Clip Stack vs Edge Drop: Paid Store App or Free Shelf?

Clip Stack is a clipboard manager on the Microsoft Store from ZXM Studio: a free trial, then a one-time $4.99 purchase (US price). Its listing promises visual history of text, links, images, colours and files, full-text search, Pinboards and 1–9 quick paste. Edge Drop is a free, open-source clipboard shelf that opens at the screen edge and lets you drag images and files into other apps. Clip Stack has no public source code and, so far, no Store ratings, so use its trial to check the claims that matter to you before paying.

Clip Stack's details below come from its Microsoft Store listing, checked in October 2026. Edge Drop is made by the team behind this site.

Make sure you have the right Clip Stack

They're unrelated projects from different developers. If you want free, inspectable code with a similar name, the Shripad735 project is the one; its README lists text and image history now and broader file support on its roadmap.

What the Clip Stack listing claims

• Visual history of text, links, images, colours and files, shown as type-aware cards
• Full-text search, and Pinboards to group items you reuse
• Paste back into any app with a keystroke, or press 1–9 for quick paste
• The source app shown for each item
• "Private by design": history stays on your PC, with no account and no tracking
• Tray app with launch at startup, and 11 interface languages
• Windows 10 version 17763.0 or later, x64 and ARM64

The listing doesn't say which hotkey opens it, how many items it keeps, whether copied files are stored as copies or as references to the originals, or whether you can drag items out. It also links to a privacy policy hosted at a bare IP address over plain HTTP rather than on a named website, which is unusual for an app that reads everything you copy. That doesn't mean it uploads anything, but it's worth reading the policy before you buy; red flags in clipboard app marketing lists other things to check.

How Edge Drop compares

Edge Drop opens when the cursor reaches the left, right or top edge of the screen, or with Alt+C. It records text, links, colours, images and files copied in Explorer, with filter tabs for each type and a search box for text, links and file names.

Click a card to paste it into the app you were using. Images and files can also be dragged out into other apps, and up to 10 can be grouped into a stack. Text, link and colour cards are click-to-paste only. Files are stored as references to the originals and pasted or dragged back as real files.

What to test during the Clip Stack trial

1. Copy a paragraph, a link, a colour hex code, a screenshot and a few files in Explorer.
2. Open Clip Stack and note which hotkey it uses. If it's Ctrl+Shift+V, check it doesn't clash with paste without formatting in your browser.
3. Search for a word from the paragraph, and try a Pinboard and the 1–9 keys.
4. Paste the copied files into a new folder. Then rename one original and try again, to see whether Clip Stack kept a copy or a reference.
5. Try dragging an image card into another app.
6. Restart the PC and confirm what survived.

How to trial a clipboard app for seven days has a fuller checklist.

Which should you choose?

• Clip Stack if numbered quick paste and Pinboards match how you work, the trial passes your tests, and a closed-source paid app is acceptable to you.
• Edge Drop if you want free, open-source code and mainly move images and files by dragging.
• Ditto if you want a free, searchable, keyboard-driven history with years of track record; see Ditto Store vs GitHub.

Run one clipboard manager at a time, so every copy isn't recorded twice.

FAQ

Is Clip Stack free?

There's a free trial. Keeping it requires a one-time purchase, listed at $4.99 in the US Store, with no subscription.

Is Clip Stack open source?

The ZXM Studio Store app isn't. The similarly named Shripad735/ClipStack on GitHub is open source under MIT, but it's a different app.

Does Clip Stack upload my clipboard?

The listing says history stays on your PC with no account or tracking. There's no public code to confirm it, so check its network activity if that matters to you.

Related reading

• Clipboard Managers on the Microsoft Store vs GitHub
• ClipKeep Review: Windows Clipboard Manager vs Edge Drop
• Do Microsoft Store Ratings Predict Clipboard App Quality?
• Best Clipboard Managers for Windows in 2026: 8 Compared

Sources

• Clip Stack - Clipboard Manager for Windows (Microsoft Store) — publisher, price, trial, features, languages, requirements, privacy policy link.
• Shripad735/ClipStack (GitHub) — the unrelated open-source app with the same name.
• Clip Stack on Google Play — the unrelated Android app.

Copy. Stack. Drop.

Transform your clipboard into an interactive edge shelf. Stack, pin, and drag assets into any app with zero friction.

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How to Install Guide · First 10 Minutes Guide · Drag & Drop Guide · Edge Drop vs Win+V · Support