Alternatives to PaperWM

A GNOME Shell extension that tiles windows side by side on a horizontally scrolling strip. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as PaperWM.

  • niri

    A scrollable-tiling Wayland compositor that places windows in columns on an endless horizontal strip.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    niri offers the same scrollable column tiling as a standalone Wayland compositor, so you leave GNOME and add your own panels and launchers.

  • Pop Shell

    A keyboard-driven GNOME Shell extension from System76 that adds automatic tiling window management.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Pop Shell stays inside GNOME but uses automatic tiling instead of a scrolling strip, and its development follows the GNOME version used by Pop!_OS.

  • Forge

    A GNOME Shell extension that adds i3 and sway style tiling window management to the desktop.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Forge keeps you in GNOME with i3 and sway style tiling instead of scrolling columns, though the project is currently looking for a new maintainer.

  • Tiling Shell

    A GNOME Shell extension that adds FancyZones-style tiling layouts and Windows 11 style snap assistance.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Tiling Shell is a GNOME extension using FancyZones-style custom layouts and a Windows 11 style snap assistant instead of a horizontally scrolling strip.

Also worth comparing

These listings name PaperWM as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.

  • Tiling Assistant

    A GNOME Shell extension that adds Windows-style snap assist and expands GNOME's tiling layouts.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    PaperWM replaces snapping with scrollable tiling on a horizontal strip inside GNOME Shell, with a settings pane for keybindings and per-app rules, under GPL-3.0.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.