Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, will be familiar to many. It’s the productivity suite from the technology heavyweight that brought you software like the popular web browser Google Chrome and hardware like the Google Pixel 8 smartphone.

Google Workspace encompasses a variety of different tools, including an email service, cloud storage, a calendar, and many other collaboration tools. Altogether, this means Google Workspace is a business email provider that does a lot more than simply allow you to check your messages. 

This is an email provider that allows businesses - large or small - to put their stamp on their account. By offering custom domain names for your employees it adds a level of professionalism that you can’t get by simply using a generic Gmail email address. 

When you factor in all the benefits of signing up for a business Google Workspace account over and above simply using a personal Gmail one, this makes for a powerful tool that businesses across industries and geographies are likely to benefit from. 

Google Workspace: Plans and pricing

Google Workspace has three basic pricing tiers: Business Starter, Business Standard, and Business Plus. These will set you back $6, $12, and $18  per user per month respectively. There’s also an Enterprise plan on offer but, as with many email providers, you’ll need to contact Google’s sales team directly to find out how much you’d pay for a subscription of this scale. 

Our other review of Google Workspace, which looks specifically at how the platform functions in terms of its mobile device management (MDM), gives some indication about how much the Enterprise plan may cost you. According to this Google Workspace MDM review, subscribers at this level can expect to pay approximately $20 per user per month for Enterprise Standard and $30 per user per month for Enterprise Plus.

Features

Of course, deciding whether Google Workspace’s various pricing tiers work out to be good value for money depends heavily on the features available at each level. The Business Starter plan comes with custom and secure business email, 100-participant video meetings, 30GB pooled storage per user, security and management controls, and standard support. The offer of video conferencing support is a nice touch, particularly given how important hybrid work has become to many industries. 

At the Business Standard level, subscribers also receive custom and secure business email, the number of permitted video participants rises to 150 and recording is available while the amount of cloud storage per user reaches 2TB. Business Plus customers, meanwhile will see storage increase to 5TB and the number of video participants go up to 500. 

At all three pricing tiers, Gemini AI add-on is available, making Google’s cutting-edge AI tool accessible to all Workspace users. With Gemini, it becomes possible for users to leverage generative AI to create or modify their emails, documents, or spreadsheets without expending any manual resources. And given the financial and technological heft of a company like Google, expect more AI functionality to be incorporated into Workspace as time goes by. 

We found that the best features on offer with Workpace were simply the company’s office productivity tools. Subscribers at every level receive access to Gmail, Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Meet, Google Docs and more. If you’re already a heavy user of Google’s many business solutions, then it makes a lot of sense to make Google Workspace your primary email provider too.

Support

The support on offer for Google Workspace customers is on the whole very good but does differ depending on what pricing plan you’re signed up to. There’s an extensive help center available at all levels that comes with handy tips broken down by product, role or industry. Support also comes in two distinct flavors, for users or admins. 

Google Workspace administrators can access a range of flexible customer care services, including multi-channel support, community assistance, and more general Google help. If you’re a subscriber to either the Business Starter, Business Standard, or Business Plus plans, you’ll only receive standard support, which is slightly disappointing. At both the Standard and Plus tiers, however, you do have the choice of opting for a paid upgrade to Enhanced Support.

Enhanced Support is included for free if you’re a subscriber to the Enterprise version of Google Workspace and comes with a one-hour response time for P1 cases, 24/7 care for P1 and P2 cases, and access to technical experts. Taking things up a notch further still, customers can sign up for Premium Support as a paid upgrade if their already an Enterprise customer. This reduces the guaranteed response time for P1 cases to just 15 minutes and grants users access to a Technical Account Manager and quarterly reviews with Google advisors. Should you be in charge of a larger firm and are looking for the most reliable support around, this may fit the bill.

