Clipboard Doctor vs Maccy
Both are free Mac clipboard managers that store everything locally with no cloud sync. The difference that matters: Clipboard Doctor runs OCR on every screenshot so you can search for words that appear inside images. Maccy does not.
Short answer: If you only copy text and code, Maccy is a fast and excellent choice. If you copy screenshots, receipts, UI captures, or anything in Arabic, Clipboard Doctor does things Maccy can't.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Clipboard Doctor | Maccy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Open source | No | Yes (MIT) |
| Text clipboard history | Yes | Yes |
| Search text inside screenshots | Yes — on-device OCR | No |
| Arabic OCR | Yes | No |
| Image history (store screenshots) | Yes | No |
| Account required | None | None |
| Cloud sync | No — local only | No — local only |
| Tags and pinning | Yes | No |
| Snippets (reusable text) | Yes | No |
| Global hotkey | Yes (⌃⇧W) | Yes (⇧⌘C) |
| macOS requirement | macOS 13+ | macOS 12+ |
Where Maccy wins
Maccy is open source under the MIT license — you can read every line of code yourself. It's been around since 2019, has a large user base, and is available on the Mac App Store. If your clipboard use is entirely text-based and auditability of the source code matters to you, Maccy is a great pick.
Where Clipboard Doctor wins
The moment you copy a screenshot, Clipboard Doctor runs Apple's Vision OCR on it — on-device, using the Neural Engine — and indexes the recognized text. Later you can search "invoice" or "meeting notes" and find screenshots whose content contains those words, not just text you typed. Maccy stores only the text you copy; it has no image history and no OCR.
For users who work in Arabic, or in mixed Arabic–English documents, both OCR languages run simultaneously. Maccy has no equivalent.
Download Clipboard Doctor — freemacOS 13+ · 2-minute install guide
Questions
Can I use both at the same time?
Technically yes, but two clipboard managers listening simultaneously can cause duplicate entries or conflicts. Most users pick one. If you're evaluating, install one, use it for a week, then switch if needed.
Does Clipboard Doctor's OCR affect performance?
No noticeable impact. OCR runs asynchronously on Apple's Neural Engine (on Apple Silicon) so it doesn't block the UI or show up as CPU load. On Intel Macs it uses the Vision framework's CPU path, which is brief and background-only.
Is Clipboard Doctor's storage as private as Maccy's?
Yes. Both store history locally in a sandboxed container. Neither syncs to the cloud. Clipboard Doctor makes zero outbound connections during normal use — you can verify this with Little Snitch.
Does Clipboard Doctor work on macOS 12?
No — it requires macOS 13 (Ventura) or later to access the Vision OCR APIs it relies on. If you're on Monterey, Maccy remains a solid text-history option while you plan your OS upgrade.
Also see: search text inside screenshots · offline & private · Arabic clipboard manager