October 2026 · Two-Way Editorial Comparison

Alfred vs Raycast: Clipboard History and Recent Files, Not Just Search

Most Alfred-vs-Raycast posts compare the two as general launchers. We narrowed it to the one job a lot of people actually install either for: keeping a usable clipboard history and finding what you worked on recently. The real retention limits surprised us.

By Gowtham V · Founder & Lead Developer, 1dot.ai

Alfred 5.8.1 · Raycast v2.9·Checked Oct 27, 2026·11 min read

Direct answer

Raycast is the better pick for clipboard history and recent files for most people, because both are included on its free plan. Alfred has no free clipboard history at all; you pay £34 to £59 for the Powerpack just to turn it on, and even then it caps at three months, the same ceiling Raycast offers for nothing. Alfred also has no built-in recent-files view of any kind, official or otherwise, while Raycast shows recently used files automatically when you open File Search with an empty query. Alfred pulls ahead only if you already own Powerpack for its deeper automation features and do not want to add a second subscription on top.

Quick verdict: Raycast wins clipboard history and recent files on cost (free vs. paid) and on features (more content types, OCR search, a built-in recent-files view). Alfred only wins if you have already bought Powerpack for other reasons, since its clipboard history is then a solid, fully local feature at no extra cost. Neither app actually solves the narrower problem of seeing a recent item the instant you press a hotkey with zero menu navigation, which is covered in the closing section.

Editorial disclosure: 1dot.ai publishes this article and also makes Recento, mentioned in the final section below. We have a financial interest in Recento, which you should factor into your reading. Alfred and Raycast are described here as accurately and fairly as we can manage, including naming where each one wins outright over the other. Verify current pricing and features on each vendor's own site before deciding.

Alfred vs Raycast: Clipboard & Recent Files Comparison Table

Feature	Alfred	Raycast
Clipboard history on free tier	None	Yes, up to 3 months
Cost to unlock clipboard history	£34 (Single) or £59 (Mega Supporter), one-time	$0 for up to 3 months
Maximum retention (free)	N/A, no free clipboard history	3 months
Maximum retention (paid)	3 months (no higher tier)	Unlimited (Pro/Plus/Max, selected manually)
Clipboard content types	Text, images, file links	Text, images, files, links, emails, colors
Searchable text inside copied images (OCR)	No	Yes, with Text Recognition enabled
Merge-paste / append clips	Yes (Cmd + double-tap C)	No equivalent documented
Built-in recent files view	None (community Workflow only, Powerpack required)	Yes, empty-search File Search view
Pricing model	Free launcher + one-time Powerpack	Free plan + monthly/annual Pro, Plus, Max
Clipboard sync across Macs	No (clipboard stays local)	No (Cloud Sync excludes clipboard history)
Version checked	5.8.1, Build 2349 (Sep 24, 2026)	v2.9 (Oct 22, 2026)

Figures reflect each vendor's own help pages, changelog, and pricing page as of October 20, 2026. Pricing and free-tier limits change; verify current details on Alfred's and Raycast's own sites before deciding.

Why This Comparison Exists

Search "Alfred vs Raycast" and you get a dozen posts covering the same ground: app launching speed, extension counts, the Workflow editor versus the extension store, which one feels snappier. All of that is useful if you are choosing a general-purpose launcher. None of it answers a narrower question a lot of searchers actually have: I just want somewhere to find what I copied a minute ago and what file I had open yesterday. Does either app do that well, and what does it actually cost to get there?

A note on scope. This piece narrows deliberately to clipboard history and recent files, the two features closest to what a dedicated overlay app does. If you want the full launcher-vs-launcher picture, including Spotlight as a third option, see Spotlight vs Raycast vs Alfred. If you have already picked one of these two and want to know whether a dedicated recent-files overlay is worth running alongside it, see Recento vs Raycast and Recento vs Alfred. This article is neither of those. It is Alfred vs Raycast, head to head, on clipboard and recent files alone.

Versions and dates checked. Alfred 5.8.1, Build 2349 (released September 24, 2026, per Alfred's own changelog), and Raycast v2.9 (released October 22, 2026, per Raycast's own changelog). Pricing, retention limits, and feature details were checked directly against alfredapp.com's Clipboard History help page, Powerpack and license-types pages, and Raycast's pricing page and Clipboard History and Cloud Sync manual pages on October 20, 2026, and re-checked on October 27, 2026, sourced at the end of this article, not pulled from an older comparison or from memory.

