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Ly VS Quickshell

Compare Ly VS Quickshell and see what are their differences

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  3. » Reviews
  4. » Alternatives

Ly logo Ly

TUI (ncurses-like) display manager

Quickshell logo Quickshell

A Flexible toolkit for making desktop shells with QtQuick, targeting Wayland and X11.
  • Ly Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-23
Not present

Ly features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Ly is a lightweight display manager designed to be simple and efficient, with low resource consumption compared to other display managers.
  • Console-based
    Since it runs in the console, Ly does not require a graphical environment to operate, which can be advantageous for systems with limited resources or users preferring a minimal setup.
  • Customization
    Ly allows for a high degree of customization, enabling users to adjust its configuration to meet their specific needs and preferences.
  • Fast
    Due to its simplicity and minimal dependencies, Ly offers a fast startup and login experience.
  • Supports Wayland
    Ly includes support for Wayland, making it versatile for users who choose to use Wayland over X11.

Possible disadvantages of Ly

  • Limited Features
    Compared to more feature-rich display managers, Ly may lack certain functionalities, such as session management and advanced graphical configurations.
  • Console Operation
    Being console-based, Ly might be less intuitive for users who are accustomed to graphical user interfaces, requiring familiarity with command-line operations.
  • Manual Configuration
    Ly often requires manual configuration for some settings, which may not be as user-friendly for those unfamiliar with configuration files.
  • Niche User Base
    Due to its minimalistic nature and specific use case, Ly has a more niche user base, which can result in less community support and documentation compared to mainstream solutions.

Quickshell features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Quickshell is designed to simplify the shell experience, making it more user-friendly for both beginners and advanced users.
  • Customization
    The platform offers various customization options that allow users to tailor the interface and functionality to their specific needs.
  • Integration
    Quickshell integrates well with other tools and services, providing a seamless workflow for users who rely on multiple applications.
  • Performance
    It is optimized for speed and efficiency, ensuring that users can perform tasks quickly without unnecessary lag.

Possible disadvantages of Quickshell

  • Limited Advanced Features
    While it is user-friendly, Quickshell may lack some of the advanced features that experienced developers might require.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its ease of use, there might still be a learning curve for users who are completely new to shell environments.
  • Platform Dependency
    It might depend on specific platform requirements or compatibility, which could limit its usability across different systems.
  • Pricing
    If there is a cost associated, price could be a barrier for users looking for a free alternative.

Analysis of Quickshell

Overall verdict

  • Quickshell is a solid, flexible toolkit for building custom desktop shells and widgets on Wayland (and X11) compositors using QtQuick/QML, making it a strong choice for Linux power users who want full control over their desktop environment.

Why this product is good

  • Built on QtQuick/QML, giving you a powerful and declarative way to design custom UI components
  • Designed to work with Wayland compositors like Hyprland, Sway, and others, filling a gap for customizable shells on modern Linux setups
  • Highly modular and hackable, letting you create bars, launchers, widgets, and other shell elements exactly how you want
  • Live-reloading and a developer-friendly workflow make iterating on your configuration faster
  • Open source and community-driven, with active development and documentation

Recommended for

  • Linux power users who want to build a fully custom desktop shell
  • Hyprland, Sway, and other Wayland compositor users seeking customizable bars and widgets
  • Developers comfortable with QML/QtQuick who enjoy tinkering with their environment
  • Ricing enthusiasts who want deep control over their desktop's look and behavior

Ly videos

+ Add

Đồ Bạn Thích Ly Review 😜♡ REVIEW Subscriber Best Beauty Favorites ♡ Pretty.Much

More videos:

  • Review - Bắp Nướng Cát Thy Diva Review Ly Bắp Đầu Tiên Giáng Tiên Khai Trương l vlogs trúc ngân

Quickshell videos

+ Add

Is Quickshell Worth It?

More videos:

  • Review - End4 Hyprland Quickshell Rewrite is cool! | CachyOS | Hyprland |

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Ly and Quickshell)

Ly

Quickshell

Linux
100 100%
Linux
0% 0
Productivity
0 0%
Productivity
100% 100
PHP MVC Framework
100 100%
PHP MVC Framework
0% 0
App Launcher
0 0%
App Launcher
100% 100

User comments

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

Based on our record, Ly seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 7 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.

Ly mentions (7)

  • Ly display manager issues!
    After building & installing ly demonstrate manager (https://github.com/nullgemm/ly) I can't‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎‏‏‎­seem to start it as there is no entry in /etc/sv to start. I then came across this: https://github.com/drozdowsky/ly-void. A build of ly that supports runit & sure enough it has a service to start however when I restart my pc and ly display manager starts, even with the right credentials it does not log in, only... Source: over 4 years ago
  • Bloated base install?
    I definitely know what you mean; I used to use ly (and haven't been able to figure out how to write a package/service for it, yet) and would love to use that, again. Source: over 4 years ago
  • Display Managers and TTY
    Yes, actually! Ly is a console-based display manager that allows you to select your login target between any of the standard sessions (KDEs, GNOMEs, and what have you), explicit launching of .xinitrc, or just dropping straight into terminal. Source: almost 5 years ago
  • Which DE do you prefer?
    What DM are you using? I tried to compile both ly-void and normal ly according to this guide. Source: about 5 years ago
  • i feel deeply betrayed.
    On the github page there is an instruction to build it manually, but idk whether that works on fedora :/. Source: over 5 years ago
View more

Quickshell mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Quickshell yet. Tracking of Quickshell recommendations started around Jun 2025.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Ly and Quickshell, you can also consider the following products

CDM - Console Display Manager. Contribute to evertiro/cdm development by creating an account on GitHub.

ironbar - Customisable Wayland gtk bar written in Rust.

GDM - Electronics

Yambar - Modular status panel for X11 and Wayland, inspired by polybar.

SDDM - QML based X11 and Wayland display manager. Contribute to sddm/sddm development by creating an account on GitHub.

nwg-panel - Nwg-panel is a GTK3-based panel for sway and Hyprland Wayland compositors. The panel is equipped with a graphical configuration program that frees the user from the need to manually edit configuration files.

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