Maccy vs Alfred Clipboard (2026): Free vs the Powerpack
Alfred is a beloved Mac launcher, but its clipboard history is locked behind the paid Powerpack. Maccy is a free, open-source clipboard manager that does that one job extremely well. Here is an honest, feature-by-feature comparison — and why many people happily run both.
What is Alfred's clipboard history?
Alfred is a long-running productivity launcher for macOS made by Running with Crayons. The core launcher — app launching, file search, calculations — is free. Clipboard history, however, is part of the paid Powerpack, a one-time purchase (a single licence is around £34 / $39, with a lifetime “Mega Supporter” tier higher). Once unlocked, Alfred keeps a searchable history of text, images, and files, with optional snippet expansion and merging.
It is genuinely capable. The catch is that clipboard history is one feature inside a much larger tool, and you cannot buy it on its own — you buy the whole Powerpack.
What is Maccy?
Maccy is a free, open-source clipboard manager licensed under MIT. It does exactly one thing: it records everything you copy and lets you paste any previous item through a fast, keyboard-driven search window. It is native, lightweight, stores everything locally, and is actively maintained. There are no paid tiers and no account.
Maccy vs Alfred clipboard at a glance
| Feature | Maccy | Alfred clipboard |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Requires Powerpack (~£34 one-time) |
| Open source | Yes (MIT) | No |
| Scope | Dedicated clipboard manager | Clipboard is one Powerpack feature |
| Fuzzy search | Yes | Yes |
| Pinned / favourite items | Yes | Yes |
| Images & files | Yes | Yes |
| Plain-text paste | Yes | Yes (via snippets/affixes) |
| Password-manager safety | Automatic | Configurable |
| Local-only storage | Yes | Yes |
| iCloud sync between Macs | Optional | Via Powerpack sync |
| Telemetry | None | None |
| Actively maintained | Yes | Yes |
Price and licensing
This is the clearest difference. Maccy is free forever and open source — you can read the code, build it yourself, or install it in seconds. Alfred's clipboard history needs the Powerpack, a one-time purchase of roughly £34 for a single licence. That is a fair price for everything the Powerpack unlocks, but if clipboard history is all you are after, you are paying for a launcher you may not need.
If you want clipboard history and nothing else, paying for the Powerpack is paying for features you will not use. That is the whole case for a dedicated tool.
Search and recall
Both apps offer fast search. Maccy's window is built around fuzzy search: summon it, start typing, and the list narrows instantly; press Return to paste, or hold a modifier to paste as plain text. Because Maccy does only this, the path from “I need that thing I copied” to “it's pasted” is about as short as it gets. Alfred's clipboard viewer is also quick, but it lives inside the broader Alfred window alongside everything else Alfred does. See the full breakdown in our search and regex guide.
Pinning, snippets, and organisation
Maccy lets you pin items so they never get purged and always sit at the top — ideal for addresses, boilerplate, and snippets you reuse daily. Alfred goes further on text expansion with its dedicated Snippets feature and auto-expansion, which Maccy intentionally does not try to replicate. If snippet expansion is central to your workflow, that is a point for Alfred; if you simply want a few pinned clips, Maccy covers it.
Privacy and password safety
Both keep data on your Mac. Maccy automatically skips entries marked “concealed” by password managers such as 1Password, Bitwarden, and Apple Passwords, and you can blocklist specific apps in its Ignore settings. Read more in does Maccy see your passwords? Neither app sends your clipboard anywhere, and neither runs telemetry.
Performance and footprint
Maccy is tiny and launches instantly, because it loads only a clipboard engine. Alfred is also fast, but it is a larger application carrying launcher, workflow, and snippet subsystems. For a clipboard-only need, Maccy's smaller surface area is an advantage; if you already run Alfred all day, the marginal cost of its clipboard viewer is negligible.
Where Alfred is the better choice
Alfred wins when clipboard history is just one part of a bigger automation setup. Its workflows, snippet expansion, hotkeys, and file actions are excellent and have no equivalent in Maccy. If you have already bought the Powerpack and live inside Alfred, there is little reason to add a second tool — its clipboard history is more than good enough.
Where Maccy wins
Maccy wins on focus, price, and openness. It is free, open source, dedicated, and razor-fast at the one job it does. You do not pay for a launcher to get clipboard history, and you get automatic password safety out of the box. For people who want clipboard history specifically — not a launcher suite — Maccy is the cleaner answer.
Can you use both? Yes.
Many power users do exactly this: Alfred for launching, searching, and workflows; Maccy for clipboard history on its own hotkey. They do not conflict. If you go this route, just disable Alfred's clipboard history (or leave it; they coexist fine) and give Maccy a dedicated shortcut.
How to switch to Maccy
- Install Maccy from the download page or with Homebrew:
brew install --cask maccy. - Launch it and grant Accessibility permission so it can paste into other apps.
- Set your summon shortcut (the default is ⌘ ⇧ C) — pick something that does not clash with Alfred.
- Pin the snippets you reuse most, and add sensitive apps to the Ignore list.
- Optionally turn off Alfred's clipboard history so you have a single source of truth.
A fuller walkthrough lives in from Alfred clipboard to Maccy.
What about the built-in macOS Tahoe clipboard?
macOS 26 Tahoe now ships a clipboard history inside Spotlight (⌘Space, then ⌘4). It is a welcome default, but with a seven-day cap, no pinning, and no app exclusion it stays a lightweight option rather than a full manager. Here is how to use the Tahoe Spotlight clipboard.
For a feature-by-feature breakdown, read the in-depth Maccy vs Alfred deep dive: full comparison →
The bottom line
Alfred's clipboard history is good — if you already pay for the Powerpack. Maccy gives most people the same everyday benefit for free, in a faster, dedicated, open-source package, while leaving Alfred free to do what it does best. Want the full landscape? See the best free clipboard manager round-up.