Droppy and OneNotch are two of the busiest notch apps on the Mac, and they overlap on more than you would expect. Both are one-time purchases with a $9.99 list price, both cover two Macs, both put a clipboard history, music controls and live status on the notch, and both are written in Swift. They differ in what they treat as the core of the app. This is a feature-by-feature comparison, with the places where Droppy is ahead stated first.
How we compared, and what we did not
We make OneNotch, so read this with that in mind. Here is what we did to keep it fair.
- We read Droppy's own documentation and blog (getdroppy.app, version 16.0.1, as of October 7, 2026) and then re-checked our own app against the same list of features.
- "Not listed" does not mean "does not exist." Where we say Droppy's documentation does not list a feature, that is all we are claiming. Droppy ships updates quickly, and it may have things we did not find.
- We are not comparing performance. We have not benchmarked the two apps against each other on the same Mac, so this post makes no claims about speed, CPU, memory or battery. Both apps run on your Mac, so the fairest test is yours: install both, one at a time, and watch Activity Monitor.
- If we got something wrong, tell us and we will correct it.
At a glance
| Droppy | OneNotch | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $9.99 list price once, lower in many countries (regional pricing), 2 Macs, updates included | Free tier with no time limit · Pro $9.99 lifetime, or $6.99 with code LAUNCH30 (one price worldwide), 2 Macs, updates included |
| Free version | No free tier: a 3-day trial with everything unlocked, then you buy | Yes, free forever, no time limit and no account. Pro only lifts limits and adds advanced tools |
| macOS | 14 Sonoma or later, Apple Silicon and Intel | 15 or later, Apple Silicon only |
| File shelf and basket | Yes: Shelf, Tray, floating Basket, Quick Actions | No tray. Copied files live in the clipboard and drag straight back out; File Actions process files on the spot |
| Clipboard | Cards, search, type filters, pins, favorites, tags, boards, OCR text indexed | Search by type and app, Copy Stack, edit and 15 transforms, Go to Source, locked boards, drag files and images back out |
| Screenshots | Element Capture (6 modes), annotation, backgrounds | Capture modes, a full annotation editor with one-click erase and a canvas that grows so nothing is cropped, history, OCR, QR |
| Screen recording | Yes (macOS 26) | No |
| Extensions | 38 Droplets, a Droplet Store and a developer SDK | Features built in, each with an on/off switch |
| AI coding agents | Monitor 5 agents from their logs | Claude Code and Codex: monitor, approve, answer, usage |
| iPhone app | Free companion (TestFlight) that syncs clipboard and files | No iPhone app |
| Notch pages | Home, Tray and Widgets, with buttons or a swipe | Clipboard, Media and AI pages you can reorder and turn off, with a swipe, plus Calendar, Focus timer and AI usage pages opened from the toolbar |
| Window snapping | Window Snap droplet: halves, thirds and quarters by shortcut or drag | Snap Zones: drag a window to the notch and drop it on one of 10 layouts (off until you turn it on) |
The notch itself
Both apps open the notch on hover, and Droppy also opens it when you drag something onto it. Both can run on a Mac without a notch, where each draws a floating pill-shaped island at the top of the screen, so the two look much alike there.
Moving between pages. Droppy's shelf has three pages, Home, Tray and Widgets, with buttons below the shelf. The buttons can be hidden, and Droppy's documentation says a two-finger swipe then moves between the shelf, Now Playing and the widget pages. OneNotch uses the same kind of gesture, with an adjustable sensitivity and optional haptic feedback: you swipe between its Clipboard, Media and AI pages, and you can turn each page on or off and put them in the order you want. Settings has a drag-and-drop editor for this: the page dots on the left shoulder of the notch and up to three toolbar icons on the right (Calendar, Focus timer, AI usage, Translate, Preferences and Battery) are rearranged by dragging them. Calendar, Focus timer, AI usage and translation results open on top of the pages and drop back to whatever was underneath when you close them.
What opens first. OneNotch lets you decide what a hover opens: always a page you choose (Clipboard, Media, AI agents, Calendar, Focus timer or AI usage), whatever you used last (it returns to your chosen page after 10 minutes), or whatever is happening, such as music playing or an agent running. Droppy lets you set the hover delay per display and what a click does, and its shelf lets you place one to four widgets in a row and widen them.
What it looks like. Droppy describes its surface as a single piece of glass that morphs as it resizes, and when more than one live activity is running it gives the main one the central seat and shows the others as small pills beside it. OneNotch shows one activity at a time as a single shape that grows from the notch. That is a small visual difference, and it is a matter of taste.
