Relic vs ClipClip

ClipClip is a friendly, free Windows app. It records what you copy and lets you file clips into folders so the ones you reuse are easy to find later. It also bundles in a few nice touches, like screenshot capture and on-the-fly translation. Everything lives locally on your PC. If you are on Windows and like the idea of organizing your clips by hand, it is a pleasant tool that costs nothing.

Relic is built around a different priority. Your clipboard is full of sensitive things, and most of us now work across more than one machine. Relic keeps everything you copy, encrypts it on your device so only you can read it, and syncs it across your devices. The two overlap on Windows, but they part ways quickly once you care about privacy and sync.

At a glance

A couple of honest notes. ClipClip is fully free, which is a real point in its favor, and its folder system is a genuinely nice way to organize clips. On the other side, Relic’s Linux desktop app wants an X11 session for its hotkey, and on phones Relic is a browse-and-search companion rather than a background recorder. More on that below.

When ClipClip is the better pick

ClipClip is the right call for a particular kind of user, and we will say so plainly.

• You want free, full stop. ClipClip costs nothing and has no paid tier to nudge you toward.
• You like organizing by hand. Its folder system is the heart of the app. If you enjoy filing clips into named groups, that workflow is built right in.
• You are all-in on one Windows PC. If you never need your clips anywhere else, local-only is fine, and ClipClip keeps things simple.
• You like the bundled extras. Built-in screenshots and translation are handy if you reach for those often.

When Relic is the better pick

Relic earns its place once you step beyond a single PC, or once privacy matters.

• You work across devices. Copy a link on your PC and grab it from your phone, or the other way round. Relic syncs your history so it is wherever you are, not stuck on one machine.
• You want real encryption. Relic seals every item on your device with XChaCha20-Poly1305 and a key derived with Argon2id. We store only ciphertext and cannot read your content. ClipClip stores your clips locally but is not end-to-end encrypted.
• You never want to lose a copy. The free tier keeps a rolling 500 items, and Pro keeps everything forever, with unlimited text on every plan.
• You want search that reads images. Relic tags items on device and runs OCR on screenshots, so you can find the words inside a picture, not just text you copied as text.

One thing we will say plainly: Relic captures automatically on Windows, the Mac and Linux, and on phones Relic is a browse-and-search lens rather than a background recorder, because phone operating systems do not allow apps to capture the clipboard in the background. Like ClipClip, Relic never writes to your clipboard on its own. It only puts something back when you pick it.

FAQ