Clipboard Doctor vs Alfred Clipboard
Alfred is a superb keyboard launcher, and its Powerpack adds a solid clipboard history — but that history is a paid feature, it lives inside the Alfred ecosystem, and it runs no OCR, so text inside your screenshots stays unsearchable. Clipboard Doctor is a free standalone clipboard manager: unlimited history, no account, fully offline, and it searches text inside screenshots in Arabic and English.
Short answer: Use Alfred for launching apps, running workflows, and snippet expansion. Use Clipboard Doctor for clipboard history — especially if you copy screenshots, work with Arabic text, or don't want to buy the Powerpack just for clipboard. The two tools complement each other; many users run both.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Clipboard Doctor | Alfred |
|---|---|---|
| Price for clipboard features | Free, always | Powerpack (one-time, from £34 / ~$45) |
| Clipboard history in free version | Yes | No — Powerpack only |
| History limit | Unlimited | Up to 3 months (configurable) |
| Search text inside screenshots (OCR) | Yes — on-device, offline | No |
| Arabic OCR | Yes — bilingual AR+EN | No OCR |
| Image / screenshot history | Yes — stored & searchable by content | Stores images (not searchable by content) |
| Account required | None | None (one-time license) |
| Fully offline / local | Yes — verifiable | Yes — local |
| Text clipboard history | Yes | Yes (Powerpack) |
| Snippets / expansion | Yes | Yes (Powerpack) |
| Global hotkey | Yes (⌃⇧W) | Yes |
| App launcher / Spotlight replacement | No | Yes — core feature |
| Workflows / automation | No | Yes — extensive |
| Pricing model | Free | One-time purchase (no subscription) |
| macOS requirement | macOS 13+ | macOS 10.13+ |
Where Alfred wins
Alfred is one of the best keyboard launchers on the Mac and far more than a clipboard tool. Its Powerpack turns it into a full automation platform — Workflows chain actions together, snippets expand with dynamic placeholders, and file actions, calculator, and web searches all live behind one hotkey. The Powerpack is a one-time purchase with no subscription, which many people prefer, and its clipboard history is fast, local, and pairs neatly with the rest of Alfred. If you already run Alfred and only copy text, its built-in clipboard is plenty.
Where Clipboard Doctor wins
The moment images enter the picture, the tools diverge. Alfred stores a copied screenshot but treats it as an opaque image — it can't read what's inside. Clipboard Doctor runs Apple's Vision OCR on every image the instant you copy it, so a screenshot of an error dialog, an invoice, or a chat becomes findable by the words it contains. That OCR runs in both Arabic and English at once, with full right-to-left support — something no launcher-clipboard on the Mac documents.
Cost and scope differ too. Alfred's clipboard history requires the paid Powerpack and keeps items for up to three months. Clipboard Doctor keeps everything, forever, for free — copy a code block or a receipt in January and it's still searchable in December. There's no Powerpack to buy, no ecosystem to adopt, and no launcher to switch to.
On privacy the two are close, and that's to Alfred's credit: both keep clipboard history local, with no account and no cloud. Clipboard Doctor makes zero network requests during normal use — you can verify this with Little Snitch — and its update check is optional and contacts only dl.rawag.xyz.
Download Clipboard Doctor — freemacOS 13+ · 2-minute install guide
Running both together
Alfred and Clipboard Doctor cover different territory, so pairing them is natural. A common setup: keep Alfred as your launcher and workflow engine, and let Clipboard Doctor own clipboard history with unlimited retention and screenshot OCR. If you own the Powerpack you can leave Alfred's clipboard on or off — the hotkeys don't conflict, and you get searchable screenshots without giving up any of Alfred's automation.
Questions
Does Alfred's clipboard history search text inside screenshots?
No. Alfred's clipboard history stores text, images, and file links, but it runs no OCR — the text inside a screenshot is never recognized, so you cannot search for words that appear in a copied image. Clipboard Doctor runs Apple Vision OCR on every image at copy time, on-device, so screenshots become searchable by their contents in both Arabic and English.
Is Alfred's clipboard history free?
No. Clipboard history is part of Alfred's Powerpack, a one-time purchase that starts around £34 (about $45) — the free version of Alfred has no clipboard history at all. It's a one-time license, not a subscription. Clipboard Doctor's clipboard history, image storage, and OCR search are all free with no license to buy.
Does Alfred require an account?
No. Alfred uses a one-time license key rather than an account or subscription, and its clipboard history is stored locally on your Mac. Clipboard Doctor also needs no account and stores everything locally — the difference is that Clipboard Doctor is free and adds on-device OCR for screenshots.
Can either app search Arabic text in screenshots?
Clipboard Doctor can. It enables Arabic and English together in Apple Vision OCR, so a mixed-language screenshot — common in Gulf region apps, bilingual documents, and Arabic web content — is fully indexed and right-to-left text renders correctly. Alfred's clipboard history has no OCR of any language, so no screenshot text, Arabic or English, is searchable.
Can Alfred and Clipboard Doctor run at the same time?
Yes. They run independently and don't conflict. Many users keep Alfred for launching apps, workflows, and snippets, then use Clipboard Doctor for clipboard history with unlimited retention and screenshot OCR. Both run as menu-bar utilities with separate hotkeys.
Also see: vs Raycast · vs Maccy · vs Paste · search text in screenshots · Arabic clipboard manager