Openbox AlternativesWindow Managers and other similar apps like Openbox

Openbox is described as 'Highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support' and is a popular Window Manager in the os & utilities category. There are more than 50 alternatives to Openbox for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Wayland, BSD, Mac and Windows apps. The best Openbox alternative is Hyprland, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Openbox are i3, niri, Sway and awesome.

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Alternatives list

  1. Hyprland icon

    Hyprland

     38 likes
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    An independent tiling Wayland compositor written in C++. Noteworthy features of Hyprland include dynamic tiling, tabbed windows, a clean and readable C++ code-base, and a custom renderer that provides window animations, rounded corners, and Dual-Kawase Blur on transparent windows.

    26 Hyprland alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • openSUSE
    • Arch Linux
    • Gentoo
    • Fedora
    • Ubuntu
    • Debian
    • FreeBSD
    • Alpine Linux
    • Slackware
    • Wayland
    Screenshot of a preconfigured setup
     

    • Hyprland is the most popular Linux alternative to Openbox.

    • Hyprland is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Openbox.

    • Hyprland is Free and Open SourceOpenbox is also Free and Open Source
    • Hyprland is CustomizableOpenbox is not according to our users
  2. i3 icon

    i3

     71 likes
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    i3 is a 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.

    79 i3 alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    i3 with VIM, git, MPlayer, i3bar
     
  4. niri icon

    niri

     9 likes
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    Windows are arranged in columns on an infinite strip going to the right. Opening a new window never causes existing windows to resize.

    77 niri alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Wayland
    niri screenshot 1
     
  5. Sway icon

    Sway

     21 likes
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    Sway is a Tiling Wayland Compositor and a drop-in replacement for the i3 window manager for X11. It works with your existing i3 configuration and supports most of i3's features, plus a few extras.

    26 Sway alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Sway screenshot 1
     
  6. awesome icon

    awesome

     39 likes
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    awesome is a highly configurable, next generation framework window manager for X. It is very fast, extensible and licensed under the GNU GPLv2 license.

    81 awesome alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    awesome screenshot 1
     
  7. bspwm icon

    bspwm

     12 likes
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    A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    bspwm screenshot 1
     
  9. Fluxbox icon

    Fluxbox

     33 likes
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    Fluxbox is a window manager for X that was based on the Blackbox 0.61.1 code. It is very light on resources and easy to handle but yet full of features to make an easy, and extremely fast, desktop experience. It is built using C++ and licensed under the MIT license.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • C++
    fluxbox with a custom theme
     
  10. spectrwm icon

    spectrwm

     11 likes
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    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

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
    spectrwm screenshot 1
     

    • spectrwm is the most popular Mac alternative to Openbox.

    • spectrwm is Free and Open SourceOpenbox is also Free and Open Source
    • spectrwm is MinimalisticOpenbox is not according to our users
  11. yabai icon

    yabai

     8 likes
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    yabai started as a C99 rewrite of chunkwm, originally supposed to be its first RC version.

    110 yabai alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    yabai screenshot 1
     
  12. IceWM icon

    IceWM

     11 likes
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    IceWM is a Window Manager for X Window System. It is fast and memory-efficient, and it provides many different looks including Windows'95, OS/2 Warp 3,4, Motif.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    IceWM screenshot 1
     
  13. SwayFX icon

    SwayFX

     3 likes
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    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

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Arch Linux
    • Gentoo Linux
    • Fedora
    • Nix Package Manager
    • Sway
    • FreeBSD
    • Wayland
    SwayFX screenshot 1
     
  14. dwm icon

    dwm

     24 likes
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    dwm is a dynamic window manager for X. It manages windows in tiled, monocle and floating layouts. All of the layouts can be applied dynamically, optimising the environment for the application in use and the task performed.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    dwm screenshot 1
     
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