Alternatives to Actual Window Manager
A paid Windows utility bundling over 50 window management tools, including multi-monitor and virtual desktop features. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Actual Window Manager
A paid Windows utility bundling over 50 window management tools, including multi-monitor and virtual desktop features.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Actual Window Manager.
DisplayFusion
Multi-monitor management for Windows: a taskbar on every screen, wallpaper spanning, title bar buttons and hotkeys for moving windows.
DisplayFusion focuses on multi-monitor setups with a taskbar on each screen, title bar buttons and hotkeys; it is freemium, with the main features in the paid Pro version.
PowerToys
Microsoft’s own bundle of more than thirty Windows utilities, from window layouts to a key remapper.
PowerToys is Microsoft's free MIT-licensed bundle of over thirty Windows utilities, including FancyZones window layouts, instead of a paid closed-source window management package.
Dual Monitor Tools
Suite of Windows utilities for working with several monitors.
Dual Monitor Tools is a free GPL-3.0 suite with hotkeys to move windows between monitors and lock the cursor, though its interface is dated and development has slowed.
AquaSnap
Adds magnetic window snapping, docking, tiling and stretching to Windows, going well past what Aero Snap does.
AquaSnap concentrates on magnetic snapping, docking and stretching of windows; it is freemium and closed source, with keyboard shortcuts and some multi-monitor features in Pro.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Actual Window Manager as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
MaxTo
A Windows utility that divides monitors into custom zones and snaps windows into them.
Actual Window Manager bundles over 50 paid window tools including multi-monitor and virtual desktop features, and its large feature set takes time to configure.
Sizer
Resizes and repositions any window to exact pixel dimensions from a right-click menu or a hotkey.
Actual Window Manager bundles over 50 window tools including multi-monitor features, but it is a paid license and takes time to configure.
WindowTop
A Windows utility that pins windows on top, adjusts their opacity and turns them into picture-in-picture views.
Actual Window Manager is a paid Windows bundle of over 50 window tools with title bar buttons, multi-monitor and virtual desktop features, taking more time to configure.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
