Cadi vs Squeegee vs CleanerPlanner: the UK cleaning software comparison (2026)

This comparison covers three UK-native cleaning software platforms: Cadi, Squeegee, and CleanerPlanner. All three are built in GBP, serve UK cleaning businesses, and have genuine product depth — this is not a comparison between a purpose-built tool and a pair of generic alternatives. Each has a clear audience, genuine strengths, and real limitations. We will cover all of them honestly.

We built Cadi because we run Mackies Cleaning — a UK cleaning business with window cleaning, residential, commercial, and specialist exterior arms. We have used round-based scheduling. We know what it takes to manage a cleaning round and a domestic client list at the same time. This is not a neutral review written by someone who has never run a cleaning round. It is written from the perspective of people who have, and who built software because nothing on the market covered the full picture.

TL;DR: which one is right for you

• Choose Cadi if you run any UK cleaning business — window cleaning rounds, domestic maid services, commercial cleaning, specialist exterior, or a mix. Cadi is the only platform in this comparison with a pricing calculator, open banking, and MTD ITSA built in, at a flat monthly rate that doesn't scale with headcount. Launches 1 June 2026.
• Choose Squeegee if you run a window cleaning or round-based trade (carpet cleaning, lawn care, pest control, exterior) and are already embedded in the Squeegee ecosystem. It has genuine MTD ITSA support and is the closest competitor to Cadi on tax compliance.
• Choose CleanerPlanner if you run a window cleaning round business that hasn't yet crossed the MTD ITSA threshold, and your primary need is round-based scheduling and GoCardless collections. Be aware you will need separate software when your turnover hits £50,000 (dropping to £30,000 in April 2027).

Quick comparison table

Cadi: built for the full cleaning business

Cadi is built for the full cleaning business — window cleaning rounds, domestic maid services, commercial cleaning, and specialist exterior. Mackies Cleaning, the company that built Cadi, runs all of these. Every feature in the platform came from a real operational need: route optimisation for cleaning rounds, per-job checklists for domestic clients, a pricing calculator for quoting commercial contracts consistently, and MTD ITSA compliance so a sole trader can file their own quarterly HMRC submissions without hiring an accountant.

The feature set covers what the other tools don't:

• Pricing calculator. Generate consistent, margin-aware quotes based on property size, room count, frequency, and service type. The single biggest operational gap in both Squeegee and CleanerPlanner is the absence of a structured quoting tool — cleaning prices are calculated from gut feel or rebuilt every time. Cadi fixes that.
• Open banking. Real-time bank feed integration so you can see your actual cash position — not last month's reconciled statement. For a sole trader managing cash flow week-to-week, the difference between real-time and month-end visibility is not trivial.
• MTD ITSA — native, HMRC recognised. Quarterly income and expense submissions directly to HMRC via the approved API. Sole traders can complete their own submissions through Cadi without needing an accountant. The platform was built so the business owner stays in control of their own compliance.
• Scheduling for all cleaning workflows. Route-optimised rounds for window cleaning, recurring appointments with per-client checklists for domestic work, staff allocation, and quick reassignment when availability changes. Built to handle the full range of how cleaning businesses schedule their work.
• Invoicing. Automatic recurring invoices, payment tracking, late payment reminders, UK-compliant formatting. Connected to the schedule — when a job is completed, the invoice is generated.
• Staff management. Hours tracking, job allocation to specific cleaners, rota management. Built for businesses moving beyond solo operation.
• Guided accountant migration and setup training. Switch from an existing tool — spreadsheets, QuickBooks, or another platform — with support built in. Your financial history transfers cleanly.

Cadi pricing: Free (core features, sole trader), Pro at £39/month, Max at £79/month (advanced reporting, multi-arm, priority support), Enterprise (custom). Launches 1 June 2026. The waitlist is at cadi.cleaning/launch.

Squeegee: window cleaning specialist with real MTD

Squeegee (getsqueegee.com) started as software for window cleaners and has expanded to cover window cleaning, carpet cleaning, lawn care, pest control, and exterior cleaning. It is UK-native, GBP-priced, and has a strong Trustpilot rating. For round-based trades, it is the most fully-featured option in this comparison.

