Maccy vs Paste (2026): Free Open Source vs Subscription
Paste is the most polished clipboard manager on the Mac, with a beautiful timeline and cross-device sync — behind a subscription. Maccy is free, open source, and local-first. Here is how they really compare, and who each one suits.
What is Paste?
Paste is a premium clipboard manager known for its polished, visual timeline and pinboards. It stores text, images, and links, syncs across your Mac, iPhone, and iPad with iCloud, and is sold on a subscription (roughly $3.99/month or $29.99/year, with a one-time lifetime option). It is distributed through Apple's App Stores and is also available through Setapp.
What is Maccy?
Maccy is a free, open-source (MIT) clipboard manager focused on speed and privacy. It keeps a searchable history of everything you copy, stored entirely on your Mac, and pastes any item back with a keyboard shortcut. There is no subscription, no account, and no telemetry.
Maccy vs Paste at a glance
| Feature | Maccy | Paste |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free forever | Subscription (~$30/yr) or lifetime fee |
| Open source | Yes (MIT) | No |
| Local-only by default | Yes | Syncs via iCloud |
| Cross-device sync (iOS/iPad) | No | Yes |
| Fuzzy search | Yes | Yes |
| Pinned items / boards | Pins | Pinboards |
| Images & rich content | Yes | Yes (rich previews) |
| Plain-text paste | Yes | Yes |
| Password-manager safety | Automatic | Yes |
| Visual timeline UI | Minimal, keyboard-first | Polished, visual |
| Telemetry | None | Analytics |
| Account required | No | Apple ID / subscription |
Price and licensing
Paste's pricing is its biggest friction point for many users: it is a subscription of around $30/year (a one-time lifetime purchase exists but costs considerably more). Maccy is free and open source — install it from the download page, via Homebrew, or build it from source. Over a few years the difference is the price of the app versus nothing at all.
Design and everyday use
Paste leans visual: a horizontal timeline, large previews, and drag-friendly pinboards. It is genuinely lovely to look at and good for people who think visually about what they have copied. Maccy is the opposite philosophy — a compact, keyboard-first list you summon, filter, and dismiss in a fraction of a second. Neither is “better”; they suit different brains. If you live on the keyboard, Maccy's flow is faster; if you like to see and arrange clips, Paste is more comfortable.
Sync and cross-device
This is Paste's standout advantage: clipboard sync across Mac, iPhone, and iPad through iCloud. If you routinely copy on one Apple device and paste on another, Paste is built for that. Maccy offers optional iCloud sync between Macs, but it is Mac-only and local-first by design — there is no iPhone app. If mobile sync matters to you, that is a clear point for Paste.
The honest split: Paste sells polish and sync; Maccy sells speed, privacy, and a price of zero.
Privacy
Maccy is local-first: your history lives in a database on your Mac and never leaves unless you explicitly enable iCloud sync between your own Macs. It collects no analytics. Paste's value depends on iCloud sync, so by design your clips travel through Apple's cloud between your devices. Both honour concealed-clipboard flags from password managers, but if local-only storage is a hard requirement, Maccy fits better. More in does Maccy see your passwords?
Performance and footprint
Both are native and responsive. Maccy is smaller and does less, so it starts instantly and stays out of the way. Paste does more — previews, timeline rendering, sync — so it carries a little more weight, which is the natural cost of its richer interface.
Where Paste is the better choice
Choose Paste if you want the most polished experience, a visual timeline, organised pinboards, and especially clipboard sync across your iPhone and iPad. If those features earn back the subscription for you, Paste is a deservedly popular app.
Where Maccy wins
Choose Maccy if you want clipboard history that is free, open source, private by default, and blazing fast from the keyboard — with no subscription and no account. For a large majority of Mac users who simply want reliable copy history, that is the better deal.
How to switch from Paste to Maccy
- Install Maccy from the download page or with Homebrew:
brew install --cask maccy. - Grant Accessibility permission so Maccy can paste into other apps.
- Recreate your key Paste pinboards as Maccy pins for the snippets you reuse.
- Decide on sync: enable Maccy's iCloud sync if you use more than one Mac (note: Mac-only).
- Cancel your Paste subscription once you are settled in.
Step-by-step details are in switching from Paste to Maccy.
What about the built-in macOS Tahoe clipboard?
Since macOS 26 Tahoe, Spotlight has its own clipboard history (⌘Space, then ⌘4). It is free and already there, but it keeps items for seven days at most, has no pinning, and cannot exclude specific apps. For occasional recall it is fine; for a real workflow it is not a replacement for either Paste or Maccy. See how the Tahoe Spotlight clipboard works for the full rundown.
For a feature-by-feature breakdown, read the in-depth Maccy vs Paste deep dive: full comparison →
The bottom line
Paste is the better app if you want polish and cross-device sync and will pay a subscription for it. Maccy is the better default for everyone else: free, open source, private, and fast. See where both land in the wider best free clipboard manager round-up.