Optery Review 2025: What Does Our Testing Reveal?

Optery is a user-friendly, customizable data removal service that provides proof of its progress and reassurance every step of the way. You can opt for the free plan to receive Exposure Reports with screenshots of pages where your data has been found. You can also pay for Optery so its team can step in to take down those listings for you. 

We have some minor gripes, like its use of TLS encryption for data in transit. Otherwise, it ranks among the best data removal services we've reviewed.

Learn about Optery's various plan options, features, our testing experience, and more in this review. 

Optery review at a glance

Price	Free–$24.99/mo
Money-back guarantee	Yes — 30 days
# of people covered	1 - unlimited (add-on more users)
# of site removals	Up to 605+ (with Expanded Reach)
Recurring removals	Yes (monthly for paid plans)
Custom removal requests	Included for free with Optery Ultimate only
Privacy reports	Yes
Supported countries	United States
Extras	Automatic opt-out, custom removal requests
Learn more	Get Optery

We last tested Optery on February 7, 2025.

Our experience

We had a positive experience with Optery, as everything about using the service was easy. Once we signed up for the service, we were immediately provided with a breakdown of what our plan included and next steps. 

Setting up our account only required our email address, state/region, city, and birth year. All the other fields are optional. 

We elected to complete our profile with additional information via Manage Profile, though we almost missed this prompt. We definitely recommend adding as much supporting information as possible so that more records can be identified and removed. We input our email addresses (though Optery only scans one email), previous mailing addresses, previous phone numbers, relatives, previous employers, our LinkedIn handle, and our masked government ID. 

Although sharing your private information with a service might feel illogical, data removal services work by collecting your information to accurately find and remove it from other websites. 

All Optery plans start by sending you an initial Exposure Report, which is populated with screenshots of websites where your private information is being exposed and sold. This initial scan takes at least an hour, and we received our email notification of the completed scan the next day. Optery starts removing your listings within 24 hours but warns that it could take several weeks before these removals are complete. 

It's not required, but we also enabled Expanded Reach, which prompted us to give Optery legal consent to contact 240 additional data brokers on our behalf. It makes sense to utilize this feature to get the most bang for your buck. 

Once the scan is complete, the main dashboard provides a summary of how exposed you are, as well as the protection progress and status. These statistics are followed by a detailed list of websites, plan coverage, exposure risk, and screenshots. We found the dashboard incredibly informative and reassuring as far as progress. We also like the clear visual display of brokers contacted and the breakdown of removal requests. 

Even though the dashboard is user-friendly and clean, it was hard to ascertain exactly what was going on with our data. We had to navigate to Reports and download a PDF report of the initial Exposure Scan to get a clearer picture of what personal data was exposed. We recommend taking a look at the actual report because it's way easier to scroll through and see the screenshots of our exposed records rather than clicking individually on each data broker. 

Our only concern about our Optery experience is the choice of encryption. Although data at rest uses AES-256, data in transit uses TLS, which isn't as strong as AES.

Otherwise, Optery is a standout data removal service with proven progress and results. 

Who is Optery best for?

• Recommended for a customizable data removal service

If you're not sure how much you need from your data removal service, Optery has plenty of options. It offers a free plan, but its paid plans are also desirable for people looking for reassurance that their personal data is deleted from the internet and out of reach from identity thieves.

With Optery you can get a free account, which can help you find data broker sites containing your private information. The search takes about an hour to complete, and then you can use its helpful opt-out guides to remove your data.

You can also automate your opt-out requests by upgrading to a paid subscription. Optery will begin the process of removing your information from data broker sites and then send a Removals Report, which includes before and after screenshots to prove your data has been deleted.

Optery prices and subscriptions

Optery has a free plan and three paid tiers: Core, Extended, and Ultimate. Its monthly subscriptions run from $3.99/mo to $24.99/mo. Optery also offers annual tiers for maximum savings, but one of the best features of this data removal service is its monthly subscription.

The major differences between the plans include how many site removals are included, if bots automate the removals only or if real agents are available to help with the removal process, and whether you get a removal report with before and after screenshots.

As far as price, Optery has a wide range, so it beats most services on the lower end but is also more expensive on the higher end. See how Optery compares:

• Optery: Free–$24.99/mo
• HelloPrivacy: $8.33-$9.99/mo
• DeleteMe: $10.75–$27.42/mo
• Incogni: $7.49–$32.98/mo

Optery is unique from these data removal services because it offers a free plan. While this doesn't include any automated removal services, it is helpful for people who are willing to opt out of data broker sites on their own.

While Optery technically doesn't have a family plan, you can bundle several individual plans for a discounted price. 

Plan	Free Basic	Core	Extended	Ultimate
Annual plan	Free	$3.25/mo (billed annually)	$12.42/mo (billed annually)	$20.70/mo (billed annually)
Monthly plan	Free	$3.99/mo	$14.99/mo	$24.99/mo
Family plan
Data broker opt-out	Manual	Manual and automated	Manual and automated	Manual and automated
# of site removals	None	85+	240+	605+ (367+ without enabling Expanded Reach)
Privacy reports	Free Exposure Report Scan and recurring Exposure Reports quarterly	Initial Exposure Report and recurring Exposure Reports quarterly	Initial Exposure Report and Removals Report every 90 days (quarterly)	Initial Exposure Report and Removals Report every 90 days (quarterly)
Real-time alerts
Recurring removals
Custom removal requests	For additional fee	For additional fee	For additional fee
Identity monitoring

Optery features

Optery has all the features you'd expect from a data removal service: a large number of site removals, detailed reports, frequent recurring removals, and custom removal requests. We like that Optery provides Removal Reports with screenshots to prove where your data has been found and that it's been taken down. 

