PasteSpace compared with other Mac clipboard managers

There are several good clipboard managers for the Mac, and the right one depends on what you need. This page compares PasteSpace with four popular alternatives — Paste, Raycast’s built-in clipboard history, Maccy and Pastebot — using only what each developer states on its own website, documentation or App Store page.

A note on who’s writing: I’m the developer of PasteSpace, so this page isn’t neutral. That’s why every claim about another app comes from that app’s own website, documentation or App Store page, linked at the bottom — and why the page also says when another app may suit you better.

Checked on October 4, 2026, and re-checked with every PasteSpace release. Prices are in US dollars, vary by country and change over time. If something here is out of date, write to me and I’ll correct it.

“Not mentioned” means I found no mention of it on the developer’s own website, documentation or App Store page. It doesn’t prove the feature is missing — check with the developer if it matters to you.

Price and platforms

	PasteSpace	Paste	Raycast	Maccy	Pastebot 3
Price	Free; Pro is $19.99 once	Subscription, $29.99 a year; a lifetime plan is also offered	Free (history kept up to 3 months); Pro $96 a year for unlimited history	Free and open source; $9.99 on the Mac App Store	$39 with a year of updates, or $24.99 a year on the App Store
Where your history is kept	Only on your Mac — no sync, no cloud	Your devices and your private iCloud	Your Mac; cloud sync with Pro	Only on your Mac	Your Macs, with optional iCloud sync
iPhone and iPad	No	Yes	Not mentioned	No	Not mentioned

Privacy and security

	PasteSpace	Paste	Raycast	Maccy	Pastebot 3
Recognises secrets in ordinary copies	Yes — card numbers (checksum-verified), IBANs, API keys and tokens, passwords, personal ID numbers	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
Keeps secrets encrypted one by one, behind Touch ID	Yes — masked on screen and hidden from search	Not mentioned	The whole history is encrypted on disk	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
Copies from password managers	Go straight into the encrypted Vault — or are ignored, your choice	Rules to ignore passwords and sensitive apps	Ignored by default	Ignored, following the password manager	Blocklist for sensitive apps
Erases the history every time the app quits	Yes — Ephemeral Mode (Pro); the Vault is kept	Not mentioned; history kept from 1 day to forever	Not mentioned; history kept from 1 day to 3 months, longer with Pro	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
How pasting works	Puts the item on the clipboard and you press ⌘V — no Accessibility permission needed	Can paste into the app you’re using, with the Accessibility permission	Pastes into the app you’re using	Optional automatic paste, with the Accessibility permission	Pastes into the app you’re using

Finding things

	PasteSpace	Paste	Raycast	Maccy	Pastebot 3
Find a screenshot by the text in it	Yes — up to 30 languages, detected automatically	Yes — matches highlighted in the results	Yes — Fast or Accurate mode	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
Search inside copied PDFs and Word files	Yes (Pro) — scanned PDFs, Excel, RTF, OpenDocument and web pages too	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
Filter by kind of content	16 kinds — including passwords, cards and IBANs, keys, code, documents, archives and folders — combined with date, state and source app in Pro	By content type, source app, date and device	6 types: text, images, files, links, emails, colours	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
Sort the history	9 orders, including most used and recently used — or your own, by dragging	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
Copy history of each item	Yes — how many times it was copied, when, and in which app	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
Recognises code	About 30 programming languages, plus JSON, HTML, XML and YAML	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned

Working with what you copied

	PasteSpace	Paste	Raycast	Maccy	Pastebot 3
Edit an item	Full rich-text editor — fonts, sizes, colours, highlights, lists, alignment, undo and redo, find	Edit text, with Apple Intelligence Writing Tools	Quick edits to text, links and colours	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
The original, after an edit	Kept — each save is a new version, and you can switch between Original and Edited	Updated in place	Not mentioned	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
Edit the text read from an image or document	Yes — correct it and save it as a version linked to the image or document	Extract text from an image in the preview	Copy the text from an image	Not mentioned	Not mentioned
Transform what you copied	Data Magic — 57 actions offered according to the content: format JSON, JSON → Swift or TypeScript, convert colours, remove link tracking, clean up code…	Paste as plain text	Paste in another format — plain text, RTF, HTML…	Paste with or without formatting	Filters you build by stacking base filters
QR codes	Turns any text into a QR code	Not mentioned	Reads QR codes in copied images	Not mentioned	Not mentioned

Where PasteSpace is different

It locks your secrets away by itself. Passwords, card numbers, IBANs, API keys and other secrets are recognised the moment you copy them — card numbers must pass the checksum every real card number passes, so random numbers aren’t mistaken for cards — and encrypted one by one with AES-256 in the Vault. They’re shown masked, unlocked only with Touch ID or your Mac’s password, and invisible to search. The other apps compared here describe protecting passwords mainly by not recording them; PasteSpace keeps them — safely. How the Vault works
It reads inside your documents. None of the other apps compared here mention it: PasteSpace reads the text of the documents you copy in Finder — PDFs, scanned PDFs, Word, Excel, RTF, OpenDocument, web pages, text files — so a search finds the file that contains the words. Text inside documents
Edits never overwrite. PasteSpace’s Quick Look editor is a full rich-text editor, and saving always creates a new version: the original stays exactly as you copied it, one click away. That includes the text read out of a screenshot or a scanned document — correct what was misread, and the corrected text stays linked to the image. Quick Look and the editor
It understands what you copied. It recognises code in about 30 programming languages, sorts your history into 16 kinds of content — passwords and cards included — and Data Magic offers only the transformations that make sense for each item: a colour gets colour conversions, a JSON response gets formatting and a Swift struct, a link with tracking gets it removed. Every item also keeps its own copy history. Data Magic
Nothing ever leaves your Mac. There is no sync, no account and no cloud — not even an optional one. The only connections PasteSpace makes are through Apple’s App Store framework, for purchases and the occasional rating request. With Ephemeral Mode, the history itself is erased every time PasteSpace quits. Privacy
It never asks to control your Mac. Paste and Maccy can paste into the app you’re using for you, which requires the macOS Accessibility permission — the one that lets an app watch and control everything you do. PasteSpace doesn’t ask for it: it puts your item on the clipboard and brings back your app, and you press ⌘V.
One payment. PasteSpace is free to use, and Pro is a single $19.99 payment, for life.

When another app may suit you better

You want your clipboard on your iPhone and iPad too → Paste syncs your history across your devices through your private iCloud. PasteSpace keeps everything on one Mac by design.
You want to share clips with your team → Paste offers shared pinboards and a plan for teams.
You want AI assistants to work with your clipboard → Paste connects to Claude, Cursor, Codex and other AI tools, and suggests items with Apple Intelligence; Raycast can send an entry to its AI chat. PasteSpace deliberately connects to nothing but the App Store.
You already use Raycast as your launcher → its built-in clipboard history may be all you need.
You want something free, minimal and open source → Maccy.
You want the app to paste for you, without pressing ⌘V → Paste or Maccy, once you’ve granted them the Accessibility permission.
You want paste stacks and filters you build yourself → Pastebot pastes a series of items one after another and lets you combine its base filters into your own.

Sources

Paste: pasteapp.io, pricing, help centre, Paste on Mac, search and filters, editing items, history retention, Intelligent Clipboard, App Store
Raycast: Clipboard History, manual, pricing
Maccy: maccy.app, GitHub, App Store
Pastebot: tapbots.com/pastebot
PasteSpace: website, Mac App Store

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