Holdkey Alternatives

Holdkey is described as 'Windows program that makes it easy to type characters with accents' and is an app. There are more than 10 alternatives to Holdkey for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Web-based, iPhone and BSD apps. The best Holdkey alternative is WinCompose, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Holdkey are Rocket, BabelMap, Retro Typer and Character Map.

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Holdkey alternatives page was last updated Jul 16, 2025

WinCompose
27 likes
Get easy access to thousands of special symbols through composing of characters on the keyboard in ways that are very easy to remember.
26 WinCompose alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Alerts
Discontinued
Platforms
Windows
Is WinCompose a good alternative to Holdkey?
Rocket
14 likes
Rocket is a free Mac app that makes typing emoji faster and easier using Slack-style shortcuts.
26 Rocket alternatives
Cost / License
Freemium
Proprietary
Origin
Australia
Platforms
Mac
Is Rocket a good alternative to Holdkey?
BabelMap
31 likes
BabelMap is a free character map application for Windows that allows you to browse through the entire Unicode character repertoire of over 107,000 characters, or search for a particular character by name or by code point.
Cost / License
Free
Proprietary
Origin
United Kingdom
Platforms
Windows
PortableApps.com
Is BabelMap a good alternative to Holdkey?
Retro Typer
5 likes
Retro Typer is a straightforward software tool designed for macOS and Windows platforms. Its primary function is to provide users with a search engine for locating memes and emojis. It incorporates a user-friendly interface that facilitates the navigation and selection of...
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Platforms
Mac
Windows
+1
Is Retro Typer a good alternative to Holdkey?
Character Map
23 likes
Character Map (Charmap.exe) is a utility included with Microsoft Windows operating systems and is used to view the characters in any installed font, to check what keyboard input (Alt code) is used to enter those characters, and to copy characters to the clipboard in lieu of...
29 Character Map alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Proprietary
Origin
United States
Platforms
Windows
Is Character Map a good alternative to Holdkey?
UnicodePad
5 likes
Input all characters in Unicode with Unicode Pad. And input string can be copied to the clipboard. You can find out where selected character is in list. By long clicking, larger character and code point will be shown. Favorite characters can be memorized.
25 UnicodePad alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (Apache-2.0)
Origin
Japan
Platforms
Android
Is UnicodePad a good alternative to Holdkey?
Codepoint
1 like
70,000+ Unicodes in your pocket. Search Unicodes, Glyphs, SF Symbols and Emojis in a blink. Codepoint helps you to find the exact characters you need and supports you in discovering new glyphs. Export them as Symbols, Strings, Hexadecimals, HTML entities or even Swift code.
Cost / License
Paid
Proprietary
Origin
Germany
EU
Platforms
Mac
iPhone
iPad
visionOS
+5
Is Codepoint a good alternative to Holdkey?
CharacterMap
1 like
CharacterMap.org is a simple online character map. It is a tool that allows you to view the ASCII table and Unicode characters.
Cost / License
Free
Proprietary
Origin
International
Platforms
Online
Is CharacterMap a good alternative to Holdkey?
SymbSearch
4 likes
A tool for searching unicode-symbols and copying it to the clipboard.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (MIT)
Platforms
Windows
Is SymbSearch a good alternative to Holdkey?
SymWin
2 likes
A small and quick tool for typing special symbols.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Origin
Germany
EU
Alerts
Discontinued
Platforms
Windows
+2
Is SymWin a good alternative to Holdkey?
Peachy
1 like
Getting bored of the overused emojis? Enter kaomojis into any Mac app now, Slack-style! (?^O^?)
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-2.0)
Platforms
Mac
+1
Is Peachy a good alternative to Holdkey?
PopChar
11 likes
The character map that works! PopChar is an application that lets you insert special characters, umlauts and foreign letters into any document. With this character map, there is no need to search for or remember complex keystrokes.
31 PopChar alternatives
Cost / License
Paid
Proprietary
Origin
Austria
EU
Platforms
Mac
Windows
+2
Is PopChar a good alternative to Holdkey?