Free Wallpaper Engine Alternatives for Windows

There are many alternatives to Wallpaper Engine for Windows if you are looking for a replacement. The best free Windows alternative is Lively Wallpaper, which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to Wallpaper Engine and 16 are free and available for Windows so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free Windows alternatives to Wallpaper Engine are ScreenPlay, Sucrose Wallpaper Engine, WinDynamicDesktop and Layered WallPaper.

filter to find the best alternatives

Wallpaper Engine alternatives are mainly Wallpapers Hubs, but if you're looking for Desktop Customization Tools or Shell Extensions you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Windows + Free and Mac + Desktop Customization. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Wallpaper Engine.
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Enable dynamic, animated wallpapers on Windows desktop with 3D, videos, and apps support. Share creations via Steam Workshop and stay ad-free.

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Wallpaper Engine alternatives page was last updated Feb 13, 2025
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  1. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Free and open-source application for setting GIFs, videos and webpages as your desktop wallpaper and screensaver.

    22 Lively Wallpaper alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • IN flagIndia

    Platforms

    • Windows

    Lively Wallpaper Features

    1.  Live Wallpapers
    2.  Ad-free
    3.  Support for HD videos
    4.  Video Wallpaper
    5.  Support for scripting
    6.  Widgets
    7.  Wallpaper Cycling

    Lively Wallpaper VS Wallpaper Engine

     
    Comments about Lively Wallpaper as an Alternative to Wallpaper Engine
    Top Positive Comment
    Jeff Witty
    Oct 14, 2020
    1

    ITs infact more powerful than wallpaper engine, and the dev's arnt greedy... unlike the devs of wallpaper engines

    Top Negative Comment
    hundvd7
    Sep 8, 2023
    0

    I really want to like it. For one, the customization UI/UX is so far beyond Wallpaper Engine's, and the performance is supposed to be better. It also has great advanced options, like selecting the web engine. All for free.

    Buuuuut: The performance is much worse than WPE. The wallpapers slow down further when I open the customization menu. The UI lags terribly when I'm dragging it around. Trying to add a website will always add a link to Big Buck Bunny...

    Most Recent Comment
    gltchpnk
    Positive Oct 17, 2021
    1

    Pro: -It's free~ -No clutter -Customizable, you can even change the taskbar (TaskbarX still offers a bit more)

    Con: -JavaScript Wallpapers preinstalled (heavy) -can be cpu%gpu heavy if you don't know what youre doing/uploading.

    has a lot of settings (pro&con)

    Show more comments
    3 of 5 comments
    Wallpaper Engine Icon
    Lively Wallpaper icon
    • Almost everyone thinks Lively Wallpaper is a great Wallpaper Engine alternative.

    • Lively Wallpaper is the most popular Windows alternative to Wallpaper Engine.

    • Lively Wallpaper is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Wallpaper Engine.

    • Lively Wallpaper is Free and Open SourceWallpaper Engine is Paid and Proprietary
  2. ScreenPlay icon
     31 likes
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    ScreenPlay is an Open Source cross-platform app for displaying Video Wallpaper & Widgets. It is written in modern C++20/Qt6/QML. It currently supports Windows and macOS (x64 and arm).

    39 ScreenPlay alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Steam
    • Linux

    ScreenPlay Features

    1.  Live Wallpapers
    2.  Video Wallpaper
    3.  Widgets
    4.  Steam Workshop
    5.  Portable
    6.  Visualize Music
    7.  Wallpaper Cycling

    ScreenPlay VS Wallpaper Engine

     
    Comments about ScreenPlay as an Alternative to Wallpaper Engine
    Most Recent Comment
    tvgoing1
    Negative Jun 23, 2024
    0

    It does not support screen sharing, the entire project rely too much on Steam gaming platform. Don't use it.

    Guest
    Positive Oct 12, 2020
    2

    It's open source and cross platform. It also has very active development!

