Cleanfox alternatives, and who sees your shopping mail

The best Cleanfox alternative is Alrighty if you read iCloud, Gmail or Outlook mail on a computer and want unwanted senders unsubscribed and kept out, from inside your mail app. Leave Me Alone is the pick for bulk unsubscribing on many kinds of accounts, with a one-time pass instead of a subscription. Clean Email replaces Cleanfox's phone app, on iPhone and Android. Mailstrom suits one big paid cleanup of a huge mailbox. Gmail's Manage subscriptions and Apple Mail's banner are free and add no new company. Unroll.me is not a way out: NielsenIQ runs it too.

Cleanfox users like two things: it's free, and you clear newsletters with a swipe on your phone. People who look for a Cleanfox alternative usually dislike one of two other things. Cleanfox pays for itself with data from your shopping mail, and it deletes newsletters instead of unsubscribing you. This page starts with Cleanfox's own words on both, shows how to opt out without leaving, and then compares the alternatives on those two points.

How we checked

We read Cleanfox's FAQ, privacy notice and App Store listing on November 4, 2026, along with each alternative's own pricing, help and privacy pages. Every fact about another company links to its source. Where a vendor's page didn't state something, we say so. We did not test the tools. Alrighty is our app, and it is listed first. For a side-by-side of every cleaner, see the best email cleaner app. For unsubscribe tools only, see the best app to unsubscribe from emails.

How does Cleanfox make money?

Cleanfox is free because data from your commercial email is the product. Its FAQ says so in one line: "Our business model is simple: we sell data for statistical research purposes related to e-commerce."

Its privacy notice gives the detail.

• Who runs it. "Cleanfox, made available by AC Nielsen SAS, ... a NielsenIQ company." The FAQ adds that NielsenIQ bought Foxintelligence, which publishes Cleanfox, "to enrich its data panel and offer e-commerce insights to its professional clients."
• What it collects. "We will collect copies of and information from the commercial email messages you receive," including receipts, delivery confirmations, subscription confirmations and promotional emails. The notice says these may reveal sensitive information, such as "health information."
• Who gets it. "We provide data about and derived from the Commercial Emails that you receive to some of our customers." Under US law it may "sell" or "share" data to "e-commerce businesses, investment companies, consumer brands, media companies, and data brokers."
• What for. Among other uses, its customers get products that let them "develop lookalike models and audiences for targeted advertising."
• Its limits. "We do not use your name, address, or any directly identifiable information you provide to us for direct marketing or sales purposes to you," and "you are removed from these lookalike audiences."

Cleanfox's FAQ also says "all personal emails are ignored and excluded from access by our systems," and that receipts are read by algorithms that "know exactly which order confirmation sender to look for." Its servers are in Germany.

On the App Store, Cleanfox's privacy label lists "Identifiers" under "Data Used to Track You," and "Emails or Text Messages," "Browsing History" and "Sensitive Info" under data linked to you.

Does Cleanfox unsubscribe you?

Not on the pages that explain how it works. Cleanfox's FAQ gives three choices for each newsletter: delete the old mail and stay subscribed, delete it and "automatically delete" the newsletter, or keep it. With the second, "if this sender continues to send you emails, we will automatically place their future emails in your mailbox trash folder."

The FAQ says why: some unsubscribe pages ask for an email address and password, "which increases our margin of error. Therefore, we have decided to opt for the automatic deletion of your unwanted newsletters." And "Cleanfox never permanently deletes your emails. They are moved to your Trash folder."

Its App Store listing reads differently. It offers "Unsubscribe: never receive emails from that sender again." We report both. What the FAQ describes is a sender who still emails you, with Cleanfox moving the mail to Trash. The FAQ doesn't say whether that goes on after you delete your Cleanfox account. To leave a list for good, you need a tool that unsubscribes. The unsubscribe guide explains why that sometimes fails too.

