Copsy vs YoYotta: the free YoYotta alternative for Mac
Copsy is a free Mac camera-offload app and the simplest free alternative to YoYotta for the everyday job: copy a card, verify it, back it up. Plug in an SD, CFexpress or camera card and Copsy auto-detects it, copies the footage to your drive and to Google Drive or Dropbox in parallel, verifies every file with ASC-MHL checksums, organizes by date and source, and pings you on Telegram when it's done. Free, no card limit, no signup.
YoYotta is a powerful, professional Mac DIT app, and its standout is LTO/LTFS tape archiving, plus ASC-MHL and deeper studio workflows. The full version is a paid subscription (around $110/year, last verified June 2026), with a limited free tier called YoYottaID. If you need LTO, use YoYotta. If you mainly need fast, verified card offloads to drives and the cloud, Copsy does that part for free.
Download Copsy for Mac → · macOS 13+ · no account needed
What YoYotta is — and where Copsy fits
YoYotta is a serious, battle-tested DIT and archive tool on the Mac. It does verified card copies with ASC-MHL checksums, generates detailed reports, and (its signature feature) writes archives to LTO/LTFS tape, which is how a lot of studios and post houses keep long-term, off-line masters. That capability is exactly why YoYotta is worth its subscription for productions that archive to tape.
But most shooters and small crews never touch LTO. They need the core loop every shoot: detect the card, copy it to a drive (and ideally the cloud), and verify that the copy is bit-for-bit. That's the part Copsy does, for free, with no card limit and no signup. Copsy deliberately doesn't try to be a full archive suite; it nails the offload.
Copsy vs YoYotta — honest comparison
| Feature | Copsy | YoYotta (full) | YoYottaID (free tier) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | FREE | ~$110/yr PAID | FREE (limited) |
| ASC-MHL checksum verification | ✓ built-in | ✓ | ✓ |
| Auto-detect card type (Sony/ARRI/RED/BMD/Canon/drone/audio) | ✓ | manual / pipeline | manual |
| Copy to a drive AND cloud (Drive/Dropbox) in parallel | ✓ | drives / tape | — |
| LTO / LTFS tape archiving | — (no LTO) | ✓ | limited |
| Organize by date + source automatically | ✓ | configurable | manual |
| Telegram notification when done | ✓ | — | — |
| No signup / no account | ✓ | license | license |
| Platform | macOS 13+ | macOS | macOS |
Pricing and features change — figures above (including YoYotta at around $110/year) were last verified in June 2026. Check yoyotta.com for current details.
Who should use which
Choose Copsy (free) if you…
- Offload SD / CFexpress / camera / drone / audio cards on a Mac and want it verified, not just dragged in Finder.
- Want a drive copy and a Google Drive or Dropbox copy from the same offload, in parallel.
- Don't archive to LTO tape and don't want to pay a yearly subscription for the core "copy a card safely" workflow.
- Like getting a Telegram ping when the card is done and verified, so you can walk away.
Choose YoYotta (paid) if you…
- Archive to LTO/LTFS tape — that's YoYotta's core strength and Copsy doesn't do it.
- Need a deeper studio pipeline: advanced report formats, tape-library support, or specific post-house toolchains.
- Already run YoYotta on a production and want everything in one archive app.
Plenty of crews run both: Copsy for fast, free, verified card offloads on set, and YoYotta back at base when footage needs to go onto LTO tape. They're not mutually exclusive. Copsy just removes the cost from the everyday part.
How Copsy offloads a card
- Plug in the card. Copsy detects it by content and recognizes the camera/source: Sony, ARRI, Blackmagic, RED, Canon, drones, audio, or any card/volume you point it at.
- Pick destinations. An external drive, plus optionally Google Drive or Dropbox — copied in parallel.
- Walk away. Copsy copies, organizes by date and source, and verifies every file with ASC-MHL checksums.
- Get pinged. A Telegram message tells you it finished and verified, nothing lost.
Shooting on an external SSD instead of a card, say an iPhone 15/16 Pro recording ProRes, an Atomos Ninja recorder, or BRAW from the Blackmagic Camera app? Point Copsy at the SSD and it offloads and verifies the same way. For Insta360 and other 360 cameras, back up the raw microSD first, then stitch. Copsy gets you a verified copy of the originals before anything is processed.
Frequently asked questions
Offload your next card for free
Copsy — a free Mac camera-offload app. Verified copies to a drive and the cloud, nothing lost. No LTO needed.
⬇ Download Copsy for Mac