Paste vs Pastebot

Paste

• People who copy and reuse text, links and images all day on a Mac
• Moving copied items between a Mac, an iPhone and an iPad
• Setapp subscribers, since the Mac app is included at no extra cost
• Giving AI coding tools access to things you copied earlier

Pastebot

• Mac users who paste the same snippets often and want them organized
• People who clean up or reformat text before pasting it
• Keyboard-driven work, such as pasting recent copies by number key
• Buyers who want to choose between a one-time license and a subscription

Paste

• There is no free version; after the 7-day trial a plan is needed, though your saved history is kept.
• Apple platforms only. The App Store listing requires macOS 14 or later and iOS or iPadOS 26 or later.
• The Family plan is sold only on the App Store, and the Teams plan only on the website at a per-seat price that is not published.
• The pricing page showed only the annual price as text; the monthly, Family and Lifetime prices come from the US App Store listing.

Pastebot

• macOS only. Pastebot 3 requires macOS 26 Tahoe or later, and the App Store listing says macOS 26.2.
• There is no free version, only a 14-day trial.
• The $39 direct license includes one year of updates. Each further year costs $19, though the last version paid for keeps working.
• A Pastebot 2 license does not unlock Pastebot 3; it only gives a $12.99 discount on the direct purchase.

Paste

Unlimited clipboard history

Everything you copy is saved with no limit on age or count, and the whole history can be searched.

Pinboards

Pin the snippets, links, colors and templates you use regularly to pinboards. Pinboards can be shared to keep a team in sync.

Sync through iCloud

Clipboard history follows you across Mac, iPhone and iPad. The vendor says the data stays on your devices and in your private iCloud, not on its servers.

Privacy rules

Set rules so that Paste ignores passwords and anything copied in apps you mark as sensitive.

Paste MCP for AI tools

Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code and Windsurf can search your clipboard history and pinboards after you approve access. The server runs locally on the Mac.

Suggestions with Apple Intelligence

Paste suggests what you are likely to paste next based on what you are working on, processed on the Mac by Apple Intelligence.

Pastebot

Clipboard history

Keeps a running history of everything copied, searchable by typing, with metadata, your own notes and a resizable preview. Blacklisted apps are never recorded.

Custom and Smart Pastebins

Custom Pastebins store often-used clippings permanently, each with a color and an icon or emoji. Smart Pastebins gather clippings that match rules.

Quick Paste Menu

Shift-Command-V opens the menu in any app. A number key pastes one of the last 10 copies, and shortcuts jump to a chosen pastebin.

Filters

Custom filters change a clipping before it is pasted. Base filters can be stacked into more complex ones, previewed live and given keyboard shortcuts.

Stacks

Several clippings can be collected into a stack and then pasted one after another in sequence with Control-Command-V or another hotkey.

iCloud Sync and Universal Clipboard

iCloud Sync keeps clippings, pastebins and filters the same across Macs, and items copied on an iPhone arrive through Universal Clipboard.

Paste

• Personal (annual)$2.49

  per month, billed annually ($29.99)

  Unlimited clipboard history, pinboards, search and sync across Mac, iPhone and iPad.

• Personal (monthly)$3.99

  per month, billed monthly (US App Store price)

  The same features paid month to month.

• Family$59.99

  per year (US App Store price)

  Paste for up to six people in an Apple Family Sharing group. Sold only through the App Store and billed annually.

• Lifetime$99.99

  one-time purchase (US App Store price)

  Pay once and use Paste on your personal devices with no recurring charge, including future updates.

Pastebot

• Monthly Subscription (App Store)$2.99

  per month, billed through the Mac App Store

  Subscribed to inside the App Store version, with no license key, updates handled by the App Store and Family Sharing support.

• Yearly Subscription (App Store)$24.99

  per year, billed through the Mac App Store

  The same App Store subscription paid once a year instead of monthly.

• Direct license$39

  one-time purchase with one year of updates

  Bought from Tapbots with a license key and kept for life. Another year of updates costs $19 at any time; 30-day refund policy.

Paste

• Annual discount

  Annual plan saves 37%

  The pricing page marks the annual Personal plan, $29.99 a year, as saving 37% compared with paying monthly.

• Education

  30% off the first year for students and educators

  Students and educators get 30% off the first year of an annual plan by contacting Paste before buying through its website.

• Lifetime license

  Lifetime plan with future updates

  A one-time Lifetime purchase unlocks Paste for good, including all future updates. The US App Store lists it at $99.99.

• Other savings

  Included with a Setapp subscription

  Paste for Mac is included in a Setapp subscription at no extra cost. Setapp does not offer the Lifetime or Family plans.

Pastebot

• Annual discount

  Yearly App Store subscription for $24.99

  The yearly subscription is $24.99, about 30% less than twelve months at the $2.99 monthly rate ($35.88).

• Other savings

  $12.99 upgrade discount for Pastebot 2 owners

  Customers who bought Pastebot 2 directly from Tapbots can enter its license key as a promo code for $12.99 off the $39 Pastebot 3 license.