Best Clipboard Manager for Windows 11: Win+V, Ditto and More

For most people, the best clipboard manager on Windows 11 is the built-in one. Press Win+V (Windows logo key + V), select Turn on, and Windows keeps a list of recent text and images you copy. If you want a longer history that you can search, Ditto is the free upgrade. The other tools below suit narrower jobs.

Quick picks:

• Windows Clipboard History (Win+V): best for most people. It's free, built in, and handles text and images.
• Ditto: best free clipboard manager with search and a history that is kept between sessions.
• Raycast: best if you also want a keyboard launcher and don't mind a subscription for unlimited history.
• PowerToys Advanced Paste: best add-on for pasting in a different format (plain text, Markdown, JSON, files).
• Gubb: best if you want text clipboard history in the same window as your notes and lists.

We make Gubb, so weigh our view accordingly. We've tried to be fair to every app here. For many readers, the built-in Win+V or the free Ditto is the right answer.

How we chose

A clipboard manager does one job: it gets back something you copied earlier. These criteria decide how well it does that:

• History size and persistence: how many items it keeps, and whether they're still there in a later session.
• Search: once you have dozens of items, scrolling stops working.
• Images and formats: whether it keeps only text, or also images and formatted content.
• Getting to it: a hotkey or a popup over the app you're typing in, versus a separate window.
• Privacy: where the history is stored, whether it syncs through the cloud, and what happens to copied passwords.
• Price: free, one-time or subscription.

We built this list from each product's official pages and documentation. Where official pages were missing, we used third-party reviews and say so next to the figure.

Best clipboard managers for Windows 11 compared

Prices are as of November 2026.

Windows Clipboard History (Win+V): enough for most people

Windows 11 already has clipboard history. It's off by default, so turn it on first:

1. Press Win+V.
2. Select Turn on.

You can also switch it on in Settings > System > Clipboard. After that, Win+V opens the history on top of whatever app you're typing in, and you pick an item to paste it. Our guide to using clipboard history on Windows covers it in more detail.

Good at:

• No install: it's part of Windows and opens over the app you're working in.
• Text and images: Microsoft gives a 4 MB limit per item.
• Pinning: pin items you reuse often. Pinned items survive Clear all.
• Optional sync: history can sync across devices signed in with the same Microsoft or work account.

Lacks:

• Short history: a Microsoft Q&A answer puts the limit at 25 entries. That's a community answer, not official documentation, but the list is clearly meant for recent items, not for finding something from last week.

Privacy notes:

• Cross-device sync sends copied text through the cloud.
• Anyone at your unlocked PC can press Win+V and read your history.

Price: free with Windows.

Pick it if you mostly need the last few things you copied, including images. If Win+V doesn't open or stays empty, see Windows clipboard history not working.

Ditto: the free upgrade with search and a long history

Ditto extends the Windows clipboard. It saves each item you copy into a database, so you can search for it and paste it later, including in a later session. You can install it from its site, the Microsoft Store or WinGet, and there's also a portable build.

Good at:

• Formats: it saves anything the clipboard can hold, including text, images, HTML and custom formats.
• Search: you can find and paste earlier copies.
• Persistence: history is kept between sessions in its database.
• Quick access: it opens from the tray icon or a global hotkey.
• Sync between computers: it can keep several computers' clipboards in sync, and the data is encrypted when sent over the network.

Lacks:

• Windows only: there's no official Mac version. A Linux port exists, but a third party makes it.
• Clipboard only: it has no notes or other tools.
• Slow releases: the latest stable release on GitHub is 3.25.113.0, and we couldn't confirm any release in 2026 (as of November 2026). Beta builds are listed on Chocolatey.

Price: free. The source code is on GitHub.

Pick it if Win+V's short history keeps letting you down and you want search, images and a lasting history without paying. If Ditto isn't quite right, see Ditto alternatives.

Raycast: clipboard history inside a launcher

Raycast is a keyboard launcher with extensions, clipboard history, snippets, notes, a calculator and AI. Its changelog covers a Windows version as well as macOS and iOS. Some commands differ between macOS and Windows, so check the clipboard features on Windows before you rely on them.

Good at:

• Clipboard tools: pinning, filtering by type, and pasting as plain text.
• Unlimited history on the Pro plan.
• More than a clipboard: extensions, snippets, notes and a calculator sit behind the same launcher.
• Free plan: it includes the launcher, extensions and 3 months of clipboard history.

Lacks:

• Time-limited free history: the free plan keeps only 3 months of clipboard history.
• No one-time purchase: unlimited history needs a subscription. None of the sources we used mention a one-time option.
• More app than you need: it's a launcher first, which is a lot if you only want clipboard history.

