A Paste alternative without a subscription
Paste is the most polished clipboard manager on the Mac, and if you use it on your iPhone too, it's hard to beat. But if you only need clipboard history on one Mac, a subscription is a lot to pay for it. Here's how ClipStack compares.
The short answer
Keep Paste if you want your clipboard on your iPhone and iPad, synced through iCloud, or you organise snippets into shared pinboards.
Pick ClipStack if you work on a Mac, want your history to stay on that Mac, and would rather pay $12 once than every month.
What they cost
| Plan | Paste | ClipStack |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $3.99 a month | None |
| Yearly | $29.99 a year | None |
| Family | $59.99 | None. One licence covers 3 of your own Macs |
| Buy once | $89.99 lifetime | $12 |
| Try first | Free trial | 14 days, every feature, no card |
Paste prices are from the US App Store in October 2026 and cover Mac and iOS. They vary by country and may change. Paste is also part of the Setapp subscription.
What they do
| Paste | ClipStack | |
|---|---|---|
| Clipboard history | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Pastes into your app | Yes | Yes |
| Pinned items | Pinboards, which you can share | Pinned items at the top |
| Formatting | Keeps it, or paste as plain text | Always pastes plain text |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| iPhone and iPad | Yes | No, Mac only |
| Sync | iCloud | None. History stays on your Mac |
| Account | Apple ID for sync | None |
Where Paste is ahead
- It works on iPhone and iPad, and syncs your history between them.
- Pinboards let you organise snippets into collections and share them.
- It keeps formatting when you want it, and strips it when you don't.
- It has had years of polish.
Where ClipStack is ahead
- $12 once. Paste's lifetime plan is $89.99, and its yearly plan is $29.99 every year.
- Your history is a file on your own Mac. No account, no sync, nothing leaves the machine.
- It's small and does one job: press ⌥⌘V, pick an item, and it's back in the app you were typing in.
- ⌘1 to ⌘9 paste the first nine items without touching the arrows.
Try it before you cancel
The ClipStack trial is the full app for 14 days, with no card needed. Run it for a week before your Paste plan renews and see whether you miss anything. If you buy and change your mind, there's a 30-day money-back guarantee.
One-time purchase · macOS 14+ · Apple Silicon and Intel · 30-day money-back guarantee.
Other comparisons
- ClipStack vs Maccy, the free, open-source option.
- ClipStack vs Raycast, if you already use a launcher.
- Win+V on a Mac, if you're switching from Windows.