The key things Squeegee does well:

• Route optimisation. For window cleaning rounds where the sequence of visits on a given day affects travel time and cost, route optimisation is genuinely valuable. Both Cadi and Squeegee include this; CleanerPlanner does not.
• MTD ITSA — via Balance by Squeegee. This is Squeegee's most important differentiator versus CleanerPlanner and deserves honest acknowledgement. Balance by Squeegee covers MTD VAT, MTD ITSA quarterly submissions, End of Period Statement, and Final Declaration. This is real MTD ITSA support, not bridging software or a vague roadmap item. If you need MTD ITSA and you run a round-based trade, Squeegee is a legitimate option alongside Cadi.
• GoCardless and Stripe. Both payment processors supported, same as Cadi.
• Rounds-based scheduling. The model is designed around the window cleaning round — a set of recurring visits organised by geography and frequency. For that use case, it is well-executed.

Where Squeegee falls short:

• Per-user pricing gets expensive for teams. At £19–£33 per user per month, a team of five costs £95–£165/month. Cadi's team tiers are a flat rate regardless of headcount.
• No pricing calculator. Quoting is not systematised. There is no tool to generate consistent, margin-aware cleaning quotes from property size and service type.
• No open banking. Cash flow visibility is not real-time. You are reconciling from bank statements, not a live feed.
• Weaker fit for domestic and commercial cleaning. Squeegee's scheduling model is built around the round — a set of addresses visited on a recurring route. Domestic cleaning businesses have additional layers: individual client checklists, entry arrangements, key-holding notes, and service preferences that sit on top of the round structure. Commercial cleaning adds further complexity. Cadi handles all of these natively.

CleanerPlanner: the round-based specialist (no MTD gap)

CleanerPlanner (cleanerplanner.com) is built explicitly by window cleaners, for window cleaners. It is the most mature round-based scheduling tool in the UK, with 1,000+ window cleaning customers, strong Trustpilot ratings, and a feature set tightly optimised around recurring window cleaning rounds. If that is your business, CleanerPlanner is genuinely excellent at what it does.

What CleanerPlanner does well:

• Round-based scheduling. Weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, and custom recurrence — all configurable per client. For a window cleaning round with hundreds of addresses, this is exactly what you need.
• GoCardless direct debit. Available from Pro tier (£29/month) upwards. Clean integration for collecting recurring payments from clients.
• Data migration. Imports from WCP, George, Aworka, and Excel — the tools window cleaning businesses have historically used. Switching is not a pain point.
• iOS and Android apps. Mobile-first for operatives on the road.
• Predictable flat pricing. £19/mo Basic, £29/mo Pro, £49/mo Team (capped at 5 users).

The significant limitation:

• No MTD ITSA support. CleanerPlanner does not connect to HMRC's MTD API. Users who hit the £50,000 annual turnover threshold — currently live, dropping to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028 — need to use separate accounting software for their quarterly submissions. This is not a marginal edge case: a window cleaning business turning over £30,000 a year is not unusual, and by April 2027 those businesses will be in scope. The compliance gap is real and growing.
• Capped at 5 users on the Team plan. If your business grows beyond five operatives, CleanerPlanner's Team tier hits a ceiling.
• No pricing calculator or open banking. Same gap as Squeegee — quoting is not systematised, and cash flow visibility is not real-time.
• Poor fit for domestic cleaning businesses. The round model doesn't translate. A domestic cleaning operation — where every client has individual preferences, checklists, key arrangements, and a relationship with a specific cleaner — needs address-based scheduling, not round-based. CleanerPlanner was not designed for this and it shows.

