The Best Clipboard Manager for Mac

18Dec

It’s hard to imagine using your Mac without copy-and-paste. Yet the default clipboard only holds one item—overwriting everything else you copy from the internet, documents, or apps.

Ever copied something important, gotten distracted, and lost it to the next copy? Or wanted to gather multiple items before pasting? If you’re like most Mac users, yes.

Apple’s Universal Clipboard shares content across iOS/macOS devices. Even macOS Tahoe’s basic Spotlight clipboard previews fall short on extended history and deep management.

That’s where third-party clipboard managers shine. Unlike the standard single-item clipboard, they store full histories of everything you’ve copied.

TL;DR: TheSweetBits Top Picks

A classic option: Paste
Lightweight & privacy‑first: Maccy
3-in-1 clipboard manager: Unclutter
A simple starter: CopyClip 2

How We Chose?

While choosing the best clipboard manager for Mac, we had a few factors in mind. They are:

Simple to use: We wanted a tool that you can easily use and manage. Of course, we were looking for innovative designs as well as the traditional menu-bar-based designs. We have also added clipboard apps that work flexibly.
Performance: The performance of the clipboard manager should be top-notch. It should be able to do copying and pasting in a second or less. If it takes more time, the whole purpose of having such a tool will go in vain.
Customization: As always, we love customizability within our coverage. So, we have chosen clipboard managers that offer a standard form of customization. For instance, you should be able to select the number of clipboard entries you want to display.
Integration with macOS and iCloud was also a consideration. The clipboard manager should have an easy way of multi-device syncing as well. Finally, using the tool should feel like using a built-in macOS feature — or at least near to that.

Best Clipboard Managers for Mac

With the factors above in mind, we have tested and here are the clipboard managers that topped our list.

A classic option: Paste

Paste should be your first option if you want a polished, full‑featured clipboard manager that feels native on macOS, iOS, and iPadOS. It handles everything from plain text and links to images and files, syncs seamlessly across your Apple devices, and now adds advanced search, collaboration, and AI‑assisted editing on top.

More importantly, Paste’s latest redesign introduces a Liquid Glass interface that looks and behaves like a first‑party app on macOS 26 Tahoe and iOS 26, while staying fast enough for heavy daily use. Altogether, Paste turns your clipboard history into a powerful workspace that can genuinely speed up writing, coding, research, and design tasks.

Intelligent, AI‑powered clipboard. Paste uses smart indexing to store everything you copy into organized boards, with rich previews for text, links, images, and documents. Recent updates also bring Apple Intelligence directly into Paste, so you can draft from scratch, proofread, rewrite, or refine existing clips without leaving the app, making it much easier to polish emails, documentation, and marketing copy you have already saved.
Power search and filters. The new Power Search takes clipboard search far beyond the system clipboard. It supports predictive suggestions as you type, smart filters by app, device, content type, and date, and image‑aware search.
Workflow and collaboration. You can build dedicated pinboards for code snippets, canned replies, social media assets, or research notes and recall them with custom shortcuts. Shared Pinboards now let you collaborate with teammates, share collections of snippets or prompts, and keep project‑specific clipboards in sync across multiple Macs and iOS devices.
Advanced Customization. Depending on your workflow, you can change the settings and features in the Paste package. For instance, there are options for pasting multiple items, pasting something as plain text, changing global hotkeys, and tweaking how long items stay in history.

Who Is It For?

Paste is ideal for professionals who manage a diverse collection of snippets: writers, designers, developers, students, and researchers who constantly copy text, media, and references between apps. It caters equally well to casual users who just want a nicer clipboard and to power users who rely on deep search, organized pinboards, and collaboration.

Why Yes?

Native, polished UI with powerful boards, search, and sync.
Handles all common clip types and now adds Apple Intelligence editing.
Strong workflow tools: pinboards, shared boards for teams.

Why No?

Subscription pricing is steep if you only need a simple history.
Heavier and more feature‑packed than minimalist clipboard utilities.

