DeleteMe vs. Hogo Privacy Defense 2024: Data Removal Service Duel

DeleteMe and Hogo Privacy Defense can both remove your private information from the internet, but DeleteMe reigns supreme with superior data removal services coupled with security features to help mask your email, phone, and card information.
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Best Overall Data Removal Service

4.9
Editorial Rating
Learn More
On DeleteMe's website

Privacy Protection
DeleteMe
Use code PARTNER20 for 20% off
  • Removes your data from the web to avoid scams, spam and stalkers
  • 100+ million successful opt-out removals
  • Provides continued removals every three months

Best for Bundled Protection

3.9
Editorial Rating
Learn More
On Hogo Privacy Defense's website

Privacy Protection
Hogo Privacy Defense
  • Easy to use and set up
  • Up to $25,000 in fraud insurance
  • Shares data for marketing purposes

Data removal services like DeleteMe and Hogo Privacy Defense can help track down and remove your information from data brokers, and DeleteMe won this comparison. We compared these two services, focusing on pricing, features, compatibility, and more to determine the best data removal service for you.

In this article
Review at a glance
Pricing
Features
Security
User experience
FAQs
DeleteMe vs. Hogo Privacy Defense: Which is better?

DeleteMe vs. Hogo Privacy Defense review at a glance

At their core, DeleteMe and Hogo Privacy Defense identify and remove your information from data brokers, but both services also offer additional features.

DeleteMe offers email, card, and phone masking for improved online security, while Hogo Privacy Defense offers additional identity theft insurance and credit monitoring. Let’s look at these plans, how they differ, and which is best for you.

DeleteMe vs. Hogo Privacy Defense compared

Star rating
4.9
3.9
Price $8.71–$27.42/mo Free or $5.99/mo
# of site removals 750+ Not specified
Privacy reports Yes — every 3 months
Family plan
Recurring removals
Custom removal requests
Encryption AES-256 and TLS 1.2 AES-256
Extras Email masking, phone masking, card masking Credit monitoring, financial account monitoring, identity theft insurance
Learn more Get DeleteMe

Read DeleteMe Review

Get Hogo Privacy Defense

Read Hogo Privacy Defense Review

How we test and rate data removal services

To review data removal services, we sign up for the service anywhere from a week to a month in advance. This allows it time to gather our data, scrub it from the data broker and people search sites, and send us reports on its process.

With so many data broker websites, you’ll want to make sure the one you choose sends requests to a lot of them, as well as follows up and searches for more. 

Once we've spent some time with the service, we calculate our editorial rating by taking into account key features, prices, security measures, and other criteria.

To learn more about how we test, check out our full testing methodology here.

DeleteMe pros and cons

Pros
  • Scans over 750 data broker sites to find and remove your information
  • Quarterly privacy reports
  • Additional security features
Cons
  • More expensive than some data removal services
  • No marketing opt-out list

Hogo Privacy Defense pros and cons

Pros
  • Basic features are free
  • Up to $25,000 in fraud insurance
  • Real-time credit monitoring and alerts
Cons
  • Premium plan lacks extensive features compared to other data removal services
  • No two-factor authentication

Which data removal service is the better value?

Our Pick
Number of people covered 1-2 1 or the entire household
Paid monthly N/A $5.99/mo
Paid annually $19.08/mo (billed annually) N/A
Paid every two years $14.54/mo (billed every two years) N/A
Money-back guarantee
Best value plan 2 Years, 2 People for $14.54/mo (billed every two years) Hogo Privacy Defense Premium for $5.99/mo
Learn more Get DeleteMe

Read DeleteMe Review

Get Hogo Privacy Defense

Read Hogo Privacy Defense Review

DeleteMe plans

DeleteMe offers a free scan that shows where your information is, but to remove your information, you need a paid plan. All three DeleteMe plans offer the same features, so the only differences are the number of people covered and the coverage duration.

DeleteMe doesn’t offer a free trial, but you can request a full refund before your first privacy report. You can request a pro-rated refund if you’ve received a privacy report and decide DeleteMe isn’t for you.

  • 1 Year, 1 Person: This plan offers a data broker opt-out, email, card, phone masking, and privacy reports every three months. DeleteMe doesn’t offer any real-time protection or any additional security features.
  • 1 Year, 2 People: This plan covers two people for data broker opt-out and improves security with email, card, and phone masking. Users receive privacy reports every three months.
  • 2 Years, 2 People: For two years, two people receive data removal service coverage, including data broker opt-out, email, phone and card masking, and regular privacy reports.

