Comparison

Permanent Archive vs Paperclap

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

Head to head
About

Permanent Archive

Securely store your family photos, videos, documents, and other digital files permanently. This nonprofit service offers a one-time fee for lifelong access, allowing you to preserve and share your legacy with future generations.

Highlights
  • Permanent digital file storage
  • One-time fee for lifelong access
  • Legacy planning with steward assignment
  • Private or public sharing options
  • Collaborative archiving with access control
  • Automatic metadata capture
  • File format conversion for future accessibility
Features
Read full description

Permanent.org is a place where you can store your family photos and videos, personal documents, business records, or any other digital file permanently. Our nonprofit mission is a promise to store your digitized photos, videos, music, documents, or anything made of bits and bytes for all time. Our one-time fee model means you don’t have to pay monthly subscriptions for file storage and your access to your files will never expire. We can do that because we're a nonprofit backed by an endowment, same as a museum, university, or faith-based organization. Storage fees are donations. Permanent.org is user friendly for any technical level. It works just like the other file storage applications you’re already familiar with. A digital archive on Permanent.org is a legacy that you can pass down to future generations using our new Legacy Planning feature; you can now name a legacy contact and archive steward. You have the option to keep files private or share them with your whole family, community or the world by adding them to the Permanent Public Gallery. Preserving and sharing your legacy allows future generations to learn from you and know your unique story. ◼Tell the story of your files: add titles, descriptions, dates, locations, and tags to your files. Metadata is captured automatically for your files when you upload to save you time. ◼Share with confidence: choose what files and folders you want to share and what level of access others can have to view, contribute, edit, or curate your content. Generate share links that are easy to copy and paste or share files directly in text messages, emails, or any app. ◼Collaborate with control: add family, friends and teammates to your Permanent Archives as members so they can build archives with you. Control their level of access to view, contribute, edit, or curate your content. ◼Maintain access forever: files are converted to universally standard formats so they are accessible as technology changes. One-time storage fees mean your account and archives will never expire. Be a digital preservation hero! Don’t wait, start building your archives today. There’s no cost to get started. Your loved ones will thank you for it. - - - Permanent.org is the world's first permanent data storage system, backed by a nonprofit organization, the Permanent Legacy Foundation. Secure your most important memories on the spot to ensure they are backed up for all time in the private and secure storage system built for the people, not for profit. Learn more about our nonprofit mission and how we can ensure security, privacy and accessible, permanent data storage at permanent.org.

About

Paperclap

Features
Read full description

Paperclap is where your circle keeps the moments that matter, together. Not for an audience. For the people who were in the room. Add photos and moments as they happen, shape them into a journal, and come back to it for years. The best moments are not the best pictures. The blurry shot that caught the laugh. The badly framed photo where everyone was moving. Paperclap keeps what happened and who was there, not the most flattering image. How it works Add the moments. Anyone in your circle can add photos and a few words, during the trip or long after, whenever something is worth keeping. Make the journal. Give it a cover, a title, a caption under each photo in your own words. Or drop the photos in and publish fast. Both are complete. There is no right amount of effort. Live it again. Open a journal a year later and it is all still there, exactly as it was. Two simple ways to include everyone Collect with a link. People can add their photos by opening a link on their phone, with no app to install. Send the finished journal as a link. Anyone you send it to can open it in a browser, with no app and no account. Private by design Paperclap has no feed, no followers, and no algorithm. Nothing is public, and nothing is recommended to strangers. You decide who is in the circle and who sees what you make. Your memories are yours. We don't show ads, and we never sell what's inside. Yours to take, whenever you want, in full quality. If you ever leave, you can export everything and open it without Paperclap. We don't lock you in. Paperclap is funded by subscription, so it answers to the circle, not to advertisers. One person subscribes. The whole circle can add, make, and keep together. For the moments you'd never post. Kept together.

Screenshots

Permanent Archive4 screens
Paperclap2 screens

Verdict

The call

Permanent Archive and Paperclap are too close to call on the numbers: across 6 compared parameters — price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Permanent Archive ships an update every 5 weeks, Paperclap monthly. The most recent releases landed on August 28, 2026 and September 8, 2026 respectively.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
Permanent Archive versus Paperclap: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPermanent ArchivePaperclap
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (6 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeksMonthly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaid—
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS16.2 — better16.4
Further details — not scored
Size62 MB55 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPermanent.orgRomain COCHET

In-app purchases

None

Permanent Archive

No in-app purchases

None

Paperclap

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Permanent Archive free?
Permanent Archive is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Paperclap free?
Paperclap is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Permanent Archive or Paperclap have ads?
Neither Permanent Archive nor Paperclap shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Permanent Archive or Paperclap?
Permanent Archive ships an update every 5 weeks, and Paperclap monthly. Most recently, Permanent Archive was updated on August 28, 2026 and Paperclap on September 8, 2026.

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