Raycast Clipboard History Alternative (and Alfred's): Pasta vs Raycast
Facts about Raycast and Alfred checked October 17, 2026
Short answer: Raycast and Alfred are launchers with a clipboard history built in. If you already open everything from one of them, their history is right there: Raycast's comes free for personal use, and Alfred's is part of the paid Powerpack. Pasta is a clipboard manager on its own: it turns every copy into a labeled card, keeps your whole history, syncs it across your Macs and Windows PCs, and locks passwords and keys on your Mac. You can also use a launcher and Pasta side by side.
Full disclosure: we make Pasta. We've kept to what each app does, using Raycast's and Alfred's own sites and help pages for their side.
Side by side
| Raycast Clipboard History | Alfred Clipboard History | Pasta | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Included in Raycast's free plan for personal use | Part of the Powerpack, a one-time license (from £34) | 7 days free, no card; then $5 a month |
| What it is | One feature of a launcher | One feature of a launcher | A dedicated clipboard manager |
| Saves | Text, images, colors and links | Text, images and file links (you choose which) | Text, rich text, links, code, images and files |
| How long it keeps copies | Up to 3 months | 24 hours, 7 days, 1 month or 3 months | Unlimited by default, or 1 day to 1 year |
| Search | Type to filter, plus a content type filter | Type any word or phrase from the clip | As you type, forgives typos, plus similar cards |
| Labels | Content types (text, image, color, link) | None | Every copy labeled by what it is (nearly 8,000 kinds) |
| Keeping favorites | Pin entries to the top | Save clips as Snippets, with text expansion | No pins yet |
| Sync | No: copies stay on your Mac, encrypted | No: copies stay on your Mac | Macs and PCs, encrypted with your own key |
| Passwords | Ignores password manager copies and other transient data by default | Ignores Keychain Access, 1Password and concealed data by default; you can add more apps to ignore | Skips password managers; detects passwords and keys anywhere else and locks them on your Mac |
Prices and features change; check raycast.com and alfredapp.com for the latest.
What Raycast's clipboard history does well
- Free and already there. If you use Raycast, turn on the Clipboard History extension and give it a hotkey or alias.
- Private by default. Raycast says copied content never leaves your computer and is encrypted on your drive.
- Handy actions. Pin entries, filter by type, open links in the browser, and paste as plain or rich text.
- Part of a bigger toolkit. The same window launches apps, manages windows, runs extensions and more.
What Alfred's clipboard history does well
- Pay once. The Powerpack is a one-time license that also unlocks workflows, snippets and more.
- Snippets from clips. Press ⌘S on a clip to save it as a snippet, with automatic text expansion.
- Clipboard merging. Hold ⌘ and tap C twice to add the selection to your last copy.
- You choose what to keep. Pick which types to save, how long to keep them, a maximum clip size and apps to ignore.
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.
- A history that keeps everything. By default Pasta keeps all of it, for as long as you use it.
- Your history on every computer. Sign in on each Mac or Windows 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.
- Its own shortcut, right where you type. Press ⌘⇧V in any app and your history slides up as cards; select a few and press Enter to paste them all, one per line.
The privacy difference, plainly
Raycast and Alfred keep your clipboard history on your Mac. 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. Pasta's search runs on your Mac. The details are in Privacy and safety.
Which should you pick?
- Stay with Raycast or Alfred if you live in your launcher, a few months of history is plenty, and you use one Mac.
- Add Pasta if you want your whole history kept and labeled, if you work on more than one Mac (or a Mac and a PC), or if you want passwords and keys kept out of your history automatically.
Using Pasta with Raycast or Alfred
You can keep your launcher for everything else and use Pasta for the clipboard. If both save your copies, turn off the launcher's clipboard history so each copy is saved once. Pasta starts saving from the moment it's running; it doesn't import other apps' history. See Getting started.
FAQ
Is Raycast's clipboard history free?
Yes. Raycast's free plan for personal use includes all built-in extensions, Clipboard History among them.
Does Alfred have a clipboard history?
Yes, in the Powerpack. It's off by default for privacy: turn it on in Alfred's Preferences under Features → Clipboard.
How long do Raycast and Alfred keep clipboard history?
Raycast keeps it for up to 3 months. Alfred lets you choose 24 hours, 7 days, 1 month or 3 months. Pasta keeps everything by default.
How much does Pasta cost?
Pasta is free for 7 days with every feature and no card. After that it's $5 a month. See pricing.