Hogo Privacy Defense plans

Hogo offers two plans: a free version and a premium subscription. The free option covers all the basics, such as scanning data broker sites for your information and sending removal requests. The premium plan offers data removal services, identity theft insurance, and real-time credit monitoring.

However, Hogo doesn’t offer a free trial or a money-back guarantee.

  • Free plan: One swipe data broker removals, $25K fraud insurance, and the ability to stop robocalls and scams are all included with the free plan.
  • Hogo Premium: Hogo premium provides unlimited removals for the entire household, monthly data broker scans, up to $1 million in identity theft insurance, credit and financial monitoring, and identity restoration.

Winner: Comparing these two data removal services, we have to give the win to DeleteMe. Hogo offers impressive identity theft and credit monitoring services, but Hogo’s data removal features are no match for DeleteMe.

Which data removal service has the better features?

Our Pick
Free scan
Data broker opt-out
Data broker site scans
Number of data brokers covered 750+ N/A
How often is data rechecked? Quarterly Bi-weekly
Monthly report
Marketing list removal
Email privacy
Privacy reports Yes — every 3 months
Real-time alerts
Social media account monitoring
Dark web monitoring
Credit monitoring
Fraud monitoring
Learn more Get DeleteMe

Read DeleteMe Review

Get Hogo Privacy Defense

Read Hogo Privacy Defense Review

When comparing data removal services, it’s important to examine the breadth of scanning. The more data brokers your data removal service scans, the more you can clear your information from the internet. DeleteMe offers more robust monitoring, scanning over 750 data brokers for your information. Hogo Privacy doesn’t specify the number of brokers, so we can’t compare exact numbers. We can say, however, that DeleteMe scans more data broker sites than many other data removal services we’ve tested.

DeleteMe sends regular reports, while Hogo doesn’t provide any reports. Granted, all the information is available on the dashboard, but getting a summarized activity report is nice.

Hogo Privacy offers bundled protection by providing real-time reports, credit and fraud monitoring, and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance for premium subscribers. These features certainly aren’t necessary for a data removal service plan, especially if you have that coverage in a different insurance policy, but it’s nice to have for some users.

If you're the victim of a scam and have Hogo Premium, you'll get recovery assistance through Hogo's partner, Iris Generali.

Additional features

It’s worth noting that while DeleteMe lacks some of the identity theft and credit monitoring features offered by Hogo Privacy, it comes with its own set of security-enhancing features. DeleteMe provides email, card, and phone masking to bolster your online anonymity.

DeleteMe's data masking options: email masking, phone masking, and card masking.
DeleteMe includes email, phone, and card masking privacy tools

Email masking allows you to create alternate email addresses that are linked or routed to your regular inbox, keeping your personal email address private. Card and phone masking work similarly, creating proxy numbers for you to use and keeping your personal information safe.

Winner: The additional identity theft features are nice to have, but we prefer robust data removal services and amenities to diminish our online footprint. This win goes to DeleteMe.

Which data removal service is more secure?

Data removal services collect a fair amount of data, which we expect. How else are these programs supposed to scour the internet for your information? With so much valuable information, we like to see top-notch encryption and enhanced security measures like two-factor or multi-factor authentication.

DeleteMe vs. Hogo Privacy Defense data security

Our Pick
Encryption AES-256 and TLS 1.2 AES-256
Two-factor authentication
Multi-factor authentication
Collects data Minimal
Shares data with third parties Minimal
Learn more Get DeleteMe

Read DeleteMe Review

Get Hogo Privacy Defense

Read Hogo Privacy Defense Review

We were pleased to see DeleteMe and Hogo Privacy Defense both offer military-grade encryption, which is virtually uncrackable using brute-force methods. While no encryption system is completely secure, we can rest easy knowing both services use exceptional encryption.

With Hogo Privacy Defense, however, account credentials lack some of the same security. When guarding such sensitive information, we would love to see advanced security measures like a minimum of two-factor authentication. While we would love to see multi-factor authentication, we were satisfied with DeleteMe’s two-factor authentication to improve account security.

Winner: DeleteMe and Hogo Privacy Defense both offer AES-256 encryption, which wins them both major brownie points. But DeleteMe’s two-factor authentication cinches the win in the data security category. Plus, Hogo Privacy Defense collects more extensive data and shares it with third parties, including for marketing purposes, which is a big downside.

Which data removal service has the better user experience?

