Review · Personal · Privacy · Data-Removal Services
Optery Review: The clearest proof trail, if you pick the right plan
Evidence-first choice, our top pickOur #1 of 9 data-removal services — every one scored the same way. See how we score.
Optery earns 89/100 and sets the bar for proof in this category. Screenshots, direct links to your listings, a human double-check, and two independent studies make its work easy to verify. There's a catch: the $39 Core plan is automated and limited. The full picture — screenshots and human review — starts at $149 a year, and custom removals cost $249.
- Price: $149/yr usable tier — Extended adds human QA and ~90-day before-and-after reports; Ultimate is $249/year
- Removal model: Automation + human QA
- Evidence surfaced: Before/after screenshots
- Who it's for: Evidence-first buyers
The evidence
How Optery scored on our scorecard
Full scorecard, testing notes & sources
Consumer Reports ran a four-month test. Optery Ultimate got 68% of records taken down — one of the two best results. People who filed by hand hit 70%. A peer-reviewed study found Optery finished its wins faster than anyone. It also found the widest spread between one customer and the next.
Optery counts sites two ways: the ones it has checked, and a bigger number if you turn on Expanded Reach. Core is 150, or 380-plus. Extended is 325, or 555-plus. Ultimate is 405, or 635-plus, and adds hand-done requests at 950-plus sites. But Optery only sells to five places: the U.S., Canada outside Quebec, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
We scored this against all nine services in August 2026. Optery has passed a SOC 2 Type II audit every year since 2022. That is an outside firm testing whether the security controls really work. Prescient Assurance runs it, and business buyers can read the report. Only DeleteMe has as long a run. Optery also spells out how it guards your data better than any of the nine. Your data is scrambled on the way in and while it sits. The keys are kept somewhere else. Staff get the least access they can do the job with, plus a second login step. Add a firewall, constant scans for holes, a yearly break-in test by hired experts, and a written plan for the day something goes wrong. Backups clear in seven days, and the policy says outright which details go to brokers. Three admitted trade-offs keep it off the top spot. Optery uses some data for ads. It can send report text to an outside AI if you let it. And Expanded Reach may hand your name to a broker that never had it.
The free Exposure Report shows likely matches with screenshots. Extended and Ultimate add before-and-after reports about every 90 days, with links you can click yourself. Outside testers agree you can see the work. They also warn that a link is not proof the record is really you, and that some listings only come down halfway.
Free Basic is a real tool for finding your listings and clearing them yourself. Core is only $39 a year. But the version we would tell a friend to buy — screenshots and a human double-check — starts at $149. Hand-done removals need Ultimate, at $249.
Scored on our scorecard, the same one every product in this category gets — see the full methodology on the category hub. Unverified scores are not published.
Testing note: We did not pay for an Optery account. The score comes from Optery's own plan, privacy, reporting and country pages. Then the Consumer Reports four-month test, a peer-reviewed 2025 study, PCWorld's paid test of Ultimate, and what customers say. We label the Expanded Reach counts apart from the checked ones.
The proof is the product
Optery starts by showing you the damage. Free Basic builds an Exposure Report: likely profile links and screenshots, before you spend a cent. Extended and Ultimate then send removal reports about every 90 days. Those carry before-and-after shots wherever a public page can be captured, plus links so you can check yourself.
None of that makes a match certain. PCWorld found some linked pages only partly cleaned, and records for relatives or name twins still standing. The point is not perfect proof. It is a far better paper trail than a running count of requests sent.
Which Optery plan should you buy?
Core costs $39 a year. It checks 150 sites, or 380-plus with Expanded Reach. It covers one name and one city, with no human review.
Extended costs $149 a year. It checks 325 sites, or 555-plus with Expanded Reach. It adds more names and addresses, human review, and before-and-after reports.
Ultimate costs $249 a year. It checks 405 sites, or 635-plus with Expanded Reach. It also adds hand-done requests across 950-plus sites.
Choose Extended for Optery's best feature: proof checked by a person. Choose Ultimate when you need hand-done removals.
The number that complicates our top pick
Consumer Reports tested seven services with 28 volunteers across 13 sites for four months. Optery Ultimate removed 68% of the records. Hand-filing removed 70%.
The group and site list were small. A separate peer-reviewed study found every successful Optery removal finished within 32 hours. It also found results varied widely by user.
If you can keep filing by hand, the test says you may do just as well. Optery earns its price by checking again when brokers relist you.
Trust, Expanded Reach, and AI
Optery says it does not sell or rent your data. It encrypts data in transit and at rest and has passed yearly SOC 2 Type II audits since 2022. Account data goes at deletion; backups clear within seven days.
Expanded Reach may send your name and city to brokers that never had them. The outside AI feature may send report text to another provider. Both are optional.
User sentiment
Trustpilot showed 4.1 out of 5 across 215 reviews. 82% gave four or five stars; 18% gave one or two. Praise centers on the reports and support. Complaints center on price, renewals, and slow or incomplete removals. This small, self-selected sample does not affect the score.
The trade-offs
Strengths & weaknesses
Best for: People who want to see the removals in pictures, check several versions of their name, and get a human double-check
Skip it if: you want the cheapest hands-off plan, live outside Optery's five countries, or don't want it sending your name to new brokers
Strengths
- Free Exposure Report provides screenshots before payment
- Extended and Ultimate include before-and-after removal reports and human QA
- Consumer Reports measured a 68% four-month removal rate on Ultimate
- The plan page keeps checked sites separate from the Expanded Reach count
- You can delete your own account, and backups go within seven days
Weaknesses
- The screenshots and the human check start at $149 a year
- Custom removals require the $249/year Ultimate plan and a 30-day wait
- Expanded Reach can hand your details to brokers that never had them
- Consumer availability excludes the U.K., EU, Quebec, and most other countries
- A match link or screenshot can still be someone else with your name
Alternatives
If Optery isn't the fit
Incogni
Broad recurring removal, without an expensive plan
Read the Incogni review →Best broad-coverage servicePrivacy Bee
The widest documented beat, with unusually clear privacy promises
Read the Privacy Bee review →Best prevention bundleCloaked
Remove yesterday's exposure and stop handing out tomorrow's identity
Read the Cloaked review →