Several displays. Droppy can choose which displays show the notch and whether external monitors never, sometimes or always show it. OneNotch can show on every display or follow the screen you are using.
Files: shelf or action?
This is the clearest difference in philosophy, and it is where Droppy is ahead.
Droppy treats files as something you hold while you work. Drag a file toward the top of the screen and it lands on the Shelf, or shake while dragging and a floating Basket follows your cursor. A row of Quick Action tiles lets you drop files straight onto AirDrop, Mail or Messages, iCloud Drive, a cloud link, LocalSend or the Converter. Droppy Cloud turns a file into a share link that expires after three days, up to 200 MB per file, and Droppy says plainly that those links are not end-to-end encrypted.
OneNotch has no tray. It does not keep files parked on the notch. What it has instead is a clipboard that treats files as first-class: copy files in Finder and they sit in your history as cards, and you can drag them back out of a card on the notch or from the floating panel (⌘⇧C) into Finder, Mail, a chat or any app that accepts a drop. You can drag several cards at once, and a picture you copied as a file drags out as that original file, with its name and format, not a re-encoded copy. In practice the clipboard history does the job of a tray without a separate place to manage.
Files can also go the other way. Drop them onto an action and OneNotch does the work and saves the result next to the original. There are thirteen: AirDrop, Resize, Convert, Compress, Remove Background, OCR, Images to PDF, Merge PDFs, Video to MP4, Extract Audio, Zip, Unzip, and Run a Shortcut.
If you want a place to park files that is separate from what you copied, with a floating basket and one-tap sharing tiles, that is what Droppy's Shelf and Basket are for, and OneNotch does not replace them. If your habit is copy, then drag it where it needs to go, OneNotch's clipboard covers it, and so do its file actions for converting, shrinking and extracting.
Clipboard
Both apps keep a searchable history on the notch. Here is what each lists in its own documentation and blog.
| Droppy | OneNotch | |
|---|---|---|
| Content types | Text, rich text, links, images, colors, file references | Text, rich text, links, colors, images, SVG, files |
| Layout | Cards in a bottom strip, with hover actions to paste, copy and preview | Cards on the notch and a floating panel at your cursor (⌘⇧C), with drag-out to other apps |
| Search | Keyword search, with a type filter rail and OCR text indexed from images | Keywords plus @image, @link, @text, @color, @file and @appname filters |
| Organize | Pins, favorites, tags, labels and boards | Boards (1 free, 20 on Pro), drag to pin, passcode locks that encrypt a board |
| Source app | Shown on each card | Shown on each card, filterable, and Go to Source reopens the page you copied from |
| Edit or transform | Rename an entry | Edit window, 15 transforms (JSON, Base64, URL, case, timestamps, MD5, sort lines) |
| Ordered paste | Not listed | Copy Stack: double-press ⌘ or ⌥, then paste in order with ⌘V |
| Privacy | Skips items password managers mark as concealed; stays on the Mac unless you turn on sync | An optional setting skips items password managers mark as private, plus pause, per-app exclusions and optional encrypted iCloud sync (Pro) |
| Import and export | Imports Maccy and Raycast v2 histories | Exports and imports one .onenotchclip file |
| Sync | Mac and iPhone, end-to-end encrypted | Between Macs through your private iCloud (Pro) |
| AI agent access | Not listed for the clipboard | Clipboard MCP for Claude Code, Cursor and Codex |
Droppy's clipboard is a solid, modern one, and its iPhone sync is something OneNotch cannot match. OneNotch's clipboard is built around working with what you copied: find it by type and app, edit it, transform it, queue several, jump back to its source, lock a board, and let an agent search it.
For more, see the best clipboard managers for Mac.
Screenshots and screen recording
Droppy's Element Capture is its capture tool. From one radial menu you pick Element (hover a button, toolbar or card and it is outlined), Area, Window, Scrolling, OCR or Full Screen. A "pause screen" option freezes the display so you can capture a menu. Annotation covers arrows, rectangles, ellipses, text and blur, with thirty gradient backgrounds, and the capture can go to the clipboard, a folder or a Droppy Cloud link. Droppy also records the screen on macOS 26, with pointer-following zoom and a studio for captions and export. Droppy is open about where the specialists lead: its own comparison says CleanShot X is better if screenshots are your job.
