Every time you sign up for a service, shop online, or download an app, your personal data is collected, often by data brokers you’ve never heard of. These companies store, sell, and share your data, usually without your knowledge or permission.
Incogni is a service that promises to remove your data from such online databases and help you regain control over your privacy. But does it actually deliver?
In this Incogni review, we’ll break down how Incogni works, what it costs, and whether it lives up to its claims based on real user feedback.
Incogni at a Glance
Incogni is a personal data removal service founded by Surfshark, a company known for various privacy and security tools, including a VPN.
The service was created in response to an alarming data privacy issue: data brokers and similar entities that collect your personal information from various sources, including public databases and social media. The data is later sold to other organizations (usually without your knowledge or consent) that use it for targeted marketing, audience segmentation, or risk assessments.
Incogni addresses this issue by contacting data brokers and similar companies on your behalf and requesting that they remove information related to you from their records.
Who Is Incogni For?
Incogni is suitable for people who are:
- Worried about their online privacy
- Determined to minimize exposure to unsolicited messages and calls
- Concerned about online fraud
- Working in high-risk professions and want to prevent harassment and cybercrime
How Does Incogni Work?
To use the platform, you need to create an account and purchase a monthly or yearly subscription. After signing an authorization form, Incogni can legally act on your behalf to request the removal of your personal data from third-party databases.
Incogni asks for basic personal information, such as your name, email address, and date of birth, to locate your records across known data broker systems.
Once it locates matching information, Incogni automatically sends data removal requests to companies, leveraging privacy laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which require these companies to comply. As a result, your data becomes harder to find online over time, potentially reducing spam, scam calls and messages, and phishing attempts.
What Does Incogni Offer? An Overview
To provide a comprehensive review of Incogni, we’ve analyzed its notable features and capabilities, including:
- Data removal capabilities
- User interface
- Automation options
- Customer support
- Pricing
1. Data Removal Capabilities
Incogni offers two types of data removals:
- Automatic removals: Incogni can contact over 400 predefined data brokers on your behalf to request the removal of your personal data from their records.
- Custom removals: You can send links to websites that display your information and ask Incogni to send removal requests, even if those websites aren’t on the company’s predefined data broker list.
Incogni is transparent about which data brokers it works with. It provides a detailed list that includes broker names, URLs, and categories like people search sites, marketing firms, and financial data companies. It also offers insight into data sensitivity scores based on the type of information the broker collects; for example, health and financial data have higher scores than demographic data.
For brokers with suppression lists, Incogni can request that your data be excluded, so it will no longer be collected to recreate your profile.
While these data removal capabilities sound impressive, there are limitations to consider. Incogni’s broker list is continually updated, and some companies may be temporarily unavailable due to compliance checks.
There’s also a slight mismatch between Incogni’s marketing and its broker list. For example, the platform mentions sites like PeopleFinder and Checkpeople in its blog posts, suggesting that it can help users delete their data from them, but these names don’t appear on its current broker list.
This inconsistency may raise questions among users; however, Incogni’s data removal features remain effective overall.
2. User Interface
A simple user interface is crucial for data removal services like Incogni. Without it, you can’t keep track of the number of requests the service handled, making it difficult to assess its efficiency.
Incogni excels in this area. It offers a clean dashboard that displays the following information in real time:
- Requests sent: Includes all sent requests, including both initial and recurring ones
- Requests in progress: Displays the number of brokers that have initiated processing the request
- Requests completed: Indicates how many brokers removed your data. It also includes brokers that didn’t have your data to begin with, which can create a false sense of efficiency
To demonstrate its efficiency, Incogni shows how much time it saves handling your requests on your behalf. The platform also displays the number of suppression list entries, showing how many brokers will never recollect your personal information.
The dashboard features an activity log, which allows you to track recent updates to your data removal requests. While helpful, the activity log has some limitations. It displays only 15 items at a time and often shows multiple notifications for the same data broker.
For a more comprehensive review, you can use the Detailed view page, where you can see and filter progress for private and public databases, check compliance scores, and monitor the status of ongoing requests.
Overall, Incogni’s user interface is clear and intuitive, although more tech-savvy users may prefer a more granular overview. For example, the service doesn’t specify which pieces of data were removed or provide explanations for incomplete requests.
3. Automation Options
All data removal requests (other than custom ones) are automated. After signing up, you’re not required to take any action to start the removal process.
