The Paste Insider’s Guide

Everything we know about Paste in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.

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ToolGPAOctober 2026

Paste

The Insider’s Guide

Clipboard manager for Mac, iPhone and iPad with pinboards

Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among desktop utilities, read from Paste’s own pages.

Made by Paste Team ApS · checked Oct 4, 2026 · toolgpa.com

2.2GPA

01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
02What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
03What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
04Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
05The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
06Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
07About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it

ToolGPA put this guide together from Paste’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on Paste’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 4, 2026.

Part 01 · Overview

Welcome

What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first

2.2

GPA, above 7 of the 94 other desktop utilities we grade

Paste keeps a searchable, unlimited history of everything you copy on Mac, iPhone and iPad and syncs it between devices through your own iCloud. Items you reuse often can be pinned to pinboards, which can be shared with a team. An MCP connection lets AI tools such as Claude, Codex and Cursor use your clipboard history as context once you approve access.

To get you started, here are 9 things to know about Paste, taken from its own pages and our grades.

1
Best for a clipboard history shared by your Mac and iPhone
Paste keeps an unlimited, searchable history of what you copy on a Mac, iPhone and iPad, with pinboards for things you reuse and sync through your own iCloud.
2
Paid plans start at $2.49 a month
As its pricing page puts it: $2.49 / month, billed annually ($29.99).
3
You can try it first
7-day free trial with every feature; the direct Mac download needs no account or card
4
It runs on 2 platforms
macOS and iOS.
5
Unlimited clipboard history
Everything you copy is saved with no limit on age or count, and the whole history can be searched.
6
Pinboards
Pin the snippets, links, colors and templates you use regularly to pinboards. Pinboards can be shared to keep a team in sync.
7
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.
8
A 2.2 GPA, above 7 of 94
That is against the other desktop utilities we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
9
Keep it
Nothing Paste does is plain enough to make in a weekend. The 6 things listed below take a company.

Paste at a glance

Pricing: Free trial, from $2.49 / month, billed annually ($29.99)
Free plan: No
Free trial: 7-day free trial with every feature; the direct Mac download needs no account or card
Runs on: macOS, iOS
Made by: Paste Team ApS
Category: Desktop Utilities
Our grade: 2.2 GPA, fair
Store rating: 4.2 on the App Store, 1,326 ratings

The report card

Best for a clipboard history shared by your Mac and iPhone

Paste keeps an unlimited, searchable history of what you copy on a Mac, iPhone and iPad, with pinboards for things you reuse and sync through your own iCloud. There's no free version after the 7-day trial: it's $29.99 a year, $3.99 a month or $99.99 once. It needs macOS 14 and iOS 26 or later, Teams pricing isn't published, and there's nothing for Windows or Android.

ToolGPA report cardPasteGraded Oct 10, 2026

Subject	Grade	Comment
Value for money	C	$29.99 a year, which the pricing page shows as $2.49 a month, or $3.99 paid monthly. That lands mid-table for utilities here, which sit at $2.99 a month in the middle. Lifetime is $99.99 on the US App Store, a bit over three years of the yearly plan.
Free plan and trial	C	There's no free version. You get a 7-day trial with every feature, and the direct Mac download needs no account or card. After that you need a plan, though your saved history is kept.
Features	B	It covers the clipboard job: unlimited searchable history, pinboards you can share with a team, iCloud sync, and rules that make it ignore passwords and apps you mark sensitive. It also connects to Claude, Codex and Cursor.
Ease of use	C	4.2 from 1,326 App Store ratings, below the 4.5 a B needs. It saves what you copy with nothing to set up, but the App Store listing asks for macOS 14 or later and iOS 26 or later, so older devices are out.
Platforms and integrations	C	Mac, iPhone and iPad, synced through your own iCloud, and it connects to Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code and Windsurf. That's one family of devices, though: nothing for Windows or Android.

