How to remove yourself from people search sites

Last checked October 14, 2026

Type your name into Google and there's a fair chance the first page is people-search sites: your address, your age, your phone number, sometimes your relatives. Most of them will take you down if you ask. It's tedious, not hard. Each site has its own form, and most want an email confirmation.

Below is every site we track, what each one asks for, and how long it says it takes. We check the opt-out pages by hand and date every guide, because these forms change more often than most guides admit. Three sites on our list have stopped running a people search altogether.

Two things to do first

Google Results about youFind search results showing your address or phone, ask Google to drop them, and get alerts for new ones. California DROPCalifornia residents only: one free request to over 600 registered data brokers.

Active people-search sites

Roughly in the order we'd tackle them. The first five are the ones most likely to show up when someone searches your name.

Site	You'll need	How long	Checked against
Spokeo	Profile URL, Email address	Spokeo says 24 to 48 hours, depending on the request.	Official page
Whitepages	Profile URL, Phone number for a verification call	Whitepages doesn't give a time for the listing itself. It says search engines can keep showing a cached copy for up to 30 days.	Official page
BeenVerified	Name and state, Email address	Usually about 24 hours after the confirmation email, when BeenVerified's servers refresh.	Official page
PeopleConnect	Email address	Not stated	Official page
Intelius via PeopleConnect	Email address	Not stated	Official page
TruthFinder via PeopleConnect	Email address	Not stated	Official page
Instant Checkmate via PeopleConnect	Email address	Not stated	Official page
TruePeopleSearch	Name, Email address	TruePeopleSearch doesn't publish one. Guides report a few days.	Removal guides
FastPeopleSearch	Name, Email address	Not published. Guides report roughly one to three days.	Removal guides
MyLife	First and last name, City and ZIP code, Email address (verified on the form), Birth year	MyLife only says requests are processed within the legally required time frames.	Official page
Nuwber	Profile URL or name and state, Email address	Not published. Guides report one to three days.	Removal guides
USPhoneBook	Email address, Your phone number (to find the record)	Not published. Guide estimates run from about 3 to 9 days.	Removal guides
FamilyTreeNow	Email address, Name, city, state and birth year (to find the record)	Not published.	Removal guides
CyberBackgroundChecks	Name, Email address	Not published, and guide estimates disagree (from a few days to a month).	Removal guides
PeopleFinders	Profile URL, Email address	Not published. Guides report two to seven days.	Removal guides
PeopleLooker	Name and state, Email address	Not published. Guides report up to about 72 hours.	Removal guides
That's Them	Full name, Street address, city, state, ZIP, Email address, Phone number	That's Them says requests are typically processed within 72 hours.	Official page
InfoTracer	Depends on the request	InfoTracer says it responds within 45 days.	Official page
US Search via PeopleConnect	Email address	Not stated	Official page

Sites marked "Removal guides" didn't let us read the whole opt-out flow ourselves, mostly because they block visitors from outside the US. For those we cross-checked the steps against several current removal guides and kept the wording looser.

Sites that don't need an opt-out anymore

Radaris: radaris.com no longer shows people-search results.
PeekYou: peekyou.com no longer shows people-search results.
PeopleSmart: PeopleSmart now sells business contact and company data.

How to get through the list in an afternoon

Use one email for all of it. Nearly every form sends a confirmation link, and some expire within a day. A separate address you check often keeps your main inbox out of their databases.
Search before you submit. Spokeo, Whitepages and PeopleFinders want the exact URL of your listing. Search your name with your city and state and copy each one. There's more on that in how to find every listing about you.
Look for duplicates. Old addresses and name spellings often create separate listings. Each one needs its own request.
Don't give more than the form asks. If a site wants your phone number to find your record, think about whether you'd rather skip that one.
Write down the date. The checklist does this for you, so you know when it's time to look again.

Why listings come back

People-search sites don't create the data. They buy and scrape it from public records, marketing lists and each other, and they refresh it constantly. When a new record about you arrives that doesn't match the one you removed, it can turn into a fresh listing. Spokeo and BeenVerified both say this on their own opt-out pages. A quick check every three to six months is the realistic fix.

Questions

Is it free to opt out of people search sites?

Yes. BeenVerified and PeopleConnect say so outright, and none of the opt-out flows we track ask for payment. Some show paid offers or signups along the way. You can skip them.

Which people search sites should I opt out of first?

Start with the sites that rank highest when someone googles your name: Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, PeopleConnect, TruePeopleSearch. The PeopleConnect form covers Intelius, TruthFinder, Instant Checkmate and US Search in one go.

Will my information come back after I opt out?

Often, yes. Sites like Spokeo and BeenVerified say themselves that new public records can create a fresh listing. Checking again every few months catches it.

Open the opt-out checklist →