Software Alternatives & Reviews

Open Shell VS Cairo Shell

Compare Open Shell VS Cairo Shell and see what are their differences

Open Shell logo Open Shell

Open Shell is a fork of the Classic Shell project for Windows that getting back the classic start...

Cairo Shell logo Cairo Shell

Cairo is a desktop environment for Windows.
  • Open Shell Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-07
  • Cairo Shell Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-19

Open Shell videos

Classic Menu for Windows 10 with Open Shell

Cairo Shell videos

No Cairo Shell videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

+ Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Open Shell and Cairo Shell)
Note Taking
61 61%
39% 39
Image Optimisation
0 0%
100% 100
LMS
100 100%
0% 0
OS & Utilities
65 65%
35% 35

User comments

Share your experience with using Open Shell and Cairo Shell. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Cairo Shell seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 2 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.

Open Shell mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Open Shell yet. Tracking of Open Shell recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Cairo Shell mentions (2)

  • Microsoft is turning Windows 11's Start Menu into an advertisement delivery system
    Back when I was an edgy teenager I tried every Windows desktop shell replacement available. My favorites were LiteStep and Emerge Desktop. I was there when Cairo Shell first emerged but has never tried a working version since I moved to other OSes before any usable version was out. I am now using Windows for work and I think it’s time to revisit these options. Source: over 1 year ago
  • My first personal server
    Hyper-V Server 2019 gets my vote, with the Cairo Desktop it's a near unbeatable setup. Add the FoD pack, browser of your choice, Windows Admin Center for local management of the entire system including virtualized guests. It's a very robust enterprise grade server that requires NO LICENSE and ends up having a very nice GUI for a core server. Source: over 2 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Open Shell and Cairo Shell, you can also consider the following products

Classic Shell - Classic Shell was developed for Windows 8 since that was the first version of the popular operating system to forgo the iconic Start menu.

VirtuaWin - VirtuaWin is a virtual desktop manager for the Windows operating system (Win9x/ME/NT/Win2K/XP/Win2003/Vista/Win7/Win10). A virtual desktop manager lets you organize applications over several virtual desktops (also called 'workspaces').

StartIsBack - StartIsBack returns Windows 10 and Windows 8 a real fully featured start menu and start button, behaving exactly like the ones in Windows 7. It's totally awesome and easy solution for your new Windows woes.

WindowBlinds - WindowBlinds is a computer program that allows users to skin the Windows graphical user interface.

Start Menu X - Start Menu X with Start Button. Power users know how inconvenient and time-consuming it is to launch programs from the system menu.

bug.n - Provide views (i. e. virtual desktops) for showing only those windows, which you need to do your work..