You can opt out of the panel without leaving

If the swipe is what you like, you can keep Cleanfox and turn off the data sale. Its privacy notice says: in the app, open My Settings, then Your Mailboxes, select your address, then Foxintelligence/NielsenIQ Panel, and set your choice. Cleanfox says that after you opt out, "we will stop processing your Commercial Information for purposes other than servicing your account."

It also says "we cannot use opt-out preference signals to opt you out of sales through the App," so a browser privacy setting won't do it. Use the menu.

Cleanfox alternatives at a glance

App	Price	Accounts	Runs on	Unsubscribes or deletes?	Its data policy, in one line
Alrighty	14-day trial with no card, then Free or Pro	iCloud, Gmail, Outlook	Mac (Apple silicon), Windows, Linux	Unsubscribes, archives, keeps new mail out	Mail on your computer; Clean up sends a few emails per sender to its server; no ads on any plan
Leave Me Alone	10 free unsubscribes; from $48/yr	Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, AOL, Fastmail, iCloud	Web	Unsubscribes	"We don't sell user data"
Clean Email	Free up to 1,000 messages; paid plans for 1, 5 or 10 accounts	Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, AOL, Fastmail, IMAP	iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, web	Sends unsubscribe requests; blocks	"We will never sell or rent your email address"
Mailstrom	$9 to $29.95 a month	Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, AOL, iCloud, IMAP	Web	Unsubscribes; Block for subscribers	Does not use your data "for the purpose of serving ads"
Gmail Manage subscriptions	Free	Gmail only	Web, Android, iPhone	Unsubscribes	Part of Gmail; no new company
Apple Mail	Comes with macOS	Any account in Mail	Mac	Unsubscribes one message at a time; blocks	Runs on your Mac; no new company
Unroll.me	Free	Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, AOL, Outlook	Web, iPhone, Android	Blocks, or rolls lists into a digest	Also NielsenIQ; data from your commercial email goes to customers
Cleanfox	Free	Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, Hotmail, iCloud, AOL	iPhone, iPad, web	Deletes to Trash, per its FAQ	Sells data "for statistical research purposes related to e-commerce"

Alrighty: best Cleanfox alternative on a computer

Alrighty is a desktop mail app for Mac, Windows and Linux that puts iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts in one inbox. Cleanfox sends a sender's mail to Trash. Alrighty takes you off the list and keeps the sender out.

• Stop mail. One click on a sender unsubscribes you in every way the message offers: one-click, an email to the list, or the list's web page. It archives their mail and moves new mail from them out as it arrives. So a sender who ignores the unsubscribe still doesn't reach your inbox.
• Clean up. It lists the senders you probably don't want, such as scams, cold outreach and newsletters you never open, so you can stop them all at once. That is the job Cleanfox's newsletter list does.
• Safe unsubscribing. It only contacts senders whose mail passed DMARC and wasn't marked as spam, so a scammer doesn't learn your address is live. When the only way out is the list's web page, it finishes the unsubscribe in a browser on its server, so the sender sees neither your computer nor its address.
• Phishing checks. A message that is sure to be phishing goes to Junk. A likely one stays, with a warning.

Price. A 14-day trial with no card, then a Free plan or Pro. There are no ads on any plan.

Where your mail goes. Your mail stays with iCloud, Google or Microsoft. Alrighty keeps its copy and its search index on your computer, and your passwords and tokens stay there too, encrypted with a key from your system's keychain. Clean up does send mail to a server: for each sender, their address, three facts the receiving mail server found, and up to 3 of their newest emails (2,000 characters each) go to Alrighty's server, which asks an AI model to sort them. Its privacy page names OpenAI, Together AI and TypeSafe AI as the model companies it uses. While you're signed in, Clean up sorts senders in the background, and opening a reply starts a suggested draft. Signed out, nothing goes to Alrighty's server.

What it can't do. There is no iPhone or Android app, so it can't replace Cleanfox's swipe on your phone. It takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts only, not Yahoo, AOL or other IMAP. It's a full mail app, so you switch apps to use it. It's new, with no long track record.

