Compare software

BabelMap vs Characters: catalog facts
BabelMap	Characters
Best for: Finding and inserting any Unicode character on Windows	Best for: Finding and copying special characters and emoji on a GNOME desktop
Free Freeware with no paid edition.	Free Free and open source under the GPL-2.0-or-later and BSD-3-Clause licences.
Windows	Linux
Covers the full Unicode repertoire, updated for each Unicode release Search by character name or code point All 4 strengths for BabelMap Covers the full Unicode repertoire, updated for each Unicode release Search by character name or code point Composite fonts with a different font per Unicode block Far more capable than the built-in Windows Character Map	Keyword search across Unicode characters Browse by category including emoji and math symbols All 3 strengths for Characters Keyword search across Unicode characters Browse by category including emoji and math symbols Actively maintained GNOME app
Windows only Closed source freeware	Linux only Basic feature set aimed at lookup and copy
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Not open source	Open source
License: Freeware	License: GPL-2.0-or-later AND BSD-3-Clause
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for BabelMap babelstone.co.uk/Software/BabelMap.html Catalog checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Characters apps.gnome.org/Characters Catalog checked October 1, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.