Compare software

Emote vs Characters: catalog facts
Emote	Characters
Best for: Linux users who want a system-wide emoji picker	Best for: Finding and copying special characters and emoji on a GNOME desktop
Free Free and open source under the GPL 3.0 or later.	Free Free and open source under the GPL-2.0-or-later and BSD-3-Clause licences.
Linux	Linux
Quick popup for searching and inserting emoji Native GTK4 and libadwaita interface All 3 strengths for Emote Quick popup for searching and inserting emoji Native GTK4 and libadwaita interface Available on Flathub and Snap	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
Linux only Version 5.0 is still in testing	Linux only Basic feature set aimed at lookup and copy
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-3.0-or-later	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 Emote github.com/tom-james-watson/Emote Catalog checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Characters apps.gnome.org/Characters Catalog checked October 1, 2026

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