Kitsmith / Compare / Maccy vs Clipy
MacMaccy vs Clipy
Maccy vs Clipy: verdict, pricing, and specs compared, so you can pick the right one for your Mac.
At a glance
Maccy
FreeA free, open-source clipboard manager that does one job — searchable clipboard history, keyboard-first, with nothing else bolted on.
Clipy
FreeA free, open-source clipboard and snippet manager for Mac — a maintained continuation of the classic ClipMenu, distributed outside the App Store.
Spec comparison
Maccy
- Price
- Free
- Pricing model
- Free
- License
- Open source
- Placement
- Menu bar
- Channels
- Homebrew · Direct · Mac App Store
- Category
- Utilities
Clipy
- Price
- Free
- Pricing model
- Free
- License
- Open source
- Placement
- Menu bar
- Channels
- Homebrew · GitHub
- Category
- Utilities
The verdict
Both are free, open source (MIT license), and skip cloud sync entirely — the real difference is scope. Maccy does exactly one job by design, per the developer’s own “no fluff” framing: keyboard-first search over clipboard history, nothing else, with the nice touch of respecting a password manager’s clipboard-clearing behavior. Clipy adds snippets — reusable boilerplate text you register and paste on demand, separate from clipboard history — and traces its lineage back to the classic ClipMenu, now actively maintained (8.8k GitHub stars, commits within days) under sponsor Econa77. Maccy is the one on the Mac App Store; Clipy is a direct DMG or Homebrew install only. If you want the absolute minimum tool, Maccy is it; if snippets alongside clipboard history are worth a slightly less conventional distribution path, Clipy covers both.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Maccy if…
- Pick Maccy if you want the Mac App Store as an install option, not just Homebrew or a direct download
- Pick Maccy if a deliberately minimal tool — clipboard history and nothing else — is genuinely all you want
- Pick Maccy if you want a password manager’s clipboard-clearing behavior respected automatically
- Pick Maccy if you’re fine requiring a newer macOS (14 or later)
Pick Clipy if…
- Pick Clipy if you want snippets — reusable boilerplate text you register and paste on demand — alongside clipboard history
- Pick Clipy if you’re on an older Mac — Clipy supports macOS 13, one version further back than Maccy’s macOS 14 requirement
- Pick Clipy if you’d rather install via a direct DMG or Homebrew than go through the Mac App Store
- Pick Clipy if you want to see active, frequent development for yourself on GitHub before trusting a free tool
Maccy vs Clipy — questions people ask
Are Maccy and Clipy both free?
Yes — both are free and open source (MIT license), with no paid tier on either.
Which one has snippets?
Clipy does — registered boilerplate text you paste on demand, separate from clipboard history. Maccy is scoped to clipboard history only, by design.
Is either on the Mac App Store?
Maccy is, alongside a direct download and Homebrew. Clipy isn’t — it’s a direct DMG download from GitHub Releases or a Homebrew cask.