COSMIC Alternatives

COSMIC is described as 'The name for the main shell components in Pop_Shell' and is a desktop environment in the os & utilities category. There are more than 25 alternatives to COSMIC for a variety of platforms, including Linux, BSD, Windows, Mac and FreeBSD apps. The best COSMIC alternative is KDE Plasma, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like COSMIC are GNOME, Xfce, Cinnamon and Hyprland.

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Get a badge for your siteCOSMIC alternatives page was last updated Aug 5, 2025

xfdashboard
3 likes
xfdashboard provides a GNOME shell dashboard like interface for use with the Xfce desktop. It can be configured to run to any keyboard shortcut and when executed provides an overview of applications...
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Platforms
Linux
+2
Good alternative?Is xfdashboard a good alternative to COSMIC?
CDE (Common Desktop Environment)
10 likes
The Common Desktop Environment was created by a collaboration of Sun, HP, IBM, DEC, SCO, Fujitsu and Hitachi. Used on a selection of commercial UNIXs, it is now available as open-source software for the first time.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Desktop Environment
Platforms
Linux
BSD
+3
Good alternative?Is this a good alternative to COSMIC?
DDE
5 likes
DDE (Deepin Desktop Environment) is a Desktop Environment (DE) written in Qt for Deepin
27 DDE alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application typeApplication types
Desktop Environment
Window Manager
Origin
China
Platforms
Linux
Ubuntu
Deepin
China
Good alternative?Is DDE a good alternative to COSMIC?
EDE
9 likes
Equinox Desktop Environment is simple and small graphical desktop environment for UNIX operating systems
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application typeApplication types
Desktop Environment
Window Manager
Platforms
Linux
BSD
Solaris
Good alternative?Is EDE a good alternative to COSMIC?
Lumina Desktop Environment
13 likes
Lumina is a lightweight, BSD licensed, standards-compliant desktop environment based upon Qt and Fluxbox. It is being developed on PC-BSD, and is being packaged for distribution on the PC-BSD package repository as well.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Desktop Environment
Platforms
Linux
BSD
PC-BSD
Good alternative?Is this a good alternative to COSMIC?
P
P
ProgwiDE
1 like
ProgwiDE - Simple and lightweight DE, made with Tk.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-3.0)
Application type
Desktop Environment
Origin
Ukraine
Platforms
Linux
Ukraine
P
Good alternative?Is ProgwiDE a good alternative to COSMIC?
UKUI
3 likes
UKUI is a lightweight desktop environment based on pluggable framework for Linux and other Unix-like Distributions. It is developed using GTK and Qt.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Desktop Environment
Origin
China
Platforms
Linux
China
+2
Good alternative?Is UKUI a good alternative to COSMIC?
M
M
Moksha
3 likes
Fork of Enlightenment version 17 (commonly called E17) used as the main desktop environment on Bodhi Linux
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Desktop Environment
Origin
United States
Platforms
Linux
M
Good alternative?Is Moksha a good alternative to COSMIC?
Bluetile
8 likes
Bluetile is a tiling window manager for Linux, designed to integrate with the GNOME desktop environment. It provides both a traditional, stacking layout mode as well as tiling layouts where windows are arranged to use the entire screen without overlapping.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Window Manager
Origin
Germany
EU
Alerts
Discontinued
Platforms
Linux
Germany
EU
Good alternative?Is Bluetile a good alternative to COSMIC?
Aqua
1 like
Aqua is the graphical user interface, design language and visual theme of Apple's macOS operating system.
Cost / License
Paid
Proprietary
Application type
Desktop Environment
Origin
United States
Platforms
Mac
United States
Good alternative?Is Aqua a good alternative to COSMIC?
Cortile
Like
Linux auto tiling manager with hot corner support for Openbox, Fluxbox, IceWM, Xfwm, KWin, Marco, Muffin, Mutter and other EWMH compliant window managers using the X11 window system.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (MIT)
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Linux
Good alternative?Is Cortile a good alternative to COSMIC?