Some data brokers may delete your info after Incogni’s request, only to add it again after some time. To address this, Incogni offers the recurring data removal requests feature, which enables continuous requests to ensure your information stays out of data brokers’ systems for as long as your subscription is active.
The feature is included in all plans, and you don’t have to take any action to activate the automation.
Another automated feature you get with Incogni is monthly progress reports. Each month, you’ll receive a detailed overview of removal statuses, enabling you to constantly monitor the service’s efficiency.
One limitation to note is Incogni’s lack of integrations. Some competing data removal services connect with your email accounts to identify companies that hold your data and send removal requests directly from your inbox, which helps the verification process. Incogni doesn’t currently offer this functionality, which could be a drawback for those looking for more advanced capabilities.
4. Customer Support
Users can reach out to Incogni’s customer support team via:
- Email: Send an email to support@incogni.com
- Form: Fill out this form
- Live chat: Click the dialog bubble at the bottom right corner of the screen when you sign up
Although it’s not possible to contact customer support by phone, user experiences are generally positive, with multiple users praising the team’s helpfulness and speed.
That said, there are also some complaints. One user in particular reported that the customer support team was managed by bots as they continued to receive emails from the service’s “support staff” even after canceling their subscription.
5. Pricing
Incogni offers four subscription plans, as outlined in the table below:
Shown prices apply to the yearly subscription. You can select monthly plans, but in addition to them being more expensive, Incogni itself points out their major flaw: some data removal requests take more than 30 days to process, and if you cancel your plan after one month, some removals may remain uncompleted. Alternatively, requests may be completed, but your data may reappear after a certain period.
Reviews of Incogni: What Do Users Say About the Platform?
Incogni’s reviews are mixed; users either love the service or are disappointed with it.
Many describe it as a trustworthy service that has led to a significant decrease in their personal data exposure, as well as a reduction in spam emails and robocalls. Others highlight its convenience. The service is easy to use and doesn’t require much work on the users’ end since removal requests are automated.
Not all users share this experience. One user in particular complained that they didn’t notice any improvements in the amount of spam they received, even after two months of paying for the Incogni subscription. They pointed out that the spam situation became worse after they subscribed. Another reviewer claimed they received more spam than before and were denied a refund.
A recurring issue that users mention is the sudden rise in spam messages and calls after canceling the subscription. This led some users to believe there is a data leak issue on Incogni’s end, although the service denied such claims.
Final Verdict: Should You Get an Incogni Subscription?
Despite the divided opinions on the service’s efficiency, most Incogni user reviews are positive, confirming that the service is legitimate and helpful for many. If you’re concerned about online privacy or constantly exposed to spam, Incogni can be a valuable tool.
Still, it’s important to understand its limitations. Incogni can’t remove your data from every website and broker, nor can it fully protect your privacy. Like other data removal platforms, it’s only one part of a broader privacy strategy, especially when you consider how much of your personal information is exposed through other channels.
One major, yet often overlooked, privacy risk is your mobile carrier. Using a carrier’s services typically requires providing a large amount of personal information. Even major carriers, such as AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, have been criticized for weak data policies. All three companies have experienced major breaches in recent years, putting millions of users at risk.
While Incogni can help reduce your online data exposure, it can’t protect you from leaks and breaches at the carrier level. Choosing a privacy-focused mobile carrier, such as Cape, can be a step up in enhancing your digital security and privacy.
Cape Makes Security the Standard
Mainstream carriers track you, often without your consent. Cape takes a different path. Unlike traditional carriers, Cape doesn’t harvest your data. Our network is engineered to minimize exposure to surveillance and keep your communications private.
Cape’s mobile core is software-based and lives in the cloud. This gives us a unique ability to implement modern security protocols quickly and control how subscriber and usage data interacts with our network systems.
In addition to a strong foundation, Cape offers several other privacy and security features:
Own Full Control of Your Communications: Switch to Cape Now
For $99/month, you get:
- Unlimited SMS and calls
- Unlimited 4G/5G
- Free international roaming (for eligible countries and devices)
The price includes all federal, state, and municipal taxes. No hidden charges or predatory contracts.
We’ve also partnered with Proton so Cape subscribers can extend security beyond the network. Cape subscribers can get Proton Unlimited or Proton VPN Plus for only $1 for six months.
Sign up anonymously in minutes. Visit cape.co/get-cape to switch to Cape today.
