Cairo-Dock AlternativesApplication Launchers and other similar apps like Cairo-Dock

Cairo-Dock is described as 'Animated and customizable dock for Linux desktops offering hardware acceleration, multi-docks, taskbar integration, launchers, and detachable applets as widgets' and is a popular application launcher in the os & utilities category. There are more than 50 alternatives to Cairo-Dock for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac, Wayland and GNOME apps. The best Cairo-Dock alternative is RocketDock, which is free. Other great apps like Cairo-Dock are Docking, ObjectDock, Winstep Nexus and Docky.

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Alternatives
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Alternatives list

  1. RocketDock icon
     298 likes

    RocketDock is a Mac OS X dock clone. It provides a nice clean interface to drop shortcuts on for easy access and organization. With each item completely customizable there is no end to what you can add and launch from the dock.

    74 RocketDock alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Good alternative?
     
  2. Docking icon
     14 likes

    A lightweight, feature-rich dock for Linux written in Python with GTK 3 and Cairo. Inspired by Plank and Cairo-Dock, with an extensible applet system for custom widgets.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
  3. ObjectDock icon
     69 likes

    Animated Windows dock for fast access to apps, shortcuts and files, featuring auto-hide, drag and drop launching, fully customizable color, size and position, support for multiple docks, shortcut management, enhanced desktop organization and visual effects.

    59 ObjectDock alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Good alternative?
     
  4. Winstep Nexus icon
     48 likes

    Enjoy a free, simple docking solution for Windows with Winstep Nexus. Create docks, sub-docks, organize apps in groups, and enjoy fun interactions with animations. Nexus Ultimate offers Shelves, Tabbed Docks, and Grid Stacks for better organization and access.

    41 Winstep Nexus alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Good alternative?
     
  5. Docky icon
     131 likes

    Docky is a full fledged dock application that makes opening common applications and managing windows easier and quicker. Docky is fully integrated into the GNOME Desktop and features a no non-sense approach to configuration and usage. It just works.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
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  6. Eww icon
     17 likes

    Elkowars Wacky Widgets is a standalone widget system made in Rust that allows you to implement your own, custom widgets in any window manager.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
  7. Latte Dock icon
     12 likes

    Latte is a dock based on plasma frameworks that provides an elegant and intuitive experience for your tasks and plasmoids. It animates its contents by using parabolic zoom effect and trys to be there only when it is needed.

    27 Latte Dock alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • KDE
    Good alternative?
     
  8. MaxLauncher icon
     15 likes

    MaxLauncher is a simple tabbed launcher that was designed to reduce the amount of time to find and run a program. It is capable of creating multiple data files, each of which can have a maximum of 10 tabs. Each tab and button is assigned a key(eg. F1-F10, 0-9, A-Z, etc.

    45 MaxLauncher alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Good alternative?
     
  9. tint2 icon
     30 likes

    tint2 is a simple panel/taskbar unintrusive and light (memory / cpu / aestetic). We try to get virtual desktop and multi-monitor easier to use. We follow freedesktop specifications.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    Good alternative?
     
  10. Dock icon
     11 likes

    In macOS, the Dock is used as a repository for any program or file in the operating system. It can hold any number of items and resizes them dynamically to fit while using magnification to clarify smaller resized items.

    54 Dock alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • US flagUnited States
    Dock screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  11. Plank icon
     34 likes

    Plank is meant to be the simplest dock on the planet. The goal is to provide just what a dock needs and absolutely nothing more. It is, however, a library which can be extended to create other dock programs with more advanced features.

    22 Plank alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
  12. Avant Window Navigator (AWN/Awn) is a dock-like navigation bar for the linux desktop that positions itself at the bottom of the screen. It can be used to keep track of open windows and behaves like a normal window list.

    65 Avant Window Navigator alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Good alternative?
     
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