Software Alternatives & Reviews

i3 VS Rectangle

Compare i3 VS Rectangle and see what are their differences

i3 logo i3

A dynamic tiling window manager designed for X11, inspired by wmii, and written in C.

Rectangle logo Rectangle

Window management app based on Spectacle, written in Swift.
  • i3 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-19
  • Rectangle Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-20

i3 videos

30k Miles with the BMW i3 - End of Lease Review

More videos:

  • Review - 2016 BMW i3 - Review and Road Test
  • Review - 2018 BMW i3s Range Extender (REx) Review - The Future Of Cars?
  • Demo - Gaming With Intel's Core i3 9100F - The First Turbo Boosted Desktop i3
  • Review - The best EV for the money? Used BMW i3 Review

Rectangle videos

SKYWALKER RECTANGLE TRAMPOLINE REVIEW!!!

More videos:

  • Review - Skywalker Rectangle Trampoline Review #1
  • Review - Marvin Malton 160 Rectangle Flying Hour Watch Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to i3 and Rectangle)
Window Manager
40 40%
60% 60
Mac Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Linux
100 100%
0% 0
Utilities
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using i3 and Rectangle. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare i3 and Rectangle

i3 Reviews

Top 13 Best Tiling Window Managers For Linux In 2022
Sway is a tiling Wayland i3-compatible window manager that dynamically arranges app windows to rationally maximise desktop space. It is free, open-source, and lightweight. By default, it arranges windows in a grid and supports practically all of the i3 commands.
Source: www.hubtech.org
Top 10 Best Desktop Environments in 2020
i3-wm is one of my most loved standalone window managers, qualifying it to easily fit under the desktop environment list! The configuration is just very easy, and you can change everything that you see on screen. This includes what information you see on the bottom panel, how windows behave, and keyboard shortcuts to move, align, and set up windows on the screen.
13 Best Tiling Window Managers for Linux
Sway is a free, open-source, and lightweight tiling Wayland i3-compatible window manager that automatically arranges app windows to logically maximize desktop space. It arranges windows into a grid by default and supports almost all the commands included in i3.
Source: www.tecmint.com
5 Great Tiling Window Managers for Linux
I begun testing i3 just this week. I was always fascinated by the Tiling WM’s as they seem really light on system resources and functional. To my surprise , although i3 is really easy to customize, and works really well (at least for my needs) , I found that it isn’t really that lightweight. I had Mate desktop environment use the same amount of RAM. Maybe I was mislead to...

Rectangle Reviews

Best 6 Mac Window Managers
Rectangle shows that you don’t need to dip into your bank account to get window resizer tools. This free Mac window manager lets you manage multiple windows using keyboard shortcuts, menu options, or by dragging and dropping. Just like Magnet, you can split your screen up into quarters, thirds, or halves.
Source: mackeeper.com
Top 6 Window Manager Apps for Mac
Most window manager apps for Mac support multiple monitors. They can help you move windows between screens and create custom layouts for each monitor. Many window manager apps – such as BetterSnapTool, Magnet, and Rectangle – offer this functionality.
The 6 Best Mac Window Management Tools
However, it might take some time for you to get used to the shortcuts in the Rectangle app since there are many. Furthermore, you can also add some of your apps to exceptions if you want to keep them away from Rectangle's shortcuts.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Rectangle should be more popular than i3. It has been mentiond 447 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.

i3 mentions (89)

  • "We understand" ;)
    This is partially why I use tools like i3 (/ sway). I like the tool; it works extremely well for me; the design has stayed the same for 20 years; there's no profit motive to come along and fuck everything up. It just works. It is boring in the best way possible. Source: 5 months ago
  • what machines have you used for development, and what do you prefer?
    I use MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid-2014) with Manjaro as OS using i3 as a window manager. It isn't perfect, but I'm thrilled with it. I have been a Mac OS user for the last 15 years and wouldn't change what I have now for a Mac OS because I don't need more than what I'm using for development. Source: 10 months ago
  • Machine for pentesting and general use?
    For daily usage I really like kubuntu with i3wm, but it takes some configuration and getting used to the shortcuts, but it's well worth it. Source: 12 months ago
  • What's the difference between Gnome and KDE? Do applications written for one work in the other?
    Some window managers are meant to be used as-is, and provide a minimalist yet functional environment that use very little resources or give power users an almost HUD-like interface. Examples of those window managers are OpenBox and i3wm for X, and Weston and Hyprland for Wayland. Source: 12 months ago
  • tiling window manager
    I did use i3 exclusively for a few years. The reasons I chose it were. Source: 12 months ago
View more

Rectangle mentions (447)

  • Updating My Mac Window Shortcuts Strategy for Optimal Workflow
    Rectangle’s installation is incredibly straightforward. Its immediate out-of-the-box functionality was a pleasant surprise. For anyone seeking to reduce the friction of window management on their Mac, Rectangle is a solution I wholeheartedly recommend. - Source: dev.to / 7 days ago
  • How I stay (more) focused with ADHD
    Tip: I use Rectangle app to set up keyboard shortcuts to resize windows (I only have three shortcuts there: left/right half of the screen and full screen). - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • Ask HN: Best Hacks for a Ultrawide Monitor?
    If you are using MacOS, I recommend these 2 apps 1. "Rectangle" for window management https://rectangleapp.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Working in the Vision Pro [video]
    Use tiling window manager + one large or ultrawidescreen monitor. If you have Mac, rectangle is good free software (https://rectangleapp.com/). - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers
    But Raycast also has some functionality in that direction. [1] - https://rectangleapp.com/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing i3 and Rectangle, you can also consider the following products

dwm - dwm is a dynamic window manager for X. It manages windows in tiled, monocle and floating layouts. All of the layouts can be applied dynamically, optimising the environment for the application in use and the task performed.

Magnet Window Manager - Magnet Developers

awesome - A dynamic window manager for the X Window System developed in the C and Lua programming languages.

yabai - A tiling window manager for macOS based on binary space partitioning

bspwm - A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

Moom - Move your mouse over the green zoom button in any window, and Moom's mouse control overlay will appear (as seen in the above animation).