Comparison
Recopy vs Paste
Two clipboard managers for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. One costs a third as much per year, has a lifetime option, and connects to your AI tools. Here's the honest side-by-side.
Choose Recopy if…
- You want Pro for $9.99/yr — or $29.99 once, forever
- You copy code and want syntax highlighting + transforms
- You want Claude or Cursor to search your clipboard (MCP)
- You want privacy that acts: API key detection, auto-delete, password manager extension exclusion
- You want a free tier that never expires
Choose Paste if…
- You prefer its polished, visual bottom-drawer interface
- You value its longer track record — it has been around since the mid-2010s
- You want a family plan via App Store Family Sharing
- Price is not a deciding factor for you
Feature by feature
Recopy vs Paste, side by side.
| Feature | Recopy | Paste |
|---|---|---|
| Price per year | $9.99 | $29.99* |
| Monthly option | $0.99/mo | $2.49/mo* |
| Lifetime purchase | $29.99 once | Offered (price varies)* |
| Free tier | Yes — 10 items, no time limit | 7-day trial* |
| Mac, iPhone & iPad | ||
| iCloud sync (incl. images) | ||
| Full-text history search | ||
| Code detection & syntax highlighting | 21+ languages | — |
| Developer transforms (JSON, Base64, URL, shell) | — | |
| MCP server for AI tools (Claude, Cursor) | — | |
| Auto-excludes password managers | ||
| Excludes password manager browser extensions | — | |
| API key & credit card detection with auto-delete | — | |
| Optional no-network link previews | — | |
| Paste queue | — | |
| Pinboards / saved collections | Folders + pins | Pinboards |
| Quick paste shortcuts (⌘1–⌘9) | ||
| iOS keyboard extension |
* Paste pricing and features as of July 2026, per pasteapp.io. Paste offers a 7-day free trial on every plan and a lifetime purchase; check their site for current terms.
The Price Math
One year of Paste = Recopy forever.
Paste costs $29.99 every year. Recopy Pro is $9.99 a year — and $29.99 buys it once, for life.
After 1 year
$9.99
with Recopy
$29.99
with Paste*
After 3 years
$29.97
with Recopy
$89.97
with Paste*
After 3 years (Lifetime)
$29.99 total
with Recopy
$89.97 on subscription
with Paste*
Beyond Price
Where Recopy pulls ahead.
Privacy that acts, not just promises
Both apps skip password managers. Recopy goes further: it also excludes their browser extensions (1Password, Bitwarden, LastPass, and more), detects API keys and credit card numbers in anything you copy, and can auto-delete them on a timer. Link previews can run with zero network requests.
An MCP server for your AI tools
recopy-mcp lets Claude and Cursor search your clipboard history — that config snippet you copied an hour ago is one question away. Read-only by design, and sensitive items are never exposed.
Built for people who copy code
Recopy detects code in 21+ languages, highlights syntax, and offers one-click transforms: format JSON, encode Base64, escape for shell, wrap in Markdown.
A real free tier
Recopy's free plan keeps 10 items with search, pins, shortcuts, and sensitive-data detection — forever. Paste offers a 7-day trial, then requires a subscription (as of July 2026).
When Paste is the better choice
We'd rather you pick the right tool than just pick ours. Paste has been around far longer — it's one of the original polished clipboard managers on the Mac — and its visual, bottom-of-screen drawer is genuinely beautiful. If you browse your history by look rather than by search, that interface may suit you better.
Paste also offers a family plan through App Store Family Sharing (as of July 2026), which Recopy doesn't have an equivalent for yet. If you want one purchase covering the whole household, that's a point for Paste.
Frequently asked questions
Is Recopy cheaper than Paste?
Yes. Recopy Pro is $9.99/year versus Paste's $29.99/year — about a third of the price — and Recopy also offers a $29.99 lifetime purchase, so one year of Paste costs the same as Recopy forever. Recopy additionally has a genuinely free tier (10 items, no expiration), while Paste offers a 7-day trial. Paste pricing as of July 2026.
Does Paste have an MCP server for AI tools?
As of July 2026, no. Recopy ships recopy-mcp, a read-only Model Context Protocol server that lets Claude and Cursor search your clipboard history — with sensitive items never exposed.
Can I switch from Paste to Recopy?
Yes. Install Recopy from the App Store and it starts capturing your clipboard immediately. There is no import of Paste's existing history, but your pinned workflow rebuilds quickly — pins, folders, and iCloud sync work from day one.
Is Paste better designed than Recopy?
Paste is known for its polished, visual bottom-drawer interface, and if that presentation matters most to you, it is a fair reason to pick it. Recopy takes a keyboard-first, menu-bar approach (⌘⇧V popover) that optimizes for speed over spectacle.
Try Recopy free — no trial clock.
Download from the App Store and keep the free tier as long as you like.
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