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Karabiner VS Swiftkey

Compare Karabiner VS Swiftkey and see what are their differences

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Contents:
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  3. » Reviews
  4. » Alternatives

Karabiner logo Karabiner

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

Swiftkey logo Swiftkey

SwiftKey keyboard allows for seamless typing and adapts to the way you type, so you can spend less time correcting typos and more time saying what you mean.
  • Karabiner Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-06
  • Swiftkey Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-15

Karabiner features and specs

  • Customizability
    Karabiner-Elements allows users to remap keys and create complex keyboard configurations that can greatly enhance productivity and convenience.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source tool, Karabiner-Elements is free to use and comes with the potential for community contributions and transparency in development.
  • Flexibility
    The tool supports a wide range of devices and configurations, making it adaptable to various user needs and setups.
  • Ease of Use
    The user interface is designed to be intuitive, allowing both novice and experienced users to easily configure and remap their keyboards.
  • Regular Updates
    The tool is actively maintained with regular updates, ensuring compatibility with the latest macOS versions and adding new features.

Possible disadvantages of Karabiner

  • Compatibility Issues
    Some users may experience compatibility issues with certain applications or hardware, potentially causing unexpected behavior.
  • Learning Curve
    Although the interface is intuitive, mastering its full range of features, especially for complex configurations, can require a steep learning curve.
  • System Performance
    On occasion, Karabiner-Elements may consume significant system resources, which could impact overall system performance.
  • Limited Platform Support
    As of now, Karabiner-Elements only supports macOS, limiting its utility for users on other operating systems such as Windows or Linux.
  • Potential for Errors
    Incorrect configuration or updates may lead to errors in key mappings, which can disrupt the user experience until resolved.

Swiftkey features and specs

  • Predictive Text
    SwiftKey's predictive text uses AI to learn from your typing habits and offers accurate next-word suggestions, making typing faster and more efficient.
  • Customization
    The keyboard offers various customization options such as themes, layout changes, and personalized predictions, allowing users to tailor their typing experience to their preferences.
  • Multilingual Support
    SwiftKey supports a wide range of languages, making it easy to switch between different languages and adapt to multilingual users' needs.
  • Gesture Typing
    Users can use swipe gestures to type words, which can significantly speed up typing and reduce the effort involved.
  • Cloud Sync
    With cloud sync, your keyboard settings and learned words can be backed up and synchronized across multiple devices, ensuring a consistent experience.

Possible disadvantages of Swiftkey

  • Privacy Concerns
    Since SwiftKey collects data to improve predictions, some users might have concerns about their personal data being stored and used.
  • Resource Intensive
    The keyboard can be heavy on device resources, potentially slowing down performance on older or lower-spec devices.
  • Occasional Lag
    Users have reported occasional lag or delays, especially when using some of the more resource-intensive features like cloud sync and advanced predictions.
  • Over-reliance on AI
    While the AI is generally accurate, it can sometimes make incorrect predictions or autocorrections, which can be frustrating and require manual correction.
  • Limited Offline Features
    Certain features, such as cloud backup and updates to predictions, require an internet connection, limiting functionality when offline.

Analysis of Karabiner

Overall verdict

  • Karabiner-Elements is considered a good tool for macOS users seeking to customize their keyboard. Its reliability, versatility, and active community support make it a valuable addition to any power user's toolkit.

Why this product is good

  • Karabiner-Elements is highly regarded for its ability to customize and remap keyboard keys on macOS. It offers a powerful and flexible suite of features that allow users to tailor their keyboard setup to their specific needs, enhancing productivity and ergonomics. With an intuitive interface and extensive documentation, both novice and advanced users can benefit from its functionality.

Recommended for

  • Developers who need custom keyboard shortcuts.
  • Mac users experiencing discomfort with standard keyboard layouts.
  • Professionals requiring specific keybindings for software applications.
  • Users transitioning from Windows or Linux who want to emulate key behaviors from those systems.

Analysis of Swiftkey

Overall verdict

  • Overall, SwiftKey is a reliable and efficient keyboard app, especially beneficial for those who frequently type on mobile devices. While some alternatives exist, SwiftKey's unique features and Microsoft backing make it a strong contender in the keyboard app market.

Why this product is good

  • SwiftKey, developed by Microsoft, is considered a good keyboard app due to its advanced predictive text capabilities, customizable keyboard themes, and seamless integration with various languages. It uses AI to learn your writing style, offering personalized suggestions to speed up typing. Additionally, its cloud-based features allow users to sync their style and preferences across multiple devices.

Recommended for

    SwiftKey is ideal for users who are looking for an intelligent keyboard that can adapt to their typing patterns, offer multi-language support, and provide extensive customization options. It's also recommended for individuals who type extensively on their mobile devices and appreciate efficiency and predictive text functionalities.

Karabiner videos

+ Add

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

Swiftkey videos

+ Add

SwiftKey vs Gboard | Which is Best Keyboard App for You | Guiding Tech

More videos:

  • Review - Windows 10 Mobile Review
  • Tutorial - BBC micro:bit Review and makecode Programming Tutorial
  • Review - Beginners Review: Microsoft MakeCode Arcade || Lilithium
  • Review - Swiftkey Keyboard | Worth The Switch?
  • Review - Swiftkey: Best keyboard App? 10 reasons why

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Karabiner and Swiftkey)

Karabiner

Swiftkey

Automation
100 100%
Automation
0% 0
iPhone
0 0%
iPhone
100% 100
Note Taking
100 100%
Note Taking
0% 0
iOS Tools
0 0%
iOS Tools
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Karabiner seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 273 times since March 2021. 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 (273)

  • Ergonomic Mac Keyboard Setup
    I use Karabiner as the driver for keyboard customizations. Karabiner intercepts hardware keystrokes and sends keystrokes to the computer allowing me to configure Karabiner to have a flexible setup and map key(s) presses to other keys(s) or commands. - Source: dev.to / 27 days ago
  • Recommended Software for Mac that You cannot Miss
    This software is free and can be downloaded from the official website; it’s also open-source, so you can find it on GitHub Releases. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • 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 / 12 months 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 / 12 months 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 / over 1 year ago
View more

Swiftkey mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Swiftkey yet. Tracking of Swiftkey recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

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

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

AnySoftKeyboard - Android (f/w 1.5+) on-screen keyboard for multiple languages.

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

Hacker's Keyboard - Are you missing the key layout you're used to from your computer when using an Android device?

SteerMouse - Advanced driver for USB and Bluetooth mouses.

Gboard - Google-powered keyboard with search, GIFs, emojis and more!

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