# Alternatives to Pastebot
Pastebot is a macOS clipboard history manager from Tapbots (makers of Tweetbot). Pastebot 3, released July 2026 after a 10-year wait, adds deeper organization, automation actions, and works via a one-time purchase or subscription. It targets power users who want scriptable paste actions on top of standard clipboard history.
Pastebot ranks #3 of 12 in Clipboard managers, with an Alt Score of 85. It is proprietary, sold as a one-time purchase from $2.99/mo and available on macOS. 9 of 9 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pastebot/
Category: Clipboard managers
## Where Pastebot stands out
- **One-time purchase option** — 5 of 10 apps with a verified answer have this
- **Sync across devices** — 5 of 11 apps with a verified answer have this
## Overview
- **Who it's for**: Mac users who copy and paste frequently and want more control over their clipboard than macOS provides natively, especially people who prefer keyboard-driven workflows and want to automate or organize repeated snippets.
- **What you get**: A running searchable clipboard history, custom and rule-based 'Smart Pastebins' for storing frequently used clippings, a quick-paste menu accessible from any app, stackable multi-item pasting, filters for transforming clippings before pasting, per-app blacklisting to skip sensitive apps, iCloud sync across Macs, and Shortcuts/CLI hooks for automation.
- **How it works**: Pastebot runs on the Mac and continuously monitors the system clipboard, storing each copy into a searchable history unless the source app is blacklisted. A keyboard shortcut opens a quick-paste menu in any app for pasting recent items, custom pastebins, or filtered/stacked clippings, and iCloud Sync keeps clippings, pastebins, and filters in step across multiple Macs.
## Profile
- **License**: Proprietary (verified 2026-07-30)
- **Pricing model**: One-time (verified 2026-07-30)
- **Starts at**: $2.99/mo (verified 2026-07-30)
- **Platforms**: macOS
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-30)
## Ranked alternatives
| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [ClipboardFusion](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/clipboardfusion.md) | 90 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
| 2 | [CopyQ](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/copyq.md) | 85 | GPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| 3 | [ClipClip](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/clipclip.md) | 80 | Proprietary | Windows |
| 4 | [CrossPaste](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/crosspaste.md) | 80 | AGPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS |
| 5 | [Ditto](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/ditto.md) | 80 | GPL-3.0 | Windows |
| 6 | [Paste](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/paste.md) | 80 | Proprietary | macOS, iOS |
| 7 | [Clipy](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/clipy.md) | 70 | MIT | ? |
| 8 | [Maccy](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/maccy.md) | 70 | MIT | macOS |
| 9 | [Rememory](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/rememory.md) | 70 | MIT | Windows |
| 10 | [PasteBar](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pastebar.md) | 60 | CC BY-NC with Limited Commercial Use Exception | macOS, Windows |
| 11 | [Planck](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/planck.md) | 60 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Linux |
Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/
## Feature comparison
Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).
| Clipboard managers checklist | Pastebot | ClipboardFusion | CopyQ | ClipClip | CrossPaste | Ditto |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | One-time | Freemium | Free | Freemium | Freemium | Donationware |
| Starts at | $2.99/mo | $19 (one-time) | Free | $49 one-time | ? | Free |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary | GPL-3.0 | Proprietary | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Platforms | macOS | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Browser extension | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows | Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Browser extension | Windows |
| History depth | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Search | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Pinned snippets | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sync across devices | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Images & files support | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ignore sensitive apps | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Partial |
| Open source | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Keyboard-first UX | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| One-time purchase option | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
## Sources
Sources for Pastebot. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
- **License**: Proprietary — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Note: Commercial paid app (direct purchase or App Store subscription); no LICENSE file or open-source repository found on official pages.
- Quote: “There are two ways to purchase Pastebot”
- **Starts at**: $2.99/mo — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Note: Cheapest entry point via App Store subscription. Direct one-time purchase is $39 (incl. 1 year of updates, then $19/yr to keep updating).
- Quote: “Subscribing to Pastebot is $24.99 USD a year or $2.99 USD per month.”
- **Platforms**: macOS — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Note: Universal Clipboard integration imports copies from a paired iPhone, but no standalone iOS app for Pastebot was found on official pages.
- Quote: “Requires macOS 26 Tahoe or later.”
- **Pricing model**: One-time — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Note: An alternative App Store subscription ($24.99/yr or $2.99/mo) is also offered on the same page.
- Quote: “Pastebot is $39 USD and includes one year of updates. Pay for another year of updates at any time for $19. You will always own the last version you paid for.”
- **Status**: active — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Note: Pastebot 3 is a newly launched major version, actively being rolled out to the Mac App Store.
- Quote: “App Store Version Pending Pastebot 3 is still in review.”
- **History depth**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Note: No explicit numeric cap stated; described as an ongoing running history.
- Quote: “Pastebot keeps a running history of everything you copy so you can easily find and paste again.”
- **Search**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Quote: “Start typing to quickly search for a clipping.”
- **Pinned snippets**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Note: Pastebot uses 'Custom Pastebins' rather than the literal word 'pin', but they serve the same persistent-storage function.
- Quote: “Organize and store important and often-used clippings forever in Custom Pastebins and create rule-based Smart Pastebins.”
- **Sync across devices**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Quote: “Turn on iCloud Sync in Pastebot and have your clippings, custom pastebins, and filters stay in sync between computers.”
- **Images & files support**: Partial — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Note: Image and text clipping types are explicitly supported (also 'especially useful for images' preview window); generic file/document clipping support is not explicitly mentioned on this page.
- Quote: “Block an app entirely, or choose to ignore images, text, or shortcuts individually.”
- **Ignore sensitive apps**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Quote: “Add apps to the Blacklist and Pastebot will never store what you copy from them.”
- **Open source**: No — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Note: Pastebot is distributed only as commercial paid software (direct purchase or App Store subscription); no source-code repository or open-source licensing was found on official pages.
- Quote: “There are two ways to purchase Pastebot”
- **Keyboard-first UX**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Quote: “Pastebot lets you assign keyboard shortcuts to individual clippings, filters, and more.”
- **One-time purchase option**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-30)
- Quote: “Buy Direct from Tapbots. Pastebot is $39 USD and includes one year of updates.”
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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/