Cleanup vs Cleaner – Clean Phone: what 6,577 reviews say

Cleanup vs Cleaner – Clean Phone: the numbers side by side

Where do Cleanup and Cleaner – Clean Phone differ most?

• Cleanup's unhappy reviewers mention billing, trials and cancelling about 6 times as often as Cleaner – Clean Phone's: 51.5% against 9.2% of 1–2★ reviews.
• Cleaner – Clean Phone's unhappy reviewers mention ads, pop-ups and pushy screens about 4 times as often as Cleanup's: 26.1% against 6.8% of 1–2★ reviews.
• Cleanup's unhappy reviewers mention a paywall before the app does anything useful about 5 times as often as Cleaner – Clean Phone's: 11.4% against 2.2% of 1–2★ reviews.
• Calling the app a scam or rip-off is a bigger issue for Cleanup (10.5% of low ratings) than for Cleaner – Clean Phone (2.2%).
• Cleaner – Clean Phone's unhappy reviewers mention privacy and permission worries about 4 times as often as Cleanup's: 8.3% against 2.1% of 1–2★ reviews.

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; Cleaner – Clean Phone analyses storage, recommends files to delete and works as a file manager.

Are Cleanup and Cleaner – Clean Phone 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. Cleaner – Clean Phone went from 4.35 stars in 2025-Q3 to 4.39 in 2026-Q3, with billing at 20% of its latest 1–2★ reviews. On Google Play, Cleaner – Clean Phone's developer answers more unhappy reviewers (100% against 0.1%).

Where are Cleanup and Cleaner – Clean Phone alike?

Their reviewers agree on having to review items one by one: on each, the two apps are within two points of each other (3% vs 2.9%). 45.3% of Cleanup's reviews are 1★ and 40.4% are 5★; for Cleaner – Clean Phone the split is 9.3% and 80.8%, 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 10.5% for Cleaner – Clean Phone. 6.4% of Cleanup's 4–5★ reviews say it finds duplicates and similar shots, compared with 0.3% for Cleaner – Clean Phone. 26.5% of Cleaner – Clean Phone's 4–5★ reviews say it works, compared with 24.4% for Cleanup.

Which is cheaper, Cleanup or Cleaner – Clean Phone?

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. Cleaner – Clean Phone: Google Play (US) $0.99 to $99.99 per item, with ads. Cleaner – Clean Phone starts lower, at $0.99 against $5.95. Billing makes up 51.5% of Cleanup's 1–2★ reviews and 9.2% of Cleaner – Clean Phone's.

What reviewers say about Cleanup and Cleaner – Clean Phone

• Cleanup: "I still have to manually erase over 500 files, thats for pix, never seen the cleaning of apps. dont waste your time and money." (1★, Google Play, US, Apr 2026)
• Cleanup: "do not download. Ads take over your phone" (1★, Google Play, US, Sep 2026)
• Cleaner – Clean Phone: "Thanks for developing this ad support app. It helps me optimize the phone without cost much money." (5★, Google Play, US, Aug 2023)
• Cleaner – Clean Phone: "Just installed but so far so good! I might even buy the ad free version. Need to check under the couch cushions!!" (5★, Google Play, US, Jun 2021)

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 Cleaner – Clean Phone?

On ratings alone, Cleaner – Clean Phone is the safer bet on the evidence here, with 39.6% fewer 1–2★ reviews. If billing, trials and cancelling is what worries you most, Cleaner – Clean Phone has the better record on it.