Table of Contents

Comparison Table
At a Glance
Axis 1: What's Actually Free
Axis 2: Maximum Retention, Paid or Not
Axis 3: Content Types, Search, and Workflow
Axis 4: Recent Files, Without a Search Box
Axis 5: Pricing for This Job Specifically
Axis 6: Privacy: Local vs Cloud
What Neither One Does
Which One Should You Choose?
FAQ

Alfred vs Raycast at a Glance

Alfred

5.8.1, Sep 2026

A universal launcher with deep file search built in. Clipboard history is a Powerpack-only feature, off by default, capped at three months even once unlocked. No built-in recent-files view.

Free launcher, £34-59 one-time Powerpack for clipboard history and Workflows.

Raycast

v2.9, Oct 2026

A hotkey command center whose free plan already includes clipboard history (up to 3 months) and an empty-search Recent Files view inside File Search.

Free plan, or $10-50/month for Pro, Plus, or Max, mainly for longer clipboard retention and AI credits.

Axis 1

What's Actually Free

Alfred: Nothing, for clipboard history specifically. Alfred's own help page describes Clipboard History as a Powerpack feature, disabled by default even once purchased, and turned on manually under Preferences > Features > Clipboard. There is no trial and no limited free version of this one feature. You can use Alfred for years as a free app launcher and never see a clipboard history at all.

Raycast: Clipboard history ships on the free plan with no purchase required: four retention lengths to choose from (1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months), full text/image/file support, pinning, renaming, and type filtering. Raycast's free plan is also where its File Search command's empty-search Recent Files view lives, so both halves of this comparison cost nothing on Raycast.

Best on this axis: Raycast, clearly. You get a working clipboard history and a recent-files view for $0. Alfred gives you neither until you pay £34 or more.

Axis 2

Maximum Retention, Paid or Not

Alfred: Even after buying Powerpack, Alfred's clipboard retention tops out at three months, chosen from a dropdown with four options: 24 hours, 7 days, 1 month, or 3 months. There is no "forever" or "unlimited" setting anywhere in Alfred's own documentation, at any price.

Raycast: Three months on the free plan, same ceiling as Alfred's paid maximum. Raycast Pro, Plus, and Max then go further: 6 months, 1 year, or Unlimited, selected manually from the same settings dropdown. Paying for Pro does not apply the longer window automatically; you still choose it yourself.

Best on this axis: Raycast. Its free tier matches Alfred's paid ceiling, and its paid tiers go further than Alfred offers at any price. Alfred has no answer to "unlimited" even for Powerpack owners.

Axis 3

Content Types, Search, and Workflow

Alfred: Text, images, and file links, with search-as-you-type filtering, merge-paste (hold Cmd and double-tap C to append a clip to what you last copied), and a shortcut to save any clip straight to a Snippet (Cmd+S). Deleting works through typed commands: type "clear" to erase the last 5 minutes, 15 minutes, or everything.

Raycast: Text, images, files, links, emails, and colors, a wider type list than Alfred's. Multiple items copied at once are grouped as a single entry. You can pin an item (Cmd+.), rename it for easier searching (Cmd+E), and filter by type (Cmd+P). With Text Recognition on, Raycast even indexes text inside copied images, so a screenshot of a receipt becomes searchable by the words in it.

Best on this axis: Raycast, on breadth of content types and on OCR-based search inside images, which Alfred has no equivalent for. Alfred's merge-paste and direct-to-Snippet shortcut are genuinely convenient, just narrower in scope.

Axis 4

Recent Files, Without a Search Box

Alfred: Nothing official. Alfred's documented File Navigation starts you at a root or home folder and has you narrow down by typing, which is search, not browsing. The only way to get an actual recent-files list in Alfred is to install an unofficial community Workflow, such as "Recent Files" or "Quick File Access" from the public Alfred Workflows gallery, built by individual users rather than Alfred's own developer, and Workflows themselves require the paid Powerpack to run in the first place.

Raycast: Partial, but real. Open the File Search command and leave the search field blank, and Raycast shows your Recently Used files automatically, no typing needed at that point. It still takes a hotkey press plus selecting the File Search command, so it is a couple of steps short of one keystroke to a recent-files list, but it ships out of the box with no extension or Workflow required.

Best on this axis: Raycast, because it has an official answer at all. Alfred's gap here is the single biggest surprise of this comparison: a launcher this mature, with this much file-search depth, has never shipped its own recent-files view.

Axis 5

Pricing for This Job Specifically

Alfred: The core app is free, but that free tier gets you zero clipboard history and zero recent files. To get either, you buy Powerpack: £34 for a Single License tied to your current major version, or £59 for a "Mega Supporter" license with free upgrades to every future major version. Alfred's shop lists both as a single payment with no billing period, and its license-types page describes no renewal.