Pick it if you read iCloud, Gmail or Outlook mail on a computer and want to leave the lists, not move them to Trash.

Leave Me Alone: best for bulk unsubscribing on many providers

Leave Me Alone puts your subscriptions "in one list" to opt out of, and can roll the ones you keep into a digest (Leave Me Alone). It "works with Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, AOL, Fastmail, iCloud, and many more!" Its pricing page answers Cleanfox's model head on: "Some of our competitors offer a similar unsubscription service for free. They are able to do this because they make money by aggregating and selling data generated from your emails."

Data policy, in one line. "We don't sell user data" (privacy).

What it keeps. Rollups store the content of the emails they collect, removed three months after the Rollup is sent. Spam Blocker, when you turn it on, reads body text and may keep samples to train its classifiers, and "Deleting your account doesn't immediately remove samples already collected from your mail." It asks Gmail to "View and modify but not delete your email" (security).

Price. "Unsubscribe from 10 emails for free - no credit card required." Paid yearly, it's $48 a year for 1 inbox, $72 for 3 and $99 for unlimited inboxes (pricing).

What it can't do. It runs in a browser, with no swipe app we could confirm. It isn't a mail app.

Pick it if you want to really unsubscribe, on Yahoo, AOL or Fastmail too, and you'd pay once rather than give data.

Clean Email: best for cleaning from your phone

Clean Email covers Cleanfox's phone use. It "works across iPhone and iPad, Android, Mac, and the web" (Clean Email). "Clean Email will send unsubscribe requests on your behalf," and it can block lists that ignore those requests. For newsletters you want to keep, it offers "Read Later, Pause, or Keep Newest."

Data policy, in one line. "We will never sell or rent your email address," and it does not sell, rent or share personal data for third-party advertising (privacy).

What it reads. It indexes your mailbox on its servers and "accesses email metadata, including sender and recipient details, subjects, dates, folders, labels." It retrieves a body when you open a full preview, and shares data with an AI assistant only if you connect one.

Price. A free account lets you "clean up to 1,000 email messages at no cost to you," and a 14-day Premium trial needs no card (help). The Unsubscriber is a Premium feature, so unsubscribing beyond the trial costs money. Our Clean Email alternatives page lists the plan prices.

What it can't do. It isn't free past 1,000 messages, where Cleanfox has no limit. It doesn't replace your mail app.

Pick it if you want Cleanfox's phone cleanup with a vendor that says it doesn't sell your address, and you'll pay for it.

Mailstrom: best for one big paid cleanup

Mailstrom is for when newsletters are only part of the mess. It's "a web-based email client that allows you to take bulk actions on your inboxes," grouping mail so you can delete, archive or move thousands at once (FAQ). Its Unsubscribe sends "an unsubscribe request email to the list owner," or opens the list's web page.

Data policy, in one line. It "does not use any user-supplied data for the purpose of serving ads" and "does not share information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes" (privacy). It stores subject lines and metadata on its servers.

Price. $9, $14 or $29.95 a month for 1, 3 or 20 accounts (pricing). The free trial needs no card but lets you act on only 25% of a snapshot of your inbox.

What it can't do. No free plan, and it runs on the web, not as a swipe app. Block, which keeps a sender out, is for subscribers only. Our Mailstrom alternatives page covers the rest.

Pick it if you have years of backlog on several accounts and want it gone in one paid session.

Gmail and Apple Mail: free, with no data panel

The free tools in your mail app add no new company at all.

Gmail. On a computer, expand More in the left sidebar and select Manage subscriptions. Next to each sender, click Unsubscribe. "Gmail unsubscribes you from all active mailing lists related to the sender" (Google). Google says the feature "is gradually rolling out and may not be available to you yet."

Apple Mail. On a list email, "In the banner, click Unsubscribe, then click OK in the alert that appears." For a sender who keeps sending, click the arrow beside their name and choose Block Sender (Apple).

