Qtile Alternatives

Qtile is described as 'A full-featured, hackable tiling window manager written and configured in Python' and is a Window Manager in the os & utilities category. There are more than 50 alternatives to Qtile for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Wayland, BSD, Mac and X11 apps. The best Qtile alternative is Hyprland, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Qtile are niri, Sway, i3 and Openbox.

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Get a badge for your siteQtile alternatives page was last updated Dec 16, 2025

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bug.n
12 likes
bug.n is a tiling window manager add-on for Microsoft Windows. It is written in the scripting language AutoHotkey.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Windows
B
Good alternative?Is bug.n a good alternative to Qtile?
SwayFX
3 likes
Sway is an incredible window manager, and certainly one of the most well established wayland window managers. However, it is restricted to only include the functionality that existed in i3. This fork ditches the simple wlr_renderer, and replaces it with our fx_renderer, capable...
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (MIT)
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Linux
Arch Linux
Gentoo Linux
Fedora
Nix Package Manager
Sway
FreeBSD
Wayland
Good alternative?Is SwayFX a good alternative to Qtile?
AeroSpace
1 like
AeroSpace is an i3-like tiling window manager for macOS.
60 AeroSpace alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (MIT)
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Mac
Good alternative?Is AeroSpace a good alternative to Qtile?
spectrwm
11 likes
spectrwm is a small dynamic tiling window manager for X11. It tries to stay out of the way so that valuable screen real estate can be used for much more important stuff. It has sane defaults and does not require one to learn a language to do any configuration.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Mac
Linux
BSD
Good alternative?Is spectrwm a good alternative to Qtile?
mangowc
1 like
wayland compositor base wlroots and scenefx(dwm but wayland).
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Wayland Compositor
Platforms
Wayland
Linux
Good alternative?Is mangowc a good alternative to Qtile?
hikari
2 likes
hikari [ja. Light] is a stacking Wayland compositor which is actively developed on FreeBSD but also supports Linux.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Platforms
Linux
BSD
+2
Good alternative?Is hikari a good alternative to Qtile?
wmii
9 likes
wmii is a small, dynamic window manager for X11. It is scriptable, has a 9p filesystem interface and supports classic and tiling (acme-like) window management. It aims to maintain a small and clean (read hackable and beautiful) codebase.
75 wmii alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Linux
Good alternative?Is wmii a good alternative to Qtile?
term.everything
1 like
Run any GUI app in the terminal?.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (AGPL-3.0)
Application type
Wayland Compositor
Platforms
Linux
+1
Good alternative?Is term.everything a good alternative to Qtile?
Labwc
2 likes
Labwc stands for Lab Wayland Compositor, where lab can mean any of the following:
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-2.0)
Application typeApplication types
Window Manager
Wayland Compositor
Platforms
Linux
Good alternative?Is Labwc a good alternative to Qtile?
Gnome Mutter
1 like
Mutter is a Wayland display server and X11 window manager and compositor library.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-2.0)
Application type
Window Manager
Origin
United States
Platforms
Linux
GNOME
Wayland
Good alternative?Is Gnome Mutter a good alternative to Qtile?
PaperDE
1 like
A light-weight desktop environment based on Qt/Wayland and wayfire.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-3.0)
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Linux
Qt
Wayland
+1
Good alternative?Is PaperDE a good alternative to Qtile?
JWM
5 likes
JWM is a light-weight window manager for the X11 Window System. JWM is written in C and uses only Xlib at a minimum. Because of its small footprint, JWM makes a good window manager for older computers and less powerful systems, such as the .
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (MIT)
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Linux
Good alternative?Is JWM a good alternative to Qtile?