Polybar Alternatives

Polybar is described as 'Status bar for Unix-like systems' and is an app in the os & utilities category. There are more than 10 alternatives to Polybar for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Wayland, BSD, openSUSE and FreeBSD apps. The best Polybar alternative is Eww, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Polybar are Quickshell, zebar, ironbar and Yambar.

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Alternatives list

  1. Eww icon

    Eww

     14 likes
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    Elkowars Wacky Widgets is a standalone widget system made in Rust that allows you to implement your own, custom widgets in any window manager.

    56 Eww alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Eww screenshot 1
     

    • Eww is the most popular Linux alternative to Polybar.

    • Eww is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Polybar.

    • Eww is Free and Open SourcePolybar is also Free and Open Source
    • Eww is CustomizablePolybar is not according to our users
  2. Quickshell icon

    Quickshell

     6 likes
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    Quickshell is a toolkit for building status bars, widgets, lockscreens, and other desktop components using QtQuick. It can be used alongside your wayland compositor or window manager to build a complete desktop environment.

    19 Quickshell alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
    A lockscreen.
     
  4. zebar icon

    zebar

     1 like
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    Zebar is a tool for creating customizable and cross-platform taskbars, desktop widgets, and popups.

    19 zebar alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
    zebar screenshot 1
     

    • zebar is the most popular Windows & Mac alternative to Polybar.

    • zebar is Free and Open SourcePolybar is also Free and Open Source

  5. ironbar

     2 likes
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    Customisable Wayland gtk bar written in Rust.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Wayland
    • Rust
    • GTK
    ironbar screenshot 1
     

  6. Yambar

     1 like
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    Modular status panel for X11 and Wayland, inspired by polybar.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Wayland
    • Linux
    Yambar screenshot 1
     
  7. xfce-panel icon

    xfce-panel

     4 likes
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    Xfce componet to switch between opened windows, launch applications, switch workspaces and menu plugins to browse applications or directories.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
     
  9. nwg-panel icon

    nwg-panel

     1 like
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    Nwg-panel is a GTK3-based panel for sway and Hyprland Wayland compositors. The panel is equipped with a graphical configuration program that frees the user from the need to manually edit configuration files.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Wayland
    nwg-panel screenshot 1
     
  10. slstatus icon

    slstatus

     1 like
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    slstatus is a status monitor for window managers that use WM_NAME or stdin to fill the status bar.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
     

  11. Waybar

     2 likes
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    Highly customizable Wayland bar for Sway and Wlroots based compositors.

    19 Waybar alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Sway
    • Wayland
    Waybar screenshot 1
     
  12. ADeskBar icon

    ADeskBar

     2 likes
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    a lightweight application launcher for Openbox, written in Python and GTK.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
    ADeskBar screenshot 1
     

  13. BMPanel

     2 likes
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    BMPanel (bitmap panel) is a lightweight, NETWM compliant panel for X11 Window System, which contains a desktop switcher, taskbar, system tray and clock. The application is inspired by simplicity of fspanel. BMPanel has a modern look and feel, while keeping itself tiny and small.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • BSD
    BMPanel screenshot 1
     

  14. sfwbar

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    SFWBar (S* Floating Window Bar) is a flexible taskbar application for wayland compositors, designed with a stacking layout in mind. Originally developed for Sway, SFWBar will work with any wayland compositor supporting layer shell protocol, the taskbar and window switcher...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Wayland
    sfwbar screenshot 1
     
12 of 19 Polybar alternatives