Pastevs
Maccy
Maccy: If you only need clipboard history on one Mac and do not want an ongoing subscription
Paste
Subscription clipboard manager for Mac, iPhone and iPad with iCloud sync between devices
As of 1 September 2026, Paste starts at $29.99/year. A clipboard history manager that syncs copied items across Mac, iPhone and iPad through iCloud, organised into pinboards for reusable snippets. Softwr lists it under Utilities. Paste is made by Paste (Eltima-derived, now independent), available on Mac, iOS.
Overview
What Paste does
Paste keeps a searchable history of everything copied on a Mac, presented as a horizontally scrolling shelf with support for text, images, files and rich content, plus pinboards where a user can save and organise frequently reused items like addresses, signatures or code snippets into named collections. The defining feature is iCloud sync: an item copied on an iPhone appears in the Paste history on a Mac minutes later, and vice versa, which is the entire reason the app is a subscription rather than a free tool. Maccy, its closest free alternative, stores history only on the Mac it runs on with no companion phone app, because sync was never part of its design. Paste is also distributed through Setapp as an alternative to buying it directly. Buyers are users who genuinely move between Mac and iPhone during their workflow, such as copying a tracking number or address on the phone and needing it on the Mac shortly after. The trade-off is an ongoing cost, currently priced around 2.49 to 3.99 US dollars a month or roughly 30 dollars a year depending on billing, against a free local-only alternative that does everything except sync.
What people use it for
- Someone who regularly copies something on their iPhone, such as an address or code, and needs it moments later on their Mac
- A user organising reusable snippets like email signatures or boilerplate text into named pinboards
- A team member already paying for Setapp who wants Paste included rather than purchased separately
- Anyone who has outgrown a local-only clipboard manager because they now work across multiple Apple devices
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Paste.
- It is an ongoing subscription, unlike the free, one-time-cost alternatives Maccy and the built in macOS clipboard, so the cost compounds every year it is used.
- Sync depends on iCloud, so a user without a reliable iCloud connection or who disables iCloud for privacy reasons loses the entire reason to pay for it over Maccy.
- It has no Windows or Android app, so sync only works within the Apple ecosystem.
- Because it preserves rich content and images, the synced history can grow large enough to be noticeable in iCloud storage use over time.
- A user who only ever uses one Mac gets no benefit from the subscription cost over a free local-only tool like Maccy.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Paste
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- PastevsAlfred
Alfred: If you want clipboard history bundled with a broader launcher and automation tool
- PastevsCleanShot X
CleanShot X: If your recurring capture need is screenshots rather than general clipboard text and files
Pricing
What Paste costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Paste
$2.49 /mo
- Billed annually at roughly 29.99 USD per year
- Covers Mac, iPhone and iPad apps under one subscription
- iCloud sync between all devices
Capabilities
Features
Clipboard history
A scrollable, searchable shelf of everything recently copied
iCloud sync
Clipboard history synced across Mac, iPhone and iPad
Pinboards
Named collections for organising frequently reused snippets and items
Rich content support
Preserves formatting, images and files, not just plain text
Search and filter
Finds a specific past clipboard item by type or content
Setapp availability
Included in the Setapp Mac and iOS subscription bundle as an alternative to buying directly
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is Paste free?
No. It is a subscription, priced around 2.49 to 3.99 US dollars a month or roughly 30 dollars a year, though it is also available through the Setapp bundle.
Does Paste sync between my Mac and iPhone?
Yes, that is its main differentiator, using iCloud to sync clipboard history across Mac, iPhone and iPad.
Is there a free alternative that does not sync?
Yes, Maccy is free, open source and Mac-only with no sync, for users who do not need cross-device history.
Keep looking
Where to go from Paste
- Paste alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Paste pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Paste badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Utilities softwareThe full category
- Best Utilities softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Utilities software for
Compare Paste with
- Maccy
- CleanShot X
- Shottr
- Rclone
- Karabiner-Elements
- Magnet
- Rectangle
- Hazel
- BetterTouchTool
- Kap
- Syncthing
- 7-Zip
- Google Lens
- HWiNFO
- PeaZip
- TreeSize
- Truecaller
- Ventoy
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Paste, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Paste
Paste alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Paste pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Paste
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Paste badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
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