Sway AlternativesWayland Compositors and other similar apps like Sway

Sway is described as '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' and is a wayland compositor in the os & utilities category. There are more than 25 alternatives to Sway for a variety of platforms, including Linux, Wayland, X11, BSD and FreeBSD apps. The best Sway alternative is Hyprland, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like Sway are niri, GlazeWM, river and Wayfire.

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Alternatives list

  1. Hyprland icon

    Hyprland

     37 likes

    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.

    26 Hyprland alternatives

    Cost / License

    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 Sway.

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

    • Hyprland is Free and Open SourceSway is also Free and Open Source
    • Hyprland is CustomizableSway is not according to our users
  2. niri icon

    niri

     10 likes

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

    77 niri alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Wayland
    niri screenshot 1
     
  4. GlazeWM icon

    GlazeWM

     8 likes

    A tiling window manager for Windows inspired by i3 and Polybar.

    31 GlazeWM alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Rust
    GlazeWM screenshot 1
     

    • GlazeWM is the most popular Windows alternative to Sway.

    • GlazeWM is Free and Open SourceSway is also Free and Open Source
  5. river icon

    river

     4 likes

    Wayland compositor featuring dynamic tiling and Master&Stack layout, offering configuration through riverctl tool with tag system for window management, customizable with rivertile and user layout generators, allowing flexible workspace setup without traditional workspaces.

    23 river alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    river screenshot 1
     
  6. Wayfire icon

    Wayfire

     7 likes

    Wayfire is a 3D Wayland compositor, inspired by Compiz and based on wlroots. It aims to create a customizable, extendable and lightweight environment without sacrificing its appearance.

    27 Wayfire alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • FreeBSD
    Wayfire screenshot 1
     
  7. SwayFX icon

    SwayFX

     3 likes

    Sway is an incredible window manager, and certainly one of the most well established wayland window managers. However, it is restricted to only include the functionality that existed in i3. This fork ditches the simple wlr_renderer, and replaces it with our fx_renderer, capable...

    66 SwayFX alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Arch Linux
    • Gentoo Linux
    • Fedora
    • Nix Package Manager
    • Sway
    • FreeBSD
    • Wayland
    SwayFX screenshot 1
     
  9. Japokwm icon

    Japokwm

     2 likes

    A dynamic tiling Wayland compositor (forked from dwl) that makes it a breeze to create custom layouts with a simple configuration. 🚀

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Linux
    Japokwm screenshot 1
     
  10. AeroSpace icon

    AeroSpace

     1 like

    AeroSpace is an i3-like tiling window manager for macOS.

    51 AeroSpace alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Screenshot from the r/unixporn subreddit
     

    • AeroSpace is the most popular Mac alternative to Sway.

    • AeroSpace is Free and Open SourceSway is also Free and Open Source

  11. Rift

     2 likes

    Rift is a tiling window manager for macOS that focuses on performance and usability.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    Rift screenshot 1
     
  12. mangowc icon

    mangowc

     1 like

    wayland compositor base wlroots and scenefx(dwm but wayland).

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Wayland
    • Linux
    mangowc screenshot 1
     
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