OneNotch's screenshot tool captures an area, a window, the full screen or the last area again, shows a floating Quick Access card after each capture, keeps a searchable history, and includes OCR and QR detection. Scrolling capture, capturing a single UI element, and cutting out a subject are Pro. The editor is where it goes deepest: pencil, arrows, lines, rectangles and ovals, text, highlighter, blur and redact, numbered step counters, a magnifier, a ruler to measure, a color picker, crop, spotlight, watermark, with export to PNG, JPEG or WebP. Pro adds smart redaction of text, faces and people, background removal, translating the text inside an image, combining several images, and presentation effects (wallpaper backgrounds, camera tilt and progressive blur). OneNotch does not record the screen.
Two editor details are free and worth knowing about. Erase removes something you selected in one click, and works best on simple backgrounds such as UI, documents and walls. And the canvas grows to fit your annotations: draw an arrow or a label that runs past the edge of the capture and OneNotch makes room for it, so the arrow is not cut off at the border the way it is in editors that crop to the original image.
So the picture is not "one has screenshots, the other does not." Droppy gives you more ways to select what to capture and a screen recorder. OneNotch gives you a deeper editor and a capture history. Neither replaces a dedicated tool for people who capture for a living.
Everything else on the notch
Droppy's strength is breadth. Its 38 Droplets include a Spotlight-style launcher called Thunderstorm (which can run Raycast extensions), a radial menu called Ring, Apple Notes and Obsidian widgets, a Pomodoro timer, meeting controls, a system stats card, per-app volume, a Camera mirror, a local voice-to-text droplet, AI background removal, video and PDF compression, LocalSend, an emoji picker, mouse-scroll smoothing and more. It also has a lock screen layout with widgets, and a free iPhone companion with Home Screen widgets.
OneNotch has fewer separate tools, and builds in the ones it has:
- Quick Translate for selected text in any app (⌘⇧G), with Apple's on-device translation, Google, Bing, Youdao, or your own Claude, OpenAI or Gemini key. The translation itself is free; the full dictionary, pronunciation, read aloud, Replace Selection and adding a date to the calendar are Pro.
- Calendar and Reminders with meeting alerts and Join, Snooze and Dismiss. Today is free; reading the briefing or creating events for other days is Pro.
- Window snapping by dragging a window to the notch and dropping it on a layout. There are 10 layouts, and the free version fills the first 3 slots of the notch row with any of them while Pro fills all 6. It is off until you turn it on and needs the Accessibility permission.
- A menu bar icon hider, a quick timer, volume, brightness and keyboard backlight HUDs, and Live Activities for charging, Bluetooth devices, Caps Lock and the network.
- Synced lyrics in the notch, on the lock screen or in a floating panel, with a lock screen media player.
- 19 localizations of the interface.
If you want to assemble your own toolbox, Droppy's Store and developer kit (DroppyKit, with community Droplets) are a real advantage. If you would rather open Settings and switch on what you want from a fixed list, OneNotch's features are built in and each can be turned off.
AI coding agents
Droppy's Agents droplet shows what Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, Antigravity and OpenCode are doing, including the current tool call, the file being edited and the lines changed. It reads the logs the agents already write, so it never invents a status, and it does not communicate back to the agent.
OneNotch covers Claude Code and Codex, and it goes the other way too: you can allow or deny permission requests and answer an agent's questions from the notch, follow usage limits as rings or bars with a heads-up when a quota resets, and jump to the agent's terminal tab. Each agent also gets a small animated character on the notch that shows what its session is doing, such as thinking, working or running a subagent. With Clipboard MCP turned on, Claude Code, Cursor and Codex can also search your clipboard history. See the Clipboard MCP guide.
If you use several agents, Droppy watches more of them. If you want to approve from the notch, OneNotch does that.
Price, trial and license
Both apps are a one-time purchase for two Macs, with updates included and a money-back guarantee, and neither is a subscription. The list price is $9.99 for both, but they do not charge the same everywhere. Droppy uses regional pricing: its site advertises lower prices in 126 countries, set at checkout in your own currency, so depending on where you live you may pay noticeably less than $9.99. OneNotch has one price worldwide. Droppy also offers discounts when you buy several keys, and creators can share a 10% code. Check each checkout for what you would actually pay.
The other difference is how you try them, and it is a big one. Droppy has no free tier: you get a 3-day trial with everything unlocked, and after that you buy it or stop using it. OneNotch is free to keep using. Its free tier has no time limit and needs no account, so you can use it every day for weeks before deciding whether Pro is worth it. The free version covers 50 clipboard items for 24 hours, 1 board with 10 pins, and the core screenshot, music, translate and agent features. Pro is a one-time purchase at $9.99 lifetime, or $6.99 with code LAUNCH30 that lifts the limits and adds the advanced tools. Neither app is a subscription.
