Mac clipboard managers compared
Thirteen of them, with what each one costs, the oldest macOS it still runs on, and what it keeps besides text. Then a second table of what each one says it can actually do. Every figure read off the vendor's own pages on one day, with the source next to it.
Last updated 1 November 2026
Three things the roundups have wrong
Most lists of Mac clipboard managers were written once and tidied since. Three facts that were true on 1 November 2026 and are missing from nearly all of them:
- Paste and Pastebot now need macOS 26 Tahoe. Pastebot says so on its own page. Paste's App Store listing reports 26.0 as its minimum. If your Mac cannot take Tahoe, the two best known paid options are not available to you at all, whatever a roundup says.
- The spread on a one time price is $7.99 to $99.99. Paste's lifetime licence is $99.99. Pastebot is $39, and that buys a year of updates, then $19 a year to keep them coming. CopyClip 2 is $7.99 for text only.
- Three of the thirteen read the text inside an image you copy. Paste, Raycast and Tucket. Everyone else says nothing about it. I had this wrong myself until I read past the marketing pages into the help documentation, which is where two of the three mention it.
| App | Price | What you pay | Oldest macOS | Keeps images and files | Reads text inside images | History on your other devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tucket | $10 | One payment, up to 3 Macs, every update included | 14 | Yes | Yes | No, every clip stays on the Mac |
| Alfred | £34, or £59 | One payment per major version. The £59 tier includes upgrades for life | 10.14 | Yes, text, images and file links | Not stated | Not stated for clipboard history |
| Clipy | Free | Open source, MIT licence | 13 | Yes, text, images and other formats | Not stated | Not stated |
| Copy 'Em | $14.99 | One payment | 14.5 | Yes, text, images, links and files | Not stated | Yes, iCloud, opt in |
| CopyClip | Free | Free | 12 | No, text only | Not stated | Not stated |
| CopyClip 2 | $7.99 | One payment | 12 | No, text only | Not stated | Not stated |
| Flycut | Free | Open source, MIT licence | 10.10 | No, text only | Not stated | Not stated |
| Maccy | Free, or $9.99 on the App Store | Open source, MIT licence. The paid build is a way to support it | 14 | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Paste | $2.49 a month, $29 a year, or $99.99 once | Subscription, or one payment for a lifetime licence | 26 | Yes, text, links, images, files and colours | Yes | Yes, iCloud, across Mac, iPhone and iPad |
| PastePal | Free download, with in app purchases | Free tier, paid upgrades | 17 | Not stated | Not stated | Yes, iCloud, opt in |
| Pastebot | $39 once, or $24.99 a year | The one payment covers a year of updates, then $19 a year to keep getting them | 26 | Yes, text and images | Not stated | Yes, iCloud between Macs |
| Raycast | Free tier, or Pro at $8 a month | Subscription. Clipboard History is in the free tier | Not stated | Yes, text, images, files, links, emails and colours | Yes | Not stated for clipboard history |
| Unclutter | $19.99 | One payment, lifetime licence | 10.13 | Not stated | Not stated | Files and notes only, not the clipboard |
How to read the table
Not stated means the vendor does not claim it. It does not mean the app cannot do it. Twelve apps were not installed and tested here. What was checked is what each one says about itself, on its own site, in its own help pages, and in its App Store listing. That is a narrower claim, and it is one that holds up.
I build Tucket, so weigh this accordingly. Tucket's row is tinted and sits first for that reason. Every other cell links out, so any line of it can be checked in a click, and the sources are listed below. If you find a cell that is wrong, email hello@arpitchandak.com and it gets fixed with the date changed.
Oldest macOS is the minimum the vendor publishes, as a major version. Clipy is the one row where two of a vendor's own sources disagree: its download site says macOS 13 and its GitHub README says macOS 14. The table follows the download site, since that is what somebody installing it reads.
