Comparison
Recopy vs Maccy
Maccy nails free and minimal on the Mac. Recopy keeps that keyboard-first speed and adds iPhone & iPad sync, code intelligence, folders, and an MCP server for your AI tools.
Choose Recopy if…
- You want your clipboard on iPhone and iPad too, not just your Mac
- You copy code and want detection, highlighting, and transforms
- You want folders, a paste queue, and pins that sync
- You want Claude or Cursor to search your clipboard history (MCP)
- You want sensitive copies detected and auto-deleted
Choose Maccy if…
- You want completely free, forever — no Pro tier at all
- You prefer open source you can read and build yourself
- You only work on a Mac and don't need sync
- You want the absolute minimum: history, search, paste — nothing else
Feature by feature
Recopy vs Maccy, side by side.
| Feature | Recopy | Maccy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (10 items) · Pro $9.99/yr · $29.99 lifetime | Free, open source* |
| Platforms | macOS, iOS, iPadOS | macOS only* |
| iCloud sync across devices (incl. images) | — | |
| Keyboard-first popover | ⌘⇧V | |
| Full-text history search | ||
| Pin items | ||
| Folders with colors | — | |
| Code detection & syntax highlighting | 21+ languages | — |
| Developer transforms (JSON, Base64, URL, shell) | — | |
| Rich link previews (optional, no-network mode) | — | |
| Paste queue | — | |
| Quick paste shortcuts | ⌘1–⌘9 | |
| API key & credit card detection with auto-delete | — | |
| Auto-excludes password managers + their browser extensions | Respects concealed types* | |
| MCP server for AI tools (Claude, Cursor) | — | |
| iOS keyboard & share extensions | — |
* Maccy details as of July 2026, per maccy.app: free and open source (MIT), macOS 14+ only, intentionally focused on clipboard history alone.
The Difference
Maccy's speed. Plus everything after the copy.
Recopy is built keyboard-first like Maccy — open with ⌘⇧V, type, hit Return to paste. The difference is what happens to your clips next.
Copy on Mac, paste on iPhone
iCloud sync moves text, code, links, files, and images across Mac, iPhone, and iPad — with an iOS keyboard extension so your history is available in any text field.
Content intelligence
Recopy knows a Swift snippet from a shell command, highlights syntax in 21+ languages, previews links and colors, and can format JSON or encode Base64 in one click.
Organization that scales
Pins for the essentials, colored folders for projects, a paste queue for repetitive form-filling, and FTS5 full-text search across everything — names, sources, even file paths.
Privacy that acts
Password managers and their browser extensions are excluded automatically. API keys and credit card numbers are detected and can auto-delete on a timer. AI tools connect through a read-only MCP server that never sees sensitive items.
Maccy is great if you want free and minimal
Honestly: if all you want is clipboard history on one Mac, Maccy is hard to argue with. It's free, open source, fast, keyboard-driven, and deliberately does one job without bloat. That focus is a feature, and we respect it.
Recopy earns its place when your clipboard is part of a bigger workflow — when you want the same history on your iPhone, when you copy code all day, when you organize clips by project, or when you want your AI tools to search what you copied. Recopy's free tier (10 items, no expiry) lets you find out without spending anything.
Frequently asked questions
Is Maccy really free?
Yes — Maccy is open source under the MIT license, and its website states it is and will always be free (as of July 2026). If a free, minimal, Mac-only clipboard history is all you need, Maccy is an excellent choice.
What does Recopy add over Maccy?
The big ones: iCloud sync to iPhone and iPad (including images), code detection with syntax highlighting for 21+ languages, developer transforms, folders and a paste queue for organization, active sensitive-data protection with auto-delete, and an MCP server so AI tools like Claude can search your history.
Is Recopy as fast as Maccy?
Recopy is a native SwiftUI app with FTS5 full-text search, opened from the menu bar with ⌘⇧V and designed to be driven entirely from the keyboard — open, type, Return to paste. Speed and keyboard flow are core design goals, just like Maccy's.
Can I use both?
You can, but two clipboard watchers rarely make sense. A better approach: try Recopy's free tier alongside your current setup, and keep whichever one you reach for.
Keep the speed. Gain the sync.
Try Recopy free from the App Store — the free tier never expires.
More comparisons: Recopy vs Paste · Best clipboard managers for Mac · The Recopy MCP server