Compare software

SwayFX vs Jay: catalog facts
SwayFX	Jay
Best for: Sway users who want visual effects on a tiling Wayland desktop	Best for: Linux users who want an i3-style tiling compositor on Wayland
Free Free and open source.	Free Free to build and use from its public repository.
Linux	Linux
Keeps Sway's tiling behaviour and configuration Adds blur, rounded corners and shadows All 3 strengths for SwayFX Keeps Sway's tiling behaviour and configuration Adds blur, rounded corners and shadows Packaging help for Debian and Nix	i3-like tiling on Wayland Vulkan rendering All 4 strengths for Jay i3-like tiling on Wayland Vulkan rendering Configurable through TOML or Rust Active development with regular commits
Linux and Wayland only Effects add overhead compared with plain Sway All 3 limitations for SwayFX Linux and Wayland only Effects add overhead compared with plain Sway Tracks upstream Sway, so features may lag behind it	Linux only Smaller user base than Sway or Hyprland
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License not stated
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for SwayFX github.com/wlrfx/swayfx Catalog checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Jay github.com/mahkoh/jay Catalog checked October 2, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.