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ColorCopy vs. Pika

The short version: Pika is genuinely great. It’s open-source (MIT), tiny and fast, free via direct download, and it supports OKLCH and LAB plus WCAG and APCA contrast. It even has named palettes now. If you mostly need quick on-screen picking and love open-source, it may be all you need. ColorCopy is the better fit if you also want palette extraction from images, built-in presets, broader import/export, contrast auto-fix, and a wider developer-format list.

Pika (by Charlie Gleason) is open-source under the MIT license and beautifully focused on one thing: grabbing colors off your screen with a global hotkey. It’s free if you download it directly or via Homebrew; the Mac App Store build is a small paid download (around $2.99) that supports the developer. We’re not going to talk it down, because it’s a lovely tool whose source you can read. Instead, here’s an honest look at where the two apps actually differ, checked against Pika’s own site and GitHub repo in June 2026.

At a glance

  ColorCopy Pika
Pricing Free to download. One-time Pro removes the monthly cap (check the Mac App Store for current pricing). Free via direct download & Homebrew; the Mac App Store build is a paid download (around $2.99)
Open-source No. Closed-source Yes. MIT license, read or fork the code
OKLCH & LAB No. Neither supported Yes, both, plus Hex, RGB, HSB, HSL, OpenGL
Color formats 21 built-in, incl. UIColor, NSColor, SwiftUI, .NET, Java, Android 7 (Hex, RGB, HSB, HSL, LAB, OpenGL, OKLCH)
Contrast checker WCAG 2 and APCA, with one-click auto-fix to a target ratio WCAG and APCA (compares a foreground & background pair)
Palettes Full palette manager, 24 built-in presets Named palettes (added in v1.6.0), but no built-in presets
Palette from image Yes: K-means, median cut, or octree No
Import / export Export to 8 formats (.ase, .clr, JSON, CSS, HTML, txt, PNG, PDF); import .ase, .clr & JSON Exports palettes to JSON; no import
Pick history Persistent recent-colors list Every pick saved: revisit, undo, redo
Distribution Mac App Store Mac App Store, direct download, Homebrew
Requirements macOS macOS 14+ (Sonoma)
Platforms macOS only macOS only

Features verified against superhighfives.com/pika and github.com/superhighfives/pika (v1.7.0, May 2026) in June 2026. Details can change, so confirm current specifics before you decide.

Where Pika is the better choice

We mean this. Pick Pika if:

  • You want it open-source. Pika is MIT-licensed, so you can read the code, fork it, and build it yourself, free of charge from the repo or Homebrew. ColorCopy is closed-source.
  • You work in OKLCH or LAB. Pika supports both color spaces; ColorCopy supports neither.
  • You want something tiny, fast, and native. Pika is around 4.7 MB, focused on quick picking with a global hotkey, and includes both WCAG and APCA contrast checking, an undo/redo-style pick history, login auto-start, a pika:// automation scheme, and multi-language support.

Where ColorCopy wins

Pika added named palettes in v1.6.0, so this is closer than it used to be. ColorCopy still pulls ahead on the palette-heavy workflow:

  • Palettes from images. Drop in a photo and ColorCopy extracts a palette with your choice of three quantization algorithms (K-means, median cut, octree). Pika doesn’t do this.
  • Built-in presets. ColorCopy ships 24 ready-made palettes (Tailwind, Material Design, Radix, Apple System Colors, and more). Pika lets you build and name your own palettes, but doesn’t include presets.
  • Broader import and export. ColorCopy exports to 8 formats (.ase, .clr, JSON, CSS, HTML, txt, PNG, PDF) and imports .ase, .clr, and JSON. Pika exports palettes to JSON and doesn’t import.
  • More formats, more dev targets. 21 formats vs Pika’s 7, including Apple-platform and cross-platform developer formats: UIColor, NSColor, SwiftUI, .NET, Java, and Android.
  • Contrast auto-fix. Both apps check WCAG and APCA, but ColorCopy can auto-fix a failing pair to a target ratio. Pika compares a foreground and background but doesn’t auto-nudge a color to hit a target.

Honest caveats

  • Pika is open-source (MIT) and free from the repo or Homebrew — ColorCopy is neither free of charge nor open-source. If you value reading and forking the code, Pika wins outright.
  • Pika supports OKLCH and LAB; ColorCopy supports neither today. If those color spaces are part of your workflow, use Pika.
  • Pika now has named palettes and JSON export, so the palette gap is smaller than it once was. ColorCopy still leads on image extraction, built-in presets, broader import/export, and contrast auto-fix.
  • If you just need fast on-screen picking plus contrast checking and love open-source, Pika is an excellent choice and possibly all you need.

Try ColorCopy free

The honest test is just to use it. ColorCopy is free to download and the free tier includes everything so you can see whether the palette, image-extraction, and export workflow fits before deciding anything about Pro.

Download ColorCopy Free

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