chadwm AlternativesWindow Managers and other similar apps like chadwm

chadwm is described as 'Making dwm as beautiful as possible!' and is a Window Manager in the os & utilities category. There are more than 50 alternatives to chadwm for a variety of platforms, including Linux, BSD, Wayland, Windows and Mac apps. The best chadwm alternative is Hyprland, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like chadwm are niri, Sway, i3 and GlazeWM.

More about chadwm

chadwm alternatives page was last updated Nov 26, 2025

Hyprland
37 likes
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 (BSD-3-Clause)
Application types
Window Manager
Wayland Compositor
Platforms
Linux
BSD
openSUSE
Arch Linux
Gentoo
Fedora
Ubuntu
Debian
FreeBSD
Alpine Linux
Slackware
Wayland
+3
Is Hyprland a good alternative to chadwm?
Hyprland is the most popular Linux alternative to chadwm.
Hyprland is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to chadwm.
Hyprland is Free and Open Sourcechadwm is also Free and Open Source
Hyprland is Customizablechadwm is not according to our users
niri
10 likes
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 (GPL-3.0)
Application type
Window Manager
Origin
Russia
Platforms
Linux
Wayland
Is niri a good alternative to chadwm?
Sway
22 likes
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 (MIT)
Application type
Wayland Compositor
Origin
International
Platforms
Linux
Is Sway a good alternative to chadwm?
i3
71 likes
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 (BSD-3-Clause)
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Linux
BSD
+1
Is i3 a good alternative to chadwm?
GlazeWM
8 likes
A tiling window manager for Windows inspired by i3 and Polybar.
31 GlazeWM alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-3.0)
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Windows
Rust
Is GlazeWM a good alternative to chadwm?
GlazeWM is the most popular Windows alternative to chadwm.
GlazeWM is Free and Open Sourcechadwm is also Free and Open Source
Openbox
78 likes
Openbox is a highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support.
75 Openbox alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Window Manager
Origin
Canada
Alerts
Discontinued
Platforms
Linux
BSD
Is Openbox a good alternative to chadwm?
awesome
39 likes
awesome is a highly configurable, next generation framework window manager for X. It is very fast, extensible and licensed under the GNU GPLv2 license.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (GPL-2.0)
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Linux
BSD
+2
Is awesome a good alternative to chadwm?
Fluxbox
33 likes
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
Window Manager
Platforms
Linux
BSD
C++
Is Fluxbox a good alternative to chadwm?
bspwm
13 likes
A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (BSD-2-Clause)
Application type
Window Manager
Origin
International
Platforms
Linux
Is bspwm a good alternative to chadwm?
Sxmo
2 likes
A minimalist Linux smartphone environment that is truly yours to control. Sxmo, or Simple X Mobile, is a collection of simple and suckless X programs and scripts used together to create a fully functional mobile UI adhering to the Unix philosophy for the PinePhone and other...
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (AGPL-3.0)
Application type
Window Manager
Origin
International
Platforms
postmarketOS
Linux Mobile
Is Sxmo a good alternative to chadwm?
KWin
9 likes
KWin is a window manager for the X Window System, and is in the process of becoming a Wayland compositor. It is an 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.
56 KWin alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Linux
BSD
Is KWin a good alternative to chadwm?
Qtile
8 likes
A full-featured, hackable tiling window manager written and configured in Python.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source (MIT)
Application type
Window Manager
Platforms
Linux
+2
Is Qtile a good alternative to chadwm?