Scrubadub
What it is: Python library for removing personally identifiable information (PII) from text. Automatically detects and redacts names, emails, phone numbers, SSNs, credit cards, and more.
What It Does Best
Automatic PII detection. Finds and removes names, emails, phones, addresses, SSNs, credit cards. Uses pattern matching and NLP for name recognition.
Compliance helper. Clean data for GDPR/CCPA compliance. Share logs and support tickets without leaking customer information.
Customizable. Add custom detectors for company-specific PII. Control redaction format (replace with {{EMAIL}} or hash values).
Key Features
Name detection: Uses NLP to find person names in text
Pattern matching: Detects emails, phones, SSNs, credit cards
Custom detectors: Add your own PII patterns
Redaction formats: Placeholder tokens or hashed values
Filth tracking: See what was detected and removed
Pricing
Free: Open source, MIT license
No restrictions: Use commercially without limitations
Community maintained: Active development on GitHub
When to Use It
✅ Sharing production logs for debugging
✅ Anonymizing customer support transcripts
✅ GDPR/CCPA data anonymization requirements
✅ Creating test datasets from production data
✅ Need quick automated PII removal
When NOT to Use It
❌ Need 100% accuracy (manual review required)
❌ Highly sensitive data (use enterprise tools)
❌ Non-English text (limited language support)
❌ Complex document structures (works best on plain text)
❌ Medical or financial data (requires specialized tools)
Common Use Cases
Log sanitization: Remove PII from application logs before sharing
Support ticket anonymization: Clean customer communications for analysis
Test data generation: Create realistic but anonymized datasets
Compliance automation: Automated PII removal for GDPR requests
Data sharing: Prepare data for external analysis safely
Scrubadub vs Alternatives
vs Presidio: Presidio more comprehensive, Scrubadub simpler
vs Manual redaction: Scrubadub faster, manual more accurate
vs Enterprise DLP: Enterprise more features, Scrubadub free
Unique Strengths
Simple API: One function call to clean text
Extensible: Easy to add custom PII detectors
Open source: Free alternative to expensive DLP tools
Python-native: Integrates seamlessly with data pipelines
Bottom line: Good first line of defense for PII removal. Catches most common cases automatically. Not perfect—always review output for sensitive data. Essential tool for data privacy compliance.