Utilities · pricing
Karabiner-Elements pricing
Karabiner-Elements publishes a single tier. Below is what it costs, what it covers, and how that compares with the utilities tools listed alongside it.
As of 1 September 2026, Karabiner-Elements pricing is free. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Open source, no licence fee
- Tiers
- 1
- Free tier
- Yes
Karabiner-Elements plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karabiner-Elements | Free | 3 | Entry tier |
Where Karabiner-Elements stops being free
Karabiner-Elements, Free
- Free and open source under the MIT licence
- Full functionality with no paid tier
- Optional donation via GitHub Sponsors or PayPal
No paid tier on record
Karabiner-Elements lists a free tier and no priced tier above it in the record we hold.
What the product covers
The full Karabiner-Elements feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- Low-level key remapping
- Complex modifications
- Per-app and per-device rules
- Complex modification rule library
- Simple modifications GUI
- Apple Silicon native
People bring Karabiner-Elements in for a developer who wants to remap caps lock to escape or control and needs tap versus hold behaviour, someone switching from a windows or linux keyboard layout who wants familiar modifier positions on a mac, a user with an accessibility need around key repeat rate or modifier key behaviour that macos settings cannot cover, anyone who wants serious keyboard customisation without paying for bettertouchtool or a similar all-in-one tool. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to Karabiner-Elements are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in Utilities
Too few utilities tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karabiner-Elements (this page) | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | |
| Calsense | On request | quote | - | vs Karabiner-Elements |
| Find My | Free | Free, built into Apple hardware and iCloud | - | vs Karabiner-Elements |
| Google Lens | Free | Free, bundled into other Google apps | - | vs Karabiner-Elements |
| Hazel | $42/one-time | One-time purchase | - | vs Karabiner-Elements |
| Kap | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs Karabiner-Elements |
| Deluge | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs Karabiner-Elements |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the Karabiner-Elements badges page.
Before you pay for Karabiner-Elements
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: a single tier at Free. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
Karabiner-Elements runs on mac, and is published by pqrs.org (Fumihiko Takayama) of Japan. The full record is on the Karabiner-Elements review, and the rest of the category is under best utilities tools.
Karabiner-Elements pricing questions
- How much does Karabiner-Elements cost?
- Karabiner-Elements publishes a single tier, Karabiner-Elements, at Free.
- Does Karabiner-Elements have a free plan?
- Yes. The Karabiner-Elements tier costs nothing and covers free and open source under the mit licence, full functionality with no paid tier, optional donation via github sponsors or paypal.
- Which utilities tools can I use without paying?
- 4 of the 8 utilities tools listed alongside Karabiner-Elements have a free tier: Find My, Google Lens, Kap, Deluge.
- What am I actually paying for with Karabiner-Elements?
- The record lists 6 features across 1 area: other. In practice it is brought in for a developer who wants to remap caps lock to escape or control and needs tap versus hold behaviour, someone switching from a windows or linux keyboard layout who wants familiar modifier positions on a mac, a user with an accessibility need around key repeat rate or modifier key behaviour that macos settings cannot cover.
- Does Karabiner-Elements charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 1 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these Karabiner-Elements prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare Karabiner-Elements against before paying?
- The closest utilities tools in this directory are Calsense, Find My, Google Lens, Hazel. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Karabiner-Elements covering price, platforms and features.