Data Brokers
Spokeo vs Whitepages vs BeenVerified: What They Expose
The short version
All three publish your name, age, address history, phone numbers and relatives, but they lean in different directions. Whitepages is strongest on phone numbers, BeenVerified pushes hardest on court and criminal records, and Spokeo is the one with a federal enforcement record. Each has a free opt-out, none of them talk to each other, and all three can relist you within three to six months. Removing yourself from one is not removing yourself from the category.
What all three have in common
Spokeo, Whitepages and BeenVerified are people-search sites: they assemble profiles of ordinary Americans from public records and commercial data, then sell access by subscription. None of them asked your permission, because they did not need it. Public records are public, and reselling them is legal.
The shared core of a profile is the same across all three: your full name, your approximate age, current and past addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and a list of relatives and likely associates. That last field is the one people find most unsettling, because it maps your family without anyone in it ever opting in.
They also share a failure mode. Profiles are assembled by automated matching, not by a person checking the result is really you, so wrong addresses, wrong relatives and stale phone numbers are routine. Being wrong about you does not stop a site publishing you.
Spokeo: the middle of the road, with a record
Spokeo aggregates public records, phone and email directories and social-network data into a single profile keyed to a name, phone, email or address. Its coverage is broad rather than specialised. What sets it apart from the other two is not its data, it is the enforcement history attached to how that data was sold.
In June 2012, Spokeo paid $800,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it marketed consumer profiles to the human-resources, background-screening and recruiting industries in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FTC alleged Spokeo sold profiles as an employment-screening tool from 2008 to 2010 without ensuring accuracy or permissible purpose, and that it posted endorsements written by its own employees while presenting them as independent reviews. It was the FTC's first case addressing the sale of internet and social-media data for employment screening.
Spokeo also gave its name to the leading US case on whether a bad listing is an injury you can sue over. In Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, decided May 16, 2016, the plaintiff alleged that his Spokeo profile wrongly described him as married, with children, in his 50s, employed in a professional field and holding a graduate degree. The Supreme Court held that a plaintiff must show a concrete and particularised injury, not merely a procedural violation of the FCRA.
The practical lesson for you is in the details of that complaint: the profile was wrong in a flattering direction and still caused a problem. Accuracy is not the standard these sites are held to. Our Spokeo write-up covers the full record.
Whitepages: built on phone numbers
Whitepages started in 1997 as an online phone and address directory and grew into a full people-search and phone-identity business. That history shows in the data. It is usually stronger on phone-number linkage than the average people-search site, which is exactly what makes it useful to spam callers and to anyone attempting a SIM-swap.
If your concern is unwanted contact rather than reputation, Whitepages is the listing that hurts most. A well-linked record tying your mobile number to your name, your age and your current address is the raw material for a convincing social-engineering call. The same record is what lets a robocaller confirm the number is live and belongs to a real person at a real address.
It is also the hardest of the three to leave. The standard opt-out requires you to answer an automated verification call, and there is no email-only route through the form. You have to give a phone directory a working phone number in order to get out of it. We found no enforcement action against Whitepages.
BeenVerified: fast to leave, but it has siblings
BeenVerified was founded in 2007 in New York by Josh Levy and Ross Cohen. Of the three, it leans hardest into background-report territory: alongside contact details and address history, its reports can include court, criminal and property records. That is the material most likely to cost you a job or a tenancy if someone reads it carelessly.
Criminal data is where the harm concentrates. Charges can appear without their outcome, so a dismissed or dropped case can read as a conviction to anyone skimming. We found no federal enforcement action against BeenVerified, and its free opt-out genuinely works, usually inside a day or two. The company is legitimate. The product is still a subscription dossier on people who never agreed to be in it.
The catch is the family. BeenVerified is one of several consumer brands operated by The Lifetime Value Company, which also lists PeopleLooker, NeighborWho, Ownerly, NumberGuru, ReversePhone, PeopleSmart, Bumper and MoneyBot5000 among its brands. Removing yourself from BeenVerified does not automatically clear the siblings, so search the ones that matter to you afterwards.
Side by side: what each exposes and what removal costs you
The table below compares the three on the details that change what you should do first: what each is strongest at publishing, how it verifies a removal request, and how long that request takes to land. Removal times assume you complete the confirmation step promptly.
| Spokeo | Whitepages | BeenVerified | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strongest data | Broad profile plus linked social accounts | Phone numbers and address history | Court, criminal and property records |
| Verification | Email link | Automated phone call | Email link |
| Typical removal time | 24 to 72 hours | Up to 72 hours, often within an hour | 24 to 72 hours |
| Time to file | About 5 minutes | 10 to 15 minutes | About 5 minutes |
| Bulk removal | No, one URL at a time | No, one listing at a time | No, one record at a time |
| Enforcement record | FTC, 2012, $800,000 | None found | None found |
Opt-out mechanics and timings from each broker's own opt-out page, re-verified for the RedactZero guide library on July 26, 2026. Enforcement figure from the FTC press release of June 2012.
