Clever Cleaner vs Smart Cleaner: what 1,309 reviews say

Clever Cleaner vs Smart Cleaner: the numbers side by side

Where do Clever Cleaner and Smart Cleaner differ most?

• Smart Cleaner's unhappy reviewers mention billing, trials and cancelling roughly twice as often as Clever Cleaner's: 56.7% against 23.7% of 1–2★ reviews.
• Clever Cleaner's unhappy reviewers mention an ad or listing that promised something else about 5 times as often as Smart Cleaner's: 13.2% against 2.7% of 1–2★ reviews.
• A paywall before the app does anything useful is a bigger issue for Clever Cleaner (15.8% of low ratings) than for Smart Cleaner (8%).
• Smart Cleaner's unhappy reviewers mention calling the app a scam or rip-off more often as Clever Cleaner's: 6.4% against 0% of 1–2★ reviews.
• On slowness, crashes and bugs, Clever Cleaner draws 5.3% of its 1–2★ reviews, while Smart Cleaner draws 1.6%.

Both are compared on iPhone. Clever Cleaner finds similar photos, duplicates, screenshots, Live Photos and large videos, with daily free limits and no ads; Smart Cleaner clears duplicates and unneeded files and sorts and compresses media.

Are Clever Cleaner and Smart Cleaner improving?

Clever Cleaner went from 4.9 stars in 2026-Q2 to 4.65 in 2026-Q4, with billing at 38.1% 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 Clever Cleaner and Smart Cleaner alike?

Their reviewers agree on ads, pop-ups and pushy screens and support that doesn't answer: on each, the two apps are within two points of each other (2.6% vs 2.7%; 2.6% vs 1.6%). 3.2% of Clever Cleaner's reviews are 1★ and 84.7% 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?

38.4% of Clever Cleaner's 4–5★ reviews say it works, compared with 15% for Smart Cleaner. 27.9% of Clever Cleaner's 4–5★ reviews say it is easy to use, compared with 11.5% for Smart Cleaner. 6.7% of Clever Cleaner's 4–5★ reviews say it finds duplicates and similar shots, compared with 0.9% for Smart Cleaner.

Which is cheaper, Clever Cleaner or Smart Cleaner?

Clever Cleaner: App Store (US) in-app purchases from $6.99 to $39.99. Smart Cleaner: App Store (US) in-app purchases from $5.99 to $39.99. Smart Cleaner starts lower, at $5.99 against $6.99. Billing makes up 23.7% of Clever Cleaner's 1–2★ reviews and 56.7% of Smart Cleaner's.

What reviewers say about Clever Cleaner and Smart Cleaner

• Clever Cleaner: "Very pleased with this app. Hope it doesn’t suddenly want to charge me" (5★, App Store, UK, Oct 2026)
• Clever Cleaner: "Presented as a free app ! But is only free for 3 days !! Most would call it - false advertising….." (1★, App Store, US, Oct 2026)
• Smart Cleaner: "Completely horrible. Hard unable to cancel subscription." (1★, App Store, US, Sep 2026)
• Smart Cleaner: "Not as advertised it keeps asking for more money" (2★, App Store, US, Mar 2026)

Picked from the billing, trials and cancelling and an ad or listing that promised something else themes, where the two differ most.

Should you choose Clever Cleaner or Smart Cleaner?

On ratings alone, Clever Cleaner is the safer bet on the evidence here, with 56.7% fewer 1–2★ reviews. If billing, trials and cancelling is what worries you most, Clever Cleaner has the better record on it.