Switching monitor input and keyboard together: BetterDisplay vs EasyKVM
BetterDisplay can flip a monitor's input over DDC, and a lot of Mac users already run it as a poor man's KVM. The screen moves to the PC and the keyboard under your hands does not. EasyKVM is built for two computers sharing one monitor, so the hotkey that flips the input also hands keyboard, mouse and audio to the other machine. $29.99 once, LAN-only.
BetterDisplay is a good piece of software
BetterDisplay is a macOS display utility from waydabber, and most Mac users with an external monitor should have it installed. Its free tier already covers DDC brightness, contrast, volume and power control, DDC input switching, basic custom keyboard shortcuts, virtual screens and custom scaled-resolution editing. A Pro licence is $21.99 / €19.99, perpetual rather than a subscription, with at least a year of updates included, and it unlocks flexible HiDPI scaling, XDR and HDR upscaling, display connection and disconnection, HDR or high-refresh virtual screens and advanced custom keyboard shortcuts. The app starts with a 14-day unlimited trial and keeps the free features after it expires.
If what you want is a Mac that changes the monitor's input from the menu bar or a key binding, that is the free tier of a free app, and nothing on this page argues you should pay for it instead.
The peripherals stay where they were
BetterDisplay is a display tool, and its feature list is about displays. It has no notion of a second computer. Moving a keyboard, a mouse or system audio across machines needs software running on both of them and a link between the two, which is a different job from writing a VCP code to a panel.
The practical result is the one people run into: the monitor flips to the PC, the Mac still owns the keyboard, and you reach for a second keyboard, a USB switch, or a separate input-sharing tool to run alongside it. That last option leaves you with two programs to configure and two things to press, because BetterDisplay's shortcut and the input-sharing tool's handoff know nothing about each other.
EasyKVM treats that as one action. The hotkey (Ctrl+Alt+Q, or ⌃⌥Q on a Mac) writes the new input over DDC/CI, moves keyboard and mouse to the other computer, follows with system audio in both directions and keeps the clipboard in sync. Ctrl+Alt+C releases control back to your own machine in any state. Nothing is streamed or encoded, so each computer still drives the monitor at full resolution and refresh rate.
EasyKVM vs BetterDisplay at a glance
| EasyKVM | BetterDisplay | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Two computers, one shared monitor | One Mac and its displays |
| Switches monitor input (DDC/CI) | Yes, core feature | Yes, in the free tier |
| Moves keyboard & mouse to the other computer | Yes | No |
| Audio follows control | Yes, both directions | No (DDC volume on the display only) |
| Shared clipboard | Yes | No |
| Platforms | macOS 13+, Windows 10/11 | macOS only |
| Computers involved | 2 (one pair) | 1 |
| HiDPI, virtual screens, XDR | No | Yes |
| Price | $29.99 once, updates included | Free tier; Pro $21.99 / €19.99, perpetual |
| Trial | 3 days, no card, 14-day refund | 14 days, then the free tier |
Use it to check your monitor before you pay anyone
Input switching is the part that depends on your hardware rather than on software. A panel can answer DDC/CI brightness commands perfectly and still ignore an input write on VCP code 0x60. DDC/CI ships disabled in the on-screen menu on many monitors, and some docks and adapters do not pass DDC through at all. Since BetterDisplay costs nothing and reads and writes the input over DDC, it is a sensible way to find out in a few minutes whether your monitor and cable cooperate. The input switching guide lists the commands for it and for the Windows and Linux equivalents, and troubleshooting covers what to do when a monitor acknowledges a switch and then does nothing.
Which should you pick?
- A Mac only, and moving the keyboard by hand is fine → BetterDisplay, free.
- You want HiDPI modes, dummy displays or XDR brightness → BetterDisplay. EasyKVM does not touch display configuration at all.
- Two Macs on one monitor → BetterDisplay for the screen, EasyKVM for keyboard, mouse, audio and clipboard. EasyKVM will not switch that pair automatically.
- A Mac and a PC, or two PCs, on one monitor → EasyKVM, where the input and the peripherals move on the same key.
- On why a deliberate hotkey beats a screen edge: hotkey vs mouse-edge switching.
- See also: Synergy alternative · Barrier alternative · ShareMouse alternative · Deskflow alternative · Multiplicity alternative · Logitech Flow alternative · Mouse Without Borders alternative.