The Best Clipboard Managers for Mac in 2026

A clipboard manager saves everything you copy so you can paste it again later. macOS 26 now has a basic history in Spotlight, but it keeps copies for 7 days at most and only on one Mac. If you copy and paste all day, a dedicated manager is still one of the best small upgrades you can make. Here's how the main options compare in 2026, including ours.

What to look for

• How you open it: a shortcut that works in any app, and a panel that doesn't get in the way.
• Search: finding something from last week without scrolling.
• More than text: images, files and links with previews.
• Sync: whether your history follows you to your other Macs (or iPhone).
• Privacy: what happens to passwords you copy, and whether synced data is encrypted.
• Price: free, one-time purchase or subscription.

Pasta

Our app, so take this with a pinch of salt. Pasta turns every copy into a card labeled by what it is, from git commands and tracking numbers to Figma links, stack traces and recipes: nearly 8,000 kinds. You can search by words or by meaning ("that docker thing for the api"). Your history syncs across your Macs, encrypted with your own key. Passwords and API keys are caught and locked on your Mac, never synced. It's free for 7 days, then $5 a month or $48 a year, for macOS 13 and later.

Best for: people who copy a lot of different things and want them organized and private without doing any organizing.

Maccy

A lightweight, open-source clipboard manager with a fast keyboard-driven list and search. It's free to build yourself or download, with a paid App Store version that supports the developer. No sync and no labels, by design.

Best for: minimalists who want a quick, private list and nothing more.

Paste

A polished, long-running app with a visual timeline, pinboards for things you reuse, and sync across Mac, iPhone and iPad through iCloud. It's a subscription.

Best for: Apple-everything users who want their history on the iPhone too.

Raycast and Alfred clipboard history

If you already use one of these launchers, both include a clipboard history. Raycast's is part of the free app and stays on the Mac it was copied on (it isn't synced, even on paid plans); Alfred's needs the paid Powerpack. They're great if you live in your launcher, and more than you need if you don't.

Best for: people who already have Raycast or Alfred open all day.

Pastebot

A tidy clipboard manager from Tapbots with filters for reformatting text as you paste. It syncs between Macs and is sold as a one-time purchase or yearly.

Best for: writers and developers who clean up text a lot.

Flycut, Clipy and CopyClip

Simple, free options that keep a list of recent text copies in the menu bar. Flycut and Clipy are open source. Clipy hasn't seen an update in years, so check it runs well on your macOS version.

Best for: a no-frills text history at no cost.

macOS built-in (Spotlight)

On macOS 26 and later, press ⌘ Space, then ⌘ 4. It keeps copies for 30 minutes, 8 hours or 7 days, on one Mac, with no pinning. It's enough if you only ever need something from the last hour.

Comparison

Prices and features change; check each app's site for the latest.

Which one should you pick?

• You want it organized and private, on every Mac: Pasta.
• You want the simplest free list: Maccy.
• You need your history on an iPhone too: Paste.
• You already live in a launcher: Raycast or Alfred.
• You only need the last few minutes: the built-in Spotlight history.

New to all this? Start with how to see your clipboard history on a Mac or where the clipboard is on a Mac.