# Maccy vs Paste Published January 1, 2026 · Updated August 10, 2026 Maccy and Paste are both clipboard managers on a Mac, so the pick depends on workflow. Default to Maccy. Upgrade to Paste only for Pinboards + iCloud multi-device history you will actually use every day. As of October 2026, both install with brew install --cask maccy and brew install --cask paste. Maccy wins free local keyboard workflows; Paste wins paid multi-device visual workflows. August 2026 pricing makes Paste less impulse-buy than older annual rates, which actually clarifies the fork: if you will not use iPhone/iPad clipboard history, do not pay, install Maccy. If clipboard continuity is part of your Apple workflow, Paste still earns its keep. ## Head to head | Factor | Maccy | Paste | | --- | --- | --- | | Price | Free | Paid | | Open Source | Yes | No | | Replaces | Paste ($30) | — | | Best for | clipboard, productivity, menu bar | clipboard, clipboard manager, productivity | | Install | brew install --cask maccy | brew install --cask paste | | Category | System Utilities | System Utilities | ## Maccy Lightweight clipboard manager for macOS Install: `brew install --cask maccy` [Maccy on Bundl](https://bundl.run/apps/maccy) ## Paste Limitless clipboard Install: `brew install --cask paste` [Paste on Bundl](https://bundl.run/apps/paste) ## Features - **Interface Design.** Paste wins for users who prefer visual recognition, while Maccy is superior for those who want a zero-distraction, text-focused utility. - **Search Functionality.** Maccy is faster for keyboard search; Paste is better for discovery through filters and visual cues. - **Organization & Pinning.** Paste's Pinboards offer a level of organization that Maccy’s simple pinning cannot match. - **Performance & Footprint.** Maccy is the clear winner for performance, offering a near-zero impact on system resources. - **Cross-Device Sync.** Paste is the only choice if you require your clipboard history to follow you across different Apple devices. - **Customization.** Maccy offers more technical 'under-the-hood' tweaks for power users who want to customize every interaction. - **Security & Privacy.** Maccy's open-source nature and local-only storage provide a higher tier of verifiable security for sensitive environments. - **Ease of Use.** Paste's visual and intuitive design makes it much more accessible for the average user. ## FAQ ### Does Maccy work on iPhone or iPad? No, Maccy is a macOS-exclusive utility. It is designed specifically to integrate with the Mac operating system and does not have a companion app for iOS or iPadOS. If you need your clipboard history to sync between your computer and your mobile devices, you should consider an alternative like Paste, which uses iCloud to keep your data synchronized across the entire Apple ecosystem. ### Is Paste really free to use? Based on current data, Paste offers a free version, but historically it has been a subscription-based application. Users can often access a trial version for free, but continued use of premium features like Pinboards and cross-device sync usually requires a monthly or annual subscription. However, it is included in the Setapp subscription service, which many Mac users already pay for, effectively making it free for those users. ### How many items can Maccy store in its history? Maccy allows you to customize the size of your history in its settings. By default, it stores 200 items, but you can increase this number significantly (to 1,000 or more) depending on your needs. Because Maccy is very efficient with memory, even a large history of text-based items will not noticeably impact your system performance. However, storing thousands of large images may eventually use more disk space. ### Can I search for images inside Paste? Yes, Paste is excellent for image search. While it cannot 'read' the content inside an image using OCR (unless integrated with system-level Live Text), it allows you to filter your history by the 'Images' type. This, combined with its large visual previews, makes finding a specific graphic or screenshot much faster than in a text-based manager like Maccy, where images are often represented by generic filenames or icons. ### Does Maccy support 'Ignore' for password managers? Yes, Maccy has built-in privacy features that allow it to ignore data copied from specific applications. By default, it is configured to ignore sensitive data from popular password managers like 1Password, Bitwarden, and the macOS Keychain. This prevents your passwords or sensitive credentials from being stored in your plain-text clipboard history, which is a critical security feature for many professional users. ### Which app is better for a professional writer? This depends on the writer's style. For writers who focus purely on text and use Markdown or LaTeX, Maccy is often better because its search is faster and it doesn't distract from the writing environment. However, for content creators or bloggers who manage images, links, and formatted snippets alongside their text, Paste’s visual Pinboards are superior for keeping research and assets organized by project or chapter. ### Can I export my clipboard history from Maccy or Paste? Paste has more solid export features, allowing you to share items or save them to Pinboards that act as a permanent archive. Maccy is more transient; while you can copy items back to the clipboard to use them elsewhere, it isn't designed as a long-term storage or export tool. If you need to move your data between apps or export it for backup, Paste’s structured approach is more helpful. ### Do these apps slow down my Mac? Neither app should significantly slow down a modern Mac. Maccy is particularly lightweight and has almost zero impact on system resources. Paste uses slightly more memory due to its visual previews and background sync, but it is a native Swift app and is very well-optimized. On older machines with limited RAM, Maccy would be the safer choice to ensure the system remains responsive during heavy workloads. ### Can I use both Maccy and Paste at the same time? Technically, yes, you can run both simultaneously, but it is not recommended as they would both be trying to record every clipboard action. This would result in duplicate entries and unnecessary resource consumption. It is better to trial both and choose the one that fits your workflow. Most users find that once they commit to either the minimalist list (Maccy) or the visual shelf (Paste), they don't need the other. ### Is Maccy or Paste better for coding? Most developers prefer Maccy. Coding involves frequent copying of short text strings, shell commands, and variable names. Maccy’s fuzzy search allows a developer to find these tiny snippets with a few keystrokes without ever touching the mouse. The ability to ignore formatting is also helpful in coding. Paste is usable for code, but its visual overhead is often considered unnecessary for text-heavy programming tasks. ## Sources - [Maccy official site](https://maccy.app/) - [Maccy on GitHub](https://github.com/p0deje/Maccy) - [Maccy on the Mac App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/maccy/id1527619437?mt=12) - [Paste pricing](https://pasteapp.io/pricing) - [Paste product home](https://pasteapp.io/) - [Paste for Mac](https://pasteapp.io/mac) - [Best clipboard manager for Mac 2026 - Paste blog](https://pasteapp.io/blog/best-clipboard-manager-for-mac) ## Related - [CopyQ vs Maccy](https://bundl.run/compare/copyq-vs-maccy) - [Paste vs CopyQ](https://bundl.run/compare/paste-vs-copyq) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://bundl.run/#organization", "name": "Bundl.run", "url": "https://bundl.run", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://bundl.run/og-image.png", "width": 1200, "height": 630 }, "description": "The Ninite for Mac. 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