    Guest
    Positive May 18, 2021
    0

    Works great and soon on Linux and Mac as well!

    Wallpaper Engine Icon
    ScreenPlay icon
    • Most users think ScreenPlay is a great Wallpaper Engine alternative.

    • ScreenPlay is the most popular Mac alternative to Wallpaper Engine.

    • ScreenPlay is Free and Open SourceWallpaper Engine is Paid and Proprietary
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    Sucrose is a versatile wallpaper engine that brings a wide range of interactive wallpapers to life on your desktop. With light and dark theme options, you can choose the appearance that suits your personal preferences.

    44 Sucrose Wallpaper Engine alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • TR flagTürkiye

    Platforms

    • Windows

    Sucrose Wallpaper Engine Features

    1.  Live Wallpapers
    2.  Wallpaper Cycling
    3.  Video Wallpaper
    4.  Ad-free

    Sucrose Wallpaper Engine VS Wallpaper Engine

     
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    This app ports the Dynamic Desktop feature from macOS Mojave to Windows 10. It uses your location to get the times of sunrise and sunset each day, and rotates through the 16 Mojave wallpaper images throughout the day and night.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Windows

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Dark Mode
    2.  Ad-free
    3.  Portable
    4.  Wallpaper Cycling
    5.  No registration required
    6.  Support for Multiple Monitors

    WinDynamicDesktop VS Wallpaper Engine

     
    Comments about WinDynamicDesktop as an Alternative to Wallpaper Engine
    RemovedUser
    Jan 16, 2022
    1

    Great app, but it changes static wallpapers depending on time (no animated wallpapers like WallpaperEngine).

    Wallpaper Engine Icon
    WinDynamicDesktop icon
    • WinDynamicDesktop is Free and Open SourceWallpaper Engine is Paid and Proprietary
    • WinDynamicDesktop is LightweightWallpaper Engine is not according to our users
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    Layered WallPaper allows You to create multi-layered parallax wallpapers. Each layer moves with Your mouse cursor, creating beautiful parallax effect.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux

    Properties

    1.  Customizable

    Features

    1.  Live Wallpapers

    Layered WallPaper VS Wallpaper Engine

     
  6. Dynamic Theme icon
     4 likes
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    Dynamic background and/or lock screen picture with daily Bing or Windows Spotlight pictures, one Bing or Windows Spotlight picture or personal pictures.

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • FR flagFrance
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Windows

    Dynamic Theme Features

    1.  Wallpaper Cycling

    Dynamic Theme VS Wallpaper Engine

     
  7. LivePaper icon
     1 like
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    A lightweight app that displays animated wallpapers on Windows and Linux.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    Discontinued

    The GitHub repository has been archived in December 2024.

    LivePaper Features

    1.  Live Wallpapers
    2.  Video Wallpaper

    LivePaper VS Wallpaper Engine

     
  8.  1 like
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    free and open-source wallpaper engine, set any window as your wallpaper.

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Discontinued

    The project seems still developed, but latest version, 0.6.1, was released in November 2018. It can be still downloaded from GitHub.

    weebp Features

    1.  Live Wallpapers

    weebp VS Wallpaper Engine

     
  9. VDesktop icon
     Like
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    VDesktop is a program that allows users to have animated wallpaper on their Windows desktop. VDesktop supports Windows 7, 8, 10.

    License model

    • FreemiumProprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Discontinued

    Website no longer exists and no further details available for the app.

    VDesktop Features

    1.  Ad-free
    2.  Video Wallpaper
    3.  Live Wallpapers
    4.  Portable
    5.  Video To Desktop

    VDesktop VS Wallpaper Engine

     
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    AwesomeWallpaper plays videos, shows images and system information on your desktop wallpaper. It supports next modes:

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Windows

    AwesomeWallpaper Features

    1.  Video Wallpaper

    AwesomeWallpaper VS Wallpaper Engine

     
10 of 16 Wallpaper Engine alternatives