Comparison

Pasteboard Viewer vs Anvil

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Pasteboard Viewer

This developer utility allows you to inspect system pasteboards, ensuring your app correctly places data. It provides live previews of text, RTF, images, and other content with Quick Look support. The app also hides outdated pasteboard types for a cleaner experience.

Highlights
  • Inspect system pasteboards
  • Live content refresh
  • Preview text, RTF, and images
  • Quick Look preview support
  • Hides obsolete pasteboard types
Features
Read full description

Inspect the system pasteboard while developing your app. This is a developer utility that lets you inspect the system pasteboard. This can be useful to ensure your app is putting the correct data on UIPasteboard. The app refreshes the pasteboard contents live and can preview text, RTF, images, and anything that has a Quick Look preview. Note that this is not a clipboard manager. If you're not an iOS developer, you probably don't want this app. It hides obsolete system pasteboard types that have modern equivalents. This includes `CorePasteboardFlavorType`, `NSStringPboardType`, `NSFilenamesPboardType`, etc. Known issue: When the app runs on visionOS in compatibility mode, the system may show a lot of “pasted” notifications. This is a system bug.

About

Anvil

Features
Read full description

Anvil is a pocket-sized toolbox of 17 everyday developer utilities. Every tool processes its input on your device. No account, no ads, no tracking, and no app backend. FORMAT & DECODE • JSON Formatter — beautify, minify, validate • Base64 — encode / decode text • URL — percent-encode / decode • JWT Decoder — inspect header & payload (local only) GENERATE • UUID — batch v4 identifiers • Hash — MD5 / SHA-1 / SHA-256 / SHA-512 • Random String — passwords & tokens • QR Code — share or save CONVERT • Number Base — bin / oct / dec / hex • Unix Time — epoch ↔ human date • Cron — explain expressions • Unicode — text ↔ \u escapes TEXT • Regex Tester — live matches & groups • Text Diff — compare two snippets • Case Converter — camel / snake / kebab … • Text Analyzer — characters, words, lines • List Comparer — intersection, union & diff SMART PASTE Copy something, open Anvil, and it points you to the right tool with your content already filled in. PRIVACY FIRST Tool inputs are processed on-device and are never uploaded. Anvil has no account, ads, analytics, or app backend. Optional Pro purchase and restore use Apple StoreKit. ANVIL PRO — one-time unlock, no subscription • Share Extension — run tools on text shared from any app • Shortcuts & Siri • Clipboard History • Optional Smart Paste auto-open (off by default) One-time purchase, no subscription.

Screenshots

Pasteboard Viewer4 screens
Anvil4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Pasteboard Viewer at none against Anvil's 1. Anvil's advantage is update cadence (every 6 days vs every 5 months) and iOS requirement (17.0 vs 26.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Anvil sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Pasteboard Viewer asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pasteboard Viewer ships an update every 5 months, Anvil every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Pasteboard Viewer versus Anvil: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPasteboard ViewerAnvil
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (19 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings19 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSindre Sorhus武汉回到未来科技有限公司

In-app purchases

None

Pasteboard Viewer

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Anvil

One-time1
  • Anvil Pro$4.99

Questions

Is Pasteboard Viewer free?
Pasteboard Viewer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Anvil free?
Anvil is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Pasteboard Viewer or Anvil have ads?
Neither Pasteboard Viewer nor Anvil shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pasteboard Viewer or Anvil?
Pasteboard Viewer ships an update every 5 months, and Anvil every 6 days. Most recently, Pasteboard Viewer was updated on October 22, 2026 and Anvil on October 16, 2026.

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