The best Desktop Customization alternative to Fences is Portals: Desktop Organization, which is free. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to Fences and many of them are Desktop Customization Tools so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Desktop Customization Tool alternatives to Fences are Desktop Frames +, Nimi Places, iTop Easy Desktop and Sideslide.
Create containers (aka Portals) on your desktop which show the contents of a specified folder. Divide your desktop into folders then use Portals to display the contents of the folders in an organized fashion - you can even hide the folders away somewhere else.
Free and beautiful. A must have.
Organizes desktop icons into virtual fences with customizable design options, enhanced visual effects, and right-click interactions. Works on Windows, portable via USB, lightweight, supports multiple monitors, runs offline, and requires no registration for core features.
Organizes desktop into customizable containers showing folder contents as icons/thumbnails on a scrollable surface. Has lots of management features: e.g. labelling; sort by category; time & location based settings. Thumbnails are displayed for supported Open Documents, PSD images & PDFs.
Free, and it works almost the same. Just has a little more setup than Fences does.
This performs ONE of Fences' secondary functions: displaying the contents of directories OTHER THAN the Desktop as virtual containers on the Desktop. IT IS NOT for organizing Desktop icons/files or setting up automatic rules for categorization of new Desktop icons/files.
Nimi Places is not an exact replica of Fences, but(!) it will give you the look and feel. Instead of everything being on your desktop, it links it a folder. I am just going to change my behavior a tad and just know that my files, when placed in the fence, are not stored on the actual desktop. I still have easy access to move the files between the desktop to fence and vice versa, which is most important to me.
Automates desktop organization for Windows by grouping files, apps, and folders into customizable boxes, supporting appearance adjustments, instant hotkey access, multi-page desktops, double-click hiding, Folder Portal, and fast search functionality.
It automatically manages new icons added to the desktop by installers repetitively every time that software gets updated by remembering which container they are assigned to and thus avoiding having to manage duplicates manually.
CoodeDesker, StarDock Fences and iTop Easy Desktop are the only softwares for desktop (professional-looking specifically) organization via containers that are worth trying. iTop Easy Desktop might be the worst of those 3, but it's the one that has a free option.
Best free alternative to Fences.
SideSlide is an advanced, portable, unobtrusive, dockable, skinnable, instantly accessible, highly configurable Desktop Extension on Steroids! Clean desktop clutter and make your computer friendlier and faster than ever before.
Very full featured program with a steep learning curve, but it's worth it.
Because it's not similar and easy to use like Fences that is a very intuitive application
It's a very comprehensive program with lots of features that can change the way you work with Windows.
Folderview Screenlet is a Linux alternative to Fences (which is for Windows).
by far the best alternative to Stardock Fences, better even than Stardock Fences itself.
Very easy to use and customize, it's lightweight, cheap, available on Steam or their website for a one time purchase, and pretty much does everything Fences does but better.
It's really lightweight, fast and does what it supposed to. I've been looking to replace Fences for about a year or two now, on and off and I'm telling you, this should be at the top of this list.
Boost your productivity by eliminating clutter—DeskSweep automatically organizes your desktop by moving files to a designated folder, ensuring a clean and distraction-free workspace.
Say goodbye to desktop chaos – Aicono uses cutting-edge AI to automatically group and arrange your icons!
I like Aicono because it runs locally, is completely free, and uses the latest AI to automatically group and arrange icons. It’s highly customizable, offers a manual fallback, lets you fine-tune the layout with a real-time WYSIWYG interface, and integrates smoothly with local Llama, Ollama, and any OpenAI-compatible local server.
Clean up your desktop. Launch apps, games, and folders instantly from a hidden panel that appears when you need it.
Multi-desktop manager for Windows with separate files, icon layouts, and wallpapers per desktop. Not just virtual workspaces.
United States
Portugal
EU
Hong Kong SAR China
Israel
United Kingdom
Lebanon
Sweden
It looks like windows native.