The closest subscription-free Paste app alternative on a Mac is Maccy. It's a small, keyboard-driven clipboard history that costs $9.99 once on the Mac App Store (as of November 2026), or nothing if you build it from its open-source code. Raycast's free plan and Alfred's one-time Powerpack also give you clipboard history without a monthly fee.
What you give up is mostly sync. Paste keeps your history in step between your Mac and iPhone through iCloud, and none of the subscription-free options below does that. Depending on the app, you may also lose image capture.
Why people look for a Paste app alternative
Paste is a visual clipboard manager for Mac and iOS that syncs your history through iCloud. It's sold as a subscription. The main reason to leave is that recurring fee: if you only use clipboard history on one Mac, you're paying for sync you don't use.
A one-time purchase or a free app covers the core job, which is finding something you copied an hour ago and pasting it again.
The quick list
We make Gubb, so weigh our view accordingly; we've tried to be fair to every app here. The list is ordered by how closely each app replaces Paste's day-to-day job, and for someone who only wants a Paste replacement, Gubb is not our first suggestion.
- Maccy: best for a plain, fast clipboard history you open with a shortcut, at the lowest price.
- Raycast (free plan): best if you'd also use a keyboard launcher and 3 months of history is enough.
- Alfred with the Powerpack: best one-time purchase if you want images in your history and control over how long items are kept.
- Gubb: best if you want text clipboard history plus notes, to-dos, timers and voice-to-text in one $59 app. It's the weakest pure Paste replacement here (see its section).
Summary table
Prices as of November 2026.
| App | Best for | Price | Free option | Standout limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maccy | Lightweight, keyboard-first clipboard history | $9.99 one-time on the Mac App Store | Free to build from source (MIT license) | Clipboard only, Mac only |
| Raycast | Clipboard history inside a launcher | Free; Pro is $10/month | Yes, free plan | Free history goes back 3 months only |
| Alfred + Powerpack | One-time purchase with images and retention settings | Powerpack £34 (Single License) or £59 (Mega Supporter), one-time | Core app is free, but clipboard history needs the Powerpack | Single License covers the current major version and two Macs |
| Gubb | Clipboard history as part of an all-in-one notes app | $59 one-time (lifetime), up to 3 devices | 7-day trial (direct download) | Text only, no global shortcut or quick-paste popup |
What you give up when you leave Paste
Check these before you cancel.
iPhone sync. None of the subscription-free options here syncs clipboard history to your iPhone. Maccy and Alfred are Mac only, Gubb has no sync and no iPhone app, and Raycast's cloud sync needs a paid plan.
If you only need to move one item at a time between devices, Apple's Universal Clipboard does that for free: copy on one device, paste on the other. Both devices need the same Apple Account, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on, and Handoff turned on (on your Mac, open System Settings and search for "Handoff"). It passes along only the latest item, not a history.
Images and files. If you rely on images in your clipboard history, choose carefully:
- Alfred's clipboard history keeps plain text, images and file references, according to a review. We didn't confirm this on Alfred's own site.
- Gubb captures text only. Images, files and rich text are not stored.
- We couldn't confirm image support for Maccy or Raycast either way, so copy a screenshot during setup and check that it shows up.
Your existing history. Plan as if your Paste history won't come with you. Before you cancel, copy anything you still need into a note or document.
Maccy
Maccy is the closest match to "Paste without the subscription" for most people. It keeps a history of what you copy and lets you search it and paste from it. The App Store tagline is "Clipboard manager. No fluff."
Good at:
- Opening fast from the menu bar or a hotkey. According to Softpedia, the default is ⌘⇧C (Command-Shift-C).
- Searching your history.
- Automation: the App Store listing says it supports Shortcuts actions.
- Openness: it's open source under the MIT license.
Lacks:
- Anything beyond the clipboard. No notes, to-dos or other tools.
- Any platform except the Mac.
Price (as of November 2026): $9.99 one-time on the Mac App Store, where the listing says the price supports development. You can also build it from the GitHub source for free. Zapier reports a pay-what-you-like option on the developer's site with a $4.99 minimum, but we couldn't confirm that on the official site.
Download it only from maccy.app, the Mac App Store or its GitHub page. The project's README warns about fake websites posing as Maccy.
Pick Maccy if you want a small, cheap clipboard history you can reach from any app with one shortcut. For more apps in this style, see our Maccy alternatives.
Raycast (free plan)
Raycast is a keyboard launcher with clipboard history, snippets, notes, a calculator, window management, dictation and AI. Clipboard history is in the free plan, so you can drop Paste's fee without paying anything.
Good at:
- Clipboard history with pinning, filtering by type and paste as plain text.
- Other tools in the same launcher. The calculator was rebuilt in version 2.12 (12 November 2026) and handles dates and time zones.
- Frequent releases.
- Availability on macOS, Windows and iOS.
Lacks:
- Long history on the free plan. It goes back 3 months; unlimited history needs Pro.
- Free sync. Cloud sync, dictation and AI need a subscription, and we found no one-time purchase.
- A dedicated window. It's a launcher, not a clipboard panel you keep on screen.
Price (as of November 2026): Free. Pro is $10 a month (reviews say $8 a month billed yearly). Pro+ is $20 a month and Max is $50 a month.
Pick Raycast if 3 months of clipboard history covers you and you'd also use a launcher. If you later want unlimited history, you're back on a subscription. See Raycast alternatives if that rules it out.
