A Paste alternative for Mac you buy once

Looking for a Paste alternative on the Mac without a subscription? PasteNotch keeps a searchable clipboard history with pins and project Pages, and costs $4.99 once after a 14-day free trial. It opens from the notch at the top of your screen, and your clips stay on your Mac.

Paste is a polished, well-known clipboard manager, and it does a lot right. This page compares the two honestly, including where Paste is the better choice. Competitor details come from Paste's own site and App Store listing, checked on November 7, 2026.

How do Paste and PasteNotch compare at a glance?

How much does Paste cost compared with PasteNotch?

Paste is a subscription. Its pricing page lists $29.99 a year, which works out to about $2.49 a month. The Mac App Store also lists a monthly plan at $3.99 and a lifetime plan at $99.99. Paste is also part of a Setapp subscription.

PasteNotch is $4.99, paid once, after a 14-day free trial. There is no subscription for the clipboard app. When the trial ends, your clips, search and paste keep working. Saving new clips pauses until you buy.

There is one optional subscription: PasteNotch Cloud, at $4.99 a month. It includes the app and adds capture tools and a web library. You don't need it for clipboard history or iCloud sync.

Which Paste features does PasteNotch match?

The everyday clipboard work is close. Both apps:

• keep your clipboard history and let you search all of it;
• find words inside copied screenshots and images;
• filter by type of content and by the app you copied from;
• let you pin items you reuse and group clips by project (Paste calls them pinboards, PasteNotch calls them Pages);
• sync through iCloud;
• open with ⇧⌘V and paste back into the app you were using.

PasteNotch handles text, links, images and files. You can drive it from the keyboard: arrow keys to move, Return to paste, or ⌘1 to ⌘9 to paste one of the first nine clips. Automatic paste needs the Accessibility permission. Copying works without it.

Where is PasteNotch different from Paste?

It lives in the notch

Paste opens as a bar across the bottom of your screen. PasteNotch drops down from the notch at the top, close to where your eyes already are. It also works on Macs without a notch.

It is careful with secrets

PasteNotch skips copies that password managers mark as concealed or temporary. It also spots likely secrets, such as API keys and tokens, shows them masked, and can let them expire. You can add apps to an ignore list.

Capture tools, if you want them

PasteNotch Cloud adds screenshots, screen recording, text capture from any area of the screen and Screenshot Studio. Studio lets you mark up a screenshot and pixelate emails, phone numbers and API keys in one click. These tools are part of Cloud, not the $4.99 app.

Does my clipboard stay private?

Paste says your clipboard stays on your device and in your private iCloud. PasteNotch works the same way by default. Your library stays on your Mac and in your own iCloud, and signing in does not upload it. Cloud subscribers choose separately whether to sync clips to PasteNotch Cloud. Sensitive clips, locked Pages and temporary clips are left out of that sync.

Can I use PasteNotch on iPhone and iPad?

Not yet. The PasteNotch iPhone app is in internal TestFlight testing and is not on the App Store, so today PasteNotch is a Mac app. Paste runs on Mac, iPhone and iPad, and every plan covers all three.

When is Paste the better pick?

• You need your clipboard on iPhone or iPad now. Paste has those apps today. PasteNotch does not.
• Your team shares snippets. Paste for Teams lets you share pinboards with people you invite. PasteNotch has no team sharing.
• You already pay for Setapp. Paste for Mac is included at no extra cost.
• You like the bottom-of-screen timeline. If Paste's layout suits you, that matters more than any table.

PasteNotch is a better fit if you work on a Mac, want to pay once, and like the notch as the home for your clipboard.

How do I switch from Paste to PasteNotch?

PasteNotch can't import your Paste history, so plan for a fresh start. Most people only need a handful of items again.

1. Download PasteNotch, move it to Applications and sign in to start the trial.
2. Quit Paste. Both apps use ⇧⌘V, so only one should run at a time.
3. Copy the snippets you reuse from your Paste pinboards and add them to a PasteNotch Page.
4. Use PasteNotch for the 14-day trial. Cancel your Paste plan where you bought it only once you're sure.