The Best GNOME AlternativesTop Desktop Environments & Window Managers like GNOME

GNOME is described as 'An easy and elegant way to use your computer, GNOME is designed to help you have the best possible computing experience' and is a leading desktop environment in the os & utilities category. There are more than 25 alternatives to GNOME for a variety of platforms, including Linux, BSD, Windows, Mac and FreeBSD apps. The best GNOME alternative is KDE Plasma, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like GNOME are Xfce, Cinnamon, Hyprland and MATE.

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Alternatives list

  1. KDE Plasma icon

    KDE Plasma

     472 likes

    Plasma is a cross-device work environment by the KDE Community where trust is put on the user's capacity to best define their own workflow and preferences.

    30 KDE Plasma alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • KDE Plasma
    • postmarketOS
    • Wayland
    • Fedora
    • FreeBSD
    • SteamOS
    • openSUSE
    • Arch Linux
    A typical Plasma desktop looks like this
     
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    9
    KDE Plasma vs GNOME Comments
    Top Positive Comment
    Paul
    1

    As stable and lightweight as GNOME, but way more customizable, which is why I prefer KDE over GNOME.

    Guest
    Positive
    0

    It actually cares about it's users

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    0

    Instead of forcing you to use a specific workflow, KDE gives you the tools you need to make it work with whatever workflow suits your needs. It's not just how it looks that's configurable, you can also easily configure how application windows operate - such as forcing fullscreen programs to run in a window.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    3 of 9 comments
    • KDE Plasma is Free and Open SourceGNOME is also Free and Open Source
    • KDE Plasma is CustomizableGNOME is not according to our users
  2. Xfce icon

    Xfce

     380 likes

    Xfce (pronounced as four individual letters) is a free software desktop environment for Unix and other Unix-like platforms, such as Linux, Solaris and BSD. It aims to be fast and lightweight, while still being visually appealing and easy to use.

    29 Xfce alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    Xfce 4.14
     
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    3
    Xfce vs GNOME Comments
    Daltro Auguso Campanher de Souza
    2

    Good library-agnostic (Gtk/Qt) environment, specially for those who didn't want fancy UI or a too much refined UX. It's just classic desktop, and works good.

    Guest
    Positive
    2

    Lightweight, nice and fast

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Roman Rokon
    Positive
    3

    Low resource usage & very stable

    • Xfce is Free and Open SourceGNOME is also Free and Open Source
    • Xfce is CustomizableGNOME is not according to our users
  4. Cinnamon icon

    Cinnamon

     201 likes

    Cinnamon is a Linux desktop which provides advanced innovative features and a traditional user experience. The desktop layout is similar to GNOME 2. The underlying technology is forked from GNOME Shell.

    26 Cinnamon alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    Cinnamon 4.2
     
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    2
    Cinnamon vs GNOME Comments
    Guest
    Positive
    1

    Very handy, working well, great applets and themes. Little too high on resources though. This is my personal favourite.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    -2

    Very customizable. Resource friendly. Very responsive.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • Cinnamon is Free and Open SourceGNOME is also Free and Open Source
    • Cinnamon is CustomizableGNOME is not according to our users
  5. Hyprland icon

    Hyprland

     38 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.

    28 Hyprland alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

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

    MATE

     144 likes

    Many users of GNOME 2 dislike GNOME 3. MATE is a fork of the good old GNOME 2. It provides an intuitive and attractive desktop environment using traditional metaphors for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems.

    24 MATE alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • FreeBSD
    • OpenIndiana
    • GhostBSD
    MATE screenshot 1
     
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    1
    MATE vs GNOME Comments
    John Fastman
    Positive
    -1

    Mate is an open source desktop environment forked from GNOME 2. That happened because GNOME 3 was not to some people's liking; it drastically changed how the desktop experience is organized. Mate is highly customizable, relatively light on resources, a tiny bit dated now, but very usable and gives XFCE a run for its money.

    • MATE is Free and Open SourceGNOME is also Free and Open Source
  7. Budgie icon

    Budgie

     46 likes

    The Budgie Desktop is a feature-rich, modern desktop designed to keep out the way of the user. It consists of a number of components to provide a more complete desktop experience.

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    A screenshot of the Budgie desktop running on Solus Linux. The Budgie settings manager is on the right, made specifically to customize the desktop. The rest of the settings are handled by the Gnome settings manager.
     
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    3
    Budgie vs GNOME Comments
    Guest
    Positive
    2

    Good looking, easy to use, feature rich, low resource usage, low RAM usage,

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Snow Code
    Positive
    0

    Budgie has a great look and can be customized very easily. Also Budgie is a great choice for low-end devices that cannot support GNOME while still having a kind of GNOME feel.

    Aaron C.
    Positive
    0

    Budgie is amazing, it's like a lighter weight, more customizable version of Gnome, with the same utilities and everything. I loved using it with Manjaro, but I switched to Fedora for unrelated reasons, and it's not in the official repositories yet (it is coming soon in Fedora 37 though) If you use a Debian (Ubuntu, Mint, etc.) or Arch (Manjaro, etc.) based distro, I highly recommend Budgie right now!

    • Budgie is Free and Open SourceGNOME is also Free and Open Source
  9. COSMIC icon

    COSMIC

     21 likes

    COSMIC is the name for the main shell components in Pop_Shell.

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    COSMIC screenshot 1
     
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    1
    COSMIC vs GNOME Comments
    omni453
    Positive
    0

    Gnome(GTK4/libadwaita) is a desktop environment same as COSMIC. Gnomes apps library is can be only be compared to KDE(Qt/KDE). However, COSMIC(Rust/Iced/Slint) Developers (mostly) from System76 have taken a challenge "to create an alternative new desktop environment to liberate the computer with powerful enough to build custom OS experiences — for users, developers, and makers of any device with a screen."

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • COSMIC is Free and Open SourceGNOME is also Free and Open Source
    • COSMIC is CustomizableGNOME is not according to our users
  10. LXQt icon

    LXQt

     54 likes

    LXQt is the Qt port and the upcoming version of LXDE, the Lightweight Desktop Environment. It is the product of the merge between the LXDE-Qt and the .

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    LXQt screenshot 1
     
  11. LXDE icon

    LXDE

     122 likes

    The "Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment" is an extremely fast-performing and energy-saving desktop environment.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    Screenshot of the LXDE desktop. It's simple, lightweight, fast, modern, internationalized, and standard-compliant.
     
  12. i3 icon

    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.

    80 i3 alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    i3 with VIM, git, MPlayer, i3bar
     
  13. Enlightenment icon

    Enlightenment

     52 likes

    Enlightenment is a Window Manager, Compositor and Minimal Desktop for Linux (the primary platform), BSD and any other compatible UNIX system.

    27 Enlightenment alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
    Enlightenment screenshot 1
     
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    1
    Enlightenment vs GNOME Comments
    groundjet
    Positive
    0

    Lightweight, stable where it is, buggy at other places

    • Enlightenment is Free and Open SourceGNOME is also Free and Open Source
  14. Maui Shell icon

    Maui Shell

     5 likes

    Maui Shell is a convergent shell for desktops, tablets, and phones.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Maui Shell screenshot 1
     
12 of 31 GNOME alternatives