At a glance
This is the closest match-up on the site: two free, open-source menu-bar clipboard managers. Clipy descends from the much-loved ClipMenu and adds snippet templates; Maccy focuses on fast, searchable history and active upkeep.
Where they differ
Clipy's strength is structured snippets: you build nested menus of canned text and insert them from the menu bar. If you paste the same boilerplate constantly and like a menu, that's handy.
Maccy's strength is recall: hit ⇧ + ⌘ + C, type a few characters, press Return. Search is the whole interaction, which suits people who copy a lot of varied things and want the right one back fast. Maccy also sees frequent updates and tracks new macOS releases closely.
Maccy — strengths
- Free and open source
- Fast search-first recall
- Active development & macOS support
- Pinning, app exclusions, plain-text paste
✕ Maccy — trade-offs
- No nested snippet menus like Clipy
- Mac-only, no sync
Our take
Maccy for most, Clipy for snippet menus
If you want fast, searchable history that's kept current with macOS, Maccy is the safer daily driver.
If your workflow is built around nested snippet menus, Clipy's templates are still nice — and free.
Get Maccy freeFrequently asked questions
Are both really free?
Yes — Maccy and Clipy are both free and open source.
Which is better maintained?
Maccy is actively developed and tends to support new macOS versions quickly. Clipy is community-maintained and updates less often.
Does Maccy do snippets?
Maccy lets you pin frequently used clips, which covers most snippet needs, but it doesn't build nested snippet menus the way Clipy does.