Incogni vs. Aura 2025: Robust Data Removal vs. Full Identity Theft Protection

We’ve tested both. When it comes to data removal, Incogni scans 7x the data brokers Aura does. But Aura offers much more, including complete identity theft protection.
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Best for Data Removal

4.5
Editorial Rating
Learn More
On Incogni's website

Privacy Protection
Incogni
50% Off Annual Plans
  • Limits public access to your information and protects your data from theft
  • Sends removal requests on your behalf
  • Tracks and repeats removal requests if needed

Best for Additional Security Features

4.9
Editorial Rating
Learn More
On Aura Identity Theft's website

Identity Protection
Aura Identity Theft
Save up to 68%
  • Excellent identity theft protection service
  • Includes a password manager and antivirus protection
  • Robust tools for children’s security

Data removal services help you take control of your online footprint and reduce your data online.

Incogni doesn’t offer a lot of bells and whistles, but it is a solid, hands-off data removal service that’s easy to use. Incogni can be purchased as a standalone service or bundled into a Surfshark One+ subscription for advanced security features, like antivirus protection, a top-rated VPN, and lots of safe browsing tools.

Aura is a more robust, feature-rich identity theft protection that includes a data removal service. Since it offers more features in its base program than Incogni, it’s better for individuals or families who need complete identity theft protection and not just data removal.

Read on to see our side-by-side comparison, what we liked, and what we thought could be improved.

In this article
Incogni vs. Aura at a glance
Which is the better value?
Which has the better features?
Which is more secure?
Which has the better user experience?
FAQs
Incogni vs. Aura: Which is better?

Incogni vs. Aura at a glance

Incogni is a user-friendly data removal service that removes your personal information from the internet without offering many additional features. It’s very much a set-and-forget kind of service that doesn’t require a lot of interaction.

Alternatively, Aura offers individuals and families a long list of cybersecurity features. It includes real-time antivirus protection, identity and credit monitoring, identity theft insurance, a password manager, an ad blocker for web protection, a basic VPN, and data removal services. Aura’s family plans include parental controls, Safe Gaming, and cyberbullying alerts as well as other useful security tools.

  • Incogni: Best for data removal
  • Aura: Best for additional security features

Incogni vs. Aura

Our Pick
Star rating
4.5
4.9
Price $7.49/mo (billed annually) $9.00/mo (billed annually)
# of site removals 210+ 30+
Privacy reports
Recurring removals
Custom removal requests
Encryption AES-256
Supported countries United States, Canada, U.K., Isle of Man, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, EU United States, Canada, U.K., Germany, France
Extras Bundled with Surfshark One+ plan: VPN, antivirus, identity theft insurance, and more Included with Aura plans: Identity theft insurance, identity theft remediation, password manager, antivirus, data removal, parental controls, ad blocker, basic VPN
Learn more Get Incogni

Read Our Incogni Review

Get Aura

Read Our Aura 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 data removal testing methodology here.

Incogni pros and cons

Incogni is a minimalistic service without a lot of bells and whistles when it’s purchased on its own. It can be bundled into a larger Surfshark One+ plan, which will get you antivirus, a reputable VPN, and other features, but you don’t have to purchase that to get Incogni’s data removal services.

Incogni removal requests overview

The Incogni plans don’t offer much outside of data removal, although it’s nice that you can purchase a couples plan, which includes you and a significant other. We like how well-organized the service is and how fast the removals were. But during testing, we encountered some issues with Incogni not activating and customer support not being helpful. We also found several issues when visiting the website, as sometimes the server couldn’t be reached.

Overall, our experiences with Incogni were mixed. When the service works, it’s efficient and budget-friendly. When it’s glitching, it’s difficult to get support.

Pros
  • Low maintenance
  • Well-organized information
  • Fast response and removal
Cons
  • No custom reports
  • No extra features like email masking

Aura pros and cons

Aura is much more than a data removal service. It’s a full cybersecurity suite that includes identity theft protection, antivirus software, a password manager, and other important security features. Family plan subscribers will also get parental controls, Safe Gaming, cyberbullying alerts, and identity protection for children.

Aura dashboard

During testing, we found Aura to be a powerhouse of features that’s perfect for families. It’s also convenient for individuals or couples who want complete coverage without the heavy lifting. Once you set up the service, Aura takes it from there. Aura’s AI technology continuously monitors your identity and credit and communicates changes with real-time alerts and weekly reports.

Aura isn’t without its kinks, though. The password manager’s ability to automatically change weak passwords and save updated ones doesn’t always work, which is inconvenient. And while we like the idea of having a secure VPN to use on our mobile devices, the basic VPN automatically toggles on and drains our batteries.

Even still, our experiences with Aura have been positive overall. It’s effective, does what it promises, and offers decent support.

