KWin Alternatives

KWin is described as 'Window manager for the X Window System, and is in the process of becoming a Wayland compositor. It integral part, and the default window manager of the Plasma Workspaces, but it can also be used on its own or with other desktop environments' and is a Window Manager in the os & utilities category. There are more than 50 alternatives to KWin for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Wayland, Windows, BSD and X11 apps. The best KWin alternative is niri, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like KWin are Compiz, VirtuaWin, awesome and Qtile.

Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
KWin alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. mDesktop icon
     6 likes

    mDesktop is a lightweight application that allows the user to utilize multiple virtual desktops. Also, mDesktop integrates with Hotcorners. mDesktop currently supports up to ten virtual desktops.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  2. PyTyle icon
     1 like

    PyTyle is an extremely versatile and extensible tiling manager that is meant to be used on top of EWMH window managers. Its feature set was modeled after the basic tiling features of XMonad.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
  3. QuickTile icon
     5 likes

    A lightweight utility for allowing you to quickly snap windows to a tiling grid under your existing Linux window manager. Can be triggered via keyboard shortcuts, the command line, or D-Bus calls.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • X11
     
  4. Chameleon Window Manager will allow you to control the windows of your programs using customizable buttons added to the title bars of the windows (Always on Top, Minimize to Tray, Minimize to Caption, Specify Transparency, Position window at left/right of screen).

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Windows Explorer
     
  5. Bluetile icon
     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

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
  6.  5 likes

    Skippy-XD is a full-screen task-switcher for X11. You know that thing Mac OS X, Compiz and KWin do where you press a hotkey and suddenly you see miniature versions of all your windows at once? Skippy-XD does just that.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • Xfce
     
  7. Topdesk icon
     3 likes

    TopDesk radically reduces the time you spend switching between tasks by giving you the ability to quickly find the window you want from a thumbnail view.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  8. Winflip icon
     4 likes

    WinFlip emulates Windows Vistas "Flip 3D" effect for Windows XP. Using the hotkey of your choice, you can find the window youre looking for in a fast, clean 3D interface.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  9. Sawfish icon
     3 likes

    Sawfish is an extensible window manager using a Lisp-based scripting language. Its policy is very minimal compared to most window managers. Its aim is simply to manage windows in the most flexible and attractive manner possible.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
  10.  1 like

    A dynamic tiling Wayland compositor using wlroots, with desktop semantics inspired by xmonad.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
     
  11. Gnome Mutter icon
     1 like

    Mutter is a Wayland display server and X11 window manager and compositor library.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • GNOME
    • Wayland
     
You are at page 3 of KWin alternatives