a service that emphasizes online privacy.
Their settings section lacks customizability and accessibility. I’d love to see a dark mode toggle. And an area that can opt me out of marketing emails.
And for a personal data protection service, shouldn’t they make it easier to delete your account? As of the time of writing this piece, you have to email [email protected] to cancel your service.
Incogni Alternatives
Here’s how Incogni compares to its competitors:
| Company | Monthly Price (Per Person) | Annual Price (Per Person) | Number of Data Brokers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incogni | $5.79/mo. | $69.48 | 114+ |
| DeleteMe | $10.75/mo. | $129 | 30+ |
| Kanary | $9.99/mo. | $89.99 | 325+ |
| Onerep | $8.33/mo. | $99.96 | 190 |
| Brand Yourself | Depends on user | NA | 50+ |
This section’s here just to show you other data removal options exist. I want to use Incogni for longer before I can provide an in-depth comparison to their competition.
I want to explain a few points, though.
1 important feature that Incogni lacks compared to (for instance) Kanary is a family plan. I’m sure they’ll add it eventually, but that’s fairly disappointing.
DeleteMe is nice because they provide a guide on removing your data for free from data brokers like Whitepages [4]. I’ve used this guide to make data removal requests in the past.
Onerep has a 5-day trial, which doesn’t make sense since it can take up to a month to remove your data. But you can enter an unlimited number of addresses, phone numbers, and aliases.
Out of all these providers, Kanary was the only provider to specify how often they scan the data brokers to check whether they re-added your data.
FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions about Incogni.
Is Incogni Safe?
Incogni is safe in general. It doesn’t have any account login security, but they will honor data removal requests. They will also not sell your information to other companies.
Conclusion: Is Incogni Worth It?
It’s too early for me to say whether Incogni changed my life. However, it does make personal data removal A LOT easier.
It’s more affordable than their competitors and targets more data brokers.
Incogni, nor any other data removal service, doesn’t target EVERY data broker in existence. So no matter who you choose, you’ll likely have personal data floating around the internet somewhere.
Incogni could make a difference in preventing people from finding your data (like stalkers). And in the age of doxxing, hiding your data is important.
I recommend at least giving Incogni a try. Or wait a bit until they add support for more data brokers.