Our Pick
Windows
macOS
Android
iOS
24/7 customer support
Customer support options Phone, live chat, email Email, online guides, blog
Learn more Get DeleteMe

Read DeleteMe Review

Get Hogo Privacy Defense

Read Hogo Privacy Defense Review

DeleteMe was easy to install and use. We input our information, and DeleteMe got to work searching its database of 750+ data brokers for it. The DeleteMe dashboard is intuitive and easy to use, displaying information about our last report and subscription.

DeleteMe's privacy dashboard with report info, subscription info, and data broker statistics.
DeleteMe privacy dashboard

We entered our information on Monday morning and received our first report on Saturday morning. This report is also available on the dashboard under “Reports,” showing how many data brokers have our information and how many listings were reviewed.

Signing up for Hogo Privacy Defense was easy, but it’s worth noting that Hogo is only available in app form now. After signing up, the app walks you through setup step-by-step. As part of your account creation, you’ll rate your privacy concerns and choose an animated character to help guide you through the process.

Within the app, you’ll see the main dashboard with tabs for Privacy, ScamAssist, and Fraud Insurance. Hogo utilizes gamification, rewarding users with coins for every action in the app. These coins can be redeemed for rewards like a stuffed animal, Amazon, Starbucks, or Target gift cards.

Once you create your account, you can pick a Hogo Helper. This character adds to the fun of the Hogo app.

Winner: DeleteMe. The gamification of data removal adds a fun flair to Hogo, but DeleteMe offers a wider variety of compatibility (available on desktop and app), which may appeal to more users.

FAQs


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Which is better, DeleteMe or Hogo Privacy Defense?

DeleteMe and Hogo Privacy Defense offer data removal and other features. For removing info from data brokers to its two-factor authentication and email masking, we think DeleteMe is a better choice for bolstering your online security.


+

Does DeleteMe work?

DeleteMe helps users remove sensitive information from the internet. While you could delete your data manually, it could take countless hours. DeleteMe automates the process and does the legwork of finding your info and requesting it be removed. Our first scan took 11 hours, reviewing over 2,000 listings and removing 41. If you want to confirm your information is removed, we recommend manually checking well-known data sites like LexisNexus or WhitePages for your data.


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Is Hogo Privacy Defense free?

Hogo Privacy Defense offers a free plan that searches the internet for your personally identifiable information and lets you remove your data from five sites monthly. The free plan also provides up to $25,000 in identity theft insurance.

DeleteMe vs. Hogo Privacy Defense: Which is better?

Hogo Privacy Defense is the better choice if you’re looking for basic data removal service features coupled with some identity theft insurance fraud protection. Hogo Privacy uses gamification and reward points to attract users, which also may incentivize them.

Overall, we prefer DeleteMe, with its staggering number of data brokers, enhanced security features, and intuitive user interface. We appreciate the email, card, and phone masking, too, which adds an added layer of privacy to our personal information.

4.9
Editorial Rating
Learn More
On DeleteMe's website
Privacy Protection
DeleteMe
Use code PARTNER20 for 20% off
  • Removes your data from the web to avoid scams, spam and stalkers
  • 100+ million successful opt-out removals
  • Provides continued removals every three months

DeleteMe vs. Hogo Privacy Defense alternatives

We think DeleteMe is a solid data removal service, but there are quality DeleteMe alternatives. If you’re in the market for bundled cybersecurity services, want a hands-off approach, or simply need a lower price point, here are top-tested alternatives.

  • Aura: Aura combines all of the essential features of a data removal service with additional tools to protect your identity and credit, including credit reports and scores, alerts, a VPN and antivirus software, and more.

    Get Aura | Read Our Aura Review
  • Incogni: This hands-off data removal service offers a no-frills approach without any additional features. It automatically follows up on removal requests to ensure your information is removed from data brokers. See how it compares in our Incogni vs. Hogo review.

    Get Incogni | Read Our Incogni Review
  • HelloPrivacy: HelloPrivacy searches the internet, data brokers, people search sites, social media, and more to find where your information lives, reaching out and opting out on your behalf. HelloPrivacy monitors these sites to ensure the info has been removed.

    Get HelloPrivacy | Read Our HelloPrivacy Review

4.9
Editorial Rating
Learn More
On DeleteMe's website
Privacy Protection
DeleteMe
Use code PARTNER20 for 20% off
  • Removes your data from the web to avoid scams, spam and stalkers
  • 100+ million successful opt-out removals
  • Provides continued removals every three months

Author Details
Courtney Daybell brings over 15 years of experience in print journalism and holds a B.A. in Communications from Brigham Young University. Her focus has shifted to cyber security, where she specializes in topics such as identity theft protection, password managers, antivirus software, and more.