Pros
  • Up to $1 million in identity theft insurance per adult
  • Robust tools for children's security, including parental controls and Safe Gaming
  • Includes a password manager, VPN, data removal services, an antivirus, and more
Cons
  • No social media account monitoring
  • Provides only VantageScore, not FICO score

Which data removal service is the better value?

Aura is the better value because you get more features, a free trial, and a longer money-back period to evaluate the service for yourself.

Best Value
Price range $7.49–$32.98/mo $9.00–$30.00/mo
Best value plan Surfshark One+ for $4.29/mo (billed every two years) Family for $25.00/mo (billed annually)
Family plan Yes — from $16.49/mo (billed annually) Yes — from $25.00/mo (billed annually)
Money-back guarantee Yes — 30 days Yes — 60 days
Learn more Get Incogni

Read Our Incogni Review

Get Aura

Read Our Aura Review

Incogni plans

Incogni, by itself, is a simple service without a lot of bells and whistles. When you pair Incogni with Surfshark One+, you get much more, but those looking for simple data removal might prefer the plans offered by Incogni alone.

  • Individual: Provides data removal for one person, covering 210+ brokers.
  • Friends & Family: Provides data removal for up to four people, covering 210+ brokers.

Incogni doesn’t offer a free trial but does have a full 30-day money-back guarantee. If you aren’t happy with the services, you can request a refund within those 30 days.

4.8
All-In-One
Surfshark One
  • Blocks ads and pop-ups, including cookie consent requests, while browsing
  • Can also browse ad-free without a digital footprint with the Surfshark Search engine
  • All-in-one app includes VPN, antivirus scans, alternative ID creation, malware protection, and more on unlimited devices
Learn More

Aura plans

Aura is a full-service product that offers a variety of services. Most of Aura’s features cover identity theft protection, insurance, and remediation. Since Aura’s focus is on reducing identity theft, including data removal is part of its services. If you want more features to protect your identity, Aura includes those in its plans.

  • Individual: Provides device security, identity theft protection, identity theft insurance, financial fraud assistance, white-glove fraud remediation, a privacy assistant, and a 1 GB vault for one.
  • Couple: Includes everything in the Individual plan but doubles it to cover two people, including 2 GBs of vault storage.
  • Family: Includes everything in the Individual plan and adds parental controls, Safe Gaming features, cyberbullying alerts for gaming, child SSN protection, and 5 GB of vault space for up to 5 people.

Aura offers a free trial and a 60-day money-back guarantee. This gives you plenty of time to evaluate if you think the service is a good fit for you.

Winner: Aura. The service includes more features, a free trial, and a longer refund window, so you can be sure you love it before you commit to it in the long term.

Which data removal service has the better features?

Aura includes more features without having to buy an additional service. Family plans include even more.

Best Features
Free scan
Automated data removal
Manual data removal
# of site removals 210 30+
How often is data rechecked? Quarterly Quarterly
Custom removal requests
Privacy reports
Real-time alerts
Social media account monitoring
Dark web monitoring
Extras Bundled with Surfshark One+ plan: VPN, antivirus, identity theft insurance, and more Included with Aura plans: Identity theft insurance, identity theft remediation, password manager, antivirus, data removal, parental controls, ad blocker, basic VPN
Learn more Get Incogni

Read Our Incogni Review

Get Aura

Read Our Aura Review

Aura includes more features in its core software, while Incogni has almost no frills. If you’re looking for something to set and forget, Incogni fits that description. If you want more features, like identity theft insurance, antivirus protection, a password manager, and more, Aura has them. If you like what Incogni has to offer but want more features, you can always bundle Incogni into a Surfshark One+ subscription.

Incogni dashboard after first signing up

Incogni compensates for its lack of advanced features by scanning seven times the amount of data sites as Aura. Since Incogni’s services are automated, you won’t have to worry about checking any of these sites yourself. Once you set it in motion, it’ll continue to work as long as you’re a subscriber.

When deciding between these two services, it really depends on your security needs and which fits into your budget. We love Incogni’s simplicity as much as we love Aura’s robust security suite. As far as features go, Aura definitely has more.

Aura dashboard main page

Aura data broker removals

Winner: Aura. Its base plan includes more features, from identity theft insurance and credit monitoring to antivirus software and a password manager.

Which data removal service is more secure?

Aura includes encryption with its services. Even though it collects and shares data, the policies aren’t egregious, and the added encryption makes us feel safer.