Head to head: where each tool wins and loses

Cadi wins on

• Full cleaning business operational stack — window cleaning, domestic, commercial, specialist exterior
• Pricing calculator: systematic, margin-aware quoting from property size and service type
• Open banking: real-time cash flow visibility, not month-end reconciliation
• MTD ITSA: sole traders can file their own quarterly submissions without an accountant
• Flat-rate team pricing that doesn't scale per head
• Guided accountant migration and setup training included

Squeegee wins on

• Mature round-based scheduling model native to the window cleaning trade
• Mature round-based scheduling for trades that operate on round structures
• Existing user base and Trustpilot reputation in the window cleaning sector
• MTD ITSA via Balance by Squeegee — a genuine, fully-featured tax compliance tool

CleanerPlanner wins on

• Round-based scheduling depth — the most configurable recurrence options available
• Data migration from legacy window cleaning tools (WCP, George, Aworka)
• Simplicity for solo window cleaning operators on Basic tier (£19/month)
• Well-understood product by the window cleaning community — strong peer recommendations

Where all three fall short (except Cadi)

Neither Squeegee nor CleanerPlanner has a pricing calculator. Both tools assume you already know what to charge and build that into the system manually. For a cleaning business that quotes on property size, frequency, and service type — particularly domestic or commercial cleaning, where every property is different — the absence of a systematic quoting tool means inconsistent pricing and eroded margin over time.

Neither Squeegee nor CleanerPlanner has open banking. Real-time cash flow visibility — knowing whether last week's invoices have been paid before this week's wages go out — requires a bank feed. Neither tool provides one.

The MTD question: which tools actually handle it

MTD ITSA — Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment — is the most important compliance question for UK cleaning business software in 2026. Quarterly digital income and expense submissions to HMRC are now mandatory for sole traders and landlords earning above £50,000 per year. The threshold drops to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028.

Of the three tools in this comparison, the situation is clear:

• Cadi — native MTD ITSA support, HMRC recognised. Sole traders can complete their own quarterly submissions and Final Declaration through Cadi without external accountant involvement. The submission goes directly to HMRC via the approved API.
• Squeegee — genuine MTD ITSA support via Balance by Squeegee, covering quarterly submissions, End of Period Statement, and Final Declaration. This is a real differentiator for Squeegee and should be treated as such. If you are a window cleaning business on Squeegee and you hit the MTD threshold, you do not need to switch platforms to remain compliant.
• CleanerPlanner — no MTD ITSA support. Users who hit the threshold need separate accounting software. The options are typically QuickBooks, Xero, or a dedicated bridging tool — all of which add cost, add complexity, and create a two-platform stack that CleanerPlanner cannot replace.

The practical consequence for a CleanerPlanner user approaching the £30,000 threshold (live from April 2027): you will need to add a second platform for MTD ITSA compliance, or switch to a platform that handles it natively. That migration is easier planned now than under a deadline. Both Cadi and Squeegee handle it — choose based on which operational model fits your business, not on which one you are already using.

Verdict

These are three genuinely different tools built for different audiences. The choice is not as simple as "Cadi is best" — it depends on what kind of cleaning business you run and what your primary operational constraint is.

Choose Cadi if you run any UK cleaning business — window cleaning rounds, domestic maid services, commercial cleaning, specialist exterior, or a mix across all of them. Cadi is the only platform with a pricing calculator, open banking, route optimisation, and MTD ITSA native — and the only one where sole traders can file their own quarterly HMRC submissions without an accountant. Flat-rate pricing means it stays affordable as your team grows. Launches 1 June 2026 — join the waitlist.

Choose Squeegee if you run a window cleaning, carpet cleaning, lawn care, or other round-based trade and route optimisation is genuinely important to your day-to-day operations. Squeegee is the most mature round-based platform with legitimate MTD ITSA support. The per-user pricing is the main caveat — model it carefully for your team size before committing.

Choose CleanerPlanner if you are a solo window cleaner or small window cleaning team, your turnover is well below the MTD ITSA threshold, and your primary need is a clean, affordable, round-based scheduling tool with GoCardless integration. It is the best-value pure scheduling tool for that use case. But have a plan for MTD ITSA before your turnover grows — because CleanerPlanner does not have one for you.

Do not choose CleanerPlanner if you run a domestic cleaning business. It is not built for that model and it shows in the scheduling, quoting, and client management tools.

Frequently asked questions