Grade point averageFair, out of 4.02.2

An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.

Who Paste is for

Fits if you copy and reuse text, links and images on a Mac and an iPhone
Works for people who want their clipboard history kept in their own iCloud

Who it is not for

Skip it if you want a free clipboard manager, as there's no free version after the 7-day trial
Not for you if you use Windows or Android, or devices older than macOS 14 and iOS 26
Pricey if you'd rather pay once: Lifetime is $99.99 on the US App Store, over three years of the yearly plan
Watch out: the Family plan ($59.99 a year) is App Store only, and Teams is sold per seat at a price that isn't published
Watch out: the pricing page shows only the yearly price; the monthly, Family and Lifetime prices come from the App Store

Good to know

Good for

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

Worth knowing

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.

Part 02 · Pricing

What it costs

Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved

$2.49

A month to start

Paste is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $2.49 / month, billed annually ($29.99).

After that you need a plan, though your saved history is kept.

From our grade for free plan and trial

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.

Trying it first

7-day free trial with every feature; the direct Mac download needs no account or card

Read from pasteapp.io on Oct 4, 2026.

Ways to pay less

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.
Stated on pasteapp.io
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.
Stated on pasteapp.io
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.
Stated on pasteapp.io
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.
Stated on pasteapp.io

What the app costs elsewhere

Each country’s App Store price for “Annual Plan (Mac + iOS)”, against $29.99 in the United States, in dollars at the day’s rate. The four cheapest and the four dearest of 11.

Country	Price there	In dollars	Against the US
Turkey	₺999,99	$20.34	32% less
Indonesia	Rp 499ribu	$27.91	7% less
Canada	$39.99	$28.11	6% less
Philippines	₱ 1,790.00	$28.49	about the same
Australia	$49.99	$34.90	16% more
South Africa	R599.99	$36.29	21% more
Germany	34,99 €	$39.21	31% more
United Kingdom	£29.99	$39.65	32% more

Part 03 · Features

What it does

Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it

Places it runs: macOS and iOS

Clipboard manager for Mac, iPhone and iPad with pinboards. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: local-first, one-time purchase, AI features, clipboard manager.

It also connects to Claude, Codex and Cursor.

From our grade for features

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.

Where it runs

macOS
iOS

What it works with

Claude
Codex
Cursor
VS Code
Windsurf
iCloud

Paste is made by Paste Team ApS.

Part 04 · Standing

Where it stands

Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own

7/94

Other desktop utilities it is graded above

Paste's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 7 of the 94 other desktop utilities we grade, and level with 10.

It stands best on features (B, above 72 of 94) and worst on value for money (C, above 2).

Its paid plans start at $2.49 a month, against a middle price of $2.50 for the category: 7 of the 17 others that charge start lower.

On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 2 tools score higher and cost less.

Each grade against the category

Every bar is all 95 desktop utilities we grade, cut by the letter each got. Paste’s own letter is outlined.

CValue for money
Above 2 of 94
CFree plan and trial
Above 4 of 94
BFeatures
Above 72 of 94
CEase of use
Above 6 of 94
CPlatforms and integrations
Above 65 of 94

Price against what you get

Each dot is one of 55 desktop utilities. Further left costs less; higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Paste is the marked dot.

What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →

Keep it, or make your own?

Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.

Keep it

Nothing Paste does is plain enough to make in a weekend. The 6 things listed below take a company.

That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 77 of the 94 other desktop utilities grade higher. It costs $29.88 a year.

What you could not

A clipboard history running in the background of your computer.
Apps for macOS and iOS that stay in step with each other.
It plugs into other products, Claude, Codex and Cursor among them.
AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
Sharing with other people, which means accounts and invitations.
The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.

What this rests on. Paste’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.

Part 05 · Alternatives

The alternatives

The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side

Raycast, Alfred, Setapp and TextExpander

The 4 tools Paste is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.

