Dash vs Paste

Dash is a private notes app for Mac and iPhone, with a web PWA that also supports Android. Notes remain on the device and the app works offline unless sync is enabled. Locked notes use AES-256-GCM encryption, with keys derived through PBKDF2-SHA256 using 600,000 iterations. App locking supports a master password, Touch ID or Face ID, and configurable auto-lock timers. A duress password opens decoy notes while actual notes remain encrypted; notes can also be configured to delete after one hour, one day, one week, or one month. Its block editor includes wiki-style links, folders, and tags. Local AI can connect to Ollama, LM Studio, LocalAI, Jan, and other OpenAI-compatible servers running on localhost, and rejects non-local endpoints. Pages and folders export as Markdown, DOCX, or PDF, and encrypted.dashpack backups are supported. Dash is open source under the MIT license. The web PWA and iPhone options are free. Dash for Mac is $14.99 a month, billed as lifetime access with no subscription required. Sync is $4.99 a month or $47.99 a year, each with a 7-day free trial.

Paste is a private notepad and clipboard for syncing text, links, and code snippets across macOS, Linux, and Windows. Notes may be plain text, Markdown, or code, and users can pin frequently used items. It works offline and merges changes automatically after devices reconnect. The site says local search can find items in under 30 ms across 10,000 entries. Pairing uses a QR scan, short code, or recovery phrase, and each device receives a revocable signing key. Paste says it encrypts content on the device with XChaCha20-Poly1305 before storage or syncing, deriving keys from the recovery phrase. Optional relays store encrypted blocks and can see network metadata, but cannot read note contents or keys. The encryption envelope, sync engine, relay client, and verifier are open source; Paste also includes a verifier and standalone CLI. Desktop versions run through the Pear runtime, which installers require. On Windows, the first launch fetches the app peer-to-peer and may take about one minute. iOS and Android are in development. Paste is free and requires no account; it does not provide anonymity or provable physical deletion of ciphertext retained on third-party disks.