--- title: "The Paste alternative without a subscription" description: "Paste costs $29.99 a year or $99.99 lifetime. See what that adds up to over time, what Paste does well, and a one-time $9.99 clipboard manager for Mac." canonical: "https://getdroppy.app/blog/paste-alternative-mac" last-updated: "2026-10-27" --- # The Paste alternative without a subscription [All posts](https://getdroppy.app/blog/) Comparisons Jordy Spruit October 27, 2026 8 min read Paste is one of the best-looking clipboard managers on the Mac, and it costs $29.99 a year. Over three years that is about $90, and its one-time Lifetime plan is $99.99. If what you want is searchable clipboard history without another renewal, here is the math, what Paste does well, and the alternative. ![An engraved hand holding a key and a seal above Droppy's real clipboard history strip, with the words Clipboard history without the subscription.](https://getdroppy.app/assets/images/blog/editorial-20261027/paste-alternative-mac-hero.webp?v=1) The short answer The best Paste alternative without a subscription is Droppy for $9.99 once, if you want rich clipboard history plus a file tray and more in one app. If you only want plain text history and nothing else, Maccy is free. ## What Paste costs in 2026 We read the [Mac App Store listing](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/paste-limitless-clipboard/id967805235?mt=12) and [pasteapp.io](https://pasteapp.io/pricing) on October 27, 2026. Every plan covers Mac, iPhone and iPad. | Plan | Price | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | | Monthly | $3.99 a month | Renews until you cancel | | Yearly | $29.99 a year | Also $2.49 a month when shown per month on pasteapp.io | | Lifetime (Mac + iOS) | $99.99 once | No trial, no Family Sharing, not on Setapp | | Family | $59.99 a year | Up to 6 people, App Store only | | Setapp | In the Setapp subscription | Mac app included | The trial lasts 7 days. Paste needs macOS 14 or later and rates 4.2 out of 5 from about 1,300 ratings on the Mac App Store, which is solid. Students and educators get 30% off the first year of an annual plan. What clipboard history costs over time Drag to choose how long you will use it. Years of use 3 years - Paste, monthly plan $3.99 a month **$143.64** - Paste, yearly plan $29.99 a year **$89.97** - Paste Lifetime $99.99 once, Mac and iOS **$99.99** - Droppy $9.99 once, 2 Macs **$9.99** US Mac App Store prices for Paste and getdroppy.app's price for Droppy, read on October 27, 2026, before tax. Paste's plans include its iPhone and iPad apps; Droppy for iPhone is a free TestFlight beta. Droppy's price covers the whole app, not only the clipboard. ## What Paste does well It is fair to say why people pay for it. Paste's history is a visual timeline of large cards, it groups saved items into pinboards, and it syncs the same history to an iPhone and iPad through iCloud. It is polished, it is fast, and it is actively developed: version 7.0.4 came out in late October 2026. If you copy on your iPad and paste on your Mac every day, and you are happy with a subscription, Paste earns its price. Where it gets harder to justify is the person who mostly works on one or two Macs and wants three things: open the history from anywhere, find the thing, paste it. That is most people, and it is what Droppy's clipboard is tuned for. ## Droppy's clipboard, in practice Real Droppy, recorded on macOS: the clipboard strip with an image, a link, a color, a text snippet and a PDF. Record a shortcut on the Shortcuts page and the history opens over whatever app you are in, as a strip along the bottom of the screen. Then: - **Type to search.** With auto-focus search on, your first keystroke starts the search. Turn it off and the arrow keys navigate instead, with Esc closing in one press. - **Filter by kind.** A rail beside the list narrows it to text, links, images, colors or files. - **Keep what matters.** Pin, favorite and tag entries. *Clear all except pinned* wipes the rest and spares them. - **See where it came from.** Each entry can show its title and the icon of the app you copied it in. - **Search inside images.** Text recognized by Text Capture is indexed with the image it came from, so a word from a screenshot finds the screenshot. - **Paste the way you want.