DisplayBuddy vs Monitor Brightness Control

DisplayBuddy controls supported external monitor settings from a Mac menu bar or Windows taskbar. Depending on the display, it can adjust brightness, contrast, speaker volume, input source, resolution, and rotation. The Mac app uses DDC for hardware control and can use gamma dimming when a monitor does not respond. The maker says it also controls supported LG webOS and Samsung Tizen smart monitors over Wi-Fi. Users can save presets and synchronize brightness across displays. On Mac, presets can be scheduled by sunrise, sunset, time of day, charger state, or connected display; the app also supports Shortcuts, Siri, a command-line interface, and MCP. The Windows app supports Windows 10 and 11, with presets, hotkeys, input switching, and resolution and refresh-rate controls. Personal costs $24.99, paid once for one Mac, Pro costs $29.99, paid once for up to two Macs, and Family costs $49.99, paid once for up to five Macs; each includes lifetime access. There is no free plan, but a 7-day trial is available. Core controls work offline after internet-based license activation.

Monitor Brightness Control is a free Linux tool for adjusting brightness and contrast on external monitors through DDC/CI. It provides a command-line interface, a graphical interface with real-time sliders and a background service. Day, Night and Gaming profiles are included; custom profiles and applying a profile at startup are also supported. Customizable global shortcuts can switch profiles or adjust brightness. The tool detects compatible monitors and supports individual control or batch operations across connected displays. It requires a DDC/CI-compatible monitor and I2C communication, with ddcutil listed as a system dependency. DisplayPort and modern HDMI are fully supported, DVI-D is limited, and VGA is unsupported. The README documents installation via shell script, pip or source checkout, as well as granting I2C group access and loading the i2c-dev module. It can run as a user systemd service and is licensed under MIT. The README lists tested distributions including Ubuntu 20.04+, Linux Mint 20+, Debian 11+, Fedora 35+, Arch Linux/Manjaro and openSUSE. GitHub is the channel for bug reports, feature requests and contributions.