Software Alternatives & Reviews

Contexts VS picom

Compare Contexts VS picom and see what are their differences

Contexts logo Contexts

Switch between application windows effortlessly — with Fast Search, a better Command-Tab, a Sidebar or even a quick gesture. Free trial available.

picom logo picom

A lightweight compositor for X11 (previously a compton fork).
  • Contexts Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-21
  • picom Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-26

Contexts videos

The Art of Discovering Bounded Contexts by Nick Tune

More videos:

  • Review - A Fresh Take on Contexts
  • Review - Contexts and Methods: Literature Review - Intro and Assessment Criteria

picom videos

ArcoLinux : 1481 Making sure compton/picom is working on LXQt

More videos:

  • Review - ArcoLinux : 1479 Changing from compton to picom - transparency in terminals

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Contexts and picom)
Mac
80 80%
20% 20
Window Manager
69 69%
31% 31
Note Taking
62 62%
38% 38
Productivity
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Contexts and picom. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Contexts should be more popular than picom. It has been mentiond 59 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Contexts mentions (59)

  • Show HN: I3wm Alt+Tab Workspace Switcher
    I like using Contexts on the Mac as replacement: https://contexts.co. - Source: Hacker News / about 2 months ago
  • My MacBook setup (the 2024 version)
    I use the Contexts [1] app, couldn't live without it (not affiliated...) It shows me all open Windows and in which Desktop, in its Sidebar (I've disabled the macOS dock.) Also the Cmd-Tab functionalities are nice, and I can use "Fn + [a single key] " shortcut to focus an app. Would recommend. [1] https://contexts.co/. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Arc 1.0 – a freeware web browser developed by The Browser Company
    Thanks for your feedback, I'll have to give TST in the Firefox sidebar another try... > "I make use of ctrl-uparrow to switch between browser and VSCode" I use the Contexts app (Fast Search) for that - https://contexts.co/. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Is there a program that can show my open apps as tabs across a bar like open tabs in a web browser?
    Https://contexts.co has a sidebar option. In their landing page its there under the sidebar heading. Source: 11 months ago
  • Witch – macOS window switcher replacement
    You should try contexts! It also has a bunch of other features and is highly configurable. I'm not one to normally pay for software, but this is probably up there with some of the best $10 I ever spent. https://contexts.co/. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
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picom mentions (38)

  • [photo] installing Debian :)
    Also I took a census and zero founding members of NWA are "straight outta Picom". That's right, you heard it here first: Not even MC Ren is running Picom. Source: 10 months ago
  • I have two Linux computers which I use for gaming.... somehow the one with slightly inferior hardware gets significantly better performance. I'm trying to figure out why... any ideas?
    If you have compositing you are likely using picom. You can check if it's running with ps -A | grep picom. I've never dealt with this issue as I don't really game on linux often, but I'm sure there's a solution somewhere in the github docs or issues. Worst case scenario you could always just kill the process with killall picom whenever you're about to game, and re-enable it with picom -b after. Do note though that... Source: 12 months ago
  • Picom crashes with 'I3_FLOATING_WINDOW' in a rule
    Somewhat recently in official picom, a field called corner-radius-rules was added. I would like all my floating windows to have rounded corners. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Linux Mint XFCE4. I felt like having simpler looking rice. More in reply
    • Compositor: Picom - https://github.com/yshui/picom - used it to just get shadow, under rofi. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Black corners in GTK apps
    I'm running Manjaro with i3 as my window manager. I'm also using picom as a compositor and this is what my config file looks like:. Source: over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Contexts and picom, you can also consider the following products

Witch - Welcome to the world of W. i. t. c. h.

Xcompmgr - Xcompmgr is a simple composite manager capable of rendering drop shadows and primitive window transparency. Designed solely as a proof-of-concept, Xcompmgr is a lightweight alternative to Compiz and similar composite managers.

Compiz - Project information. Maintainer: PS Project Management Team. Driver: Compiz Maintainers. Licence: GNU GPL v2, GNU LGPL v2. 1, MIT / X / Expat Licence.

VistaSwitcher - VistaSwitcher is an elegant and powerful task management utility for Windows OS.

Hyperswitch - HyperSwitch provides a compelling alternative to HyperDock for keyboard junkies. What's New

rcmd - rcmd makes app switching instantaneous!When you have a lot of apps open, finding and switching to them might feel too slow using Command-Tab or the Dock.Hold down the right side |⌘ command| and press the first letter of the app name to focus it.