Removaly: What Happened?

So… what happened?

Updated 04/15/2024. DuckDuckGo just launched their Privacy Pro service offering a bundled in-browser experience and app for VPN, identity theft remediation support, and data broker removal. They are transparent about their service being powered by their acquisition of Removaly in 2023.

Prior to their announcement, people were speculating about what might have happened to Removaly (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30610674). Though they were our competition, we really admired their team and mission. The Removaly founders are awesome - super sharp folks who bootstrapped a service that was popular on Reddit and reliable for removals. This type of mystery is common when a tech company gets acquired - but now the news is public.

Why people loved Removaly

Removaly was a data removal service that could help you remove your personal information from around 50 sites on the internet. They ran scans every day to ensure that your information was removed from these sites - that was a big selling point for people who were very concerned about public exposure of sensitive information. The service launched on Product Hunt with a 3.1/5 star rating (https://www.producthunt.com/products/removaly) and was popular on Reddit for being reliable and affordable. They launched with a strong SEO strategy to rank highly on google and win keywords. They wrote helpful content like “How to remove yourself from sites” and comparisons between competitors like “Removaly vs Deleteme”. An extra benefit people loved was their friendly and helpful support - most of the time from the founders themselves. At Kanary, our founders follow a similar approach to support and spend time every day listening to our customers.

The Acquisition

You can read more about the acquisition on DuckDuckGo's announcement. But before the public post, we speculated that the acquisition was made for several million dollars based on industry averages for companies of that size. For 2 founders bootstrapping for less than 3 years… that’s a solid exit. It sucks that a small service gets swallowed up by a big player, but this is a great outcome for the privacy community and other builders in the space. The best case scenario: the acquirer will help Removaly scale far beyond what they could do solo. It’s encouraging to know there are opportunities for acquisition and demand for new products and ideas in privacy. But with any acquisition, the future quality and even existence of the product is in question. DDG has reduced the site list covered from Removaly's original list which is just one example of how the service has changed.

For example, Facebook or Google are famous for acquiring high potential startups, trying to integrate them into their company, then shutting them down when cultures don’t align or product revenues don’t meet benchmarks. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Discontinued_Google_acquisitions)

Alternatives To Consider

If you're looking for alternatives to Removaly or the someone limited/bundled DDG version, there are several options to consider. Kanary has become a popular data removal service, based in the United States and has never had affiliations with selling data or other data brokers. Each service has its pros and cons so you should take the time to do the free trial, make sure the results are accurate, and pick the service you trust. Kanary also offers a free service with DIY removals and is known for its reliable service and excellent customer support. Kanary covers the largest list of exposures of any competitor, and cover the full list for every member, no matter what tier you are on. (https://www.kanary.com/remove-from-sites)

Try Before You Buy

In conclusion, while it's great DuckDuckGo is making a removal service more widely available, there are still several alternatives available to people that have broader coverage. We recommend trying Kanary and comparing it to others in the space. We offer 30-day money-back guarantee and a free tier to help you get started risk-free. We believe in trying before buying whenever possible. With the results you see, you can pick the service that best fits your needs and budget. At Kanary, we are committed to providing reliable data removal services and excellent customer support, and we hope to earn your trust as a customer.‍