Alternatives to Hyprland
Arrange Linux application windows with a configurable tiling Wayland compositor. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Hyprland
Arrange Linux application windows with a configurable tiling Wayland compositor.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Hyprland.
Sway
Use an i3-style tiling workflow on Wayland.
Sway is a Wayland compositor with an i3-style tiling workflow that supports much of the i3 configuration format, but it lacks Hyprland's dynamic tiling with animations.
Qtile
Configure a tiling window manager using Python.
Qtile is configured in Python with programmable layouts and widgets, and it offers both X11 and Wayland back ends.
COSMIC
Use System76's desktop environment with configurable workspaces and window tiling.
COSMIC is a full desktop environment from System76 that combines panels and workspace controls with tiling and floating workflows.
i3
Arrange X11 windows in a keyboard-controlled tiling workspace.
i3 uses a tree-based tiling layout with configurable key bindings but runs on X11 rather than Wayland.
awesome
Build a keyboard-driven X11 desktop with a window manager configured in Lua.
awesome is an X11 window manager configured in Lua with tiling and floating layouts plus built-in programmable widgets, so it leaves Wayland.
bspwm
Manage X11 windows as the leaves of a binary tree.
bspwm moves to X11 with binary-tree tiling controlled through shell commands, needing separate tools for key bindings and panels.
LeftWM
Arrange Linux windows with a tiling manager written in Rust.
LeftWM is a Rust tiling manager that separates layout logic from appearance, with bars and related components configured separately.
dwm
Use a small dynamic window manager for X11 with tiling and floating layouts.
dwm is a small X11 dynamic window manager whose customizations usually require editing and recompiling the source instead of editing a config file.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Hyprland as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
dwl
A dwm-like dynamic tiling Wayland compositor built on the wlroots library.
Hyprland is a dynamic tiling Wayland compositor with animations and extensive keyboard and layout configuration, under a BSD-3-Clause license, instead of a minimal patched C codebase.
labwc
A lightweight wlroots-based stacking Wayland compositor inspired by Openbox.
Hyprland is a dynamic tiling Wayland compositor with animations and extensive layout configuration, replacing labwc's stacking model and needing manual setup.
miracle-wm
A hackable tiling Wayland compositor for Linux built on Mir, with i3-style tiling and animations.
Hyprland is a dynamic tiling Wayland compositor with animations and extensive keyboard and layout configuration, and a larger community than miracle-wm.
niri
A scrollable-tiling Wayland compositor that places windows in columns on an endless horizontal strip.
Hyprland is a dynamic tiling Wayland compositor with animations and extensive layout configuration, where new windows share space instead of scrolling horizontally.
river
A non-monolithic Wayland compositor that leaves window management to a separate program.
Hyprland builds dynamic tiling and animations into the compositor itself, with extensive keyboard and layout configuration instead of a separate policy program.
Wayfire
A wlroots-based Wayland compositor with plugin-driven window management and 3D desktop effects.
Hyprland is a Wayland compositor that adds dynamic tiling with animations and extensive keyboard configuration, rather than Wayfire's plugin-based stacking with 3D effects.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Waybar
Add a customizable status bar to compatible Wayland desktops.
nwg-panel
Add desktop panels to Sway and Hyprland using GTK.
Eww
Create custom desktop widgets using declarative configuration and styling.
AGS
Scaffolding CLI for building custom Linux desktop shells and widgets.
rofi
A keyboard-driven window switcher, application launcher and dmenu replacement for Linux desktops.