Security

In terms of security, Google Workspace also performs extremely well. Two0Step Verification is included as standard at all pricing tiers, as is group-based policy controls, and an advanced protection program. You do see security become more robust as you move up the pricing levels and encryption is only mentioned explicitly at the Enterprise level in the form of S/MIME encryption. We had to dig a little deeper to discover that encryption is used for all data whether at rest or in transit. 

Plus, you can be pretty comfortable that Google will take good care of your information and data. Google states that Gmail’s AI defenses block more than 99.9% of spam, phishing attempts and malware. 

The competition

Google Workspace does a pretty good job of bettering much of the competition from online email providers, whether that’s Neo, Proton Mail or anyone else. However, if you want an email provider that offers just as much functionality offline as it does online, then you might be better off checking out the likes of Microsoft 365 or even Bluehost. Of course, you can access some of Google Workspace’s solutions when offline, but it does require a bit if forward planning. 

Google Workspace: Final verdict

Google Workspace provides the high level of service we’ve come to expect from the technology giant. Its business email offering is one thing, but when this is added to the host of other productivity tools on offer, it means companies have an entire suite of reliable, collaborative business tools at their finger tips. 

We've featured the best email hosting services.

“The internet is your canvas” says the Framer website, but how easy does it make it to paint on it? A web-based UX design tool that has been used by the Thrive, Apefest, and Plain websites (they’re all featured in a showcase section on the Framer website), it offers a collection of price tiers and aims for a complete design experience.

With Framer, you should be able to build interactive prototypes and website designs. This Netherlands-based company aims to provide the best tools for these purposes, but does it? 

To establish whether Framer is right for your project, we’ve evaluated it based on price, features, ease of use, and its wealth of support resources and customer contact options.

Framer: Plans and pricing

Framer offers two different types of payment plan: site pricing, and workspace pricing. Site plans are intended for smaller teams, and support custom domains on the paid option. Workspace plans, however, are designed for larger teams requiring collaboration and communication across their projects.

Framer site pricing

A Free option is available, intended for hobbyists. This offers a Framer domain and includes a Framer banner. You can step up to the $10 (£8) option for simple sites with a custom domain. This also supports up to 1,000 visitors per month and offers a customizable 404 page. 

The Basic package is $20 (£15) and is supports up to 150 pages, 10,000 monthly visitors, and limited search feature. 

Pro users have the $40 (£25) package option for larger sites up to 300 pages, requiring up to 200,000 visitors. This also has analytics support, a staging environment, and up to 10 CMS collections. 

A discount to the three paid plans can be enjoyed if you pay annually.

For larger Enterprise-level teams, a Custom option is available, with annual billing only (prices on request). This option adds enterprise security, custom hosting, an uptime guarantee, and dedicated infrastructure. You can also expect launch support, SSO for sites, and more.

Framer workspace pricing

If you’re just looking for an online development workspace, three main options are available. Free is for “tiny teams” and lets you collaborate with a 3 day version history and 500MB of storage.

Basic is $25 (£18) per editor per month, for up to 5 editors with collaboration, chat, 7 day version history, and 1GB file storage. 

At $50 (£35) per editor per month, the Pro option is for larger teams of up to 10 editors, with collaboration, comments, advanced permissions, and a 30 day version history. Projects can rely on 10GB of file storage. Both plans offer a discount if you pay annually.

A custom Enterprise package is available for workspaces, which adds unlimited editors and workspaces, dedicated support, SSO, 90 day version history, and 100GB of storage.

Whatever subscription you select, Framer can be paid by credit card or PayPal.

Framer: Features

Framer is primarily a web-based tool. However, downloadable apps for Windows and macOS (Intel or M1) are available. We tried both the browser version and the Windows app (using Windows 10), and found no discernible difference.

This app boasts a collection of design, preview, and publishing tools, based on the concept of “design, publish, scale.” These tools are accessed in a responsive editor with a range of effects (media embeds, interactive tools, etc.) and CMS integrations.

In addition to layout and design tools, Framer features localization, publishing and staging, and SEO. Generative AI is included to help enhance your web project.