2.8GPA
Raycast
Free plan · from $96/yr
Keyboard launcher with extensions, clipboard history and AI.
- Raycast has a free plan. Paste does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Raycast lists a Windows app.
- Only Raycast lists a browser extension.
Paste and Raycast compared in full
2.4GPA
Alfred
Free plan · from £34 one-time
Mac launcher with hotkeys, snippets and custom workflows.
- Alfred has a free plan. Paste does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Paste lists an iOS app.
- Alfred also covers workflow automation, launcher and text expansion.
Paste and Alfred compared in full
2.0GPA
Setapp
Free trial · from $14.99/mo
One subscription for a catalog of 300+ Mac and iOS apps.
- Paste can be bought with a one-time purchase.
- Setapp also covers screenshots, window management and text expansion.
Paste and Setapp compared in full
2.4GPA
TextExpander
Free plan · from $5/mo
Text snippets that expand as you type, shared across a team.
- TextExpander has a free plan. Paste does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only TextExpander lists a Windows app.
- Only TextExpander lists a browser extension.
Paste and TextExpander compared in full

Part 06 · Questions

Quick answers

The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two

Questions, each answered in a line or two

The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.

Is Paste free?

No, Paste is a paid product, but you can try it first. 7-day free trial with every feature; the direct Mac download needs no account or card.

How much does Paste cost?

Paste lists 4 plans. Personal (annual): $2.49 per month, billed annually ($29.99).

What platforms does Paste work on?

Paste is available on macOS and iOS.

Does Paste offer any discounts?

Paste publicly lists the following: Annual plan saves 37%; 30% off the first year for students and educators; Lifetime plan with future updates; Included with a Setapp subscription.

How is Paste rated?

Paste's iPhone and iPad app averages 4.2 out of 5 from 1,326 ratings on the App Store in the United States, as read on Oct 5, 2026.

Does Paste have an Android app?

No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 4, 2026. Paste is listed for macOS and iOS.

Does Paste have a Windows app?

No Windows app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 4, 2026. Paste is listed for macOS and iOS.

Is Paste open source?

Paste is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 4, 2026.

What does Paste integrate with?

Paste's listing names Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and iCloud.

Does Paste have a student discount?

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.

Who makes Paste?

Paste is made by Paste Team ApS.

What are the alternatives to Paste?

The closest alternatives to Paste in our directory are Raycast, Alfred, Setapp and TextExpander.

How does Paste compare with other desktop utilities?

Paste's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 7 of the 94 other desktop utilities we grade, and level with 10.

Is Paste good value for money?

ToolGPA grades Paste C for value for money. Its paid plans start at $2.49 a month, against a middle price of $2.50 for the category: 7 of the 17 others that charge start lower.

Could I make my own version of Paste?

Nothing Paste does is plain enough to make in a weekend. The 6 things listed below take a company.

Where this guide comes from

The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from Paste’s own pages on Oct 4, 2026, and the grades were given on Oct 10, 2026. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Paste's own pages on 4 October 2026, and its App Store rating. Also tested with a demo account on 2026-07-16.

Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by Paste Team ApS. Prices change, so check pasteapp.io before you buy.

Part 07 · About

About ToolGPA

Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it

3,189

Tools graded, in 94 categories

ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.

Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.

3,189
tools graded
94
categories
426
price changes on record
579
apps priced in 12 countries

What else is on toolgpa.com

Scan for the live page

Prices and grades as they are today

Quoting this guide?

Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:

ToolGPA, "Paste: The Insider's Guide", checked Oct 4, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/paste

Know someone choosing between desktop utilities?

Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/paste/guide

ToolGPA elsewhere: youtube.com/@toolgpa

See our other guides

The best-graded desktop utilities after Paste, each with an Insider's Guide of its own.

ToolGPA

Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.

Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›

Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what Paste’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Paste is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by Paste Team ApS. Prices and plans change: check pasteapp.io before you buy.