Maccy is the clipboard manager a lot of Mac users start with, and for good reason: it is free, open source, and does the basics really well. If you are reading this, you probably like Maccy but have started bumping into its edges. You want ordered paste, boards, OCR, or a panel that does not live up in the menu bar.
Quick disclosure: we make OneNotch. Maccy is genuinely good, so first here is where it is still the right call, then where OneNotch is the upgrade.
Where Maccy is still the right call
Stay with Maccy if:
- You want the lightest, free-forever tool. Maccy is MIT open source and free on GitHub, with no paid tier at all.
- You are on an Intel Mac or older macOS. Maccy supports a wider range of Macs. OneNotch requires macOS 15 on Apple Silicon.
- You never need more than a searchable menu-bar history. If a dropdown of recent copies is all you want, Maccy nails it.
Two reassurances either way. Both apps keep clipboard history on your Mac with no cloud account, so switching never means giving up on-device history or trusting a cloud. And if you picked Maccy because it is famously light, you are not giving that up: OneNotch does far more — clipboard, media, Live Activities, and AI-agent status — but we profile it with Apple's own tools and publish the numbers, currently ~0% CPU idle and memory that stays flat at 95–130MB after 8+ hours. The full write-up is here.
Where OneNotch is the upgrade
OneNotch makes sense once you have outgrown a menu-bar dropdown:
- You want it where you are looking. Maccy opens a dropdown in the menu bar. OneNotch opens a panel right at your cursor and keeps history on the notch, so there is no mouse trip to the top corner.
- You want ordered paste. Copy Stack (double-press ⌘) collects clips as you work, then pastes them in order with ⌘V. Maccy has no sequential paste.
- You want real organization. Boards for the snippets you reuse, paste with ⌘1/⌘2/⌘3, and search by type with filters like @image, @link, and @text. Maccy offers pinning and basic search.
- You want more formats and OCR. Rich link previews, colors, SVG, and files, plus built-in OCR to pull text out of a copied image. Maccy handles text and images.
- You want advanced text tools and source tracking. OneNotch remembers the exact web page you copied text from (Go to Source) and offers 15+ built-in transform tools (like uppercase, snake_case, etc.). Plus, you can search Google for any clipboard item instantly without pasting.
- You want more than a clipboard. Media controls with a resizable, draggable floating lyrics panel, Live Activities, your calendar, and AI-agent status live on the same notch.
Direct comparison
| Maccy | OneNotch | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (open source) | Free · Pro $9.99 lifetime ($6.99 with LAUNCH30) |
| Open source | Yes (MIT) | No |
| Where it opens | Menu-bar dropdown | At your cursor and on the notch |
| Formats | Text and images | Text, links, colors, images, SVG, files |
| Search | Fast keyword search | By type (@image, @link, @text) plus keywords |
| Organization | Pinning | Boards with ⌘1/⌘2/⌘3 paste |
| Sequential paste | No | Copy Stack (double-press ⌘) and ordered multi-select |
| OCR | No | Yes |
| Text Tools & Source | No | 15+ transform variants, Go to Source, instant Google search |
| Beyond clipboard | No | Media (w/ floating lyrics), Live Activities, calendar, AI agents |
| Idle resource use | Very light | ~0% CPU, flat memory (measured and published) |
| Mac support | Intel and Apple Silicon, older macOS | macOS 15+, Apple Silicon |
Price
Maccy is free. OneNotch has a free tier too (up to 50 clipboard items, 24 hours of history, and 1 board), and Pro is a one-time $9.99, currently $6.99 with launch code LAUNCH30, for up to 2 Macs, lifting the limits to 200 items, retention from a day to forever, and up to 10 boards. Neither app charges a subscription.
Switching from Maccy to OneNotch
- Download OneNotch free, no account needed: download for Mac.
- Run it alongside Maccy for a few days.
- Keep whichever fits your workflow.
OneNotch does not import Maccy's history, so you start fresh. The active clips are usually what matter, but copy anything you rely on across before you switch.
Our take
If Maccy does everything you need, there is no reason to switch. It is a great free tool. But if you keep wishing for ordered paste, boards, OCR, or a panel at your cursor instead of the menu bar, that is exactly the gap OneNotch fills. For the wider field, see our clipboard manager comparison.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a Maccy alternative with more features?
Yes. OneNotch keeps Maccy's local, private spirit but adds Copy Stack ordered paste, boards, OCR, search by type, richer formats, and a panel that opens at your cursor or on the notch. It has a free tier and a one-time $9.99 lifetime Pro upgrade, currently $6.99 with launch code LAUNCH30.
Is OneNotch free like Maccy?
OneNotch has a free tier (up to 50 items, 24 hours of history, and 1 board). Maccy is fully free. OneNotch Pro is a one-time $9.99, currently $6.99 with launch code LAUNCH30, for higher limits, and there is no subscription either way.
Is OneNotch private like Maccy?
Both keep clipboard history on your Mac with no cloud account. Maccy is open source (MIT); OneNotch is not open source but is local-first with no telemetry.
Does OneNotch work on Intel Macs or older macOS?
No. OneNotch requires macOS 15 or newer on Apple Silicon. If you are on an Intel Mac or an older macOS version, Maccy is the better fit.
What does OneNotch have that Maccy does not?
Ordered paste via Copy Stack, boards with number-key paste, OCR, Go to Source tracking, 15+ text transform tools, instant Google search from clipboard, rich previews for links, colors, SVG, and files, search by type, a panel at your cursor and on the notch, and extras like media controls with floating lyrics, Live Activities, and AI-agent status.
