Commelina kotschyi is distributed across much of Africa, primarily in the east of the continent, and is also found in India. In Africa it occurs from northern Ethiopia in the north, south to South Africa, and has also been collected as far west as Botswana and Angola. In India it is only known from the Western Ghats. This makes it one of only two species of Commelina which occur in northeastern tropical Africa and India, but not on the intermediate Arabian Peninsula. This has led some researchers to suggest that Commelina kotschyi may have been only recently introduced to India.