Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Karabiner VS BTT Remote

Compare Karabiner VS BTT Remote and see what are their differences

Karabiner logo Karabiner

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

BTT Remote logo BTT Remote

A remote control for you Mac, using your iPhone or iPad
  • Karabiner Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-06
  • BTT Remote Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-02

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.

BTT Remote features and specs

  • Customizability
    BTT Remote offers extensive options for customization, allowing users to tailor the app to their exact needs and preferences. This includes custom gestures, shortcuts, and actions.
  • Integration
    The app seamlessly integrates with macOS and various applications, providing enhanced control over system functions and third-party software through shortcuts and automation.
  • Productivity
    By automating repetitive tasks and providing quick access to commonly used functions, BTT Remote can significantly boost productivity for users.
  • Ease of Use
    Despite its advanced features, BTT Remote is designed to be user-friendly, with an intuitive interface that makes it accessible even to less tech-savvy users.
  • Support
    The app enjoys good support and regular updates from its developers, ensuring any bugs are quickly addressed and new features are continuously added.

Possible disadvantages of BTT Remote

  • Learning Curve
    Due to the wide range of options and configurations available, new users may experience a steep learning curve before they can fully utilize all of BTT Remote's features.
  • Performance
    In some cases, running BTT Remote can slightly impact system performance, particularly if many custom actions and scripts are running simultaneously.
  • Cost
    While certainly packed with features, BTT Remote is a paid app, and the cost might deter some potential users who are looking for free alternatives.
  • Reliability
    Users have reported occasional reliability issues, such as the app not responding or certain gestures not working as intended, although these are typically addressed in updates.
  • Complexity for Basic Users
    For users who only need basic remote control functions, BTT Remote might be overkill, as its advanced features can make the app seem unnecessarily complex.

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

BTT Remote videos

BTT Remote im Videotest

More videos:

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Karabiner and BTT Remote)
Automation
78 78%
22% 22
Window Manager
32 32%
68% 68
Note Taking
66 66%
34% 34
Mac Tools
42 42%
58% 58

User comments

Share your experience with using Karabiner and BTT Remote. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Karabiner might be a bit more popular than BTT Remote. We know about 273 links to it since March 2021 and only 186 links to BTT Remote. 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 / 16 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 / 7 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
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BTT Remote mentions (186)

  • macOS Tips and Tricks
    Other good windows management options are Hammerspoon and BetterTouchTool: https://www.hammerspoon.org/Spoons/MiroWindowsManager.html https://folivora.ai/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • A collection of useful Mac Apps
    BetterTouchTool - Price: $15+ with a free trial Customizable gestures and shortcuts (also a BTT Remote, $5). Source: almost 2 years ago
  • How do you Mac users stand that stupid apple mouse?!
    Third party mouse is the way to go, but BetterTouchTool is a great software alternative. You can turn the scrolling off per app. And it has a lot of other great features. https://folivora.ai. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • An Open Source Mouse and Trackpad Utility for Mac
    > Unpopular opinion, but I like the Magic Mouse I've always liked the Magic Mouse. > The thing with the Magic Mouse is the touch sensor on top! Being able to swipe and scroll horizontally and vertically This is such an underrated feature; I use it constantly. But there's more it can do; Better Touch Tool lets you configure gestures to your heart's content [1]. [1]: https://folivora.ai. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Gaming Mouse with functionality on Apple Silicon
    I use BetterTouchTool to customize my mouse. That tool is amazing, it offers so much more functionality than that, including window management. Source: almost 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

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

SteerMouse - Advanced driver for USB and Bluetooth mouses.

yabai - A tiling window manager for macOS based on binary space partitioning

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

Magnet Window Manager - Magnet Developers

Logitech Options - Customisation of Logitech mouse or keyboard settings, device information, additional functionality...