What they can't do. Gmail's tool covers Gmail only. Apple Mail works one message at a time, with no list of all your subscriptions. Neither swipes through old mail like Cleanfox. For deleting the backlog, see the bulk delete guide.

Pick them if you want free and want no company between you and your mail.

Unroll.me: not an escape from NielsenIQ

Unroll.me is often listed as a Cleanfox alternative. It's the same model under the same group. Unrollme LLC is "a NielsenIQ company," and its privacy notice says it collects "copies of and information from the commercial email messages you receive" and provides data derived from them to customers.

What it does differently. It lets you "block unwanted emails, keep the ones you want, and rollup the rest into a single daily digest" (Unroll.me). If you want a free digest, that is its one feature Cleanfox lacks.

Pick it if you want the digest and the panel doesn't bother you. If the panel is why you're leaving Cleanfox, skip it. Our Unroll.me alternatives page has its history with the FTC.

How to leave Cleanfox

Deleting the app from your phone doesn't close the account or end its access to your mail. Do all four steps.

1. Delete your Cleanfox account. Log in, click My Settings, then Your Mailboxes, select the address and click Delete this mailbox (FAQ). Its privacy notice says "If you delete your account, we will delete all Personal Information we have about you." Repeat for each address you connected.
2. Delete the app password. Cleanfox connects with an app password you created for it in your Google or Microsoft account, or your other provider's. Remove that password in the same account settings, so it can't sign in again.
3. Leave the lists. Newsletters you set to delete automatically were going to Trash, and the senders are still sending. Cleanfox's pages don't say whether that keeps happening after you leave, so unsubscribe from them, or block the sender: see how to block a sender in Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail.
4. Set up the replacement. For big senders like Facebook, turn their email off in their own settings: stop emails has the steps.

How to choose

• On a computer, with iCloud, Gmail or Outlook, and you want to leave lists, not trash them: Alrighty.
• Bulk unsubscribing on Yahoo, AOL or Fastmail, pay once: Leave Me Alone.
• Cleanup from your iPhone or Android, from a vendor that says it won't sell your address: Clean Email.
• Years of backlog, one paid session: Mailstrom.
• Free, nothing new connected: Gmail's Manage subscriptions or Apple Mail's banner.
• Keep the Cleanfox swipe, drop the data sale: stay, and opt out of the panel in My Settings.

See what Alrighty does about unwanted mail on its features page.

Questions

Is Cleanfox safe to use?

Cleanfox connects with an app password, not your main password, and says it ignores personal emails. Its privacy notice says it collects copies of your commercial emails and provides data derived from them to customers, including data brokers. You can opt out of that panel in My Settings, under Your Mailboxes.

Does Cleanfox sell your data?

Its FAQ says "we sell data for statistical research purposes related to e-commerce." Its privacy notice says it does not use your directly identifiable information for marketing to you, and removes you from the lookalike audiences it builds. The data comes from your receipts, order emails and newsletters.

Why do I still get newsletters after using Cleanfox?

Its FAQ says Cleanfox deletes unwanted newsletters automatically instead of unsubscribing you. The sender keeps emailing, and Cleanfox moves the mail to Trash. If a newsletter still reaches your Inbox, unsubscribe from the list itself, or block the sender in your mail app.

Is Unroll.me the same company as Cleanfox?

They are separate products in the same group. Cleanfox is made available by AC Nielsen SAS, and Unrollme LLC is also "a NielsenIQ company." Both collect copies of your commercial email for data products.

Is there a free Cleanfox alternative without a data panel?

Gmail's Manage subscriptions and Apple Mail's unsubscribe banner are free and add no new company. Leave Me Alone gives 10 free unsubscribes, and Clean Email cleans up to 1,000 messages free. Alrighty has a Free plan after its 14-day trial.

Is there a Cleanfox app for Mac?

No. Cleanfox's FAQ says the app is only for phones and tablets, and on a computer you use its website. Alrighty, Clean Email and Apple Mail run on the Mac. On a Mac, Alrighty needs Apple silicon.