Pastily vs Clipy
Updated July 2026
vs
Clipy alternative
Best Clipy Alternative for macOS & Windows Clipboard Sharing
Compare Clipy with Pastily: Find out why visual snippet cards, folder spaces, and Windows compatibility outperform a basic menu list.
Feature by feature
Clipy: macOS only · Free and Open-Source
| Feature | Clipy | Pastily |
|---|---|---|
| Visual Previews & GridsClipy displays lists of text; Pastily shows rich card previews of images, colors, and formatting. | ✗ (Plain text menus) | |
| Platform SupportPastily supports users working on Windows systems as well as Mac. | macOS only | macOS, Windows 10/11 & Linux |
| Universal Paste QueuePastily includes a FIFO sequential paste queue; Clipy is selection-only. | ||
| Search Index SpeedPastily features a database search bar; Clipy forces you to scroll through nested menus. | ✗ (No search field in menus) | ✓ (Sub-millisecond SQLite index) |
| Custom CategorizationBoth support organizing templates, but Pastily utilizes a modern, tabbed interface. | ✓ (Basic snippet folders) | ✓ (Interactive Spaces) |
| Active Memory Footprint (RAM)Both run extremely light background processes. | 15MB - 35MB | Under 15MB |
| Image ClipboardPastily keeps every image you copy — screenshots, Figma, the web — with a live preview right in your history. | Unlimited images | |
| 1-Click Image DownloadCopy an image, then save it straight to your Downloads folder from the clip — no app to paste it into first. | Save to disk in one click | |
| Auto-Disappear TimersGive any sensitive clip a self-destruct timer with a live countdown; it is wiped from history when time runs out. | 15s – 24h, plus custom | |
| Colour Hex PreviewCopied colour codes appear as a real swatch, with instant conversion between HEX, RGB and HSL. | Live swatch + HEX · RGB · HSL | |
| Live Clip CounterPastily shows how many clips you have at a glance, updating live as you copy and clear. | Live count in the menu bar |
Strengths & trade-offs
Clipy
- Free and open-source macOS utility
- Very low system resource requirements
- Clean menu-bar dropdown interface for quick selections
- No search capability; finding older clips requires scrolling through menus
- No support for Windows operating systems
- No visual previews for formatting styles, images, or colors
Pastily
- Premium interface with visual previews and card grids
- SQLite indexed search bar for instant lookups
- Cross-platform support for Mac, Windows and Linux
- Built-in sequential paste queue (Universal Paste)
- V2: Image clipboard (unlimited), color hex previews, and auto-disappear privacy timers
- Requires a paid license ($8.99) vs Clipy's free model
- Does not attach directly to the system menu bar (uses a global overlay instead)
In depth
Finding the Needle in the Haystack
Clipy is a classic menu-bar utility, but it has a major drawback: it lacks search. If you copy a code block or URL and want to find it later, you have to click through nested menus. Pastily solves this with a search bar that filters through thousands of historical clips in less than a millisecond.
Visual Previews for Designers and Developers
Clipy displays all items as plain-text rows. Pastily provides visual previews, rendering images, formatting colors, and syntax-highlighted code. This makes it easy to select the correct snippet at a glance.
Questions
Can I search my copy history in Clipy?
No. Clipy does not have a search bar. If you copy a lot of text, finding an item from an hour ago requires clicking through submenus. Pastily has an indexed search bar that filters your history in real-time as you type.
Is Pastily as light on CPU as Clipy?
Yes. Pastily runs in the background and uses under 15MB of RAM, making it run smoothly and efficiently even on laptops.