Top 10 clipboard managers for Mac (2026)

Comparisons By Updated June 2026 · 6 min read

We compared the major Mac clipboard managers — free and paid — on speed, features, privacy, and price. Here are the top 10 in 2026, ranked, with who each one is for.

Editor’s pick: Maccy for most people (free, open source, fast, private). Premium pick: Paste. Power pick: Pastebot.

How we ranked them

Try Maccy freeFree • Open source • macOS 14+ • ~8 MB
⌘⇧C clipboard history

We weighted everyday usefulness: capture reliability, search speed, privacy (local storage, password-manager safety), native feel, maintenance, and value for money. Niche power features matter, but only after the basics are excellent.

The top 10

1. Maccy — best overall (free)

Native, open source, instant search, pinning, password-manager safety, near-zero footprint, $0. The default recommendation. Full review.

2. Paste — best premium

Beautiful, with cloud pinboards and iOS sync. Subscription. Best if you reuse curated snippets across devices. Maccy vs Paste.

3. Pastebot — best for power pasting

One-time purchase with paste filters and sequences. For people who script their pastes. Maccy vs Pastebot.

4. Raycast — best if you use the launcher

Clipboard history inside a capable launcher. Convenient if Raycast is already home base. Maccy vs Raycast.

5. Alfred — best for workflow nerds

Clipboard history via the paid Powerpack, alongside deep workflows and snippets. Maccy vs Alfred.

6. PopClip — best for selection actions

Not a pure history app — it pops up actions when you select text, with clipboard extensions available. Maccy vs PopClip.

7. Flycut — minimal developer clip stack

Free and open source, text-only, very simple. Maccy vs Flycut.

8. Clipy — snippet menus

Free, classic, good for nested snippet menus; dated UI and quiet updates.

9. CopyClip — simplest free menu-bar list

Free and dependable for the basics; lacks search, pinning, and open source.

10. Jumpcut — the classic ancestor

The venerable free clip buffer many others descend from. Legacy, but still works for plain text.

Quick guide

  • Want the best free, private, no-fuss option? → Maccy.
  • Cloud pinboards across devices? → Paste.
  • Scripted pastes? → Pastebot.
  • Already in Raycast/Alfred? → use their built-in history.

For the deeper free-only list, see best free clipboard manager for Mac; for the overall pick, best clipboard manager for Mac.

The complete ranked list

Ranked by overall value for 2026: features, price, maintenance, and macOS Tahoe compatibility.

  1. Maccy — Best overall. Free, open source, fastest, regex search. Download free.
  2. Paste (~$30/yr) — Best if you need iPhone/iPad sync. Beautiful UI, OCR search.
  3. CleanClip ($12.99 once) — Best visual panel, cursor-adjacent. Good one-time buy.
  4. Raycast clipboard (Pro $96/yr) — Best if you already use Raycast for other features.
  5. Alfred clipboard ($42 Powerpack) — Best if you need text expansion alongside clipboard.
  6. OneTap (~$25/yr) — Best for Mac+iPhone+iPad+visionOS cross-device clipboard.
  7. PastePal (~$25 once) — Best visual collections without subscription.
  8. CopyClip 2 (~$8.99) — Best Mac App Store–only clipboard manager (text only).
  9. macOS Tahoe built-in — Best for zero-install, occasional use (Tahoe only).
  10. Flycut (free) — Only if you cannot use Maccy for some reason. Unmaintained since 2019.

The verdict on pricing tiers

Free tier: Maccy wins outright. No other free option is close.

One-time purchase: CleanClip ($12.99) for visual UX; PastePal (~$25) for collections.

Subscription: Paste (~$30/yr) if you need iPhone sync; skip subscriptions for Mac-only use.

Bundled (Setapp): Maccy and CleanClip are both on Setapp — check your subscription for what is included.

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Frequently asked

What is the best clipboard manager for Mac?

Maccy is our overall pick for most people: free, open source, fast, and private. Paste is the best premium option and Pastebot is best for scripted paste workflows.

Are there good free clipboard managers for Mac?

Yes. Maccy leads the free field, with Flycut, Clipy, CopyClip, and Jumpcut as simpler free options. Maccy is the most capable and best maintained of them.

Keep reading

Try Maccy free

Open-source, private, and featherweight. No account, no telemetry.