Positives
- Straightforward process
- Affordable
- Covers U.S., UK, EU, and Canada
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Intuitive dashboard
Negatives
- No people search websites
- Limited customer support
Who hasn’t accepted the terms and conditions of a service without actually reading them? Unfortunately, it only takes a few of those to start getting unwanted marketing calls and emails; but fret not, Incogni is here to help. Launched in 2022, it’s one of the newest services from the well-known cybersecurity company Surfshark. Incogni’s main purpose is to make sure no data brokers collect and retain your personal information. The process is straightforward, allowing customers to rest assured that their personal data is being taken care of even while sleeping. Although creating an account at zero cost is possible, Incogni only starts working its magic after you subscribe. There are monthly and annual subscription plans, and you can use the 30-day money-back guarantee to try out the service risk-free.
Use Incogni risk-free for the first month by taking advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee available. This offer is available for both the monthly and annual plans.
Features
Incogni’s main objective is to contact high-scale data brokers, such as marketing, financial, and health information brokers, and ask them to delete your personal information. Unfortunately, people search companies aren’t supported yet, but even so, the company has more than 130 of these companies on its database and handles the full removal process. To do so, Incogni requires just a bit of your information – full name and address – and uses its own algorithm to pick which companies should be contacted. It’s important to mention that Incogni’s services are available internationally. In addition to the U.S., the company also covers the UK, the EU, and Canada.
The user-friendly dashboard places data brokers in four different categories: ‘Not Started’, ‘Completed’, ‘In Progress’, and ‘Rejected’. When your data has been removed, the data broker appears in the ‘Completed’ status (they will also appear here even when they didn’t have your information, to begin with), whereas the ones still waiting for a response fall under ‘In Progress’. The ‘Not Started’ category is for those cases where Incogni has yet to contact the broker. Finally, the companies that refused to delete your information are placed under ‘Rejected’, as the name implies. You don’t need to worry, though, as Incogni contacts the relevant data protection agencies to have the broker comply with the removal request.
Incogni Dashboard
Incogni Detailed View
It’s also possible to get a detailed view of your profile. Here, you can check some basic information, including the name and a short description of the data brokers supported, data category, and the level of data sensitivity (amusingly illustrated by a certain number of skulls).
It may seem that Incogni offers a one-shot service that asks brokers to remove your personal data, and then that’s it, but this isn’t necessarily true. By sticking with Incogni, the company will work as your guardian angel by regularly contacting the data brokers to ensure they don’t regain access to your information ever again.
Subscribe to Incogni and select the annual billing cycle to get 50% off the monthly plan, which translates into as little as $5.79 per month.
Setup
Anyone who wants Incogni to safeguard their information can create an account for free. The platform prompts you to provide your full name and address and asks you to sign a (limited) Power of Attorney. This last step may scare some people away, but the signature only gives Incogni the legal permission to contact data brokers on your behalf.
From there, you just need to sit down and wait. Incogni will start contacting all relevant data brokers for your case. You may receive some emails from these data brokers to confirm they’ve deleted your information or even refuse to do so. In this case, just make sure that Incogni is in cc, as the company will answer these emails for you. When Incogni is out of sight, you should respond to the data broker yourself, saying Incogni is dealing with the matter. Of course, you should also add Incogni in cc before hitting ‘send’.
It’s important to mention that Incogni doesn’t have a way to know whether the brokers genuinely removed your data, as it’s possible to say one thing and do another. Still, the hefty fines related to non-compliance with the GDPR and CCPA should be encouraging enough for them to comply with the removal request.
Pricing
Incogni’s pricing is as straightforward as its process. There are two billing options – monthly and annual – where the latter offers a discount of 50%. In other words, while you pay $11.49 per month with a monthly plan, the yearly subscription cuts the monthly price to $5.79. It goes without saying that this is only worth it if you are thinking of using Incogni in the long run, as you’ll need to pay for the year up-front, which costs $69.48 in total.
The company allows you to create an account for free, but since you have to subscribe before using the service, it isn’t that advantageous. However, you can use the 30-day money-back guarantee to try out the service, and you can benefit from it twice: when you first sign up and when you reacquire the service for the second time six months after your last refund. Although data brokers may take up to 45 days to remove your data, Incogni will conclude any open processes even if you unsubscribe within the first month. To pay for the service, you can use a credit card or PayPal.
Customer Service
Incogni is pretty straightforward, and customers don’t need to worry about complex mumbo jumbo. The company has a helpful FAQ page on its website where it explains its services and shares vital information about data brokers and privacy regulations. Email is the only point of contact that Incogni provides. While responses are usually swift – taking around 24 hours to arrive in your inbox – we would have liked to see the option of live chat. Another way to reach Incogni is through Twitter. Although the account is small, the company is quite active in sharing knowledge about data privacy and replying to customers’ queries. Plus, subscribing to Incogni’s newsletter is well worth it, as the company shares tips on how to protect your privacy.
Bottom Line
Overall, Incogni is a hassle-free service. You just need to set up your account and wait for Incogni to get in touch with all the data brokers that may have your personal information. The only thing you need to keep track of is whether the emails you get from these companies have cc’d Incogni – that’s it. Additionally, it’s reassuring to know that the service is from such a renowned cybersecurity company, meaning your data will be in good hands. Still, a few things miss the mark. For example, there aren’t many ways to contact customer support, and Incogni doesn’t cover people search websites. Having said that, with a price starting at $5.79 per month and a 30-day money-back guarantee, it’s an excellent service to regain ownership of your data from data brokers across the world.
Krystian says
INCOGNI- does not work, at least for me … I checked, I paid twice because it’s already using the service for 2 months and what … almost nothing.
After 45 days from 93, progress 23, 70 is waiting, so I send a refund e-mail , and I got it, but only for 1 month, because it’s over 30 days, well, yes, but Incogni makes you wait 45 days, that’s how long it takes-give to others companies time to delete your data.
Great work/never again!
Daniel (Best Reviews Team) says
Hello Krystian, and thank you for your comment. We’re sorry to hear about your experience with Incogni. While you’re right when you say the process takes up to 45 days to get data brokers to remove your personal data, it’s important to mention that the company concludes any open processes even if you close your account within the 30-day money-back guarantee and ask for a refund. We hope you have a nice day!