Mozilla Monitor: What the Free Tool Does Now That Plus Is Gone
Mozilla Monitor is now a free data breach alert tool. Its paid Monitor Plus data removal tier shut down on December 17, 2025. Here's what it still does, its limits and the alternatives.
By Editorial Team
7 min read
Mozilla Monitor is a free tool from Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, that checks whether your email address appears in known data breaches and alerts you when it shows up in a new one. As of September 2026, it no longer removes your information from data broker sites: its paid Monitor Plus tier, which did that, shut down on December 17, 2025. What’s left is free breach monitoring with step-by-step guidance on what to do after each breach.
This guide is research-based. We read Mozilla’s Monitor site and Mozilla’s public source code for Monitor in September 2026. We didn’t test an account, and we don’t give star ratings to anyone.
Mozilla Monitor at a glance
| Question | Answer as of September 2026 |
|---|---|
| Is it free? | Yes. Mozilla says data breach monitoring is “always free” |
| What does it check? | Your email addresses against known data breaches |
| Does it remove data from people-search sites? | No. That was Monitor Plus, which ended on December 17, 2025 |
| How many emails can you monitor? | Mozilla’s pages disagree: 5 on its How it works page, up to 20 in a newer in-app announcement |
| Does it fix breaches for you? | No. It explains the steps; you change passwords and contact banks yourself |
What happened to Monitor Plus
Mozilla launched Monitor Plus as a paid add-on for people in the US. According to Mozilla’s own announcement, it automatically requested removal of your personal information from data broker sites and re-scanned monthly to keep it off. Mozilla’s public Monitor code shows those broker scans were run through OneRep, the data removal company. Our OneRep review covers that service on its own terms.
In late 2025, Mozilla wound Monitor Plus down. The shutdown banner Mozilla added to Monitor in November 2025, which remains in the history of Mozilla’s official Monitor code repository on GitHub (mozilla/blurts-server), told subscribers to view their dashboard “before we say goodbye to Monitor Plus for good on December 17, 2025.” After that date, Mozilla’s notice says, data broker scan results and in-progress removals were deleted, but free data breach monitoring continued. The notice links to an article on Mozilla’s help site with details for former subscribers.
If you were relying on Monitor Plus, the practical point is simple: no one is sending opt-out requests for you anymore, and brokers relist people over time. If you want that job done, you now need to do it yourself or choose another service.
What the free Mozilla Monitor does
Based on Mozilla’s Monitor site, as of September 2026:
- You enter an email address and get a free scan of all known data breaches that include it.
- You sign up for alerts. Monitor then keeps watching and alerts you whenever that address turns up in a newly detected breach.
- You get guided steps for each breach. Monitor explains what was exposed and what to do, such as changing a reused password or placing a fraud alert. Mozilla says plainly that it can’t resolve breaches for you, because those steps are manual.
Monitor’s public source code shows it gets its breach data from Have I Been Pwned, the long-running breach search service. So the breach list you see in Monitor overlaps heavily with what you’d find there. Our guide to Have I Been Pwned explains how that database works.
On the email limit, Mozilla’s How it works page says all subscribers can monitor 5 email addresses for free, while a newer announcement in Monitor’s code offers free monitoring for up to 20. Check your account settings for the current number.
What Mozilla Monitor doesn’t do
Knowing the limits helps you pick the right tool for the problem you actually have.
- It doesn’t remove data. Not from people-search sites, not from Google, not from breach dumps. It tells you where you’ve been exposed in breaches.
- It doesn’t watch people-search sites. Breach monitoring and broker listings are different problems. A breach is a company getting hacked; a broker listing is a company publishing your address on purpose.
- It isn’t identity theft protection. There’s no credit monitoring, no identity theft insurance and no restoration service.
- It doesn’t watch your name in search results. A news story, review or forum post about you won’t trigger an alert.
Pros and cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free, with no paid tier to upsell you | No data broker removal since Monitor Plus ended |
| Clear, step-by-step guidance for each breach | Only watches email addresses, not your name, phone or address |
| Ongoing alerts for new breaches | Can’t fix anything for you; you do every step |
| From Mozilla, with publicly available source code | Mozilla’s pages disagree on how many emails you can add |
Privacy considerations
Breach checks are low-risk as privacy tools go: you share an email address, not your date of birth or home address. Still, a few habits help.
- Only monitor addresses you own. Monitor sends a verification email for a reason.
- Act on alerts quickly. A leaked password matters most if you’ve reused it. Our guide on what to do if your password is leaked walks through the order of steps.
- Read Mozilla’s privacy notice for Monitor if you want the detail on what it keeps and for how long.
A worked example
This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client.
Anselm had Monitor Plus for a year and liked not thinking about people-search sites. After the shutdown, he still gets breach alerts, and one arrives for an old shopping account. He changes that password and the two other accounts where he’d reused it, then turns on two-factor sign-in for his email.
Separately, he searches his name and finds two people-search profiles with his address have come back. He opts out of both himself using free guides, then decides whether a paid service is worth it for the rest. He keeps Monitor for breach alerts either way, because the two jobs don’t overlap.
Not sure where to start?
Get a free audit of your search results and review profiles, with a prioritized fix list.
Get a free auditAlternatives to Mozilla Monitor
What to use instead depends on which part of Monitor you’re replacing.
- Our free Reputation Scanner (launching soon), for what’s said about you online. It isn’t available yet and it isn’t a breach monitor: our products don’t do breach monitoring, credit monitoring or identity theft insurance. Once it launches, it will be free to use with no account or billing. You search for yourself, it ranks the top 10 negative results by how serious they are and how likely they are to be about you, and it drafts removal requests, including for personal information and doxxing, that you review and send yourself. See the Reputation Scanner page.
- The do-it-yourself route, for broker listings. This is the free replacement for what Monitor Plus did. Our data broker opt-out list and guide to removing yourself from people-search sites walk through each site.
- A paid removal service. EasyOptOuts lists a Personal plan at $19.99 a year for US residents, covering 200+ data brokers and people-search sites with three scans a year, as of September 2026. Check its site for current pricing, and read our EasyOptOuts review.
- Another breach alert tool. Surfshark Alert monitors emails, credit card numbers and ID numbers, but only as part of a paid Surfshark bundle. Our Surfshark Alert guide compares it.
For a wider view, read our guides to data broker removal services, whether data removal services are worth it, and what a dark web scan can and can’t tell you. If something about you online is doing real harm, our personal reputation management service starts with a free audit.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mozilla Monitor still free?
Yes. As of September 2026, Mozilla says data breach monitoring is always free. Only the paid Monitor Plus tier, which handled data broker removal, has ended.
When did Mozilla Monitor Plus shut down?
On December 17, 2025. Mozilla’s shutdown notice says data broker scan results and in-progress removals were deleted, while free breach monitoring continued. Former subscribers should see Mozilla’s help article on the shutdown for account details.
Does Mozilla Monitor remove my information from data brokers?
Not anymore. Broker removal was part of Monitor Plus. To remove listings now, use free opt-outs yourself or a paid data removal service.
Is Mozilla Monitor the same as Have I Been Pwned?
No, but they’re related. Monitor’s public code shows it draws breach data from Have I Been Pwned, then adds Mozilla’s own alerts and step-by-step guidance for each breach.
Is Mozilla Monitor safe to use?
It asks only for email addresses you verify, and its source code is public. As with any service, read Mozilla’s privacy notice, and act on alerts by changing reused passwords and turning on two-factor sign-in.
