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keyd VS Karabiner

Compare keyd VS Karabiner and see what are their differences

SuperOps
Modern PSA and RMM Software for MSP's and IT Teams featured
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  3. » Reviews
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keyd logo keyd

Linux lacks a good key remapping solution. In order to achieve satisfactory results a medley of tools need to be employed (e.g xcape, xmodmap) with the end result often being tethered to a specified environment (X11).

Karabiner logo Karabiner

Karabiner, previously called KeyRemap4MacBook, is a very powerful keyboard remapper for Mac OS X.
Not present
  • Karabiner Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-06

keyd features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

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.

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.

keyd videos

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Karabiner videos

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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

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to keyd and Karabiner)

keyd

Karabiner

Windows Tools
18 18%
Windows Tools
82% 82
Automation
8 8%
Automation
92% 92
Note Taking
12 12%
Note Taking
88% 88
Window Manager
0 0%
Window Manager
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Karabiner seems to be a lot more popular than keyd. While we know about 274 links to Karabiner, we've tracked only 1 mention of keyd. 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.

keyd mentions (1)

  • Thoughts on Mechanical Keyboards and the ZSA Moonlander
    You can get pretty far with software-only tweaks to your existing keyboard instead. I've settled on keyd[1], after using XKB and interception-tools for a while. [1]: https://github.com/rvaiya/keyd. - Source: Hacker News / 7 days ago

Karabiner mentions (274)

  • Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (July 2025)
    Hey! These kinds of keyboard related things are well solved by Karabiner elements: https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ There you can map (whatever key) to (whatever other key). E.g. I have right command mapped to F20, available to all other apps . - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • 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 / 5 months 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 / 12 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 / over 1 year 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 / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

SuperOps - Modern PSA and RMM Software for MSP's and IT Teams

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

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

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

Ukelele - Ukelele is a Unicode Keyboard Layout Editor for Mac OS X.

SteerMouse - Advanced driver for USB and Bluetooth mouses.

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