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Whisker Menu vs nwg-drawer: catalog facts
Whisker Menu	nwg-drawer
Best for: Xfce desktop users who want a searchable start menu	Best for: sway or Hyprland users who want a GNOME-style app grid
Free Free and distributed as an Xfce panel plugin.	Free Free and open source.
Linux	Linux
Search starts as soon as the menu opens and also matches descriptions Favorites, recently used and category browsing in one menu All 3 strengths for Whisker Menu Search starts as soon as the menu opens and also matches descriptions Favorites, recently used and category browsing in one menu Drag and drop to reorder favorites	Graphical app grid with search for tiling Wayland setups Styled with a plain CSS file All 3 strengths for nwg-drawer Graphical app grid with search for tiling Wayland setups Styled with a plain CSS file Part of the wider nwg-shell toolset
Only works as a plugin for the Xfce panel	Limited to wlroots-based Wayland compositors Launches applications only, no calculator or command actions
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Not open source	Open source
License not stated	License: MIT
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Whisker Menu docs.xfce.org/panel-plugins/xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin/start Catalog checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for nwg-drawer github.com/nwg-piotr/nwg-drawer Catalog checked September 23, 2026

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