Is Paste or Rufus better?

Neither clearly leads. Paste starts at $29.99/year and Rufus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Paste or Rufus?

Rufus has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29.99/year for Paste and Free for Rufus.

Does Paste or Rufus run on more platforms?

Paste runs on Mac, iOS. Rufus runs on Windows.

Can I use Rufus for free?

Yes. Rufus has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Paste starts at $29.99/year.

What is Paste best used for?

Paste is most often used for someone who regularly copies something on their iphone, such as an address or code, and needs it moments later on their mac, a user organising reusable snippets like email signatures or boilerplate text into named pinboards, a team member already paying for setapp who wants paste included rather than purchased separately, anyone who has outgrown a local-only clipboard manager because they now work across multiple apple devices. Of those, someone who regularly copies something on their iphone, such as an address or code, and needs it moments later on their mac and a user organising reusable snippets like email signatures or boilerplate text into named pinboards are not what Rufus is typically brought in for.

What can Paste do that Rufus cannot?

Paste covers Clipboard history, iCloud sync, Pinboards, Rich content support. Rufus covers Bootable USB creation, No installation, Partition scheme control, Windows install customisation.

Utilities · head to head

Paste vs Rufus

Paste

Utilities

Subscription clipboard manager for Mac, iPhone and iPad with iCloud sync between devices

From: $29.99/year
Rated: -

Full review Website

Rufus

Utilities

Create bootable USB drives on Windows

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Rufus has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Paste it is an ongoing subscription, unlike the free, one-time-cost alternatives Maccy and the built in macOS clipboard, so the cost compounds every year it is used.; Rufus windows only, with no macOS or Linux build
They diverge on capability: Paste covers Clipboard history, Rufus covers Bootable USB creation.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Paste and Rufus actually diverge.

Attributes where Paste and Rufus differ
Attribute	Paste	Rufus
Starting price	$29.99/year	Free
Pricing model	Per user per month	Open source, no licence fee
Free tier	No	Yes
Platforms	Mac, iOS	Windows

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Utilities).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Paste

Clipboard history
iCloud sync
Pinboards
Rich content support
Search and filter
Setapp availability

Only in Rufus

Bootable USB creation
No installation
Partition scheme control
Windows install customisation

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Paste

Someone who regularly copies something on their iPhone, such as an address or code, and needs it moments later on their Macnot Rufus
A user organising reusable snippets like email signatures or boilerplate text into named pinboardsnot Rufus
A team member already paying for Setapp who wants Paste included rather than purchased separatelynot Rufus
Anyone who has outgrown a local-only clipboard manager because they now work across multiple Apple devicesnot Rufus

Rufus

Writing a Linux or Windows installer to a USB sticknot Paste
Creating live USB media with a persistent partitionnot Paste
Recovering a machine that will not boot from its internal drivenot Paste

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Paste

It is an ongoing subscription, unlike the free, one-time-cost alternatives Maccy and the built in macOS clipboard, so the cost compounds every year it is used.
Sync depends on iCloud, so a user without a reliable iCloud connection or who disables iCloud for privacy reasons loses the entire reason to pay for it over Maccy.
It has no Windows or Android app, so sync only works within the Apple ecosystem.
Because it preserves rich content and images, the synced history can grow large enough to be noticeable in iCloud storage use over time.
A user who only ever uses one Mac gets no benefit from the subscription cost over a free local-only tool like Maccy.

Rufus

Windows only, with no macOS or Linux build
Single-purpose: it writes drives and does nothing else
Some of its Windows setup bypass options work around vendor requirements and may not survive future releases

Pricing, plan by plan

Paste

$29.99/year

Paste$2.49/month
- Billed annually at roughly 29.99 USD per year
- Covers Mac, iPhone and iPad apps under one subscription
- iCloud sync between all devices

Rufus

Free

RufusFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support

Which should you pick?

Choose Paste if

You need clipboard history.
You work on Mac, iOS.
You also want icloud sync.

Paste review

Choose Rufus if

You need bootable usb creation.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Windows.
You also want no installation.

Rufus review

Questions people ask

Is Paste or Rufus better?: Neither clearly leads. Paste starts at $29.99/year and Rufus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Paste or Rufus?: Rufus has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29.99/year for Paste and Free for Rufus.
Does Paste or Rufus run on more platforms?: Paste runs on Mac, iOS. Rufus runs on Windows.
Can I use Rufus for free?: Yes. Rufus has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Paste starts at $29.99/year.
What is Paste best used for?: Paste is most often used for someone who regularly copies something on their iphone, such as an address or code, and needs it moments later on their mac, a user organising reusable snippets like email signatures or boilerplate text into named pinboards, a team member already paying for setapp who wants paste included rather than purchased separately, anyone who has outgrown a local-only clipboard manager because they now work across multiple apple devices. Of those, someone who regularly copies something on their iphone, such as an address or code, and needs it moments later on their mac and a user organising reusable snippets like email signatures or boilerplate text into named pinboards are not what Rufus is typically brought in for.
What can Paste do that Rufus cannot?: Paste covers Clipboard history, iCloud sync, Pinboards, Rich content support. Rufus covers Bootable USB creation, No installation, Partition scheme control, Windows install customisation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Paste: Is Paste free?

No. It is a subscription, priced around 2.49 to 3.99 US dollars a month or roughly 30 dollars a year, though it is also available through the Setapp bundle.

Rufus: Is Rufus free?

Yes, open source under the GPL.

Paste: Does Paste sync between my Mac and iPhone?

Yes, that is its main differentiator, using iCloud to sync clipboard history across Mac, iPhone and iPad.

Rufus: Does Rufus run on macOS or Linux?

No, it is Windows only. balenaEtcher is the usual cross-platform equivalent.

Paste: Is there a free alternative that does not sync?

Yes, Maccy is free, open source and Mac-only with no sync, for users who do not need cross-device history.

Rufus: Why choose Rufus over the built-in tools?

It is faster than most alternatives and gives explicit control over partition scheme and target system, which matters when a machine will not boot from default media.

Paste vs Rufus

Paste

Rufus

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Paste

Only in Rufus

What people use each for

Paste

Rufus

Where each one falls short

Paste

Rufus

Pricing, plan by plan

Paste

Rufus

Which should you pick?

Choose Paste if

Choose Rufus if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Paste

More on Rufus

Keep looking

Other head to heads