Requirements and platforms
- Droppy runs on macOS 14 Sonoma and later, on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, and has a free iPhone companion.
- OneNotch needs macOS 15 or later on an Apple Silicon Mac, and there is no iPhone app.
If you are on an Intel Mac or still on Sonoma, that settles it: Droppy is the one that runs.
Privacy
Droppy says clipboard contents, files and captures are processed on your Mac and are not collected, that Droppy Sync to the iPhone is end-to-end encrypted, and that Droppy Cloud links are not. OneNotch keeps clipboard history on your Mac with no account, optional iCloud sync goes to your own private iCloud, and anonymous usage statistics can be switched off in Settings. Some OneNotch features you choose to use, such as certain translation engines, link previews and lyrics, send data to third-party services. Read each app's own privacy policy before you decide.
Performance
We have not measured the two apps against each other, and we would rather say so than imply an answer. Droppy's own blog describes its app as small and native, and says its 16.0 update reduced CPU and memory use. We publish our own measurements and method. To compare for yourself, run each app alone for an hour of normal work and look at Activity Monitor's CPU, Memory and Energy columns, and check how each one feels when you scroll a long clipboard history on your Mac.
Which one should you choose?
- You want a file shelf, a floating basket or Quick Actions. Droppy.
- You want an app you can extend with community plugins. Droppy.
- You need screen recording. Droppy, or a dedicated recorder.
- You use an iPhone and want your clipboard and files synced to it. Droppy.
- You are on an Intel Mac or macOS 14. Droppy.
- The clipboard is the main thing you will use, and you want to filter by type and app, edit and transform what you copied, queue pastes and lock boards. OneNotch.
- You edit a lot of screenshots, with numbered steps, a magnifier, redaction and mockups. OneNotch.
- You want translation, file actions and calendar built in, each with an off switch. OneNotch.
- You approve Claude Code or Codex requests or want agents to search your clipboard. OneNotch.
- You want a free app you can keep using, not a countdown. OneNotch. Droppy's trial ends after 3 days.
You can also run one, then the other. They both draw at the notch, so use one at a time while you compare. For the wider field, see the best Mac notch apps.
Frequently asked questions
Is OneNotch better than Droppy?
It depends on what you use. Droppy is the wider app, with a file shelf, a floating basket, 38 optional Droplets, screen recording, an iPhone companion and support for macOS 14 and Intel Macs. OneNotch goes deeper on the clipboard and the screenshot editor, and includes translation, file actions, window snapping and AI agent approvals. Both are one-time purchases with a $9.99 list price.
Does Droppy have a clipboard manager?
Yes. Droppy keeps a searchable history of text, rich text, links, images, colors and file references, with type filters, pins, favorites, tags and boards, OCR text indexed for search, and optional end-to-end encrypted sync to an iPhone.
Is Droppy free?
Not permanently. Droppy offers a 3-day trial with everything unlocked and then costs $9.99 list price (less in many countries). OneNotch has a free tier with no time limit and no account, and Pro is an optional one-time upgrade.
Does OneNotch have a file shelf like Droppy?
No, OneNotch has no tray. Copied files stay in the clipboard history and can be dragged straight back out of a card on the notch or from the floating panel, one or several at a time, so the clipboard works as a stand-in. Its File Actions process a file when you drop it on an action, such as convert, resize, compress, remove the background, OCR, make or merge PDFs, convert video to MP4, extract audio, zip, unzip, run a Shortcut or AirDrop, and save the result next to the original.
Can you swipe between pages in Droppy and OneNotch?
Yes, in both. Droppy's documentation says a two-finger swipe moves between its shelf, Now Playing and widget pages, and its page buttons can be hidden. OneNotch uses a swipe to move between its Clipboard, Media and AI pages, which you can reorder and turn off.
Which is better for screenshots, Droppy or OneNotch?
They are strong in different places. Droppy's Element Capture offers six capture modes and also records the screen on macOS 26. OneNotch has a deeper annotation editor (numbered steps, a magnifier, a ruler, redaction, spotlight, a one-click erase and a canvas that grows so edge annotations are not cropped, plus a capture history) and also captures UI elements, but that and scrolling capture are Pro, and it has no screen recording.
Does Droppy work with Claude Code?
Droppy's Agents droplet monitors Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, Antigravity and OpenCode by reading their logs. OneNotch monitors Claude Code and Codex and also lets you approve requests, answer questions and track usage from the notch, and its Clipboard MCP lets agents search your clipboard history.
Which runs on older Macs?
Droppy runs on macOS 14 Sonoma and later, on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. OneNotch needs macOS 15 or later and an Apple Silicon Mac.