If your Mac cannot run macOS 26
This is the part that moves people, and it has nothing to do with features. Paste and Pastebot both now require macOS 26 Tahoe, which rules out any Mac that Tahoe does not support, and any Mac whose owner has not upgraded yet.
What is left if you are on an older system, in order of how old they go: Flycut at macOS 10.10, Unclutter at 10.13, Alfred at 10.14, CopyClip and CopyClip 2 at 12, Clipy at 13, then Maccy and Tucket at 14, Copy 'Em at 14.5, and PastePal at 17. Of those, the ones that keep images and files as well as text are Alfred, Clipy, Copy 'Em, Tucket and Unclutter.
The three that read text inside images
Copy a screenshot of an error message, and most clipboard managers store a picture you will never find again. Three of these thirteen read the words out of it so you can search for them later.
- Paste calls it searching inside images, in its help pages. It needs macOS 26, and costs $2.49 a month, $29 a year, or $99.99 once.
- Raycast has a Text Recognition setting that pulls text out of copied images so they turn up in search. Clipboard History is in the free tier. Raycast is a launcher first, so you are adopting a much bigger app than a clipboard manager.
- Tucket does it on every image, runs on macOS 14, and is $10 once. It is also the only one of the three that keeps everything on the Mac with no sync at all.
Nobody else mentions it: not Pastebot, Alfred, Maccy, Clipy, Flycut, CopyClip, CopyClip 2, Copy 'Em, PastePal or Unclutter.
Two things worth knowing before you pick a free one
Some histories expire. Alfred lets you keep clips for 24 hours, 7 days, 1 month or 3 months, and its clipboard is switched off until you turn it on. Raycast's free tier tops out at 3 months as well, and 6 months, a year or unlimited are Pro. A history with a time limit is a different product from one that keeps everything, and the limit is rarely on the comparison page you read first.
Free and still maintained are two questions. Maccy and Clipy are both open source and actively worked on. Flycut is open source too, and its App Store build was last updated in December 2020, though its repository still sees commits.
Where each row came from
One line per app, so any cell can be traced without taking my word for it.
- Tucket — trytucket.com
- Alfred — alfredapp.com, and the Clipboard History page in Alfred help
- Clipy — clipy-app.com. Its GitHub README says macOS 14, so the two disagree
- Copy 'Em — App Store listing
- CopyClip — App Store listing
- CopyClip 2 — App Store listing, which describes text clippings throughout
- Flycut — App Store listing, last updated December 2020, and the GitHub repository
- Maccy — maccy.app and the GitHub README
- Paste — pasteapp.io/pricing, the Paste help pages, and the App Store listing
- PastePal — App Store listing
- Pastebot — tapbots.com/pastebot
- Raycast — The Clipboard History page in the Raycast Manual, and raycast.com/pricing
- Unclutter — unclutterapp.com and the App Store listing
What Tucket does that most of these do not
The table above is about price and fit. This one is about what each app says it can actually do. Every row is something Tucket does, and the right column names every one of the twelve whose own pages claim the same.
Seven of these thirteen rows, nobody else claims at all. That is the honest version of the pitch: not that Tucket is better at keeping a list of what you copied, which most of these do perfectly well, but that it treats a copy as a thing with a type, a note, a tag and a use, rather than a line in a history.
| What Tucket does | Of the other twelve, who says they do it too |
|---|---|
| Sorts each copy into its own place by type, as it lands | None of themPaste and Raycast let you filter one list down to a type, which is a different thing from arriving sorted. |
| Tags you add yourself, on top of the automatic ones | None of them |
| Brings a clip back at a time you choose | None of them |
| Lays a handful of copied images out as one board | None of them |
| Removes an image's background, in the clipboard | None of them |
| Finds a clip from Spotlight, without opening the app | None of them |
| Has a browser extension that sends copies straight in | None of them |
| Lets you write a note on a clip, and search it later | 1 of twelve: Pastebot |
| Reads the text inside an image you copy | 2 of twelve: Paste, Raycast |
| Keeps colours as their own kind of clip | 2 of twelve: Paste, AlfredPaste fills a tile with the colour. Alfred lists colour hex codes among the things its history holds. |
| Pastes several clips one after another | 4 of twelve: Paste, Pastebot, Raycast, Copy 'Em |
| Blocks passwords and keys before they are stored | 6 of twelve: Paste, Pastebot, Raycast, Alfred, Maccy, CopyClip 2 |
| Pins clips so they are never cleared | 7 of twelve: Paste, Pastebot, Raycast, Alfred, Maccy, CopyClip 2, Unclutter |
What Tucket does not do
Four reasons to buy something else, which are the same four whichever way you found this page.