Framer: Ease of use

Framer has a slightly trickier learning curve than some similar UX tools. Getting started is straightforward and you’ll be able to compose a wireframe in a few minutes. However, the specifics of layout require some cross-reference with the Framer support resources.

Pages are easily created, layouts applied, and layers placed. Each page can be built with styles, custom components, and custom code. These configurable items can be found listed under the Assets tab.

Various media and other elements can be added using the Insert button. This includes everything from videos and images to animations and audio. Forms, icons, interactive elements (search boxes) and more can be inserted into a design. Menus can be linked to other pages, elements repeated as necessary, and individual properties configured.

Meanwhile, the generative AI tool is an excellent feature if you need a basic idea automatically creating. The results are good enough to use, but you’ll probably want to spend time on further development.

Framer projects can be further enhanced with the addition of a blog. A CMS (content management system) collection can be added and configured, with the results included in your website. The CMS can be used to easily create new blog posts or items in whatever other collection you have created.

When you’re ready to see the project as it would appear live, you can launch a demo – complete projects can be published on Framer.

Framer: Customer support

Your main point of reference when using Framer is the Help Center.

Here, advice and answers from the Framer team can be accessed, with articles covering everything from accessibility to affiliate links.

Direct support for Framer users can be gained using a pop-up chat window. For serious issues concerning site publishing issues or a failing live site, an Emergency Support page and chat window is provided.

No specific response time is cited on the website. However, the chat bot (which describes itself as an “AI Concierge”) states that the “support team aims to handle requests promptly.”

The Framer community can also be accessed via the website. This provides information about the software, announcements about new features, and also includes a support forum. Here, questions can be posed, and answers provided by other users and members of the Framer team.

Notably, a Framer status page is also available. This highlights any difficulties the web application might be experiencing. 

Framer: The competition

A number of other web-based UX design tools are available. Does Framer stand out against them?

Mockitt and Proto.io are each strong alternatives, but do things a little differently. For example, Mockitt supports mind maps and flowcharts as well as UX; Proto.io is more suited to mobile apps. Both lack complete staging and publishing options. 

The ability to preview, stage, and publish a web project with Framer is a key advantage over these competitors. On the other hand, Framer for web UX design, rather than the creation of anything requiring a UX.

Framer: Final verdict

We found Framer to be a superb tool for creating websites. If your aim is to look beyond the traditional CMS-and-theme approach, Framer has everything you need. A web design can be realized relatively quickly, and Framer’s support materials will guide you through.

Price-wise, Framer seems like a bargain. It is more suited to web UX than app UX, but with the tools on offer, you won’t look back.

Note that while the desktop and browser interface appear to be identical, Framer doesn’t work well on mobile browsers.

Read our Framer AI website builder review.

Balsamiq describes itself as a “Quick and Easy Wireframing Tool.” This is exactly what you need at the early stages of web or UX design, a handy application (web and desktop options are available) for basic prototyping.

Launched in 2008 by a former Adobe engineer, Peldi Guilizzoni, Balsamiq has garnered a strong reputation for wireframe mockups. Its website provides a fascinating chart of transactions, which Balsamiq claims makes it “the undisputed leader in the UI wireframing market.”

To find out if Balsamiq is a suitable wireframing and prototyping tool for your next project, we tried it out. Special attention was paid to price, features, ease of use, customer support, and what competing tools offer.

On first glance, the Comic Sans typeface and sketch-like presentation might leave you cold. We all know appearances can be deceiving, but is Balsamiq secretly awesome?

Balsamiq: Plans and pricing

Two options are available for using Balsamiq. It offers a desktop application, where each user has a license, and a browser app.

Desktop

A desktop version of Balsamiq is available for Windows (10 and later) and macOS (12 Monterey and later). Licensing is per user, rather than per machine, and is one-time only.

1-4 users are $129 per user. For 5 users, the rate is $125 per user. This decreases as your team expands. At 100 users, for example, the rate is $64.50 per user. 