Raycast: Free, if three months of clipboard retention and the empty-search Recent Files view are enough. Longer retention (6 months, 1 year, unlimited) requires a subscription: Pro at $10/month or $96/year, Plus at $20/month or $192/year, or Max at $50/month or $480/year, each bundling other features (AI credits, Cloud Sync for snippets and settings) you may not want just for clipboard history.

Best on this axis: it depends on your retention needs. For three months or less, Raycast is free and Alfred costs £34 minimum. For longer than three months, Raycast is the only option: Alfred stops at three months even with Powerpack, so the choice becomes Raycast Pro at $96 a year or living with the three-month limit.

Axis 6

Privacy: Local vs Cloud

Alfred: Fully local, with no account required for clipboard history or file search. Powerpack's optional preference sync works through a folder you choose in Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud Drive or OneDrive, not through Alfred's own servers, and Alfred's sync help page lists clipboard history data among the things it does not sync.

Raycast: Clipboard history stays on the Mac on every plan. Raycast's Cloud Sync manual lists Clipboard History under data that "always stays on your device," so Pro does not upload it. What Pro's Cloud Sync does carry to Raycast's servers is other content: snippets, quicklinks, Raycast Notes, AI chats and some settings. A Raycast account is required for that, and Raycast AI sends prompts to model providers.

Best on this axis: a tie for clipboard data. Neither app syncs clipboard history between Macs or uploads it, on any plan. If you also want nothing else leaving the Mac, Alfred with no sync folder set is the simpler setup.

What Neither One Does

This is the honest gap, not a sales pitch. Alfred and Raycast are both search-first, general-purpose launchers at heart, even in the clipboard and files corner of what they do. Neither is built around a different, narrower problem: instantly seeing what you had open or copied a minute ago and dragging it somewhere, with no typing and no menu navigation at all.

What a reader might want	Why neither one covers it
A recent-files list the instant you press one hotkey, with zero menu or command selection	Raycast still requires opening the File Search command first. Alfred has no built-in path to this at all.
Recent screenshots treated as their own category	To both Alfred and Raycast, a screenshot is just a file in whatever folder it landed in, mixed in with everything else.
Dragging a clipboard item or recent file straight into the window behind the overlay	Alfred and Raycast both open, paste, or reveal a result. Neither is built around a drag target that floats over your active window.
Clipboard history and recent files with no purchase and no subscription	Raycast's free tier covers three months, which is generous, but a reader who specifically wants a permanent, no-asterisk free tier for both is choosing between Raycast's free cap and paying something, one way or another.

Which One Should You Choose?

Start from whether you already own one of these two for other reasons, not from a feature count. Here is the honest breakdown by scenario:

You want clipboard history and recent files for $0, no purchase at all

Raycast

Three months of clipboard retention and the empty-search Recent Files view both ship on the free plan. Alfred gives you neither without buying Powerpack first.

You need clipboard history kept longer than three months

Raycast Pro (subscription)

Alfred stops at three months even with Powerpack. Raycast Pro, Plus and Max add 6 months, 1 year or Unlimited, which you pick by hand in settings. Neither app offers longer retention for a one-time price.

You already own Alfred Powerpack for other reasons (Workflows, file actions)

Alfred

If you have already paid for Powerpack, its clipboard history is a solid, fully local feature with merge-paste and direct-to-Snippet saving. No reason to pay for Raycast Pro on top just for clipboard alone.

You want copied text inside screenshots to be searchable

Raycast

Text Recognition indexes text inside copied images. Alfred's clipboard history has no equivalent OCR-based search.

You constantly need the file, screenshot, or clipboard item from a minute ago, with no typing and no command selection

Neither, add a dedicated overlay alongside whichever you pick

This is a narrower, browsing-first problem neither app is built around. See the honest note on this below before deciding whether it applies to you.

The honest verdict

Raycast is the better default for clipboard history and recent files, because both work for free and Raycast's feature set is wider (more content types, OCR search inside screenshots, an actual recent-files view). Alfred only pulls ahead for someone who has already paid for Powerpack for its other strengths, Workflows and deep file search chief among them, and would rather use what they already own than add a Raycast Pro subscription on top. Neither tool is built for a third job some readers actually came here for: seeing the file, screenshot, or clipboard item from a minute ago the instant you press a hotkey, with no typing, no command selection, and no menu to open first. Raycast's empty-search Recent Files view gets closer than Alfred's complete lack of one, but it still takes selecting a command first. For readers who hit that specific friction daily, a dedicated overlay like Recento (free, or $19.99 one-time for the lifetime tier, made by 1dot.ai, the publisher of this article) is worth running alongside whichever of Alfred or Raycast you pick, not instead of it. If that friction does not sound familiar, Raycast's free plan is probably all you need.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which has better clipboard history, Alfred or Raycast?