- Nothing reaches your phone. There is no iPhone app and no sync, because nothing leaves the Mac by design. If you copy on a Mac and paste on an iPhone, buy Paste, Pastebot, Copy 'Em or PastePal instead.
- It needs macOS 14. On an older Mac, Flycut, Unclutter, Alfred, CopyClip and Clipy all go back further.
- There is no free tier. It is $10 or nothing, with a refund inside 10 days. Maccy, Clipy and Flycut are free and good.
- It is a clipboard manager, not a launcher. If you want one app for search, window management and clipboard, that is Raycast or Alfred, and the clipboard comes along with it.
Questions
Which Mac clipboard managers still run on macOS 14 or older?
Flycut (10.10), Unclutter (10.13), Alfred (10.14), CopyClip and CopyClip 2 (12), Clipy (13), and Maccy and Tucket (14). Copy 'Em needs 14.5, PastePal needs 17, and Paste and Pastebot both need macOS 26 Tahoe.
What can Tucket do that the other twelve cannot?
Of the twelve, none of their own pages claim any of these: sorting each copy into its own place by type as it lands, tags you add yourself, bringing a clip back at a time you choose, laying copied images out as one board, removing an image background, finding a clip from Spotlight, or a browser extension that sends copies straight in. Reading text inside images is shared with Paste and Raycast, and pasting several clips in order with Paste, Pastebot, Raycast and Copy ’Em.
What are the reasons not to buy Tucket?
Four. It never reaches your phone, because nothing leaves the Mac, so Paste, Pastebot, Copy ’Em and PastePal are the ones to look at for that. It needs macOS 14. There is no free tier, only $10 and a 10 day refund, while Maccy, Clipy and Flycut are free. And it is a clipboard manager rather than a launcher, so Raycast and Alfred are the ones that do everything else as well.
Which ones read the text inside a screenshot you copy?
Paste, Raycast and Tucket. Of the thirteen checked, no other vendor mentions reading text out of images anywhere on their own pages.
What is the cheapest one that keeps images and files, not just text?
Clipy, which is free and open source. Of the paid ones it is Tucket at $10 once, then Copy ’Em at $14.99 and Unclutter at $19.99. Alfred, Paste, Pastebot and Raycast all cost more, and Paste and Raycast are subscriptions unless you buy Paste’s $99.99 lifetime licence.
Which ones keep everything on the Mac, with no syncing?
Tucket by design, and the ones that do not advertise sync at all: Maccy, Clipy, Flycut, CopyClip and CopyClip 2. Paste, Pastebot, Copy ’Em and PastePal all sync over iCloud, and Unclutter syncs files and notes but not the clipboard.
How was this table checked?
On 1 November 2026, by reading each vendor’s own site, their help documentation where they have it, and their App Store listing through Apple’s lookup API. No app was installed and tested, so a cell saying Not stated means the vendor does not claim it rather than that the app cannot do it.
You build Tucket. Why should I trust this?
You should check it. Every other app in the table links to the vendor page the figures came from, each row lists its source, and the table carries the date it was checked. That is also why Tucket sits first and tinted rather than quietly placed where it wins.
Read a closer comparison
Three of these are written up one against one, in more detail than a table row allows, including who should stay where they are.
Or see what Tucket does, which is $10 once, runs on macOS 14, and keeps every copy on your Mac.