Alfred with the Powerpack
Alfred is a Mac app launcher. The free version does app launching, web search and calculations. Clipboard history, Snippets and workflows come with the paid Powerpack, which is a one-time purchase.
Good at:
- A one-time price, with an option that includes free lifetime upgrades.
- Broader capture. According to a review, clipboard history keeps plain text, images and file references.
- Retention you choose: 24 hours, 7 days, 1 month, 3 months or unlimited (per the same review).
- Snippets and workflows, if you want more automation later.
Lacks:
- Clipboard history in the free app. You must buy the Powerpack.
- Free major upgrades on the cheaper license. The Single License covers the current version only and two of your own Macs.
- Any platform except the Mac. We found no notes or to-do features.
Price (as of November 2026): The core app is free. The Powerpack is £34 for a Single License or £59 for Mega Supporter (free lifetime upgrades), both for personal use only. A third-party review puts the Single License at about $43. We didn't find a trial.
Pick Alfred if you copy images as well as text, want a one-time price, and like a launcher you can extend. More options are in Alfred alternatives.
Gubb
Gubb is our app. It's a single-window scratchpad that puts clipboard history next to notes with Markdown-style shortcuts, checklists and Kanban boards, voice-to-text into notes, a timer, break reminders and inline math. It replaces Paste only partly, so read the limits before you choose it for this job.
What its clipboard history does:
- Saves text you copy anywhere on the Mac to a local database, tagging each item "Text", "Link" or "Code".
- Opens as a side panel in the Gubb window: hover the right edge of the note and click Clipboard History.
- Has a Search clipboard... field, a filter menu (Text, Links, Code) and a Favorites tab.
- Lets you pin an item. Pinned items sort first and are never removed automatically.
- Keeps up to 1,000 unpinned items, deleting the oldest beyond that. Pinned items are kept indefinitely.
- Lets you edit an item before reusing it (Edit content), or drop it straight into a note with Paste to note.
What it lacks compared with Paste: - Images, files and rich text. Text only.
- A global shortcut or quick-paste popup. To reuse an item in another app, hover it, click Copy to clipboard, switch apps and press ⌘V (Command-V).
- Sync of any kind, and an iPhone or iPad app.
- Capture from the moment you launch. Gubb starts recording only after you open the Clipboard History panel in a session, and recording stops when you quit Gubb. After each launch, open the panel once.
- Privacy filtering. There are no excluded apps and no filtering of passwords. Anything copied as text, including from a password manager, is stored unencrypted on your Mac. You can delete single items with Delete item, or wipe everything with Clear History (its Keep favorites switch is on by default).
Price (as of November 2026): $59 one-time for a lifetime license from gubb.net, which activates on up to 3 devices. The direct download has a 7-day free trial with no account. Gubb is also listed on the Mac App Store, where there is no trial.
Pick Gubb if you're also paying for, or juggling, a notes app, a Pomodoro timer or a dictation app and want to replace several of them with one purchase. If you only ever copy text, the text-only limit won't matter. If all you want is a Paste replacement, Maccy or Alfred fits better. The Clipboard History help page covers setup.
Comparison: how each one replaces Paste
| Maccy | Raycast (free) | Alfred + Powerpack | Gubb | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open with a keyboard shortcut | Yes (⌘⇧C by default, per Softpedia) | Through the launcher | Through the launcher | No; open the Gubb window |
| Images in history | Not confirmed; test it | Not confirmed; test it | Yes (per a review) | No, text only |
| Pin or favorite items | Not confirmed | Yes | Not confirmed | Yes |
| How much history | Not confirmed | 3 months | Your choice, up to unlimited (per a review) | 1,000 unpinned items, plus all pinned |
| Sync to iPhone | No (Mac only) | Not on the free plan | No (Mac only) | No |
| Payment model | One-time, or free from source | Free; subscription for more | One-time | One-time |
| Other tools included | None | Launcher, snippets, notes, calculator | Launcher, snippets, workflows | Notes, to-dos, Kanban, timer, breaks, voice-to-text, math |
For a wider field, including Paste itself, see our roundup of the best clipboard managers for Mac.
Should you switch at all?
Paste's strengths are its visual layout and clipboard history synced between your Mac and iPhone through iCloud. None of the subscription-free setups above gives you that sync.
- Stay with Paste if you regularly copy something on your iPhone and pull it out of history on your Mac days later, or the reverse. That's what you're paying for.
- Switch if you use clipboard history on one Mac only. Universal Clipboard handles the occasional single item between devices, and Maccy, Raycast's free plan or Alfred's Powerpack covers the rest.
- Run both for a week before cancelling, so you notice anything you'd miss, such as images or a particular shortcut.
If you're cutting subscriptions beyond your clipboard, our list of Mac productivity apps without a subscription covers notes, timers and dictation too.
FAQ
Is there a free alternative to Paste?
Yes. Raycast's free plan includes 3 months of clipboard history, and Maccy is free if you build it from its open-source code. For what macOS offers on its own, see how to see clipboard history on Mac.
Will my Paste history move to the new app?
Assume it won't. Copy anything you need to keep into a note or document before you cancel.
Which alternative keeps my clipboard history on my Mac only?
Gubb stores it in a local database with no account and no sync. Maccy and Alfred are Mac only, and we found no clipboard sync in either. In Raycast, cloud sync is a paid feature, so the free plan stays local.