Free first: hide or remove your address before you pay

Finding your home address on a people-search site does not mean you need a subscription. Start with the listings you found, ask for removal at the source, and separately reduce what appears in Google. These are different jobs, and you can make progress on both without paying.

This is an independent guide, not an official Google, California or removal-service publication. It is general information, not legal advice.

Start free

Try the free options first. If you have only a few listings and time to follow up, they may be enough. Paying is mainly a decision about help with the work, not buying a promise that your address will disappear everywhere.

Follow the free path

Make a short list of the pages you found — Search your name with your city or home address. Save the exact page URLs showing your information. Keep a private note of the site, the request date and the response so you can check the actual page later—not just the search result.
Use Google's Results about you — Start at https://myactivity.google.com/results-about-you. Google's instructions explain how to enter the name and contact information you want monitored, review matches and request removal. Notifications can help you find new matches. Some features are rolling out for adults in certain markets; check availability in Google's help: https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/12719076
Treat Google removal and website removal separately — Removing a Google result does not delete the source page or its information. Google generally keeps results from government institutions, schools and newspapers because of their public value. Its help also says some business-site results may not offer a removal option. Contact the website owner for removal at the source; do not assume a hidden search result means the page is gone.
Ask the listing site directly — Most people-search sites have an opt-out or privacy-request page. Use that site's own current instructions rather than an old walkthrough. California's official registry can help identify brokers and find their submitted contact details: https://cppa.ca.gov/data_broker_registry/. It is a directory, not a deletion request, and your legal rights depend on your situation and location.
Use DROP if you are a California resident, then review responses — The state's free platform is at https://privacy.ca.gov/drop/. Follow the official eligibility and request process there. Keep your DROP ID private. For manual requests, keep confirmations and revisit the listed pages; Google also lets you track its removal requests. Follow-up matters more than submitting the same request repeatedly without checking its status.

Google's policy also distinguishes information you control yourself, such as your own blog or social profile. Remove your address there directly rather than relying on a Google removal request.

California: what DROP does and when

DROP is free and available to California residents. One request can cover current and future active data brokers in DROP unless you narrow your request. The official process verifies residency, creates a profile and submits a deletion request. This guide does not collect any of that information.

As of November 7, 2026, California says brokers must process DROP requests at least every 45 days, with up to 90 days for you to see a status update. Processing began August 1, 2026. This is not an instant address-hiding tool. The state's broker guidance says the processing interval becomes at least every 30 days on January 1, 2027.

Read the result, not just whether a request was submitted. A broker might report that it deleted non-exempt information, could not find a matching record, or is legally allowed to keep information. DROP does not delete everything: the state lists publicly available data, exempt data and information given directly to a business among its exclusions. Details: https://privacy.ca.gov/drop/how-drop-works/

If you are considering a paid service

Service	Published approach	Public price checked
DeleteMe	Says its team finds exposed broker listings, sends removal requests and monitors regularly. Plans include quarterly privacy reports.	No numerical price was visible in the pricing-page text retrieved. Check its live one-person annual quote; U.S. plans automatically renew unless canceled.
Incogni	Standard sends automated requests to covered public and private brokers and repeats requests. Unlimited adds custom removal requests and specialist help.	Standard: $95.88 billed yearly ($7.99/month equivalent), or $15.98 billed monthly. Annual Unlimited: $179.88 ($14.99/month equivalent). Tax may apply.
Optery	Free Basic offers exposure reports and self-service tools, not done-for-you removals. Paid Core adds automated scans and removals; higher tiers add human help and broader features.	Core: $3.99 billed monthly or $39 billed yearly ($3.25/month equivalent).

These are the companies' descriptions, not independently measured results or a ranking. Prices and offers can change. The annual monthly equivalents above are not month-to-month billing. Incogni displayed discounted annual prices when checked; confirm the renewal price and terms before subscribing.

Check whether a plan covers the particular sites on your list. Optery's Core plan limits removals to one name and one city/state combination per user, has no assigned human privacy agent, and its coverage changes with the Expanded Reach setting. A larger advertised site count alone does not tell you which service will help with your listings.

Paying may be worthwhile when there are many listings, they keep returning, or you have little time to manage requests. If your list is short and you can follow up yourself, the free path may be enough. Check the site's coverage, reporting, cancellation and renewal terms before deciding; neither a paid plan nor a free request guarantees every removal.

What paid services cannot do

Removing a broker's copy of an address is not the same as erasing a government property record or voter-registration record. Do not buy a removal plan expecting it to wipe those source records. Address confidentiality and any restrictions on disclosure are separate matters to check with the responsible state or local office.

Many states have address-confidentiality programs, sometimes called Safe at Home, for people who qualify. They can provide a substitute address under the program's rules; they are not a general-purpose way for anyone to erase old records. Eligibility and protections differ by state. New York's official overview explains the approach: https://dos.ny.gov/about-program

Nor should you expect a permanent, complete disappearance from the internet. DeleteMe acknowledges that information may never be fully private, and Incogni describes recurring requests because data can reappear. Google removal still leaves the underlying page intact. A service can reduce exposure within its scope, not promise that no one can find where you live.

If someone is threatening you

If someone is threatening or stalking you, contact local police (911 in an emergency); VictimConnect offers support and referrals at https://victimconnect.org/get-help/ or by calling or texting 1-855-484-2846.

Sources

Official and primary pages checked November 7, 2026. Vendor statements describe their own services, not independently verified success rates. Use the current official instructions for your location.

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