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ddcutil vs Luminance: catalog facts
ddcutil	Luminance
Best for: Linux users who want to control external monitor brightness and inputs from scripts	Best for: Linux users with external monitors who want software brightness control
Free Free and open source, with optional donations to the maintainer.	Free Free and open source under the GPL-3.0 licence.
Linux, Command line	Linux
Change brightness and input source without touching the monitor buttons Scriptable from the command line All 4 strengths for ddcutil Change brightness and input source without touching the monitor buttons Scriptable from the command line Shared library used by KDE PowerDevil Actively maintained with recent releases	Controls external monitor brightness over DDC/CI Simple GTK interface All 3 strengths for Luminance Controls external monitor brightness over DDC/CI Simple GTK interface Includes a GNOME Shell extension
Linux only Depends on monitor DDC/CI support and i2c device permissions All 3 limitations for ddcutil Linux only Depends on monitor DDC/CI support and i2c device permissions Command-line first; the GUI is a separate program	External monitors must support DDC/CI Linux only
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-2.0	License: GPL-3.0-only
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for ddcutil ddcutil.com Catalog checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Luminance github.com/sidevesh/Luminance Catalog checked October 1, 2026

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