ddcutil vs Twinkle Tray
ddcutil
ddcutil.com
Twinkle Tray
twinkletray.comSide by side
| Figure | ddcutil | Twinkle Tray |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 2 | 1 |
| Spec score · Monitor Control Software | 8.4 (#3) | 7.2 (#17) |
| License | ddcutil and ddcui are released under the GNU General Public License, version 2. | The source code is provided under the MIT License. |
| Monitor controls | Its commands can detect monitors, report capabilities, read and set VCP feature values, and save or restore color related settings. | It can control DDC/CI features including contrast, volume, and power state. |
| Purpose | ddcutil is a Linux program for managing monitor settings such as brightness, color levels, and input source. | Twinkle Tray manages brightness levels for multiple monitors from a Windows system-tray icon. |
| Support | The project directs technical support questions, bug reports, and feature requests to its GitHub issue tracker. | The official site links to GitHub source code, opened issues, and troubleshooting documentation. |
Plans
In their own words
ddcutil
ddcutil is a free Linux program for controlling monitor settings such as brightness, color levels and input source. It communicates with monitors through DDC/CI over I²C and supports monitors implementing MCCS over USB. Commands can find monitors, show capabilities, read or change VCP feature values, and save or restore color-related settings. The companion ddcui provides a Qt graphical interface with Summary, Capabilities and Features views, with the last allowing changes to modifiable values. For profile workflows, dumpvcp saves current settings to a file and loadvcp restores them. Developers can use the C API through libddcutil.so to read and write VCP values and handle profile-related features. The program is released under GNU GPL version 2. Setup requires the Linux kernel i2c-dev module, and non-root users need permissions to run it. It does not support laptop displays, which use a special API rather than I²C, and generally will not run in virtual machines because virtual video drivers do not implement I²C. For MCCS-over-USB table features, support is limited; the capabilities command synthesizes a response.
Twinkle Tray
Twinkle Tray is a Windows utility for managing brightness on multiple monitors from a system-tray icon. Sliders can adjust one display or all displays at once, and the app can control DDC/CI monitor features such as contrast, volume, and power state. It supports most laptops and DDC/CI-enabled monitors, using WMI for internal laptop displays and DDC/CI for external displays. Users can schedule brightness adjustments by time of day or when the computer is idle, and bind hotkeys to particular displays or all of them. Command-line arguments support custom scripting, and the application is localized in over 20 languages. Twinkle Tray is free and can be obtained through the Microsoft Store or as a GitHub installer. Compatibility may be limited with VGA or DVI connections and some USB, Thunderbolt, or Surface docks using HDMI or DisplayPort. Its privacy policy describes collection of settings, operating system, CPU name, app version, user interactions, and estimated location through Google Analytics; users can opt out in Settings.