DisplayBuddy AlternativesScreen Dimmers and other similar apps like DisplayBuddy

DisplayBuddy is described as 'Lets you control external displays connected to your Mac right from your menu bar! No need to touch your clunky monitor buttons!' and is a Screen Dimmer in the system & hardware category. There are more than 10 alternatives to DisplayBuddy for a variety of platforms, including Mac, Windows, Linux, openSUSE and Python apps. The best DisplayBuddy alternative is Twinkle Tray, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like DisplayBuddy are Dimly, Crisp - Monitor Control, MonitorControl and Monitorian.

Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
DisplayBuddy alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. Twinkle Tray icon
     50 likes

    Twinkle Tray enables brightness control on external displays in Windows 10 & 11. Even th Windows is capable of adjusting the backlight on most monitors, it doesn't support external monitors natively.

    32 Twinkle Tray alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
    |
    1
    Twinkle Tray vs DisplayBuddy Comments
    anonymousaccounts
    Positive
    0

    Great except on my Dell S2721DGF the screen will go black after it wakes from sleep a lot of the time and will not respond until I fully pull the power plug to hard reset the monitor. Dev has no fix unfortunately.

    • Twinkle Tray is Free and Open SourceDisplayBuddy is Paid and Proprietary
    • Twinkle Tray is LightweightDisplayBuddy is not according to our users
  2. Dimly icon
     8 likes

    Open-source macOS menu utility for unified brightness, blackout, and sleep control of external monitors, using hybrid DDC/CI and software overlays, per-display settings, custom profiles, hotkeys, panic shortcut, privacy by design, and secure signed builds.

    15 Dimly alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
  3. Open-source macOS menu bar app enabling HiDPI scaling on external monitors, DDC brightness with software dimming, icon-based display presets, virtual displays, drag-to-arrange multi-monitor layouts, ICC profile switching, auto-brightness sync, and quick access toggles for display modes.

    5 Crisp - Monitor Control alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
  4. MonitorControl icon
     20 likes

    🖥 Control your external monitor brightness & volume on your Mac.

    20 MonitorControl alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
    |
    1
    MonitorControl vs DisplayBuddy Comments
    st4334fv
    Positive
    -1

    It is free + has way more features than DisplayBuddy.

    • MonitorControl is Free and Open SourceDisplayBuddy is Paid and Proprietary
  5.  2 likes

    Most monitors, other than laptop displays, have a Virtual Control Panel (VCP), which implements features defined in the Montor Control Command Set (MCCS). Typically, ddcutil communicates with the monitor's VCP over an I2C bus, as per the Display Data Channel/Command...

    15 ddcutil alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
  6. LumiMax icon
     3 likes

    XDR brightness boost app for Mac — push your display to 1600 nits using native EDR overlay, with color accuracy preserved and better battery efficiency.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
  7.  1 like

    Windows implementation of the ddcutil Linux program for querying and changing monitor settings, such as brightness and color levels.

    16 winddcutil alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  8. Brightintosh icon
     4 likes

    BrightIntosh is lightweight, works system-wide, has optional launch-at-login functionality and includes a global hotkey to toggle the extra brightness.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
  9. Lunar icon
     7 likes

    Intelligent adaptive brightness for your external display.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
  10. DDCcontrol icon
     2 likes

    DDCcontrol is software for controlling monitor parameters such as brightness, contrast, and RGB color levels. It includes a command-line tool and a GUI tool.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • openSUSE
    • Fedora
    • Ubuntu
    • Debian
     
  11. The app lets you control the brightness of all your screens (both laptop and desktop) by a single click on a tray icon. Its look goes nicely with the system icons and it supports both light and dark mode.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
12 of 20 DisplayBuddy alternatives