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Best Productivity ResourcesBy Shushant LakhyaniVerified creator

Desktop App

Kanata

A keyboard remapper that adds layers, shortcuts and home-row modifiers.

Visit Kanata4.5

  • Rating

    4.5 / 5

  • Pricing

    Free

  • Difficulty

    Advanced

  • Works on

    macOS, Windows, Linux

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What is Kanata?

Kanata is a free, open-source keyboard remapper that works on any keyboard. Turn Caps Lock into Escape and Control, add layers for numbers and arrows, set up tap-and-hold keys and build shortcut combos in one config file, so your hands stay on the home row and repetitive typing gets faster.

Third-party open-source projects. We are not affiliated with their authors; repositories are provided as-is by their maintainers. Review each project's license, code and security before installing. See our Disclaimer.

Pros: what Kanata does well

  • Works the same on Windows, Mac and Linux
  • Powerful layers and tap-hold keys
  • Free and open source

Cons: where it falls short

  • Set up through a text config file
  • macOS needs an extra driver

Who Kanata is for

Keyboard-heavy users who want custom layouts on any keyboard.

Who can skip it

Anyone happy with their default keyboard layout.

Kanata alternatives

Not sold on Kanata? These do a similar job, and each card says what it has in common.

All Personal Productivity resources

Karabiner-Elements

Focus: hyper key and macos. Shares keyboard remapping and shortcuts with Kanata. A Mac app, not a desktop app. Rated 4.7 (Kanata: 4.5).

Mac AppFreemacOS
4.7Visit

Kando

Focus: pie menu and launcher. Shares shortcuts and open source with Kanata. Rated 4.6 (Kanata: 4.5).

Desktop AppFreeWindows, macOS
4.6Visit

keyd

Focus: keyboard, key remapping and linux. Shares shortcuts and open source with Kanata. Same 4.5 rating.

OtherFreeLinux
4.5Visit

Nushell

Focus: shell, command line and data pipelines. Shares open source and github with Kanata. Rated 4.6 (Kanata: 4.5).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit

Free alternatives to Kanata

Want to spend nothing? These free picks cover similar ground.

Task

Focus: task runner, automation and build tool. Shares open source and github with Kanata. Rated 4.6 (Kanata: 4.5).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit

topgrade

Focus: updates, package manager and automation. Shares open source and github with Kanata. Rated 4.6 (Kanata: 4.5).

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.6Visit

Dasel

Focus: json, yaml and data conversion. Shares open source and github with Kanata. Same 4.5 rating.

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.5Visit

Wox

Focus: app launcher, keyboard shortcuts and plugins. Shares open source and github with Kanata. Same 4.5 rating.

Desktop AppFreemacOS, Windows
4.5Visit

Coolify

Focus: self-hosting, deployment and hosting. Shares open source and github with Kanata. A web app, not a desktop app. Adds Web. Rated 4.7 (Kanata: 4.5).

Web AppFreeWeb
4.7Visit

iTerm2

Focus: terminal, mac and command line. Shares open source and github with Kanata. A Mac app, not a desktop app. Rated 4.7 (Kanata: 4.5).

Mac AppFreemacOS
4.7Visit
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