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.

More about Polybar

Polybar alternatives page was last updated Oct 21, 2025

wf-shell
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wf-shell is a repository which contains the various components needed to built a fully functional DE based around wayfire. Currently it has only a GTK-based panel and background client.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Platforms
Wayland
Linux
Is wf-shell a good alternative to Polybar?
rootbar
Like
Root Bar is a bar for wlroots based wayland compositors such as sway and was designed to address the lack of good bars for wayland.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Platforms
Linux
Wayland
+1
Is rootbar a good alternative to Polybar?
Oatbar
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The motivation for creation of oatbar was to extend on the idea of Unix-way for toolbars. Inspired by i3bar which consumes a JSON stream that controls it's appearance, we take this idea much further without becoming a DIY widget toolkit.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Platforms
Linux
BSD
Is Oatbar a good alternative to Polybar?
lemonbar
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lemonbar (formerly known as bar) is a lightweight statusbar based on XCB. Provides full UTF-8 support, basic formatting, RandR and Xinerama support and EWMH compliance without wasting your precious memory.
19 lemonbar alternatives
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Platforms
Linux
FreeBSD
NetBSD
openSUSE
Is lemonbar a good alternative to Polybar?
xmobar
Like
Xmobar is a minimalistic status bar. It was originally designed and implemented to work with xmonad, but it is actually usable with any window manager in X11 and also (via its text output mode) Wayland.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Platforms
Linux
Haskell
FreeBSD
openSUSE
Gentoo
X11
Wayland
Is xmobar a good alternative to Polybar?
i3status-rust
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i3status-rs is a feature-rich and resource-friendly replacement for i3status, written in pure Rust. It provides a way to display "blocks" of system information (time, battery status, volume, etc) on bars that support the i3bar protocol.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Platforms
i3
Linux
+2
Is i3status-rust a good alternative to Polybar?
dwlb
Like
Feature-Complete Bar for DWL.
Cost / License
Free
Open Source
Origin
International
Platforms
Wayland
Linux
Is dwlb a good alternative to Polybar?