The Best GNOME AlternativesTop Desktop Environments & Window Managers like GNOME
GNOME is described as '3 has been designed from the ground up to help you have the best possible computing experience. Learn about what it has to offer' and is a very popular 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 Linux Mobile apps. The best GNOME alternative is KDE Plasma, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like GNOME are Xfce, Cinnamon, Budgie and MATE.
filter to find the best alternatives
GNOME alternatives are mainly Desktop Environments but may also be Window Managers or Application Launchers. Filter by these or use the filter bar below if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of GNOME.- Desktop Environment
- Free • Open Source
- 26 KDE Plasma alternatives
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.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Platforms
- Linux
- BSD
- KDE Plasma
- postmarketOS
Top KDE Plasma Features
- Customizable
- Desktop Environment
- Themes
- Lightweight
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Transparency
- Blurry transparency
- Dark Mode
- Privacy focused
- No Tracking
- Ad-free
- Support for Multiple Monitors
KDE Plasma VS GNOME
Is KDE Plasma a good alternative to GNOME? - 26 Xfce alternatives
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.
Xfce Features
- Lightweight
- Desktop Environment
- Customizable
- Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
- Modular System
- Support for Multiple Monitors
Xfce VS GNOME
Is Xfce a good alternative to GNOME?Comments about Xfce as an Alternative to GNOME
Daltro Auguso Campanher de SouzaGood 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.
1Roman RokonLow resource usage & very stable
2Lightweight, nice and fast
1 - 24 Cinnamon alternatives
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.
Cinnamon Features
- Dark Mode
- Customizable
- High-dpi support
- Privacy focused
- No Tracking
- Lightweight
- Ad-free
Cinnamon VS GNOME
Is Cinnamon a good alternative to GNOME?Comments about Cinnamon as an Alternative to GNOME
Very handy, working well, great applets and themes. Little too high on resources though. This is my personal favourite.
1Very customizable. Resource friendly. Very responsive.
-2 - 25 Budgie alternatives
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.
Budgie Features
- No registration required
- Support for Themes
- Works Offline
- Privacy focused
- No Tracking
- Dark Mode
- Support for Multiple Monitors
- Ad-free
- Support for Keyboard Shortcuts
Budgie VS GNOME
Is Budgie a good alternative to GNOME?Comments about Budgie as an Alternative to GNOME
Good looking, easy to use, feature rich, low resource usage, low RAM usage,
2Snow CodeBudgie 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.
0Aaron C.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!
0 - 23 MATE alternatives
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.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
Platforms
- Linux
- BSD
- FreeBSD
- OpenIndiana
- GhostBSD
MATE VS GNOME
Is MATE a good alternative to GNOME?Comments about MATE as an Alternative to GNOME
John FastmanMate 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.
-1 COSMIC Features
- Ad-free
- Dark Mode
- Customizable
- Support for Multiple Monitors
- Dock
- Privacy focused
- No registration required
- No Tracking
COSMIC VS GNOME
Is COSMIC a good alternative to GNOME?- 26 LXQt alternatives
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 .
LXQt Features
- Lightweight
- Desktop Environment
- QT Based
- Ad-free
- Privacy focused
- No registration required
- No Tracking
- Support for Multiple Monitors
- Dark Mode
- X server
LXQt VS GNOME
Is LXQt a good alternative to GNOME? - 27 LXDE alternatives
The "Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment" is an extremely fast-performing and energy-saving desktop environment.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application type
Platforms
- Linux
- BSD
LXDE Features
- Lightweight
- X server
LXDE VS GNOME
Is LXDE a good alternative to GNOME?
Comments about KDE Plasma as an Alternative to GNOME
High configurability and more options than GNOME.
KDE make two desktops that are GNOME alternatives: KDE 4 and its successor Plasma 5. Both are popular, extensible and compatible with Qt much more than with GTK. KDE is known for having a huge, huge amount of options built right in (rather than accessed via extensions, like in GNOME). It's also a more "classic" desktop experience - people coming from Windows will find it more familiar than they will find GNOME.
It actually cares about it's users
As stable and lightweight as GNOME, but way more customizable, which is why I prefer KDE over GNOME.
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.