Price, as of November 2026:

• Free: $0, with 3 months of clipboard history.
• Pro: $10/month. Reviews say $8/month when billed yearly.
• Higher tiers: Pro+ ($20/month) and Max ($50/month).

Pick it if you want a launcher anyway and like having everything behind one keyboard shortcut.

PowerToys Advanced Paste: better pasting, not a history

Microsoft PowerToys is a free, open-source set of Windows utilities. Its Advanced Paste tool changes how you paste, not what you can recall.

Good at:

• Paste formats: it can paste as plain text, Markdown or JSON, or as a .txt, .html or .png file.
• Local OCR: it pulls text out of an image.
• Media conversion: it transcodes audio or video to .mp3 or .mp4.
• Frequent updates: the stable release is 0.102.3101, from November 6, 2026.

Lacks:

• No history: one review says Advanced Paste still doesn't keep a persistent clipboard history.
• An add-on, not a replacement: it works alongside Win+V, not instead of it.

Price: free. It runs on Windows 10 and 11. You can install it from GitHub, the Microsoft Store, WinGet, Chocolatey or Scoop.

Pick it if formatting is what annoys you, such as stripping styles before you paste into a document. Pair it with Win+V or Ditto for history.

Gubb: clipboard history next to your notes

Gubb is our app, and it's available on Windows through the Microsoft Store. It's a small one-window app that combines a notes editor, checklists and Kanban boards, voice-to-text into notes, timers, break reminders and a Clipboard History panel. It makes sense when you copy things mainly to collect them into notes.
Opening the panel: hover over the right edge of the Gubb window and click Clipboard History.

Capture starts the first time you open the panel in a session, so anything copied before that isn't recorded. Open the panel once each time you start Gubb.

Good at:

• History size: it keeps up to 1,000 unpinned text items in a local database, with no time-based expiry. The panel shows the newest 100 items, pinned first.
• Favorites: pinned items appear under Favorites, are kept indefinitely and are never removed automatically.
• Search and filters: Search clipboard... finds text inside items, and a filter narrows the list to Text, Links or Code.
• Edit before reuse: Edit content lets you fix an item before you use it again.
• Paste into notes: Paste to note drops an item into the current note. Paste All inserts every visible item at once, separated by blank lines, which helps when you're gathering research into one place.
• Clearing: Clear History asks for confirmation and has a Keep favorites switch, which is on by default.
• Other tools: notes, checklists, timers and break reminders sit in the same window.

Lacks:

• Text only: it doesn't keep images, files or rich text. For images, use Win+V or Ditto.
• No quick access: there's no global hotkey and no quick-paste popup. To use an item in another app, click Copy to clipboard on it, then press Ctrl+V in that app.
• No password protection: there's no password filtering and no excluded apps. Anything copied as text, including from a password manager, is stored in plain text in a database that isn't encrypted.
• No sync between devices.
• No size or retention settings: the 1,000-item limit is fixed.

Price: see the Microsoft Store listing for the current Windows price. Gubb has no free tier.

Pick it if you copy text mainly to drop it into notes and lists, and you'd rather do that in one app than run a separate clipboard manager. If you want fast pasting into any app, or you copy images, Ditto or Win+V will suit you better. The clipboard section of our help center covers the panel in detail.

How to choose

• You only need the last few copies, including images: use Win+V. Turn it on and you're done.
• You want to find something from days ago, for free: install Ditto.
• You already use a launcher, or want one: try Raycast's free plan. Pay for Pro only if 3 months of history isn't enough.
• Formatting is the problem when you paste: add PowerToys Advanced Paste to whichever history tool you use.
• You copy text to build notes, lists or research dumps: Gubb keeps the history next to the note you're writing.
• You often copy passwords: clear your history regularly, whichever tool you pick. With Win+V, think twice before turning on cloud sync. Our guide to clearing clipboard history on Windows shows how.

New to the idea? What is a clipboard manager explains the basics.

FAQ

Does Windows 11 have a built-in clipboard manager?

Yes. Clipboard history opens with Win+V, but it's off by default. Press Win+V and select Turn on, or enable it in Settings > System > Clipboard.

How many items does Win+V keep?

A Microsoft Q&A answer says 25 entries. That's a community answer, not official documentation. Microsoft's own page gives a 4 MB limit per item. Pin anything you reuse so Clear all doesn't remove it.

Which free clipboard manager keeps a long history?

Ditto. It stores what you copy in a database, keeps it between sessions and lets you search it, and it's free.

Can a clipboard manager keep my passwords?

If you copy a password as text, it can. Gubb stores copied text, passwords included, in its local database without filtering. With Win+V, anyone at your unlocked PC can open the history, and cloud sync sends copied text through the cloud. Clear the history after you copy anything sensitive.