Web App

Online Balsamiq projects are accessed via the web and hosted in the cloud, in a “space.” Three plans are available:

1. If you’re working on 2 projects, you pay $9/month or $90/year. (Includes a “hibernate” option that doesn’t charge you if your space is empty.)

2. For up to 20 projects, the price of the space is $49/month or $490/year.

3. Larger teams requiring up to 200 projects pay $199/month or $1990/year. (Supports Single Sign-on.)

Payment is via credit card, and a 30-day free trial is in operation for both online and desktop versions. 

Balsamiq: Features

Building a wireframe prototype with Balsamiq? The software provides a considerable number of curated templates, controls, and icons. These can be dragged and dropped, connected, and positioned as required. The literal wireframe approach means that Balsamiq seems to perform a little faster than other prototyping tools.

As you build projects, you may notice that elements are re-used. Balsamiq supports creating templates and masters, and developing re-usable components. A search tool helps you to quickly find the element you wish to include in your next mock-up. Meanwhile, the software lets you swap the basic “sketch” visual theme for a cleaner look. 

Developed as an ideation tool, Balsamiq supports collaboration. Simple prototypes can be developed with this tool, but it is unsuitable for more advanced projects.

While no generative AI features are included, a couple of useful automations are. For example, if you type “lorem” into a text box, the rest of the field autocompletes with lorem ipsum text.

Balsamiq: Ease of use

After signing up to Balsamiq, the first screen you will see is a project window labeled “Your First Project.” A number of tools and toolbars are presented here, and there is potential for immediate confusion. Realizing this, the Balsamiq developers have set the software to drop you straight into a set of guides. These appear as wireframes in the editor window, and are simple to digest.

From this point, you can either adapt the quick start material, create a new blank project or use a template. Desktop and mobile project templates are included, along with all the elements you could need for a web or mobile app user interface.

There is little difference between the browser and desktop tools, so it really doesn’t matter which version you use. We tried the Windows and browser versions of Balsamiq, with the same results.

But how easy is it to use Balsamiq? While it is a good tool to get started quickly, it does have a few niggles and frustrations. It can be difficult to select multiple elements; the icon library can be distracting (and irrelevant); the result may lack the depth you’re looking for.

While Balsamiq offers useful preview, export, and collaboration and commenting features, it is unashamedly and strictly a wireframing tool. Competing apps aspire to expand the feature set – Balsamiq just a step on the road to a successful UX.

It seems pretty happy with that.

Balsamiq: Customer support

A collection of resources are available for Balsamiq users. These cover everything from tutorials to direct support.

The Balsamiq Wireframing Academy is a collection of guides and articles designed to help you to use the software. These include an explanation of wireframes, how to start a project, and much more.

A searchable knowledgebase of tutorials is also provided. These walk you through specific features and functions of the app, complete with screenshots.

More extensive documentation is also provided, again with a search tool. Guides to the cloud and desktop versions are presented alongside docs for integrations with Google Drive, Confluence, and Jira. 

If you need direct support, standard US business hours are kept. Support can be initiated via email or a web form. They aim to respond to messages within 24 hours on weekdays. For outages, refer first to the service status page.  

Balsamiq: The competition

Several other UX design, prototyping, and wireframe tools are available. The wealth of choice here is quite wide, with different tools focusing on the various elements and approaches. 

So, we might compare Balsamiq with Mockitt or Framer, both of which have wireframe options. However, comparisons with Proto.io would be unfair, as that tool is a more focused UX development environment. Balsamiq is a competent wireframing tool, with comparable features to Mockitt and Framer, although it lacks generative AI.

While you might observe that Balsamiq looks slightly dated, the default visual style is an affectation that hides the truth. It can easily hold its own as a wireframing tool.

Balsamiq: Final verdict

Balsamiq lacks the advanced features of other wireframing and UX development platforms. The reason for this is simple: it is a wireframe development tool, nothing more.

While it offers useful collaboration and sharing options, Balsamiq is not attempting to be anything other than a go-to tool for wireframes. Once the layout is established, Balsamiq is happy to stand aside.

