Clipboard Doctor vs Raycast Clipboard
Raycast is an excellent app launcher, and its clipboard now runs on-device OCR too — but the fuller clipboard history is a $8/month Pro feature, it lives inside the Raycast launcher, and its OCR is English-oriented. 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 Raycast for launching apps, running extensions, and replacing Spotlight. Use Clipboard Doctor for clipboard history — especially if you copy screenshots, work with Arabic text, or don't want a 3-month cap. The two tools complement each other; many users run both.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Clipboard Doctor | Raycast |
|---|---|---|
| Price for clipboard features | Free, always | Free (3-month cap) · Pro $8/mo |
| History limit | Unlimited | 3 months (free) · Unlimited (Pro) |
| Search text inside screenshots (OCR) | Yes — on-device, offline | Yes — on-device (English) |
| Arabic OCR | Yes — bilingual AR+EN | Not documented |
| Image / screenshot history | Yes — every screenshot stored | Yes — images, OCR text search |
| Account required | None | Optional (required for Pro/sync) |
| Fully offline (no network) | Yes — verifiable | Pro syncs to Raycast cloud |
| Text clipboard history | Yes | Yes |
| Tags and pinning | Yes | Quicklinks only (not clipboard tags) |
| Snippets / templates | Yes | Yes (Snippets feature) |
| Global hotkey | Yes (⌃⇧W) | Yes (⌥Space default) |
| App launcher / Spotlight replacement | No | Yes — core feature |
| Extension ecosystem | No | Yes — 1 000+ extensions |
| macOS requirement | macOS 13+ | macOS 12+ |
Where Raycast wins
Raycast is the best app launcher on macOS and far more than a clipboard manager. Its extension ecosystem (GitHub, Linear, Jira, 1Password, Figma, and hundreds more) turns it into a command palette for your entire workflow. If you need a Spotlight replacement with AI, quick-link runners, and extensibility, Raycast's free tier delivers that well. Its built-in clipboard now covers text history and on-device OCR too, which is plenty for many users who already live in Raycast.
Where Clipboard Doctor wins
On-device screenshot OCR is no longer unique — Raycast added it too. Clipboard Doctor's defining advantage is the combination Raycast can't match for free: every screenshot is indexed by Apple's Vision engine in both Arabic and English with full right-to-left support, on a free standalone app with no account and no launcher ecosystem to adopt. Raycast's clipboard OCR is English-oriented and its fuller history sits behind Pro.
History is also materially different. Clipboard Doctor keeps everything, forever, for free. Raycast's free plan drops entries older than 3 months — copying a code block or error message in January and searching for it in April won't work. Unlimited history in Raycast costs $96/year.
On privacy: Clipboard Doctor makes zero network requests during normal use. You can verify this with Little Snitch. Raycast Pro syncs clipboard to Raycast's cloud servers; if cloud clipboard data is a concern for your security policy or personal preference, local-only storage is safer.
Download Clipboard Doctor — freemacOS 13+ · 2-minute install guide
Running both together
Raycast and Clipboard Doctor cover different territory. A common setup: keep Raycast as your launcher and disable its clipboard feature (Raycast → Preferences → Extensions → Clipboard History → toggle off), then let Clipboard Doctor handle clipboard history with unlimited retention and OCR search. The hotkeys don't conflict, and you get the best of both tools without paying for Raycast Pro just for clipboard features.
Questions
Does Raycast clipboard history search text inside screenshots?
Yes — Raycast added on-device OCR (text recognition) to its clipboard history, so text inside copied images is searchable. The distinction now is scope, not existence: Raycast's fuller clipboard history is a Pro, launcher-bound feature and its OCR is English-oriented, while Clipboard Doctor is a free standalone app that indexes every screenshot at copy time using Apple Vision OCR in both Arabic and English, fully offline with no account.
Is Raycast's clipboard history unlimited?
On the free plan, Raycast retains clipboard history for 3 months. Items older than that are dropped. Unlimited history requires Raycast Pro at $8/month ($96/year). Clipboard Doctor has no history cap and no subscription.
Do I need a Raycast account for clipboard history?
No account is needed for Raycast's local clipboard history on the free plan. An account is required if you subscribe to Pro for cloud sync, unlimited history, or AI features. Clipboard Doctor never asks for an account — there is no login, no registration, no email.
Can Clipboard Doctor and Raycast run at the same time?
Yes. They run independently and don't conflict. Many users keep Raycast for launching apps and extensions, then disable Raycast's clipboard feature and use Clipboard Doctor for clipboard history. Both run as menu-bar utilities with separate hotkeys.
Can either app search Arabic text in screenshots?
Clipboard Doctor can. It enables Arabic and English simultaneously in Apple Vision OCR, so mixed-language screenshots — common in Gulf region apps, bilingual documents, and Arabic web content — are fully indexed. Raycast's clipboard OCR is English-oriented and does not document Arabic support.
Also see: vs Alfred · vs Maccy · vs Paste · search text in screenshots · Arabic clipboard manager