Software Alternatives & Reviews

KDE Plasma Desktop VS i3

Compare KDE Plasma Desktop VS i3 and see what are their differences

KDE Plasma Desktop logo KDE Plasma Desktop

Plasma Workspaces is the umbrella term for all graphical environments provided by KDE.

i3 logo i3

A dynamic tiling window manager designed for X11, inspired by wmii, and written in C.
  • KDE Plasma Desktop Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-06
  • i3 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-19

KDE Plasma Desktop videos

KDE Plasma Workspaces

More videos:

  • Review - KDE Plasma 5 Deep Dive (Late 2019) | Linux Desktop Reviews
  • Review - Trying Out KDE Plasma 5.15
  • Review - Kubuntu 18.04 Review: KDE Plasma at its Best

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

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to KDE Plasma Desktop and i3)
Linux
52 52%
48% 48
Window Manager
17 17%
83% 83
Operating Systems
100 100%
0% 0
Desktop Environments
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using KDE Plasma Desktop and i3. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

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

KDE Plasma Desktop Reviews

9 Best Linux Desktop Environments to Use in 2023
After GNOME, the most widely used Linux desktop environment is KDE Plasma. This KDE Plasma desktop environment comes with various tools and services to fulfill almost any demand. It includes applications like Dolphin, the default and most powerful file system manager, and KGeoTag, a photo Photo geotagging program. It features Oxygen icons by default, which have a pleasing...
Source: geekflare.com
The 8 Best Ubuntu Desktop Environments (22.04 Jammy Jellyfish Linux)
KDE Plasma desktop is a widget-based environment which makes it very adaptable. You can move, add or remove anything you like to make it suit your style as well as possible. Plasma is fast and efficient. It uses only few resources and is full of well designed features.
Source: linuxconfig.org

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...

Social recommendations and mentions

i3 might be a bit more popular than KDE Plasma Desktop. We know about 89 links to it since March 2021 and only 66 links to KDE Plasma Desktop. 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.

KDE Plasma Desktop mentions (66)

  • Unlocking the Cutting Edge: Exploring Plasma 6 Beta, Secure Knowledge Management, and the Latest Tools for Linux Enthusiasts
    Plasma 6 - Beta 1 is the latest iteration of the KDE desktop environment, known for its flexibility and customization options. Beta releases are crucial for ironing out bugs and streamlining new features before the final release. - Source: dev.to / 5 months ago
  • Apps cannot read files from Google Drive on KDE Neon
    Recently I installed KDE Plasma. I was pleased to see the KDE-KIO integration for Google Drive. Source: 10 months ago
  • Should i switch?
    I'm glad to hear that you use Krita (and I may assume you use Blender for animations). Both are free and open source software that is available on Linux (even better, Krita is made by the KDE project, makers of all sorts of open source projects, including Plasma, one of the most complete user interfaces for Linux out there). Source: 11 months ago
  • Gamer migrating to Linux
    Because of this, I recommend using Fedora (either the default edition, which uses the GNOME desktop, or Fedora KDE, which uses the KDE Plasma desktop, like the Steam Deck). It ships up-to-date software, and it's very polished. (Note that, due to the US software patents, support/hardware acceleration for some media codecs isn't included by default. You should add the RPMFusion repo and set up the codecs after... Source: 11 months ago
  • Questions I have about Linux, from someone who wants to switch from Windows 10
    KDE Plasma is developed by KDE, another international group of developers that make all sorts of cool software for Linux, macOS, Windows, and mobile platforms. Plasma is their flagship project. Their motto is "simple by default, powerful when needed". At first glance it may seem a copy of Windows, with a bottom panel sporting a start menu on the left and a system tray with a clock on the right, but don't get... Source: 11 months ago
View more

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: 11 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: 11 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

What are some alternatives?

When comparing KDE Plasma Desktop and i3, you can also consider the following products

Xfce - Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly.

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.

LXQt - The LXQt team is proud to announce the release of qtermwidget and qterminal, both in version 0. 8. 0. Read more..

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

LXDE - Why will you like it? Less resource needs. You can use it on your less-pricey embedded board or salvaged computer. Component-based design. Don't want something in LXDE, or you don't want to use LXDE but only part of it?

bspwm - A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning