What are the best Pushbullet alternatives?
- Universal Clipboard: copy on one Apple device and paste on another, with no send step.
- Microsoft Phone Link: texts, calls and notifications between an Android phone and a Windows PC.
- Quick Share: files and links between Android devices, and from Android to Windows.
- KDE Connect: clipboard, files and notifications across devices on one network, with no account.
Pushbullet was one of the first tools to make moving small things between your phone and your computer feel effortless. Copy a link on your phone, push it, paste it on your laptop a second later. For years that was its whole appeal, and it was a good one. The reason people look for a replacement now is not that it stopped working, it is the squeeze: as of mid-2026 the free plan limits you to 100 pushes a month and 25MB files, and features like SMS from your computer and full notification mirroring need the Pro subscription. If you push more than a few things a day, you hit the wall.
The good news is the gap Pushbullet filled is now covered by tools built into your devices, plus a few strong third-party options. The right one depends entirely on which operating systems you are juggling, so that is how we have grouped them. If you want the full picture first, our guide to copying and pasting between your phone and computer covers every platform pairing in order.
What did you use Pushbullet for?
Before picking a replacement, pin down which feature you actually relied on, because most alternatives only cover one or two. Pushbullet did several jobs:
- Sending links and text from one device to another, the most common use by far.
- Sending small files like a photo or a PDF between phone and computer.
- Mirroring notifications so your phone alerts showed up on your desktop.
- Sending and reading SMS from your computer.
Pick the alternative that matches the job you cared about. Most people are really only after the first one, which is the easiest to replace well.
What is the Pushbullet alternative for iPhone and Mac?
On an iPhone, iPad and Mac signed into the same Apple Account, you do not need a sharing app at all. Apple’s Universal Clipboard means you copy on one device with Cmd+C or a tap and hold, then paste on another with Cmd+V, and it just appears. There is no send step. It needs Handoff, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi switched on, and the devices close together. When it misbehaves, our checklist for Universal Clipboard not working walks through the fixes.
For links specifically, AirDrop is faster and more deliberate. It sends the page or link straight to a chosen device, which is handy when you want it on a particular Mac rather than the nearest one. We cover the exact steps in how to AirDrop a link.
If you mix Windows and Android: Microsoft Phone Link
This is the closest thing to a free, official Pushbullet replacement, and it is the one most ex-users land on. Microsoft Phone Link (called Link to Windows on the phone side) connects an Android phone to a Windows PC and handles texts, calls, notifications, photos and, on many phones, a shared clipboard. You get notification mirroring and SMS from your desktop without paying, which is exactly the pair of features Pushbullet now charges for.
Setup is straightforward: open the Phone Link app on Windows (it ships with Windows 11), install Link to Windows on the phone, and pair them. Samsung and a few other phones get the deepest integration, including cross-device copy and paste. For one-off links, you can also keep a clipboard manager on Windows so anything that arrives is easy to find again later.
For files and the same Wi-Fi: Nearby Share and KDE Connect
If your main use was firing the odd file or link between nearby devices, two options stand out.
Quick Share (Nearby Share)
Google’s Quick Share, previously Nearby Share, moves files and links between Android devices, and between Android and Windows with the desktop app installed. It is fast, free and needs no account beyond your existing Google sign-in. It is the natural Android-to-Android answer, and a solid Android-to-Windows one.
KDE Connect
KDE Connect is the option for people who want something open, free and genuinely cross-platform. It links Android, Windows, Linux, macOS and, to a degree, iOS over your local network, and it does the lot: shared clipboard, file transfer, notification sync and remote control. There is no central server and no account, which is also its main limit, both devices need to be on the same network. For a no-cost, no-tracking Pushbullet stand-in, it is the closest match feature for feature.
Can you replace Pushbullet without installing anything?
You do not always need a dedicated tool. Two old tricks still work on any mix of devices, with zero setup:
- Note to self in a chat app. Telegram Saved Messages, a Signal note to self, or even a WhatsApp chat with yourself all sync instantly to every device you are signed into. Paste the link there on your phone, grab it on your computer.
- Email it to yourself. Slow and slightly clumsy, but it crosses every platform boundary and never fails. Good for the link you want to keep, not just paste once.
For a deeper look at getting a single link across quickly, see how to send a link from your phone to your computer, which ranks these by how rarely they break.
A different angle: sync the clipboard itself
Every option above asks you to push something deliberately. There is another way to think about it. If what you copy is automatically saved and synced, then there is nothing to send: copy a link on your phone and it is already waiting on the other device. That is the idea behind a cross-device clipboard manager, and it removes the most common Pushbullet job entirely.
The catch worth checking is privacy. Some sync tools move your copies through a server that can read them, which is a poor trade for the convenience. The version we built keeps a permanent, searchable history of everything you copy and encrypts it on your device before it ever syncs, so your clipboard history on Android and your history on iPhone stay readable only by you. The free plan holds 250 MB and 100 saved items across 3 devices.
So which one should you pick?
- All Apple devices: Universal Clipboard, with AirDrop for sending a specific link.
- Windows plus Android: Microsoft Phone Link, free, with notifications and SMS included.
- Files between nearby devices: Quick Share, or KDE Connect if you want open and cross-platform.
- Any mix, no install: a note-to-self chat or email to yourself.
- You mostly copy and paste: a synced, encrypted clipboard, so there is no send step at all.
Sources
- Is there a file size limit?, Pushbullet Help Central
- Phone Link requirements and setup, Microsoft Support
- Use Quick Share on your Android device, Android Help
- Download KDE Connect, KDE Connect