What’s the Price?

Paste is available on a subscription model, which costs you $3.99 per month or $29.99 per year. You should note that a single subscription gives you access to the iOS and iPadOS apps as well. Alternatively, you could get Paste via Setapp, a subscription service that gives you access to hundreds of macOS and iOS apps.

Lightweight & privacy‑first: Maccy

If you want a minimal, native‑feeling clipboard manager that stays out of the way, check out Maccy. It focuses on speed, keyboard control, and privacy, while remaining free, lightweight, and open‑source.

At the same time, Maccy offers several features that we only see in premium clipboard managers for Mac. Some of them are:

Keyboard-First UI. Maccy solves one of the biggest problems we have faced with other clipboard apps: too much dependency on the mouse/trackpad. This is because Maccy uses a keyboard-friendly User Interface. By pressing hotkeys, you can launch Maccy and control the clipboard entries.
Native Performance. Thanks to the no-fluff design and lower consumption of system resources, we think Maccy is super-fast. You wouldn’t know the difference if the program is running in the back or not.
Enough Customization. While not advanced as the other clipboard managers, Maccy also lets you customize it. For instance, you can enable a fuzzy search and paste without formatting. You can also control the history size and sorting options.

Why Yes?

Completely free and open-source
Amazing set of keyboard shortcuts
Lightweight and native performance
Keyboard-first design

Why No?

No integration/sync options
A slight learning curve

What’s the Price?

Maccy is completely free to use, as it comes with an open-source license. You can get the app from its official website and start using it for clipboard data management. We also noticed that Maccy receives regular bug fixes and updates, including the support for macOS Tahoe.

3-in-1 clipboard manager: Unclutter

Unclutter is not a dedicated clipboard manager for macOS. However, the app creates a nice, accessible space where you can store notes, essential files, and everything you copy to the clipboard. As you can guess, such a digital storage space comes with its benefits.

Unclutter helps you in a few ways, though. Instead of keeping track of clipboard entries, you can make your desktop space cleaner. There are also advanced features like multi-device sync.

Three Uses, One Tool. It’s so convenient to have three different tools at the convenience of a single space. Unclutter does a decent job of keeping all this content neat and accessible. Once you have given Unclutter the necessary permissions, it is ready to run.
Multi-Device Sync. Unclutter allows you to access everything you store on one device from another — using Dropbox Sync. This applies to both the notes and files you keep on the Unclutter tab, which is excellent if you use multiple Macs.
Full Control. Despite the simple design, Unclutter offers customization features in all its panes. You can, for instance, arrange your files and notes based on their name, date, or kind. There are also fully-fledged search functions within the sections.

Why Yes?

Three powerful utilities in one space
Intuitive User Interface and gesture support
Sorting and organizing options
Low system footprint

Why No?

No advanced features
Clipboard management is limited

What’s the Price?

Unclutter for Mac is available for a price of $19.99. You can purchase the app from the App Store as well. It’s also offering a free trial of the tool for a few days. You may want to check that out before committing to the full version.

A simple starter: CopyClip 2

CopyClip 2 is a popular, lightning-fast clipboard manager that runs discreetly from your Mac’s menu bar, storing everything you’ve copied for quick access.

It offers a simple interface with powerful search to find specific text snippets, pinning for favorites, editing capabilities, and customizable exclusions for certain apps. Touch Bar support on compatible MacBooks displays your history instantly, making it ideal for users who want basic clipboard management without complexity.

Customizable Design. You get to control many aspects of CopyClip 2, including the number of entries that appear on the menu-bar widget. You can also enable multiple pages if you want to access more entries. The powerful clipping engine can capture text and rich media-based entries with ease.
Easy Control. As we said in the introduction, CopyClip 2 focuses on usability other than anything else. Even when you have many clipboard entries, you can use the Search function or numbered hotkeys to find the desired entry quickly.
Additional Features. CopyClip 2 also brings an impressive set of features like an Enhanced Touch Bar menu, hotkey support for clipboard access, advanced productivity features, and powerful exceptions. Besides, CopyClip 2 offers regular updates.