Our Pick
Encryption Unlisted AES-256
Collects data Minimal
Shares data with third parties Minimal
Learn more Get Incogni

Read Our Incogni Review

Get Aura

Read Our Aura Review

Incogni collects and shares minimal amounts of data, while Aura collects and shares more with its partners. (Basically, Aura shares data to make sure services are working correctly or with partners to offer you services. It does not sell your data, however.) Aura encrypts the data collected, but we couldn’t find information that Incogni does this at all. But we think that data encryption is much more important than data collection.

Winner: Aura. The encryption Aura includes is more important than the data collection.

Which data removal service has the better user experience?

Aura includes more compatibility across various platforms, offers 24/7 customer support, and a variety of options for contacting support.

Our Pick
Supported countries United States, Canada, U.K., Isle of Man, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, EU United States, Canada, U.K., Germany, France
Android
iOS
24/7 customer support
Customer support options Email, guides Chat, phone, email, online guides
Learn more Get Incogni

Read Our Incogni Review

Get Aura

Read Our Aura Review

We found Incogni easy to set up. Once we input all our information into the system, we left it for 2 weeks. When we came back, 30 sites had already removed our data, 15 more had agreed to delete our data and never relist it, and 11 were still processing our removals. We didn’t have to do anything other than sign up.

Incogni detailed view tab

Aura took a little longer to set up, but there were many more features. We activated Aura’s credit, financial, and identity monitoring features, then downloaded the antivirus software and set up the data removal service. Parental control features and Safe Gaming features required extra downloads and a little more time, but that was to be expected.

Aura vault monitors personal data

Aura’s antivirus software was good, but the VPN lacked all the robust features of higher-quality VPNs. In fact, it’s just a simple toggle on or off. Incogni offers few features but can be combined with Surfshark One+ for antivirus and an industry-leading VPN. Your choice of service will depend on your individual security needs.

Winner: Aura. Even though it shares more data, it is more compatible with devices and provides better customer support.

FAQs

What is the difference between Aura and Incogni?

Aura is a full identity protection suite that includes identity theft insurance and remediation, antivirus, a password manager, a basic VPN, parental controls, and more. Incogni, on the other hand, is a simple service focused solely on data removal. There aren’t a lot of bells and whistles and barely any features. Incogni can be bundled with Surfshark One+ to include more features like the ones you’ll see with Aura, but it’s not necessary for the service to work. Plus, an annual subscription with Aura is about double what you’d get for a 15-month Surfshark One+ subscription.

What's better than Incogni?

Anyone looking for data removal only will likely find DeleteMe and Optery to be better options. If you want identity theft protection, insurance, and remediation as well as other security features like antivirus and a password manager, then Aura is worth looking into for you and your family.

Is Incogni any good?

Incogni does exactly what it advertises. The issues we ran into were glitches that kept the service from working properly, lackluster customer service, and difficulty accessing the website. If you don’t run into the same glitches, you’ll likely be happy that Incogni requires minimal effort yet yields positive results. We think DeleteMe is the best data removal service available, and you can learn more in our comprehensive DeleteMe vs. Incogni review.

Incogni vs. Aura: Which is better?

Aura is the better value because of the number of services offered in all its plans. It includes more security features and a more expansive user experience.

Our Pick
Value
Features
Security
User experience
Learn more Get Incogni

Read Our Incogni Review

Get Aura

Read Our Aura Review

Incogni is a simple service that effectively removes your data from the internet. It requires little effort and continues to work without you needing to keep a constant eye on it. If you want additional security features, including parental controls and antivirus protection, Aura offers a full security suite to protect your identity and devices in one convenient location.

Data removal helps protect you by reducing the likelihood of receiving spam and phishing emails. It can even help reduce scams and identity theft. The less information there is about you online, the fewer chances bad actors, hackers, and cybercriminals have to commit crimes that affect you. Protect yourself and your family today by taking control of your data.

Top data removal service alternatives

We think DeleteMe is the best data removal service because it scans 750+ data broker sites, offers dark web monitoring, and users seem to have positive experiences with it. Based on our independent testing, Optery and HelloPrivacy are top alternatives, too.

Star rating
4.9
5.0
4.4
Starting price From $10.75/mo (billed annually) From $3.99/mo From $8.33/mo (billed annually)
Max # of people covered 4 1 1
Data broker opt-out
# of site removals 750+ Up to 605+ 50+
Privacy reports
Learn more Get DeleteMe Get Optery Get HelloPrivacy

4.9
Editorial Rating
Learn More
On Aura Identity Theft's website
Identity Protection
Aura Identity Theft
Save up to 68%
  • Excellent identity theft protection service
  • Includes a password manager and antivirus protection
  • Robust tools for children’s security
Author Details
Mary is a seasoned cybersecurity writer with over seven years of experience. With a B.S. in Liberal Arts from Clarion University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Point Park University, she educates audiences on scams, antivirus software, and more. Her passion lies in educating audiences on helpful ways to protect their data.