Comparison
RAAD vs Alfred
Alfred is a launcher whose Powerpack add-on unlocks clipboard history. It's genuinely strong on clipboard history woven into the rest of alfred — merge clips, promote one to a permanent snippet, configurable retention plus per-app exclusion for privacy, snippets support dynamic placeholders like date/time math, not just static text.
RAAD takes a different approach: everything runs on-device, with semantic search and on-device ai — alfred’s clipboard viewer is exact-match only, an mcp server, which alfred doesn’t have at all, secret redaction before disk and sealed pinboards behind touch id, a native popup at your cursor, not a fixed-position window. The table below is checked against both apps directly — see sources at the bottom.
| Feature | RAAD | Alfred |
|---|---|---|
| Capture | ||
| Unlimited clipboard history | Yes | No |
| Rich content types(Not just plain text — rich text, links, colors) | Yes | Yes |
| Image & file capture | Yes | Yes |
| OCR (text from images) | Yes | Yes |
| Find | ||
| Keyword search | Yes | Yes |
| Semantic search(Search by meaning, not exact text) | Yes | No |
| Fuzzy / typo-tolerant search | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Filter by app, date & type | Yes | Partial |
| Pinboards / collections | Yes | No |
| Favorites | Yes | No |
| Paste | ||
| Snippets with variables | Yes | Yes |
| Abbreviation expansion | Yes | Yes |
| Paste stack(Queue multiple items, paste in sequence) | Yes | No |
| Quick paste (⌘1-9) | Yes | Yes |
| Paste as plain text | Yes | Yes |
| Text transforms(Case, trim, encode, and similar one-click edits) | Yes | No |
| AI | ||
| MCP server(Exposes clipboard history to AI clients like Claude) | Yes | No |
| MCP write access + audit trail | Yes | No |
| Platform | ||
| Popup anchored at cursor | Yes | No |
| Grid view | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| CLI | Yes | No |
| Apple Shortcuts | Yes | Partial |
| Privacy | ||
| Works fully offline | Yes | Partial |
| No account required | Yes | Partial |
| Secret redaction before disk(Detects and strips things like API keys before they touch storage) | Yes | No |
| Password manager exclusion | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Concealed / transient pasteboard support | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Screen-share exclusion | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Biometric-sealed collections | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Encrypted local backup | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Pricing & licensing | ||
| Open source | No | No |
| One-time purchase option | Yes | Yes |
| Subscription required | Yes | No |
| Free tier(14-day full trial, not a permanent free tier) | Partial | Partial |
Why people switch to RAAD
- Semantic search and on-device AI — Alfred’s clipboard viewer is exact-match only
- An MCP server, which Alfred doesn’t have at all
- Secret redaction before disk and sealed pinboards behind Touch ID
- A native popup at your cursor, not a fixed-position window
Not yet available — on the roadmap
The table above only lists what you can use today. These are built and tested but not shipped in the current release, so they’re never counted as a “yes” above.
- On-device AI actions
- Model-backed actions (summarize, rewrite, extract) exist in code but are gated off in the shipping build. Instant text transforms (case, encoding, etc.) already ship and are listed separately.
- End-to-end encrypted cloud sync
- Sync engine and schema exist and are tested, but not wired into the shipping app — no Settings tab, no way to turn it on yet.
- Team / shared memory
- The encryption layer for shared team boards exists in code but has no shipping UI yet.
- iOS / multi-device app
- RAAD is Mac-only today. Universal Clipboard lets you paste into iOS manually, but there is no RAAD iOS app.
Common questions
Do I need Alfred’s Powerpack just for clipboard history?
Yes — Alfred itself is free, but clipboard history is a Powerpack-only feature, priced from £34 as a one-time purchase. RAAD is a dedicated clipboard manager from the start, no add-on required.
Does Alfred have semantic or AI-powered search?
No — Alfred’s clipboard viewer is exact-match search only. RAAD adds on-device semantic search that finds clips by meaning, entirely on your Mac.
Can I use RAAD and Alfred together?
Yes. A lot of people use Alfred as their launcher and a dedicated app like RAAD for clipboard history, since Alfred’s clipboard retention is capped at 3 months and lacks a lot of what a dedicated clipboard manager does.
Does RAAD have Snippets like Alfred?
Yes — RAAD has snippets with variable tokens and inline abbreviation expansion, similar in spirit to Alfred’s, plus 38 paste transforms Alfred doesn’t have.
Pricing
Buy it once, or keep it updated.
Every plan unlocks every feature. Try all of it free for 14 days first — no card, no account.
Personal
…/ month
14-day free trial
Full clipboard history, on-device search, and an MCP server for AI tools.
- Unlimited clipboard history
- On-device semantic search
- MCP server, CLI, and Shortcuts
- Pinboards & Quick Paste
Lifetime
…one-time
Everything in Personal, once, forever. No subscription.
- Everything in Personal
- Free updates within the major version
- One Mac, transferable
Team
…/ month, 5 seats
14-day free trial
A shared, end-to-end encrypted board for the whole team.
- Everything in Personal, per seat
- Shared team snippets (E2E encrypted)
- Admin seat management
Prices shown in your local currency where Paddle supports it. VAT and sales tax are calculated at checkout.
Feature and pricing details verified against each vendor’s own site or App Store listing: Alfred (2026-08-17). Found something out of date? Email hello@raad.app.
See how RAAD compares to Paste, Maccy, Raycast, Pastebot, PastePal, CleanClip, Copy 'Em, Unclutter, Flycut, or see the full comparison.