For most people, Raycast, because its clipboard history is included on the free plan. Alfred's clipboard history is a Powerpack-only feature, so you pay £34 or £59 before you can use it at all. Once you have paid for either tool, the two features are close: both store text, images, and files, both let you search, and both cap retention rather than keeping everything forever. Raycast's free tier actually matches Alfred's paid maximum retention (three months), which is the detail most comparisons of these two apps miss.

Does Alfred have free clipboard history?

No. Alfred's core app (app launching, basic file search, web search, the calculator) is free, but clipboard history sits entirely behind the paid Powerpack license. There is no trial period for it and no limited free version. You either buy the Powerpack or you get no clipboard history from Alfred at all.

What is Raycast's clipboard history retention on the free plan?

Up to three months, chosen from a "Keep history for" setting with four options: 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, or 3 months. That ceiling matches the longest retention Alfred offers even after you pay for Powerpack. Raycast Pro, Plus, and Max unlock three longer options on top of that: 6 months, 1 year, or unlimited.

Does Raycast's Pro plan apply unlimited clipboard retention automatically?

No, and this is easy to miss. Paying for Pro does not change your retention window by itself. You still have to go into Settings, open Clipboard History, and manually pick 6 months, 1 year, or Unlimited from the same dropdown the free plan uses with its shorter options. A lot of new Pro subscribers assume the longer retention kicks in automatically and are surprised to find their history still capped at whatever they set it to before upgrading.

Does Alfred have a built-in recent files view?

No, and this surprised us. Alfred's own documentation covers File Navigation (typing / for your root folder or ~ for your home folder, then narrowing by name) but has no dedicated "show me what I touched recently" screen anywhere in the official feature set. The closest things are unofficial community Workflows, like "Recent Files" or "Quick File Access" from the public Alfred Workflows gallery, built by individual users rather than shipped by Alfred's developer, and Workflows themselves still require the paid Powerpack to run.

Does Raycast have a built-in recent files view?

Yes, in a limited sense. Open Raycast's File Search command and leave the search field empty, and it shows your recently used files by default, no typing required at that point. You do still have to open the hotkey overlay and select the File Search command first, so it is not a single keystroke to a recent-files list the way a dedicated overlay app is, but it beats Alfred's complete lack of an official equivalent.

Is Alfred Powerpack a subscription?

No. Alfred's shop sells two licenses, each a single payment with no billing period: a Single License (£34) tied to your current major version, and a "Mega Supporter" license (£59) that includes free updates to every future major version. Neither renews or bills you again after the initial purchase.

Can I use Alfred clipboard history without buying anything?

No. Alfred's help documentation states plainly that Clipboard History is a Powerpack feature, off by default even once you own it, and turned on manually under Preferences > Features > Clipboard. There is no way to try it for free first.

Do I need Recento if I already use Alfred or Raycast for clipboard and recent files?

Only if a specific friction keeps coming up: wanting the file, screenshot, or clipboard item from a minute ago to appear the instant you press a hotkey, with zero typing and zero menu navigation, ready to drag into whatever you already have open. Raycast gets partway there with its empty-search Recent Files view. Alfred does not get there at all without a third-party Workflow. If neither gap bothers you day to day, you do not need a fourth app on top of whichever launcher you already picked.

Which is cheaper for clipboard history and recent files specifically, Alfred or Raycast?

Raycast, by a wide margin, if three months of clipboard retention and the empty-search recent files view are enough for you: both are included on the free plan at $0. Alfred charges £34 to £59 just to switch clipboard history on at all, and still has no recent files view of its own at any price. Raycast only costs more than Alfred if you specifically need retention longer than three months (6 months, 1 year, or unlimited), which requires a $10 to $50 per month Pro, Plus, or Max subscription rather than a one-time fee.

More on this topic: Spotlight vs Raycast vs Alfred, Recento vs Raycast, Recento vs Alfred, 7 Best Clipboard Managers for Mac in 2026, 7 Best Recent Files Apps for Mac in 2026, and Do You Still Need a Recent Files App in 2026?.

External references checked for this piece: Alfred's Clipboard History help page, Alfred's Powerpack page, Alfred's license-types page, Alfred's changelog, Raycast's pricing page, Raycast's Clipboard History manual page, Raycast's Cloud Sync manual page, Alfred's sync help page, and Raycast's changelog.

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