Hiring a cleaner is a deceptively simple decision that most UK households get slightly wrong in one of two directions: they pay too much by booking via an app every week without ever building a relationship, or they save 20% by going direct and then have no backup the day their cleaner gets food poisoning.
The right answer for most households is a sequence rather than a single choice. Use a marketplace at first to find someone reliable, then decide — once trust is built — whether the convenience of the platform is worth the markup.
What you're actually paying for via a marketplace
The maths, as of April 2026:
- Helpling: £15-£22/hour cleaner cost (cleaner gets ~£12-£15)
- Tidy: £14-£20/hour
- Get Your Cleaner: £13-£18/hour
- Direct hire (local cleaner via recommendation): £12-£15/hour
The marketplace markup typically runs £3-£7/hour above direct hire. For a UK household having four hours a week of cleaning, that's £12-£28/week of markup, or £600-£1,500/year extra for using a platform.
What that markup actually buys:
- A replacement cleaner if yours can't make it — the genuine reason platforms exist
- Vetted, insured cleaners — most marketplaces verify
- Easy automated payment, no cash exchanges
- Reviews and accountability — easier to switch if service slips
- No tax or employment obligations on your end — you're paying a service, not employing a person
For households where reliability is the priority, the markup is genuinely worth it. For households where every pound matters and you've got someone you trust, direct hire wins on cost.
The platforms
Helpling is the largest UK cleaning marketplace. Available in most cities. £15-£22/hour.
Tidy is the main competitor to Helpling. Similar service model, often slightly different pricing in different cities. £14-£20/hour.
Get Your Cleaner is a smaller platform, often slightly cheaper than the bigger competitors. £13-£18/hour.
Direct hire routes for UK households willing to manage the relationship: word-of-mouth recommendations from neighbours and colleagues, local Facebook groups, posting on TaskRabbit or Bark, or local cleaning agencies (typically with less markup than apps).
The pros of going direct: lower cost, more flexible relationship, the cleaner takes home more of what you pay. The cons: no backup if the cleaner is unavailable, more awkward if the relationship doesn't work, less convenient payment, and insurance and accountability are less clear.
The sequence I'd recommend
For UK households setting up regular cleaning for the first time:
- Start with Helpling or Tidy for the first 2-3 months
- Build trust with one specific cleaner you actively request
- After 3-plus months of reliable service, decide whether to formalise a direct relationship
- Continue with the marketplace if reliability matters more than absolute cost
- Move to direct payment if both parties prefer and you're comfortable losing the marketplace backup
For one-off deep cleans — moving in, moving out, post-renovation — the marketplace is essentially essential. £200-£400 for a proper deep clean is reasonable, and you really do want the backup if the booked cleaner falls through the day before.
For UK households with very tight budgets: direct hire via local recommendations is the right answer.
What I'd swerve: cleaners offering to "help you save the marketplace fee by paying cash directly." This typically violates marketplace terms, removes the platform's accountability protection, and creates an awkward situation if the relationship breaks down.
What none of this addresses
- Quality control depends on the specific cleaner more than the platform
- Theft and damage liability — read each platform's specific cover before assuming you're protected
- Tipping etiquette — cleaning tipping varies; £20 Christmas tip per cleaner per home is common
- Sharing schedules across households — direct hire allows this; marketplaces don't easily
Where this logic extends
The marketplace-vs-direct tradeoff applies similarly across other UK home services:
- Gardening via Helpling, Bark, or local services
- Handyman work via Bark, TaskRabbit, or Checkatrade
- Decorating via Checkatrade or MyBuilder
- Pet sitting and dog walking via Rover or BorrowMyDoggy
In each case, the marketplace earns its markup on reliability and replacement, not on quality of the underlying service — and once you've found someone good, the calculation shifts.
Affiliate disclosure: Morningfold has affiliate partnerships with Helpling, Tidy, and several UK service marketplaces. See editorial standards.