Comparison Guide
Krutidev vs Mangal Font
Two fonts, two encoding systems, one goal - Hindi typing. This guide covers every difference that matters for government exams, office work, and daily use.
Quick Verdict
Starting fresh with no deadline? Learn Mangal. Your text works everywhere, no conversion needed, and the government is moving toward Unicode.Already know Krutidev and have an exam coming up? Stick with Krutidev. Switching fonts costs 3-4 weeks of retraining, and CPCT accepts both.Working in a government office? Use whatever your department uses. Ask your IT admin.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Criteria | Krutidev 010 | Mangal |
|---|---|---|
| Encoding | Non-Unicode (ASCII mapped). Pressing "d" stores ASCII 100, font renders it as "क". | Unicode. Pressing a key stores actual Unicode code point U+0915 ("क"). |
| Font Required | Must install Krutidev 010 TTF. Without it, text is unreadable. | Pre-installed on Windows 7+. No download needed. |
| Keyboard Layout | Remington (built into font). Just select font and type. | Remington GAIL (OS keyboard driver). Needs language setup in Windows. |
| WhatsApp / Email | Requires conversion to Unicode first. Text is garbled without conversion. | Works directly. Copy-paste into any app. |
| Web / Mobile | Does not work on web or mobile without conversion. | Works everywhere. All browsers and phones support Unicode. |
| CPCT Exam | Accepted. ~65-70% candidates choose it. | Accepted. ~30-35% candidates choose it. |
| SSC Steno | Accepted for Hindi typing test. | Accepted for Hindi typing test. |
| UPSSSC | Preferred. Most UP govt offices use Krutidev. | Accepted but less common in UP. |
| Setup Difficulty | Easy. Download TTF, install, select in Word. 2 minutes. | Moderate. Add Hindi language, enable keyboard driver. 5-10 minutes. |
| Long-term Future | Legacy. Government is gradually migrating away from it. | Standard. Unicode is the government's target encoding. |
| Typing Speed Potential | 35-45 WPM for experienced typists. Layout is optimized for speed. | 30-40 WPM with Remington GAIL. Slightly lower due to driver overhead. |
| Font Variety | 010, 011 (bold), 016, 040 (wide), Display 490. Same encoding, different weights. | Mangal only. But any Unicode font (Noto Sans, Lohit) works with the same encoding. |
The Core Difference: Encoding
Krutidev and Mangal solve the same problem - typing Hindi on a computer - but they store text in fundamentally different ways. This single difference drives every other distinction between them.
Krutidev repurposes the Latin alphabet. When you press "d" with Krutidev active, the computer stores the ASCII character "d" (code 100). The Krutidev font then displays that "d" as "क". Remove the font, and your text turns into meaningless English characters. The Hindi was never actually stored - only the visual rendering changed.
Mangal uses Unicode, the global text encoding standard. When you press a key mapped to "क" with the Mangal keyboard driver active, the computer stores Unicode code point U+0915 - the actual, official code for the Devanagari letter "क". Every modern device on Earth understands this code. No special font needed. Open the file on a Mac, a phone, or a Chromebook - "क" stays "क".
This is why government offices struggle with Krutidev documents. A circular typed in Krutidev on one computer becomes "ljdkjh vkns'k" on another computer that does not have the font. The same circular in Mangal reads correctly everywhere.
Who Should Use Which Font
Use Krutidev if...
- Your office already uses Krutidev for all documents
- Your typing exam specifically requires Krutidev 010
- You already type 15+ WPM in Krutidev and have an exam soon
- You work with legacy documents that cannot be migrated
- Your computer does not allow system-level language changes (locked-down govt PCs)
Use Mangal if...
- You are learning Hindi typing from scratch
- You need to share text on WhatsApp, email, or web
- Your exam allows both and you have 3+ months to prepare
- Your office is transitioning to Unicode
- You type on multiple devices (desktop, laptop, tablet)
Switching from Krutidev to Mangal
If you already know Krutidev and want to switch to Mangal, the transition takes 2-4 weeks of daily practice. The Remington GAIL layout (used by Mangal) shares about 80% of key positions with Krutidev. The main differences are in conjuncts, some special characters, and how matras interact with the keyboard driver.
The hardest part is not the layout. It is unlearning the habit of thinking in ASCII. In Krutidev, you mentally translate: "I need क, so I press d." In Mangal, the mental model shifts to: "I press the key that the OS maps to क." The cognitive load drops once you stop thinking about the intermediate ASCII character.
Your existing documents stay in Krutidev. Use our Krutidev to Mangal converter to migrate old files. New documents go in Mangal. Within 6 months, your entire workflow will be Unicode-native.