Free Clipboard Managers for Mac: Features and Limits (2026)

Shortlist by the job you need done: Maccy for a compact searchable list; Raycast if you already use its launcher; Paste It! for visual cards and separate folders. Flycut and the original CopyClip are options for text-focused workflows.

The right choice depends on what you need to recover: a text snippet, the words inside a screenshot, or several values you want to paste in order. This guide compares those jobs and explains what each app's free option includes.

Disclosure: we make Paste It!. The project is free and open source under the MIT license, including for commercial use. Its feature descriptions below refer to version 0.2.8. This is a documentation-based selection guide, not a ranked hands-on review. We have not measured these apps against one another for speed, memory use, or recognition accuracy.

First check whether macOS already does enough

On macOS Tahoe 26, press Command-Space, then Command-4, and enable clipboard history if prompted. Select a saved entry, press Command-C, return to your app, and paste. These are Apple's documented steps. If you only need recent copies, try that before installing anything.

For older macOS versions or a dedicated history panel, use an app below. Enabling history now cannot recover an earlier copy that nothing saved. See how to view clipboard history on Mac for the version-by-version walkthrough.

Free Mac clipboard managers compared

Sources checked September 23, 2026: Maccy's official site and 2.7.1 source, Raycast's Clipboard History manual, Paste It! 0.2.8, Flycut's repository, and FIPLAB's CopyClip version guide. The sections below link the evidence for important limits.

Maccy: a compact list for keyboard navigation

Maccy lets you open history, type to search, and choose an older item without navigating a large interface. Its usage guide documents copying, direct pasting, pasting without formatting, and pinning items. The official site currently requires macOS 14 or later.

It also handles image text: the 2.7.1 history-item implementation recognizes text with Apple Vision. OCR is therefore not a reason by itself to rule Maccy out. Compare how easily you can find and reuse your own screenshots.

Choose it when you want a compact searchable list with keyboard navigation. Start with maccy.app or the linked official releases. See Paste It! vs Maccy for the two-app comparison.

Raycast: use the history you may already have

Raycast's Clipboard History command stores text, images, and files. Enable Text Recognition to search words inside images. Its manual also documents Paste Sequentially, which steps backward through history from the newest item.

Free retention extends to three months; longer periods require Pro and must be selected in settings.

Choose it when you already use Raycast and these limits fit your work. If you need a four-month-old copy, the free retention window matters more than whether today's search works well.

Paste It!: visual history and folders on one Mac

Paste It! stores text, links, images, and file references locally. Press Shift-Command-V to open the panel, search for an old copy, select one card, and press Command-C. Return to your destination and press Command-V. It requires macOS 14 or later. Download the current Mac release.

Pinned clips and up to three custom folders keep reusable items together. Paste Stack, opened with Shift-Command-C, collects a queue for repeated pasting; you can change its direction or move an item to the next position. Automatic pasting requires Accessibility permission. See the feature overview and clipboard shortcut guide for the workflow.

Choose it when visual cards and folders fit your work on one Mac. Paste It! does not sync its history to iPhone. Official builds enable anonymous usage analytics by default; clipboard contents are excluded, and analytics can be disabled in Settings → Privacy. Details are in the privacy policy.

Agents can also search saved history through its optional local MCP server. See the MCP setup and tool-permission guide before connecting a client.

Flycut: a shortcut for saved text snippets

Flycut's official repository describes a text/code history workflow: copy snippets, then use Shift-Command-V to revisit them. The shortcut is configurable, and the app is MIT-licensed.

Choose it when your task is repeatedly pasting text and you want a small utility. For screenshot search, start with an option whose image recognition is documented. If you run several clipboard apps while comparing them, assign different shortcuts so one app does not intercept another's command.

CopyClip: the original free text-history app

The original CopyClip by FIPLAB is free and keeps copied text in a menu-bar list. FIPLAB explicitly says it does not store images or files, and that clipboard data stays on your Mac.

Choose it when a recent-text list is enough. Do not confuse it with CopyClip 2: FIPLAB lists search, pinned clips, and direct paste among that separate product's extra features in its version guide.

Decide which limitations matter to you

Start with history age and organization. If you already use Raycast, check whether its free retention covers how far back you actually search. For saved snippets, decide whether one list of pins is enough or separate folders would help. If an MIT license is a requirement, Maccy, Flycut, and Paste It! all qualify.

Check the paste order for form work. Raycast works backward from the newest history item; Paste It! collects new copies and lets you change queue direction. Do not assume every history app has an enabled queue: Maccy 2.7.1 has stack code behind a disabled feature flag, detailed in the Maccy comparison. If you copy name, email, then reference number, a newest-first sequence begins with the reference number. Choose the preparation method that matches your field order.

Keep image capture and image search separate. CopyClip's original text-only app cannot be the place you recover a copied screenshot. Maccy, Raycast, and Paste It! document image text recognition, but that alone does not establish equal recognition quality for small or blurry text.

Check your shortlist with the same sample content

Use harmless sample content for these checks. They are a repeatable selection exercise, not results from a cross-app benchmark.

These exercises are for evaluating your shortlist; they are not results from tests performed for this article.

When you need history on another device

If all you need is to copy something on an iPhone and paste it immediately on your Mac, Apple's Universal Clipboard may be enough. Sharing the current copy is different from syncing a searchable history library. For that second need, read Paste It! vs Paste.

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Want to try a visual history panel? Download Paste It! for Mac. For a specific task, start with finding screenshots by their text or pasting without formatting.