In some ways, I liken it to Microsoft Word, for many people the default word processing tool. Balsamiq is similarly focused – just as Word produces any type of document, with Balsamiq you can assemble any type of wireframe. It’s almost a de facto solution to wireframing. 

We list the best graphic design software.

Presenting an online service through a website or app requires a design that the isn’t just usable, but also feels right. On one had, the presentation needs to encourage intuitive interaction, and on the other, the app should represent the service, with branding and voice.

UX tools like UXPin are the preferred solution, and increasingly these tools feature generative AI, ostensibly to save design time. 

UXPin is a US-based product which launched in 2010. It offers a browser app, desktop apps for Windows and macOS, and a prototype “mirror” app for Android and iOS. 

If you’re considering UXPin for your next project, we have evaluated it, focusing on price, features, usability, customer support, and how it compares with the competition.

UXPin: Plans and pricing

Monthly and annual payment plans are available with UXPin. You can start off with the free trial, which can then be upgraded into one of four scaled plans. (Alternatively, stick with the free version, with its limitations.) These are Essentials, Advanced, Merge AI, and Company. 

The Essentials plan is aimed at beginners, and affords 20 prototypes, interactions, animations, and states, and stakeholder approval system. Billed annually, the Essentials plan is $6 per editor, per month (annual billing – witjh monthly billing it is $8 per editor).

With the Advanced plan, you get all of the above but with unlimited prototypes, custom fonts, and conditional logic, expressions, and variables. Advanced is $29 per editor per month ($39 per editor with monthly billing).

Merge AI adds generative AI to everything above, plus setting roles and permissions. The AI element adds creation of AI components, themeable React libraries, and Tailwindd CSS integration. This plan is $39 per editor per month, or $49 with monthly billing.

With the Company option, you get everything from the other plans plus a 30-day version history, storybook integration, npm integration, patters, and a components manager. This is $119 per editor per month, or $149 when billed monthly.

If your operation needs even more from UXPin, an Enterprise option is available, with quotes on request.

UXPin: Features

Both desktop and browser versions of UXPin offer the same collection of UX wireframing and prototyping design tools.

The main design interface offers the usual collection of drawing tools, rulers, and drag-and-drop components. It is a little small though, and benefits from a larger physical display.

UXPin launches with a quick start guide, and a number of templates are provided. While useful, these are quite advanced examples – the tool is heavily geared towards complex prototypes, and supports imports from Sketch. Figma projects can also be imported, while projects can be integrated with Fullstory for usability testing.

It also includes drag and drop support for React libraries (including MUI, Ant-Design, and Bootstrap, or import your own). 

Other integrations include Git, Storybook, Adobe Fonts, Google Fonts, and Slack.

UXPin: Ease of use

While a number of support resources are provided (see below), the main thing you notice using UXPin for the first time is the sparsity of the design window. The lack of basic templates means you need to take the time to carefully explore the app. So, while the menus are all populated with useful components, and each component has properties that you can directly edit (e.g. CSS, HTML, JSX), finding and manipulating them can take time.

A result of this is that UXPin initially feels more suited to basic wireframing rather than in-depth design. The learning curve is steep. So, how do you dig into UXPin and experience its true power?

If you’re using the integrations – e.g. bringing projects across from Figma – then UXPin is easy to get started with. In fact, if you’re new to this undoubtedly powerful tool, importing your work from another platform is the best way to unlock its features. It suddenly evolves beyond wireframing and becomes a tool for more advanced UX design work.

UXPin: Customer support

The developers at UXPin are keen for you to make the most out of their software. With the very first login, a pop-up appears, listing various “essential resources.” These include video tutorials, product documentation, and step-by-step tutorials.

These take you through everything from downloading and using the software (and its mobile variants) to importing from other tools. 

A chat box is available both within the development window and on the UXPin website. Here, you can get answers for technical and billing issues, with automated responses in place if your question is outside of business hours.