Which one should you remove first
Start with the site that matches the risk you actually face, then do the other two. If you are getting spam calls or hold anything worth a SIM-swap, start with Whitepages. If you are job hunting or renting, start with BeenVerified. If you just want the top result for your name gone, start with Spokeo.
A second, blunter rule works too: search your own name plus your city and remove whichever of the three ranks highest. The listing on page one of a search for your name does far more damage than the one nobody will ever scroll to.
How to remove yourself from all three
All three follow the same basic shape. Find the listing that is you, submit its URL or select the record on the site's opt-out form, then complete the verification step. None of them charge for this, and none require a paid account. Budget half an hour for all three and do them in one sitting.
- Spokeo opt-out guide - copy your profile URL, paste it at the opt-out page, confirm by email. Each listing has its own URL and must be removed separately.
- Whitepages opt-out guide - paste your profile URL into the suppression form, pick a removal reason, then answer the automated verification call.
- BeenVerified opt-out guide - search yourself on the opt-out page, select your record, submit an email, click the verification link before it expires.
One trap catches people on all three: name variations. A maiden name, a middle initial, a nickname and an old address can each produce a separate record. Removing one leaves the rest live, so search a few variations before you call it done. Our full library of opt-out guides covers the rest of the major brokers the same way.
The "not a consumer reporting agency" line, and why it matters
All three sites state they are not consumer reporting agencies, which means their reports may not lawfully be used for employment, tenant or credit decisions. Read that as a disclaimer rather than a guarantee. It describes how the company says its product should be used, not how the people paying for it actually use it.
The disclaimer is also not self-executing. Spokeo carried a version of that position and the FTC still alleged in 2012 that it had operated as a consumer reporting agency, because what mattered was how the profiles were marketed and used. If your listing is wrong and a hiring manager reads it anyway, the disclaimer does nothing for you at the moment it counts. That is the strongest argument for removing the listing rather than trusting the label on it.
What removal will not fix
Opting out of these three does not make you unlisted. It removes three profiles from an industry with hundreds of participants, and the free sites with no paywall at all are often more exposing than the subscription ones. Treat this as the first pass rather than the whole job.
Expect relisting too. All three keep ingesting fresh public records and buying commercial data after your removal, so a profile you deleted can be rebuilt from a new record, commonly within three to six months. Re-check every few months and re-file. California residents have a shortcut everyone else lacks: the state's DROP platform sends one deletion request to every registered data broker at once, and registered brokers must begin processing those requests from August 1, 2026.
More posts on the removal side of this are in our data brokers section.
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Frequently asked questions
Which is worse: Spokeo, Whitepages, or BeenVerified?
It depends on what you are worried about. Whitepages is the strongest on phone numbers, which matters for robocalls and SIM-swap attempts. BeenVerified leans hardest into court and criminal records, which is what an employer or landlord would misuse. Spokeo sits in the middle and is the one with a federal enforcement record.
Does removing yourself from one remove you from the others?
No. Each site runs its own database and its own opt-out, so a Spokeo removal has no effect on Whitepages or BeenVerified. There is no shared suppression list across these three, unlike the PeopleConnect brands, which share one portal.
Is it free to opt out of all three?
Yes. All three have free opt-out forms and none of them require a paid account to use one. A paid removal service files these same free requests for you, so you are paying for time and coverage rather than for access.
Why does Whitepages want my phone number to remove me?
Its standard opt-out verifies you with an automated phone call and offers no email-only path. The number is used to confirm the request rather than added to your listing, but handing a phone number to a phone-directory business to get out of it is a real friction point.
How long does each opt-out take to process?
Spokeo and BeenVerified generally process a verified request within 24 to 72 hours. Whitepages is often faster once phone verification clears, sometimes within the hour, and generally inside 72 hours. All three depend on you completing the confirmation step first.
Does opting out of BeenVerified cover PeopleLooker and Ownerly?
Do not assume so. BeenVerified is one of several consumer brands operated by The Lifetime Value Company, alongside PeopleLooker, NeighborWho, Ownerly, NumberGuru, ReversePhone, PeopleSmart and Bumper. Search yourself on the sibling sites after your BeenVerified removal and file separately for any that still list you.
Can an employer legally use these sites to screen me?
All three state they are not consumer reporting agencies, which means their reports may not lawfully be used for hiring, tenant, or credit decisions. That disclaimer is not self-executing: the FTC fined Spokeo $800,000 in 2012 over marketing profiles to recruiters and employers, so the line has been crossed before.
How often do these listings come back?
Commonly within three to six months. All three keep ingesting fresh public records and commercial data after your removal, so a new record can rebuild a profile that you already deleted. Re-check every few months and re-file rather than assuming one pass is permanent.
Sources: FTC press release, June 2012 (Spokeo, $800,000 FCRA settlement); Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, No. 13-1339, decided May 16, 2016, via Cornell Legal Information Institute; The Lifetime Value Company brands page (BeenVerified ownership); California Privacy Protection Agency (DROP and the Delete Act); and the official opt-out pages of each broker named above.