Maccy Alternative with Sync and Smart Labels: Pasta vs Maccy
Facts about Maccy checked October 17, 2026
Short answer: Maccy is a free, open-source clipboard manager that does one job, keeping a fast, searchable list of what you copied, and keeps everything on your Mac. Pasta turns every copy into a labeled card, syncs your history across your Macs and Windows PCs, and locks passwords and keys on your Mac. If you want a simple free list on one Mac, Maccy is a great pick. If you want your history organized and with you on every computer, try Pasta.
Full disclosure: we make Pasta. We've kept to what each app does, using Maccy's own site and source code for its side.
Side by side
| Maccy | Pasta | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free and open source (MIT); a paid Mac App Store version supports the developer | 7 days free, no card; then $5 a month |
| Runs on | macOS 14 Sonoma and later | macOS 13 and later, Windows 10 and 11 |
| Open it | ⇧⌘C or the menu bar icon | ⌘⇧V (Ctrl+Shift+V on Windows) or its menu bar icon |
| Looks like | A compact native menu list | A row of cards with previews |
| Saves | Text, images and files (you choose which) | Text, rich text, links, code, images and files |
| History size | 200 items by default, adjustable | Unlimited by default, or 1 day to 1 year |
| Search | Exact, fuzzy, regex or mixed | As you type, forgives typos, plus similar cards |
| Labels | None, by design | Every copy labeled by what it is (nearly 8,000 kinds) |
| Pinning | Pin items to the top with their own shortcut | No pins yet |
| Sync | No: everything stays on your Mac | Macs and PCs, encrypted with your own key |
| Passwords | Skips copies marked concealed or temporary, and 1Password copies by default | Skips password manager copies; detects passwords and keys anywhere else and locks them on your Mac |
Features change; check maccy.app for the latest on Maccy.
What Maccy does well
- It's free and open. Maccy is MIT-licensed, with its full source code on GitHub, where it has more than 20,000 stars. You can install it with
brew install maccyor buy it on the App Store to support the developer. - It stays out of the way. A small native list that opens in a fraction of a second. Type, press Enter, done.
- Everything stays on your Mac. Nothing is sent anywhere, because there's no account and no sync.
- Lots of keyboard control. Pin items with their own shortcuts, paste without formatting, pick a search mode including regex, and tune what gets ignored.
What Pasta adds
- Cards that know what they are. A git command, a tracking number, a Figma link and a stack trace each get their own label, and links show the page's title and preview. You can search by those labels.
- Your history on every computer. Sign in on each Mac or PC and your history follows you, encrypted on your computer with your own key before it leaves.
- Secrets caught anywhere. Beyond skipping password managers, Pasta spots passwords, API keys and tokens wherever you copy them and locks them on that Mac. They're never labeled, synced or sent.
- A history that keeps everything. By default Pasta keeps all of it. When you're signed in, older images move to the cloud, encrypted, so your disk stays light.
- Several cards at once. Select a few and press Enter to paste them in one go, one per line.
The privacy difference, plainly
Maccy never sends what you copy anywhere. Pasta's labels and link previews come from our server: while you're signed in, the text of each copy (up to 4,000 characters, with emails, phone numbers and link query strings removed) goes to our server for labeling, and nothing is stored or logged there in readable form. Detected secrets are never sent, and signed out, nothing is. Search runs on your Mac in both apps. The details are in Privacy and safety.
Which should you pick?
- Pick Maccy if you use one Mac, want a free and open-source app, and like a plain list you can drive from the keyboard.
- Pick Pasta if you copy lots of different things and want them labeled and easy to find, if you work on more than one Mac (or a Mac and a PC), or if you want passwords kept out of your history automatically.
Switching from Maccy to Pasta
Both can run at the same time while you try Pasta, though they'll both save each copy. Pasta starts saving from the moment it's running; it doesn't import Maccy's history. When you're ready, quit Maccy and remove it from Login Items. See Getting started.
FAQ
Is Maccy free?
Yes. Maccy is open source under the MIT license and free to download or install with Homebrew. There's also a paid version on the Mac App Store that supports its developer.
Does Maccy sync between Macs?
No. Maccy keeps your history on the Mac you copied on. Pasta syncs across your Macs and Windows PCs, encrypted.
Is Pasta free?
Pasta is free for 7 days with every feature and no card. After that it's $5 a month. See pricing.
Is Pasta related to Maccy?
No. They're separate apps by different developers.