Compare · Burner
Burner or Cleat? One is designed to be deleted.
Burner is the original throwaway second number, and it's good at that. The accounts you log back into every year are a different problem, and Burner's own help centre is unusually clear about where the edges are. Its words, with what it does better first.
By the Cleat team · Updated September 17, 2026
What Burner does better
- It's a phone. Burner's home page offers a number to “start calling, texting, and sending pics today” (Burner). A Cleat line only receives: no dial pad, no outgoing texts, no 911.
- Throwing the number away is the point. “Your Burner number protects your primary number, while deleting and switching numbers gives you control when you need it” (Burner). Cleat is the exact opposite product: one number, kept.
- Several numbers at once. Different numbers for different parts of your life is Burner's whole design. A Cleat subscription is one line.
- It costs less. Its price is set in the app stores rather than printed on its site, so no figure is quoted here — check it there. It is well under $24.99 a month.
If a number you can delete on a whim is what you want, buy Burner. The rest of this page is only about verification codes.
What Burner says about verification codes
Burner Support Center
“Most verification systems accept Burner numbers without issue. Keep in mind that third-party services can change their policies at any time, so a number that works today may not work in the future.”
https://support.burnerapp.com/article/254-voip-verification-amazon-google-instagram-websitesBurner Support Center
“There's no guarantee, but we can try replacing the number to see if that resolves it.”
https://support.burnerapp.com/article/254-voip-verification-amazon-google-instagram-websitesBurner Support Center
“Although our numbers support thousands of websites, there are still a few that don’t accept these numbers.”
https://support.burnerapp.com/article/262-verified-numbers-number-not-accaptedBurner Support Center
“Unfortunately, we aren’t able to troubleshoot this but you can burn your current line in your settings and create a new line free of charge.”
https://support.burnerapp.com/article/262-verified-numbers-number-not-accapted
Burner is more optimistic here than most second-line apps, and it's fair to say so. Note the second half of the first quote, though. It is the honest part, and it is the one that matters for a bank: a number that works today may not work in the future, and the future is exactly when a bank asks you for a code again.
The Verified Number subscription
Burner sells a way around the problem, and describes it carefully: “We also offer a separate Verified Number subscription, which is compatible with more third-party services. This is not an upgrade — it's an independent subscription, separate from a Standard Subscription” (Burner). On what the word means, it is blunter still: “The term “Verified” only means that it acts more like a mobile number, and is more widely accepted on some websites. There are no other features to the term Verified” (Burner).
Two things follow from that. The first is that Burner agrees with the premise of this whole comparison: how much like a mobile line your number looks is what decides whether the code arrives. How line-type checks work. The second is arithmetic. A Verified Number is a second subscription on top of the first, so compare that total with $24.99, not the standard plan's price.
What burning a number takes with it
The feature that makes Burner good also makes it risky for 2FA, and Burner says so on its own page: “ATTENTION: You CANNOT reverse this, once a number has been deleted, all texts, calls, or voicemails have been deleted with it, and we are unable to retrieve your lost history as part of our privacy feature including the deletion of those records” (Burner). If an account's codes go to a number you later burn — or that expires — recovering that account becomes the service's problem to solve, not Burner's. Why a number you keep matters.
Side by side
| Burner | Cleat Line | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | “deleting and switching numbers gives you control when you need it” | One US line you keep while you subscribe |
| On verification | “Most verification systems accept Burner numbers without issue”, but “a number that works today may not work in the future” | Usually works where an internet number doesn't; no provider can promise every service |
| The workaround it sells | A “Verified Number” that “acts more like a mobile number”, as a separate subscription | Nothing to add on. The line is a real US mobile line |
| If it doesn't work | “we aren’t able to troubleshoot this” | Cancel in your first month |
| Calls and outgoing texts | “calling, texting, and sending pics” | None, and no 911 |
| Price | Set in the app stores | $24.99 a month or $249.90 a year |
| Losing the number | Burning it is irreversible and deletes the messages with it | Held 30 days after billing ends, then released |
| Owner | Not described on the pages we checked | A person verified with a government ID and a selfie, or ID-only reviewed by a person |
Where Cleat is the wrong answer
- You want to call and text from it. Buy Burner. This isn't close.
- You want a number you can burn. That's Burner's entire design, and Cleat's opposite.
- You want several numbers, or cheap ones. Cleat is one line and costs more than a Burner subscription.
- You want to keep your current number. Cleat assigns a new US number and can't port yours in.
- You need a number outside the United States. Cleat has none. Hushed sells Canadian and UK numbers.
How to split them
- Put anything disposable on Burner: a listing, a rental, a dating app, a one-off signup.
- Put anything you'd hate to lose on a line you keep: the bank, the brokerage, the tax portal, the marketplace you sell on.
- Before you burn any number, check which accounts still point at it. Once it's gone, so is its history.
- Test each moved account by logging out and back in, the same day you move it.
Comparing other options? See Hushed next to Cleat, the retired Skype Number next to Cleat, Cleat for a team's shared codes, or see pricing.
Questions
Do Burner numbers work for verification codes?
Burner says “Most verification systems accept Burner numbers without issue”, and in the same breath that “a number that works today may not work in the future”. For a signup that's fine. For a bank you'll log into for years, it's the risk you're buying.
What is a Burner Verified Number?
A separate subscription. Burner says the term “only means that it acts more like a mobile number, and is more widely accepted on some websites. There are no other features to the term Verified.”
What happens to my accounts if I burn the number?
Burner warns you can't reverse it and that the messages go with it. Any account still sending codes to that number becomes an account-recovery problem with that service. Move the accounts first.
Can I keep Burner and use Cleat too?
Yes, and it's the sensible setup: Burner for the disposable half of your life, a Cleat line for the accounts whose codes have to arrive. Cleat can't take over a Burner number, so you'd change it on those accounts.
Sources
Facts about other companies come from their own pages, checked in September 2026.
- Burner https://www.burnerapp.com/
- Burner Support Center, can I use Burner to sign up for websites? https://support.burnerapp.com/article/254-voip-verification-amazon-google-instagram-websites
- Burner Support Center, Verified Numbers https://support.burnerapp.com/article/277-verified-numbers-ios
- Burner Support Center, Verified Numbers: number not accepted https://support.burnerapp.com/article/262-verified-numbers-number-not-accapted
- Burner Support Center, burning a number https://support.burnerapp.com/article/278-burning-a-number