PaperWM AlternativesWindow Managers and other similar apps like PaperWM

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

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Alternatives list

  1. Hyprland icon

    Hyprland

     38 likes
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    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.

    25 Hyprland alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

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

    • Hyprland is the most popular Linux alternative to PaperWM.

    • Hyprland is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to PaperWM.

    • Hyprland is Free and Open SourcePaperWM is also Free and Open Source
    • Hyprland is Customizable and LightweightPaperWM is not according to our users
  2. niri icon

    niri

     9 likes
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    Windows are arranged in columns on an infinite strip going to the right. Opening a new window never causes existing windows to resize.

    76 niri alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Wayland
    niri screenshot 1
     
  4. i3 icon

    i3

     71 likes
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    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.

    78 i3 alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    i3 with VIM, git, MPlayer, i3bar
     
  5. Sway icon

    Sway

     21 likes
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    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.

    25 Sway alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Sway screenshot 1
     
  6. Openbox icon

    Openbox

     78 likes
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    Openbox is a highly configurable, next generation window manager with extensive standards support.

    74 Openbox alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    BlackWhite theme by lyrae @ box-look.org
     
  7. awesome icon

    awesome

     39 likes
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    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

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    awesome screenshot 1
     
  9. bspwm icon

    bspwm

     12 likes
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    A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning.

    71 bspwm alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    bspwm screenshot 1
     
  10. Fluxbox icon

    Fluxbox

     33 likes
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    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.

    72 Fluxbox alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    • C++
    fluxbox with a custom theme
     
  11. Sxmo icon

    Sxmo

     2 likes
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    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...

    69 Sxmo alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • postmarketOS
    • Linux Mobile
    Sxmo screenshot 1
    Sxmo screenshot 2
    Sxmo screenshot 3
     
  12. Qtile icon

    Qtile

     8 likes
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    A full-featured, hackable tiling window manager written and configured in Python.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Qtile screenshot 1
     
  13. IceWM icon

    IceWM

     11 likes
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    IceWM is a Window Manager for X Window System. It is fast and memory-efficient, and it provides many different looks including Windows'95, OS/2 Warp 3,4, Motif.

    68 IceWM alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    IceWM screenshot 1
     
  14. Amethyst icon

    Amethyst

     21 likes
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    Amethyst is a tiling window manager for Mac similar to the xmonad tiling window manager popular on Linux. Amethyst is written in Objective-C and has configurable shortcuts, multi-monitor support, multiple layouts, and the option to float certain applications.

    100 Amethyst alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Amethyst screenshot 1
     

    • Amethyst is the most popular Mac alternative to PaperWM.

    • Amethyst is Free and Open SourcePaperWM is also Free and Open Source
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