Is Maccy free?
Short answer: yes, Maccy is completely free — and open source. No trial, no pro tier, no catch. Here is exactly what that means and how a free app like this stays alive.
Free as in free — and open source
Maccy costs nothing to download and use, on any number of Macs, forever. It is also open source under the permissive MIT license, which means more than “free”: you can read the source, audit how it handles your clipboard, fork it, and even ship modified copies. Free here is not a limited trial — it is the whole app.
Is there a paid version or a catch?
No. There is no “Pro” upgrade that unlocks the good features, no subscription, no ads, and no telemetry harvesting your data to monetise later. The version you download is complete.
The one nuance: Maccy is also offered on Setapp, a paid app-subscription bundle. That is simply another distribution channel; the standalone app from this site and Homebrew remains free. You do not need Setapp to get Maccy.
How does a free app stay alive?
Maccy is maintained in the open by its author and community contributors. It is funded by optional tips and donations, not by charging users or selling data. Because it is MIT-licensed and community-driven, it does not depend on a single company’s revenue to survive — the code is public and forkable.
Free vs paid clipboard managers
Paid apps like Paste (subscription) and Pastebot (one-time) add extras — cloud pinboards, paste sequences — that justify their price for some users. Maccy deliberately focuses on a fast, private history and gives that away for free. For most people that is the entire job. Compare them in Maccy pricing and Maccy vs Paste.
Bottom line
Maccy is free, open source, and complete. Trying it costs only the minute it takes to install — there is genuinely no catch.
The full answer
Yes. Maccy is completely free in every meaningful sense:
- No purchase required: the .dmg download at maccymanager.com is $0
- No subscription: there is no monthly or annual fee
- No feature paywalls: every feature is available without payment — search, pinning, regex, iCloud sync, app exclusion, images, all of it
- No in-app purchases: nothing inside Maccy costs money
- No ads: Maccy has no advertisements
- No account required: you do not sign up for anything
The MIT licence makes this permanent. Maccy cannot legally be made non-free by any future owner of the project, because the MIT licence, once granted, cannot be revoked.
Where to get the free version
The free version is the only version. Download from:
- Direct download (recommended): maccymanager.com/download — always the latest version, always free
- Homebrew:
brew install --cask maccy - GitHub releases: github.com/p0deje/Maccy/releases
The App Store version
Maccy has historically appeared on the Mac App Store with a small purchase price. This is because Apple charges developers a distribution fee, and some developers pass this cost through to users for App Store distribution. The direct download is always free. Only use the App Store version if your organisation requires all software to be installed via the App Store.
Setapp: is that free?
Maccy is included in Setapp, but Setapp itself is a paid subscription (~$9.99/month). If you do not already subscribe to Setapp, there is zero reason to subscribe just for Maccy — get the free standalone download instead.
How the developer sustains the project
Maccy is maintained as a passion project by Alex Rodionov. The project accepts voluntary GitHub Sponsors from users who want to support ongoing development. This is entirely optional and Maccy will never prompt you to donate. If Maccy saves you time every day, a small voluntary contribution supports future macOS compatibility and development.
Will it always be free?
The MIT licence provides a legal guarantee: the code that exists today can always be compiled and used for free. A future owner could publish a different version under a different licence, but the MIT-licensed version remains free forever. In practice, the project has been free since 2018 with no signs of commercialisation.