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Category: Desktop

Compositing Window Managers

26 Best Free and Open Source Tiling Wayland Compositors

July 8, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Roundup, Utilities

This article focuses on tiling Wayland compositors. We only feature free and open source software in this roundup.

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Dynamic Window Managers

11 Best Free and Open Source Dynamic Window Managers

July 6, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Roundup, Utilities

A dynamic window manager is a tiling window manager where windows are tiled based on preset layouts between which the user can switch.

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Compositing Window Managers

IonWL – manual tiling Wayland compositor

July 5, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

IonWL is a manual tiling Wayland compositor inspired by Ion3 and Notion. It aims to bring Ion-style frame-based window management to Wayland.

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Compositing Window Managers

CwC – extensible Wayland compositor

July 5, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

CwC is an extensible Wayland compositor with dynamic window management based on wlroots.

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Compositing Window Managers

doors – Wayland compositor based on bspwm

July 5, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

doors is a Wayland compositor based on bspwm. It offers floating, tiling, and scrolling layouts.

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Compositing Window Managers

scroll – i3-compatible Wayland compositor forked from sway

July 5, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

scroll is an i3-compatible Wayland compositor forked from sway. It replaces traditional tiling layouts with a scrolling layout.

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Compositing Window Managers

Pinnacle – Wayland compositor built using Smithay

July 4, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

Pinnacle is a Wayland compositor built using Smithay which seeks inspiration from AwesomeWM.

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Compositing Window Managers

miracle-wm – hackable Wayland compositor

July 4, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

miracle-wm is a hackable Wayland compositor built on Mir. It brings keyboard-driven tiling window management to Wayland.

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Selection of utilities

dusk – dynamic window manager for X

July 4, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

dusk is a dynamic window manager for X that has its roots in dwm. It uses workspaces instead of tags.

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Selection of utilities

dk – list based tiling window manager for X11

July 3, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

dk is a list based tiling window manager for X11 inspired by dwm, bspwm, and xmonad, offering a scriptable, keyboard-driven environment.

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Selection of utilities

plwm – X11 dynamic tiling window manager

July 2, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

plwm is a highly customizable X11 dynamic tiling window manager written in Prolog.

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Selection of utilities

sxwm – dynamic tiling window manager for X11

July 1, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

sxwm is a simple, feature-rich dynamic tiling window manager for X11.

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Stacking Window Managers

26 Best Free and Open Source Stacking Window Managers

June 25, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Roundup, Utilities

Stacking window managers (also known as floating window managers) draw all windows in a specific order, allowing them to overlap.

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Stacking Window Managers

CTWM – X11 window manager derived from twm

June 24, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

CTWM is an X11 window manager derived from twm.

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Stacking Window Managers

EMWM – fork of the Motif Window Manager

June 23, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop

EMWM is a fork of the Motif Window Manager that keeps the classic Motif look and behaviour while improving compatibility

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Sticky Notes

14 Best Free and Open Source Sticky Note Applications

June 21, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Productivity, Roundup, Utilities

A sticky note (often known as a Post-it Note) is a small piece of paper with a strip of glue on its back. Here’s our verdict.

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Compositing Window Managers

9 Best Free and Open Source Compositing Window Managers

June 15, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Roundup, Utilities

A compositing window manager, or compositor, is a window manager that provides applications with an off-screen buffer for each window.

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Desktop-TUI – desktop environment without graphics

June 7, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, TUI

Desktop-TUI works in a tmux-like way, letting users launch and display terminal applications or commands in movable and resizable windows.

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Weather image

12 Best Free and Open Source GUI Weather Tools

March 27, 2026 Steve Emms Desktop, Roundup, Scientific

Here’s our verdict on the best GUI weather tools. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion.

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Video

19 Best Free and Open Source Media Players

March 24, 2026 Steve Emms CLI, Desktop, Multimedia, Roundup

A media player is software that lets you watch video and listen to music on your computer. We cover the best free and open source options.

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