A Free PopClip Alternative for Mac
PopClip invented the select-and-act bar on the Mac: select text anywhere and a little row of actions appears — copy, paste, search, share — with a library of extensions for translation, formatting and hundreds of app integrations. It's a paid licence (Standard with two years of updates, or Lifetime, on up to five Macs) after a free 250-action trial, or part of Setapp, and it needs macOS 13.5. Notchy 1.0.198 adds its own Text Actions bar, free.
Looking for PopClip itself? It lives at popclip.app.
- PopClip price
- Paid Standard or Lifetime licence (up to 5 Macs), free 250-action trial, or Setapp
- PopClip requires
- macOS 13.5 Ventura or later (standalone 2026.8.1; the Mac App Store build is 2023.9)
- Notchy price
- Free — donations optional
Why use Notchy instead of PopClip?
- The same reflex, built into the notch app
Turn on Text Actions in Settings → Pointer → Text, select text in any app, and a bar appears above it with Copy, Search, Look Up in Dictionary and Translate.
- Smart buttons for what you selected
A link gets Open Link with tracking parameters stripped, an email address gets New Email, a phone number gets Call, a sum gets Copy Result and JSON gets Copy Formatted.
- Translation unfolds in place
Press Translate and the result opens in a card under the buttons, with the detected language and Copy. The row stays put, so the next click lands where you expect.
- Where PopClip is better
Hundreds of extensions, paste and cut actions, per-app settings and a decade of polish. Notchy's bar has a fixed action set and no extension system — and if PopClip is running, Notchy's bar steps aside so you never get two.
Everything Notchy does, for free
- Fluid Dynamic Island animations on the Mac notch
- Command palette (⌃⌥K) — every action one keystroke away
- Knock — double-tap a modifier key to open the notch
- AI usage tracker (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot)
- Detach any tab into a menu-bar popover
- Now Playing music controls (Apple Music & Spotify)
- Time-synced karaoke lyrics under the notch
- Mac clipboard history shelf (password-manager safe)
- Searchable clipboard — filter by text, file name, or OCR'd words
- On-device OCR — copy a screenshot, get its text (Apple Vision)
- Window snapping — drag a window to the notch to tile it
- App Launcher — pin apps to the notch, open with one tap
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- Text snippets — TextExpander-style pastes from the ⌘K palette
- One-tap screen capture to clipboard + shelf
- Color eyedropper — sample any pixel, hex auto-copied
- System-wide mic mute for every meeting app at once
- Keystroke HUD for demos & screencasts (secure-input safe)
- Keyboard cleaning lock with countdown island (⌘⎋ unlocks)
- Menu-bar icon hiding — Bartender-style separator & chevron
- Live CPU / memory / network stats flyout
- Custom islands through the local developer API (off by default)
- iPhone-style call island — Answer/Decline FaceTime on the notch
- Notch Terminal — real VT100/xterm shell in a PTY, its own tab
- Camera Guard — alert (or block) when any app opens your camera
- Caps Lock HUD — brief island on every toggle
- Full Charge island with adjustable threshold + low-battery sound
- Alt HUD styles — edge-pinned bar or circular gauge off the notch
- Audio-reactive Now Playing visualizer (real FFT of system audio)
- Custom closed-notch idle animation — drop in your own Lottie JSON
- Drag-and-drop file drop shelf — persists across relaunches
- Zip & unzip files right from the shelf
- Image converter (HEIC, PNG, JPEG, TIFF, PDF) + video → GIF
- Run Apple Shortcuts with one tap
- Screenshots auto-staged on the shelf, ready to drag
- Download finished alerts with Reveal in Finder
- USB drive mount island with one-tap Eject
- Apple Reminders quick capture & due list
- macOS Pomodoro notch timer & stopwatch — streaks + 7-day chart
- Resizable expanded panel (width & height, live preview)
- System HUDs (volume, brightness, battery)
- Audio output switcher (speakers, AirPods, monitor)
- AirPods connection manager & battery
- Magic Mouse, Keyboard & Trackpad battery + low-battery alerts
- Quick notes & Calendar widgets
- Camera Mirror (check your appearance)
- Keep Awake (caffeine toggle)
- Teleprompter (Cuely) for Zoom calls
- Focus-aware alerts & native haptic feedback
- Lock screen widgets & hide-the-notch mode
- 134 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple silicon
The honest verdict on PopClip
PopClip is still the deepest selection bar on the Mac, and its extensions are worth paying for if you use them. For the everyday copy, search, look-up and translate, Notchy's Text Actions bar does it free — alongside the rest of the notch.
PopClip alternative — FAQ
How much does PopClip cost?
PopClip sells a Standard licence (two years of updates) and a Lifetime licence, each for up to five Macs, after a free trial that runs for 250 actions; it's also on Setapp. The vendor shows prices at checkout rather than on the page. Notchy is free.
Does Notchy show a popup when I select text?
Yes, from 1.0.198. Text Actions is off by default; switch it on in Settings → Pointer → Text and approve Accessibility access when macOS asks.
Is there a free PopClip alternative?
Notchy's Text Actions is free and covers the everyday actions — copy, search, dictionary look-up, translate and smart link, email, phone and sum buttons. PopClip's extension library has no free equivalent.
Can I run PopClip and Notchy together?
Yes. Notchy detects PopClip and keeps its own bar hidden while PopClip runs, so you can keep PopClip for selections and use the rest of Notchy.
Does Notchy send my selected text anywhere?
Only when you press Translate (sent to Google Translate) or Search (opened in your browser). It never reads password fields or anything under secure input.
Are PopClip's App Store and direct versions the same?
No. The standalone release is on 2026.8.1 while the Mac App Store build sits at 2023.9, and the vendor asks App Store users to migrate.