UXPin has also published a collection of eBooks and white papers. While these don’t provide support or guides, they communicate important concepts and design philosophies. 

UXPin: The competition

We’re not short of choices when it comes to UX prototype and design tools. UXPin is up against a number of alternatives, each with their own strengths and shortcomings.

As UXPin is available as both a desktop and browser tool, comparison with similar tools seems appropriate. Figma and Framer are both key competitors to UXPin, with both desktop and browser versions.

In all cases, the experience is consistent between desktop and browser versions. This makes using the software on unsupported desktops easy. It also has advantages in work environments where installing your own software isn’t possible.

While all three are good choices, we found Figma to lag somewhat in the browser version. UXPin does not have this shortcoming. We’re also very impressed with its collection of resources and support chat, which was responsive and informative.

UXPin: Final verdict

Compared with some of the other tools out there, UXPin almost feels like a specialist, in-house product that shouldn’t be shared with the public. It really is an impressive piece of software, under-(UX)Pin-ed by an excellent set of resources and support tools.

The browser version works as well as the desktop apps, the integrations are impressive, and the ability to import from Figma and Framer is useful. 

UXPin is free to use long-term if necessary. This is useful if you feel you need more time with its tough learning curve.

We list the best graphic design software.

Optery is one of the best data removal services on the market right now, helping you or your organisation keep control of your personal and professional data and, importantly, stopping the wrong entities from having it. 

As data brokers become more and more common in the US, a new industry has sprung up to help make removing your personal data even easier. When combined with other privacy tools, like a VPN, password manager, and antivirus, your online life just got a whole lot safer. 

We've spent the past few weeks testing a lot of different data removal services to make sure that your data stays protected and within your control. All of them have their own pros and cons, and some include a generous free plan to get a taste. 

• Sign up for Optery

From this work, we found that Optery is one of the most impressive services we've tried, and removes data from a really wide range of brokers and other platforms, like Google, which is something many of its rivals do not cover. 

As with every online service, we recommend checking out some of the competition, including DeleteMe, Mozilla Monitor Plus, Kanary, Privacy Bee, and IDX, to find the best combination of price and features, especially if you have a specific need. 

Let's dive into our review of the Optery data removal service. 

• How we test, review and rate on TechRadar

Optery: Pricing and plans

One of the first things to note is that Optery offers a free tier, to help get a sense of what the service offers and start the process of removing data from the web. While the free tier is naturally fairly limited, it's a nice touch, and not something that all of its rivals offer.

The cheapest paid tier, called Core, costs $3.99 per month on a monthly plan and $3.25 per month on an annual plan (which, of course, costs more up front). Core is definitely one of the cheaper data removal plans on the market, and still covers removals from 100+ sites, albeit with limitations.  

Extended is the middle child of the paid tiers and costs $14.99 per month (or $12.42 per month on the annual plan), covering removals from 205+ data brokers. 

Finally, Ultimate is the, well, ultimate plan, and costs $24.99 per month (or $20.70 per month annually), and can remove data from 330+ data brokers, comfortably among the best coverage across the industry. 

All of the plans come with a 30-day money back guarantee, which is a nice touch. 

For anyone struggling to choose between the plans, Optery includes a good breakdown of which each plan includes on its website, including the specific data brokers that are covered by each tier. 

• We found the best free VPN 

Optery: Basic features

In our testing, we found Optery to be one of the most fully-featured data removal services on the market – across all tiers. 

To start with, the free plan offers self-service opt-outs from a huge array of different online services and data brokers, as well as personalized exposure reports, an exposure report scan of Google, phone and email scan tools, and the ability to see your profile visibility at hundreds of websites. 

The Core plan offers all of that plus removals from over 95 websites (limited to one name and city or state per user), monthly automated scans and removals, opt out process, exposure risk reporting, and a "bot only" automated approach, which relies on bots instead of humans to do the removals.

