7 Best Clipboard Managers for Mac in 2026

Recento

Recento is the only app on this list that combines three things Mac users constantly hunt for: clipboard history, recent files, and recent screenshots, all behind a single global hotkey overlay. Press your shortcut and you get a panel of everything you've recently copied, recently opened, or recently captured with a screenshot. Drag any of them straight into any app.

Most clipboard managers only handle what you've copied. Recento is designed around the broader question: what was I just working with? That means it also surfaces the PDF you opened five minutes ago, the screenshot you took of a bug report, or the ZIP you just downloaded, sitting right alongside your clipboard history.

The clipboard features themselves are solid: searchable history (text, images, files, URLs), clipboard bookmarks, and a top-used tracker on the Pro plan. The free tier is genuinely useful. Clipboard history, hotkey access, and drag-and-drop are all there without paying. The Pro plan is $19.99 one-time (launch price; regular $30), which is cheaper than one year of Paste.

The main thing Recento doesn't do is sync across devices. If you use a Mac and an iPhone and frequently need clipboard access on both, Paste beats it there. But for Mac-only workflows, Recento's combination of scope and price is hard to argue with.

Paste

Paste has set the design bar for Mac clipboard managers for years, and it still holds up in 2026. Its interface is a gorgeous, horizontally scrolling shelf of copied items grouped by source app, and nothing else in this category looks like it. If you care about what your tools look like, Paste is the clipboard manager you'll be happy to open.

Underneath the design is a genuinely capable clipboard manager. Paste handles text, images, files, colors, and URLs. It lets you pin items to a permanent board, create boards for different projects, and use Paste Stack to paste a pre-loaded sequence of items one at a time. The search is fast and filters by type, app, or date.

The standout feature that no other Mac-native clipboard manager in this list matches is iCloud sync. If you copy something on your Mac, you can access it on your iPhone via the Paste iOS app (available separately). Copy on your Mac, paste on mobile. For cross-device workflows, that is genuinely useful.

The downside is price. Paste runs on a subscription model: roughly $2.49/month or $23.99/year. There's no lifetime option and no meaningful free tier. Over three years, that's more than $70. If you're a pure Mac user without a need for iCloud sync, the value case weakens.

Raycast

Raycast is not really a clipboard manager. It's a launcher (a Spotlight replacement) that happens to include clipboard history as a built-in free extension. If you already use Raycast as your main launcher, you probably don't need a separate clipboard manager at all.

The clipboard history in Raycast is good: searchable, keyboard-driven, handles text and images, and opens with a quick shortcut from the Raycast command bar. What it lacks is a persistent overlay you can summon from anywhere without switching mental context into a launcher UI. It's designed around a command palette, not a quick-scan grid like Recento or the visual shelf like Paste.

Raycast's free tier covers the basics well. The Pro plan ($8/month) adds AI summarization and team features, neither of which you need for clipboard history. The extension ecosystem is enormous if you want to build on it, and the app is polished and fast.

If you don't use Raycast already, it's probably overkill to adopt an entire launcher just for clipboard history. But if you're a Raycast user shopping for a clipboard manager, the answer is: you already have one.

Alfred + Powerpack

Alfred is the original Mac launcher, and it's still exceptional in 2026. But clipboard history requires the Powerpack, a one-time payment of approximately £34 (~$43 USD). That's more than Recento's lifetime price and more than two years of Maccy on the App Store.

Once you have the Powerpack, Alfred's clipboard history is genuinely powerful. It handles text, images, and file lists, lets you merge multiple items, and integrates tightly with Alfred workflows. If you have already paid for Alfred Powerpack, the clipboard history is an excellent bonus, and one of the best available once you pair it with Alfred's workflow engine.

The case for Alfred in 2026 specifically is about longevity and workflow customization. Alfred has a decade of trust and an enormous workflow library. If your clipboard use is tied to text transformations, auto-typing, or custom automations, Alfred's Powerpack is the most capable environment for that. If you just want fast clipboard history, there are cheaper and simpler options.

Maccy

Maccy does one thing and does it well: it keeps a searchable history of everything you copy and puts it behind a keyboard shortcut. That's it. No launcher, no iCloud sync, no project boards. Just fast, reliable clipboard history from the menu bar.

What makes Maccy stand out is what it doesn't do. It doesn't require an account. It doesn't phone home. It doesn't display ads, push upgrade prompts, or quietly send your clipboard contents anywhere. It's open source (MIT license), available on GitHub for free, and also on the Mac App Store for a small one-time payment if you prefer that install path.

The app is fast. The search is instant. The keyboard navigation is solid. If your definition of a clipboard manager is “remember the last 200 things I copied,” Maccy is the most direct and trustworthy tool for that on this list.

Where Maccy falls short is everything beyond the basics. No visual shelf, no iCloud sync, no recent files, no image preview beyond a thumbnail, no pinned boards. If you need any of those, look elsewhere. But if you want fast, private, free clipboard history, Maccy is unbeatable.

CopyClip 2

CopyClip 2 is a straightforward clipboard manager that lives in your menu bar and keeps a history of recent copies. It handles text, images, and HTML, lets you pin favorites, and has a search bar for finding older clips. The interface is simple and functional without trying to be anything more.

The free version covers basic clipboard history. The Pro upgrade (available as an in-app purchase) adds longer history, more pinned items, and a few extra convenience features. The paid upgrade is a one-time payment rather than a subscription, which is a point in its favor in a market where many clipboard managers have moved to monthly billing.

CopyClip 2 doesn't compete with Paste on design or with Alfred on workflow depth. It's for users who want a dependable, no-frills clipboard history tool at minimal cost, and who prefer an even simpler menu bar interface than Maccy's.

Unclutter

Unclutter takes a different approach: instead of a hotkey overlay or menu bar item, it drops a three-panel drawer from the top of your screen when you scroll down on the menu bar. One panel is your clipboard history, one is a scratchpad for quick notes, and one is a files drop zone for things you need to keep temporarily accessible.

It's a genuinely clever idea, and the interaction is surprisingly natural once you get used to it. The problem is that the gesture-activated reveal can feel unreliable on some setups, especially with multiple displays, and the clipboard functionality itself is not as deep as the dedicated clipboard managers above.

Unclutter costs $19.99 as a one-time purchase, the same price as Recento's lifetime plan. For that price, Recento covers more ground (recent files + screenshots + clipboard), while Unclutter offers the notes panel that Recento lacks. If you want a scratchpad as part of your productivity panel, Unclutter earns a look. If you specifically want the best clipboard history, something higher on this list will serve you better.