Who Is It For?

We recommend CopyClip 2 to people who want to manage their clipboard entries with maximum comfort. Although the app comes with a customizable design and additional features, all of these are powered by an impressive User Interface. So, beginners and Pros alike would love CopyClip 2.

Why Yes?

Simple, menu‑bar‑only interface that’s easy to learn.
Quick access to recent clips with search, hotkeys, and pinning.
Good starter option if you don’t need advanced boards or AI features.

Why No?

Too simple for some people.
Subpar support for non-text entries.

What’s the Price?

CopyClip 2 for Mac is available for a one-time purchase fee of just $7.99. However, you can find a 7-day free trial from the official website of the app. Considering that you get regular updates after spending this $7.99, we think the price tag is affordable.

Honorable Mentions

Here goes a list of applications in our primary list but did not make it to the top. However, we do believe that they come with standard features and that you should check them out.

PastePal

PastePal is a strong alternative for Apple users who want a powerful, one‑time‑purchase clipboard manager instead of an ongoing subscription. It offers a modern, native interface, iCloud sync between Mac and iOS, and flexible ways to organize snippets, making it a great fit for users who like the idea of Paste‑style boards and filters but prefer to pay once and keep things local. It is best framed as “Paste‑like features without a subscription” for readers who value ownership and long‑term cost control.

CopyLess

CopyLess (particularly CopyLess 2) works well as the “full‑window power‑user” option, with a larger, more traditional windowed UI rather than a minimal overlay. It lets users browse a big history at a glance, pin important items, and quickly paste or drag clips into documents, which can be especially helpful for writers, developers, and support agents juggling lots of snippets. Compared to your main picks, it is less about design polish and more about giving heavy users a big, controllable clipboard dashboard.

CopyMagic

CopyMagic is a smart, AI-powered clipboard manager for macOS that lets you find anything you’ve copied by meaning rather than exact keywords—like typing “URL from Slack yesterday” to pull up the right item instantly. It offers semantic search, organizes clips by type/app/time, works fully offline with local-only privacy (no cloud or tracking), and uses a fast keyboard-first interface with pinning and app blacklists for sensitive data. With a free tier for basics and a one-time $39.99 lifetime upgrade for unlimited history, it’s perfect for heavy users who want advanced recall without subscriptions or bloat.

DoubleMemory

DoubleMemory can be presented as a niche option focused on deep history and fast recall for people who copy a huge volume of text each day. Its appeal is strongest for users who treat the clipboard like a searchable archive, rather than just a short‑term buffer, and who do not mind investing a bit of time to configure it. As an honorable mention, it works best as “for heavy clipboard users who need long‑term memory and are happy to tinker.”

Alfred or Raycast

Task launchers such as Alfred or Raycast are perfect to call out as “clipboard you might already have” rather than full replacements for dedicated tools. Their built‑in clipboard history is often good enough if you already use them for launching apps and running workflows, giving you quick access to recent clips with one shortcut. In your article, frame them as a free first step to try if a reader is already using a launcher, while noting that power users who need boards, search filters, or cross‑device sync will still be better served by a dedicated clipboard manager.

The Verdict

We hope you loved our improved coverage of the best clipboard managers for macOS. As you can see, most of these apps have some kind of counterparts for iOS devices. Because of this, you can get a complete clipboard management experience throughout your workflow. You may want to choose one of these apps if you use an iPhone or iPad alongside your Mac.

Now, when it comes to our personal recommendations, Paste for premium polish, Maccy for speed/privacy. Both shine on modern macOS + iOS workflows.

Read more for a new level of productivity:

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The Best Clipboard Manager for Mac (and iPad/iPhone)

TL;DR: TheSweetBits Top Picks

How We Chose?