Extended gives users the ability to remove their data from 200+ websites, support for unlimited name variations (for the same person), removal for unlimited past cities and states, and a "humans + machines" approach that pairs automated bot-led opt outs with an assigned human agent to oversee the process. There are also removal reports every 90 days. 

Finally, Ultimate, as the name suggests, is the big dog of the tiers and gives you everything above alongside support for 325+ websites – which is some of the best coverage we've seen so far – and unlimited custom removal requests (after 30 days of signing up), Google outdated content removals, and priority email support.

All of the tiers are competitive at their price point, and we found that Extended and Ultimate are very, very powerful. 

• The best internet security suites for 2024

Optery: Enterprise features

Data removal doesn't just apply to individuals, of course, and many of the services we've tested also have extensive enterprise tiers that cover employees and whole companies, helping keep their data safe online. 

Optery is no different, and its enterprise tier is one of its strongest aspects. 

To start, the Free enterprise tier offers a privacy dashboard, personalise exposure reports, Google Search scans, updated reports every ~90 days, and self-service removal tools. 

The enterprise Core plan has all of this plus the "bot only" approach discussed above, coverage of 95+ sites, and SSO/SCIM/SAML, available as an add-on for $150 per month or $1,800 per year. The hefty Ultimate Pro plan has coverage of 325+ websites and everything else discussed in the above section. 

Optery includes a helpful calculator to figure out the cost per seat for each of its plans, and a quick play with the tool shows that the basic Core Pro offering costs $4.75 per user for 50 seats, and Ultimate Pro costs $26.40 per user for 50 seats. 

These are competitive prices and businesses are some of the most likely customers for data removal services because a) they have the money and b) keeping their staff safe is of paramount importance. 

As a nice additional feature, Optery also includes the ability to protect the family members of employees, especially those higher up the organisation. 

• The best antivirus software in 2024 for PC

Optery: Support

Like its rivals, Optery offers a lot of online documentation and support, both for its services and for the broader aspects of removing your online data. 

Optery's Help Center is, well, helpful, answering a broad array of questions on various topics like getting started, the dashboard, managing profiles and accounts, and so on. There is also an email for any really specific questions. 

More broadly, the company also publishes a blog, which contains useful information for those who want to get into the weeds of data privacy laws and so on, alongside a suite of useful guides for the software. 

We found the opt-out guides to be especially useful, and function independently from actually signing up for Optery – a lot of the advice is good to improve the security and cleanliness of your online presence.

• Best web browser of 2024

Optery: The competition

Over the past few months, TechRadar has spent a lot of time reviewing data removal services, including the likes of DeleteMe, Mozilla Monitor Plus, Kanary, Privacy Bee, IDX, and others. 

Each one has its own pros and cons, and we really recommend getting into the specific features on offer if what you need is in any way niche or unique. 

DeleteMe, for example, is one of the longest-running data removal services on the market, having launched in 2011, and that long-term reputation is a big pro in its column, alongside an easy-to-use suite of tools. 

Mozilla Monitor Plus, from the makes of the Firefox web browser, is also a strong option and comes as part of a broader set of Mozilla-made features like a VPN. Mozilla as a company is also unlikely to be going anywhere anytime soon. 

Pricing is also a key feature, and you should definitely go and check out the specific pricing structures of each service verses what's on offer. Some of the more expensive offerings include some nice-to-have features that might not be essential, for example. 

• Best open source software of 2024

Optery: Final verdict

Optery is a robust, easy-to-use data removal service that packs a punch, both for individuals and for businesses alike. We were impressed with how quickly it removed data and from the number of data brokers covered, especially on the higher-end plans. 

The top tier covering over 325 websites and brokers is really impressive, and beats a lot of the competition hands down. If you're looking purely at the coverage areas, it's hard to look past Optery. 

The company has also been operating for a long time and is backed by some notable names, such as startup accelerator Y Combinator, giving it more credibility. 

The free tiers are pretty generous all things considered, and there are detailed steps on how to remove data yourself, which is a nice touch. 

• Sign up to Optery