i3 Alternatives

i3 is described as 'Dynamic tiling window manager with clean, readable and documented code, featuring extended Xinerama support, usage of libxcb instead of xlib and several improvements over wmii' and is a popular Window Manager in the os & utilities category. There are more than 50 alternatives to i3 for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Wayland, Mac, BSD and Windows apps. The best i3 alternative is GNOME, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like i3 are Hyprland, COSMIC, niri and Sway.

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Alternatives
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Alternatives list

  2. workspacer icon

    workspacer

     3 likes

    workspacer is a tiling window manager for Windows 10, similar in style and function to common unix tiling window managers (dwm, i3, xmonad).

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    split screen view
    Good alternative?
     
  4. C

    Cardboard (Wayland compositor)

     Like

    Cardboard is a unique, scrollable tiling Wayland compositor designed with laptops in mind. Based on wlroots.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Wayland
    Good alternative?
     
  5. StumpWM icon

    StumpWM

     Like

    StumpWM is a tiling, keyboard driven X11 Window Manager written and scriptable in Common Lisp. StumpWM attempts to be customizable yet visually minimal. There are no window decorations, no icons, and no buttons.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Global
    StumpWM screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  6. W

    wio

     Like

    Wio is a Wayland compositor for Linux & FreeBSD which has a similar look & feel to plan9's rio.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • FreeBSD
    Good alternative?
     
  8. pekwm icon

    pekwm

     5 likes

    pekwm is a window manager that once up on a time was based on the aewm++ window manager, but it has evolved enough that it no longer resembles aewm++ at all. It has a much expanded feature-set, including window grouping (similar to ion, pwm, or fluxbox), autoproperties...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    pekwm screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  9. D

    dwl

     1 like

    dwl is a compact, hackable compositor for Wayland based on wlroots. It is intended to fill the same space in the Wayland world that dwm does in X11, primarily in terms of functionality, and secondarily in terms of philosophy. Like dwm, dwl is:

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Wayland
    dwl screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  10. PaperWM icon

    PaperWM

     Like

    PaperWM is an experimental Gnome Shell extension providing scrollable tiling of windows and per monitor workspaces. It's inspired by paper notebooks and tiling window managers. Supports Gnome Shell 3.28 and 3.30 on X11 and wayland.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • GNOME
    Window switching and tiling.
    Good alternative?
     
  11. Phoenix icon

    Phoenix

     4 likes

    Phoenix is a lightweight OS X window and app manager scriptable with JavaScript. You can also easily use languages which compile to JavaScript such as CoffeeScript. Phoenix aims for efficiency and a very small footprint.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Phoenix screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  12. PaperDE icon

    PaperDE

     1 like

    A light-weight desktop environment based on Qt/Wayland and wayfire.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Qt
    • Wayland
    PaperDE screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  13. J

    Jay

     Like

    A Wayland compositor.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Rust
    • Wayland
    Jay screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  14. R

    Rift

     3 likes

    Rift is a tiling window manager for macOS that focuses on performance and usability.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Rift screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
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