Free Yoink Alternative for Mac
Yoink has been the Mac's dependable drag-and-drop shelf for over a decade, and $8.99 once is a fair ask. Notchy's pitch is placement rather than price alone: the shelf lives in the notch, so it's in the same spot on every display and shares that space with your clipboard, timer and Now Playing controls.
- Yoink price
- $8.99 one-time
- Yoink requires
- macOS 10.13 High Sierra or newer
- Notchy price
- Free — donations optional
Why use Notchy instead of Yoink?
- The shelf is the notch
Yoink slides in from a screen edge you configure. Notchy uses the notch itself as the drop target — dead space that was doing nothing becomes the place files wait, identically on a MacBook screen and an external display.
- One utility instead of several
Yoink is $8.99 and does the shelf superbly. Notchy folds the shelf in with clipboard history, a Pomodoro timer, AirPods battery, system HUDs and AI usage tracking, so you're not stacking up single-purpose menu bar apps.
- Free, permanently
No trial, no licence key, no paid tier. Notchy is funded by optional donations, so the drag-and-drop shelf costs nothing today and won't be moved behind an upgrade later.
How Notchy stacks up
Honest, feature-by-feature comparison of every major macOS notch app — no affiliates.
Swipe the table sideways to see every app.
| Feature | Notchy | Alcove | NotchNook | Boring Notch | DynamicLake | MediaMate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 100% Free | $17 one-time | $25 (or $3/mo) | Free (Open Source) | Paid | Paid |
| Minimum macOS | macOS 13 Ventura+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ | macOS 14 Sonoma+ |
| Architecture | Pure SwiftUI (Native) | Swift (Native) | Swift (Native) | Swift (Open Source) | Swift (Native) | Swift (Native) |
| Now Playing Controls | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI Usage Tracker (Claude / Codex / Cursor) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Command Palette (⌃⌥K) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Localized (134 languages) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Clipboard History | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Pomodoro Focus Timer | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| File Stash / Drop Shelf | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — |
| System HUDs (Volume/Brightness) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AirPods Connected Reveal | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | — | — |
| Lock Screen Widgets | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — |
| Quick Notes | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Calendar Widget | Yes | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | — |
| Caffeine Toggle | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Synced Lyrics | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Image Converter (HEIC/JPG/PDF) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Apple Reminders Capture | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Audio Output Switcher | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Device Battery (Mouse/Keyboard) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Download Finished Alerts | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Run Apple Shortcuts | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — |
| Camera Mirror / Webcam Preview | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — |
| Zip & Unzip Files | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Hide the Notch | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Window Snapping (drag to notch) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| App Launcher Tab | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| OCR + Searchable Clipboard | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Text Snippets / Expander | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Menu-Bar Icon Hiding | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| System-Wide Mic Mute | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Live System Stats (CPU/RAM) | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| iPhone-Style Call Island | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Built-In Terminal | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
| Camera/Mic Privacy Indicator | Yes | — | — | — | — | — |
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
- 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
- Open GitHub PR count in the notch (Keychain-stored token)
- iPhone-style call island — Answer/Decline FaceTime on the notch
- Notch Terminal — real VT100/xterm shell in a PTY, its own tab
- Privacy Indicator — pill when any app's camera or mic goes live
- 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
- 133 languages, fully localized
- Native SwiftUI, tuned for Apple Silicon
The honest verdict on Yoink
Yoink is excellent and its High Sierra support and Handoff are advantages Notchy can't claim. Notchy wins on placement and breadth — a permanent notch-anchored shelf plus a handful of other daily tools, at no cost.
Yoink alternative — FAQ
How much does Yoink cost?
Yoink is a one-time purchase of $8.99 (9,99 € / £8.99), available from the Mac App Store, the developer's site and Setapp. There is no subscription.
Is there a free Yoink alternative?
Yes — Notchy provides a drag-and-drop file shelf anchored in the MacBook notch for free, with no trial period or paid tier.
Does Yoink run on older Macs than Notchy?
Yes, and by a wide margin. Yoink supports macOS 10.13 High Sierra and newer; Notchy requires macOS 13 Ventura. On a genuinely old Mac, Yoink is the one that will install.
Does Notchy support Handoff between Mac and iPhone like Yoink?
No. Yoink supports Handoff between Macs and iOS devices and integrates Continuity Camera; Notchy's shelf is local to the one Mac. If you move files between your Mac and iPad by shelf, Yoink does that and Notchy does not.
Is Yoink available in my language?
Yoink is localized into English, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese. Notchy's site and app cover a wider locale set, including right-to-left languages.
Yoink or Notchy for drag and drop?
Yoink if you want the most mature, most configurable shelf on the Mac, need Handoff, or are on pre-Ventura macOS. Notchy if you'd rather the shelf lived in the notch for free and came with clipboard, timer and media controls attached.