i3 Alternatives

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

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Alternatives list

  1. dwl

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    dwl is a compact, hackable compositor for Wayland based on wlroots. It is intended to fill the same space in the Wayland world that dwm does in X11, primarily in terms of functionality, and secondarily in terms of philosophy. Like dwm, dwl is:

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Wayland
    dwl screenshot 1
     
  2. pekwm icon

    pekwm

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    pekwm is a window manager that once up on a time was based on the aewm++ window manager, but it has evolved enough that it no longer resembles aewm++ at all. It has a much expanded feature-set, including window grouping (similar to ion, pwm, or fluxbox), autoproperties...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    pekwm screenshot 1
     
  4. MagmaWM icon

    MagmaWM

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    A versatile and customizable window manager / Wayland compositor, currently in development and actively seeking contributions from the community.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Wayland
    MagmaWM screenshot 1
     
  5. wtftw icon

    wtftw

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    Window Tiling For The Win (wtftw) is a tiling window manager written in Rust.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    wtftw screenshot 1
     
  6. PaperDE icon

    PaperDE

     1 like
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    A light-weight desktop environment based on Qt/Wayland and wayfire.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Qt
    • Wayland
    PaperDE screenshot 1
     
  7. StumpWM icon

    StumpWM

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    StumpWM is a tiling, keyboard driven X11 Window Manager written and scriptable in Common Lisp. StumpWM attempts to be customizable yet visually minimal. There are no window decorations, no icons, and no buttons.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    StumpWM screenshot 1
     

  9. wio

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    Wio is a Wayland compositor for Linux & FreeBSD which has a similar look & feel to plan9's rio.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • FreeBSD
     
  10. PaperWM icon

    PaperWM

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    PaperWM is an experimental Gnome Shell extension providing scrollable tiling of windows and per monitor workspaces. It's inspired by paper notebooks and tiling window managers. Supports Gnome Shell 3.28 and 3.30 on X11 and wayland.

    51 PaperWM alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • GNOME
    Window switching and tiling.
     
  11. Phoenix icon

    Phoenix

     5 likes
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    Phoenix is a lightweight OS X window and app manager scriptable with JavaScript. You can also easily use languages which compile to JavaScript such as CoffeeScript. Phoenix aims for efficiency and a very small footprint.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Phoenix screenshot 1
     

  12. Jay

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    A Wayland compositor.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Rust
    • Wayland
    Jay screenshot 1
     
  13. GridWM (Grid Window Manager) icon

    GridWM (Grid Window Manager)

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    Stack Window Manager With Manual Grid Tiling Layout Extended Desktop Area Left Hand Keyboard + Right Hand Mouse.

    Cost / License

    • Pay once
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    GridWM (Grid Window Manager) screenshot 1
     

    • GridWM (Grid Window Manager) is the most popular commercial alternative to i3.

    • GridWM (Grid Window Manager) is Paid and Proprietaryi3 is Free and Open Source
  14. Pinnacle icon

    Pinnacle

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    Pinnacle is a Wayland compositor built in Rust using Smithay. It's my attempt at creating something like AwesomeWM for Wayland.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Wayland
    Pinnacle screenshot 1
     
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