Comparison

For in-depth comparisons with worked examples and FAQs, see the Guides section:

• Cinch vs OSC 52 — when OSC 52 breaks and how Cinch handles those cases

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Cinch vs OSC 52

OSC 52 is a terminal escape sequence that lets a remote process write to the local clipboard. It works well in some environments and fails silently in others.

	OSC 52	Cinch
Requires interactive PTY	Yes	No
Works in tmux / screen	Broken	Yes
Works in Docker exec	Broken	Yes
Works in CI runners	Broken	Yes
Bidirectional (pull)	No	Yes
Binary / image support	Limited	Yes (up to 20 MB)
Async / scripted use	No	Yes
Self-hostable	N/A	Yes

Tip

Use OSC 52 if you only use interactive SSH sessions in a modern terminal with no tmux. Use Cinch for everything else.

Cinch vs Apple Universal Clipboard

Apple Universal Clipboard (Handoff) syncs the clipboard between Apple devices on the same iCloud account over local network or iCloud relay.

	Universal Clipboard	Cinch
Platform support	Apple only	macOS, Linux, Windows
Works on Linux / Windows	No	Yes
Works on remote servers	No	Yes
CLI / pipe interface	No	Yes
Self-hostable	No	Yes
Works over the internet	Via iCloud	Yes
Open source	No	Yes

Cinch vs KDE Connect

KDE Connect syncs clipboard content (among other things) between Linux and Android devices on the same local network.

	KDE Connect	Cinch
Platform support	Linux, Android	macOS, Linux, Windows
Works on macOS	No (GSConnect only)	Yes
Works across internet	No (LAN only)	Yes
Works on remote servers	No	Yes
CLI / pipe interface	Limited	Yes
Self-hostable relay	N/A (P2P)	Yes
Open source	Yes	Yes

Cinch vs local clipboard managers (Maccy, Raycast, etc.)

Local clipboard managers like Maccy, Raycast, and Clipboard Manager store and search your local clipboard history. They are not remote tools.

	Local clipboard managers	Cinch
Local clipboard history	Yes	No (relay only)
Search & recall	Yes	Via desktop app
Remote / cross-machine	No	Yes
Works on servers	No	Yes
CLI / pipe interface	No	Yes

Note

Cinch is not a local clipboard manager replacement. If you need local history and search, use Maccy or Raycast alongside Cinch. The Cinch desktop app adds a clipboard history view, but its primary value is the remote relay.