Alfred Clipboard vs Paste
Alfred Clipboard vs Paste
Alfred and Paste come from different traditions. Alfred is a venerable Mac launcher; its clipboard history lives inside the paid Powerpack as one feature among many. Paste is a dedicated, visual clipboard app with iCloud sync. Choosing between them depends on whether you want clipboard history as part of a launcher or as a standalone, visual tool. Here's the breakdown, plus a third option that's local and AI-aware.
Alfred clipboard history
Alfred's clipboard history unlocks with the Powerpack license. For people who already drive their Mac through Alfred, it's a natural fit:
- Inside your launcher. Trigger clipboard history with a keyword or hotkey, alongside app launching and workflows.
- Keyboard-first and fast. No mouse, no separate window to manage.
- Snippets and merging. Alfred handles text snippets and can append clips.
The trade-off: it's text-oriented and is a feature of Alfred rather than a dedicated clipboard product, so visual previews and clip-level transforms aren't the focus.
Paste
Paste is a dedicated visual manager. Its shortcut brings up cards with previews including images, plus pinboards and iCloud sync across Macs. It's polished and visual — but it's a subscription, and history syncs through iCloud rather than staying local-only.
How ClipHistory differs
ClipHistory is a dedicated clipboard manager that stays local and is paid once, with AI transforms Alfred and Paste don't offer.
- One-time $19.99, 12-month license, no auto-renewal.
- 150 unpinned + unlimited pinned clips — pin essentials so they never expire.
- AI transforms: summarize, rewrite, translate, clean, using your own API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Google, or custom).
- Local only — no cloud, no account.
- Cmd+Shift+V opens history anywhere; snippets, boards, and a paste stack included.
At a glance
| Alfred | Paste | ClipHistory | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Launcher (Powerpack) | Dedicated app | Dedicated app |
| Visual previews | Limited | Yes | Yes |
| AI transforms | No | No | Yes (your key) |
| Storage | Local | iCloud sync | Local only |
| Pricing | Powerpack license | Subscription | One-time $19.99 |
Picking the right one
- Alfred if you already run your Mac through it and want clipboard history bundled in.
- Paste if a visual, synced card wall is worth a recurring subscription.
- ClipHistory if you want a focused, local clipboard manager that also cleans and rewrites clips, paid once.
If your main need is a dedicated tool that goes beyond storing text — summarizing a long copy, translating a snippet, stripping formatting — ClipHistory does that natively while keeping everything on your Mac. It's signed and notarized by Apple and a universal binary for Apple Silicon and Intel.
Ready to try it? Get ClipHistory for macOS ($19.99) — a one-time payment, 12-month license, no auto-renewal. Signed and notarized by Apple, universal binary for Apple Silicon and Intel, macOS 12 or later. Everything stays on your Mac.