ClipBuddy guide
The Dedicated, Lightweight Alternative to Raycast Clipboard History
Love Raycast's shortcuts but tired of the 3-month history cap on the free plan, mandatory accounts, and heavy launcher overhead? ClipBuddy gives you unlimited local history, instant screenshot OCR, and a $24.99 Lifetime license in a dedicated 45MB AppKit app.
Raycast is an impressive developer launcher, but using it as your primary clipboard manager comes with significant trade-offs: a strict 3-month history cap on the free tier, an expensive $8/month ($96/year) Pro subscription to unlock unlimited history, mandatory account sign-in, and the memory footprint of a general-purpose launcher running background node processes.
If you want a dedicated, blisteringly fast Mac clipboard manager that respects your memory and your privacy, ClipBuddy for Mac is the purpose-built native alternative.
Comparison: ClipBuddy vs. Raycast Clipboard History
| Capability | ClipBuddy for Mac | Raycast Clipboard History |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Free tier · $1.99/mo · $12.99/yr · $24.99 Lifetime | Free (restricted) or $8/month ($96/year) Pro |
| History Retention | Unlimited searchable history | Capped at 3 months on Free (Pro required for unlimited) |
| User Account Required? | Zero accounts, zero sign-in | Account creation encouraged / required for sync |
| Memory Footprint | ~45 MB (Pure Swift 6 / AppKit) | ~200 MB – 450 MB (Multi-tool extension runtime) |
| Screenshot OCR Search | Built-in Apple Vision (Instant on-device) | On-device OCR (extension command required) |
| Touch ID Secret Vault | Built-in Secure Enclave + 60s auto-wipe | None (basic exclusion list only) |
| Sequential Paste Stack | Yes (⌘⌥S) queue | No dedicated sequential queue |
| Clipboard Rewind / Undo | Yes (⌘⌥Z) | No |
| Visual AppKit Drawer | Horizontal cards or compact rows | Vertical launcher list |
| Offline Privacy | 100% Local (Zero network entitlements) | Local-first, but cloud services in Pro |
Key Reasons to Choose ClipBuddy over Raycast
1. No 3-Month Artificial Expiration
The biggest frustration with Raycast’s free clipboard extension is that your clips expire after 90 days. If you need a code snippet, invoice number, or contract clause you copied four months ago, it is gone unless you pay $96 every single year.
ClipBuddy stores your complete clipboard history locally in an encrypted SQLite database without arbitrary time limits. Pay once with the $24.99 Lifetime license, and your history is yours forever.
2. A Dedicated 45MB Native AppKit Tool, Not a 300MB Launcher
Raycast is built to do everything: window management, script commands, AI chat, calendar meetings, and extensions. If you only want a rock-solid clipboard manager, running all those background runtimes wastes CPU cycles and battery life.
ClipBuddy is engineered exclusively in Swift 6 and AppKit. It draws almost 0% CPU at idle, launches its picker in under 16 milliseconds (⌘⇧V), and uses a fraction of the memory.
3. Touch ID Protected Secret Vault
When you copy API bearer tokens, private SSH keys, database connection strings, or passwords, they should never sit exposed in plain clipboard history.
ClipBuddy features an optional Touch ID Secret Vault:
- Recognizes secrets automatically via pattern matching.
- Protects items with hardware-backed Keychain encryption using your Mac’s Secure Enclave.
- Masks titles and requires Touch ID or Apple Watch to reveal.
- Auto-wipe: Automatically purges sensitive clips from your active clipboard after 60 seconds.
4. Sequential Paste Stack for Form Filling
Raycast makes you switch back and forth between apps for every single field when transferring data from a spreadsheet or document to a form.
With ClipBuddy’s Paste Stack (⌘⌥S), you collect 10 items in a row, switch to your destination, and paste them sequentially one by one.
The Verdict
If you need a launcher for system commands and GitHub issues, Raycast is great. But for clipboard management, ClipBuddy is faster, respects your battery life, protects your secrets with Touch ID, and never forces you into a $96/year subscription just to search clips older than 90 days.
Frequently asked questions
Why look for an alternative to Raycast's clipboard history?
Raycast restricts clipboard history retention on its free tier to just 3 months. Unlimited history requires an ongoing Raycast Pro subscription ($8/month or $96/year). Furthermore, users who want a dedicated, lightweight clipboard tool often dislike running an entire heavy multi-tool launcher that consumes 200MB+ of background RAM.
Does ClipBuddy require a user account or cloud login?
No. Unlike Raycast which encourages signing up for a cloud account, ClipBuddy requires zero sign-up, zero email, and zero passwords. Everything is stored 100% locally in an encrypted on-device SQLite database on your Mac.
Does Raycast clipboard history have a one-time lifetime purchase?
No. Raycast Pro is strictly an ongoing monthly or annual subscription ($96/year). In contrast, ClipBuddy offers an honest $24.99 one-time Lifetime license on the Mac App Store alongside flexible Pro tiers ($1.99/mo or $12.99/yr).
Can ClipBuddy extract text from copied screenshots and images?
Yes. ClipBuddy uses Apple's native Vision framework directly on your Mac to index the words inside every screenshot, image, or graphic you copy. You can search by text displayed in an image and copy it out with one keystroke.
Can I use ClipBuddy alongside Raycast or Alfred?
Yes. Many developers use Raycast as their application launcher and calculator, but disable Raycast's clipboard history in favor of ClipBuddy's floating AppKit visual card drawer, sequential Paste Stack (⌘⌥S), and Touch ID vault.