Cleanup vs AVG Cleaner: what 6,532 reviews say

Cleanup vs AVG Cleaner: the numbers side by side

Where do Cleanup and AVG Cleaner differ most?

• On billing, trials and cancelling, Cleanup draws 51.5% of its 1–2★ reviews, while AVG Cleaner draws 33.6%.
• AVG Cleaner's unhappy reviewers mention ads, pop-ups and pushy screens about 4 times as often as Cleanup's: 24% against 6.8% of 1–2★ reviews.
• Cleanup's unhappy reviewers mention calling the app a scam or rip-off roughly twice as often as AVG Cleaner's: 10.5% against 3.6% of 1–2★ reviews.
• AVG Cleaner's unhappy reviewers mention privacy and permission worries about 4 times as often as Cleanup's: 8.9% against 2.1% of 1–2★ reviews.
• Slowness, crashes and bugs is a bigger issue for AVG Cleaner (12.5% of low ratings) than for Cleanup (5.8%).

Both are compared on Android, where both have enough reviews. Cleanup deletes duplicate photos and videos and similar screenshots, merges duplicate contacts and compresses videos; AVG Cleaner removes junk files, uninstalls apps, deletes bad or unwanted photos and videos and can roll back updates of preinstalled apps.

Are Cleanup and AVG 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. AVG Cleaner went from 3.91 stars in 2026-Q1 to 3.98 in 2026-Q4, with billing at 35% of its latest 1–2★ reviews. On Google Play, AVG Cleaner's developer answers more unhappy reviewers (72.1% against 0.1%).

Where are Cleanup and AVG Cleaner alike?

Their reviewers agree on a paywall before the app does anything useful and having to review items one by one: on each, the two apps are within two points of each other (11.4% vs 10.2%; 3% vs 3.1%). 45.3% of Cleanup's reviews are 1★ and 40.4% are 5★; for AVG Cleaner the split is 21.5% and 55.3%, so Cleanup has noticeably more very angry reviewers.

What do happy users praise in each?

17.3% of Cleanup's 4–5★ reviews say it is easy to use, compared with 10.4% for AVG Cleaner. 6.4% of Cleanup's 4–5★ reviews say it finds duplicates and similar shots, compared with 1% for AVG Cleaner. 10% of Cleanup's 4–5★ reviews say it is fast, compared with 6.7% for AVG Cleaner.

Which is cheaper, Cleanup or AVG 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. AVG Cleaner: Google Play (US) $1.49 to $39.99 per item, with ads. AVG Cleaner starts lower, at $1.49 against $5.95. Billing makes up 51.5% of Cleanup's 1–2★ reviews and 33.6% of AVG Cleaner's.

What reviewers say about Cleanup and AVG Cleaner

• Cleanup: "tried to cancel, can't find a way to cancel...it keeps charging me does anyone know how to cancel this it's a scam" (1★, Google Play, US, Aug 2026)
• Cleanup: "too many ads I can't even text no one" (1★, Google Play, US, Oct 2026)
• AVG Cleaner: "useless and worthless I purchased premium subscription few days ago till today it's only scanning data, never cleaning it. wastage of time and money" (1★, Google Play, US, Mar 2026)
• AVG Cleaner: "Effective at keeping viruses away. More and more adverts though." (4★, Google Play, US, Jul 2026)

Picked from the billing, trials and cancelling and ads, pop-ups and pushy screens themes, where the two differ most.

Should you choose Cleanup or AVG Cleaner?

On ratings alone, AVG Cleaner is the safer bet on the evidence here, with 23.4% fewer 1–2★ reviews. If billing, trials and cancelling is what worries you most, AVG Cleaner has the better record on it.