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Tactile vs PaperWM: catalog facts
Tactile	PaperWM
Best for: Keyboard-oriented GNOME users who arrange windows into custom layouts	Best for: GNOME users who want keyboard-driven scrollable tiling
Free Free and open source under the GPL v3 or later.	Free Free and open source.
Linux	Linux
Keyboard-driven placement onto a custom grid Keeps the standard GNOME desktop All 3 strengths for Tactile Keyboard-driven placement onto a custom grid Keeps the standard GNOME desktop Free software under the GPL	Scrollable tiling keeps windows at useful widths Runs inside GNOME Shell, no separate window manager needed All 3 strengths for PaperWM Scrollable tiling keeps windows at useful widths Runs inside GNOME Shell, no separate window manager needed Settings pane for keybindings and per-app window rules
Works only on GNOME Shell Small single-developer project	GNOME Shell only Scrolling layout takes time to get used to All 3 limitations for PaperWM GNOME Shell only Scrolling layout takes time to get used to Extensions can break with new GNOME Shell releases
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-3.0-or-later	License: GPL-3.0
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Tactile gitlab.com/lundal/tactile Catalog checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for PaperWM github.com/paperwm/PaperWM Catalog checked September 23, 2026

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