CleanClac vs Cleanster (ex-TIDY): the 2026 comparison

If you are looking for a tool to run the cleanings of a short-term rental, sooner or later you will come across Cleanster. And if you have been looking for a while, you may have known it under another name. Let us settle that first, because it causes real confusion.

First, the story of the name: TIDY app became Cleanster.com

On 10 November 2022, after three years under the name TIDY app, the platform announced its rename to Cleanster.com. The login address app.tidyapp.io now redirects to app.cleanster.com, the client app is called Cleanster.com and the cleaner app Cleanster.com Pro. The company stated at the time: same team, same product, same support, unchanged credentials. The reason given was to align the name more closely with the platform's values.

Do not confuse it with plain TIDY, at tidy.com. That is a different company, American, still trading, selling software to home-service professionals (cleaning, but also plumbing, electrical work, lawn care) with a free tier up to 20 jobs a month and a Pro plan at 20$ a month. We cover it in Properly, TIDY, Turnify or CleanClac: which one in 2026?. Two brands, two products, one name that sounds alike: when you read reviews online, always check which tool the writer means.

This comparison is about Cleanster.com, the former TIDY app, against CleanClac. The Cleanster facts below come from their public pages and from third-party write-ups, gathered in August 2026; we say so when an item is not public.

Two tools that answer different questions

This is the key to everything else, and it fits in one sentence.

Cleanster answers “who is going to clean?” It is first of all a marketplace: the platform claims more than 80,000 vetted cleaners and 15,000 hosts, and its core business is to connect you with a rated professional, available, near you. The management software came on top, and it is solid, but the marketplace remains the heart.

CleanClac answers “how do I run my team?” It is an execution tool: you already have a cleaner, a management company or a small team, and you want the cleanings to create themselves, the checklist to be followed and the proof to arrive. A “Find a cleaner” feature exists and it is free, but it is not the product: it is a backup, not a business model.

That difference of intent explains the pricing, the geographical coverage and even the way each one treats photos. Keep it in mind.

The shared ground, and it is wide

On the basics, both hold up, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. Both can:

• Read your calendars: you paste an iCal link from Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking or a channel manager, and the cleaning is created at guest check-out.
• Connect to a PMS to pull bookings without copy and paste.
• Run a checklist with photos, customisable per property.
• Name a backup: Cleanster talks about a primary and a backup cleaner, CleanClac about automatic assignment per property.
• Report problems from the field, and chat inside the app.
• Show a before and after in photos to the owner.

If your need stops there, both will do, and the choice comes down to the four points below.

Difference 1: geography, and it is decisive

Cleanster operates in North America and the United Kingdom. The cities it highlights are Houston, Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, New York and San Francisco. Third-party write-ups add that availability varies city by city, even inside those countries.

For a French, Spanish, Italian or German host, the consequence is simple: the marketplace is empty. Yet the marketplace is what justifies Cleanster's entry price, since its base plan is free provided you hire through them. You would be paying for the software half of a product whose other half is out of reach.

CleanClac is built in Europe and speaks six languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German, on the manager side and on the cleaner side. That is not a comfort detail. A checklist in English in front of a cleaner who does not read it means skipped tasks and a dispute afterwards.

Difference 2: two ways of billing you

Cleanster bills per property, with a free base. Public write-ups report four tiers: Basic, free for those hiring only through the marketplace, Pro at 3.99$ per property for software integrations, Team at 5.99$ per property with inventory management, and an Enterprise plan for large portfolios. The detailed grid is not shown publicly on their home page: you have to create an account to get prices, a defensible commercial choice that does make comparison harder.

CleanClac bills per portfolio, and nothing else. The first property is free, with no card and no time limit. Then 9.99€ a month for two properties, 14.99€ for three to four, 19.99€ for five, then 4€ per property beyond. Yearly: free for one property, then 59.99€, 89.99€, 119.99€, and 24€ per property beyond. A free first property with no card and no time limit. No commission on what you pay your team, for a simple reason: the money does not go through us.

Let us be honest about what that means: if you are in Toronto with no team, Cleanster is cheaper than us, by a wide margin, since its base is free. It then earns on the cleaning itself. If you are in Bordeaux with two cleaners you pay directly, the free base is beside the point: there is nobody to hire in the marketplace.

What it looks like for your situation

For the market's pricing grids in detail, see Price of Airbnb Cleaning Software in 2026.

Difference 3: what is left when a guest complains

This is the point we have worked on most, and where the gap is widest.

Cleanster offers before and after photos and videos, shareable with the owner. That is useful, it is what most of the market does, and in most cases it is enough.

CleanClac goes one step further, because a photo taken on a phone can be re-dated in three taps. With us, the end-of-cleaning proof is timestamped by the server, with the file's digital fingerprint and the GPS position. Neither the cleaner nor the manager can backdate anything. On top of that: geolocated on-site check-in, the real duration of the cleaning with an “Over” marker when it runs past the estimate, and a condition rating of the property on arrival given by the cleaner, which protects the team as much as the owner.

We will not write that this carries legal weight in court: that would be false, and nobody can promise it. We write that a file timestamped server-side cannot be backdated, and that this settles most arguments. The subject is covered in Photo Proof of Cleaning: Which Tool Holds Up in a Dispute.

Difference 4: who works for you, and who pays them

Cleanster puts forward an openly social promise: giving cleaning professionals real work and paying them a living wage, on what they call an ethical platform. That is a clear and respectable stance, and it has a practical consequence: the cleaner belongs to the platform as much as to you. If they leave Cleanster, or if you leave Cleanster, the relationship runs through the platform.

With CleanClac, the cleaner is yours. You invite them with a link, they pay nothing, there is no cap on how many, and the rate you pay them is settled between you, per cleaning or hourly, with or without a linen supplement. We take no commission because we never touch the money. In exchange, we do not find you a cleaner in most cities: that is the price of the choice, and it should be said.

On satisfaction, one honest word: Cleanster shows around 3.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot. The negative reviews come mostly from cleaners reporting payment or communication trouble, while customers tend to be satisfied with booking and service. CleanClac is younger and does not have that volume of reviews: we cannot honestly compare ourselves on that ground today.

The table, at a glance

So which one?

Take Cleanster if you are in North America or the United Kingdom, in one of their cities, and your problem is finding somebody rather than running a team. The free base is a genuine argument, and a network of 80,000 cleaners is not replaced overnight.

Take CleanClac if you operate in Europe, if you already have your team or your management company, if you want proof nobody can backdate, if your cleaners do not read English, or if your portfolio is growing and you do not want the bill to follow the headcount.

Take both, for a while, if you are North American with a team still forming: the marketplace to plug the gaps, an execution tool to hold the quality line. That is not absurd while a team settles.

And if you are still hesitating, turn the question around: what costs you more today, finding somebody or proving the work was done? Cleanster answers the first very well. CleanClac is built for the second.

How to test them properly in a week

1. Create both accountsAnd connect the same iCal link for a single property. You will see at once who creates the cleaning in the right window.
2. Look at the cleaner's screenNot yours. They are the one who will follow the checklist, or not. Ask them, in their language.
3. Finish a real cleaningIn each tool and export the proof. Check what is timestamped, by whom, and whether you could alter it.
4. Simulate an incidentCracked basin, missing supply. Watch what reaches you, when, and with which photos.
5. Add up the yearly totalSubscription plus commissions plus payment fees, for your real number of properties.

To widen the survey, read Airbnb Cleaning Software: Which Tool to Choose in 2026 and Airbnb Cleaning Marketplaces: The 2026 Comparison.