The Best Clipboard Managers for Mac in 2026

Disclosure: we make EasyPaste, one of the apps below. We've tried to describe every option fairly, including the free ones, and we say where each is the better choice. Details were checked against each app's own website in September 2026. Features and prices change, so confirm on their sites.

What makes a good clipboard manager

Every clipboard manager does the same basic job: it saves what you copy so you can paste it later. They differ in a few ways that matter day to day:

• Speed to paste. A global shortcut, type to search, press Return, and it pastes into the app you're in.
• What it keeps. Text only, or images, files, colours and screenshots too? How much history, and can you pin favourites?
• Search. By text, by app, by type, and, for screenshots, by the words inside the image.
• Privacy. Local only, or synced? Does it skip passwords and secrets?
• Price model. Free, one-time, or subscription.

At a glance

Spotlight's clipboard history (built in)

Press ⌘ Space, then ⌘ 4, and Spotlight shows things you've copied recently, with search. It's free, already installed and needs no setup, which makes it the right starting point.

Choose it if you only occasionally need something you copied a few minutes ago. Skip it if you want snippets that stay put, organisation, or a one-step paste shortcut. Apple doesn't document how long it keeps items. See Spotlight clipboard history vs a clipboard manager.

Maccy

Maccy is a free, open-source clipboard manager (MIT licence) that describes itself as doing only one job. It lives in the menu bar, opens with a keyboard shortcut, and lets you type to filter your history and paste. It ignores items copied from password managers, uses a native macOS interface, and keeps its data on your Mac. It requires macOS Sonoma 14 or later.

Choose it if you want a fast text-focused history and don't want to pay. It's the one we'd recommend to anyone who just wants the basics. Look elsewhere if you want a visual board of images and screenshots, or extras like snippets and categories. (Maccy does read the text in images you copy, so they turn up in search.) Our Maccy vs EasyPaste comparison goes into detail.

Raycast

Raycast is a Spotlight replacement (a launcher) with a clipboard history built in. According to Raycast, it supports text, images, colours and links, and can keep history for up to three months.

Choose it if you already use Raycast, or want a launcher anyway. The clipboard history comes with it. Skip it if you don't want to replace Spotlight just to get a clipboard history.

Paste

Paste is a polished, visual clipboard manager for Mac, iPhone and iPad. Its headline feature is sync: your clipboard history follows you across devices through your own iCloud, and Paste says it never touches their servers. It offers unlimited history, search, pinboards for organising snippets, and rules to ignore passwords and sensitive apps. It's sold as a subscription with a 7-day free trial, and is also included in Setapp.

Choose it if cross-device sync matters to you. Skip it if you'd rather not pay a subscription or sync your clipboard anywhere.

EasyPaste

EasyPaste is our app: a visual clipboard history that keeps text, links, code, colours, images, screenshots and files, grouped by type and by the app they came from. It's designed around finding things again:

• Text inside images is searchable. Screenshots and copied images are read on your Mac using Apple's Vision framework, so searching for "invoice" finds the screenshot of the invoice.
• Screenshots are collected automatically from wherever macOS saves them.
• Several ways to paste: ⌃ ⌘ V opens the history in any app, ⌃ ⌘ 1–0 copies one of your ten most recent clips, and a shelf under the MacBook notch lets you drag clips into any window.
• Pins and categories keep the replies, links and colours you reuse one search away.
• Private by design: history stays in a folder on your Mac, the app makes no network connections, and passwords and API keys are skipped automatically.

Choose it if you work with lots of screenshots and images, and want everything offline. It's in review for the Mac App Store, with a 7-day free trial. Skip it if you need iPhone sync (EasyPaste doesn't sync), run an Intel Mac or a macOS version before Sonoma, or only need a plain text history (Maccy does that for free).

How to choose

1. Start with what's built in. If Spotlight's clipboard covers what you need, you're done.
2. Want a real history for free? Install Maccy, or see the other free and open-source clipboard managers.
3. Need it on your iPhone too? Paste.
4. Live in screenshots and want to search the text inside them, offline? EasyPaste.

Writing code all day? Our guide for developers covers what a clipboard manager should and shouldn't keep. Worried about privacy? Read are clipboard managers safe?

Frequently asked questions

Are clipboard managers safe?

They store everything you copy, so choose one that keeps data locally or in your own iCloud, skips password-manager items, and lets you pause capture. Avoid apps that upload your clipboard to a company server.

Do clipboard managers slow down a Mac?

Well-made ones use very little CPU. They check the clipboard for changes and store what's new. Image-heavy histories use some disk space, so look for one that caps or downsizes stored images.

Can I use a clipboard manager with Universal Clipboard?

Yes. When you copy on your iPhone and it appears on your Mac's clipboard, a Mac clipboard manager records it like any other copy.