** Select an entry to paste it into the app you were in, or use the unformatted shortcut to drop the styling. - **Decide how much to keep.** History holds 50 entries by default, and you can raise that or make it unlimited. Duplicates can be skipped instead of bumped to the top. Two things to know before you switch. Droppy can import history from Maccy and from a Raycast export, but not from Paste, so bring over what you need by copying it once more. And if you want the same history on your iPhone, Droppy Sync carries it to the free Droppy for iPhone beta, sealed on the Mac before it leaves. ## Paste vs Droppy, side by side | | Paste | Droppy | | --- | --- | --- | | Price | $3.99 a month, $29.99 a year or $99.99 once | $9.99 once, 2 Macs | | Free trial | 7 days | 3 days, every feature | | Runs on | macOS 14 and later | macOS 14 and later | | Open from anywhere | Yes, with a shortcut | Yes, with a shortcut | | Search, pins and filters | Yes, with pinboards | Yes: type filters, pins, favorites, tags | | Sync to iPhone | iCloud, Mac, iPhone and iPad | Droppy Sync, end to end encrypted, to the free iPhone beta | | What it is | A clipboard manager | A clipboard manager plus a file tray, Transform, Droppy Cloud, music and live activities | ## The privacy details that matter A clipboard manager sees everything you copy, including the things you would rather it did not. Droppy honours the system flag that password managers use to mark a copy as concealed, so those never enter history. History never leaves your Mac unless you turn on Droppy Sync, and then it is end to end encrypted. If you want nothing kept between sessions at all, *Clear history on quit* wipes it and removes it from disk when Droppy quits. ## Switching from Paste 1. [Download Droppy](https://getdroppy.app/download/latest) and open it. The 3-day trial includes every feature. 2. Record your clipboard shortcut on the Shortcuts page. If you liked Paste's shortcut, quit Paste first and record the same keys. 3. Open the few pinboard items you really use in Paste and copy each once, so they land in Droppy's history. Pin them there. 4. In Settings, Clipboard, choose the history limit and turn on *Reject duplicates* if you copy the same things often. 5. When you are sure, cancel the Paste subscription in your App Store account settings or Setapp. ## The verdict - **Keep Paste** if you live across Mac, iPhone and iPad, love pinboards, and a subscription does not bother you. - **Pick Droppy** for fast, private, searchable history on your Macs for $9.99 once, with a file tray and more in the same app. - **Pick Maccy** if you want free, plain text history and nothing else. ## Frequently asked questions **Is Paste a subscription?** Mostly. On the Mac App Store Paste costs $3.99 a month or $29.99 a year, with a 7-day free trial. There is also a one-time Lifetime plan for Mac and iOS at $99.99, and Paste is included in a Setapp subscription. **Does Paste have a lifetime license?** Yes. The Mac App Store lists Paste Lifetime (Mac + iOS) at $99.99 as a one-time purchase, read on October 27, 2026. It has no trial and no credit for subscription time you already paid. **What is the best Paste alternative without a subscription?** Droppy, if you want searchable clipboard history with pins, tags, images and text inside screenshots for $9.99 once, alongside a file tray and more. Maccy is the best free option if you only need a plain, keyboard-driven text history. **Can Droppy import my Paste history?** Not today. Droppy imports clipboard history from Maccy and from a Raycast export. To move from Paste, pin what you need in Paste, copy those items once more after installing Droppy, and they land in Droppy's history. **Is Droppy's clipboard history private?** Yes. History stays on your Mac unless you turn on Droppy Sync, which seals it on the device before it is sent to your iPhone. Droppy skips copies that apps mark as concealed, so password managers stay out of your history. **How many items does Droppy's clipboard keep?** 50 by default, and you can raise the limit or switch it to unlimited in Settings, Clipboard. Entries are kept until you clear them unless you set a retention period, and pinned, favorited and tagged entries survive Clear all.