Maccy vs Paste (2026 Deep Dive): Free Open Source vs Premium Subscription

The core difference

Maccy and Paste represent two different philosophies about what a clipboard manager should be. Maccy is a focused utility: a searchable list of everything you copied, keyboard-first, no frills. Paste is a polished productivity app with a visual timeline, pinboards, collections, cross-device sync, and Apple Intelligence integration.

Both do clipboard history well. The question is what else you want around it.

Pricing: the clearest difference

Maccy is free. Paste is a subscription (~$29.99/year as of 2026).

Over time: 1 year = $30. 3 years = $90. 5 years = $150. Maccy = $0 over any period. The MIT licence means Maccy can never become paid.

This is not a knock on Paste — $30/year for quality software is reasonable. But for users deciding between them, the cost difference is real and permanent.

Full feature comparison

Where Paste is genuinely better

iPhone and iPad clipboard history

This is Paste's defining advantage. The Paste iPhone and iPad app shows the same clipboard history as your Mac, synced via iCloud. Copy a phone number on Mac, paste it on iPhone. Copy a long URL on iPhone, find it on Mac instantly.

Apple's Universal Clipboard (built into macOS/iOS) only syncs the single most recent item and expires within minutes. Paste maintains the full history across all devices.

Maccy is Mac-only. If cross-device clipboard is important to your workflow, Maccy cannot help here.

Visual timeline and pinboards

Paste's interface is genuinely beautiful — a scrollable visual timeline showing clipboard items with rich previews, organized into pinboards you create (Work, Personal, Code Snippets, etc.).

For users who prefer visual organisation over keyword search, Paste's interface is significantly more pleasant to use. If your workflow involves browsing through clipboard history rather than searching for specific items, Paste wins.

OCR search within images

Added in a 2025 update using Apple Intelligence, Paste can search for text inside copied images. Copy a screenshot containing a code snippet, search for a function name, and Paste finds the screenshot by its content. Maccy has no OCR search.

Where Maccy is genuinely better

Cost

$0 vs $30/year. For a clipboard manager you use every day, the value per dollar is exceptional with Maccy. Over five years, Maccy saves you $150 compared to Paste.

Keyboard speed

Maccy is optimised for keyboard-first workflows. The history window opens in under 65ms, results filter as you type, and you can paste the first result without touching the mouse. Total workflow: 2–3 seconds.

Paste's visual panel takes slightly longer to render and navigate due to its richer UI. For power users who open their clipboard dozens of times per day, this adds up.

Regex search

Maccy supports full regular expression search. This is a significant advantage for developers and power users who need to find patterns in clipboard history — all URLs, all email addresses, all git hashes, all JSON objects. Paste has no regex search.

Developer and enterprise deployment

Maccy installs via Homebrew (brew install --cask maccy), supports MDM deployment with defaults, and has configurable preferences pushable via Jamf or other tools. Paste does not support any of this. For developers or IT teams deploying clipboard software at scale, Maccy is the only viable option.

Auditability

Maccy's complete source code is public on GitHub. Any security team can audit it before approving deployment. Paste is closed source.

Real-world user profiles

Developer on a single Mac: → Maccy. Free, Homebrew-installable, regex search, open source. Paste adds cost without adding value for this workflow.

Designer using Mac + iPhone daily: → Paste. The cross-device sync is genuinely useful when copying references on iPhone and pasting into design tools on Mac.

Writer or researcher on Mac only: → Maccy. History search is the main feature needed, and Maccy's keyboard-first search is faster for frequent lookups.

Marketing or operations professional: → Depends. If iPhone usage is heavy for work, Paste's cross-device sync has real ROI. If Mac-primary, Maccy is better value.

Enterprise IT deployment: → Maccy. MDM support, Homebrew, open source, no subscription billing per seat.

Migration from Paste to Maccy

1. Install Maccy: brew install --cask maccy or download from maccymanager.com/download
2. In Paste, open your Pinboards — copy each pinned item you want to keep, Maccy captures it, pin in Maccy with ⌘P
3. In Paste Preferences, disable automatic clipboard history capture
4. Cancel the Paste subscription: App Store → your account → Subscriptions → Paste → Cancel
5. Set Maccy's history size to 5,000+ in Maccy Preferences → History

Questions

Is Paste worth $30/year?

If you regularly paste between Mac and iPhone/iPad, yes — it solves a real workflow problem at a reasonable annual cost. If you work on Mac only, no — Maccy is free and functionally equivalent for Mac clipboard history.

Does Maccy have iCloud sync?

Yes — Maccy has optional iCloud sync for Mac-to-Mac clipboard history. It does not sync to iPhone or iPad.

What happened to Paste 3? Is it still available?

Paste 3 was the version before the subscription model. It is no longer sold. The current Paste requires a subscription (~$30/year). Maccy remains free.

Does Paste work on macOS Tahoe?

Yes. Paste is actively maintained and updated for each macOS version. Check the App Store for the current compatibility status.