The short answer
Pay for Paste if you want your clipboard on every Apple device, or want to edit, filter and share clips. Choose Clipboard History if you only need history on your Mac and would rather not pay, sign in or sync.
Choose Paste if you want
- History on Mac, iPhone and iPad: Paste syncs it through your own iCloud
- To edit a clip, or paste it as plain text, before it lands
- Filters by date, app, device and type for a large library
- Pinboards you can share with friends or a team
- Paste MCP, which connects your clipboard history to AI tools
Choose Clipboard History if you want
- No subscription, trial or in-app purchase: it’s free
- History that never leaves your Mac: no account, sync or app analytics
- Source code you can read, under the MIT license
- Finder files with ⌘R to reveal them and a ⚠ flag when one can’t be found
- A history kept by count (1,000 clips by default), not by age
About this comparison: Clipboard History is our app, so read this as a first-party page. Every statement about Paste links to Paste’s own pricing, help, privacy or App Store pages, checked on September 24, 2026. Prices are in US dollars and can change.
Paste and Clipboard History side by side
| Topic | PasteVersion 7.0 | Clipboard HistoryVersion 0.0.27 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | From $3.99 a monthOn the App Store: $3.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $89.99 lifetime; a $59.99 Family plan covers up to six people. Team plans are sold on pasteapp.io. 7-day free trial. App Store Pricing | FreeNo subscription, trial or in-app purchase. |
| Devices | Mac, iPhone and iPad; every plan covers all three. The Mac app requires macOS 14 or later. Pricing App Store | Mac only: macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel. No iPhone or iPad app. |
| Sync | Optional iCloud sync: Paste keeps a copy of your data in your personal iCloud storage to sync your devices. Privacy policy | None. History stays in a local database on one Mac. |
| How long it keeps clips | By time: 1 day, 1 week, 1 month (the default), 1 year or forever. Help | By count: 1,000 clips by default, adjustable from 100 to 10,000. Favorites and grouped clips don’t count. |
| What it keeps | Text, links, images, files and colors. Help | Plain text, links, formatted text (RTF or HTML), PNG and TIFF images, and Finder files and folders. |
| Finding clips | Search, including the text inside images (Power Search), plus filters by time, app, device and content type. Help Blog | Search by the start of any word in text, links, file and folder names or the source app’s name. No filters. |
| Organizing | Pinboards for reusable content, which you can share with friends or a team. Help | Favorites and named groups on your Mac. No sharing. |
| Pasting | Paste as plain text (hold Shift, or use the context menu), edit a clip before pasting, and Paste Stack for pasting several copies in order. Help Paste Stack | Return or ⌘1–9 pastes the saved version: text, formatted text, an image or files. No plain-text option, editing or paste stack. |
| Shortcut | ⇧⌘V by default. Help | ⇧⌘V by default too; change it in Settings → General. |
| AI | Paste MCP runs locally and connects your clipboard history to AI tools such as Claude, Codex and Cursor. Paste MCP | No AI features or integrations. |
| Sensitive copies | Skips passwords from password managers and content apps mark as temporary; you can exclude apps. Help | Skips 7 password managers by default (the list is editable), items marked concealed, transient or auto-generated, and anything copied while paused. |
| App analytics | Paste’s privacy policy (effective June 27, 2026) lists PostHog for anonymized usage analytics and Sentry for crash reports. Privacy policy | None. The app’s only network connection is the update check, from Check for Updates… in the menu bar. |
| Source code | Proprietary. | Open source, MIT license. GitHub |
Where Paste is ahead
- Every Apple device. Paste syncs through your private iCloud and has iPhone and iPad apps. Clipboard History lives on one Mac.
- Shaping a clip before it lands. Paste can edit a clip, paste it as plain text, or paste a stack of copies in order. Clipboard History pastes the version it saved, unchanged.
- Big libraries. Search that reads the text inside screenshots and photos, filters by time, app, device and type, and a visual layout help when you keep a year or more of copies.
- Sharing. Shared pinboards and Team plans cover collaboration, which Clipboard History doesn’t attempt.
- AI tools. Paste MCP gives assistants like Claude and Cursor access to your history, on your terms.
Where Clipboard History is ahead
- It’s free. Paste’s yearly plan is $29.99. Clipboard History has no paid tier at all.
- Nothing leaves your Mac. There is no account and no cloud copy, and the app collects no usage data. The privacy page explains exactly what is stored and where.
- You can check the code. The whole app is open source, so the privacy claims can be verified rather than trusted.
- Finder files. Copied files and folders keep thumbnails, reveal in Finder with ⌘R, and are flagged ⚠ when the original can’t be found (deleted, on a disconnected drive or moved to another disk). See the files and images guide.
- Password managers skipped by app. Copies made while 1Password, Bitwarden, Dashlane, KeePassXC, LastPass, Apple Passwords or Keychain Access is in front are never saved.
See everything it does on the features page.
Clipboard History’s limits
- No sync and no iPhone or iPad app.
- No editing, plain-text option or paste stack.
- No filters and no visual gallery. The list shows your 100 most recent clips; older ones are found by searching.
- No OCR and no search inside images.
- No shared groups or team features.
If you work across devices or share clips with others, Paste is the stronger product.
What changed in Paste recently
- Power Search added text recognition, so Paste can find screenshots and photos by the words in them (Paste blog).
- Paste MCP launched, connecting clipboard history to AI tools through a local MCP server (9to5Mac).
- Paste’s current privacy policy took effect. It names PostHog for usage analytics and Sentry for crash reports.
- Paste 7.0: Paste’s latest version shipped on the App Store, rebuilt for iPhone and iPad; the Mac app requires macOS 14.
Trying Clipboard History alongside Paste
Both apps open with ⇧⌘V by default, so change one of them before you run both: in Clipboard History, record a new shortcut in Settings → General. Each app keeps its own history. Clipboard History can’t import Paste’s history or pinboards, and it starts recording once you finish its short setup.
Coming from Windows? The Windows+V on Mac guide covers the built-in options too.
Sources
Paste facts were checked on September 24, 2026. Clipboard History facts come from its source code.
- Paste’s App Store listing: in-app prices, version 7.0 and the macOS 14 requirement
- Paste pricing: plans, devices, Family and Team plans, 7-day trial
- What Paste captures and history retention
- Explore Paste: search, filters and pinboards
- Paste’s Power Search announcement, December 9, 2025: text recognition in images
- Paste’s help on using Paste on Mac, editing items and Paste Stack
- Paste privacy policy, effective June 27, 2026
- Paste MCP and 9to5Mac’s launch report