Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Karabiner VS Barrier

Compare Karabiner VS Barrier and see what are their differences

Karabiner logo Karabiner

Karabiner, previously called KeyRemap4MacBook, is a very powerful keyboard remapper for Mac OS X.

Barrier logo Barrier

Barrier is a cross-platform software for sharing your mouse and keyboard between multiple computers...
  • Karabiner Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-06
  • Barrier Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-07

Karabiner videos

REVIEW: Should you play the Vetterli 71 Karabiner? [Hunt Gun Review #1]

More videos:

  • Review - Vim screencast #59: Karabiner Elements
  • Review - Evolution of the Karabiner 98k, From Prewar to Kriegsmodell

Barrier videos

Reviews In a Flash: Barrier

More videos:

  • Review - 🌊KraveBeauty Great Barrier Relief • Everything you need to know!
  • Review - Kravebeauty's Great Barrier Relief Serum: REVIEW

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Karabiner and Barrier)
Automation
100 100%
0% 0
Remote PC Access
0 0%
100% 100
Note Taking
100 100%
0% 0
Mouse Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Karabiner and Barrier

Karabiner Reviews

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Barrier Reviews

Top spacedesk Alternatives & Similar Software (2020)
For Barrier to work, all that is needed is a network connection. You can also copy content from one clipboard to another between computers. Like all other software that let you work on multiple computers, Barrier too helps you control all of them with a single mouse or keyboard. Barrier is free to use and it’s an open-source software. As in the other software that we’ve...

Social recommendations and mentions

Barrier might be a bit more popular than Karabiner. We know about 347 links to it since March 2021 and only 271 links to Karabiner. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Karabiner mentions (271)

  • Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?
    Besides the usual Firefox/Chrome, Spotify, etc I use the following: - Karabiner-Elements for key remapping, specifically, for making caps lock into ctrl/esc. I don't know of anything else that does this job. Everyone who remaps keys seems to use this. - Kitty as my terminal of choice. I spend most of my time logged in remotely to a server via ssh where I attach to a tmux session. Kitty was easy enough to... - Source: Hacker News / 5 days ago
  • Ask HN: What macOS apps/programs do you use daily and recommend?
    If I had to recommend 1 app/script that I use daily: https://github.com/banga/git-split-diffs) to disable things like "Apple + Q" -> nothing worse than going to close a single tab and then your whole app quits. Also able to re-map caps-lock into escape, ect `iterm2` for terminal (colored tabs are great; albeit I disable the hell out of many of the options like "clickable urls" ect) for cli, I try to gnu... - Source: Hacker News / 5 days ago
  • Ask HN: What if we wrote HTML with [brackets][/brackets]?
    I have been using Karabiner elements (https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org), they allow keyboard customization, I have switched the colon and semicolon key, by default without pressing shift, the key will output colon (:) , I find this useful as I type lot of colon daily. Maybe you can use this software to set "<" and ">" to be the default text output without using Shift. - Source: Hacker News / 5 months ago
  • Remote desktop from Windows to Mac, native keys and function
    In the settings of chrome remote desktop there is an option to not send modifier keys etc to the host system. I've also heard of https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/. Source: 7 months ago
  • DOS_deck: Play DOS games in the browser with full controller support
    Possible karbiner but I've never looked into doing specifically that, so I may be wrong https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
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Barrier mentions (347)

  • Hrvach/Deskhop: Fast Desktop Switching Device
    Barrier is a Cross-Plattform, open source Synergy fork that works quite well without any additional HW too [0] [0] https://github.com/debauchee/barrier. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Hrvach/Deskhop: Fast Desktop Switching Device
    Synergy is open core, these portions are licensed as GPL: https://github.com/symless/synergy-core/#License-1-ov-file. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Hrvach/Deskhop: Fast Desktop Switching Device
    Prior to Synergy going to closed source, it was forked into Barrier[0], which then was forked into input-leap[1]. Both open source. [0] https://github.com/debauchee/barrier. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Wayland vs. X – Overview
    Libei looks useful. But IDK why libei is necessary to run Barrier with Wayland? For client systems, couldn't there just be a virtual /dev/inputXYZ that Barrier forwards events through And for host systems, it looks like xev only logs input events when the window is focused. Is xeyes still broken on Wayland, and how to fix it so that it would work with Barrier? With Barrier, when the mouse cursor reaches a screen... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • KVM Switch for Gaming and WFH
    I have a similar gaming/WFH setup (2 monitors at 1440p 144hz) and I’ve been using Barrier instead of a physical kvm, and it works really well. Not sure if you’re open to a software kvm but if you are, I’m happy to answer any questions about it if you have any. Source: 6 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Karabiner and Barrier, you can also consider the following products

BTT Remote - A remote control for you Mac, using your iPhone or iPad

Synergy - Cross-platform software for sharing your mouse and keyboard between multiple computers

SharpKeys - SharpKeys is a utility that manages a Registry key that allows Windows to remap one key to any...

Input Director - Control multiple windows systems with one keyboard/mouse. Share a keyboard and mouse across multiple windows system.

Rectangle - Window management app based on Spectacle, written in Swift.

ShareMouse - With its easy setup and high level of versatility, ShareMouse is a great tool if you're looking to use a single mouse and keyboard across multiple computers.