The only drawbacks we noted were the feature limits for specific plans. For instance, the paid Optery Core plan doesn't provide Removal Reports, so you'll need to purchase a higher-tier plan. Also, custom removal requests are limited to Ultimate plan subscribers. You can still get custom removals on other plans, but you have to pay extra, and scans only apply to individuals.

What data does Optery protect?

Optery offers services to help you remove your personally identifiable information from the internet. Data it can help delete includes:

• Name
• Birthdate
• Current and past home addresses
• Alternate names
• Phone number
• Email address
• Names of relatives (not guaranteed)

Data brokers and people-search sites covered

• Up to 605+ sites (with Expanded Reach activated)

Optery has three paid tiers that offer different numbers of removals. Here's the breakdown:

• Core: Removals from 85+ sites
• Extended: Removals from 240+ sites
• Ultimate: Removals from 605+ sites (375+ without enabling Expanded Reach)

Note that the Core plan can only remove one name, city, and state from its removals. So if you have any name variations or cities and states from past addresses, those won't be covered under Optery Core. 

With the Ultimate plan, you can also activate Expanded Reach. This allows Optery to make deletion requests to even more data brokers that don't meet Optery's removal verification process. 

To activate this feature, you must sign the Limited Power of Attorney form. 

 

Reports

Optery provides two types of reports: Exposure Reports and Removal Reports. Exposure Reports are sent to all accounts when you first sign up, but only to Free Basic accounts on a quarterly basis afterward.

For Extended and Ultimate users, Optery submits Removal  Reports quarterly. These reports include screenshots where your information was listed on a data broker site as well as screenshots after Optery has taken down this information.  

We received our Exposure Report within 24 hours of signing up for Optery. It told us how many data brokers were scanned and how many profiles it was able to match with our information. The 44-page report also included screenshots of data broker websites with the matched profile information.

For Optery Free users, this information could be overwhelming, but Optery at least provides opt-out guides. 

You can see these reports within the dashboard, but Optery will also email you to let you know when your reports are ready.

Recurring and custom removal

All premium Optery plans include automated scans and removals every 30 days (monthly). The Core plan offers a "bots only" approach, whereas the Extended and Ultimate plans provide a "humans + machine" approach. This means that bots initiate the scans and removal requests, but live QA agents are available to assist with special circumstances. 

Unfortunately, custom removals are only included with the Ultimate plan. There are tons of data brokers out there, so it would be handy to include this with all paid plans. You can initiate custom removals for other plans, including the free account, but you must pay an additional fee for each scan. Plus, scans are limited to individuals, so even if you have a family plan, you'd have to pay for each custom scan per user if desired.

Does Optery keep your data safe?

Before sharing your data, you should consider the organization's privacy policy and how it plans to protect your data. 

According to Optery, it doesn't sell your information to third-party vendors. It also enacts several security measures like access control (ensuring employees receive only minimal access to data to complete their jobs), employee and contractor confidentiality agreements, and multi-factor authentication with authenticator apps.

The company's privacy policy contains a "plain language" section before it dives into the full legal document. This makes it easy to identify key points.

Optery’s only real red flag is its encryption. Data at rest is securely protected by AES-256 encryption, which is an industry-standard protocol. However, when data is in transit (moving from one location to another) it has only TLS encryption. It's not the highest encryption standard, so it's not an ideal choice.

Optery customer support

Optery has a live chat, guides on how to remove your information from data broker sites, and a help desk for FAQs. The guides and help desk were easy to read and were pretty useful in learning how to use Optery and how to opt out of data broker sites.

We contacted support via live chat to get some clarity on the Ultimate plan. After we asked for clarification on exactly how many site removals each plan includes (since the number of data brokers varied depending on where you looked), we were prompted to confirm our email address and subscription tier. 

We were then bombarded with automated responses and encouraged to check out online guides (which did not apply to our very specific question at all). The chatbot (not a live agent as marketed) listed the response time as 1-3 days, even though the website claims the "live" chat can offer a response within 1-2 hours.

We received an email response within a few hours, but the support agent failed to address our question. Instead, we received the same automated prompt to review unrelated online guides.

Top alternatives

Optery is only one of several data removal services that we recommend. But if you're not fully sold on this service, you should check out our top-tested recommended alternatives:

FAQs

Bottom line: Is Optery good?

We love Optery's ease of use, detailed reports, and extensive plan options. A standout feature is the Optery Free Basic plan, which can provide reports of your personal information on data broker sites and guides for manual removal. We couldn't find this great benefit with the other competitors. 

If you decide to use the paid subscription, you can receive the Removals Report, which includes screenshots of Optery's work before and after.

However, there are some drawbacks to using Optery. Its features are limited depending on your selected plan. And while it does use AES-256-bit encryption for data in storage, it uses TLS encryption for data in transit. TLS encryption isn't the strongest choice, so it does raise a red flag on the security of your data.

Overall, Optery may be a good data removal service for people who want to utilize the free plan to find their information on data broker sites. But if you're not into DIY removal, you can opt for a monthly subscription to access more extensive features like automated removals.

See how Optery compares to our recommended alternatives: 

• Optery vs. DeleteMe
• Optery vs. Incogni