Maccyvs
Paste
Paste: If you want clipboard history synced across Mac, iPhone and iPad and are willing to pay a subscription
Maccy
Free open source clipboard history manager for macOS with no account, sync fee or subscription
As of 1 September 2026, Maccy is free to use. A lightweight menu bar clipboard manager that keeps a searchable history of copied text, images and files, accessible with a keyboard shortcut. Softwr lists it under Utilities. Maccy is made by Maccy (open source project), available on Mac.
Overview
What Maccy does
Maccy sits in the menu bar and records everything copied to the clipboard, presenting a searchable, keyboard-navigable list so a user can paste an earlier item instead of only the most recent one. It deliberately does nothing else: no cloud sync, no snippets, no templates, just clipboard history done fast and locally. The distinguishing fact against Paste is both licence and architecture. Maccy is free and open source under the MIT licence, with all clipboard data stored only on the local Mac and never leaving it, which also means there is no iPhone or iPad companion app and no sync between machines. Paste charges a subscription specifically because it offers iCloud sync across Mac, iPhone and iPad; Maccy has no equivalent because syncing was never part of its design. Buyers are users who only need clipboard history on one Mac and want it fast, private and free, including developers and writers who copy and paste constantly through the day. The trade-off is that anyone who also wants clipboard history on their phone, or wants pinned items organised into boards or collections the way Paste presents them, needs a different, paid tool.
What people use it for
- A developer or writer who copies and pastes constantly and wants fast, searchable history on one Mac
- Anyone who wants clipboard history but does not want their clipboard data touching any cloud service
- A user who tried Paste and does not need iPhone or iPad sync, only wants the Mac functionality for free
- Someone installing via Homebrew who wants a minimal, single-purpose menu bar utility
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about 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.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Maccy
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- MaccyvsAlfred
Alfred: If you want clipboard history as part of a broader launcher and workflow tool
- MaccyvsKarabiner-Elements
Karabiner-Elements: If your need is keyboard remapping rather than clipboard history
Pricing
What Maccy costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Maccy
Free
- Free and open source under the MIT licence
- Unlimited local clipboard history
- No account or sync required
Capabilities
Features
Clipboard history
Records copied text, images and files in a searchable, scrollable list
Keyboard navigation
Full history search and selection without touching the mouse
Local-only storage
All clipboard data stays on the Mac and is never uploaded anywhere
Password exclusion
Automatically avoids logging clipboard content copied from password managers
Lightweight footprint
Low memory use even with thousands of items in history
Open source
Source code available on GitHub under the MIT licence
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is Maccy free?
Yes, entirely. It is open source under the MIT licence with no paid tier.
Does Maccy sync across devices?
No. It stores clipboard history only on the local Mac, with no iPhone, iPad or cross-Mac sync.
Is my clipboard data sent anywhere?
No. Maccy stores everything locally and does not upload clipboard content.
Keep looking
Where to go from Maccy
- Maccy alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Maccy pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Maccy badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Utilities softwareThe full category
- Best Utilities softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
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Compare Maccy with
- Paste
- Karabiner-Elements
- Shottr
- BetterTouchTool
- Rectangle
- Kap
- Hazel
- Magnet
- CleanShot X
- Ventoy
- Syncthing
- Google Lens
- WizTree
- Yelp
- balenaEtcher
- Calsense
- Dominos
- McDonalds
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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Maccy, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Maccy
Maccy alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Maccy pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
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