Paste alternatives without a subscription

Paste is a strong clipboard manager. It is also sold as a subscription. The official pricing page lists $2.49 per month or $29.99 billed annually for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. A Lifetime Plan is offered as a pay-once option. This post is for people who want history on a Mac without another yearly bill.

The alternatives below are free, or they are one-time purchases according to their official sites. None of them copy every Paste feature. The useful question is which features you actually use.

What a Paste subscription buys#

From pasteapp.io/pricing and pasteapp.io/download:

• $2.49 per month, or $29.99 billed annually.
• Mac, iPhone, and iPad on every plan.
• macOS 14 or later for the Mac app.
• A 7-day trial. The website download does not need a credit card.
• Unlimited history, pinboards, search, and sync across devices.
• Data on your devices and in private iCloud, not on Paste's servers.

If you live on iPhone as much as on a Mac, that subscription can be the right trade. If you only want history on this Mac, you are paying for platforms you may never open.

Maccy: free, local, one job#

Maccy is open source under the MIT license. The official site says it is and will always be free. It keeps copy history on your computer, follows password managers that clear the clipboard, and is built around typing to search, then pressing Enter.

That is the closest no-cost answer if you only need history. It is not trying to be a shelf for folders, pinboards, or iOS. See Maccy alternatives.

Pastebot: pay Tapbots, not a monthly plan#

Pastebot 3 is $39 when you buy from Tapbots. That price includes one year of updates. Later updates are $19 per year, and you keep the last version you paid for. There is a 14-day trial. Direct purchases have a 30-day refund policy.

The App Store listing is a subscription: $24.99 per year or $2.99 per month. If you are leaving Paste to avoid a subscription, buy from Tapbots, not from the App Store.

Pastebot 3 requires macOS 26 Tahoe or later. If your Mac is on Sonoma or Sequoia, this is not an option yet. See Pastebot alternatives.

Minimal Paste: $9.99 once, three Macs#

Minimal Paste is $9.99 for 3 Macs, with free updates. There is no subscription. It needs macOS 14 or later. The trial is 7 days and does not ask for a card.

Clipboard history stays on this Mac. You get pins, groups, search, bulk paste, and a Folders shelf for Downloads, Screenshots, or any folder you add. You do not get iPhone or iPad apps, and you do not get iCloud sync. That is the point for people who want the data to stay put.

Side-by-side details: Paste alternatives.

macOS Spotlight: $0, with a longer path to paste#

Apple documents clipboard history in Spotlight. Open Spotlight with Command-Space bar, then press Command-4. Search, copy the item, then paste with Command-V. You can clear the history from that view.

There is no extra charge and no third-party app. You also do not get a dedicated paste shortcut back into the app you left, and Apple's page does not describe a folders shelf. See Minimal Paste vs macOS clipboard history.

What you give up when you skip Paste#

Be honest about the gaps. Official Paste pages highlight things the others do not:

• The same history on iPhone and iPad.
• iCloud sync across devices signed in with the same Apple Account.
• A Lifetime Plan if you want Paste without a yearly bill.

If those matter, stay on Paste or buy its Lifetime Plan. If they do not, a free or one-time Mac app is enough. Maccy is the free starting point. Minimal Paste is the paid Mac option that also pastes from folders. Pastebot is the deeper Mac utility if you are already on macOS 26.

For a wider 2026 roundup, read Best clipboard managers for Mac in 2026.