Software Alternatives & Startups

DisplayBuddy VS Essentials

Compare DisplayBuddy VS Essentials and see what are their differences

DisplayBuddy

Control the real brightness of your monitors directly from your Mac - no need to touch the buttons on your Monitor.

Rating
5.0 · 1 review
Pricing
Paid Free trial $18.99 / One-off
Essentials

Essential tools and mods for Android nerds. Contribute to sameerasw/essentials development by creating an account on GitHub.

No screenshot yet
Rating
0 reviews

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, DisplayBuddy seems to be more popular. It has been mentioned 8 times since March 2021.

social mentions
8 vs 0
Mac popularity
100% vs 0%
alternatives listed
49 vs 15

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

DisplayBuddy
Essentials
Website displaybuddy.app github.com
Pricing
Paid Free trial $18.99 / One-off Official pricing
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Platforms
Mac OSX Windows
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Company 2021 —
Listed in

About DisplayBuddy and Essentials

In their own words, as submitted to SaaSHub.

DisplayBuddy
Essentials

DisplayBuddy lets you control external displays connected to your Mac right from your menu bar - No need to touch those clunky monitor buttons! It has been tested on a wide range of monitors from manufacturers such as Dell, Acer, LG, Samsung, BenQ & PRISM, and works with most displays...

Read more about DisplayBuddy

No description of Essentials yet.

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

DisplayBuddy 5 features
Essentials 5 features
  • Seamless Monitor Control
    DisplayBuddy allows users to easily control the brightness, contrast, and volume of their monitors directly from their macOS device without having to fiddle with physical monitor buttons.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The app offers a clean and intuitive interface, making it accessible for users of all tech-savvy levels to manage their displays effectively.
  • Multiple Monitor Support
    DisplayBuddy supports multiple monitors, providing unified control to adjust settings across various displays simultaneously, which is ideal for users with multiple screen setups.
  • Compatibility
    It is compatible with a wide range of monitor brands and models, increasing its usability for a diverse user base.
  • Convenience
    Users can make display adjustments without interrupting their workflow, saving time and reducing the hassle of manual adjustments.
  • Clean and Minimal Design
    Essentials provides a clean, minimal browser startpage/new tab experience that focuses on simplicity and aesthetics, reducing visual clutter compared to default browser homepages.
  • Customizable
    The project allows users to customize various aspects of their startpage, including links, bookmarks, and visual elements, making it adaptable to individual workflows and preferences.
  • Open Source
    Being hosted on GitHub and open source, users can freely inspect, modify, and contribute to the codebase, ensuring transparency and community-driven improvements.
  • Lightweight
    The project is built with simple web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), making it fast to load and easy to deploy without heavy dependencies or frameworks.
  • Self-Hosted Friendly
    Users can easily host and run the startpage locally or on their own servers, maintaining full control over their data and not relying on third-party services.

Possible disadvantages

  • Limited Documentation
    The project has relatively limited documentation, which may make it harder for new users or contributors to understand setup, configuration options, and how to extend the project.
  • Niche Use Case
    As a browser startpage, it serves a very specific niche purpose and may not appeal to users who are satisfied with default browser new tab pages or more feature-rich alternatives like Notion or other dashboard tools.
  • Small Community
    The project has a relatively small user and contributor base, which can mean slower development, fewer feature additions, and limited community support for troubleshooting issues.
  • Manual Configuration
    Customization often requires directly editing code or configuration files rather than offering a user-friendly settings interface, which can be a barrier for less technical users.
  • Limited Feature Set
    Compared to more established startpage projects (like Homer, Heimdall, or Flame), Essentials may lack advanced features such as service health monitoring, integrations, or weather widgets that power users might expect.

Analysis

An editorial look at what each product does well and who it suits.

DisplayBuddy
Essentials

No analysis of DisplayBuddy yet.

Overall verdict

  • Essentials is a well-regarded, popular Minecraft server plugin (and its modern fork EssentialsX) that provides a comprehensive suite of core commands and features for server administration, making it a solid foundation for most Bukkit/Spigot/Paper servers.

Why this product is good

  • Offers hundreds of essential commands and features out of the box, covering teleportation, homes, warps, kits, and economy
  • Actively maintained through the EssentialsX fork with regular updates and compatibility for modern Minecraft versions
  • Open source and free, with a large community providing support, documentation, and tutorials
  • Highly configurable with granular permissions integration for fine-tuned server control
  • Widely adopted, so it integrates well with many other popular plugins

Recommended for

  • Minecraft server administrators setting up a new survival or multiplayer server
  • Server owners who need a reliable all-in-one plugin for basic management commands
  • Communities wanting economy, homes, and warp systems without installing many separate plugins
  • Beginners looking for well-documented, beginner-friendly server tooling
  • Developers building on Bukkit, Spigot, or Paper who want a stable core plugin foundation

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
DisplayBuddy
Essentials
100% 100%
Mac
0% 0%
73% 73%
27% 27%
100% 100%
0% 0%
0% 0%
100% 100%

User comments

Share your experience with using DisplayBuddy and Essentials. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

DisplayBuddy 5.0 · 1 review
Essentials no reviews yet

We have no reviews of Essentials yet. Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

DisplayBuddy 8 mentions
Essentials 0 mentions
  • Little macOS Apps That Make a Big Difference in 2024
    Adding my must haves: - DisplayBuddy: a more modern alternative to BetterDisplay to control monitors (https://displaybuddy.app) - Magnet: the simplest and best window manager (https://magnet.crowdcafe.com) - DaisyDisk: fantastic way to... - Source: Hacker News / almost 3 years ago
  • 18-year-old built a better computer monitor that doesn't strain your eyes
    Why not just use https://displaybuddy.app on a modern monitor and not strain your eyes. - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago
  • Scrollbars Are Becoming a Problem
    If you’re looking for something that allows media keys and custom keyboard shortcuts: https://displaybuddy.app/ Works on both Windows and Mac. - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago

View more

Tracking Essentials since Apr 2026.

Alternatives to DisplayBuddy and Essentials

When comparing DisplayBuddy and Essentials, you can also consider the following products.