AI Cleaner vs Smart Cleaner: what 3,885 reviews say

AI Cleaner vs Smart Cleaner: the numbers side by side

Where do AI Cleaner and Smart Cleaner differ most?

• AI Cleaner's unhappy reviewers mention a paywall before the app does anything useful roughly twice as often as Smart Cleaner's: 16.3% against 8% of 1–2★ reviews.
• Smart Cleaner's unhappy reviewers mention billing, trials and cancelling more often as AI Cleaner's: 56.7% against 49.6% of 1–2★ reviews.
• AI Cleaner's unhappy reviewers mention ads, pop-ups and pushy screens about 3 times as often as Smart Cleaner's: 9.4% against 2.7% of 1–2★ reviews.
• On an ad or listing that promised something else, AI Cleaner draws 7.5% of its 1–2★ reviews, while Smart Cleaner draws 2.7%.
• AI Cleaner's unhappy reviewers mention the app not working or doing little more often as Smart Cleaner's: 17% against 12.3% of 1–2★ reviews.

Both are compared on iPhone, where both have enough reviews. AI Cleaner deletes duplicate photos and similar videos, clears email inboxes and compresses media files; Smart Cleaner clears duplicates and unneeded files and sorts and compresses media.

Are AI Cleaner and Smart Cleaner improving?

AI Cleaner went from 2.24 stars in 2025-Q3 to 3.21 in 2026-Q4, with billing at 28.1% of its latest 1–2★ reviews. Smart Cleaner went from 2.38 stars in 2025-Q3 to 2.33 in 2026-Q1, with billing at 58.3% of its latest 1–2★ reviews.

Where are AI Cleaner and Smart Cleaner alike?

There is no complaint theme where the two apps are within two points of each other, which is unusual. 44% of AI Cleaner's reviews are 1★ and 37.1% are 5★; for Smart Cleaner the split is 52.8% and 31.4%, so Smart Cleaner has noticeably more very angry reviewers.

What do happy users praise in each?

20.6% of AI Cleaner's 4–5★ reviews say it works, compared with 15% for Smart Cleaner. 11.5% of Smart Cleaner's 4–5★ reviews say it is easy to use, compared with 6.3% for AI Cleaner. 11.5% of Smart Cleaner's 4–5★ reviews say it is fast, compared with 6.5% for AI Cleaner.

Which is cheaper, AI Cleaner or Smart Cleaner?

AI Cleaner: App Store (US) in-app purchases from $6.99 to $34.99; Google Play (US) $4.99 to $79.99 per item, with ads. Smart Cleaner: App Store (US) in-app purchases from $5.99 to $39.99. AI Cleaner starts lower, at $4.99 against $5.99. Billing makes up 49.6% of AI Cleaner's 1–2★ reviews and 56.7% of Smart Cleaner's.

What reviewers say about AI Cleaner and Smart Cleaner

• AI Cleaner: "Your add say it is free. IT is NOT free, there is a monthly fee." (1★, Google Play, US, Jul 2026)
• AI Cleaner: "Every time I try to delete emails it comes back saying Not successful! so I'm not getting what I paid for." (1★, Google Play, US, Jun 2026)
• Smart Cleaner: "Three days free only. Clean photos and videos only. Thought it cleaned messages, emails, and files. Nope just photos. Waste of my time." (1★, App Store, US, Mar 2026)
• Smart Cleaner: "Completely horrible. Hard unable to cancel subscription." (1★, App Store, US, Sep 2026)

Picked from the a paywall before the app does anything useful and billing, trials and cancelling themes, where the two differ most.

Should you choose AI Cleaner or Smart Cleaner?

On ratings alone, AI Cleaner is the safer bet on the evidence here, with 10.7% fewer 1–2★ reviews. If a paywall before the app does anything useful is what worries you most, Smart Cleaner has the better record on it.