Is Hazel or Maccy better?

Neither clearly leads. Hazel starts at $42/one-time and Maccy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Hazel or Maccy?

Maccy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $42/one-time for Hazel and Free for Maccy.

Does Hazel or Maccy run on more platforms?

Both run on Mac, so platform support will not decide this one for you.

Can I use Maccy for free?

Yes. Maccy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Hazel starts at $42/one-time.

What is Hazel best used for?

Hazel is most often used for a freelancer who wants invoices and receipts auto-filed into client folders based on the text inside them, anyone whose downloads folder becomes unmanageable and wants files auto-sorted by type or age, a photographer who wants imported files renamed by date pattern and moved to a project folder automatically, a user who wants old files in a scratch folder auto-deleted after a set number of days without remembering to clear it manually. Of those, a freelancer who wants invoices and receipts auto-filed into client folders based on the text inside them and anyone whose downloads folder becomes unmanageable and wants files auto-sorted by type or age are not what Maccy is typically brought in for.

What can Hazel do that Maccy cannot?

Hazel covers Folder watching, Conditional actions, Content-based matching, Duplicate detection. Maccy covers Clipboard history, Keyboard navigation, Local-only storage, Password exclusion.

Utilities · head to head

Hazel vs Maccy

Hazel

Utilities

Rule-based file organisation for macOS that watches folders and automatically files, renames or deletes

From: $42/one-time
Rated: -

Full review Website

Maccy

Utilities

Free open source clipboard history manager for macOS with no account, sync fee or subscription

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Maccy has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Hazel there is no free tier, only a 14-day trial, so the full 42 dollar cost is a real barrier for a casual user just wanting one simple rule.; Maccy there is no iPhone or iPad app and no sync between machines, so clipboard history does not follow a user to another device.
They diverge on capability: Hazel covers Folder watching, Maccy covers Clipboard history.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hazel and Maccy actually diverge.

Attributes where Hazel and Maccy differ
Attribute	Hazel	Maccy
Starting price	$42/one-time	Free
Pricing model	One-time purchase	Open source, no licence fee
Free tier	No	Yes

Identical on both: platforms (Mac), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Utilities).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Hazel

Folder watching
Conditional actions
Content-based matching
Duplicate detection
Trash auto-empty
App Sweep

Only in Maccy

Clipboard history
Keyboard navigation
Local-only storage
Password exclusion
Lightweight footprint
Open source

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Hazel

A freelancer who wants invoices and receipts auto-filed into client folders based on the text inside themnot Maccy
Anyone whose Downloads folder becomes unmanageable and wants files auto-sorted by type or agenot Maccy
A photographer who wants imported files renamed by date pattern and moved to a project folder automaticallynot Maccy
A user who wants old files in a scratch folder auto-deleted after a set number of days without remembering to clear it manuallynot Maccy

Maccy

A developer or writer who copies and pastes constantly and wants fast, searchable history on one Macnot Hazel
Anyone who wants clipboard history but does not want their clipboard data touching any cloud servicenot Hazel
A user who tried Paste and does not need iPhone or iPad sync, only wants the Mac functionality for freenot Hazel
Someone installing via Homebrew who wants a minimal, single-purpose menu bar utilitynot Hazel

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Hazel

There is no free tier, only a 14-day trial, so the full 42 dollar cost is a real barrier for a casual user just wanting one simple rule.
Rules are entirely hand-built, so the tool provides no value until a user invests time writing and testing conditions.
A misconfigured rule can silently move, rename or delete the wrong files, and mistakes are only obvious after the fact unless tested carefully first.
It is Mac only, so it does nothing for a Windows machine sharing the same file workflow.
It focuses purely on file automation, so a user also wanting window management, clipboard history or gesture control needs entirely separate tools.

Maccy

There is no iPhone or iPad app and no sync between machines, so clipboard history does not follow a user to another device.
It has no snippets, templates or organised boards, so a user wanting structured reusable text needs a different tool as well.
It is Mac only, so it offers nothing for a Windows machine in the same workflow.
As a volunteer-maintained open source project, there is no guaranteed support response time if something breaks.
Very large clipboard histories with many images can still use meaningful memory, though far less than a heavier commercial equivalent.

Pricing, plan by plan

Hazel

$42/one-time

Single User Licence$42/one-time
- One user, Hazel 6
- Free updates within the major version
- 14-day free trial before purchase
Family Pack$65/one-time
- Multiple users covered under one purchase
- Same feature set as the single licence

Maccy

Free

MaccyFree
- Free and open source under the MIT licence
- Unlimited local clipboard history
- No account or sync required

Which should you pick?

Choose Hazel if

You need folder watching.
You work on Mac.
You also want conditional actions.

Hazel review

Choose Maccy if

You need clipboard history.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Mac.
You also want keyboard navigation.

Maccy review

Questions people ask

Is Hazel or Maccy better?: Neither clearly leads. Hazel starts at $42/one-time and Maccy at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hazel or Maccy?: Maccy has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $42/one-time for Hazel and Free for Maccy.
Does Hazel or Maccy run on more platforms?: Both run on Mac, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Maccy for free?: Yes. Maccy has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Hazel starts at $42/one-time.
What is Hazel best used for?: Hazel is most often used for a freelancer who wants invoices and receipts auto-filed into client folders based on the text inside them, anyone whose downloads folder becomes unmanageable and wants files auto-sorted by type or age, a photographer who wants imported files renamed by date pattern and moved to a project folder automatically, a user who wants old files in a scratch folder auto-deleted after a set number of days without remembering to clear it manually. Of those, a freelancer who wants invoices and receipts auto-filed into client folders based on the text inside them and anyone whose downloads folder becomes unmanageable and wants files auto-sorted by type or age are not what Maccy is typically brought in for.
What can Hazel do that Maccy cannot?: Hazel covers Folder watching, Conditional actions, Content-based matching, Duplicate detection. Maccy covers Clipboard history, Keyboard navigation, Local-only storage, Password exclusion.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hazel: Is Hazel a subscription?

No. It is a one-time purchase per major version, currently 42 US dollars for a single user licence.

Maccy: Is Maccy free?

Yes, entirely. It is open source under the MIT licence with no paid tier.

Hazel: Can Hazel read the content of files, not just names?

Yes, rules can match on text found inside supported file types such as PDFs and text documents.

Maccy: Does Maccy sync across devices?

No. It stores clipboard history only on the local Mac, with no iPhone, iPad or cross-Mac sync.

Hazel: Does Hazel run in the background automatically?

Yes, it watches configured folders continuously and applies rules as files change, with no manual trigger needed.

Maccy: Is my clipboard data sent anywhere?

No. Maccy stores everything locally and does not upload clipboard content.

Hazel vs Maccy

Hazel

Maccy

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Hazel

Only in Maccy

What people use each for

Hazel

Maccy

Where each one falls short

Hazel

Maccy

Pricing, plan by plan

Hazel

Maccy

Which should you pick?

Choose Hazel if

Choose Maccy if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Hazel

More on Maccy

Keep looking

Other head to heads