Cleanup vs AI Cleaner: what 7,365 reviews say

Cleanup vs AI Cleaner: the numbers side by side

Where do Cleanup and AI Cleaner differ most?

• A paywall before the app does anything useful is a bigger issue for AI Cleaner (16.3% of low ratings) than for Cleanup (11.4%).
• AI Cleaner's unhappy reviewers mention the app not working or doing little more often as Cleanup's: 17% against 14% of 1–2★ reviews.
• Ads, pop-ups and pushy screens is a bigger issue for AI Cleaner (9.4% of low ratings) than for Cleanup (6.8%).
• An ad or listing that promised something else is a bigger issue for AI Cleaner (7.5% of low ratings) than for Cleanup (5.1%).
• On billing, trials and cancelling, Cleanup draws 51.5% of its 1–2★ reviews, while AI Cleaner draws 49.6%.

Both are compared on Android and iPhone. Cleanup deletes duplicate photos and videos and similar screenshots, merges duplicate contacts and compresses videos; AI Cleaner deletes duplicate photos and similar videos, clears email inboxes and compresses media files.

Are Cleanup and AI Cleaner improving?

Cleanup went from 2.45 stars in 2026-Q2 to 3.15 in 2026-Q4, with billing at 42.8% of its latest 1–2★ reviews. 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. On Google Play, AI Cleaner's developer answers more unhappy reviewers (99.8% against 0.1%).

Where are Cleanup and AI Cleaner alike?

Their reviewers agree on billing, trials and cancelling, slowness, crashes and bugs and having to review items one by one: on each, the two apps are within two points of each other (51.5% vs 49.6%; 5.8% vs 6.1%; 3% vs 2.1%). 45.3% of Cleanup's reviews are 1★ and 40.4% are 5★; for AI Cleaner the split is 44% and 37.1%, so the share of very angry reviewers is similar.

What do happy users praise in each?

17.3% of Cleanup's 4–5★ reviews say it is easy to use, compared with 6.3% for AI Cleaner. 6.4% of Cleanup's 4–5★ reviews say it finds duplicates and similar shots, compared with 1.6% for AI Cleaner. 24.4% of Cleanup's 4–5★ reviews say it works, compared with 20.6% for AI Cleaner.

Which is cheaper, Cleanup or AI Cleaner?

Cleanup: App Store (US) in-app purchases from $5.95 to $29.99; Google Play (US) $6.99 to $39.99 per item, with ads. 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. AI Cleaner starts lower, at $4.99 against $5.95. Billing makes up 51.5% of Cleanup's 1–2★ reviews and 49.6% of AI Cleaner's.

What reviewers say about Cleanup and AI Cleaner

• Cleanup: "It says free, but its not. You have to upgrade and pay in order to delete more than 25 things a day. FALSE ADVERTISEMENT!" (2★, Google Play, US, Jun 2026)
• Cleanup: "Takes more time than manually selecting and deleting photos, complete waste of time and money, do not download." (1★, Google Play, US, Jun 2026)
• AI Cleaner: "False ads! Ad says totally free no ads, yada yada yada... download, run, then the paywall for it to actually clean." (1★, Google Play, US, May 2026)
• AI Cleaner: "they didn't give me my free trial period and will not cancel my subscription for a year. Bad app!" (1★, Google Play, US, Apr 2026)

Picked from the a paywall before the app does anything useful and the app not working or doing little themes, where the two differ most.

Should you choose Cleanup or AI Cleaner?

On ratings alone, the two are close on ratings, so choose on price and on which features you need. If a paywall before the app does anything useful is what worries you most, Cleanup has the better record on it.