Compare software

Characters vs Emojify: catalog facts
Characters	Emojify
Best for: Finding and copying special characters and emoji on a GNOME desktop	Best for: GNOME users who want a quick way to search and copy emoji
Free Free and open source under the GPL-2.0-or-later and BSD-3-Clause licences.	Free Free and open source under the GPL-3.0.
Linux	Linux
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	Fast startup and low memory use Native GTK 4 interface
Linux only Basic feature set aimed at lookup and copy	Linux only Small project with a single developer
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-2.0-or-later AND BSD-3-Clause	License: GPL-3.0-or-later
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Characters apps.gnome.org/Characters Catalog checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Emojify github.com/riothedev/emojify Catalog checked October 1, 2026

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